A Munda Biddy Sampler

The Great Cycle Challenge rolls on despite a work trip getting in the way. Actually, this time around a work trip helped facilitate some more riding. You see, while it was nice and dry here in Perth, it has been quite wet at home which would have put the brakes on my challenge odometer had I been at home.

The day started with a pleasant ride out East from near the Perth CBD.  As I have mentioned in the past, Perth has some great cycling infrastructure with dual lane paths snaking all over the city. I followed one of these East toward the airport, occasionally taking to various back streets to get out to Midlands.

Ascot Racecourse

I had made a last minute decision to take the bike on this trip so had no pre-prepared navigation notes to follow, just a sketchy memory of which way to go. The sketchy memory came through for me with an "almost" flawless ride out to Midland and beyond to Bellevue and the start of the Heritage Rail Trail.

I have done this trail several times now so just got stuck in with climbing the range.

Darlington station

My aim was to get to Mundaring then make a decision on weather to keep heading East along the Kep Track to Northam or to turn South and sample some of the famous Munda Biddy Track.

The Munda Biddy runs from Mundaring all the way to Albany, 1000km (621mi) away on the south coast of Western Australia.

I did have a .gpx file to follow out to Northam on the Kep, but nothing at all for the Munda Biddy. Ah well, sometimes you have to live on the edge. The Munda Biddy it was going to be!!

I had a rough idea of riding down to Jarrahdale. Rough in that I knew it was south along the track but I had no idea whether it was 80km or 120km away. I also had no idea of the surface conditions and must admit I was thinking it must be like the awesome surface of the rail trail. FAIL on that one!! I did look at Trailforks and found one ride from Mundaring to Brookton Highway - quite a way from Jarrahdale - that quoted 46km. This was going to be a solid day but on the plus side, I did have ALL day! (plus lights)

Decision made, I quickly pulled into Woolies for some snacks and sustenance to keep me powering along for however long I needed to......


Did I mention it was a cracking bluebird day at about 20C(68F) and just a perfect day to be riding? Well it was! And even better, being a work trip, technically I was being paid to do this stuff....... ;) happy days!

Trail Marker Number 1

Anyway, I pushed off toward Mundaring Weir and the Weir Hotel. The track took quite a few twists and turns along here and all I had to go by were the Munda Biddy Trail blazes.

This turn obviously gets missed a bit!

Being on the CX bike I was smoking along and as a result I shot past about 6 or 8 corners. This was going to be a long day if I kept missing turns like this!

Anyway, after getting very good at feet up u-turns on gravel I was soon enough standing outside the Mundaring Weir Hotel. My neighbour, Chris, just happened to call and I was able to brag about where I was (Chris did a few years in Perth so appreciated where I was).

A little bit of  blacktop and I was back onto the dirt, looking for the yellow trail blazes. They eventually became easier to find and once I was past the maze of singletrack that is just South of Mundaring Weir they actually became very easy to spot and progress increased markedly. The trail also criss-crossed the Bibbulman Track a few times. It looked superb but alas, it is a walking only trail.

Progress increased, apart from the few hills that I had to get off and walk up as a combination of high gearing, skinny tyres and loose surface made it just not worthwhile hurting too much.

I don't want to bang on about it as every other article written about the Munda Biddy devotes many words to it but I must make mention of the loose gravel/sand (Pea Gravel) that is quite widespread, especially on downhill corners. I was running 35mm tyres at 60psi. Always going to be sketchy.

A very good section.

 While I did have 8-10 "oh shit" moments where I thought the front was folded and gone, the Sammy Slicks I was running seemed to grip on their side knobs and right me at the last moment. It certainly made it tougher but in no way was it terribly difficult to navigate. There, Pea Gravel done. Lets not speak of it again.

I pedaled on.and on.......and...on. I couldn't beleive how isolated it felt being on the trail, even though I was probably not at any time more than 50 odd kilometres from Perth city. I didn't see another soul all afternoon, apart from the two road crossings where cars were whizzing by at what looked like warp speed after my ant like progress through the twists and turns of the Munda Biddy.

