My Biking Blog: October 2012

This is the second edition of the Kanangra Clasic and there are two options 50km or 100km. The race is over firetrails and park management roads, with a number of creek crossings which would be challenging after rain. The event centre is near Boyd River Camp area, and is accessed from Kanagra Rd. The 100km course covers the 50km twice. I arrived mid-afternoon on Saturday and set up camp near the event centre. I decided to join the Kanangra Burn which is a social prelude 25km ride. I won the Burn, although it was a very small field. Below are some pics of the event

campsite

riders prepare for burn

event centre

Repeat Offenders

campfire

finished - time to pack up

event centre

last men standing at campsite

The race on Sunday was a reasonably large field with over 500x starters. Spencer and Mike joined this ride as did Tony Gasparre. The weather was partly cloudy and around 18 deg. This didnt change for most of the day, however there was a wind change during the afternoon and the threat of a storm. Fortunately this didnt eventuate and I finished the course in just over 5 hours. Fast dry trails helped to set an avg speed of 20kph. Garmin links are below Kanangra Burn Kanangra Classic 2012

On the October Long Weekend I enjoyed a great day out with the SIC mob. This was the General Grumpy's Ferry Ride on Monday 01/10/2012. Here is ride organiser David Wright's report.

15 spirited souls turned up at St Ives for the 2nd SICO Ferry Ride. A beautiful spring morning – sunshine, cool air – all up a perfect start. Neil and Jill left early, with Jill saying she “just wanted to take the pressure off” to make sure she could keep up. Jill – this excuse is not going to wash in future and you have the Strava times to prove it!

It was a good run to the first regroup at Church Point – the run down McCarrs was won by Tony with the rest of the peleton cruising along behind admiring the scenery. The Bilgola esses and run into Palmie were accomplished without incident and we arrived with time for coffee and photos before the ferry left. Allie treated us to another yoga display on the ferry (how does she do that????) and it was a very pleasant run across Broken Bay up on the top deck. Enjoying the sea air and the sunshine.

The run along Brisbane Waters was pretty as a post card and then the climb up to Kariong was taken out by Tony (KOM) and Allie (QOM) with the rest of us pretty much at our own paces. Refreshed at Kariong we headed for Mooney Mooney although we did have to wait for DT who was waiting for Tony who was waiting for DT with us…. Jill, Caroline, Anne, Allie, Kate and Colnago Mike headed off to get a bit of a break on the rest of us. We had our first flats shortly after with Tony and Kevin. All fixed and the descent down into Mooney Mooney was fast and furious with DT leading the way. Will and Peter stormed up the other side. That climb is one of the nicest that we do – bellbirds, blue gum forest, sunshine. What more could you ask for?

Quick regroup at Calga sans Allie and Kate who had continued on ahead with deadlines to meet. The run from Calga to Mount White was great – all 13 in single file holding lines and managing the pace – it looked great and it was good to see the group riding as a group. The puncture gods claimed Jam at the top of Mont Blanc and then got hold of Neil just after crossing the Hawkesbury Bridge so the group was pretty fractured when we got to Pie where ET was doing an admirable job with cold water, watermelon, oranges and bananas a plenty for tired cyclists – thank you ET – that was just what was needed!

The girls had left Pie just before we got there and all went home via Bobbo – no tired legs there. Kevin was actually first back to Papa’s courtesy of giving Bobbo a miss (very sensible) and putting in a fast run down the Pacific Highway through Turramurra. Colnago, Russell, Will, Peter and Tony had a pretty quick run home by all accounts and DT, Neil, Jam and myself fought for the lantern rouge with the award for the slowest ever climb up Bobbo going to ….. Jam. He kept muttering about Spanish Sausage – it was either delirium or cramp.

By the time we had left Papa’s they had run out of pizza dough, we had given the Pironi’s a real good nudge (didn’t that first one taste wonderful?) and Jam and Neil were toasting their success (or survival) with a glass or two of red. All up it seemed to be a day to remember. It was good to see the Allnutt too. All got home in good shape, no major incidents and so thanks to all for making it such a good day. Keep your climbing legs in shape for Tony’s Six Gorges ride next Sunday.

I am just jumping in here to say a very big thanks to Dave for organising the ride, the ferry and the lunch. A great effort. He also made sure that we all had a good run by spending most of the day on the front of the bunch regulating the speed and putting in a lot of work in the wind. Fantastic Job Dave and much appreciated. Well done Jam on your first ride back from Spain and also illness. Thanks to both Dave and Neil for looking after the Jamster. It won’t be long before he will be doing the turns on the front.

Great ride and as always a safe ride.