Friday Flow

Here is a very different movie short to get you into the "Friday Flow". I plan on doing something similar this weekend, so watch this space..............and enjoy!

Missing In Action

Yes, I have been missing in too much action this June! Hardly a post all month is an indication that I have been pretty busy and not really sitting in front of a computer screen.

Sim reared it's 6-monthly head again and in the interests of keeping a (good)job, I diligently put in the requisite study to keep the fun coupons flowing in.

I have been pounding out a fair few miles on the road bike with several of my neighbours. I can only hope they are hurting as much as I am after each morning session! There has also been the odd, uneventful, local mountain bike ride as well.

Today though I managed to get out for a reasonably decent MTB ride. Five of us started out from the Maccas at Beaudesert to head up Duck Creek Rd to O'Reilly's guest house on the top of Green Mountain.

It was a cold, clear morning with several of us registering 3 degrees C (37F) on our car thermometers. The moon was also unusually large as it was about 40 000km closer to the earth. A Super Moon!(but not a Super Photo)

We rolled out of Maccas at 6am for the 21km(13mi) ride to the meeting point where more riders were joining in a little closer to the climb. Needless to say the pace was solid right away as everyone wanted to warm up!

Spinning along Kerry Rd we made introductions as we watched first light brighten the eastern sky.

We had one hour to cover the distance to the second meeting point and we smashed it in 40 minutes. While waiting for the second group to ready themselves some of us refuelled. Some, like Troy, with more stlye than others. Soup anyone?

The 9 of us were soon rolling toward Green Mountain and making some more introductions. It wasn't much warmer yet but that would change as the road went up.

Sure enough, we generated some heat on the first climb. We also gained about 120m(400ft) elevation in 1km(0.6mi). The view from the first lookout was pretty good.

Onward and upward it was. Everyone happy to be getting stuck into it.

We were joined by a slow starting(late), but hard charging Aaron on his cyclocross rig. That made 10 of us with 4 nationalities represented. Very multicultural !

We even had the long arm of the law checking us out. "Is that an Australian Standards approved helmet sir?" Or maybe they were just checking out the coffee up on the mountain as they had passed us going up. Now they were on the descent.

The next lookout comes along after a sustained climb, but it is well worth the effort with views out to Mt Barney, Mt Lindsay and the QLD/NSW border.

Not long after we plunged into the rainforest where the temperature felt 10 degrees cooler again. There is an opening out to the right with more views over Luke O'Reilly's farm.

Very soon we were turning onto the sealed road for the final short climb to the resort at the top of Green Mountain.

Arriving at the top we seconded a couple of bewildered English tourists to snap some photos of us. I heard someone ask "have you cycled all the way up here?!". It isn't really that incredible.

Hot coffee, warm food and delicious cakes were scoffed at an astounding rate while we soaked up some sunshine at the resort cafe'. Oh, and the view was drunk in....

Donning all of our warm gear we began the plunge back down the mountain. Almost 18km(11mi) of constant downhill awaited us.

As you can imagine, this didn't provide many opportunities for snapping photos but I managed to get a few.

Arriving at the bottom of the hill we stopped to drop some coins in the donation box. Duck Creek rd was built by volunteers and is maintained through donations from the public. As a volunteer trail builder I can appreciate how much even a small amount of charity can go so far. We dropped a few goldies in the post.

Even on the relative flat land the group ploughed along at a decent speed and were soon back at the cars on Duck Ck Rd.

Saying our good-byes, some of the group jumped in their cars to head for home, Troy turned left for his camp at Darlington Park and four of us turned right, for the 21km, tailwind assisted, pedal back to Beaudesert.  How sweet it is!

I had a great day out on the bike, meeting some new people that had previously been pseudonyms on a forum. We had enjoyed some good food and my legs still felt pretty good at the end.

Thanks to everyone that came along and made the day what it was. It is nice to "be found" again.

Total stats for the day are below. 