I made a point of not looking at the distance measured on my GPS as I find this always underwhelms me. You know, you think you have done 100 miles and really you have only done 15.......anyway, I eventually came to Brookton Highway which I knew from my look at Trailforks in Mundaring was 46km away. Shit. 46km? That was tougher than it should have been!

Here I found a fly in the ointment of my Southward progress. There had been a controlled burn conducted in the last few days and it was still smoldering in places, so the trail was closed. There was a gravel road alternate which navigated around the burn. While I was a bit bummed, on the other hand I was down to about 200ml (6oz) of water with no prospect of getting a top up before Jarrahdale - however far that was away......

The dirt road was very wide and consisted of red gravel. It was quite smooth and it reminded me very much of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

This is a massive state but the soil seems to be the same from top to bottom. I soft pedalled along this 19km diversion so as not to increase my thirst. I was thankful it was quite a cool day and my water consumption was low as a result.

I could see an area called Gleneagle on my GPS and was hoping that there might be a small town or shop there. There wasn't.

There was a campground which was pretty bloody grubby with rubbish everywhere-too close to the Albany highway-and no campers, whom I was hoping to cadge some water from. :(

Looking at the GPS I could see the Munda Biddy snaking around to the East before swinging back toward Jarrahdale. It crossed a sealed road, a sealed road that went straight into Jarrahdale. Being about 4pm I decided to just roll along the seal as I wasn't really sure what I would find in Jarrahdale. Yeah, yeah, do your research, I know....but this was spur of the moment and you have got to live on the edge occasionally!

I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was only 14km to Jarrahdale as it looked further on my 1 3/4" GPS screen. It proved to be a rather pleasant roll into town although apparently I did miss some really nice sections of the trail that ran through an old P.O.W. camp and along an elevated ex railway. Oh well, next time.

50ml left....and I hadn't really drank for 2 hours.....

Once in Jarrahdale I quickly found the general store and went mad in the fridge, emerging to sit in the late afternoon sun with water, chocolate milk, chicken sandwich, fruit cake etc.......and settled into it.

Food and lodging - both top notch!

Sitting at the table next to me were two guys I took to be hikers. Chatting, it quickly emerged that they were from Victoria and doing an End to End of the Munda Biddy on bikes. We chatted away for a bit when I learned that the general store also had a B & B upstairs. For a modest price I could get a room with continental breakfast. I could also have dinner in the Jarrahdale Tavern with my newly found friends. SOLD!

Jarrahdale Tavern - the photo does not do it justice.

After draining the Jarrahdale water supply in the shower (did I mention it was getting cold now?) I doused myself in deodorant (only travelling with my now stinky riding gear)  and wandered down to the Tavern for dinner. Dave and Ross turned out to be brothers from Bright and Ballarat in Victoria and were taking 3 weeks to do the Munda Biddy. We enjoyed a great meal, even better beers and discussed all things mtbing for quite a while. Well, until about 7:30, when we all decided we were stuffed and elected to turn in for the night.

The stats for the day were -

Day 2

I was up early the next morning and tucked into the continental breakfast my hosts had left out. I wanted to be on the road early to beat the traffic and to give myself plenty of time to get back to the hotel as I would be more or less following my nose. 

I headed out of town and turned right onto Nettleton Road as instructed by Jim, the owner of the Jarrahdale Bed and Breakfast/Store who promised me that it was a nice quiet road with not much climbing. Thankfully he was bang on the money with only a half dozen cars passing me on the entire road and what hills there were, were very gentle.

When I finally met the South Western Highway at Byford I was instantly back in the bustle of a city with cars whizzing along the road and it took a few minutes before a break large enough for me to safely cross the highway emerged. Talk about leaving a time warp! Yuk!

Most of the rest of the morning consisted of battling ever increasing morning traffic which is the same as traffic in any major city - just bloody awful. There were flashes of brilliance when I would find one of Perth's great bike paths but these tended to petre out into nothing, then I was back on the road, dodging idiots who should have got out of bed just 5 minutes earlier.

