, but lots are away doing the Lake Tapue sportive in NZ and some other ride in Melbourne (These boys don't let distance stop them)6:30 am start
mainly because the leader needed to get back to open his shop and the roads are super quite and its a lot cooler. We had to travel along a main road albeit with a huge cycling hard shoulder to get to the Ku-Ring-Gai chase national park, but after about 6km we were in the national park and what a pleasure that was. I think I saw 2 cars the whole 40km loop with lots of cyclist and smooth roads 
. A amazing view at the end, but no coffee stop as they do their stops at the end 
. When in Rome and all that. Now the group wasn't particularly fast I would say a 17/18 avrg, but I was struggling after all this time out the saddle and I let the group go on as its a pretty easy loop and I couldn't get lost. A nice easy ride back taking in the splendid bush views and lovely sounds of nature. Back to base for a coffee and toasted raisin bread in what was a popular coffee shop with a few clubs using it. So all in all a good first ride with some friendly blokes and gals. Take care folks with all that ice about
