Your ride today, yesterday....

[hutchy]

Ha Ha yes pretty impressive that one!

I am not that artistic......I may be able to do a cock and balls at best!

[norbs]

Ha Ha yes pretty impressive that one!

I am not that artistic......I may be able to do a cock and balls at best!

well, get to it!

[CLP]

I may be able to do a cock and balls at best!

I'll assume you've already done this by now and you're just waiting for the appropriate moment to upload....


I headed out after work today with the intent of getting in some climbing. Unfortunately i didn't quite do all of the loop i was planning since i left work a bit later than was planned; but i still had a pretty fair crack at the old freeway.

Second best time, and to be honest, really happy with that. Really happy because for some reason Strava can't differentiate between the freeway and old freeway, so my PB is is taken from a ride up the much faster freeway stretch. Norbs is still beating me..

https://www.strava.com/activities/900852522

[KNAPPO]

Well my race prep for next weekend is complete.
The only real trail I had to spend time on was the new black diamond northern downhill. I walked the top, middle and end this morning scoping out the main features, sessioned parts then put this run down.

Took my PB from 2:05 to 1:38 so happy with that leading into the race.

[CLP]

Well my race prep for next weekend is complete.

test your aerobic fitness tomorrow after work

[CLP]

Headed out to Cobbler Creek this morning, despite the forecast for stupidly hot weather. Rode some trails on my CX bike, took a photo of some random try-hard [ ] and rode home Recovery consisted of a chocolate croissant, 3 coffees and a chocolate milk

https://www.strava.com/activities/914596469

17499319_10154357762945978_5101670907574368408_n.jpg

17553540_10154357883920978_9144964051760435850_n.jpg

[KNAPPO]

Headed out to Cobbler Creek this morning, despite the forecast for stupidly hot weather. Rode some trails on my CX bike, took a photo of some random try-hard [ ] and rode home

Well my first ever race was a set of mixed emotions and a fuck load of pain...
https://www.strava.com/activities/914627961

Here is my onboard from Stage 1.
Finished my first ever timed stage in 12th in my category which was where abouts I thought ide be from Strava segment times.
The conditions were dusty and loose as all hell. I started to feel a little cautious of the ground about half way thru this stage and buttoned off at the bottom as the turns were powder.

Stage 1, I clipped a tree with my right hand at 0:24, scared the shit out of me.



Now for a laugh at my expense. Stage 3, all two turns of it......


^^ I went down hard!!!
GoPro punched my chest so I have a very sore rib cage and my left hip has bone brusing. Fucking sore for the last two days and very much feeling shit about it all. Crash cost me 5 minutes and that was my race over. Continued on and finished the event but that was it.

The trail copped a crap load of traffic from when I rode it last a week before the event so the ground was like powder. I tipped it in and the front just vanished.

[CLP]

Good on you for getting out there and giving it a go!

Hope you heal up quickly.. before your next race

[CLP]

Heads up to those that may be interested.. Early Bird registration for Amy's Gran Fondo 2017 edition have opened.

http://amysgranfondo.org.au/new-for-2017/

[CLP]

Easter Saturday and Sunday were used as an excuse to get the mountain bikes out and give them a bit of a thrash. The side-task being to assess whether Miss V's shoulder is repaired sufficiently to take on the Bike SA Dirty Weekend 24 hour race. We had a few metrics by which to assess things, but they were semi-rubbery, which maybe hasn't helped us.

Saturday was used mainly to reacquaint ourselves with the Fox Creek trails. Gotta love the place We picked out a few trails that Miss V was fairly comfortable riding and repeated them a few times. Post ride pizza and Lager was great Things looked fairly positive as far as Miss V doing Dirty Weekend too, which was great, so we returned home pretty enthused.
https://www.strava.com/activities/942715077

Sunday was intended to extend on Saturdays ride and step it up a notch. We'd planned to do a full lap (or close enough to) of last years Dirty weekend course. Not really fussed about times and pace, but just doing it. Photo stops encouraged of course While Miss V got around it mostly ok, we were thinking that her fitness might not be quite there yet. Sadly, we were too late for post-ride pizza, but the lager was still available With a little bit of discomfort in the shoulder later in the evening we were thinking that Miss V's recovery might be a week or two behind where we'd want it to be to safely tackle the event.
https://www.strava.com/activities/944275423

So.. while this weekend was intended to be the line in the sand to workout what's going on for our race plans, we couldn't come to a 100% conclusion. So we're going to head out next weekend as well and make the final call then. Gut feel is that she won't take the risk and sit it out So, in the absence of a team that leaves me potentially trying to take on the 24 hour race solo or signing up for one of the shorter races. Perhaps stupidly, I'm leaning towards trying the 24 solo just to see how i hold up! How much preparation do you really need, right?

