Today's Ride
- Thread starter FairfaxPat
- Start date
moonlite
Kona Fan
Wanted to do a 'recovery ride' after some rather ill-advised hilly running yesterday, so noodled off on my Soma Groove to just turn the legs over a bit. I've never done a thread on this bike but realised today that I've become really fond of it: it doesn't have the pedigree of the Explosifs and is quite heavy by comparison, but it just seems to fit well with its super-wide Truvativ Boobars and layback seatpost. And for some weird reason, it never has front derailleur trouble, which is my bugbear on several other bikes.
It was a lovely day today for a change with clear skies, maybe 21C, and a little breeze. I took my usual route out to the 'badlands' in a river valley about 10k out of town. On a whim, instead of following the same old logging route, I was tempted by a side track clearly made by someone in a 4x4 at some time recently. While it followed a little creek through a stand of timber it was great: flattish, shady, with a nice series of rushy pools where I disturbed a platypus, causing it to crash dive. I could hear the odd roo or wombat bashing through the undergrowth to get away from me and also realised that these were prime conditions for snake activity. All the more reason not to put your feet down!
After a while the path turned away from the creek and started to head uphill, which was OK for a bit until we encountered a tree that had fallen across the way during last month's spring gales. After detouring around that, there was some scary rocky downhill until we came to another creek, where the 4x4 had muscled through the mud and up the far bank leaving massive ruts. I'd run out of impetus so had to carry the bike up the other side. After another fallen tree, we encountered a decent gravel road which led back to the familiar trail via some rather fun undulations. It was a bit of a relief as the recovery ride had turned into quite a hardcore rough-country trek, but really enjoyed discovering some new spots for further exploration.
The photos came out a bit hazy due (I think) to sweat on the phone lens -- but hopefully these give some idea of the country hereabouts.
It was a lovely day today for a change with clear skies, maybe 21C, and a little breeze. I took my usual route out to the 'badlands' in a river valley about 10k out of town. On a whim, instead of following the same old logging route, I was tempted by a side track clearly made by someone in a 4x4 at some time recently. While it followed a little creek through a stand of timber it was great: flattish, shady, with a nice series of rushy pools where I disturbed a platypus, causing it to crash dive. I could hear the odd roo or wombat bashing through the undergrowth to get away from me and also realised that these were prime conditions for snake activity. All the more reason not to put your feet down!
After a while the path turned away from the creek and started to head uphill, which was OK for a bit until we encountered a tree that had fallen across the way during last month's spring gales. After detouring around that, there was some scary rocky downhill until we came to another creek, where the 4x4 had muscled through the mud and up the far bank leaving massive ruts. I'd run out of impetus so had to carry the bike up the other side. After another fallen tree, we encountered a decent gravel road which led back to the familiar trail via some rather fun undulations. It was a bit of a relief as the recovery ride had turned into quite a hardcore rough-country trek, but really enjoyed discovering some new spots for further exploration.
The photos came out a bit hazy due (I think) to sweat on the phone lens -- but hopefully these give some idea of the country hereabouts.
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MattiThundrrr
Kona Fan
That is great stuff, we certainly don't get that in my neck of the woods. To be honest, I just figured out how "New" and "South" your part of "Wales" actually is
bikeworkshop
Senior Retro Guru
Myself and several other retrobikers live in the Old South Wales.
The rocks my house is built on are around 600,000,000 years old. There's younger stuff in the valleys though, where coal and limestone were mined.
Megafauna?
Various species of deer, occasional wild boar, badger, foxes.
Grass snakes and adders.
The most dangerous species is the cow!
Rhod Gilbert did a sketch on the two South Waleses, but I can't find it.
The rocks my house is built on are around 600,000,000 years old. There's younger stuff in the valleys though, where coal and limestone were mined.
Megafauna?
Various species of deer, occasional wild boar, badger, foxes.
Grass snakes and adders.
The most dangerous species is the cow!
Rhod Gilbert did a sketch on the two South Waleses, but I can't find it.
Saturday morning ride, fairly clear skies before the cloud, wind and rain swept in. Misty out on the sea. Pleasant 10-12 SW breeze.
Just before the drop into Mousehole
Just before the drop into Mousehole
Satoday's ride...I hope that's still okay...
We managed to escape the rain and did a ride through the former royal hunting ground Dresdener Heide. The weather was beautiful and so was the landscape and the trails.
We also found Rex' older brother who studied law and now only occasionally goes for a stroll and picking mushrooms in the forest....
Some of the trails were to steep for Rex.....and by Rex I mean for me....
Afterwards we had a beer and a "Thüringer Roster". Perfect.
We managed to escape the rain and did a ride through the former royal hunting ground Dresdener Heide. The weather was beautiful and so was the landscape and the trails.
We also found Rex' older brother who studied law and now only occasionally goes for a stroll and picking mushrooms in the forest....
Some of the trails were to steep for Rex.....and by Rex I mean for me....
Afterwards we had a beer and a "Thüringer Roster". Perfect.
Totoro
Senior Retro Guru
Okay I'm sorry not sorry for all the pictures I'm about to blog post the thread with...
I've said this before but I never take my phone and hate to stop on my rides but I'm so glad that some of you do as I enjoy this thread. I usually only post the boring data from my watch but today I took my phone and grabbed some terrible shots.
I've said this before but I never take my phone and hate to stop on my rides but I'm so glad that some of you do as I enjoy this thread. I usually only post the boring data from my watch but today I took my phone and grabbed some terrible shots.
They are not terrible!!
moonlite
Kona Fan
Spent an hour this morning messing around with the gears on my Kona Jake after replacing the chain. You have to do a test ride after that, right? So went off on a quick spin pretty much where I went on Sunday, but staying clear of the really rough track created by overenthusiastic 4x4 drivers.
Lovely warm day -- the best this summer so far -- with no wind. The bike was going nicely so it was easy to churn out 20km in just over an hour, with 250m climbing.
Lovely warm day -- the best this summer so far -- with no wind. The bike was going nicely so it was easy to churn out 20km in just over an hour, with 250m climbing.
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