Wet and Wild

Queensland might have its theme parks but Mother Nature turned our local MTB trails into a giant adventure playground after more than 4 inches of rain soaked the already drenched Bendigo region in the past couple of days. As it had rained all day Saturday and didnt stop until 5am Sunday morning the chances of a ride werent looking too good but a break in the weather and a late text from Steve was all the encouragement that was needed.

We knew that there had been a lot of rain when we rode past the Quarry Hill oval and there was a dam there that none of us had ever seen before. That wasnt a good sign for what lay ahead on the trails so we made a pact that safety was to take priority over speed today.

To say there was water everywhere is an understatement. Some tracks had turned into rivers and the creek crossings were unrideable. We had to choose our route carefully to avoid the worst affected areas to make sure that we didnt damage the environment while it was in this fragile state. This meant that we rode on a higher % of fire roads than normal and rode some of the trails in reverse.

Mel edges closer to our version of the Niagara Falls

We all ended up very wet by the end of the ride. Brett nearly came to grief in one large puddle and a couple of times we thought we had lost Mel in some of the bigger ones but to her credit she always rode out the other side. You might get a weight advantage riding a small size bike but it means that you are closer to the water when its wet. Steve suggested that if it kept raining we might have to strap a snorkle to her Giant.

All in all it was a lot of fun on the bikes and Mel even had time to ride an old car tyre down one of the wettest sections.