Sunday 27 September 2009 - Ourimbah

Given that it turned out we didn't ride for some time after this one, it was fortunate that it was such a goodie!

A really cool day out riding, good company, great conditons, no mechanicals and fun, fun, fun.

Liz, Matt P (hey, he still can turn up on a xc bike!), Bob, Chris, Phil and Stephe arrived around 7.30am all prepped and ready for fun.  Paul J. turned up a minute or two later (just long enough afterwards to miss out on the group photo...).



Donal was there not long afterwards, but we managed to miss him, and he and Louis did a lap on their own.  When we did finally catch up with them, Louis had had a big 'off' and was moving sufficiently tenderly that it was agreed it might be a good thing for Donal to administer some first aid... so we set off again without their company.

No photos on the track, because we were just having fun.  Unfortunately, Bob proved that he had lost none of his training riding fitness, and managed to egg Stephe on until he finally cracked (well, it didn't turn out to be that hard, I fear), and much skin was lost on a downhill slide.  Bugger!

Liz was entirely undaunted by the boofy blokes, and showed that treadling to work is a great way to keep bike fitness in place, and Matt, Paul and Phil continued to demonstrate what legends they are (all of them taking it to Bob who was looking for the 'hard man' title of the day).  Chris appeared to enjoy himself, but hasn't been itching for a return trip, so we'll need to find out about that one in due course!



Photos are here, and the two laps (.kmz files) are here:  lap1 and lap2.

Thursday 24 September 2009 - Manly Dam

A cheeky morning ride, with Pete joining NicMcVic and Stephe for his first ride out.

It was a great morning for it, and Pete managed to learn stacks in a very short period. We went back over anything that was challenging, fun or a learning experience, and probably set a new record for longest time on a Manly Dam lap - 95mins for the 10kms (thank goodness Nic had already managed to pull off a quick lap before we arrived!).

The photos are below, and the track (.kmz) is here.

Sunday 20 September 2009 - Mooney (short)

It was one of those days... beautiful, excellent mountain biking weather, bikes in perfect condition and filled with much promise.

But, by the time Doug and Stephe had made it to the water towers, we were each more than satisfied to call it a day and head back on home.

Not sure why (and, as the photos prove, it was beautiful out there), but - for example - having started off feeling strong, and with a clear and dry track both Doug and Stephe had made a couple of dabs barely one third of the way through the climb from the dam to the top.  After that, it was a case of seeing if it was possible just to do a 100m or more without a dab.



Ah well, the fact that Mooney is a cruel task master is nothing new to us I suppose - one for a reprise when we're feeling stronger.

The gps plot (.kmz) is here (less than 20kms in almost three hours, hmmmmm), and the limited photos are here.

Sunday 13 September 2009 - Appin

At Paul's urging, we decided to revisit Appin, and it was a great day to do so!

Chris, Hamish and Stephe met Paul at Appin at around 7.30am - it was already getting warm, but not too bad, and the sky was a beautiful blue colour.

Chris started with the entertaining stretching exercises for which he is rapidly becoming famous, but proved what a good idea they are by 'getting on with it' when he jumped on the bike shortly afterwards.



Hamish, on his first ride out with us and one of his first off road, looked every bit a road bike rider, but performed with admirable skill and confidence on the day - a few tentative moments, followed on the second lap with a few more aggressive moments, followed by a (some might say inevitable) OTB incident (no photos I'm afraid - and fortunately, just a bit sore and sorry, and nothing more serious).



Chris meanwhile was aggressively chasing Paul around the loop until the second lap, when he discovered he had lost a screw from the cleat on one shoe - so we missed him for the balance of the lap. Paul, of course, remained on fire, as always...



A great morning for a (relatively short - 18kms) ride, and an excellent start to the day (even if we weren't back to Middle Cove until 11am...).

Full set of photos (missing Doug's skill and care) are up here, and the .kmz gps plot of the track is here.

Sunday 6 September 2009 - Menai

Abandoned callously by the regular crew, Stephe was fortunate enough to be joined by Bob for a short, sharp Menai ride.

It was (after some technical trouble at the outset with Stephe's front wheel!) a blast.

Unfortunately, it turned out that Bob is a very capable rider, which meant that there were few opportunities for sitting back, relaxing and pretending not to be having a shortness of breath induced heart attack. But that did make it much fun... No photos (for the same reasons). We do need Doug back...

Standard Menai lap (the gps plot (.kmz here) credits us with quite a few more kilometres travelled than actually was the case), but it was a glorious day, and track was a bit torn up by dirt bikes, but still fantastic fun.

Was good. Life good. Home by 10.30am (indeed, I think we beat the sad road boys home!).

Wednesday 2 September 2009 - Hunters Hill

A good ride on a beautiful day...

Having managed to kick off the day's other activities early, to allow for a quick ride in the middle (before getting noses back to the grindstone!), Chris and Stephe escaped for a short, sharp ride. We left from Middle Cove, down to Lane Cove, along the river, across the M2, up to Hunters Hill (with a quick detour into Joeys to say G'day), then stopped for a short coffee / donut. Then back up Burns Bay Road, down behind the industrial parks and back along the river to the golf course and Chatswood. Where Chris' tyre blew out and we discovered just how shredded it had become...

[note to others: walking all the NPWS areas, of course]

Generally, it was fun, although Chris may have a slightly different take on it... But, good for clearing the cobwebs and making for a more productive latter part of the day.

No photos (the more amusing of which would be censored by Chris anyway, given that occasionally he was upside down), but the tracks are here - part 1 (to Hunters Hill, 16.5kms) and part 2 (the return journey, 10kms).