I managed to get out on the bike again at the weekend, despite awful weather. This time I was in the company of Dave The Happy Singer, who would be riding my new (to me) Avanti Hammer XT hardtail. Esther's dad Tim was kind enough to bring me the Hammer, a 2003 model, from his large collection and I was told to consider it a permanent loan. Which is win.
Anyway, two bikes don't fit into one small Celica, so it was also the first outing for my new bike rack, and the first time I've had an external bike rack on since Ieft the UK. So it was with trepidation that I headed off into The Land Of The Awful Driver early on Saturday, in thrashing rain, quietly hoping that today wasn't the day some Sydney driver crunched straight into my rear bumper.
Stil, I got to Dave's place without incident, and on to the Blue Mountains. The chosen trail was Faulconbridge Point, followed by a quick thrash round the Volvo Trail, with the Oaks Singletrack to finish if the weather held up enough for it to dry a little.
Faulconbridge Point is scenic, n00b-friendly and relatively flat, so a good start to the day. Only one section was flooded out, and this was very much bypassable. The trail is fast, smooth and well-drained. Scenic too, when you can see further than 20 metres. Grose Valley is usually a world-class view. Not so much yesterday.
That complete, the weather seemed good enough to take Dave out to The Old Volvo Trail and give him a taste of what singletrack riding is all about, and as ever the trail didn't disappoint. Despite the torrential rain of the previous day, it was quite ridable, and I got Dave to ride the first aerial ladderway without much complaint. For my part, I decided that since I had another rider with me, the wet conditions were no reason to avoid any obstacle, in fact no reason to avoid a little one-wheeled dismount action either. I also finally figured out the circuit properly, which helps. Dave, for his part, was slightly more circumspect over what he wanted to ride over, and did have a slight moment of misjudgement on top of the car, resulting in a technical disqualification and the Congressional Medal of LOL. Never has there been a more deserving recipient. Dave is pictured below at his medal presentation.
After a couple of runs over the volvo and down to the river crossing, the rain started to increase and it looked like it might be the end, with the Oaks rained off, so we dithered about for a while, then headed off to the pub and watched tennis, drank cider and generally had a great old laugh.
Verdict:
- Faulconbridge Point - do it, it's easy. Great warmup and a potentially amazing view
- Old Volvo Trail - stays drier than one might expect, some obstacles are, however, in need of maintenance. Always fun.
And finally, this:
posted @ Tuesday, March 20, 2012 2:40 PM