I eventually found my regular river loop bike path and trundled along the Swan River and around to a cafe' that I like to frequent when in Perth and in possession of a bike. The Bayside Kitchen is a great location to kick back and watch the water. As a bonus they do awesome food and coffee too!

From here I ambled back around the river with no particular goal in mind. It was too early to head back to the hotel and the riding was too easy on the flat bike path not to keep riding, so I did keep rolling around the place soaking up the glorious day.

Eventually doing nothing in particular got the better of me and I went back to the hotel to prepare for work that night. All in all, a great morning on the bike that felt soooo easy yet yielded 86km(53mi) for the tally.

So, at Thursday lunchtime - Day 12 - I sat at 737km(457mi) for the month. I might not quite make my self imposed 14 day/1000km but it will not be far off.

 Is 2000km for October still possible? 

Time for a controlled burn........

Cheers and thanks for checking in.

Great Cycle Challenge - The Rest Of The First Week

WEEK 1

Ok, just a quick bulk update from the first week of my Great Cycle Challenge.

Everyone should be up to speed with Day 1 as per my previous post.

Day 2 

was a gentle recovery ride which found me trying to find the flattest possible route because I didn't want to climb any hills after Day 1! 

203km on Day 1, no flats. About 5 minutes after the above photo was taken,

10.5km into Day 2, pffffttt-flat! Maaannn!! 

The rest of Day 2 was a bit wet and very gentle.

Day 3 

was a day to cover some kilometres as I was about to head off to work for four days, with almost no opportunity to ride. I managed to bang out 65km (40mi) which is two days worth of riding. Not bad as I was still feeling Day 1's effects.

Chillertek rang for a chat about 15 seconds after I took the above photo so I had a nice chat to him while pedalling along the waterfront!

To cap Day 3 off, I added a new steed to my stable! Woo Hoo!! 

Yup, going fat-ish with 3.0 rubber and staying with the Lefty. That makes two Leftys in my stable now, which reminds me that I must update my "My Rides" page as it has changed significantly in the last few months.

Day 4

Day 4 was a "rest" day mostly spent in Sydney with a little work tacked on from mid afternoon.

Day 5 

I actually managed to find a cheap flat bar hybrid bike that I was able to pedal south along the Gold Coast on a crackingly stunning Spring day. Not too hot but warm enough to see plenty of beach goers out enjoying themselves.

I managed 52km which is almost two days worth of riding. Not bad for time away from home.

Day 6

was a full day at work with no prospect of any pedalling. This was fine as I need to be a bit careful and give myself some rest days. I don't want to end up overtrained and sick or worse still, unmotivated!

Day 7

was an early start for a ride with the kids and a good mate and his keen young fella. I got a first ride on the new Cannondale and spent the ride quietly noting things that would need adjusting/changing. I must say, this is a normal process with any new bike I buy and overall I was pleased with how the 3 inch tyres felt and handled. I will give some more thoughts on the "Beast" once I get it more sorted. Another 30km in the bank today.

Week 2

Day 1 of Week 2 started out early again, this time with a gravel grinding loop around the south eastern area of Brisbane's bushlands, which are quite substantial. I was accompanied by a couple of mates who were keen to check out some of the trails they hadn't seen before.

We didn't get far (like 500m) before we had our first puncture of the day. Cyclocross tyres and rocks can be a hazardous combination as Josh found out. His only spare tube used already with another 64-ish kilometres to go......

The ride threw up a little of everything from the singletrack above, to open fire trail below...

To hike-a-bike route finding......

Unfortunatley, it seemed to be a day that orange bikes suffered from rapidly deflating tyres with our second flat (well, sort of flat. The Stan's sealed the hole but it just needed topping up with air) of the day at about the 36km mark. Thankfully, that was the last for the day with my 60psi Sammy Slicks going on to record zero punctures despite copping a caning at times.

