San Remo Recreation Reserve

Everyone who is familiar with the Bass Coast Region would know that the wind always blows from the west. Always. That might have been true up to now, but today we witnessed (and experienced) the rare phenomenon of a howling gale blowing from the east. It was not only blowing from the wrong direction, but it never abated for a minute all day.

Of course this strange situation was very welcome for the first part of the ride as we were riding with the wind right behind our backs. We met at the very start of the trail on the outskirts of Wonthaggi and were soon hurtling effortlessly towards Kilcunda.

Such was the benevolence and strength of the wind that even the uphills seemed like downhills. It was almost embarrassing to be flying along with such little effort. We arrived at Kilcunda in record time and had plenty of time to enjoy the first coffees of the day.

The next section from Kilcunda to Anderson is normally a steady climb. Not today. The tailwind made sure that we were whisked to the summit before we even realised the ride had resumed.

At this point we turned southwards to ride the undulating section to San Remo. To my utter amazement, the wind still assisted us all the way. In the long history of the Ghostriders I cannot recall a morning where the wind was so helpful to us. Of course the ride was only half done. In the backs of our minds we all knew that the return ride would NOT be pleasant. And it wasn't. But that came much later in the day. First we sat down by the waterside to enjoy our lunches and watch the sea.

Finally we could delay our departure no longer and off we went. The wind immediately blew in our faces. We experienced every cyclist's worst enemy of a vicious combination of uphill and upwind. Those riders fortunate enough to ride ebikes were soon switching up the power to the highest settings, and then wishing they had a couple of even higher settings.

We fought our way slowly up the hill, finally reaching the Anderson turnoff. The wind was still in our faces all the way back to Wonthaggi. It was quite a battle, but we all made it back without mishap. (Well there was a small mishap, but we are all hoping that the blue tongue lizard was not mortally wounded when Andrea rode straight over it on the trail).

When I was safely back at Inverloch, a look in the mirror revealed a very red face looking back at me. Unfortunately it was mine. A combination of sun and windburn had left me looking like some strange Santa parody.

Tomorrow we leave the bike alone and walk the George Bass Coast Walk instead.Read more