the oaks, backwards

Almost did the oaks fire trail twice in one week. Record for me. :-)

Took Monday off, did it the traditional direction 'downhill' from woodford to glenbrook. Lots of fun, although I bailed on the really hard bit of single track right near the end. I have to admit though, a weekday is *the* day to do it, because you are not at risk of super collision or 8-bike pile up if you decide to take your own sweet time about it.

Went back on Sunday. Surprisingly, the road down to the causeway at Glenbrook was closed, and had been since Friday. There was half a tree and a boulder right in the middle of the causeway. It doesn't take long for the rivers to fill up from rain!

So the backwards bit means I rode a bit of it 'uphill', from glenbrook to woodford. I was really surprised how much of a difference it made. You don't notice the slope much from the Oaks picnic area, but I think I climbed 50m in elevation over 2km. And then, once I reached the '10km from glenbrook' mark, I chucked a u-turn, and did my favourite bit really fast. Wheeeeeee!

Oaks

Way-hey, I can ride a bike again. Sort of. My training for the Dirtworks 50km so far has involved on again off again rides mainly in the royal national park, and a whole lot of sleeping.

But not last weekend! I was determined. I emailed the gang, nominated the 9.20 train from glenbrook and what time it was due to arrive at woodford. I was determined to ride no matter what.

As I was driving up to Glenbrook (borderline late for the train), I remembered that the last ride I had done in RNP, B1 had had two flats, borrowed my spare tube, and left me with the super-busted-cannot-be-repaired one. *grrr*.

I lurked around glenbrook for a while, hoping for the old-bike-shop-now-outdoor-stuff shop to open. The clock ticked ominously. Decided to run the risk & ride without a spare and went off to meet Robin & Darren at the station. Turns out the train was already crowded (with bikes), and there were at least thirty more wanting to join the train. Uh oh. Donated our tickets to some likely riders, and ended up driving to the start of the trail.

We had two spare tubes between three bikes. I had had another sort of brain malfunction, and forgotten my bike shoes as well. Duh, doofus! Luckily, Robin had just changed his flat pedals to eggbeaters (ooh, hardcore!), so I could use those instead of sneakers of spd pedals.

And it was fun! I rode most of the downhill sections, except for the really really big one. I even made it up the enormous hill at the end. I'm not sure what the gradient was, but *wow* I'm so impressed. I've never made it past the first switchback before. It got to the point, as I was riding up, that I couldn't even look at the road ahead; all I could focus on was bit of bitumen just in front of my front wheel.

Total kudos to Darren - this was only the second time off road; he rode most of the downhill sections, but on a rigid frame, no suspension bike that was a little small for him.

Milkshakes were well deserved.