I love riding my bike. I love riding it on bike paths around the Central Coast. I love riding it to work on the quiet back roads. I love riding it on fire trails at Kariong and up Kincumber Mountain. Every ride is great and a natural high. But now and again none of these rides quite do the trick. I just have to hit some single track!! Continue reading
Had the opportunity to have a couple of hours ride on the fire trails from Kariong to Pearl Beach this morning – riding on my own, haven’t been on the dirt for some time, so decided to do some slow, relaxed riding. Continue reading
We were looking forward to a dirt ride in the morning. But I awoke to find it was raining and had quite obviously been raining over night. Snug in my bed, early in the morning, rain falling outside, bike nice and clean – I shot Paul a text expecting we would cancel. But his enthusiasm for the ride overcame all the cosy reasons for not going. And so we headed off to Rocky Ponds. Continue reading
About every month I try to ride my Ibis Ripley to work. It’s a bit of an effort cos work is 60 kilometres from home. Sadly, there is not a single track or fire trail or rail trail I can take but fortunately there is a quiet back road. Continue reading
It’s been raining most of the week, and though it was cruel to the Ripley, I just had to get out and hit the fire trails, having done so much bike path riding lately. I couldn’t do much to protect the running gear of the Ibis but I could protect my eyes from the spraying grit and grim. So, contrary to my normal practice, I donned the protective glasses. Continue reading
Paul and I saddled up for a 75 kilometre circuit of Dubbo Gully. Why not come along for the ride and see what we saw? Continue reading
If there is a puncture up for grabs, I’ll be the one to claim it. I’ve had punctures several times just riding on the roads, pinch punctures on the trail and of course the nasty thorn induced punctures. Paul, however, skytes that he never gets punctures! Having gone tubeless and using beefy Knobby Niks tyres probably has a lot to do with his having little opportunity to try out his CO2 dispenser. Ah, but when it comes to breaking chains, thats a different story …. Continue reading
This would not only be my very first cross country race but a full one hundred kilometres of dirt road and trail to boot! And boy, was I excited … and just a tad underprepared! My training buddy was still in Europe fattening up on German breads so I would be riding solo. But, as I soon found out, I would not be riding alone … Continue reading
On a day when our nation says “thank you” to the “diggers” who have fought for the freedom and lifestyle we enjoy here in Australia and New Zealand, it didn’t seem right for me to forego a training bike ride just because it was raining. Continue reading
Being back on Aussie soil after a month in France, the old (as in brand new!) Ibis Ripley was waiting rather impatiently for me – it was just itching to get out amongst it in the bush and have me abuse it! The time had finally come for me to introduce the Ripley to my favourite local ride, the Old Great North Road. And what an introduction… Continue reading
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