Mel smashes the Otway

Crew Member Mel Hall rode the Otway Shorty last week and powered her way around in 3hrs 17mins and finished in 7th place in the Open Ladies section. What a great effort. I just hope she will wait for us on the track next time we go riding with her.

Hopefully we can get a full race report off Mel to post on the blog in the near future

Mel on a recent training ride

Steve's Crossing

Continuing our tradition of naming parts of the tracks that we ride let me introduce you to Steve's Crossing. On a recent ride Steve unfortunately reminded us all that it only takes a split second lack of concentration to send you over the bars.  We all thought that the approach to this causeway over the Coliban Channel was the dangerous bit but all the recent rain has made the drop off the other end a bit steeper than it used to be. It should be noted that that this particular section of track has already claimed one victim from the SMC. A few months back Tony took a tumble as he tried to blow his nose as he made his approach. However we couldnt name it Tony's Crossing as we already have one of those so the honour goes to Steve.

The near end is Steve's and Tony's is the far one

Floating Rock

Our ride today was a bit of an extreme adventure. Parts of our normal tracks have been badly affected by the recent heavy rain. In particular the fastways sections has been subject to some extreme washouts which have changed the tracks forever. However before we made it to the fastways Tony took us on a detour to some new tracks he had found. Unfortunatley this area was still very wet so the tracks Tony had ridden  a few weeks ago were not passable but you could see the potential for a nice addition to our normal rides once it dries out a bit.

Tony's new section of track. Note Phil on his new Specialized

One section of the fastways which is  famous for Rod's front wheel taco episode now has a large channel carved through it. Riding through the channel was no big deal but the exit on the other side was covered in very fine silt which had the consistency of quicksand. I managed to plant my front wheel in it and come to an abrupt halt with the back wheel high in the air.

I didnt know it at the time but I would experience an even more extreme case of stuck wheel in the very near future. It happpened as we were making our way back along the water race road when we came to a section of track which had been covered in some bulky crushed rock. There were two wheel tracks and I made the ill fated decision to take the one on the left which had a smallish puddle about half way along. As I rode into the puddle my front wheel disappeared up to the hub and once again my back wheel ended up high in the air. This time my wheel was so stuck I could dismount and leave the back standing on its own.




This bike isnt going anywhere soon


Even though my bike was able to stand up no worries it wasnt quite as easy for those of us with two legs. The whole area of rock was moving as the rock appeared to be floating in a slurry of gravel and water. It reminded me of something Bear Grylls would show you how to escape from with just some reeds and a handy tree nearby.

The bike is free, now to get to dry ground.

After some happy snaps of my bike I managed to remove it from the sludge. The front wheel was covered with smelly mud so I took advantage of the nearby water race to give my bike a quick wash.

Nice and clean again.

We managed to make it home without any further quicksand events but we did manage 3 punctures due to the exposed rock on the eroded tracks which delayed our progress.

Ride Time: 2 Hrs 24 mins
Distance: 40.1 kms

New signing at Specialized

Although Team Management are refusing to comment there is a strong rumour doing the paddock that Phil  Souter has signed with Specialized for the 2011 season. Previously with GT it was believed that Felt had secured Phil's services this year but according to those close to Phil design problems with the 2011 Felt bikes have led to a change of heart.

If these rumours are true I hope for Phil's sake he likes white shoes!

No more GT for me. How sweet it is!

Phil Carman come on down

What do most people think of when you mention the words mountain bike. It's a fair bet they will say dirt and mud. Which makes my latest visit to the LBS all a bit bizarre.

I was sick of tightening the cleats on my old shoes so I decided that it was time for a new pair. So with my Christmas gift voucher in hand i headed off to do some shopping. As it turns out my LBS has recently became a Specialized dealer so all the Shimano products have been replaced by the Specialized range. I got the sales pitch from the shop mechanic and decided to try on a middle of the range pair. They felt really comfortable and if even half of the sales pitch was true I would be riding a whole lot faster and stronger the next morning when I hit the trails with the crew.

The only catch was that the pair I tried on was in white and as good as they looked all nice and clean I knew they would never look that good again once they had been for a spin. White might be alright for our roadbike cousins but as you can tell by some of the photos on this blog we dont always look as pretty as them when our ride is finished. But not to worry the guy from the shop assured me they came in black as well. The only thing was they didnt have any in stock so they would have to order me in a black pair. We went over to the shop computer to check when he could get them and low and behold there aren't any black ones in Australia. Now even the purists of Tennis have realised that white is not a good color for clothing for sports that involve grass, dirt and sweating. Unfortunately the guys at Specialized haven't yet. The only explanation I can think of is that Phil Carman must have got a job in the Specialized design department.

