Tasmania: jumping ship

A weird ride yesterday. Set off with no food and minimum fluid, thinking a sedate 45 km with the Coffee Crawlers was the likely ride. Tucked in behind a bunch of them and we overtook the Dad's Army bunch. They had a longer ride in mind so I jumped ship, ditched the coffee boys and became a conscript. Now DA is a strange bunch, depending on who turns up. Sometimes it's a quick and hard ride but today a couple of the more distinguished members were present, so the West Antarctic Ice Sheet would probably have given us a run for our money (and I am well aware that there are plenty of faster riders who would likely give the same description of riding with me :).  

Well, we reached the DA turn around point at Winkleigh, the sun had come out, I was feeling good - so I jumped ship for the second time and kept going. After a while I reached Beaconsfield and refuelled on coffee and an apple slice at the bakery, then set off back to Lonnie along the river. Took this shot of the Batman Bridge en route.

It never looks its best at low tide, but they are oyster beds - even if eating them is not recommended

I had a bit of a tail wind down the river and made good progress, stopping at Gravelly Beach to pick up a choc bar and orange juice (they don't do sports drinks in the Gravelly Beach take away). So I go through the Legana roundabout and I'm rolling down the highway at around 45 kph when - whoosh - some guy with a backside and quads like Cancellara goes past down on the aero bars. I reckon he accelerated to make a point, so I go head down, bum up and try to catch him. No good. But God is apparently giving me his undivided attention, changing the lights to red a few km down the road to hold him up and cannily switching back to green as I approach at max speed so - whoosh - I go past as he's struggling to clip in, and open up a sizeable gap. Sad to say, it did not last. Despite operating at warp speed with all dilithium crystals engaged there is a growing blob in my sneaky bar-end mirror, and  - whoosh - he goes past for a second and final time. Too bad!

Four hours and 101 km.
http://www.strava.com/activities/143310558 

Wine

Photos from a visit earlier this year. The entrance to Craggy Range winery - the skyline forms the logo on the label

Celebrating some good tender results this evening with a 2007 Craggy Range Block 14 Syrah. New Zealand makes a lot more than the ubiquitous Sauvignon Blanc, and some of their Pinots (Martinborough, Central Otago) and Shiraz (Hawkes Bay) combine the fruit of the new world with the subtlety and complexity of the old. The Craggy Range winery is located in Havelock, Hawkes Bay, and makes several top-end, single-vineyard wines from locations throughout NZ. 'Syrah' is a name given to Shiraz that has been combined with 5 - 10% of the (white) Viognier grape in the style of the Northern Rhone. This one does not disappoint - medium weight, nicely balanced and fine tannins.

The winery and restaurant. Well worth a visit if you are in the area.