Sometimes shit is just supposed to go pear shaped, your mates place gets broken into on Friday night delaying the Saturday depart to Sunday 5am. Meanwhile the two man posse swells to seven after plans get hatched Friday night on the confidence of too many beers. The four of the other five headed out to Jamieson Saturday night and experienced some sub zero alpine weather in sub optimal sports apparel in a campground by the river. When we saw them on the main street the next morning, I felt the Zombie apocalypse was upon us. Continue reading Ministry of silly rides 2.0 Jamieson River
Tag Archives: featured
The Northern Flinders super loop
An eagle soared overhead as we crossed a vast open plain on the way to a hut for lunch. It was day three and we were a little weary from the previous days effort. Did we really look that bad, were we really on the menu? A few seconds later a small wallaby and her joey ran out across the track in front of us and we knew that we were not the ones about to get picked off for mains.
Continue reading The Northern Flinders super loop
Riding down Tassies wild west coast
Wedging this trip in between two big commute stages and on the back of an already exciting exploration of Tasmania’s East coast set the mood for a challenging few days.
From the Corinna pub, across the river the road climbs steeply back into the rainforest. Given my dinner and beer intake I opted to walk the 1km of 18% in the hot evening sun. Once onto the double track out to the coast I was confident I had made the right decision to shorten the trip. The sunset was spectacular as a pedaled out onto the beach. What a day it had been, I caught the sunrise at Cradle mountain then made it all the way to the west coast for sunset! Continue reading Riding down Tassies wild west coast
Bluff Hut winter solstice overnighter
Welcome to some of the most Rugged parts of Victoria, where the climbs go for hours, the weather is very changeable and describing the scenery as impressive is just a small understatement. The Howqua valley stretches all the way from Lake Eildon up into the Crosscut saw, a maze of rugged high plains peaks known to strike fear into even the most avid of bushwhackers. With names like Mt Buggery, Mt Speculation( is it really there) Mt Despair and Mt Razor you know you’re in for an adventure. Continue reading Bluff Hut winter solstice overnighter
Traversing the Fortress
Travelling 46 kilometers in a 24 hour period might seem like an easy overnighter but the Fortress in the Victoria range sure does pack a punch. The technical terrain and unforgiving climbs and descents will have you slowing to a crawl. Add in some wild south westerly storms and you have yourself a real adventure. This could be pretty cool day ride but then you would miss out on spending the night in a cave.
Continue reading Traversing the Fortress
Never underestimate a guy named Barry
We had been climbing for two hours and the late morning sun was beginning to burn fiercely. Our filtered water was rapidly disappearing as we attempted to keep our bodies cool. Getting back out of the Snowy river basin was hard work on the hottest and hardest day of the trip. There was little shelter and swims in the river were no longer available to cool our aching bodies as we climbed higher into the alpine landscape. Continue reading Never underestimate a guy named Barry
The Dirty Rat 2015
The second installment of The Dirty rat rolled onto the dirt a little further west of Ararat this time around allowing some more challenging roads to be thrown into the mix. A good day out was had by all despite the McKenzie Falls Kiosk not being open for ice creams! No one finished the full course leaving a bit of unfinished business and a taste for more dirt!
The first installment of The Dirty Rat was a plan on paper which in the field could have gone a number of ways. On that day everyone who came was on their game and although we limped to the finish, I was always quietly confident from the beginning we would finish the day out.
Fast forward two years later and many stories from the day and I’m somewhat overwhelmed by the turn out for the second installment of The Dirty Rat. What started as shits and giggles and a funny name appears to be growing beyond my wildest expectations. Continue reading The Dirty Rat 2015
Oodnadatta by bike, part 2: Rolling on the shores of Lake Eyre.
I sat on the lake bed gazing into the sky somewhat over whelmed by my surroundings. I had been on the road since six AM, some 16 hours ago. This fatigue was no doubt contributing to my experience.
Continue reading Oodnadatta by bike, part 2: Rolling on the shores of Lake Eyre.
Oodnadatta by bike, part 1: The road to Oodnadatta
Rolling out of Finke community I spotted a few dogs from the corner of my eyes running headlong towards me. An echo of barking rang out, I realized there must have been more than five of them. For the dogs it was just sport and probably part of their daily entertainment, for me it felt like life or death. Getting my fully laden Surly ECR up to speed to outrun the angry mob was quite a feat but somehow I pulled it off. As we approached the cattle grid on the edge of town I thought I might just outrun them, it was not the case, the ringleaders gave chase a further 200 meters before giving up.
It was only day two of my expedition along The Old Ghan route and already it had thrown up many trials and tribulations. The lactic acid pumping through my legs was insane and I took it easy for the next few hours as I pedalled into the setting sun.
Continue reading Oodnadatta by bike, part 1: The road to Oodnadatta
The original Dirty Rat
The Grampians have enthralled me since I was a kid when I would peer out of my parents car window on frequent road trips between Adelaide and Melbourne along the western highway. I often wondered what magic those mountains held! Fast forward to the late 90’s and I began to explore it for myself! Fifteen years ago I spent a few awesome long weekends exploring fire trails and single track in the mazes of ancient rock! Ever since I’ve been hooked on micro adventures into the region as it makes a great long weekend from Adelaide or Melbourne! Continue reading The original Dirty Rat