And who said bike trails are lame?

The other day during lunch, another fellow bike rider commented that he’d never ride on bike trails around Melbourne because the trails are boring, so he stays resolutely stays on road for all his travels. This got me thinking as I’m an avid fan of the bike trails as I don’t fancy the idea of having to constantly dodge semi-trailers during my ride.  So on this perfect sunny morning, I set out to proof that bike trail riding can have its own kind of reward. 

Here are some of the images taken during my little pedal, starting from home, to Dandenong & Carrum via Dandenong Creek bike trails, onto Port Melbourne via Beach Road bike path, and returning home via Gardiner and Scotchman’s Trail. 

Bike of choice – my trusty GT Tequesta (Modified for maximum road efficiency, of course)
Subject to Flooding?  Err a slight understatement!
First obstacle – waist deep water from the overnight rain in the underpass.  Believe it or not I rode through it but I wasn’t too happy about it afterwards.
Sun’s up, drying me out after earlier scuba diving.
Leaving the industrial town of Dandenong behind – this is what most people don’t get to see.
A boat floats by while I took a pee break at the river bank….
Home of the rich and not always famous.  Patterson Lakes.
50km mark & I was starving.  Luckily found a great little Japanese shop opening early at Chelsea.  Teriyaki beef & chicken roll, salmon and avocado roll and tuna rice ball.
View from Beach Road bike trail at Black Rock.  (Hot bikini girls jogging on the beach edited out to keep this blog G-rated.)
St Kilda Marina.
A sculpture making an ideal backdrop for my bike to pose with
St Kilda beach & some kind of wind sailing racing in the foreground.
Station Pier & that little boat called Spirit of Tasmania beached.
Southgate – tricky to take a photo where there is no one in sight.
Next shot – people are everywhere.
Couldn’t resist an arty shot….
Heading home via Gardiner bike trail next to M1.  This sign is difficult to miss.
Trail next to the Yarra River – no car to fight with for the next 5km.
109.11 Km in 4:45.  Not a bad way to spend a morning ride.

I think the pictures above speaks for itself.

Summer Gravity Camp

After nearly 6 month of think about it, worrying that I should put my money into my home or do something less costly as a vacation, I've finally paid for and signed up for this. Summer Gravity Camp with Andrew Shandro (Yeah that guy) plus a week at Crankworks watching the world's finest MTBer doing stuffs that I either have no idea or have no balls in trying to do myself.

Been doing plenty of flat pedal riding lately, Northshore stunts have no room for a clipped in man.

Next item - a quality camera to take plenty of photos!

Roll on August. Whistler here I come.
http://www.summergravitycamps.com/index.php

The Infamous GT LOBO!

Doing my usual eBay trolling and this gem of a baby popped up......Extremely tempted to get my hands on this. I don't need it, it looks butt ugly and I know LOBOs are notorious for falling into bits just sitting there on their own, but this is a real piece of GT history. Steve Peat scored his first ever world cup victory onboard one of this ugly suckers......and looks like most of the parts are pretty accurate representation of that decade.... 6" Boxxers, pull action Super Delux, cable disc brakes, Michelin Wild Gripper tyres....ah only if I have spare cash laying around.....or maybe I should just do it? Decisions. Drools. Argh!

Good to be back!

It's been awhile since my last post. Small things in life such as having a girlfriend and buying a home can take so much time away from riding! Then to discovering your blogsite has been hacked just topped things off. Well, that girlfriend's dumped me, mortgage paper's been signed, and new PC with uber firewall is up and running, it's time to get back into my number 1 passion, riding my GTs and keep the silly reports coming.

A lot has happened since, from another strong race outing at Otway Odyessey XC marathon, to going over the bars at Mt Buller International DH track, to reviving another disowned old GT and turning it into my new super commuter bike and having a ball riding flat pedal again, it's been great to get back on my bike. But the most exciting news is yet to come - I've signed up for Andrew Shandro's Summer Gravity Camp in Canada this winter, followed by another full week of taking part in the Crankworks! August cannot come soon enough for me!

Will follow this post up with some of the happier riding activities in the past months. Stand by.