Up the creek ... with a paddle.

Spent a very enjoyable few days paddling up the Noosa River. The sky looked ominous as we head out across Lake Cootharaba.

but the weather cleared for a perfect time on the river

... and a lot of time in and under the river as well  :-)

There are so many great places to visit ... so little time.

Christmas Day on the Bay

What can I say?

started Christmas Day

on the Bay

What better way?

It must be Christmas

There was the sound of jingle bells in Daisy Hill this morning which can mean only one thing ... its Christmas eve.  A dozen of us had a great ride again this morning finding all the hills we could to burn off as many calories before Christmas lunch tomorrow

The lads were all in the spirit of things wearing there Christmas antlers which they had to take off before Stonehenge  ;-)

Have a great and safe Christmas 

Summer nights

Summer in Qld means that it is often better to ride at night than in the day to beat the heat. On the shortest night of the year, seven of us got out into the wilds of Daisy Hill to enjoy the dark, moonless but pleasantly cool evening.

There were bugs a plenty but we didn't notice them at the time. Each one of the dots on the image is a bug reflecting the flash.

There were also plenty of koalas out as well.

Kids rides

Its holiday time so its good to get the 10 year olds out on the singletrack ... a new generation of mountain bikers in training.  and its always good to try new bikes :-)

Have a great Christmas !!!

Daisy Hill morning rides in review

Well its that time of year when we look back on the year that was .... and looking back at the regular Wednesday morning rides at Daisy Hill ....  it was a great year.

To view the photo highlights:

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=Avjh3oB-R4w

Bushwalking the Budawangs ...

Anyone interested in bushwalking may get a laugh from the fashions in the 80's. If you haven't been to the Budawangs south of Nowra, they are definitely a great place to walk. No mtbing though.

For wide screen video:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=X-ao3PK4MUI

hail the mighty Yeti

Finally I got to ride a Wednesday morning again after a few weeks off with wet weather and bike out of service. Fitness has gone down noticeably as heart rate was nearly maxing out on one of the climbs :-O

The lads were impressed by the new frame on the Yeti and held it high so they could worship it ;-)

the return of the YETI

The raw 575 has arrived ... a big thumbs up.

A great day on the bay

After four days of rain and storms it was great to see a clear, sunny day. Four of us spent the day paddling from Victoria Pt over to Coochie, down the eastern side of the Macleay Island to Karragarra Island for lunch. WIth the ebbing tide, we headed north along the western side of Macleay then back across to Coochie and Victoria Pt. All up we paddled 27km .... certainly a great day on the bay.

Plenty of dugongs and turtles to be seen on the way.

For more info on our route and export it to Google Earth, have a look at the gps track on motionbased. com. Just follow the link below:


http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/invitation/email/accept.mb?senderPk.pkValue=68193&unitSystemPkValue=1&episodePk.pkValue=7223520

Count the jelly beans

Jelly beans? Sea kayaks more likely  ;-) 

Spent the weekend at the Sea Kayak Symposium on the Gold Coast ... an excellent weekend with too many highlights to count ... although seeing the photos/videos and meeting the lads from the Australia to New Zealand sea kayak paddle was certainly up there. Learning to eskimo roll was also fun.

This is not today

No Daisy Hill Wednesday morning ride this week as the tracks are sodden after much rain over the last few days.

This photo was taken last week on the commute to work ... riding along the river is a great way to start the day !

It may not be white ...

It may not be white but I am still happy to get a replacement frame :-)

Within the week, the new raw frame will be swapped in and it will be out with the white (tears welling) :-{ The new frame will be lighter (no Noosa dirt) and quieter (no cracks).... you won't hear me coming.

Nirvana

A great ride around Daisy this morning. Only 9 of us today, so we headed over to Nirvana. With a brief shower on the way there, the tracks were perfect. Here are a few photos of the log roll over that has claimed a number of riders over the years. This crew had no problem though.


Andrew



Neil


Rich



Stu



CD



Tim



Aaron

Waiting for Yeti

Yeti?

20 knots off the starboard beam

It was time for another paddle but the weather was a bit dodgy with wind warnings, fronts passing and the odd thunderstorm thrown in for good measure. We found a sheltered spot to get a bit of practice.

