The Journey

"You want to ride to where?" This was the first questions I was asked when scouting for accompanying riders. The basic idea was to ride from N/W Sydney to Canberra, a possible 600km return trip. With Canberra firmly in the sights and almost a full day to play with once we were there, the trails were calling.
We kicked off from Campbelltown due to factors outside my control and it wasn't long before the guys were steadily covering the k's. I opted to ride last so my fellow riders could take advantage of the fine weather before the predicted change in the afternoon. A slow leak in a rear tyre of one of the bikes saw me become the tech support as well. After an initial pressurisation we eventually had to change the tube, the only flat on our trip down. The riders alternated a couple of times before it was my turn to hit the tar.

It was called Hill Top and went forever.

Once out on the road the weather started to change, with a sprinkle of rain. It wasn't long before it really turn and we were wet through, climbing out around one of the hills we decided if it was still raining on the other side of the hill we would call it a day. There just wasn't any point in getting wet and endangering ourselves along the Hume. We crested the hill to find the rain had cease, but it wasn't over yet. A quick stop and a riding partner swap, I pulled on an extra layer as the temperature had dropped and took in some food.

We are still having fun, thumbs-up!

We headed back out onto the road, the wind in our face, water whipping up our wheels from puddles. The wind kept on getting stronger as we climbed towards Goulburn. Thankfully I had borrowed a set of Tri bars and I was using them often to keep out of the wind. After another rider swap we struggled on, the wind was now blowing so hard that at one point we had to change up gears to ride down a hill, our speed dropping that much. The wind was demoralising and wasn't letting up, somewhere just short of Goulburn the towel was thrown in, it just wasn't fun anymore.

Doing it tough, all uphill and into a headwind.

After some formal duties on Sunday there was time to hit the trails of Canberra. First we headed out to Sparrow Hill where we hooked up with mountain biker, renown trail builder and all-round good guy Paul Cole. There is no better person to show you around many of the trails in Canberra than Paul, he led us on a 20km loop which included many trails used at the recent Mont 24. I was also interested to see the extent of which a new road was going to affect the Sparrow Hill trails. Sparrow wont be cut in half but more of a 90:10 situation, hopefully the underpass goes in and they get the upgraded parking area. Paul has already spent some time walking many sections of the forest in preperation for additional trails, sweet.

Paul making his way through the Pines at Sparrow.