So my voucher stayed in my wallet and I headed back home to find the allen keys to tighten my cleats again.


By the way for those of you who aren't Collingwood supporters Phil Carman was a very talented AFL footballer who many say cost his team the 1977 grand final when he got suspended in the Semi Final. As well as being talented Phil was a touch flamboyant and took to the field in some shiny white boots when black was the only color any self respecting footballer would be seen in.

Floods All Over

First of all let me say that the thoughts and wishes of the Sunday Morning Crew go out to all those affected by the floods inundating many parts of Australia at the moment. Any mentions of mud and water in this blog are made in the knowledge that lives have been lost and homes destroyed and the affect on our riding endeavours is trivial in comparison.

Mel, Tony, Roz and I ventured out that way under magnificent blue skies which is totally ironic given the fact that floods are washing through the town of Rochester about 40 minutes from where we are riding.

Although we are Mountain Bikers and we expect to get dirty the amount of rainfall recieved in recent times has created a new environment in which to ride. There is a whole new series of creeks and streams running through the bush that none of us have seen before.
To give you an idea Crusoe Reservoir which has been a dirty little pond for many years now has water running out its overflow. Mel lead the charge through the water and checked the way forward was safe for the rest of us.




Mel on the way back from checking the trail for Tony

 From Crusoe we headed across to Big Hill and the back of the Sandhurst Reservoir. The tracks were particularly soggy in this part. The ground is so water logged that there is water just bubbling up out of the ground in some places.

Its amazing that the tracks are still in as good as condition as they are.

Mt Buller MTB

The wife and I decided that we deserved a few days away. I was keen to check out Mt Buller to help me decide whether to ride the Bike Buller festival so we tracked down a place on the banks of Lake Eildon about 50 minutes from Mt Buller(or 40 if you like exploring back tracks and dirt roads which I do).
When I go to a new place I like to get my bearings so one of my first jobs when we got to Mansfield was to get a map. I got a very detailed one of the Mt Buller area which included the small town of Macs Cove where we were staying.

The place we stayed at was called Willowlake. There are 4 cabins on the property as well as the main house. The cabins have some lake views, heaps of friendly bird life that likes to come in for a feed (sparrows, magpies, rosellas and cockatoos). You could also hear the kookaburras singing their famous song nearby. It's a great place to stay and apart from the location and the facilities it's worth the trip to experience dinner in the restaurant. The food is nice enough but its the antics of the 67 year old waitress cum cleaner which make it a unique experience. She is a cross between Manuel from Fawlty Towers and Kath From Kath and Kim. She provided a lot of laughs and a very Aussie view of the world.
Anyhow enough about the accommodation this is meant to be a bike blog.

The view from our cabin

The two of us did a gentle ride around Macs Cove and then I took off to do a bit more riding. I decided to ride along the Mansfield road to the top of Martin Gap near a hill called Jim Crow which was 590 meters high. The climb was nice and gradual and on the way up I spied a dirt track to the left of the main road so I decided to take that for the decent. It was pretty rough and rutted so I was taking it easy when I came across a very large tree across the track. It didn't seem like there was any way around the tree so the only option was to start riding back up the hill and hope to find a way across to the main road before I made it all the way back to the top. Lucky for me there was a very faint set of wheel tracks not too far up the hill which headed in the right direction which I managed to follow.

The next day we went sight seeing at Mt Buller. We road the sole chair lift operating (mainly used by down hill bikers)and then I paid a visit to one of the bike shops and booked a 3 hour cross country tour for 9 am the next day.

The summit of Mt Buller

The Trail map of Mt Buller

When I turned up it was just me and my guide Tom on the ride. He was really helpful and offered plenty of riding tips as well as picking out the best trails for us to ride. From the bike shop we headed out the Gang Gangs to the Skills Park before climbing the Corn Hill summit. Then we did a couple of laps of Misty Twist before heading back along Corn Hill Rd to the main Mt Buller road which meant we had about a kilometre of climbing back to the shop.

The Trail guide description of Misty Twist

Having a riding partner who knew all the tracks was a real benefit. Throw in some expert tuition and great trails and it was an excellent way to spend three hours and something I would recommend to everyone. By the way the new Stonefly trail linking Mt Buller to Mt Stirling opened this weekend and definitely sounds like its worth the drive to get there.