Day 2 - Half Moon Bay

Went off for a little ride with Steve today. Coffee at his local the up into the hills. Wherever you look it's hills.

Over 800 meters of climbing on road and fire trail.  A great view out over the Pacific Ocean then a wicked single trail back down to the bottom.

Today I have seen, Humpback Whales, Dolphins,  Deer a Raccoon (dead), a picture of a Mountain Lion and I heard a rattlesnake.  NO Bears.

Oh! and I heard all about Poison Oak.

#WEMBO Part 2 Sunny California

Well here we go. 3 months of intensive training and the day has arrived.
Bikes boxed and being loaded on the plane as I watch from the terminal.
I will be in the US in about 16 hrs.

Been doing a personal 6 hr enduro every Sunday for the last 2 months. The fitness has come back but have I done enough training in the hills?

Let the training begin

Ok, I've been a bit quiet since Christmas on account of me having a damaged tendon in my right foot.
The Abductor Digity Minimi or the little toe. It's still sore but after a 2 injections I'm starting to get some improvement.
I'm allowed to start riding now but with a few restrictions.   No hill, no pills, high cadence and keep the knees together.
Only 4 months to go until WEMBO.  It's all paid for and accomodation is arranged. Now might be a good time to start training.

A Trail of 50 Bridges

The commute home.
Abbotsford to Glen Waverley.  
21.6 kms
3 Rivers/Creeks 
3 set of traffic lights
25 dogs 
and 
50 Bridges. Here are a few.  
I wont bore you withe the other 33. 
If I stopped at all of them it would have taken an hour longer to get home and it was nearly dark as it was.

.3 km - Yarra River - Burnley St Bridge

1.8 km - Yarra River -  Victoria St

1.8 km - Yarra River - Bridge Rd

2.4 km - Yarra River - Lilydale Belgrave Line

3.1 km - Yarra River - Swan St

4.3 k m - Yarra River - St Kevin College

4.7 km - Gardiners Creek - South Eastern Underhang

5.3 km - Gardiners Creek - Glenferry Rd

5.5 km - Gardiners Creek - The new bridge - Glenferry Rd

9.3 km - Gardiners Creek - One of those shitty small bridges that zig zag the creek all the way home.

9.6 km - Gardiners Creek - High Street Rd

11.9 km - Gardiners Creek - East Malvern Golf Course

12.1 km - South Eastern Freeway - East Malvern Station

14.4 km - Scotchman Creek - Warrigal Rd 

18 km - Scotchman Creek - The Rape Tunnels

18.7 km - Scotchman Creek - Stevos Rd

21.1 km - Scotchman Creek -  Blackburn Rd

90 million people. 45 million motor bikes and NO traffic lights?

Hue - Vietnam
Went for 2 rides with our tour guide. He likes riding and lent me his nice Scott MTB.
https://app.strava.com/activities/234490046
https://app.strava.com/activities/234490090






Ho Ann - Vietnam
Family ride boat trip out to an Island to check out some old people doing old stuff.
https://app.strava.com/activities/234780421

I had the best curry ever for lunch.

Brought a new bike today.

Meekong Creations

http://www.mekong-creations.org/products/bamboo/bamboo-bikes.html

2014 in Review

2014 in Review

Activities :             214

Distance :             9,138.95 km

Time :                    402:40:37 h:m:s

Elevation Gain :   88,740 m

Calories :              275,234 C

Injuries :                1 - Broken Clavicle

New Bikes :         1 - Meekong Creations

Races :                 Alpine Classic 140km
                               Bay Ride 2014
                               Challenge Shepparton    1/2 Ironman ( Ride only )
                               Forrest MTB Festival       (First Place Male Master Group B)

Heat Map

Another Forrest MTB Festival

Off to Forrest for another festival.   5 races over 2 days.

Stage 1 XC 15 Km So Fo Sprint

41st place in Masters.  Oh! That makes me first place in Masters B

Stage 2 TT Balidjaru Hill 5 km Climb

I'm not a climber. Lost a couple of spots.

Stage 3 TT Red Carpet 5 km Super D

500 m in I've clean busted of my seat post. 4.5 km without a seat post really hurts. Lost a few more spots. Down to 7th place.

Stage 4 Pair TT Caspers Revenge 5 km

Two riders head out at a time. I time my burst just right at 4 km and get the win by 20 seconds.

Back up to 4 th place overall. There is only 1 minutes separating the top 10 riders in Masters B.

