Mel is in da house!

Last Sunday's outing incorporated a great ride through the bush around Kangaroo Flat and an SMC house warming party for Mel who moved into her new palace a few weeks ago. Mel was given the honor of being the lead rider as well as taking care of baking duties. It was a mixture of old friends, family and some new riding companions that took off for Mel's magical mystery tour.

First off we headed to Specimen Hill where old and new exist together. You have old mine diggings going underground on one side of the track and the latest mobile phone tower technology rising high into the sky on the other side. Unfortunately for yours truly the tower is secured by a  barbed wire fence and as I rode past a stray strand of wire grabbed my handle bars twisting them around the wrong way resulting in me ending up laying on the ground. Apart from some cool looking cuts and a bit of blood there was no real damage except to my pride and we continued on.

Where is Alexander when you need him?

The only other incident for the day was Trevor's jammed chain which managed to secure itself between the Granny ring and the bottom bracket. After a lot of huffing and puffing, the removal of the rear wheel, changing of the gears and a little bit of swearing the chain was back in its rightful place.

Mel's chosen track was a beauty with some nice flowing downhills, plenty of rocks and a testing climb to get the heart pumping a bit harder. It's a great network of trails in between Crusoe Road and Lockwood Road but you definitely need an experienced guide to show you the way around. Mel had no problems finding her way and the only time we got lost was when she asked me to lead the way back to Olympic Parade. A turn right 100 metres before the correct track had us doing a nice little loop around the water race but everyone took it in their stride and before too long we were back at Mel's.

Where's Mel?

Mel must have been up early to get all the baking done. There was a great spread including chocolate cake, chocolate biscuits and great tasting potato and cheese scones (with vegemite) that disappeared too fast to get a picture of. The pressure is really on Spencer's now to lift their game or they run the risk us calling in at Mel's after every ride. Thanks for the great ride Mel and enjoy your new home!

Here she is.