That sees me sitting on 444.5km(276mi) on Day 8 of the challenge. I might go close to knocking out a kilometre-for-dollar ratio of 1 at this rate......that is unless the dollars begin to flow in again.......

Thanks for checking in.

Cheers.

Blacksheep Global Man Ride

Sunday was Day 1 of my Great Cycle Challenge and also coincided with the Blacksheep Clothing Global Man Ride, a ride to help raise awareness for men's mental health. It was taking place in 9 locations around the world and consisted of a 200km (125mi) loop with 2000 to 4000m (6500 to 13000') of climbing in each country.

And this is somehow meant to improve mental health I hear you ask?!?
Well, there is something about challenging yourself physically but really a ride such as the Man Ride is more of a mental challenge. Having a big group of like minded lunatics...er riders around you, bantering and joking away is a great way to meet new people and cut through many normal social barriers. There isn't time, nor energy to be too guarded when you are physically and mentally in the hurt box so a ride like this can be a great tool to get people talking about men's mental health in general and hopefully get guys who are struggling, to reach out for help.

I heard about the ride on Friday afternoon and rolled up at 6am Sunday for the ride. 200km off the couch? No problems..........

Registering at Blacksheep Cycling in Helen Street Teneriffe saw me needing to push through a huge crowd of riders to get to the paperwork. Coffee and pastries were flying out the door but I must admit, I was a bit too nervous to partake. You see, I am not much of a roady. Actually, I am not a roady at all. I am just a guy that happens to own a road bike who rides it with a few mates who aren't roadys either. That means I don't know the roady ettiquette for pretty much anything.
Not sock height.
Not kit selection.
Not wheel size.
My legs are scarily hairy, a dead giveaway from 50 yards but maybe everyone was keeping eyes above waist level today because they let me tag along!

It was pleasing to see quite a few ladies along for the ride as well with a smattering spread across each of the 5 ride groups. I was entered in Group 4 which was a 30km/h (19mph) group. This sounded fair as I can hold 30km/h on my solo rides and while it is much easier when you are hiding from the wind in a group, how would 30km/h feel after 180km?
Well, there was only one way to find out.

Just after 6:30 we found ourselves rolling out, following a couple of designated ride leaders (and wind breakers- no, not that kind of wind breaking!) and falling into a two abreast snake of twenty-odd riders.

The roads were very quiet being early on a Sunday morning which was nice as we were riding some normally busy inner city streets to get to the always enjoyable Boondall Wetlands bike path.

We fairly roared along in a large group and were on the bikeway in no time. Yep, we were dodging walkers, riders and little kids wobbling all over the track on their bikes but we managed not to clean any of them up (somehow!) and emerged from the bike path to cruise along the Esplanade at Sandgate.

Our one and only flat tyre of the group happened just a few minutes before the first stop of the day with the guy I was riding next to being the victim. I stopped with him while he quickly changed his tube then we smashed it the 3 kilometres to the Anchorage Bakery Cafe in Newport.

Here we caught Group 3 just about to head out. After a short but effective stop, we headed back out. I wasn't really sure where we were but trusted the ride leaders as we wound our way around the roads of the Pine Rivers shire.

We eventually left the built up areas and found ourselves on some more rural roads. These roads started to roll over a few small hills and I was beginning to "feel" my legs. I had deliberately not checked my GPS for a few hours now as once you start watching the kilometres tick over you are invariably disappointed with your progress and become more concerned that you 'aint gonna make it! So, when I began to feel my legs I knew we must be around the 100km mark but I still wasn't looking at the GPS.

Sure enough, we crested one last hill then rolled into the tiny town of Wamuran  for another assault on a bakery which I had overheard earlier in the day was at the 110km(68mi) point. Here we again overlapped with Group 3, so 50 odd hungry and thirsty riders decended like a plague of locusts on their refrigerated drinks. The 'fridge was almost bare by the time I got to it. I wonder how Group 5 went as they rolled in just as we were rolling out?

