Karingal 4hr

My race was BLAAAAAH! Riding so slow is just no fun. I pulled out after just one lap and decided to become a photographer for the day.

Now this would be a great, flowing course in the dry. It was even fun in the mud, or at least it woulda been if I had any condition at all. One too many muddy races this year. I was cringing at the carnage on my drive train, again! Oh well, Dusk till Dawn here we come.

I don't often get a chance to be photographer, but I did enjoy it today. Here are a few:

Karingal 4hr Postponed

Karingal 4hr is postponed for 2 weeks. Yippee! I'm finally training again, so grateful for another 2 weeks preparation. I made the most of it today with one of my regular road rides; nice hilly 185km with 2700m climbing. F*@k it was windy yesterday. It could have blown the paint clear off the side of your house. OK, slight exaggeration, but it did blow this tree over.


I was struggling to keep the bike upright over the top of Mt Mee.


I've been seeing a few koalas around of late. I'd seen a few cars around, so decided to persuade this one off the road.

When it rains, it pours

This morning I woke at 1 to the sound of sheeting rain. The heaviest rain I've heard in a long, long time. After this morning's ride, the local stormwater culvert was still overflowing:


... and still down it comes. Actually it's music to my ears. I felt like a 10 y.o. playing in puddles on tonight's ride. I know some others are struggling with storm damage, and I hope it eases for them, but I do enjoy the rain.

Brisbane Forest Park Cruise

5am start with OMO yesterday for a cruise through Brisbane Forest Park. We headed up South Boundary Road, dropped down Auggies, up Lightline, and returned along South Boundary. There are some great hills on this ride which are very much needed for conditioning ATM. I think it was about 65km but not 100% sure since my trip computer is R.S.






OMO was making the most of his 29er wheels today with some bloody big rocks and several water crossings. Meanwhile I had to tough it out on my conventional 26" wheels -lol.

It was terrific to see some rain fall in the catchment area.

OMO has a Rohloff internally geared hub fitted to his new 29er rig. It was my first look at this hub, and I must say I was impressed. I think I can see one of these being fitted to a touring bike in the not too distant future. There are several great design features of this hub:

1. Equal gear spacings
2. No derailleur
3. The mechanism is pratically totally enclosed
4. Able to do a full gear dump at once
5. Able to change gears whilst stationary

I believe it's about 300g heavier than a conventional XTR drive train (TBC). It's not cheap, but given my regular use and abuse of drive-trains, I could make my money back in quick time.


Sexy modelling legs there OMO;-/

Juscruzin Guided Tours

Juscruzin (AKA Nick) was tour guide for today's ride. Starting from Everton Hills, we got the scenic tour over Camp Mtn, along south boundary to the shelter, scrub road, back over Camp Mtn, and finished off with some superb single track through Bunya State Forest.

The pace-line. Evidently I can't take a photo and ride at the same time - lol.

Part way down the rocky scrub road; Brad repairing the first of two flats.

Scrub road is a solid climb. It certainly felt like it for me today. Forgot my HTFU tablets;/

Frother & Clewsy just about at the top. I think we're all in need of some more long climbing miles. Ah well it's all good. I'm pleased we started early. It was pleasant riding with a good group. Brad's a trooper. He's gonna go a long way in MTB if he keeps up the hard work. Good onya Brad!

I know I shouldn't have been riding with a slightly torn calf today, but I was bustin to get outdoors. Not smart. I was lucky not to do any further damage.

Mapleton

Had a chance to sneak out to Mapleton for some great flowing trail bike trails this morn. There are some great little pinch climbs and the roller-coaster is fun. Terrific view over the Mary Valley! The dually eats up these trials. Enjoy!