Hoot of a commute - in and out - 29/04/2011

This is just a lovely way to start the day.  The trails were in beautiful condition and the sun was shining.

Nailed this on the SS. Always a hard one. Happy.

Slow approach from the right, head left then give it to it.















I love riding the bike down the top end of Collins Street looking like this.  There was as much mud on me as there was on the bike.  Yep... I'm really just a big kid!

Thurs - 50k road bike through Lower Plenty going home.
Fri - Hoot of a commute both ways - 4hrs MTB SS

B-double - 27/04/2011

I think I'll christen today the B-double. Just coz it was a big one.

110k on the road bike before I hit the desk this morning. Horny and I ventured down with the Wednesday long group to the Two Bays loop.

I managed to pull some pretty big turns with Danny Kah on the way back resulting in a pat on the back and a "well done big fella" from the esteemed man! Always happy with that from Danny.

I backed it up with a Fatties ride tonight...


I knew Angles (Vanders) was coming so that helped motivate me to get there. Plus the opporunity to try out some new Exposure lights compliments of Cycleworks on a beautiful clear night was too much to pass up.



Not being happy with the suite of excuses I had lined up for Neil in preparation for getting flogged around Hans's Loop, I decided the best course was to rip a whole in the side of my tubeless tyre. It doesn't happen too often thankfully but when it does, it's good to have a heap of mates on hand to get you out of trouble. A tube from Jacob (since mine was knackered), a pump from Neil and a hand from Gav had me back up and running again just so I could get a flogging coming back along the Westerfolds track!

Screaming legs at cadence of about 130 on the SS behind Neil!


Vanders and I made it back to the starting point all in good shape... until he rolled off and ripped a big hole in his side-wall. Good one! No point fixing that so I dropped him off, cruised home and collapsed.

Tawonga, chocolate, birthdays and Smiths Gully - 26/04/2011

I blew out the cob-webs at Smiths Gully today with the 6am-ers. It was a worthy welcome back to Melbourne after a wonderful time in the north east.

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My last ride before leaving Porepunkah was out to the end of the misty Buckland Valley (COLD!) and back via Quins Gap to the bakery for coffee with the Bright boys on Easter Saturday.

Smithy suggested we do a bit more riding so we headed 200 metres down the road to the Sweet Retreat for coffee (still COLD!).

That gave me enough oomph to consider a few more miles so Smithy, Mark Grim and I went for a quick spin up to Tawonga Gap. The Easter weather has been kind to us and it was beautiful to roll back down to Bright in absolutely gorgeous sunshine on a crisp autumn morning. Bliss!

Since then it’s been all about chocolate, hot cross buns, easter bunnies and pancakes. And oh yeah... about that day Jesus rose from the dead having died two days before! We even went to church on Sunday morning. Here's mum doing the reading (right).

And I can't forget Karen's birthday yesterday. A fantastic day celebrating out at Weller's Restaurant in Kangaroo Ground with the fam.

Stu, Jules, Joy, Brad, me, Karen at Weller's

The kids at Weller's

So after two days of glutony, I felt the need for speed (and the expulsion of some calories). We met at 7am this morning for a tour of the Smiths Gully trails.

It's not often you see such a group on mountain bikes in uniform (except for clean-skin Smithy - I think his covert appearance had more to do with the thought that his kit would probably be going home with holes in it).

Unfortunately we only got three quarters of a Rob Roy loop in before Foggy was on his feet walking back to the shop...

... and Gus was wondering if he'd ever see his trusty Soul in the same condition again! It really was a bugger for Foggy as he was starting to get into it big time. Despite this experience - a smashed derailer and chain - he's already looking for a cheap option to get him out there again on his own machine. And the Soul is in my garage waiting for repair.

Other incidents of note came in a group of three and involved the same person...

That's right, arguably the 6am-ers best bike handler had at least three low speed crashes... at speeds of less than 5kph. WTF?!?

He's lucky we didn't have a video because they really were quite hilarious.

We missed out on meeting the road crew for coffee. They were a bit early and we were a bit late. Probably a good thing for the Smiths Gully Store but it was a nice idea and should work one day.

The trails were tacky, the weather was dry and the company was fantastic. It's something we should try to do far more often.

