The joys of country riding!

[clackers]

Not one of my photos, but Turton's Track in the Otways is fantastic!

[WarrenH]

G'day Ruralites.

It was a toss-up whether I posted here or in 'Touring'. But, being a rural(lite-ish) fringe dweller and only doing a relatively short ride, I think that 'Country and Regional' suits this post, better ... best.

I did a ride from my home in the NW of the ACT, scooting around Canberra's western and southwestern suburbs, on the Bicentennial National Trail. Today (this evening) is the only day that has been warm at night, at a balmy 3°C. Five days ago, it was an intolerable -9.6°C and my -10°C bag didn't cope at all well. My down bag needs a serious re-pack. There was some snow in thay're th'm hills. Lots.

I followed the BNT from the Dunlop Grasslands until the Pinnacle, then (straight down hill) through Karma to the Molonglo River corridor, then east to Urriara Crossing Road. Over Mount Stromlo, then I re-joined the BNT at Duffy Ridge, to the southern edge of Coolamon Ridge, across the paddocks to Mount Tennent. The days were warm but the night were very cold. A real cyclist could do this ride in a few hours. I took a week and enjoyed chatting to the farmers.

[ldrcycles]

Mate those photos are spectacular!! That must have been an incredible experience riding through that.

[shann]

Beautiful scenery Martin. Trucks aside much nicer than the ongoing smog and bogans of urban Aus.

Country roads have their fair share of bogans too. And then there's the smell of the roadkill

Tis an unwritten country rule that when you are out on a lovely warm day, all roadkill shall reside at the top of sharp/steep/long climbs when you are sucking in big gulps of air!

Anyway, the chance of perhaps one or 2 bogans on a ride sharply outweighs the guarantee of many in the city! Not to mention fresh air vs smoggy haze.

I ran over a road kill this morning, because it was either that or veer into traffic. Nothing like a bit of week old kangaroo on your tyres.

[open roader]

Knockout shots WarrenH

What else does one do on his day off feeding cows and shifting sheep but ride over the hill and cruise the Ocean Road.......

[open roader]

Riding close to sunset this evening, first balmy evening of the season............

[ldrcycles]

BEAUTIFUL, what a photo. Needs to be in the big ring though lol.

[open roader]

BEAUTIFUL, what a photo. Needs to be in the big ring though lol.

Actually these were taken on the only level-ish ground up a 1.5km incline - forgot to get the gears in order my HR was still racing.................

[clackers]

Sensational!

[open roader]

Completed my maiden century ride today - 100.4km loop ride all pretty flat-ish with no wind at all. Average speed 28.95km/hr, average cadence 93rpm average HR 177bpm, I left nothing in the tank.............. stopped 4 times for a pee and photo break.......

This was just after the half way mark. Gotta love country riding..........

[Mulger bill]

Goodonyer OR, great speed too

You gotta start a brag thread in General for that milestone.

Shaun

[open roader]

Goodonyer OR, great speed too

You gotta start a brag thread in General for that milestone.

Shaun

Thanks Mulger, I've mentioned my brag in no less than 4 threads tonight, that's quite enough trumpet blowing.........

It is a real privilege to be able to ride where and how I did today, we live in a truly free country........

[Aushiker]

A little taste of riding north of Perth ...

In pine plantation country ...



Regans Ford ... getting into the wheatbelt







Chasing the dirt ... Waddi Bush Resort ...



Andrew

[bosvit]

Hey OR

Great photo's

BTW what sort of bike do you ride?.......

[open roader]

Hey OR

Great photo's

BTW what sort of bike do you ride?.......

The sort that magpies like to get nice and close to......... although these black and white creatures wanted a closer look too.........

[Aushiker]

Took these photos whilst bushcamping on Dalgety Downs Station in the Gascoyne. I had to kill time waiting for the flys to be grounded for the night. The photo of the pot does not do justice to the fly situation. They where horrendous and it was the first night I had to forget about dinner until it got dark.











Andrew

[bosvit]

Hey OR

Great photo's

BTW what sort of bike do you ride?.......

The sort that magpies like to get nice and close to......... although these black and white creatures wanted a closer look too.........

Oh wow it's a Colnago, must have missed it in the previous photos....

Lucky bugger

[The 2nd Womble]

How did you figure that out? Is it the lug design? I was thinking it may be a Boardman.
Some very very nice pics in here. Just when I start to think Australia has bugger all in the way of natural beauty on offer, someone takes a great shot of, well just about anything really

[ldrcycles]

A couple from yesterday's ride, beautiful area.

[open roader]

A couple from yesterday's ride, beautiful area

Mmmmmm nice curvaceous open road.........

[open roader]

I'm hi-jacking this thread as my own personal 'bike in country scenes' page......

Upper Barwon River reaches just south of Birregurra Vic. I ride past this scene maybe once / twice per week....... today in late afternoon light......

[The 2nd Womble]

Out of curiosity, what are the details on the wheel set and are they really all purpose? Love the look.

[ldrcycles]

I'm hi-jacking this thread as my own personal 'bike in country scenes' page

Go right ahead OR, your pics are always really good.

[bosvit]

Out of curiosity, what are the details on the wheel set and are they really all purpose? Love the look.

+1 are they tubbie Vittoria Paves?

[open roader]

Out of curiosity, what are the details on the wheel set and are they really all purpose? Love the look.

These trispokes are a pair of 2006 tubular Nimble Crosswinds I picked up on fleaBay from the UK. Nimble were a small manufacturer of carbon fibre bicycle wheels in Texas but had a factory fire in 2009 and lost most tooling and all their wheel moulds etc. My Crosswind wheels are apparantly a 'stallion' build but they still come in at 1325 grams for the pair. The original owner used them for one season of UK triathlon and ever since had been cupboard bound until he sold them in July this year. -They are in very good condition so I have no reason to doubt him.

The hubs are easily removed from the wheel centres and both wheels are identical but mono directional so I'm in the position to be able to rotate my tubular tyres simply by swapping the hubs out of each wheel which is an easy job requiring only a BB hook tool to tighten the hub flange nuts. For a speed magnet I have placed a frame protector skin patch (clear) onto the spoke and glued a rare earth magnet to the skin patch - works a treat. The hub internals are fully serviceable and roll very nicely - every bit as good as current Ultra ceramic Shamals or Eurus hubs.

They look stiff and hard to ride on but these truly are the most comfortable wheels I've ridden on to date and I've tried 2012 Shamals, 2011 Eurus, TWE 50mm carbon clinchers and 2009 Ksyrium Elites. They make a helicopter / chopper noise as they cut through the air (which I love) and also like the way they match my C50............ The original Nimble decals were removed by the original owner - I put the (many) mirror finish Colnago decals on them

They have a variable rim profile and plenty of carbon material around the rim/spoke area for strength so as climbing wheels they are not quite there but that does not stop me climbing all the local hills with these regardless. Compared to a pair of 50mm carbon rims they seem to pick up aero benefit at a lot lower speeds - like 25km/hr but this is only my own seat of the pants observation - I can't quantify this but I do find keeping the bike going from around 25km/hr easier than any other wheel I've tried. I think they suit me as an all purpose wheel set, I like to be different for the hell of it and these do it for me nicely.