BURRINJUCK DAM CLASSIC
THE morning after boxing day the alarm sounds at 5am only 4hrs after my drunk head hits the pillow i huge and unpredictated night of drinking mmmm jack daniels:) charlie does a great effort of cooking us some beaut oats for breakfast while i regret the night before n grunt my way around my parents house looking 4 light switches and preparing the bikes n packing the back pack for the next 120km of travel.. best mate jason is at the door 545am stubbies n singlet he tells of last night drinking stories till 3am i smile knowing the next strong rider in our group will be doing tough today as well.. oats go down helmets on feet clipped in must meet the rest of thre crew on the south side of town real soon a quick stop at the servo dammit no nut bars snakes and some coconut logs later we are off.. the 10strong peleton form on the outskirts of YOUNG.
Charlie on her mtb and the rest of us on road bikes my SS was prob the youngest im sure most of them were built in the 80s a very casual affair compared to any major city cycling group but it was so much better then a bunch squeezed into lycra well i was sporting nics and a pink jersy but some one had to:)
with lots of cheers a few more nervous than others we were off on the very quite country roads to harden via kingsvale lots of chatting but with favourable winds and a cloudy morning it was all smile the previous day was 36degrees so not much was said about the weather just hope was installed in our minds for a kind day.. some self seeding was going on in the peleton it was the 1st time for some riders and even bigger 1st for them to take on 120km me and jas were surging up at the front never giving each other the slightest edge on being the 1st to the top of any ant hill, was shaping up to be a great day battling wit each other as the alchol seeped from our pores.
we storm into harden all still smiling and pull up for a quick refreshment then over to the park for lots of fruit and anzac biscuits refill all the bottle and solder on.
our next stop was rocky ponds.. i found some stones but no ponds but had a great battle with jas for king of the mountain points.. to close to call i say.. with the burn of lactic we pull over for the bunch to regather.. off to binalong some nice climbs on the way here craving coffee i sprint thru town to find only a corner store is open this is were the bike in front of that old shed pic was taken.. our pit stop was about 45min lots of eating and it was only 930am and we found a copy of the latest mtb mag to check out my photo PAGE 19:).
On our way to the quarry for a dip i had a head on with a bee and got stung on my neck a lil paw paw cream was all i had from the quarry we rode to bookham along a quite bumpy road but it was very quite so it was great to spread out and chat as we cruised along. crossing the hume highway was very tricky with the amount of traffic but cofffee was waiting on the other side and fresh rainwater this would be our last chance to get any water. the wind was really whipping up and storm clouds were building very fast things werent looking good for it to stay dry..
a quick ride down the freeway to the turn off bob hoffman turned up with tim tams sweet as i scoffed down 2 and took off didnt get a chance to have sum water so chasing jason to the hill in the distnce was a struggle crazy side wind was making our legs explode but it was all down hill from here.. the rode turned into a tunnel of gum trees was to busy bein gob smacked by there rugged twisted beauty to take a pic, the road to the dam was once the railway line to help build the dam so it is the same gradent all the way down i couldnt really crank it out on the SS there was a few blind corners, so i waited for charlie so we could cruise to the bottom together a fantastic ride very rewarding. the company made it for a great day and the amount of yummy spag bol that was consumed that night was massive. i great ride to finish 08.
chops:)
