Lunch at the Colonial Brewery

Norm was telling us about the Pork Ribs they serve at the Colonial Brewery and we just had to try them.  One condition I (Gary) put on this quietly was that I had to ride there in a vain attempt at balancing my current calorie intake and expenditure.
Norm tells me 'it's a 40km trip'.
'No problem' I say '40km round trip makes for a nice day with a lunch thrown in.
'40km each way' Norm retorts.
mmmm 80km round trip is a bit longer for a lunch but we'll be right as by now Sandy and Mary have both agreed to join me.
So off we set yesterday into a howling head wind and a steady climb from sea level to 130m.  We stop for a photo which we tried to set the camera on timer for but the wind kept blowing the canera over.

So we had to settle for me taking the shot.

Anyhow off we trundle into the wind, so much wind that riding up the hills (made worse by the wind) you cant even look forward to the downhill as on the up-side we are on the lee of the hill and as we crest the hill hits us at twice the speed and we have to peddle down the other side lest we slow to a crawl.

So after 2 1/2 hours we make it an average of about 17kph....hard work.

Lovely cool day which was the only nice thing that could be said for the southerly wind.

Beaut lunch and Norm's recommendation for the Pork Ribs was on the mark as they were spot-on. And if I wasn't riding home I would have enjoyed more than the one Pale Ale that I had....bloody beautiful.

This time we could get the camera timer to work without getting blown over.

Mary joined Norm in the car for the return trip so Sandy and I got to revel in the tail wind on the way home.  Our average spend nudged 25kph without too much effort which on our lovely Thorn touring bikes is not too bad.
Overall a pretty tough day on the bikes given that we've been a bit lazy lately but it felt great.