City biking has a few highlights. Rode through this recent burn on the North Shore near Sydney. This place seemed like a perfect spot to stop and shoot a photo. I had my little Sony RX100 camera and got the shot. Melanie wasn't able to ride through without getting covered in soot.
In my experience a sandstorm should include a raging wind followed by choking dust. The sand storm that blew in from Iran and hit Oman a few days ago came quietly during the night. The next morning it appeared like a white fog and five days later it is still hanging thick in the air. All week the flights into Kasab have been cancelled so we rented a 4x4 and hit the road for the seven hour trip via the UAE to Musandam. In Kasab I got my hands on a bike and was told Khor Nejd, a small bay on the Masandam Peninsula, is beautiful in the morning. I guess I didn't have the right filter. I will have to return for that view on a clear day.
It's an urban jungle out there and I've discovered there is no better way of exploring the concrete trails and roads of Sydney than on my bike. I am especially impressed with Sydney's many bridges. Maybe Sydney should be renamed the bridge city. Below are photos riding around Sydney's two largest bridges the ANZAC and the Harbour Bridge from a view you won't see in a car. My thanks to riders Kath Bicknell and Mike Blewit of the Subaru/MarathonMTB team.
I am back from Western Australia and decided to wait to post images from WA since I was too busy to post on the road.
I only spent a day in Perth, this city is said to be the most remote big city in the southern hemishere. The photo here is looking at the city sky line on the banks of the Swan River. Take note of the cycle path, these cycle and walker dedicated paths are everywhere in Perth. That gives this city big points in my book. I was up and around exploring the city for a couple of hours in the morning. Not much cycle traffic in the city at 5 in the morning. They don't recognized day-light savings out here so sunrise is at 5:10 am. That means i have to be up at 4 am to catch the sunrise. It's going to be some long days for me while I am out here.
This is my first time to Western Australia so there is some country to explore. I have four days to myself before I leave for my assignment into the bush. The first stop on my tour will be the Southern Forests of WA.
I am in the US for a few weeks and just now have a chance to record some of the sights and activities during my travels. My first stop was in Flagstaff Arizona to see my friend Steve Garro. Steve and I have done many bikes trips together. About six years ago Steve took a hit and lost much of the movement of his legs. That has not stopped his wheeled fun. He still builds custom bikes at Coconino Cycles and gets out on his hand bike. Here are some pics from a rainy morning in the San Francisco Peaks.
Steve tells me this mode of cycling is hard work, but it's a great way to get into the mountains. We had to run out of the mountains when the rain and lighting increased.
Sydney has a new mountain bike park, it's first. I went there yesterday with riders Nic Learmonth, Kath Bicknell and Melanie Bell to check it out.
It's located on Sydney's North Shore at the Golden Jubilee Sports Field in North Wahroonga and borders Kuringai National Park. You couldn't find a more spectacular setting for a bike park. The new park has three trails with a XC trail on the steep west facing hillside and on the hilltop there is the pump track and bike skills trail.
My vote of the coolest trail goes to the XC- flow track and it makes for some nice photos as well.
The park was built in a short few months by World Trail an outfit based in Queensland. These pro's from the far north know about trail building in wet country and how to build a sustainable trail in a place like Sydney where it rains hard, I have no doubts this trail is built to last. The park's official opening isn't until next month, but the trails were open and already busy with riders this weekend. The bike park links
While exploring Kosciusko National Park last week I discovered that you are allowed to cycle to within a kilometer of the summit of Mount Kosciusko. From where you leave your bike and following the wide, winding graded path it's an easy 20 minute walk to the summit.
Mt. Kosciusko is the highest mountain on mainland Australia at 2,228 meters (7,310 ft.) above sea level. While Melanie and I pedaled to the summit from Charlotte Pass we saw that many of the un-wheeled summit crowd employed the chairlift from the Thredbo Ski area for their summit bid. We counted only six other cyclists on the trail including a father and son on a tandem bike, big points for them!
Near the summit we discovered an international crowd of people hovering around the summit marker like moths to a flame. We waded into the melee to tag the summit then went looking for a rock to hunkered behind to get out of the wind. Our vantage offered a perfect view of the summit circus as well as the mountain views on a clear December morning on top of Kosciusko.
