Name says it all, Mountain Bike Social Club looks like a good idea. Not sure if it will be an official bike club affiliated with MTBA or just a social group. Sure we’ll find out soon enough.
Best and worse day of the trip. Best because I went on a ride with Norm Douglas who took me around Follow the Dog and the last part of Red Carpet (both of which are currently closed) which were both technically closed. Norm’s great value, good bloke and a mine of information and news. He showed me various issues with the trails in terms of management and design, as it seems while the Department of Sustainability and Environment have been involved in creating a fantastic trail network the sustainability bit of that has been lacking. This has struck me this week, as there are a lot of trees down. Yes there were huge wind storms but that’s well over a week ago and it is school holidays and during my week here so far I’ve only found one tree that’s actually been removed. The other high point of today was just trying to follow Norm. As someone who’s fitness I reckon is now intermediate, and my cornering skills I’d describe as intermediate, on jumps, bunny hops and the like I’m beginner come nowhere. So I crash over logs, keep my wheel generally on the ground over dips, and don’t quite get how to actually hop. Whereas Norm, being Norm, was lifting off over everything so that where I’d go over a dip that you could get some air off I’d stick to the ground and then clutter over the sticks on the other side. Norm would sail over the lot, keeping speed and just getting a smoother line and ride. Then of course there’s that BIG log on Follow the dog. Norm wasn’t going that fast but just elegantly and oh so lightly hopped onto the top then over the other side. I unclipped. I reckon I might have been able to get up it but down the other side would have been another matter, but Norm was that bloody silky I was, well, awestruck.
The worse was how crap I was feeling. Not sure if it only fatigue from riding all week, or something else, but early on the ride at the top of a climb I was very close to blowing up big time. Very slight nausea, but not the hurt from having worked hard up a climb but the sort of feeling you get where you’re about to lose all power and every turn of the pedals becomes a horrible effort. I had the usual breakfast this morning, so it certainly wasn’t the food, so put it down to just being worn out, but it was making me ragged and frankly made me feel my age (49)! The other bit of crap was having an off on Red Carpet. There was a worn rut which was very muddy and it was one of those crashes where I actually don’t know what happened so I figure I lost the front wheel completely. Banged my shin hard on something hard (ie bike) and shortly afterwards sported this walnut sized lump. Funnily enough I was now probably feeling a bit better on the bike physically, though the shin was a bit sore, and the rest of the descent was awesome.
The upshot of all this is that I’m persuaded that I really need to sign up for one of mtbskill’s jumps clinics. There’s actually one Sunday, which I knew before I came down and I had thought about doing it but decided that I’d be buggered by the end of the week so it probably wouldn’t be much use, plus the family might be down for the weekend so being away for a large part of the day might not be such a great idea. So another time.
(Bunny hopping is important as this lets you get over tons of stuff. But you achieve height and lift the back wheel not by being clipped in and just tugging up, you apparently need to compress then unweight to get air. I don’t get how that works – it is something you can only learn by doing and in something like 2 years I’ve managed two bunny hops. I know they worked because they just felt effortless and awesome, and I didn’t touch the log, but I don’t actually know what I did differently for those to achieve them.)
Well, starting to feel the days on the bike now. Today was a really nice ride, but some broad general fatigue which is making me clumsy and slow. I started at the south end, on Roller Coaster which is for beginners, then onto Third Time Lucky hoping to do Follow the Dog which local Norm Douglas has rated as the best local trail and one of the best in Australia. Alas it was closed, so did Third Time Lucky twice (guess I should have done it three times to see if I was lucky). It had two trees down, but has an amazing series of jumps that I doddled over. From there I rode back up to Yaugher and around the super loop to Marriner’s Run, probably the best known local trail. Huge berms, it wanders all over the place like something insane then gives you a series of really flowing runs sweeping from side to side down a gully or two. Spectacular, and no doubt once you’ve done it a couple of times you could really start flying. From there I went up Foxtail to the trail head then tried J2. By this stage I was feeling it a bit so only did a couple of the log overs on J2. The first or second was probably the biggest, so after that I decided to take B lines and just have a look at them first as I really don’t want a broken collarbone out there by myself. J2 really was a great trail, of the trails I’ve ridden here this one seemed to have the most stuff going on, lots of logs to go over, off, along and several crazy tight squeezes between trees. One, which I reckon sums up things really well, was where you rolled over quite a large log, with some speed and the best line took you straight between two very very close trunks. Scary close. You can fit, but it takes confidence and it was just really a good design in how the best line let you keep your speed but you had to split that gap centimetre perfect, or brake and go through carefully, or brake and lose all your speed and go round. J2 was like that a lot. From the end back around super loop to the top and then home. Pretty buggered today. I figure I’ll probably not get back on the bike for a week when I get home so rather than a rest day I’ll just keep going.
