The morning's weather was a bit trying, probably better on the bike than sitting in the sun, but there were a few riders looking a bit hot and bothered; and an unusual number of DNFs.

It was great to have our two reigning national champions, Luke and Michael, back with us and starting some serious preparation for Ballarat in a month's time. Matt Connan was supposed to be having a day 'off – he will be when he gets home but, until then, he was enjoying his #2 ranking on today's results. The BIP mob are still shuffling around in their rankings; today it was Sofia's turn to collect the maximum points. And, although we didn't see many PBs, they were well-earned and the stand-out effort was David Gilmore's. He only decided to enter at the last minute (actually it was a bit past the 'last minute') but he was, clearly highly motivated and presumably well-rewarded with a 1.9km/h modification of his previous best – well done!

With a bit of flair, riding his travel bike with small wheels and a distinctly non-aero set-up, offset by a 55-tooth chainring, we welcomed back Paul Webb after eight years. Paul always espoused the virtues of high cadence pedalling and we might see a bit more of it as he'll be retuning to Perth regularly for a while.

Carolyn Equid took over the starter's chair today and did the job with her usual equanimity despite the start clock throwing a wobbly when a battery connection detached itself. But that's why we have back-ups for everything. Carolyn did more than stand in as starter—she'd done the course set-up with David (and, later the pack-down) and also much of the other stuff concerned with the initial organisation of the morning that usually goes unnoticed. Michael Kempe and Nicholas Connan were there to greet riders at the rego desk; Peter Vaughan and Darren Wright manned the barriers and Craig James was my caller for the back-up timing. Tony Smith fed riders across to the starter. They were a great crew; thanks to you all.