Stage 5 XC 50Km Forrest Fiddy

Includes every other trail at Forrest. Once again I time my burst for the right spot. 22 km in when we come off the Jo Jo trail. It's turned into a very warm day and several areas have been burnt back so the trail is dry,dusty and hot.

First place. 7 minutes ahead of second.

Overall 1st place in Masters B 40-50 with a 18 minute gave to second.  My first ever win.

The fish that John West rejected. ATB 2014.

Around the Bay in a day

Thanks John West, great day, great ride.

http://app.strava.com/activities/209005402

A long cold winter

So. It's been a while since the last post. Cold, very wet and yes, injury.



In late February while doing final prep for this years Oppy 24 hr challenge the inevitable happened. Over the handle bar at 43.2 km/h while riding at Lysterfield Lake MTB Park. I still finished my lap with a Strava PR but not very comfortably.

So with broken Collar Bone I'm off the bike again.

If I'm to believe Strava then I was moving at 43.2 kmh when I fell. Lucky I landed in soft grass & Kangaroo turds.
 Oh! And my heart stopped.

After two months of recovery it has not healed so it's under the knife again.  Same shoulder as last time, just a different injury. And now my new bling kit. 7 bits of titanium.






Now 6 months later it's still giving me a bit of grief but I'm back on the bike.
Made my weekly Strava goal last week for the first time since the accident.

Next........ The Bay Ride in 3 weeks.

Something different. Our first ever holiday with out Cody.

It's school holidays and C is in America on a school trip. So we are off to Wilson's Promontory for a few days. The last time we were there was January 1999. Jac was about 2 months pregnant.











Shit! Where is the meat.
We spent Friday night at the Fish Creek Hotel.  We booked in then realised we had left the meat at home in the freezer.  As there is only minimal stuff at the Tidal River shop we drive 1/2 hr back down the road to get some more.

Farrrrrrk..... Why are we here?
Up early on Saturday morning and we leave Fish Creek on route to the Prom when the rain starts and keeps falling and falling. Finally at 10:00 we get out of the car in a light drizzle, put on our packs and start walking only to be stopped by a woman in a bus "Do you want a lift to the MT Oberon car park?  It's a shorter walk from there." 10:30 We are finally on our way. We walk the first hr in rain then it clears up, coats away, jumpers off feeling a bit better now.

Camp Food.
Home made chili beef.

Dehydrated.

Re-hydrated

Pasta one day rice the next.

Untested.

Success!

Why so many hills.
We did this 15 years ago, I can't remember all these hills. We stopped at Roaring Meg for lunch then the serious up down starts and keeps going until about 3:00 when we round a point and see the Lighthouse in the distance. It's then a gentle decent over the next 1/2 hr to the lighthouse walk. Then, it's up again that last 500 meters is a bitch.
19.5 km done on about 5hrs. On the bike that would have been just on an hour.

Rest day, or is it?
Just a short walk today to recover. We pick the Waterloo Bay walk, a mostly gently climb. 2 hours in we get to a great lookout over Waterloo and the Lighthouse then the track starts to drop away. That's it, time to turn back.  Another 15 kms. The legs are feeling it now. Oh! And a blister.






"The Lighthouse"
Wow, it's great. By our standard, 5 Star. We just had to carry cloths food and wine, they supply the rest. Nice beds, doonas, cooking stuff, sun set, sun rise, and more Wombats then an Australian giftshop.

Wildlife day.
It's a little further today. 24 kms the maps says. The Lighthouse was nearly full over night but we are the first to hit the trail. I know because it's me having the brush away all the spider webs. Once again it's a tough walk throughout the hills but with some great views as we come back through Oberon bay. 6:30 on the trail. 
So far at the Prom. 
A wombat, 7 deer, a couple of wallabies and a kangaroo, rabbit, a snake (only an small one), some more wombats, fox, wedge tailed eagle and a couple of mating lizards. Oh! And did I mention the wombats.

The Camper.

The holiday is not over yet. Find our site, set up the camper. Drive back to Fish Creek to get our pillows we left at the Hotel. The beer. Oh shit is not cold, the fridge has turned off over the last 2 days..........


3 more days. 
A few more walks, a couple of bike rides, a Strava KOM on MT Oberon descent. Over 5 days I have ride 40 km and walked 75. The legs are cooked.

Food poisoning?
On the way home we stop at a bakery in Leongatha. Can't go away on a holiday and not stop somewhere for a curry pie. The sausage roll is a bit average, the curry pie dry and over cooked and the hot cross buns. To die for.................Well we wont go there again.