Sunday 31st. Jan South Gippsland Frolic

Meet:  Grantville 9.00 a.m.  Bass Hwy. 1 hour from Melbourne
Choice of 50 km or 62 km
Road bikes – all asphalt
Bring water and snacks – no café
There will be hills.
Your hosts are Kirsten and Werner who have done this ride before – and given it rave reviews.

Jurgen

Thursday 4th Feb. Back O'Gembrook

Start. 8.30 a.m. Gembrook station
Route:  Tonimbuk,  Garfield Nth.  Tynong Nth.  Bessie Creek,  back to Gembrook
About 50km, 70% gravel,  some insignificant hills.

Jurgen

Thursday 28th, Kalorama etc

Meet Monbulk football oval 8.30 a.m. Route:  Silvan, Olinda Creek rd, Kalorama, Montrose, The Basin – then either 1 in 20 or Basin / Olinda rd,  to Olinda then down the Wall back to Monbulk.

Jurgen 0429 384 416

Sunday 24th J, Donna

DonnaBuang the back way via Don rd, Panton Gap etc.  Meet early 7.00 am Yarra Junction with dirt bikes. Should be back 11ish before it gets too hot.

Jurgen
0429 384 416

SUNDAY - GRANTVILLE RIDE

This Sunday was to be our Grantville ride.

It is also forecast to be 39degrees.

Hence, and once again, the Grantville excursion is postponed.

Kirsten's Climb !

There's always a problem when you decide to let someone who thinks it's fun to run up and over Mt Dandenong (twice) lead a days ride. Kirsten, affectionately known as "Princess" by some and "Madame Lash" by others took us out of Gembrook on a steep high speed descent into the beautiful Bunyip National Park. At Mortimers Picnic Ground we took a lovely fire trail to Link Road where the "real fun" began - that is if you can call 3-4 kms uphill on a 12% gradient track fun ! Battling our way along i swore i heard Kirsten say that the road didn't seem all that bad when she'd travelled here the other day on "cable car" ! None the less our pain was eventually rewarded with stunning views of the National Park from the 4 Brothers Lookout surely another destination for Anne and Jon by car !

Pics taken we regrouped after Mike and Werner mistook Kirsten vague directions (temporarily lost) and retraced our way to Gembrook along the lovely Black Snake Creed Rd. Replenished over coffee and cake we foolishly decided to go out again this time descending back into to the Park and taking a couple of roads marginally better than a landslide over to Bessie Creek Rd and back uphill of course to Gembrook where most of us including a heroic Harald staggered over the finish line

All in all a fabulous days ride courtesy of Kirsten's fine navigation skills - we cant wait for Jon, Jurgen, Kerri and Helen to give this one a go - 60 odd kms with a"shitload" of climbing !                     

RIDE: Thursday 21st Jan.

Start           0830hrs

At               Gembrook

With           A dirt bike

Going to    Black Snake Rd. and thereabouts 

Terrain       Hilly

Distance    40 - 50k maybe

Elevation   ??????m

Lead by Kirsten

It Ain't That Easy !

It was a semblance of the normal crew as we ventured out on a well travelled track on Tues with a couple of differences. One - someone had added at least 10kgs of weights on to self and Jon's bikes and two - the hills to Gembrook have suddenly turned into mountains. It was great to welcome back Helen after her injury enforced recovery. Helen had obviously been spending way too much time watching TV as she took us on a route that closely resembled the Dakar Rally... sand dunes, canyons, washed away rocks just to mention a few of the conditions we rode through !           

RIDE Thursday 14 Jan

0830 start from Mt Evelyn and heading towards Yerring.

Some road, some trail. Could take either bike type Hopefully, someone will know the way.

Jon

THURSDAY 7th

Ride  for Thursday 7th postponed due to sundry navigators unavailable

THURSDAY 7th ride

Start 0830 hrs, Gembrook car area by the Puffing Billy park. 

Head to Black Snake Rd. and points beyond. Only half this ride has been scouted so rafferty's rules may apply.

Dirt bike only. About 40 - 50k as a guess. Who knows what climbing but you can bet there will be a fair bit.

Will blog if weather interferes. 

OIC navigation.. Kirsten assisted perhaps by Jon and Werner. 

What can go wrong!!!!

Jon 0439 311 212

RIDE : THURSDAY 31 Dec

From Emerald Hall to Upper Beac, Birdland, Belgrave, Menzies Crk, Emerald.

Start at 0830.

Dirt bikes advised.

About 50 -60k and mainly hills.

DONNA BUANG RIDE CANCELLED for THURSDAY 10th.

Pakenham loop ride replaces Donna Buang for this coming Thursday.

Errata to Thursday ride

Read Thursday 10th for Thursday 19th in prior posting

THURSDAY 10 Dec RIDE

Start Emerald and by diverse routes achiece a Pakenham circuit.

May include the Pakenham aqueduct (if we can find it)

Weather forecast looks pronising.

Take off   0900hrs

Dirt bikes best.

Poowong Video

 Short video of speccy scenery on our Poowong Ride  Poowong Ride

Alston Rd & other mountains.

Mike sought volunteers to accompany him on a recce for a new dirt road ride. Every one stepped back so quickly that only Jurgen and I remained out front, like shags on rock.

The first 10km was ok, hilly but ok. Then came Evans Rd. I had earlier put Evans Rd on my "Do Not Ride Again" list. And there it was, in front of me again.

What Mike failed to tell Jurgen and me was that Evans Rd was going to be a piece of p..ss compared with two other roads he had lined up. And so it was. Alston Rd defeated all three of us and we ended up walking. Mike was not in our favour at this point. The second  impossible hill was more than Jurgen and I could manage. If our rear wheels were not struggling for grip, our front wheels were not obeying commands. Mike road up it of course. More black marks for him.

After that, the hills around Sth Belgrave  Selby, Menzies Crk, pailed to insignificance. 

As usual, marvellous scenery, some enormous and beautiful properties,  sun, wind, rain, cold, coffee.... the usual riding conditions.

Well done Mike, I think!!!!!

Now for a long rest.

Poowong - The Other Way !

Wow what a superb ride. Born of the Warby tradition and aided by some well done "recon" by Jon and Anne Bate, our 75+ km ride was superb by all measures. Rolling hills, a good surface, beautiful scenery, drafts courtesy of numerous B Doubles, a great lunch in quaint Poowong and a stunning last 10-15 kms (mainly downhill) to finish in Lang Lang. Lessons learnt included - some of the old rides are still goodies,  it does pay to recon the ride (much better done in the reverse Warby direction) & you still wouldn't follow Werner if lost in the desert ! 

Lysterfield Trig Point Ride

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bg7W3cNU3g&feature=youtu.be

Donna Buang via the back door. Thursday10th. Dec

Start:  9.00 am  Launching Place car park
Route:  Don rd,  Panton Gap, Ben Cairn, Donna Buang,(if you still have energy left) then a beautiful ride down the bitumen to Warburton for coffee followed by rail trail back to Launching Place. Dirt bikes recommended.