The Bike Around the Bay in Melbourne was on today. I had entered again as it was great fun last year on the 36’er – over 16,000 cyclists and 2 unicyclists – but after a week of wet weather and a couple of early starts for a new job I decided to stay at home and enjoy the beautiful Spring day and forest outside the front door – beats an early morning drive down to the city any day! (more…)
A while back I overheard some MTB riders talking about a cool single track trail in the Wombat Forest that passes through an old gold mining area, with most of the track cut into the hillside and at times a steep drop down to the river on one side. Sounded great! (more…)
After yesterday’s glitch a take it easy ride was in order. Spring is such a great time to be outdoors – green, cool and lots of water around. (more…)
I stopped in at Trentham Falls on the way back from the morning school run for a quick uni fix on the KH20. I thought I had warmed up enough but ~30 mins in tweaked a muscle in my right leg, same one as during night trials last week. You get that I guess, jumping around in the dark… DOH! (more…)
Isolated thunderstorms with hail, sounded like the ideal weather forecast for a ride! I hadn’t checked the various bolts as per Schlumpf’s recommended torque settings for a week so figured I’d better do that before heading out. Maintenance, one of the joys of a geared hub. (more…)
I moved the home trials area down to near a fallen gum tree, nice spot though the ground is soft and uneven, and not much shade in summer. (more…)
My Five Ten Sam Hills are awesome shoes, but for whatever reason my Schlumpf hub gear shifting technique has always been ankle bone based. I’m changing gears a lot more on the 24″ GUni, like a two speed dune buggy, and in the off road environment it’s often with minimal advance warning so to speak. The gear shifts need to be on tap – comfortable, fast, clean and reliable. The ankle bone method isn’t comfy at times and due to the relatively small contact area mis-shifts can occur. (more…)
I headed out today to explore a network of motocross bush tracks running off Swaby Lane. Apart from a brief look I’ve ignored these trails in the past as they’re too far from home to ride out to on a single speed 24, and too crazy to enjoy on larger wheels. (more…)