[KNAPPO]

I would love to do the Dirty Weekend but will give it a miss this year again. Kids take up too much time and energy.



Super proud dad moment on the weekend.

Got my last lad off the training wheels and the first family group ride under the belt, all 3 kids riding at 4 & 6yrs old. Our plans are to get out for a family ride as many weekends as we can whilst the weather is good and explore places with the kids. Beach, National Parks, linear trails, if its kid friendly we can now take the bikes there and go exploring.

Picked up another Yakima Frontloader this arvo as attaching 4 bikes to the tow ball hitch rack was a bit of a pain in the arse over the long weekend. The 4 bikes fit, only just, but having the carbon hardtail in the mix is just asking for trouble with the kids bikes hard up against it. Even with the frame padding I setup its only a matter of time before it gets damaged. On the roof its much easier to load and un load, you just have to be careful and not park in a shopping ctr carpark and look out for trees in the burbs. The wife doesn't understand why I wont let her drive with bikes on the roof.

[CLP]

I would love to do the Dirty Weekend but will give it a miss this year again. Kids take up too much time and energy.

You'll have to give it a go at some point. Depending on how things pan out, maybe an ARSE team might be the go... I'm sure Hz would be all over giving it another go

I noticed your name missing from entry list for Blind Date CX .. administrative error no doubt..

Super proud dad moment on the weekend.

Got my last lad off the training wheels and the first family group ride under the belt, all 3 kids riding at 4 & 6yrs old. Our plans are to get out for a family ride as many weekends as we can whilst the weather is good and explore places with the kids. Beach, National Parks, linear trails, if its kid friendly we can now take the bikes there and go exploring.

Great stuff Though I reckon you should really be at the front of that paceline rather than wheelsucking the rest of the family

Maybe a family trip to Melrose is in order? If I recall there's some kid friendly trails there.. I might be mistaken though, so don't quote me!

[KNAPPO]

Great stuff Though I reckon you should really be at the front of that paceline rather than wheelsucking the rest of the family

Was more a case of helping the twins when they fell as they are still getting to grips with starting un assisted. With me at the front all they wanted to do was race me and they kept crashing into each other lol.
Going to have to start off riding in a few locations that are not so populated as the twins keep getting psyched out when another rider is close to them and stopping which is fine, just makes for slow going.

I reckon the kids loop at Ansteys Hill will be perfect (flat compared to Cobblers which has a slight climb) and portions of the Torrens, O-Bahn, Dry Creek & Little Para River linear trails will work well in the short term.

Any other riding location recommendations around Adelaide that I am missing?

[CLP]

Any other riding location recommendations around Adelaide that I am missing?

oops! meant to reply to this... there's a heap of trails around in the south parklands, and around Victoria Park. There's also a fairly wide and smooth pump track in there once the youngsters get a bit of confidence

[KNAPPO]

there's a heap of trails around in the south parklands, and around Victoria Park. There's also a fairly wide and smooth pump track in there once the youngsters get a bit of confidence

Thanks mate. This post reminded me of the crit track on the V8 Supercar circuit.
Might have to head down that way one weekend to let the lads 'ride on a race track'

We went to a portion of the Linear trails that links the Dry Creek linear trail to the O-Barn Linear trail yesterday, nice spot with a playground if they got bored and predominantly flat with the option to throw in some small hills to test their legs. Nathan was a little unsure of his new skill-set but got there in the end. Adam and Jake are up and running so a few more flat rides are in order and we should all be set to tackle a few more populated areas (pedestrians ect) and hilly rides.

[CLP]

be a little bit cautious at the crit track.

As the name suggests, it's a place for fast riding, even if the Adelaide city council don't really get it and put in nonsense like "slow zone" signage.. wtf? . If you do go there, make sure to keep the kids off to one side and travelling in the correct direction If there's a few people training there, i'd suggest that it's possibly a fairly dangerous place for kids to ride unless the supervising parents know what they're doing.

