The closer we got to Gidge, the more easterly the breeze became; but the damage had been done for some of us. It was just a little unstable on the bike at times - possibly more so for some than others, but no one was mentioning any advantage they may have gained from it!

Back from a pretty successful Herald-Sun Tour where he was climbing hills with some of the best of them, Michael Storer put the experience to its best use. Gravity has been in the news a bit recently but Michael showed his disdain for its effects while Matty Burton, perhaps showing some grudging respect for it, conceded sixteen seconds to the young bloke. This of course exactly reversed the advantage that Matt had built up in the previous 39km. Neverthless both of them delivered personal bests and Michael gets to look after the Mark Webb trophy for another year. He's got used to it in his bedroom, he reckons; fair 'nuff. There was more rivalry involved in the next two overall placings: this time TT-neophyte, Lewis Keightley gained a 2sec advantage over ever-improving Master, Colin Rose although Colin had no problem claiming the Standards award.

Emma gets to see her name engraved on the Women's trophy for a fifth time, easily leading another well-represented women's field that collected a third of the PBs. The gap to the second fastest girl could have been somewhat less, probably, if Sofia Erhard had not been let down (more-or-less literally, it seems) by her bike: saddle problems, firstly.

In fact, Emma was the first rider home today but Lorraine, sitting at the timer's hutch had quite a wait, almost ten minutes, for the second rider to return; after that there was a fairly orderly procession. The logistics of this event can be a bit hectic but an efficient team of helpers smooths things pretty nicely: Carolyn Equid met Terri Usher in early morning Toodyay to set up the rego desk; team-manager, Jeff was there too, of course. Troy towed the trailer, signing the course on the way, did a stint as today's starter and then followed the field home as the 'sag wagon', de-signing on the way. We'd left Alex Cairnduff to look after things at Gidge. When the 'de-rego' desk could be set up again in the Gidge-gazebo, Alex was able to be the voice to alert Lorraine to riders approaching; John Andrews checked riders through the intermediate timing point at the base of 'Llttle Gidge', 5km out from 'home'. Alex Mahoney was out on course, collecting images. Appreciate her work on FB (that's like saying 'like' but more so)

This event is now part of the Hilly Classics series; hence: the appearance of Hilly points in the results table.
Twenty times we've done this ride as a tribute to Mark Webb; it's a classic in its own right.