plites

The Wandong Winter Wander (WWW) has been one of my benchmark rides since I first rode it on the Bates in about 1996. The classic 200 route is my favourite. It’s a winter ride and a great opportunity to start cranking up for spring and longer things to come. My aim was that this would be the 200 for a super series which I have set myself as the “qualification” for the SM 1200. Ah, well!

This year (2009) I rode it with Simon. It was foggy. It was damp. There was a lot of fog. It wasn’t super cold. The sun came out for a while and then rather than fog there was drizzle. We weren’t out to set any records, finished nicely inside the time limit and had a thoroughly good day.

Cheeky buggers would say we probably spent too much time chatterboxing, but as everyone knows recumbent riders are such an advanced cycling form that they are able to overcome male traits and talk and ride simultaneously.

I have a number of WWW recollections.

Riding with Tim and Co. I recall that Tim needed to finish the 200 as a qualification (for PBP in 1999?). At Avenel he punctured. We all stopped and he changed his tube. We rode on. Tim punctured again. We all stopped. The clock didn’t. Tim dug around in his tyre and was convinced that there was noting in there so stuck his last spare tube in. We rode on. Tim punctured. We all swore. We stopped. Someone else had a spare tyre and tube which went on to Tim’s wheel. We rode on in a fast peleton and scraped into the Broadford checkpoint in the knick of time. And then barelled home to Wandon in the cold and the dark.

With Phil, Andy, and Barry we accompanied Trivess on his first 200. It was a cold wet WWW that one and well and truly dark by the time we finished. A character building first for a yound teenager who went on to do some much longer distances.

Another WWW was Simon’s first 200 on the Baron. We rode with Bernard on his FF. It was a good day. My only recollections are of sunshine, wonderful descents (unlike this year when you couldn’t coz of the fog!) and Simon’s water tube getting caught up in the rear cluster.

Many recumbent riders will be aware of that funny elastic decelleration caused when the tube, dangling inadvertently too low dances throught the chain, winds around the cluster a couple of times and drags you to a halt. It can be a bit ugly, but I’ve never seen it become disastrous. Control your drinking tubes.