A quick summary

Not so in touch on-line whilst on holidays.

I hit The Hell Ride on Saturday for the first time in many years. Plenty of 6am-er/Cycleworks time on the front on the return trip. It was 30 degrees by 0900hrs though and I reckon I suffered from that for a few days.

Up to Bright last Sunday then both sides of Tawonga with Kel Boers on Monday arvo. We copped an unbelievably heavy storm half way up the Kiewa side on the way home that didn't stop til half way down to Bright.

It was that heavy and wet that we might as well have jumped in the river. We got home to find it hadn't even rained!

Three hours of Bright MTB trails with Brendon last night had me gasping. Kel had warned me he was fit but I figured we'd be going for a pretty flat, light cruise with Brendon on his single speed.

I was very misunderstood. I reckon we climbed at least 1500m in that 3 hours and covered nearly all the Bright single track.

The last few days it hasn't helped that I'm virtually starving myself in order to loose a few k for the Alpine - oh, and this on Sunday -

http://www.alpineassault.com.au/ I couldn't resist the temptation.

A very sad angle to this week though. A strong and entrenched member of the riding community up here passed away last night after getting very sick just before Christmas.

Many of the trails ridden by Brendon and I last night were cleared by Roger (Packham) and his brother Guy in recent weeks. Today Roger's gone... just amazing.

Some of you may know Guy as the fella that runs the gift shop near the lolly shop in Bright (Duke you spoke to him recently). Both are top guys to spend time with and very fit and skilled mountain bike riders. A great loss.

Smith's Gully - North Road

I wondered why I had a bit of a creak and a groan in the cranks at the end of our Smith's Gully ride yesterday...



2 hours on the mountain bikes with Gus, Angles and Bruce yesterday.

North Road Thursday bunch this morning with Heath.

'Queen' of motivation - greatest hits

I thought this morning I'm gunna have myself a real good time (Queen - Don't stop me now - 1979) so I headed out to Smith's Gully for some lone laps of the Rob Roy loop. Some serious music was required in order to get me fired up after a big day yesterday.

Queen's Greatest Hits - remastered. That'll do it.

The legs were screaming but I was still absolutely appreciating where I was. Beautiful Australian bush so close to home and fantastic flowing single track.

Is this the real life?
Is this just fantasy?
Caught in a screaming technical descent,
No escape from reality. (Bohemian Rhapsody - 1975)

On my second loop of three I was flowing down the eastern side of the spur having an absolute ball when I get...

Don't stop me now I'm having such a good time
I'm having a ball don't stop me now
If you wanna have a good time just give me a call
Don't stop me now ('Cause I'm having a good time)
Don't stop me now (Yes I'm having a good time)
I don't want to stop at all (Don't stop me now - 1979)

- so I did another couple of loops. This track is awesome but there's one particular section that gets me every time -

Scaramouche, Scaramouche, I did the Fandango but survived. (Bohemian Rhapsody - 1975)

I finished with a coffee and muffin at my favourite general store.

When I got home to Karen, I tried this on -

I want to ride my bicycle 
I want to ride my bike 
I want to ride my bicycle 
I want to ride it where I like    (Bicycle Race - 1975)

- but it didn't quite work for some reason.

In my defence what is there to say
All the mistakes we made must be faced today 
It's not easy now knowing where to start
But you gotta admit it's pretty good for my heart.      (In my defence - 1992)  

And yes... if you're wondering, I do go a bit mad when I ride on my own.

Always look on the bike side of life

Everyone likes a good ride to have a bit of everything. But at the end of today's riding feast most 6am-ers had pretty much had enough of everything.

That's not to put a negative spin on things, it's just that our late return through Bunnings traffic was the bit we didn't need (despite it being absolutely hilarious watching Horny suffer to the attacks of a number of other riders through the last few kilometres!!).

Even at Mitcham Brave was smashing it, Shawie was surviving, Bandit was satisfied, Duke was happy to have his man-cranks reinstalled, Smithy was home in bed, El Mantes was laughing (at Horny), Mist was doing his best attack impressions, Heath was off the back and two hours from home, the Autobus still had 20k to go, Bandit was in agony, Horny was swearing at Brave and I was still feeling pretty good.

All round fantastic day really.

We started the day with 18 riders this morning and the Melbourne weather put on a pretty good show. Most of us headed out to the Panton Gap loop whilst Murph lead a small group through a ride closer to the Nongs.

Our cruise out through Dairy Road and Don Valley was gorgeous. So much so that I had to resort to serious verbal abuse to get the rolling laughing bunch moving at the bottom of the Don Road climb. It worked.

We hit the climb hard and the gravel from the bridge saw some serious 6am-er power. A lovely climb with El Mantes taking line honours followed by me, The Mist and Horny full of excuses. Actually, Brenton and I rode the whole climb together with both of us attempting repeated attacks against the other in a force of wills. Neither of us won until I psyched him out by telling him his frame had a crack in it.

Top of Panton Gap

Shortly after the above photo was taken, Bender was thanking his descendents. If it wasn't for that painful insistance from mum, things may have been just a little bit different...

The Invention

The Benefit

The Scene

A very lucky Bender and a very timely reminder that we need to be super careful out there. Bad luck mate but thank God you managed to survive with relatively minor injury and damage (although I'd love to see you share a photo of that beautiful brand-new phone!).

Our longer recovery coffee in Healsville hampered by three punctures on the way home meant we were back much later than normal. That clearly didn't prevent the repeated attacks through the hills of Croydon, Ringwood, Mitcham and Bunningsville. What a hoot!

And The Mist still managed to ride down to Red Hill for lunch today. I bet he didn't have a beer.

Just remember guys - never knock back a Slurpy after a smashing ride...

- and -

"Always look on the bike side of life!"

And Horny, this is for you...

Unusual Friday morning

Friday morning was a super hard 6am-er smashfest in the nongs.

Five of us for Hughes, One-Tree, Perrins, Crescent, Sherbrook - super intense but super-fun.

Not so productive for the rest of the day!

Fatties and 11 year old killers

Had a ball with the Fatties bunch last night. I had not really planned to go considering my previous two hard days but Neil's SMS's through the day got me all interested. Very happy with how the legs and heart performed in the circumstances.

The night was a gorgeous one and I enjoyed introducing Gus to the boys... and the Fatties style of riding. I think he learnt a lot about himself!


Neil describes his p-o-v here with a very inaccurate statement about losing his desire to attack or chase. Throughout this period of no desire I distinctly remember chasing his wheel with my heart in my throat as we screamed along the Westerfolds trails at 45+. No desire my arse!

Tonight on my rest day, my son talked me into going for a run with him. Something I'm clearly not built for. What I conceded to (a coupla k) turned into about six and I'm now in agony.

Too old. Too big. My 11 year old had it all over me.

2 days, 280 ks hard...

... but very tired.

Time to set the Alpine and Odyssey goals:

• Alpine Classic 200k - time to beat all things being equal - 6 hrs 52 min

• Otway Odyssey - time to beat all things being equal - 5 hrs 52 min

Only way to do it is maintain the same as current strength and lose weight.

Must be down to 97 by 20th Jan... we'll see.