Jells to Frankston ride

Arms, legs, lights and bikes everywhere. The sight was impressive for its carnage. Not day two of the Tour de France: just day one of the Alt Thursday group's ride to Frankston. Werner and Helen conspired to present a spectacle that will go down in the annals of our rides.

Never has so much balletic grace been shown by so few to so many.

AND THAT'S NOT ALL.

In a display of impressive bike handling  capacity, Werner  proved he could still pulse the pedals to a Dandenong bike shop even if his rear derailleur was departed from its operating  cable.

THERE'S MORE

Not to be outclassed in bike riding technique, Kirsten elected to have her seat out descend into the depths of her bike frame, necessitating a Neanderthal style riding posture with her feet dragging on the ground.

And to prove it was no accident, she proceeded to repeat the trick twice more.

YET MORE STILL.

To his dismay and far too late to be helpful, Werner found the bike shop had not only reintroduced his shifter cable to his derailleur, it had also changed the position of his brake levers to a point not related to his familiar habitual position. Come a very fast,  sharp corner and the need to slow down, and ..... oh hell!  

Lucky the ditch was soft and grassy.

And so endeth our very, very, very long ride to Frankston, a place bereft of toilets. (That's another story)

Jon

RIDE THURSDAY 1 JUL

Start 1000

At Bayswater

Going to Diamond Creek.

Any bike type.

Lead by Kirsten and Karlo.

Ride Tuesday 29 Jun

Jells Pk to Frankston.

Start 1000.

Sealed surface all the way.

Lead by Karlo.

Sunday . Montague No3

Sunday . Montague No2

Sunday . Montague

No 1

Ride: Tuesday 22 Jun

Start at Jells Pk

At 1000

Going to Oakleigh

On any type of bike you desire. All sealed surface.

Lead by Kirsten.

Another adventure - Tibet

It's not what you;d imagine Tibet to look like - click on the link below 

 Tibet  

A past adventure - Peru

Click on the link below -  

Peru

Last Tuesday ride to Maryknoll

Kicking off in Gembrook, we traversed the same route where Herald came his cropper, though without incident this time.

No terrain damage whatsoever in the Beenak State forest. No sign of any storm, no debris, not even potholed roads. Good surfacess throughout.

So to Maryknoll and vanilla slices. 

The only event of note was Werner demonstrating how to exchange a good tube for his punctured one, in 6mins flat. Champion! 

After a reasonably quick ride and feeling quite knackered, we all returned to our cars at Gembrook, whereupon Jurgen calmly announces that he's not had enough and elects to continue his ride to Emerald. 

Something wrong with that man@@##%$

Jon

 

8 Green bottles .. pt 2

 The absconding 3 from last Friday's attrition ride... tell their story.

"After being told by one impatient driver that we should not be riding that day we (the forlorn 3) followed the bunch but they got away from us. We decided to ride to Mulhals Rd and turn left to come back to Patons Rd and still we could not see any of the other bunch. So it was decided to go and have coffee at Yellingbo ... all closed. Next stop Woori Yallock, Werner leading the way. No coffee there. Kirsten lead us up the way by trail to Seville. Stopped at woollies, had bite to eat. I was running out of energy and trying to keep up with the other guys was hard work. Made it to Monbulk to Old Emerald Rd to Butterfield reserve. Many trees down, a big mess. Made it back to emerald.  Ready to do it all again.

 Peter "

Tuesday 15 Jun ride

Meet 0900 at Gembrook.

Dirt bikes, heading to Maryknoll. 

Revisiting the scene of Herald's demise.

8 Green Bottles sitting on a ........... Friday ride

Little was a ride to attracti so much attrition.

Eight starters planned to convene at the Emerald library, an amazing and surprising attendance given the environmental havoc wreaked the day previous.

So, do we ride tracks and risk debris, descending trees and limbs, or do we stick to tarmac and risk the traffic? A bit of both was our compromise. Ride the road to Patons Rd in Maccy, then take a left turn inyo the dirt and continue to  the Patch via Old Emerald and Waterford, Williams,  then tarmac back home. All well and good. 

The attrition started before we left the library.