Well, weather holding up delightfully. Surprisingly tired from only two days of riding, and each day only around 2 hours. On the road this would be trivial, but on a mountain bike I need to remember the rule I worked out when I first started, 2 hours on the mountain bike is more like 4 hours on the road. So I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, particularly since my normal 2 hour mountain bike ride is along the Yarra which is fast, flat and, well, nuff said. So here in 2 hours I’ve been climbing over 400 metres, on unfamiliar trails, and you just have to use your body so much more than on the road. Anyway, was tired enough to think about taking a rest day but decided nah, let’s do it and then see how I am tomorrow. I’d like to do the south Forrest trails, but since they’re much wetter I’ll give them another one or two days to dry out. So, day three was back out north to Yaugher. Started with the usual super loop, then found the beginning of Vista that I missed last time.
Vista seems to be track that doesn’t get much traffic, there was a ton of leaf litter, lot of small branches all over the shop, its narrow and not a lot of tyre tracks happening. The first part is very straight along a fence line, down and up, fast bouncy and hoping you don’t get a branch through your wheel. Then you come to a really steep climb, according to my GPS something around 23%, sandy and slippery. I managed half of it before I lost the front wheel, pretty pleased that I got that far and disappointed that I didn’t clear it, perhaps I’ll have to do this again before I head home. From there it winds around, across a road and then I hit a section that was a waste of time. There’s been a lot of wind the last couple of weeks, serious gale force stuff, and one section of Vista obviously got some freaky gusts as there was a short section where you drop down from the road and then return back to it where there were 5 or 6 big trees or branches down and I spent almost as long walking as riding. From there I got lost once again, as it runs into Barre Warre for an easy return to the trail head but I know it should also loop back to the beginning. So I turned around trying to find it, and instead ended up doing Casper Black in the reverse direction of yesterday, which was definitely a harder direction to do it in! Along here I had my second mechanical of the trip (things happen in 3’s so not sure what the next will be, or perhaps it’s just that I should avoid Casper Black?) when my chain broke. Turns out the connex link had come undone under load, all the bits were there so was easy to put back together. I guess I had it connected backwards, though I still can’t tell what the bloody difference is. Once I got to the end of Casper Black I turned right to actually see the rest of Vista that I still hadn’t ridden but took the trail over the road (mistake) which put me back on the super loop. So the stretch of Vista from Barre Warre to the proper beginning of Casper Black remains a mystery, another day perhaps.
I decided to ride to the south trail head, since I didn’t actually know where it was, and once there I did the little 2 km easy loop just to have a look around. Reckon tomorrow I’ll return to the north, ride the three trails I haven’t been on yet and see where that gets me.
Well, major mechanical. After yesterday’s wetness I removed bottom bracket, regreased and so on. Then well into today’s ride I thought I had cleat problems, or possibly pedals, only to have my crank come off. Shit. Was on Casper Black, had not seen anyone all day on the trails, and it seemed a pretty long walk to anywhere, let alone that I might have no more riding for the week. So, I’m standing there wondering how far back I will have to look on a muddy trail for the crank bolt to see it at my feet. You bloody ripper. Got the multitool out and all back together, all the while watching a bloody big leech climb about my frame looking for something warm blooded. Made note to self, drive to Colac to get some locktite, and perhaps if I’m going to ride here by myself I should invest in a whistle and a compression bandage.
The ride. Well, started with the super loop again around to Yo Yo. Black diamond, hey bring it on. Turns out Yo Yo goes through some quite wet bush, so it was particularly slippery and I was out of my depth. Bumped and ground my way round most of it, stepped over a couple of the logs on the dodgy premise that it was my first look at the track so discretion before valour, but didn’t enjoy it much. As a novice my cornering is improving a lot but I can’t bunny hop so getting over stuff is a bloody mess. Ugly stuff. Once I was back on the super loop my plan was to do Vista, which I found but looking at the GPS afterwards I reckon I should have turned right to do the whole trail instead of straight ahead so I rode the last part of it, which was just fantastic, pick of the trails so far. I got to Black Casper, more black diamond, and signed up. This was much more sandy than Yo Yo so pretty dry and there didn’t seem to be any tech things there that warranted the black diamond, more steeper climbs and faster descents which I was slow on but if you were a better rider then I think they’d test you. Most of this (apart from my crank falling off) was a really nice ride, so I’m looking forward to actually riding all of Vista and then repeating Black Casper. This spat my out at a middle part of Vista which I took to one the easier trails back to the trail head.
The trails are drying out well, this afternoon had beautiful sunshine so I reckon if the weather holds most of the wet stuff will disappear, though there are some bits which just pretty much go through damp areas where the track has picked up and held a lot of the water. Reckon I’ll actually take a map with me tomorrow so I can work out a route a bit more intelligently. View from the second day? Riding Visa and Casper Black was a hoot, they’re really fun trails that can really give you a rush, they seem to be good in the wet and when you also see Yo Yo you get a good sense of the variety of bush and trails here.
Well, I’m in Forrest for the first time, and should be here until Saturday or Sunday (today is a Monday). Arrived late but got the bike out, kitted up and headed straight out. There’s been a heap of rain the last few days right across southern Victoria, and given the Otways are the wettest part of Victoria there’s been plenty around here. I went north to the Yaugher trails since they’re sandier and dry out well. So, having done bugger all on the bike for a fortnight I figured getting a few k’s in the late afternoon was better than nothing, before returning to my very very comfortable cottage to get stuck into a pile of work (I’ve bought a library of academic books and several essays that need drafting, editing for completion, and planning).