What a cracking Easter! Thankyou God.

A post just for my Bright mates - 22/04/2011

Soft.

Yes... Soft. Soft. Soft. That's me!

I committed to four people that I would be at the Bright bike shop at 6am this morning. My alarm went off and I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Soft.

So tomoz, 0700, that's a bit easier. See you then.

I did manage to get out tonight with my brother Tim and Guy from Bright. Three hours in total and the last on my own with lights. Love it!

Solo ride for Roger - 21/04/2011

I finished another solo night ride in Bright tonight with a visit to Roger. You can read about him here.

I stood by the big man's grave in the dark night with my monster MTB light shining on it and thought about how much he would have enjoyed what I just did. Amongst messages from his closest family, his head-stone reads...

"Gone for a ride."

I did three and a half hours solo on the mountains bike tonight through Bright, Wandiligong and surrounds. I'm not usually a loner but my solo rides up here these holidays have been super enjoyable.

It was a gorgeous day in Bright today and full of sunshine... until about 4pm - ten minutes after I left for my ride.

It poured for half hour. Slippery trails and lights from 5.30pm made for good skills training - and a mechanical at my furthest point from home required a chain break and quick-link.

Whilst still dressed in mud, a later discussion with my brother Tim and Roger's brother Guy reminded me further of how precious life (and family) is.

Rain, mud, break-downs, single track, Bright, Wandiligong - MTB. Roger would have loved it! R.I.P. mate and enjoy the ride.

Cycling with our boys - 20/04/2011

The Box Hill boys in Bright

I had been very keen on the Bright mountain bike night ride tonight. I get very excited when I'm up here on a Wednesday night but the solid rain since lunchtime put an end to the idea.

Despite that, we got a fantastic ride in with the boys today. Steve, Lochie, Jack and I headed out to the Red Stag restaurant at the deer farm near Eurobin where we met the rest of our families. It was a very pleasant 15k ride and both boys made it with ease. Champions in the making!...



A couple of quite steep pinches near the end had them both in the hurt box but Jack and Lochie pushed hard in their smallest gears with plenty of hooting and hollering from the dads! They made it to the top with smiles on their faces and plenty of energy to get around the farm.

Three stags

The rain hit shortly after this so smashing out some high threshold stuff with the Bright boys was soon off the cards.

It was a great day for our boys though and some great exposure for Cycleworks in the north east!



This is Steve saying, "Cycleworks... number one!".






This is him walking up a hill trying to look like he's doing a mono. Shhhhhhhh.......

Night riding in Bright - 18-04-2011

What a great sight to see when you return from a lone 3.5hr mountain bike ride! Thanks Kate... although I only got one piece.

Katie was very proud to have purchased this whole block of chocolate with her busking money earned in the main street of Bright. Her clarinet is coming along just fine so the coinage was flying into the case.

The last hour and a half of my ride tonight required lights. There's something very surreal about flying around the single track of Bright on your own in the dark. Turn the light off, which I did a couple of times just for fun, and you're in absolute pitch black. Something about being one with nature? Possums, wombats and other nocturnals (Wayne Wilson could have even been about!), night sounds, heavy breathing (mine) and Giants.

All in a good bush night ride.

Having recently seen the movie 127 hours, I was very pedantic about letting everyone know where I was going.

Karen and the kids knew when to start looking but I've discovered that Facebook might be the next best thing to an EPURB! Whether or not any of my "friends" would have done anything about it or not I don't know but it was worth a try!



I discovered Ritchie Road was more of a highway at the moment - rather than the 4WD track I knew as a kid - and the prep for the forest clearing had me dodging steam-rollers and graders along the way.


I was in a brief quandry at this 4-way -



- but I sucked it up and took the Magazine at an average of 18% over 1.5k or so.

Finishing of with some of the best single track in the state had me buzzing by the time I got home.

Richie Road - Tower Hill - Magazine Track - Walkers Lane - Valley View - Pine Tank track - Bakers Gully with the top loop - Huggins Lookout - Rambo bits and 6hr bits - what a ride!!

3hr MTB - geared.

I followed it up with a nice cruisy road ride today out to Harrietville with Steve Ritcho. A lovely way to be easing back into it.

65k road - geared.