Now shit was getting real! We had to climb Campbell's Pocket Road which was the BIG climb of the day up to Mount Mee. Pretty much a 370m(1200ft) climb over just 7km(4.3mi). Not too tricky on a mountain bike but with road bike gearing my legs were screaming at me for about an hour and twenty minutes......needless to say, this blew the group completely to smithereens as each rider settled into his or her acceptable level of pain and grovelled on.

How sweet was that stop at Mt Mee? I was really starting to think "I might not make this thing" as I hungrily dived into my musette bag that the support vehicle had dropped off for us. How embarrassing would that be though? Giving myself a small uppercut and stirring some concrete into my bottle I reminded myself that the drop OFF Mt Mee is pretty good and I would be able to "wing" this thing.....at least until the Dayboro bakery stop.......

After this short break I felt better and was able to fall into a rhythm climbing the last 50m or so before the descent into Dayboro began. This descent was too fast to do anything but hold on as I personally got up to 63km/h. Plenty fast enough when you only have 1" wide rubber and some skin tight clothes on.

The Dayboro bakery was a welcome sight on many a dirt bike ride and so it proved to be today as I dismounted into a half trot, straight up the the pie warmer, where I took possesion of a lovely little sausage roll and coffee milk. This lasted just long enough for me to get a photo then 2.83 seconds later it was gone!

The aches were starting to manifest themselves now. Sore feet, sore toes, sore arms, sore back, sore hands, sore butt, dry eyes...the list went on. I still had not looked at my GPS but was hoping that we were into the last 50 kilometres by now.

Rolling out of Dayboro we were pushing into a strong headwind and even being tucked into the group I could feel it's evil hands at work, holding me back. Luckily, we had taken a wrong turn and needed to backtrack meaning that wind was pushing us back. Sweet! We soon turned up a road that reared up over a short but steep hill and this set the tone for the next 30-40 minutes. My legs were NOT happy at all!

Many, many rolling hills ensued and I did my best to hold onto the bunch. I kept finding myself near the back and for non road riders you have no idea how hard it is to hold onto the back of the group as it surges and ebbs along. One second you are grinding for all you are worth to stay in the slipstream, the next you are feathering the brakes to stop from running up the back of the rider 4" in front. This is very draining stuff, especially after 150+km.

We eventually got back into the city of Brisbane to be met with dark skies and the threat of rain. After three months of zero rainfall I would have been happy for the skies to open up on us but we were lucky enough to have it at least hold off until we were almost back to the start/finish line at Blacksheep.

Whew!!
That was one tough day out in the saddle!
To congratulate/commiserate, the awesome Blacksheep crew were handing out icy cold beers made in the Green Beacon brewery across the street. Dave W thrust one into my hand and with the ice dripping off it I just had to get a photo. Shame I was so shagged that I took a pic of the back of the can........ :(

I must thank Dave W (a fellow Tour Divide 2015 racer and finisher) for getting me off my butt and onto my road bike for what was a very enjoyable day in the saddle. Stats for the day were 203km(126mi) with 2180m(7150ft) of climbing. 

This was a great way to start my Great Cycle Challenge off and I hope to totally smash the distance this October to be worthy of the donations that everyone have very kindly made so far.

Thanks for checking in. Lots more rides to come this October.....

A Month Of Pedalling Beckons

Hi folks.
 As usual, my posting rate is dismally low. In my defence it is not due to lack of stuff going on but lack of time to share it. As evidence, some pics from the last few months....

However, I can give you a view into the future with my plan for October. It has been 4 years since I last signed up but I decided it was time to add some purpose and challenge to my cycling again. Yes dear reader, I have added my name to the list of riders in the Great Cycle Challenge. The aim of the challenge is to gain sponsorship to raise money for research into finding a cure for kids cancer. Which cancer? Well, all of them because they all suck!

I have nominated to ride 1000 kilometres in October, as I did in 2013. That is 32km(18mi) each and every day of the month. I know it can be done but riding 1000km is never an easy task so I hope I am up to the challenge this time around.