All was good apart from a local fisherman saying that he had seen a 25ft white pointer not far from where we were .... I suspect he had had a bit too much to drink.   Although when a cormorant surfaced just beside me, my heart did race just a little  :lol

Some days are ....

I'm sure everybody has those days where it just doesn't go right.

• Surfing a new spot and you nose dive on your first wave right in front of the local crew ...
• Rockclimbing and you forget how to tie a figure 8 ...
• 10 minutes into a mtb ride and you wash out the front wheel on an easy uphill turn, stack it and end up on your back looking up the sky through the trees ... that was today.

Don't know what it was, but there many more potential stacks as the uncoordinated gumby factor of my riding was at an extreme high today ... like someone once said, some days are not diamonds. Still had a good morning out there with the Wed morning crew :-)




Chickens revenge.

It sounded like a shot rang out in the forest and "chickendrinkers" tyre had a huge hole in the sidewall ... some say that chickens with guns were seen running from the scene. It is likely.


Wezzy found.

We thought he was lost, but now he is found. Wezzy was found riding at unbelievable speed and style before we managed to stop him for a chat. It was all Salsa with not a Surly to be seen ... something about a crack in the Surly Monkey which was only ridden on Sundays by a girlie man ;-)

It was good to see Wezzy out and about again.

20 kgs of carbon

Well its not all carbon ... there is some Kevlar in the mix as well. And its not a bike either. The latest addition to the outdoor gear stable is a carbon kevlar sea kayak ... and today was the first real paddle in it, as well as learning how to get out of it underwater, then get back into it.

Great fun !!! How do I split the time between mtb and sea kayak????

That last jump is a doozy

With the DH racing at Illinbah coming up soon, I thought I would put up one of the images I took at the Nationals there last year. This photo appeared in Inside Sport in January 2008

Blokes only mtb ride .... NOT

If you think that the Daisy Wednesday morning ride is only for blokes ..... you'd be wrong. Kylie was always up in the lead group taking it to the singletrack.

The weather was great, the tracks a little dusty and the pace was pretty quick for the most part. Always great fun !!! About 17 of us this morning.



Rich and Jaman through the rock garden on TOL



Tim from FTR showing Stonehenge who is boss.



Allan showing that having a bad off where you lose your front teeth and need 80 facial stitches doesn't have to put you off riding. Good one Al.



Is this a new way to carry a spare tube or just a lot of bad luck???



And no that wasn't Max with the pink gloves. ;-)

The days are numbered ....

My beloved white Yeti was in for a light check up with FTR .... but unfortunately a few cracks were found in the frame near the bottom bracket :-0

Its fate rests with Yeti USA.

Wednesday with Daisy

Micheal from FTR does it easy on one of the smaller log roll overs this morning.

Another Wednesday morning, another great ride. Yesterday's storm settled the dust, and created great riding conditions. Tried a few different trails with some taking to the downhill ramp at the quarry .... not for me though. :-)

Unfortunately for Max he forgot his helmet but rode anyway. Fortunately for Max he didn't come off. By looking at the photo below you could be forgiven in thinking that no-one would talk to him without a helmet :LOL: .... but we did ;-)

Daisy at night

The weather is perfect for night riding .... and its a way of getting another ride into the working week. With nine of us out on the trails tonight, great riding and great chats.

Why would you want to stay home and watch tv when you could be out riding?  

Its not about Wezzy ... or the bike

Waiting for Wezzy #3

The photos are not about Wezzy or the bike  ..... they are experiments in texture, light and composition having a common theme.  

When the opportunity arises, I'll create #4.

Sometimes you need to walk

Friday's are the day we leave Daisy Hill for longer rides with a mix of fire roads and singletrack. One of the favourites is known as the Eastern Escarpement (EE) or Mt Cotton. The final climb is steep, sustained and often loose. This is the reason only a few people have ever actually ridden all the way to the top. Today I rode a PB up the hill, but still required a fair bit of walking.

Starting at the end of Underwood Rd, the lake is always a beautiful site at dawn.



The climb up the EE gives some great views, this one to the south.



Waiting for Wezzy #2