Filed under: Roid'n
The stockyards is the closest network of trails to Melbourne which are solely dedicated to mountain biking. Located on the east side of the You Yangs the park has eight tracks on offer, accommodating most styles of riding. Most of the tracks are suited to cross country riding with varied levels of difficulty. There is one downhill track, complete with wooden bridges, gaps, rock gardens and anything up to three foot drops here and there. The wooden gap jumps are closed off for general use and are only opened for race days. The larger drops thankfully have chicken runs around them, which means you don’t need a long travel downhill bike to ride the trail.
The best track is track eight. It’s a winding downhill singletrack with the terrain constantly changing from dirt to very grippy rock, climbing and descending over huge boulders, dropping off two to three foot rocks, and finishing with a wooden bermed corner and snake bridge.
Like the Western Plantation, it’s well drained which makes it great to ride all year round. Being so dry and rocky makes it more of a technical place to ride compared to the likes of Lysterfield, Studley Park/Yarra flats or Gembrook. The great thing about the place is it offers a very different days riding to the trails in the east of Melbourne.
Filed under: Life's Rants
Now well into the second week of dogsitting, the dust is settling, calm is slowly being restored, Roxy’s beginning to stick up for herself and our new housemate Kayla has stopped howling through the night.
I offered to look after our very good friends “Mr and Mrs Long Island Ice Tea’s” dog while they’re away in Canada. Yes, it was very nice of me to offer (for the both of us). My memories of the last dogsit were hazey when I offered. I remember there were a few casualties; My winter riding jacket, Roxy’s bed, and half the garden. To be honest it hasn’t been as bad this time. There have only been two great escapes out the gate and all that’s been eaten was our very large Taro plant in the pond. That did impress me!
With one week to the finish line, Mr Ice Tea will return with a Duty Free Single Malt under his arm as promised, and we’ll be “one up” in the taking turns doggy sitty thing.
Filed under: Roid'n
Since I’ve titled this blog TreddlyWest, I’ll be crapping on about riding a fair bit.
I’ll start with the Blessed You Yangs, beginning with the Western Plantation.
The Plantation loop has recently been extended and is now about 12km of flat,
beautiful windy singletrack with the occasional gully or log.
It’s a great place to practice flowing corners and is fantastic for night riding (thanks again for the use of your lights Lex). With plenty of twists and turns, the track suddenly spits you out into a dark narrow corridor of perfectly aligned gums before returning you back into the flowing singletrack. Not to be ridden alone at night…
Filed under: Life's Rants
When your dinner host insists on serving Long Island Ice tea’s all night, follow these simple guidelines to ensure you wake up refreshed and ready for a new day.
“The Setup”
Step 1: Graciously accept these cocktails with good humour and compliment you host on his Bar Skills.
Step 2: Wedge these drinks with a few glasses of red and some Lamb Shanks.
Step 3: Continue on with the Ice Tea’s before finishing the evening with a few glasses of aged Port and Muscat.
Step 4: Once home, search the house for cigarettes. Discover stale cigar and smoke.
Step 5: Make an international call and leave a ‘hilarious’ phone message to your buddies in the US.
Step 6: Go to kiss your sober wife.
Step 7: Brush teeth
“The Cure”
Step 1: Search cupboard for headache tablets. Take 2 then go to bed.
Step 2: Rise feeling refreshed and ready for a new day.
Step 3: Return to cupboard to check which tablets you took the night before.
Step 4: Realise you had taken the leftover hardcore pain relief tablets you had when you broke your collarbone.
I challenge their warning not to mix alcohol with the tablets, and encourage anyone to hold on to their leftover prescription pain killers for such an occasion.
Filed under: Life's Rants
The current FIFA top ten was kindly emailed to me today. Thankyou Jules.
- Brazil
- Italy
- Argentina
- France
- England
- Netherlands
- Spain
- Portugal
- Germany
- Czech Republic
Australia’s 33rd – rocketing 9 places. The interesting thing to see was the US, down 11 spots to 16th. Someone’s taking notice…
We’re hoping to get a group together for Melbourne’s first A-league home game against Adelaide on the 25th of August, and the following fortnight against Sydney. After the huge morning and night screenings of the World Cup at the legendary Cameo in the Grave, I’m feeling empty inside. I can’t wait another four years. I need to hug a stranger.
Filed under: Life's Rants
It was great to get back out on the bike for two full days of riding last weekend after a few weeks off. The Blessed Yangs delivered great Winter riding as always and a few of us discovered what Officer had to offer on Sunday. There’s a 6 hour event coming up in a few weeks and after riding the course I’m glad I won’t be taking part, especially if the weathers shit. Karl, good luck with that! The track is awesome, very technical with challenging climbs and beautifully bermed corners on the decents, but when the fatigue sets in I can it swallowing a lot of riders in the technical sections.
I just saw today that the Yeah Yeah Yeahs finally decided to play in Melbourne after Splendour. I also saw it was sold out at the Forum. Fek! Missed another one. Deja Vu The Black Keys at Easter. What is it with the Forum? Do they advertise their shows at the last minute or is it me? I was keeping my eyes out for a Melbourne show for ages.
Hmmmmmmmm this is very new to me. I was never any good at keeping a diary. Free to crap on. Talk shite. I see Gizo and Grunter are really good at theirs.
Looking forward to: The arrival of mini Gosden/Bellamy – not long now; A much larger download limit next month for thieving; Summer…. It’s a cold ride to work each day, although it’s not exactly Canberra is it Grant?
And finally….. Go Cadel! Climb dem hills!
