We had 10 riders at the start today, braving the rather chilly weather. Luckily the rain held off for our ride to Drysdale.

We had a bonus today, courtesy of some work by Doug, we had a group picture taken on the newly sealed section of the Bellarine Rail Trail at Leopold by a photographer from the Bellarine Echo newspaper. Hopefully we will see the picture and story (and some publicity for the club) in next week’s paper.  Thanks Doug!

–Dave

We had 7 riders at the start at Rippleside – Sandra, David J, Herman, Allan M, Kelly, Dave S and guest rider Sylvia, who had driven down from Werribee just to ride with us 🙂

We rode around the familiar Bay and Hovells Creek trails, into a pretty strong N wind, which we hoped would stay and turn into a tail wind for the return journey (it did 🙂

As was the case last year, all the usual coffee stops in Lara were closed for Easter so we ended up at McDonald’s, where there is now a bike rack outside! It turned out to be a good move for those who had their Seniors Card, free coffee with a food purchase, so a $2 hot cross bun made for a cheap coffee stop! And I had brought a supply of Easter Eggs so we had ample sugar intake to fuel us for the ride home.

Thanks everyone for an enjoyable ride, and Happy Easter!

–Dave

Thanks to Peter J from the GTC for this report (and the great pics) on our joint ride Sunday 14th April:

Just 4 riders for our little run along the cliffs from Torquay to Anglesea, John M, Chris Ha, Peter J and our leader from Cycling Geelong, Dave S. It was a lovely day, lots of Sun and a light breeze. We followed the paths along the cliffs through Torquay, past the RACV Golf Resort and Jan Juc to Bells Beach where the Surf Classic is already under way, amazing the infrastructure set up on the cliff tops. A short run along the road and then we plunged back into the bush along a wide dirt track in front of the houses set in the bush. Looks good but not if there is a bushfire about. Followed a gravel road for a while with some good downhills but of course you get nothing for free and we had to climb out eventually. Some of the track is closed off for repairs and some because of dangerous cliff collapse but some good bypass track has been put in around and through the heather on the hillside. Passed by the Caravan Park, well supported by campers with lots of bikes and kids about. Hit the River and wended our way to the Café and enjoyed a well earned break before heading back along a slightly different route until we could get back on the cliff top track. Returned through Jan Juc as we considered the path would be super busy around Torquay.
A most enjoyable mornings ride, Thanks Dave!
Cheers, Peter J.

–Dave

We had a group of 13 riders this week.

First up we had a surprise Christmas present of a mini dustpan and brush for Geoff from David & Linda. This was put to good use a few minutes later when we stopped several times to clear some broken glass from the trail.

Track cleared we headed for Drysdale. Linda had a puncture as we got to Leopold so the group split into two.

At our coffee stop at Cafe Zoo we were wished a Merry Christmas by Mark, Julie and the team and thanked for our patronage over the past year.

Thanks everyone for making the regular Thursday club ride such a success!

–Dave

I arrived at Sth Barwon Reserve expecting that no riders would turn up as the weather forecast didn’t look too promising. But I was surprised to see Hermann waiting in his car. We were discussing whether to abandon the planned ride and go home when David Fisher arrived on his bike so we decided to ride after all.

I was impressed that Hermann kept up a good pace on his trusty ebike, as I had only ever seen him riding on the Barwon Trail or the Bellarine Rail Trail, and we managed around a 20km/hr average on the ride down Barwon Heads Rd, Lake Rd and 13th Beach Rd to our coffee stop at Garage in Ocean Grove.

After a nice coffee break we headed home via Wallington Rd and Bellarine Hwy. Just as we turned into Bellarine Hwy there a loud bang (I thought it was a gunshot 🙂 and we saw that Hermann had stopped. When we checked we saw that he had a major blowout in the rear tyre. There was no chance of a roadside repair so we decided that I would ride home (just a few km away), get my car and come back for Hermann and his bike. David waited with him and until I returned with the car (thanks for waiting, David) and soon we had the bike in the back of the car and were heading back to Sth Barwon Reserve. Not the planned end to the ride but all was well anyway.

Thanks Hermann and David for an enjoyable and memorable day!

–Dave S

This was a joint ride with our friends from the GTC.

Ross Glover from the GTC has produced a great ride report and I have copied it below, Thanks Ross!

Dave Simpson Leads the Combined Ride with Cycling Geelong from Torquay to Anglesea on Sunday 11.11.18
Just 5 riders for todays´ combined dirt ride to Anglesea – Dave the ride leader and Kevin from CG, Chris Hu and Ross from GTC and John M representing both clubs. The 40 km ride was advertised as 75 km on the GTC web site and that may have discouraged some potential participants. Also had an interesting range of bikes – one modern mtb, one classic mtb, one gravel grinder, one hybrid and one frankenbike – and all coped well with the varied riding surfaces.
As always, an enjoyable ride through the bush between Torquay and Angelsea. Nothing difficult but lots of great vistas and  plenty of undulation. Nothing much to report other than a mixup on the return trip where 3 of us waited at Bells Beach for the other 2, only to eventually discover they had ridden past without seeing us. A very pleasant place to waste some time watching the surfers perform down below.
Thanks to Dave and the crew for a most enjoyable outing. Ross.

–Dave

It was a great day for cycling on the BRT from Drysdale to Queenscliff. We had 5 riders, ride leader Dave S, Dirk & Barb, George and John M.

John got a puncture so we had a rest stop while he fixed it. We were impressed by the amount of spares and tools he was carrying and soon we were under way again.

We had coffee at the Marina in Queenscliff and then rode back towards Geelong and turned off at the traffic lights and onto the path along the sea wall to Pt Lonsdale. After a stop at Rip View we headed inland, past the golf course and back onto the BRT to Drysdale.

Thanks to the group for an enjoyable ride.

–Dave