[KNAPPO]

i'd suggest that it's possibly a fairly dangerous place for kids to ride unless the supervising parents know what they're doing.

Yep, these thoughts crossed my mind. If it was busy Ide just take off and ride park 17, 19 & 20 in the South Parklands.

[CLP]

so continuing on from our Easter rides, V and I headed to Fox creek yesterday to make some determination as to whether V would be able to take part in the BikeSA Dirty Weekend. Annoyingly, even this ride looked to be in doubt due to both of us catching a cold during the week. (A friend having invited us to lunch, only for us to discover when we arrived that both her and her partner were sick.. ffs! <mild rage>)

Anyway, we headed out with the thought of doing a couple of laps that look like the bike leg of an off road duathlon that we're doing later in the year. We promptly got lost and just made up a lap from the trails that we know. Nothing super tough technically, though I think it might have pushed V a little on the aerobic side of things. That's all fine though, since the ride was about testing her fitness. I think she got her head into gear late on our first loop, riding a few features that she'd been having trouble with previously. Awesome!

We finished our loops, and headed over to the winery for pizza and a lager
We concluded that V should be okay to ride the Dirty Weekend.. Woot! So we've signed up for 24 hours as a mixed duo. I'm figuring that i'll be doing the bulk of the riding, though it might also depend on weather conditions as to how long/late we stay out riding.

https://www.strava.com/activities/953957973

So now our attention turns to prepping ourselves, bikes and equipment for 24 hours of Mountain Biking. And importantly, avoiding anyone who wants to infect us with their evil germs.

[KNAPPO]

^^ Good luck. That would be pretty darn cool sharing the 24 with your partner.

[CLP]

You should come and check it out on the Saturday evening. Might give you some motivation to sign up for next year. As long as it's not raining, it's an awesome atmosphere up there.

[KNAPPO]

I was just thinking thats a good idea then remembered im taking a mate who is relatively new to MTB and torturing him up Anstey's Hill a few times this Saturday night.

Had a good ride exploring Wynn Vale last night. Found a cool urban climb linking a heap of backstreets from Grenfell St to The Golden Way, its a great option for me when coming back up Dry Creek's trails to get to the top of the hill towards my house and cut out a main road.

Then I remembered there is a tunnel under The Golden Way so worked out a way to link Dry Creek to Wynn Vale Gullies then onto Cobblers n home. So freakin lucky where I live that I can link so many urban singletrack trail networks and not go near main roads.

[CLP]

Love that photo
you can still torture your mate.. stone hut road is on the way to Fox Creek

[KNAPPO]

you can still torture your mate.. stone hut road is on the way to Fox Creek

You're an evil man. Riding to Fox up Stone Hut Rd and the Mawson Trail is on my bucket list of places to torture myself.
Ide love to link Cobblers, Anstey's and Fox in a single ride. Need my core fitness to be a bit higher before I tackle that challenge tho.

Working on it. 109k this week so far.

[CLP]

you can still torture your mate.. stone hut road is on the way to Fox Creek

You're an evil man. Riding to Fox up Stone Hut Rd and the Mawson Trail is on my bucket list of places to torture myself.
Ide love to link Cobblers, Anstey's and Fox in a single ride. Need my core fitness to be a bit higher before I tackle that challenge tho.

Working on it. 109k this week so far.

Well.. yes.. I thought that was assumed <evil genius laughter>

Funny you should mention that loop... When Miss V and I were out at Fox on the weekend we bumped into Kev P., who won the Dirty Weekend 24 Solo Men Category last year.. and probably every other 24 hour MTB race he's entered.

here's his ride:
https://www.strava.com/activities/953924363

[KNAPPO]

Funny you should mention that loop... When Miss V and I were out at Fox on the weekend we bumped into Kev P., who won the Dirty Weekend 24 Solo Men Category last year.. and probably every other 24 hour MTB race he's entered.

here's his ride:
https://www.strava.com/activities/953924363

Yeah I saw that one, I know Shane Elliott who Kevin rode with on that ride. There are a few local Greenwith lads that have done it as well.
My Avanti Competitor carbon hardtail is Kevin Pullen's old bike. I bet its done a shit load of kms!