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

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