Saturday, November 09, 2019

Saturday Micro-tour to Sculptures - *Happy 1100 Posts!*

Was the day for the Fam to all go to Sculpture on the Peninsula at Loudon Farm, Teddington - Anth had 10 pieces in it.  I decided to ride the Troll there.

Left home 9.05 and perused my usual route into town, across the front of the Gardens and straight down Antigua, Strickland, Colombo to hit Dyers Pass Rd.  Low on the Troll is just right for this hill, not usually needing to stand up, unless to occasional popping into 2nd or 3rd to stand up and give the bum a rest.

At 1 hour in I was at the Sign of the Kiwi, hung a right and along the Summit Rd, climbing, then nice rolling coasting pedalling high gear down to the old top of Kennedys, before the surprisingly big climb up past the top of actual Kennedys and beyond before the fast drop down to the Bellbird.  Climbing again, to the photo point, and on around, nicely cruising, but keeping a good pace most of the time.  Met a lot of roadies along here, all looking surprised at my bike choice, and very few cars by this point.

Finally, just before the descent into the Bastard, I stopped and wound in my brakes a little, and the hit the descent - and what a descent.  Highest speed was up the top here, just over 63 kph, bombing - modulating the braking to occasional jabs just to keep the disks cool and the speed reasonable, opening it up a few times when the road allowed.  Quite a spectacular descent.  You feel like you've been rolling down for ages, and you're still really high up.

Eventually got to Gebbies and this is where more speed kicked in, over 60 kph for a time, with a couple of massive blasts down here, before it levelled off all too soon and the head wind kicked in (it'd just been a bit of a tail and blustery along the tops).  And then the brakes were making annoying rubbing noises, but I persevered to Teddington and hung a right and around to Loudon Farm.

Exactly 2 hours, door to gate... 34kms with 802m climbed...  a hot blitz.

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