Last night I was on the mtb and coming home along the Yarra Trail. I had just followed the dirt track along the river from the Fairfield pipe bridge to the bottom of the stairs at the Chandler Hwy and as I approached the path that joins in from up near the Guide Dog School a guy on a roadie was flying down so I slowed a little to let him get in front of me and onto the bike path. He was on a Cannondale road bike and hooking along pretty well so I decided to see if I could get onto his wheel. I shifted up a couple of gears and put the hammer down, working on the premise that if I managed to catch him I would be able to recover once I was on his wheel. The path there is pretty flat and I got the mtb up to 48km/h and managed to reel him in just after the turn to the left as you start to parallel the Fwy. I let him know that I was going to "sit back here for a minute if I can hang on!!" and then I proceeded to suck his wheel and recover from my effort to catch him. We sat on about 40 km/h or so all the way along to the sports fields and we caught and passed another guy on a roadbike just before that and he jumped onto my wheel.
When we hit the bottom of the hill that leads up to the overpass (only about 150m or so long but pretty steep) I said "thanks mate" as I wasn't confident that I could keep up with him up the hill. I went pretty hard and only lost about 5m or so by the short flat bit at the cul-de-sac but I managed to gain it back by taking the shortcut up the dirt hill instead of going around the paved S-bend (melbournites familiar with the trail will know what I am on about). I came out of this shortcut just in front of him but let him go through and got back on his wheel. He got about 5m or so in front of me crossing the road but once we hit the downhill on the other side my 100kg + heavy backpack worked to my advantage and I got back on his wheel. I continued to suck his wheel right up until the bridge at Bourke Rd (he was still hammering it) where I again said "thanks mate" before turning off to cross the bridge.
Just prior to the bridge we had passed a guy on a mountain bike (could have been a hybrid) and he ended up getting onto my wheel and wheelsucking me for a while along the dirt road up until the open section where there is a drink fountain next to the trail. I stopped for a resupply of water as it was a stinking hot day and I had already finished an entire bottle by this stage but the guy kept going and by the time I had refilled and wet myself down a bit he was long gone!!
Was a good ride home despite the heat and I definitely appreciated the tow from the guy on the Cannondale - thanks champ!!
Last night I was on the mtb and coming home along the Yarra Trail. I had just followed the dirt track along the river from the Fairfield pipe bridge to the bottom of the stairs at the Chandler Hwy and as I approached the path that joins in from up near the Guide Dog School a guy on a roadie was flying down so I slowed a little to let him get in front of me and onto the bike path. He was on a Cannondale road bike and hooking along pretty well so I decided to see if I could get onto his wheel.
Last night I was on the mtb and coming home along the Yarra Trail. I had just followed the dirt track along the river from the Fairfield pipe bridge to the bottom of the stairs at the Chandler Hwy and as I approached the path that joins in from up near the Guide Dog School a guy on a roadie was flying down so I slowed a little to let him get in front of me and onto the bike path. He was on a Cannondale road bike and hooking along pretty well so I decided to see if I could get onto his wheel.
<snip>
You? Wheelsuckee, as I recall, big fella!
Good yarn, mate.
Yep Gags is my favourite wheelsuckee. Big air displacement + constant speed = 🙂
On 2007-11-21, DaveB (aka Bruce) was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Quoted message said:
blah said:
Gags said:
Last night I was on the mtb and coming home along the Yarra Trail. I had just followed the dirt track along the river from the Fairfield pipe bridge to the bottom of the stairs at the Chandler Hwy and as I approached the path that joins in from up near the Guide Dog School a guy on a roadie was flying down so I slowed a little to let him get in front of me and onto the bike path. He was on a Cannondale road bike and hooking along pretty well so I decided to see if I could get onto his wheel.
<snip>
You? Wheelsuckee, as I recall, big fella!
Good yarn, mate.
Yep Gags is my favourite wheelsuckee. Big air displacement + constant speed = 🙂
Gosh I miss Warrandyte hill. Much *much* smoother road than my current fly-down-like-a-brick hill.
-- TimC
Quoted message said:
aibohphobia, n., The fear of palindromes
And here I thought it was the fear of robotic Japanese dogs. -- Tom "Tom" Harrington
On 2007-11-24, gplama (aka Bruce) was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:
Quoted message said:
essendon93 said:
Off topic slightly, but I reckon it's about time for a BR reunion. I'd prob need a couple of weeks to build up to that distance again.
I'm there. That Doncaster corner sure has changed!
I'm in Melbourne for another week (no goat anymore? I had an early night lastnight), and met mat at the Haddon's cafe the other day. He suggested I borrow a bike and do the Thursday not-the-'burbs ride, but alas, as well as not packing my bike, I didn't pack any clothes (of the cycling variety) or shoes.
Next time...
-- TimC Beware of bugs in the above program. I proved it correct, I did not try it. --- D. E. Knuth
