Magpies are out and swooping again!

I was riding to Beeac the other day from Forrest to attend a road race held by Colac Cycling Club.  It is only around 52km from my house, a good warm up on a cold day. 
The house across the road has a flag on top o the house and it was not moving one iota.  However...having known that in previous times, the trees and surrounding hills of Forrest lessen the impact of any wind, I still gave myself 2 hours to get there.  Luckily I did, as soon as I got out of Barwon Downs, the wind hit me with a NW, sort of head on with a cross wind.  So my 26kmph average was most likely going to be the outcome now.

Only 2kms out of B.Downs, I luckily saw the first magpie eyeing me off from above and no doubt he(or she) came in to swoop, but I was ready with my bird noises and arms and looking back at it.  This was to happen 9 times with one magpie not leaving me alone.  I was over it.  Then about 20km away from Beeac - no more magpies but a fiesty little terrier sitting out the front of his house not liking me riding past.  Gee I was totally over it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  15kms and I was there finally.

I do love living in Forrest, have you heard that one before?

Whenever I need a good ride...I very rarely seek other venues(although I will for the company of others and of course racing opportunities), but rather I will convince others to park their cars at my house and come for a ride with me.
Firstly, I get to sleep in until around 7:30am instead of getting up at 4:40am.  Thats a biggie!
Then I get to go straight home, have a shower and straight to bed, no driving home.
But apart from those winning benefits, I get to share the great roads and trails with my friends.

On Saturday night, Gen and Fran came laden with bread, milk and lasagna to stay the night and get the sleep in pre ride.

Sunday morning and the weather was awesome already.  Ok...its winter, August, and we are in the Otways, but today was the heat wave!  A bit of a Northerly wind, but not too strong.
No cloud cover over the range, sun was shining.  About 10 degrees starting temp, up into the highest point, about 600mt ASL, it may have been around 8 C.
...Anyway, here is the attendance list:
1. Me  - the host
2. Norm - the mechanic
3. Aileen - the fashion guru
4. Gen - the mayor of Geelong in waiting
5. Fran - The chick from Bendigo
6. Pip - The queen of the road
7. Greg - Friend of Frans
8. Jeff - Forrest local Willier road bike!
9. Christy - The city slicker trying out a few hills
10. Calum - Colac JRN Roadie, with bad omen going on with all wheels!
11. Liz - Free Spirit "sea change" Multi Sporter / Chameleon
12. Claire - I thought I could talk underwater, I have been overtaken now, Claire is the winner.

A great turn out and varying fitness and hilll climbing abilities, so plan of the day was to ride at own pace, meet at 5 or 6 pit stops along the way and regroup, head off again.

The day started out around 9am, firstly there is the 6km climb to Barramunga which quickly sorted out those who did not mind hills, those who were just testing the water, and those who had not seen a hill in a while!