The ride from the town the trail head goes out the main road, there really isn’t much room for bikes, but there’s bugger all traffic so things seem to be ok, though given the width of the green verge on each side I’m hoping the council realises that putting in a path from town to the fire tail would be a very safe and good option – particularly since a local rail trail finishes at the same place so those riders also have to ride the main highway for the last kilometre. Once you get to the fire trail you have a pretty steep climb, which certainly gets you decently warmed up, so to the trail head is about 2.5km. I decided to do the super loop, 11.5 km more or less around the outside of the entire trail network which is rated as ‘more difficult’. There were a couple of log rides I didn’t do, mainly because I was too slow, and one drop off I missed on each of my two laps. Some mud, some almost creek crossings with all the rain (two of which I walked, one was enormous the other deep and didn’t seem much point in getting that wet or my bike that full of water just to try to ride through it) and on the second lap I started to ride it much better and really enjoyed some sections. So about an hour 45 of bike time, which should roll nicely into a longer ride tomorrow, weather permitting.
Got myself a pair of these a couple of months ago. Sidi Energy 2’s. Got Sidi’s for my mountain bike shoes so with the new roadie decided needed shoes that didn’t shame me. Look fantastic, felt a bit tight when I first put them on but after the first ride to Frankston totally sold. I’ve always had problems with hot feet, a burn
ing across the bottom which I’m told is usually a result of a position problem. Some days on long rides it gets so bad I have stopped and just sat for a few minutes with my feet out of the shoes. Had the problem 20 years ago when I was a reasonable roadie, and have had it since I’ve started riding again. But in the 4 hours to and from Frankston nothing. Ace bike, ace shoes, pity about the rider.
Now about two months later. My left foot is obviously wider than my right. For my right foot the 43s are the most comfortable road shoes I’ve ever had. The left feels pinched towards the front. I’ve always had more trouble with the left, and these are much better than other shoes I’ve had, but not quite perfect. Not sure if this means I need a half size, or the 44. Guess I’ll know in a couple of years when I find an excuse to replace them.
Just a big callout for recent service from VicMTB. They upgraded my Manitou R7 forks a couple of years ago by putting in Manitou’s SPV platform system, and have serviced them for me ever since. They were bobbing all over the place recently, which usually means the SPV has mucked up. I wasn’t certain, since I hadn’t put any air into them for a while, so went and got the shock pump. Stuck some air in and straight back out again. Bugger. Almost certain that I’d just managed to put put some gunk in there. Rang one local mountain bike shop, they said they’d send them to Dirtworks, the local distributor in Sydney so a week or so. Problem with that was it was Thursday and I was hoping to race the Sunday. Rang VicMTB, they said Monday, but when I said I was hoping to race they bumped me in on the Friday.
That was great, did the race, then a couple of weeks ago the shocks jammed up. They’d done this once before, so I knew a seal had leaked inside. Took it back to them, they rebuilt them and fixed the problem no charge. They couldn’t tell if it was their fault (eg knicking a seal on the installation) but given it was only two or three weeks since the service not a problem. Did it in a day and all sweet. So while most of us are buying are awful lot of stuff online, its things like this that help you realise the value of the LBS if you’re a regular customer.
So, here’s the super action shot of myself (courtesy of the ubiquitous Stephen Rowe taking the A line at the first drop at the Castlemaine Enduro. Note to self, get bum off back of seat. So, did each of my three laps within about 20 seconds of each other. The problem with that is that I could have done a 4th lap at the same speed. I’m a slow diesel, a tractor (without the power though). There were several sections that I didn’t ride. I had a good go on a half practice lap on one of them and ended up with some deep blue bruises, though I still reckon I should have been able to ride them. The nice thing about that is that if I can get to the race next year then I’ve got something to aim for. There was also a small rocky climb with some corners that I walked, usually because everyone else was, but on one lap I was there myself but bailed. Again, I’m pretty sure I’m good enough to actually ride it, but without going through it on a practice lap I have a really bad habit of just tensing up, which is certain bloody disaster. On the other hand I did that A line every lap, with the last being the worse and nearly stuffing it. The second A line I looked at once then bailed. No idea why as I reckon this one was harder, but again no practice lap on the second part of the course so took B line after that.
A great day out. Weather perfect for racing. Fresh coffee and food available. Riders pass by transition before doing the second loop so you can see what’s going on, watch them climb, know when a team mate is due, and yell encouragement, abuse, sarcasm, and general good cheer. Flowing course, no killer climbs and the second loop really let you fang it to the end if you had it in you.
Thought I’d do a longish ride today, but got a lotta work that needs completing urgently, and feeling lazy. Feel guilty and know I have to get some bike time in so if the rain holds off will go out on the mountain bike for a couple of hours this afternoon. Will be fun and help get me back into the groove. Bloody sick of the wind, but it looks like it is fading a bit this week, thank christ.
