King 'Kong' Lake

A group of 6 of us headed out on the King 'Kong' Lake loop yesterday morning - 124km's through the hills of the Yarra Valley region of Victoria. Squintsy (named that by his brother back in the day because whenever he smiles, he squints) and I set a cracking pace and before we knew it we had lost 3 riders. 2 of them decided to take another route (which I was glad about as one of them was wearing pink - the pansy!), and the third was too fat and couldn't quite get him- self up the first couple of hills.

So Sqintsy, Tim and I pushed on through the rolling hills of the Yarra Valley. As we decended into a little country town by the name of St. Andrews (about 45km's from Melbourne) we hooked up with a bunch of riders that we often see around the traps of Melbourne. All of these boys were A graders, and were more than happy for the 3 of us to join them. The pace picked up a little, but as we made our way to the base of the King 'Kong' Lake climb I was comfortable and still enjoying the ride.

6 km's is the climb up to King Lake which is a town on top of a mountain. Now when I first rode up to King Lake I was expecting to see a lake (funnily enough), but there is no lake. Just a couple of shops and a great bakery which has fantastic jam doughnuts!

The A graders took off and I sat in behind, being towed up the first section of the hill. No one speciffically called it a race, but with 11 guys on bikes with plenty of ego, no one had too. It was every man for himself, with first prize being braging rights. The pace was fairly consistant over the first kilometre. We were sitting on 23km/h and I was feeling very good. Without any warning, 2 A graders jumped and quickly put 50 metres on the bunch. I was feeling very strong at this stage and thought 'what the hell', so I knuckeled down and caught up to the 2 guys ahead.

For about 2 km's we maintained our pace and kept the main group at bay. If anything we were putting a greater distance between us and them which in all honesty was a great feeling. The three of us charged along and looked very strong coming into the last 2 km's.

We turned a corner and there was a false flat, and one of the A graders geared up, and paced away. It was a very impressive move. I tried to go with him and we droped the other A grader. I wasn't able to keep up with the first guy but I was able to maintain 2nd place.

We got into King Lake and I had finsihed quite strongly. I was able to keep my position which was a great buzz. I rewarded myself with a fantastic Jam doughnut - sure did hit the spot.

After some refreshments we headed home and really cranked up the pace. Squintsy had a flat which meant we had too let the main bunch go and ride home as just the 3 of us. We were all stuffed by the time we had gotten home, but the legs were feeling strong and I'm feeling as though I could've kept going.

The average pace for the ride was 30.4km/h. Top speed of 74km/h.

With less than 5 weeks to go, I'm feeling as though I'm ready to tackle the Tour. Bring it on!!