There have been some good snow falls the last day or two thanks to a serious cold front that’s passing over Victoria. I half thought there might even be snow on the Central Highlands early this morning, but not to be, not yet this year anyway. (more…)
Tarrengower is thought to be an Aboriginal word meaning ‘big rough hill’. You’d be hard pressed to come up with a more fitting name for the popular downhill location near Maldon, Central Victoria. Mt Tarrengower is made from hornsfels, a collection of super heated and hardened volcanic rocks. Beneath the tree cover there is no shortage of rough stuff. (more…)
Cycling can be brutal on your junk — fertility issues, blood flow and other stuff you’d rather not think about. (more…)
After many hours of digging. scraping, sweating and hoping it's finally a wrap for the single track at Bress Winery, ready to go for the BressXpress MTB ride this coming…
Heading out on an MTB ride from hippie-ville involves crossing up and over a heavily mined bush reserve directly behind our place. It’s a great fun way to start each ride as jetting down the through the bush reserve before briefly entering suburbia reminds me of Batman and Robin leaving the (original) Batcave, with the Batman intro theme playing in my head of course! 😛 (more…)
Thought I’d fixed the disc brake probs (rear stuck piston and front leaking fluid) as everything seemed fine during the 3 hour enduro. Even though the average lap speed at the enduro was relatively high, the max speed each lap was relatively low, with only a few light squeezes on the brake needed to make it around the course. It was a really enjoyable ride but I guess didn’t test the brakes enough provide a definitive verdict on my maintenance efforts the previous day. (more…)
A cool invitation arrived in the inbox a while back, to a Easter Invitational MTB 3 Hour Enduro (thanks Madhatter) . It’s been a long time since I’ve participated in a multi lap MTB event — Thredbo and Buller back in the summer of 1993/1994 I guess, competitive cycling has never been my thing — but the Easter Invitational had a relaxed family vibe and I reckoned it would be a fun thing to do, to ride somewhere new and meet up riders you’d never meet otherwise. (more…)
After goofing off yesterday I headed out on a ride with Julien around Ken’s loop. Not long into the ride, just before a fast gully descent, I noticed the rear brake didn’t feel right including a forceful click felt through the brake lever towards the end of the action. It turned out one of the pistons had siezed. The brake still sort of worked ok, the other piston making up most of the difference and flexing the rotor sideways in the process. The Hippie Track rides have worked the brakes hard lately, to the point of chronic fade — leaving its mark on the brakes, literally, with some rotor burn. Wonder if it’s all related. (more…)