The wind was howling a gale here in Bargo. I think  those brave souls who participated deserve a medal!

This is Alan Willock’s account of the day:

We all arrived at the Liverpool start before 7.30am, Rosie, Baz, Gary, Gina and myself.

The wind was a bit chilly however it wasn’t too strong.

We had an enjoyable ride with a couple of exceptions: We got lost a couple of times as we reached intersections that did not
have signs telling which way to go. Some cyclists went in one direction and we went in another, we  eventually found each other and made it to the finish (although I  nearly didn’t make it after hitting a speed hump at high speed), Gina
almost hit a pole as well.

At the finish we were able to enjoy our lunch after joining long  queues.  Whilst waiting in the queue for coffee I was amazed to watch the skill of some riders playing hockey on uni cycles.

We decided to ride back to the start for the return journey and thats  when the wind came back with a vengeance with some areas being  sheltered and some completely open to the wind resulting in some  nervous riding.  We again took a wrong turn on the way back however  this worked out OK as we missed out on a very steep climb (the one  which on the way down I nearly launched myself into orbit on the speed  humps).

Rosie had a flat about half way. We all got back to the car park when Gina said “wheres Rosie”,
Whoops!

Well Baz went back to look for her and in the mean time Rosie shows up  and we had to wait for Baz to return.

After that we went to Maccas  for coffee ending a hard but enjoyable  ride.  My trip meter made it just under 104km travelled which is the longest distance that many of us have ridden (except for Gary).

Would we do it again?  well I think so although I would have preferred  it without that horrible wind.

This year we started from Liverpool(Warwick Farm). What a difference that made for us getting to the start! Much less hassle!

About 250 people started here, and the 20km ride to Homebush was mostly on bike paths and rail trails, through Villawood and Marylands.

Liverpool Start

We rode 10 km around Olympic Park before the finish.

Overlooking Olympic Park

The official photographers were at Bkaxland Riverside Park. These photo downloads were an affordable $9.00 each from Sports-Pix.com

Alan

Hugh

Sal and John

The ride officially finished at the Cauldron, and as the day warmed up, it was used by many as a gigantic shower, a great way to cool down!

Cooling down in the Cauldron, the Spring Cycle festivities are behind.

After enjoying a beer, lunch and checking out the stalls, we rode back to Warwick Farm which gave us a good 50km on a day which turned out to be very hot!!