First trip of the season

Monday 7 Feb 2011

News from our recent trip - Headlines read Sydney Swelters 42C in Saturdays papers! Meanwhile, our riders were riding in almost chilly conditions in Canberra, a freezing 28C! Even leaving Sydney on Saturday morning at 7am it was HOT! We got down to Canberra and put up the new Cannondale tent, gee it looks good, and completed our initial skills session. It is always great to spend a little time warming up before hitting the trails.

Sparrow Hill is always a fantastic place to ride, flowing track, hard compound and riding through a pine forest is always that little bit different. Paul Cole continues to work tirelessly on the track out there, hats/helmets off to you Paul! 

We came back to a lovely lunch, some riders barely able to wipe the smiles of their faces! This was our first trip down for the season and with many more to come I'm already looking forward to them all! A great lunch was consumed, many thanks to the Greengrocer Cafe in Goulburn for their sandwiches, and then it was time to head into town for a relaxing coffee ... again in the pleasant conditions that Canberra had on offer this past weekend. 

After checking in at the AIS we were back out on trail to ride a completely different track. Now riding through true Australian bush, completely different to the pine forest of Sparrow, it was nice to be railing corners on flowing single track. This session can last for anywhere between one to two hours ... all depending on whether you have a massage lined up for that evening. 

Time for all you can eat dinner and a thunder and lightening show for dessert, quite amazing to see it come and go all within 20 minutes! Then it was time to head to the pub for a few quiet ales and some stories from the days trails.

There were three of us up for the 6:15 morning ride, within five minutes we were on track and enjoying flowing trails. A great way to warm up and stretch the legs. The trail was in perfect condition even after last nights storm and after an hour we were headed back to the AIS for 'fat' breakfast.

Next stop more fun out at Stromlo, the conditions for Sunday were posted as isolated showers, we saw maybe two minutes of showers while warming up at the base of the mount. The skills session went over corners, braking, obstacles and berms. All necessary skills for hitting the flowing trails at Stromlo. It is amazing how quickly time flies when you're having fun. Before you knew it, 12 o'clock was there and lunch was there for the taking.

Bikes on the trailer, everyone well fed and back to the AIS for a shower before heading back to a MUCH cooler Sydney. In all it was another great trip. Lots of laughs, some amazing trails and repeat riders make for a great weekend.

Next weekend can't come soon enough ... Gear Up Girl weekend here we come!  

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On other fronts - Our Sydney Skills Session for girls only is filling up. For the four Tuesdays in February we will be meeting in the Centennial Park area to work on cornering, braking, balance and obstacles. The first round of these 'Up Skill with Will' (named by Katheryn) went great in December. All the ladies benefited from the small setting and specific instruction, all ladies mastered how to wheelie with one rider mentioning "I've been to other skills and I never got how to do this!" Come join us for some fun in the park. For more information click here and to book click here.