Last Chance Training

Well the Bendigo 6 Hr is on next weekend so a few of us took advantage of a beautiful Autumn morning to get some last chance training in before the event. Tony and David will be joined by Phil (who is a new inductee to the Sunday Morning Crew) in a 3 man team while Steve, Brett and Ros will make up a very handy mixed combination. Brett was baby sitting and Ros had headed off to Woodend for the first race in the InterWinter series so it was left to David, Tony, Phil and Steve to hit the trails. That's Phil on left of the photo, Tony in the middle and Steve on the right looking resplendent in his new Specialized top.

We headed out to the Spring Gully shop and out Murray's to the Sandhurst Res and did the first section of Fastaways to the first road intersection. We decided we needed some hill work so we turned off here and headed towards Mt Herbert. There is a bit of tough climbing to make it to the fenceline at Big Hill before you actually get to tackle Mt Herbert itself. We decided to take the access road on the Melbourne side of the fence to the top. Its a smoother track but still very steep. There are a couple of spots for a breather on the way up and some magnificent views if you care to stop and look. But as appealing as the view was the thought of having to start the climbing again was enough reason to push on for the summit with just a quick glance across Bendigo. Tony showed his love of hills again as he made it look easy and was well rested by the time all of us made it to the summit.

We tried a spot of Paddy Melon ten pin bowling at the top. There was enough of them lying around on the ground to keep Bear Grylls going for a year but as we werent starving to death we decided to try rolling them down the hill to the Kangaroos resting at the clearing below. Well the Kangaroos had nothing to worry about because none of us did very well. Some stopped early, Steve managed to pick out the only stump in sight and the rest exploded against some invisible rocks and flew into the air in a million pieces.

After all that fun we decided it was time to get back on the bikes and head back to town. We managed the rocky descent of Mt Herbert Rd without any incidents and followed the Great Dividing Trail back to Diamond Hill. My GT had developed a new rattle along the fence track so when we stopped to text Brett to meet us for coffee I gave my bike a quick once over and found that the rear brake assembly had come loose. Another timely reminder to give your bike a once over before you head out to ride.