I plan on getting off on the right foot (or pedal) from the get-go. I have been roped into riding in the Blacksheep Man Ride tomorrow. The Man Ride has it's own honorable cause so I will be a double cause and hopefully a double century rider by tomorrow evening.

Roadside nutrition...

If anyone can spare a few dollars (fully tax deductible for us Aussie tax mules....er..payers)  then please head over to my Great Cycle Challenge page.

I will be trying to keep the blogger ball rolling for the month so that I can keep everyone up to date with my progress, so keep checkin' in.

Thanks in advance.

Updating Some Motorcycle Gear

While it is true that I don't get out on the motorcycle anywhere near enough I thought it was time to delete another excuse not to ride it. 

You see, if I want to go for a quick spin it is too hard to gear up, get the bike out and head off. If I take the car I am half way to my destination before I would even be leaving with the motorcycle. My main bugbear to using it more is footwear. I don't like wearing my full boots to go for a quick spin but I hate wearing my elastic sided work boot as well. They equal zero protection in the event of a spill.

The solution? Well, it is to buy some lightweight motorcycle boots that will give me some protection yet be easy to slip on and get out the door. A quick trip to 100% Bikes Accessory Warehouse which is just down the road from home yielded a great price on a pair of Alpinestar Fastback shoes. Not exactly what I was looking for as I did want a heel on the boot but close enough!

They are much more comfortable than my old work boots and cover my ankles which makes me feel safer if nothing else.

Yeah, ok, I need new jeans as well....

The other new addition is another helmet. I keep reverting to my old Arai Quantum that I bought in 2001, which was manufactured in '98! The Kabuto just isn't that much fun to wear, sounding "tinny" in the wind.

A mate was looking to sell his Bell Carbon Star which had only been used a handfull of times in his drag racer. It hadn't seen a single bug-splat in it's life being used inside a car! It was a Medium size which had me concerned as I have always been a large in shirts, hats, helmets, beers.....errr...you get the picture. Well, it actually fitted quite well and is very comfortable thank-you-very-much!

Another plus with being a Medium size, it will fit the kids better than my other helmets. I had my first request ever from Miss 15 the other day of "Dad, do you think you could take me for a ride on your motorbike"? Thinking about it I can't believe I haven't taken her for a ride on it (or any other motorcycle I have owned) before.

She has been around them since she was born but never been for a ride on one.

Strange.

 

We must rectify that.....

Cheers.

F*CK Photobucket

I noticed a few weeks back some kerfuffle on the interwebs about Photobucket blocking 3rd party hosting. I didn't give it much thought at the time because I didn't really know what 3rd party hosting was all about.
I had used their service as my little Bro had recommended it to me as a way to share photos. So naturally, when I started blogging I was dubious about the 1GB limit Blogger put on uploads being enough so kept using Photobandit. That was until I got sick of their glacially slow upload speeds and the CONSTANT bombardment of pop-ups. Then I went to a paid service with Smugmug and have been very happy with their price and service.

Fast forward to the other day when I was looking for a ride report I wrote back in 2013. When I found it of course I saw that all of the photos show this.....

FFS!!!!!

To cap it off apparently you can unlock all of your photos for either a $100USD or $500USD annual fee! Thanks for the notice Photobandit.

I don't mind that these people want to make some money from their hosting but the manner in which they informed their consumers/customers is completely underhanded. If this is their way of cleaning out their servers and customers, well then, they might be onto something because I am reading all over the net diatribes from enraged users who are bailing on them.

Being a bit ahhhrrrm....older......and hopefully a little less rash I am trying to come up with the best solution to this issue of broken links. 

Should I pay for the $100 subscription so that I can see what all of my photos are on each blog post, then re-host them on Smugmug or on the Blogger photo server, then delete my Photobandit account? Or do I try to remember what each photo was from 2010 to mid 2013 and fill them in that way?

 Either way will be quite time consuming but I am happy to hear ideas from you guys as to what you think the best course of action might be......

I think I need to go to my happy place for a while......

Cheers.