With all that’s been going on in November this one almost got away from me! My mileage this month has taken a bit of a knock, but that’s all good. I wanted to give the legs a good test with a slightly tougher than usual 100km ride. The forecast looked good as I rolled out of my driveway on a mild weekday morning, but I copped a little of every season along the way.

I had a couple of goals I wanted to hit on this 100km ride.

The first was to get some climbing in the legs. Not sustained climbs, but a consistently punchy up and down course to achieve at least 1200 metres of total elevation gain (3950 feet). I know that’s not what most would call major climbing, but still quite a lumpy course. There was only one “categorised” climb (technically two, as it was ridden in both directions) with the rest of the elevation coming from the continually undulating terrain.

The second goal was to cycle out to my favourite road sign. What, you don’t have a favourite road sign?

I have a few, but this one is only on the Tasman Peninsula, the native habitat of the Dragon Winged Tasmanian Devil. There are only a handful of road signs devoted to this elusive Tasmanian native. Unfortunately when I got out there, the sign has been “cleaned up” by the council, removing the wings! #conspiracy

That means no picture from this ride. You’ll have to make do with a photo I took from a previous ride…

The lesser-known Dragon Winged Tasmanian Devil is my spirit animal. Ignore the DROPBEAR tag underneath, that is definitely not a Dropbear, although Dropbears are known to exist in the Tasmanian bush also.

Swinging around just past the sign I suddenly realised I’d been riding with a bit of a tailwind. I now had the breeze in my face and it was picking up strength! I could also spy some rain showers closing in on me. I calculated I had roughly 25km of headwind between me and a good coffee. Sometimes you’ve just got to “embrace the suck” and get it done. It’s not like I really had any choice though, haha!

Thankfully the scenery and quiet country backroads made each passing kilometre easier to stomach. I was soon sitting out the front of a beachside cafe, 80km in the legs, and a double shot almond latte on the table.

After that short recharge, I only had a 20km loop to complete before landing back at my door. The breeze had really picked up at this point and the temperature was actually dropping, so I didn’t hang about! I got down low to cut through the gusty coastal wind and hammered on the pedals all the way home, hitting both my 100km and 1200m elevation gain targets. Job done.

With December just a handful of days away, hopefully we’ll finally get some summer weather! It’s been chilly and windy for so long, not to mention wet. Bring on those long, warm summer days.

Distance: 101 km / 62.8 miles
Total elevation gain: 1265 m / 4150 feet
Average speed: 28.7 kph / 17.8 mph