(Report by John Cook)

A good number of people ignored the forecast for furnace like temperatures and turned up for at Lilydale for Colin’s ride to Macedon and he lost the option of returning home.   

After the usual chats and camaraderie, we got going at 10.00 AM with Andrew doing TEC duties.  I did note that BMW riders were by far the most incapable of interpreting a weather forecast. There were 5 BMWs among the seven which assembled for the ride.  I just went along for a welfare check and ended up riding.

Colin chose a great route.  Most motorists must have taken notice of the forecast, and we had a great traffic free run via Gruyere o Healesville and then another delightful traffic free run up Myers Creek Road to Toolangi.  Even the Melba Hwy down towards Glenburn was traffic free.  Then we had some delightful bends climbing the Kinglake-Glenburn Road.   The northerly crosswinds really kicked in as we left Kinglake and headed west.  Then it was a nice rundown the hill past the Wallaby Creek catchment area to Whittlesea where we stopped for a cuppa break and were met by Rob.

Despite all the worry about the forecast, the weather had been OK and after seeing 33 degrees down in the Yarra Valley the temperature dropped to a lovely 25 degrees up around Toolangi.  As an additional cooling measure, I wet my neck protector down with water before starting each leg of the ride – a kind of aqua cooling without the perspiration smell. 

After a relaxing break, we rode west again with a nice diversion via Darraweit Guim, bypassed Romsey to Hesket and then climbed up to and through Mt Macedon  before stopping for a café lunch in Macedon. 

Thanks Colin a great ride and route.   At this stage the heat still hadn’t become a problem and most opted of the fastest way home.  I, of course, decided to head home via Mt Macedon and had a great ride.  However, the forecast heat finally became an issue as the temperature rose above 40 degrees near Yan Yean and my fully faired bike did a good job of blasting even hotter air onto one of my legs! 

I took a couple of extra cooling and hydration breaks on the way home (including damping down some clothing – e.g dampen shirt inside mesh jacket plus my neck cooler).

I had a great day out riding and I am glad I went.