Bit of mountain, bit of road - 20/03/2011

It happens to all of us at one point or another...

You could swear there's something wrong with your bike. You're on your first climb of the day and it's that bloody hard there must me something going on.

"My brakes are rubbing, my cranks are loose, my gears aren't working..."

You stop at the top; spin the wheels, wrench on the cranks, check the head-set. All okay! Well what the hell is it then?!?

Yep, biology and psychology. That's usually the answer - or it was for one 6am-er this morning. As I watched him examining his bike for some rational explanation.  I suggested he just make up his excuses so we could all get going again rather than stuff around with something that simply didn't exist.

As much as I admit this affliction has haunted me at times, it wasn't biology or psychology that attacked me yesterday out at Smiths Gully.

Half-way up a fantastic new loop, my heftiness got the better of my carbon seatpost and this was the result.

Woops! A quick wack of the bottom bit down into the frame and we were off again, albeit me sitting ten centimetres lower than normal. I looked like a true 4Xer.

Back to this morning... and it wasn't surprising that some found it hard in the 'nongs today. With 6am-ers away racing Buller and others doing a Baw Baw recon, there was a small group of five left for the normal Sunday ride. Smithy, El Mantses, Mad Mike, Foggy and I are all reasonably fit at the moment so there was no holding back.

Just after our first climb up the south side of the Thousand
Steps (Janiesleigh, Glassford, Olivette, Hughes) to One Tree Hill

We stole a few little gems from Horny's Giro ride including this joining section out the back of Monbulk which was about 1.5k of dirt (left).


Up to Monbulk via David Hill Road and then The Wall. I couldn't resist hiding behind the van again to take this matching shot of Foggy going up past the black stump.

See here for matching Horny shot, however I must admit Brad looked a bit better than Brenton did at this stage... and the wait seemed far less.



Smiths Gully

This all followed a big evening on the mountain bike last night with Mick and Tim Arch. We discovered a whole new world of single track out near Sugarloaf and had a good hard session. I did have that little problem (above) half-way through it all but we had a great three hours in beautiful weather and county-side.

Mick on the Rob Roy loop

Tim was a Smiths Gully first-timer and appreciated the thrill of it all. We're so lucky to have this kind of riding so close to us.

Charlotte at the top of Rob Roy

Tonight I'm as tired as ever and definitely need a rest day tomorrow in order to have some legs for the Hurt Box on Tuesday.

A little birdy tells me they had a great day out at Baw Baw today. What a weekend of weather for cycling. Soak it up whilst we can get it I guess!