 Where was Mike? He never forsakes a ride. No Mike.! Wait 5mins. NO Mike! Ring his home. No Mike! Wait 15mins. No Mike! Conclusion: He must have had a better offer. 

One down, 7 to go.

Out of the library carpart, downhill past Wollie's and straight into impenetrable fog. Creeping along the road to Avonsleigh between annoyed motorists, was not pleasant and it was with relief that we deserted Maccy Rd. and turned left into Patons. At least 4 of us of  turned left (Jurgen, Helen, Jon, Jutta, the latter being a new rider to the group, sussing out our planning skills). The speedy trio of Kirsten, Werner, Peter, were nowhere to be seen. Much searching, scouting and backtracking proved fruitless for the itinerant trio were not to be found. Our main concern was that we had the first aid kit in our baggage. How would the others fare without if? With no other option, the surviving four continued, mournfully alone. 

And then there were 4.

As expected, carnage on every track prevailed, but expert bike handling skills by us seasoned veterans (a euphemism for old f..ts) meant an event free ride.   Except.....

Waterford Road was devastated with fallen debris, some of it quite big. So big in fact that we came around one corner only to be confronted by a gigantic tree across the road (about a meter diam).

Perched on top of the fallen log were two, checked shirt bearded bushies playing bangos with a loaded chainsaw along side  them. "Hmmmm" one of them remarked. "There are four of you" one beard exclaimed. "Would you care to help us shift the tree trunk?" Eyeing their muscular bulk, the loaded chain saw, and the fact that out retreat was blocked by an enormous 4WD, what else can one say.  Half an hour later, muddied, covered in saw dust and freshly introduced to chains, wedges, splitters, levers and 4WD's, we were free to continue.

Off to Emerald and coffee and a bet between us that at least one member of the trio who forsook us, would have induced the others to some long distant, never before tackled trek, consisting of hills, hills, then more hills. 

Their story another day.

Jon

Check out my ride

Check out my ride on Strava.
https://strava.app.link/4DktkLDxZgb

Sunday 13th Dandenongs ride

Start  8.45 at Hancocks (Hermons) corner or 9.00 at Kallista fire station.
Route – Upper Coonara, Olinda, Basin Olinda rd, Basin, 1 in 20, Sassafrass etc.

Jon - China 2007

 And you thought you knew Jon .. from our fabulous 2007 China adventure when the Warbies really did cycle ! Click the link below -  

China 2007

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Little Known Facts - Werner NZ 2010

A little known fact about Werner is that he loves a cup of tea. On our 2010 tour of New Zealand he was captured emerging from a from a nearby forest in torrential rain with ...

Cuppa Time

   

Another Bolivian Cycle Classic - The Salar De Uyuni Salt Flats

The high altitude Salar De Uyuni is the largest salt flat in the world some 10,000+ sq km's. For the adventure cyclist it is Nirvana with popular routes taking nearly 5 days to cross. Couldn't complain about hills on this one  

Salt Flats

Salt Flats Part 2

Bolivia - Cycling the Death Rd

Will endeavour to post a few links of some of the most exciting cycle adventures in the world. The first is the infamous Death Rd in Bolivia - can you imagine 2 way traffic !  just click on the links below to watch

Up until 1994 this infamous stretch of road claimed upwards of 300+  deaths per year. Today it is used mainly as a 60km cycling route linking the city of La Pax and the Yungas region of Bolivia 

Death Rd

Part 2

Wot's Happening - Slips , Trips and Falls !

A couple of socially distant and mainly covid compliant rides were held over the past week. Thurs saw Kirsten (on puppy day release) take on a Gembrook inspired adventure a usual 1.000 metre plus haul. On Sunday it was Jon's turn to head to Olinda and back. With Kirsten having slipped (finger injury), Pete reportedly having tripped over his own shadow (off to Hospital) Bookmakers were taking short odds on where Werner would have his predictable daily fall. They need not have worried as i beat them to the punch coming off my bike on the slippery concrete at the library. Werner did though insure a good paying quinella when he too came off his bike at Olinda returning to the road from a dirt surface

Some good riding had in our pairs within our 10km restrictions, sadly though Tues is looking very bleak !