Dirty Dandenongs

Harry the horse, and friend...

Today we covered some more new ground in the Dandenongs. There are lots of popular road-riding routes through the 'Nongs, and we've done the usual ones many times - 1:20 (The Basin-Sassafras), Mt Dandenong Tourist Rd, The Wall (Olinda-Monbulk Rd), Skyhigh etc - but occasionally we like to go exploring lesser used roads. This is great fun, despite usually involving unsealed roads and steeper climbing !!

Basin-Olinda Rd .... Finally !!

Basin-Olinda Rd

I've been wanting to ride the 'quick' way up to Olinda from The Basin for ages ! But as usual with these things the right opportunity had yet to arise. Justin and I had postponed the ride a number of times and once again this week we are out of sync with our rides so we each decided to tackle it alone. Today was my chance !! 

I have just acquired a new set of ín-between' wheels (Fulcrum 7 CX) and some new 28c tyres (Continental Grand prix 4Seasons), as well as a new climbing cassette with a low gear sprocket of 30t and these were all fitted to the CAADX yesterday ... so off I went ! 

Around The Bay in a Day 100km Sorrento-Melbourne

Well what a day that was !

We spent the night at Rye and rose promptly this morning for the short ride to the start at Sorrento. Kevin was over from Hobart for another ride and was back on the Raceline, Chris was aboard his relatively new Cannondale CAAD 8 and I was on the trusty CAADX 105 - I even remembered to bring the Garmin this time !!

Merri Creek Trail and Plenty River Trail Ride

Bike Bits For Sale ...

I have some surplus Tiagra and older parts to get rid of. See pics here...

9 1/2 Weeks - And Making Progress .... to Smith's Gully, at least !

Maybe I could have had an affair with Kim Basinger in the same tiem, but .... well I fell off on May 26 and today was finally a decent climbing ride and a fair distance. Longest, climby-est ride for 4 months in fact. And it was a cracker of a day for it !! Went out via Koonung Trail, Wonga Park, and Kangaroo Ground to Smith's Gully. 

Main Yarra Trail - my rehab ride zone ...

Looking NW back down the fire trail.

Today I rode the MYT again and threw in some single-track exploration, always a little dicey on the CX bike but fun anyway. I rode up a fire-trail hoping in the Yarra Valley Parklands just east of Fitzsimmon's Lane, hoping to see some kangaroos. I didn't spot them today but took a few pictures at the top of the trail.

Bike parking, bike festival, bike share ... bike, bike, bike !!

I haven't been riding much lately due to a prang 2 weeks ago and the generally miserable recent weather in good ol' Melbourne but hopefully that will change soon !

Meanwhile I've been doing a lot of time on the internet and here  a a few things that have caught my eye. Cheers ...

Old Observatory - Melbourne

After a slight change of plans I rode into the Old Melbourne Observatory today. Perfect day for a ride, although a bit windy.

Didn't stop at the Observatory Cafe this time but yummy stuff is available .... !!

Tightening Bidon Mounts or Rivnuts

Today I finally got around to tightening the loose bidon mounts on the old Raceline road bike. I've been meaning to do it for ages since J explained to me how to go about it. It's pretty simple ....

Behold - The BSA Airborne Bicycle !!

We visited the Darwin Military Museum on the last day of our trip to Darwin and discovered this unique bicycle used by glider pilots in WWII.

The BSA Aiborne Bicycle is often called a "parabike" by collectors, but it seems that this is an erroneous term. This appears to be a post-war nickname applied to a commercial variant. The only war time manual references found so far clearly call it the "airborne bicycle".

The bike was designed to be folded in half and carried on board an aircraft. It could be landed by glider, thrown out of the aircraft with its own small parachute, or carried by a paratrooper as he jumped out of his aircraft.

The Moon Occults Jupiter over Melbourne Tonight

Tonight over Melbourne the moon occults Jupiter. That is the planet passes behind the moon for a short period, about an hour, and you can see it easily with the naked eye.

Pretty neat, & I took this photo with a simple digital camera and then framed it up a bit for clarity.

More info online at NightSkyOnline.

Mt Donna Buang Ride

Halfway up the climb...

Yesterday I rode with two mates and we did Donna the back way, a 95 km loop from Mt Evelyn that takes in some gravel climbing up Don Valley Rd and then Ben Cairn Rd (C505) from the Warby Trail at Launching Place followed by the rapid descent down to Warburton and the weary trundle back along the Trail to Mt Evelyn.

Kangaroo Ground & St Andrews Ride

How long since I'd been out to the Memorial Tower at Kangaroo Ground? Oh, maybe 37 or 38 years .....

But it was worth the ride out through Warrandyte today - the views are fantastic in all directions but especially to the south east and the Dandenongs. You get a different perspective from this vantage point and the climb up the tower is well worth it.

Simon's Refurbished 80s Apollo Road Bike

Simon got hold of an old Apollo Clipper roadbike from a mate for $150 .... it was rideable but after a few months of being parked at home the old tyres were stuffed and the front one failed when some air was added !!

Time to get it home to Dad's place for a bit of a refurb. Some newer spare wheels from my old roadie, newer tyres and some new brakes, along with a general clean-up and adjusting the downtube shifters and the old girl is mobile again, and ready for the retro-scene of the inner suburbs. ;)

New Year's Apparition in my gaspacho .... !?

We had a lovely gaspacho on New Years Eve and this is what appeared in my bowl.

You be the judge.... let me know what you make of this image. I have about 4 different ideas myself ... :)

Happy New Year for 2013 !