As winter approaches, I like to knock my Metric Century Resolution Rides off early in the month. You never know what the weather will hold later on, so May’s 100km ride is already in the books. When you’re presented with calm and sunny Sunday in May you don’t ask for another opportunity!

Most of my riding is solo these days, but on Sunday mornings I meet up with the “SunDaze” crew to join the first half of their bunch ride into Richmond. I tend to roll out from home just as the pastel pink hues of sunrise clear the darkness enough to see, then sneak in a brisk solo 40km before meeting the bunch in Cambridge. From here, it’s only a further 25km to coffee.

It’s a great bunch that naturally splits by ability, but there’s always a couple of fast guys pushing the pace on the front that I try and hang on to. Today five of us swapped turns to keep the pace hot. Hurtling towards Richmond I swung off the front and worked myself back to second wheel as the pace crept higher. With a couple of hundred metres to go I ducked out from the draft, stayed low and piled on the power. I kept it north of 50kph to take the town sign sprint.

After a quick double espresso and debrief with the guys, I cracked on alone as they headed back into Hobart. To be honest, it was a fairly uneventful ride from here onwards. It was simply one of those days where I was able to put my head down, keep low in the drops and crack on! The distance simply flew by in a beautiful blur of country roads, fast spinning legs and humming carbon wheels.

Rolling back home with 118km on the Garmin (90-ish solo, 25 with the bunch) my legs were definitely done for the day! In fact they might be done for a few days. I’ve had a good run of 300+ km weeks and clocked around 2500km over the last eight weeks. I’m starting to feel the accumulated fatigue. With the big ride out of the way early, I think it may be time to dial back the volume for a week or two.

Distance: 118.2 km / 73.4 miles
Total elevation gain: 1057 m / 3470 feet
Average speed: 30.5 kph / 18.9 mph