Sunny days make it all better!

Today was scheduled to be an epic out at Ada Tree, using the new Garmin GPS, but the pin was pulled on that idea after some interest in doing the You Yangs ride was bought up. Sadly, the instigators of that decided not to turn up, which was disappointing especially when we were sitting in the car park waiting for them. Still, these things happen and it didn't alter our ride one little bit!

Gearing up, it was all go at the You Yangs today, with a Duathlon and an orienteering event in progress, and there is some interesting people getting about in those events!! Stranger and stranger...!
The ol' GPS is going great guns but for a small glitch that see's it stop timing for some strange reason- whether I accidently bump it, or is doesn't like really hard hits, its a problem I'm going to have to get to the bottom of, as it was off for the new section that I really wanted to see on the google map. I'll sort it :)

So we found some new trails whilst we were ooout and abooot, and some new little connections and sections, so that was a bonus, and those bits will be part of our regular loop in the future!


As usual for the You Yangs, it was dry and hard pack and a great place for the Pirahnas! I was running the Barracudas again, and I've decided that the profile of the tire isn't totally suited to the buffed singletrack of the Flat Track. The intermediate knobs, or lack thereof, make the transition from center to cornering knobs very pronounced and require a totally committed riding style. The Pirahnas have a far more suitable profile mainly due to the shorter knob height and really excel (accel-erate?!) on the groomed trails. All that changes when the trail gets rough, and the barracudas are just wicked! Bigger bag for more control and comfort, bigger knobs for simply more grip and an awesome sharp cornering section of knobs for controlled drifting and roosting. Braap! The biggest thing I notice each time I get on these tires is the decreased braking distance required- they just help pull the bike up so hard!


Part of our ride today was the climb to the highest point of the park, to Flinder's Peak (?). As it was a no bikes area, we naturally walked our bikes the 45 minutes to the peak and back, and checked out the view of the area. Not bad really, a tough wander to the top up the stone steps and an equally brisk trip down.


Argh, my eyes!!

Mmm, I bet this has to do with planes...!!

And finally, after a few climbs and being quite tuckered out as they say, we arrived back at the top of the Downhill course, having hit the flat track and basically done the complete circuit road as well. The downhill course is always a laugh (Jack found it just as amusing uphill, sick boy), this time more than usual as I was quite well smashed from yesterday, and bumped and bashed my way all the way to the car, chucking away. Jack rode well all day, skull dragging my tired ass up hill and down dale, and with a lovely day on hand, we'll call it a success.

Below is a little clip I threw together whilst waiting for photos to upload, maybe we can do some more of these in future...?! (sound on for this one...)



The next race coming up is the Rock Hop 6 Hour at Beaconsfield, so we'll see most of you at that I trust!