Cheers and hope to see you on the next one. ;)

Closer To The Edge

Have you heard of the Isle Of Man TT?  If the answer is "yes", then the hairs are probably standing up on the back of your neck right now. If the answer is "no", then prepare to be blown away.....and to ask "why"?

I can hardly understand a word that Guy Martin says in this movie, but concentrate and you will laugh at his sense of humour. Watch him on a bike and you will be speechless.

This is a very professionally made movie on what the TT is about and what it means to the guys and girls(and their families) that race it. It tells the back story and the history behind this race week. All 106 years of it.

The TT is being held as I type this and I hope for all of the riders sake(and their families) that they all survive the week.......the odds aren't good though.

Grab a beverage, turn up your volume, sit back but listen very carefully and enjoy "Closer To The Edge-Isle Of Man-TT".

A sandwich short of a picnic? Sure, but these guys deserve some sort of respect. Oh, and remember to cheer on Cam Donald, the Aussie. Chillertek and I chatted with him while we had new tyres fitted to our bikes in Melbourne waaaay back in 2003. Bloody nice guy.

 

Got to love the 13 seconds from 47:37!!

Cheers and thanks for checking in.

Thanks to "Geezer With A Grudge" for the video link.

Lost In Peru

I have been doing a few rides and stuff so will get together an update when I have some more time, but in the meant time, enjoy this amateur video. This one is a little more high end than the last.

Amazing vistas and you have got to see the look on the kid's faces toward the end.

Who Needs Stilnox?!?

One of the local guys here in Brisbane put this little film together out on the local trails. Very well made and humorous. Enjoy.

**Sigh**...Done.....

After 15 weeks and 662 hours of labour, we are finished! Thank you to all who assisted in the birthing of "Ginger Gully". 

An extra special thank you to all of the regulars......

Derek

Andrew

Steve

Andrew F

Toby

Master Trail Builder- Shane

Geoff (or Gee Off!)

Neil

CHAMPIONS, ALL!

It is time to hang up the tools and RIDE!

Thanks to Floody for the photos. Appologies to the regulars that weren't there for the final BBQ and photo shoot.

3 Ring Circus

After working ALL weekend I managed to get out onto the trails for a head clearing ride this morning.

A bonus was that I could hit up 2 of the 3 competed new tracks on this side of town. Yes, trail building has been ongoing even though I haven't been blogging about it. To be honest, I didn't want to bore you with it any more as I have been working and haven't got along to a build day for about 3 weeks now. The only thing worse than trail building blogs is trail building blogs without photos.

That said, I managed to ride the Resurrection Part B trail (we need a name for this thing) this morning and the guys had made good progress on Saturday.

It is amazing how dusty the ground. All of that moisture has gone.

This new section is a tough climb and I am not sure how popular it will be with riders as a two way trail. Time will tell.

Heading over to Daisy Hill I first had a look at a new trail that has been cut to replace one that was closed due to the owners of the block finally developing it. The guys had a good turn out of volunteers and have as much trail in two Sundays as we have got in 3 months of Saturdays. I wish we could just mow our trail in!

Good work guys and awesome signage.

From "Mad Max" I then headed over toward the new "Glider" trail. The guys put the finishing touches on the first section last Friday afternoon. It looks like the trail has had plenty of traffic over the weekend and it rides very nicely. It will suit beginners right up to experienced riders, just by adding speed.

I particularly like the huge rock that they winched into place on the trail. It creates an awesome, easily ridden feature and "makes" this section of the track.

The local council have provided a small container to hold the trail building gear so there will be no access issues. I think the naming of the group is a bit harsh though?!

By the time I headed for home my mental focus had opened up from being 2 inches in front of my front wheel to well down the trail, where it should be. I have been feeling a distinct lack of love for all things MTB the last few weeks and today was the first time since my bike packing trip that I have enjoyed myself on the bike.

Too much of a good thing? Burnout? Too much work? I am not sure, but maybe a combination of all 3. I have a few more weeks of working weekends so we will see what next month's roster brings. In the mean time, here is to more enjoyment on the bike.

Cheers.