"J G" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...
Quoted message said:The ergocycles on board just aren't cutting it.
On a side-note: I'm trying to start a Spinning class, several of the
females
on board have shown interest and even several males may show up......
OK.
It's been a long time since I posted a ride report, and I promise that
unlike one semi-famous ride report I wrote here, this won't have a surprise
ending where it turns out that I was riding IN, and not ON, and that the
hill was done in my 4WD.
A newly-Mtn-Bike-equipped friend, his teenage son, and myself, pack bikes
onto bike beak of car, and head out to "Isaacs Ridge".
Isaacs Ridge is the very steep hill at the back of the suburb of Isaacs, in
Canberra Australia.
We interrupt this RR for a quick geography lesson....
Canberra is at the top of a mountain at around 600metres, but the entire
Canberra Area is covered in smaller "mountains" many that are pretty
significant, but all have restrictions on building, so that as you look out
over Canberra you just see masses of green hills and all are reserves with
fire trails and nice walking trails on them
http://users.dart.net.au/~trentandjanet/images/canberra_hills.jpg (Isaacs
Ridge is the first long ridge of hills on the other side of the lake on the
right of the photo, the steep side is on the far side in this photo).
Back to our regularly scheduled broadcast....
A really pleasant, just "warm" day, the ideal time for a ride. We take the
bikes off the car, load up backpacks, drink-bottles, set up the GPS unit,
call up the "Isaacs Incline Geocache" which was the alterior motive for this
ride, check we have the trinkets for the cache, drop the GPS into the
specially made belt pouch I carry it in, and then we hoist the bikes onto
our shoulders and climb over the fence onto the firetrail
We check the GPS unit, hmmm... not too bad, only about 2 Kms straight up the
hill from us.. This should be easy, it's not even too steep.
There's just one problem. "straight up the hill" has NO TRAIL, it's
untouched bush. Not wanting to bush-bash our way up and damage the
environment, we set off nice and easy ALONG the firetrail that runs AROUND
the base of the hill, expecting that at any moment it will turn upward in
the direction that the GPS says the cache is.
Funny how expectations and real life so rarely meet up. We'd ridden quite a
number of Kms before the firetrail met a turn-off that went upward. By which
time we'd ridden way past the nice gentle section, and found ourselves
looking at several Kms (according to the GPS unit) of a series of short
steep sections heading upward, and back toward the cache. Each section was a
short steep uphill with a short flat section, followed by another short
steep section and another flat part, for as far as we could see.
I was determined that I'd not walk ANY of these steep sections, as was the
friend who was only new to Mtn Biking.
It was a noble goal, which may or may not have been realistic with new
riders in tow.
As it turned out I did make it without walking, but I came ooohhh so close
to failing on the one section, only just reaching the flat as my legs were
screaming and the bike's speed was so low as to cause me to wobble all over
the place. But I HAD made it. I took the chance to rest and looked back to
see my friend and his son had both given up - Oh the embarrasment, they
were PUSHING their bikes - but I have to be fair they were only both new
to this, and not in any state of fitness to ride the whole way just yet.
When they reached me, they gave me that looks reprimanding look that said
"you told us this would be a short easy ride" and I had to admit, that using
a non-topographic street directory to determine the best starting point that
was closest to the cache just might have been a mistake. I made a mental
note. Next time I go geocaching, use a topographic map.
Deciding to be a bit softer on my friends, we stopped to enjoy the view from
this half-way mark, and decided that it had been worth it all just for the
view here, and how much better would it be once we got to the top. We also
took a drink and food break.
My friends were looking a little more forgiving after this rest time, so we
set off again. We must have been nearing the top, or we'd rejuvenated
ourselves enough with the food and drink, but either way, the rest of the
climb was a lot easier, and it turned out that the section the friends had
just failed on, was to be the only section they'd walk on the entire trip.
Not bad considering that I was pretty tired myself. (I hope that this
friend later requiring a quadruple bypass didn't have anything to do with me
taking him on this ride)
Once we hit the top, we found that the view we'd enjoyed half-way would be
about the best we'd get all day, due to thick forest, and the lay of the
land, we'd not really get to see the view from the top. We found the cache
without any great problem, and took another break. Readying for what was
going to be one HELL OF A FUN descent.
The bike was leaning against the fence, I sat on the bike, I clipped into
the pedals, I pushed off, I prepared my weight in the direction the bike was
MEANT to go, the front wheel hit a rock and went THE OPPOSITE WAY, and I
quite simply fell over at next to no speed. I rolled and got up, laughed it
off, and headed off again. The bike was fine, and so was I. It really was a
very small fall, sheesh I had much worse.
The downhill WAS a hell of a lot of fun. Each of us pushing ourselves just a
little further than we'd have been prepared to do on our own, just because
we didn't want to look wimpy in front of our friends.
It didn't take much at the edge of each FLAT section, to begin each STEEP
section in the AIR. Nothing drastic, just a small amount of air - I had no
intention of becoming one of those whom the Rangers Pick up from amongst
their twisted bike, at the base of trees, rocks, CLIFFS each year on tracks
like these - but still enough air to REALLY give the adrenaline and heart a
lift. Not to mention the very few corners where we could lean right into it,
and feel the awesome sensation that cornering a bike hard on dirt can bring
about. Dontchya just love that SOUND as the tyres bite and the gravel ROARS.
That sound, even when just travelling straight, is just a joy to the heart.
Their was a lot of leaf litter etc around, so by the time we hit the bottom
of the downhill run, the dirt/dust/leaf-debris on the disk brakes was
SMOKING!!!
Damn, that's probably gonna mean another set of pads needed. Oh well, it was
worth it.
The teenage son of my friend, not convinced by the evidence of the smoke,
decided to TOUCH his disks to see how hot they were. He found out!!!! Gee
otherwise apparently intelligent people can do some STUPID things at times.
Yes, the disks WERE hot Stewart.
Well, back along the base trail, back to the car, then start unpacking.
That's when I found out, that GPS units - even when in special pouches,
don't appreciate being ROLLED across when they are on your hip. That very
"nothing" fall, as small as it was, had obviously included rolling over a
small rock, which was positioned just perfectly to have punched a nice neat
hole in the middle of the GPS screen. Well, that WAS a $900 unit, probably
worth almost nothing now. Damn, that was one expensive ride. Well so much
for geocaching.
Back home to tell the wife that we need a new GPS unit. Not the best way to
end an otherwise fantastic ride.
P.S. The GPS unit only needed to be repaired, not replaced, but still cost
$275
Trentus/Ezookiel
