Glorious Ettalong

By Tuesday we were already onto talking about the pork and fennel sausage roll, which tells you where the priorities sit. Someone asked whether we are stopping at Brooklyn. Are we stopping there? We are always stopping there. The roll call took its usual shape from there. Gav was in, though already working out whether he could ride back in time to make work, which is the kind of maths that only ever goes one way. Simon was hesitant from the start and looking for excuses. He has no job at the moment, so I was genuinely interested to see what he came up with. Last time his wife was away; this time it turned out to be her birthday at the weekend, and by midweek he was out, on party preparation duty. Frank was all smiles and going the whole way. Swerlo, a stalwart, confirmed early, because he missed out on Berry a fortnight ago and this was his redemption ride. Nick checked the target finish time, decided it worked, and came out of indoor winter training for it. Swerlo, meanwhile, checked the Brooklyn cafe opening time, which told me we have not been up there recently enough. He also took the day off properly: leave booked, team told he would not be contactable, the whole day planned around being on the bike.

All three MC x Vuelta jersey holders were on the ride, and the mood was noticeably different now the comp is over. Three weeks of watching each other’s numbers, and here they all were riding together with nothing at stake. Somebody suggested a podium photo, so we arranged one.

The forecast said cold, so everyone dressed for cold. Nick got undressed. He had not been outside all winter, having spent the cold months indoors where the temperature is whatever you set it to, and standing at the park before we rolled out he decided he was going to overheat. Off came the base layer, left at the park for collection later. Jeff, fully dressed and entirely unbothered, declared he could sit on the front all day, a claim nobody asked him to make and nobody stopped him from testing.

Brooklyn was where the day split. Over the sausage rolls Swerlo observed that his colleagues would be glad he was out here and not at work, where he would have spent the day telling them about great moments in Swans history. He also wondered aloud whether he had brought his seasickness tablets, which was strange, because he is always prepared. Then Gav and Frank took the train home, Gav online by the time he sat down, the ride-back-in-time-for-work plan quietly abandoned somewhere between the sausage roll and the platform.

Four of us carried on into the best part of the day. The roads north are the reason you do this ride: stunning country, almost no traffic, and the back road past Kariong rather than the highway, which was the right call and always is. We made good time to Ettalong, but not quite enough to sit down, so we took our food with us from the cafe and made the 10:50, which was a few minutes late after all. That left the four of us standing in the queue eating lunch among the seniors heading over to Palm Beach for the day, where Swerlo popped a few seasickness tablets and washed them down with coconut water.

Then we were across and straight back into it, and the whole point of getting the timing right is exactly that: you land at Palm Beach already fed and you roll. By now it had warmed up and the long sleeves were being tested. Nick’s view was that this was simply a good strategy for getting to race weight. We were pushing to be home by 1330 so he could make a call, and in the end he peeled off at Manly and took it from the ferry, which is either good planning or proof that this loop will always find you a way out. He made all three of his afternoon meetings and spent the rest of the day hunting for a window to nap before the Swans game tonight.

Swerlo cramped on the run south, so we stopped at a servo for Swerlo’s magical coconut water, and then onward we rolled. Home by 1400, which left just enough of the day for him to curl up on the lounge with classic Swans replays before the real thing that night. Perfect conditions, perfect timing, and nothing got in our way. After the last one, we will take it.

At a glance

• Distance: 170 km, including the ferry
• Mechanicals: 0
• Pork and fennel sausage rolls: 3
• Route: MCV: Ettalong
• Home by: 1400