Is that Lavender?

The conditions for our ride on Sunday were the best for 6 months. It was a beautiful clear day, there was very little wind and the sun was providing just the right amount of warming. The lucky riders Ewan, Phil, Brett , Rod and Dave decided that it was the perfect day to take on the Eagle's Nest.

After a bit of a warm up on the tracks linking Golden Square to Kangaroo Flat it was onto Crusoe Res for morning tea, unfortunatley no scones so we had to make do with Gel Packs and bananas.

We set off again knowing that the real climbing was ahead of us but that hopefully the view from the top of the Eagle's Nest would make it all worthwhile. Everyone made the climb to the fenceline without any dramas but we were all in for a bit of shock as we headed onto the track along the top of the Big Hill Range towards the trig point. The rolling green hills were vividly contrasted by the brilliant blue sky and an amazing display of purple wildflowers. Well  I think they were considered flowers in Portugal where it come from but over here
Echium plantagineum is better known as Paterson's Curse or Salvation Jane for those of you from SA and its a weed. It was introduced from Portugal in the mid 19th Century but now it has inhabited a lot of farming land throughout Victoria, NSW and SA.

Its recovered very well from the drought and there is an impressive crop growing all over the hills with only our skinny little bike track left with nothing growing on it. The crop was a good metre high in places and it was quite surreal riding through it. But soon enough the mind was back on the job as we hurtled down the hills, momentarily keeping pace with the kangaroos before taking on the steep climb to the trig point.

The quality of the attached video which was meant to be a picture explains why we are looking for a new photographer for the Crew
After a moment to take in the view it was onto the thrilling decent towards Crusoe. This is one of the best bits of track around Bendigo and as long as you remember to brake a little to take off some speed before you hit the small wooded section then you should arrive safely at the bottom. Its a decent that you want to do more than once but unfortunately there is no chair lift so the only way back to the top involves a hard slog on foot or on the bike so once was enough today.