I don’t mind getting rained on while riding, but I do object to getting wet just as I leave the house! Riding to the start today was like doing a few lengths of Bright’s open air swimming pool. We were drenched just getting to the sports field. Not a good omen for the day!
But happily the rain didn’t dump on us that much the rest of the day and it wasn’t to cold either. It did however make the numerous excursions from valley to peak a lot tougher with the film of mud all along the track. The mud makes it feel as if there is something wrong with the bike – it just won’t roll decently. Of course, it never rolls uphill anyway, but you know what I mean.

Last night I popped in at the mechanics and asked them to replace my brake pads. A “professional” looked at the pads. “You’ve still got a lot there, mate. Easy get you through tomorrow and we’ll check them again in the evening.”

Ha! As I was to discover, that was not great advice  At the 50km mark on the way up Mount Whatever, my rear brakes made a loud, unhealthy ting ting ting ting noise. (Not ping you understand – that would have been the chain had it given up). Turned out that the pads were so gone, the spring clip had bent and was merrily tinging I’m the rotor! In a classic turn of events, the spare pads were on the table in our room. So we removed the pads and I was left with only the front brakes. Now this would have been bad enough but the front pads themselves had only a couple of microns of wear left! So I had to descend for the next 60km on the front brakes fearing that at any moment they would screech into oblivion and necessitate a pre-meditated visit to the bushes or worse.
As it turns out back brakes are overrated and clearly unnecessary weight. Jayson reckons I descended better without them – probably as I had to take the corners properly – no braking in the turn when you’re only stopping with the front wheel!! We finished without further incident in Porepunkah after 7h28m. And yes, we maintained our stage winning habit and were 10th overall today as well as in the GC.

A short trip back from Porepunkah to Bright and the welcoming shower at the Coach House Inn. Followed by pizza, beer and a fun activity – bike cleaning. Oh, and of course, changing those brake pads!