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

Rhino's Horn and track #9

Another Wednesday morning, so its out with crew at Daisy Hill for a mtb spin before work. Some of the regulars couldn't make it today as they rode into the city for a free sausage.

It was out to track #9 for a look at this new piece of single track. On the way we were challenged by Rhino's Horn .... a very steep climb!! Some of us rode it, some of walked part of it .... as I said ... its steep. I'm not sure if it has something to do with our local Rhino, but a good chance.

After riding the tracks around Canberra, track #9 was a bit of a disappointment to me .... oh well, something a little different is always fun.

In all, we had 11 riders out today covering about 19km .... and of course, always fun and a great way to start the day!

Warrumbungles - time for a walk

On the way back from Canberra, we walked the Grand High Tops route in the Warrumbungle National Park. The thermometer hit around 32deg C, but a fabulous walk despite the heat. This is a great halfway spot on a trip from Brisbane to Canberra.

A mtb visit to Canberra

Rode a few of the local tracks around Canberra last week .... in a word ... awesome


Mt Stromlo

Ugly looking from a distance but terrific fun to ride. All tracks are one way with trailheads showing direction of the track. As far as I can tell, this has allowed building specific features for uphill or downhill as appropriate .... some of the berms on Dingo Descent are really awesome ... sorry no photos of them as I was having too much fun riding them to stop for photos . The tracks are generally smooth with quite a few rocks in places and track levels ranging from beginner to very difficult double black diamond.


All of the trees were destroyed by the fires in 2003 but thousands have been replanted








Trailheads make the trails easy to follow, although still take a map as there are a lot of tracks.






There are a few rocks on the track to look out for





Waiting for Wezzy #1






Sparrow Hill

A great suprise with over 35km of singletrack 11km out of Queanbyean. Apart from the parking next to the road, the area is well sign posted with a route marked to follow which gives loops of either 24km or 35km depending on what options you take. Similiar elevations to Daisy Hill, but tracks are designed well so that it seems that there is more sweet flowing downhill than uphill :stupid: Most of the tracks weave tightly through pine forests with occasional ventures out into the open or pass dams. All in all, great fun and certainly well worth the visit :2thumbsup:


Follow the big red arrow, and have fun




The forests are dark ...



... and not all that go in come out alive




There are a few locals





... a few rocks




... a field to cross




... a couple of trees weren't pine trees




... and listen to how many types of frogs you can hear in the dams (5 or 6 distinct calls)





Majura Pines and Mt Ainslie tracks

Close to the 'burbs and well worth a look

Majura Pines





The back of Mt Ainslie



Good luck to those riding the Scott 24 at Stromlo this weekend .... it should be great

Daisy Hill Wednesday morning ride - 17 Sep 08

Always a great ride !!

Thanks to Tim for leading at the pointy end, and thanks also to Andrew and others who went back to look for me after I'd taken shorter route with one of the less fast riders :2thumbsup: Like the US marines ... we leave nobody behind.

It should be noted that this is not a Group Social Ride

• It just happens that we (as individuals) are in the same spot at the same time, sometimes, maybe, hopefully.
• Social ... no way !!! Most unsociable bunch of blokes you are likely to meet
• Ride ... well ok, there is a ride component to our Wednesday morning outing

.... so here is a photo of a bunch of unsociable individuals not riding

Daisy Hill Wednesday morning ride - 10 Sep 08

BIG ride this morning with 27 riders .... biggest regular Wed ride in living memory

Great to catch up with some old familiar faces and good to see a quite a few new faces as well

There were a couple of flats, a rear wheel that came off while riding and two heavy OTB that I saw ... could have been a few more that I didn't see

With the huge number of riders we split into a fast and not so fast groups then rejoined at various places so people could ride at the pace that suited them.

Thanks for the ride and the laughs See you next week.

Noosa Enduro 2008 ... wet and muddy and mighty good fun

Although it took about nine hours to complete the 105km course in wet and muddy conditions, I was happy to complete my first 100km event .... especially when a third of the competitors did not finish.

Nick and I stuck together for the whole race and shared the fun in the mud and rain.

Noosa 100k in six days

I've trained but will I make it?

In a week we will know :-)

Daisy Hill Wednesday morning ride

Daisy Hill Wednesday morning ride .... great ride this morning with an excellent turn up of 11 riders at one point.

Stats were about 20kms at a fast pace with one flat and one blown seal.

I missed Stonehenge this morning as I got my first dirt flat in about 2,000km of singletrack ... not bad really. The word on the street is that the evil Rhino threw some tyre spikes out for the legendary Wezzy who was pushing the big R to his limits. Unfortunately I was in between the two and cleared the spikes with my tyre so Wezzy could continue the chase. The yeti crashed and burnt for Wezzy.















The fast pace continued through the trails ... rockgardens being blasted on the way

























The final challenge was the inaugural "Daisy Hill Bunny Hop Jump off" ...Rhino went first with a fine effort.















Wezzy took a different line with style.















It seems that the judges awarded the trophy to the iconic Wezzy ..... for lifting his back wheel higher (the rules didn't specify whether you needed to be on the bike ... well spotted Wezzy)
















... and so the legend continues.


As for Wezzy's comment from the day before -

"I want to thrash Rhino and make him cry like a girly man"

I hear there were tears on the way to work

I don't post much

I thought I'd put this page in to say that I really don't post much .... I find it more fun to post on a forum (eg MTBdirt) where you can get a quick response from others (eg LR ;-) ) Thanks for checking out the blog anyway. Above is an image by Steve Arden of me going solo in Kooralbyn 24hr 2008. I rode 136km and about 3,500m vertical to come 8th in category ... and I was happy with that.