Finally got round to editing the Mt Remarkable mountain bike ride GoPro video, so here it is. Fantastic place for MTB enthusiasts. This track was called "Dodged a Bullet" and it was a black diamond run with some pretty tricky sections - well, tricky for me anyway. Take note of the wimping out of a small jump onto an off camber landing with drop off down the side at about the 2:15 mark and then the realisation that my forks were in lockout mode at about the 5:55 mark. Just as well I didn't attempt the jump after all. Could have been interesting with no front suspension!
From Adelaide, we’ve travelled up to the southern end of the Flinders Ranges and are staying at an absolute gem of a place called Melrose. Melrose is at the base of Mt Remarkable, which really is remarkable. It’s a truly beautiful spot and an absolute paradise for mountain biking. The mountain has hundreds of kilometres of mountain bike tracks which could easily see me stay here for a couple of weeks. There are some easy and relaxing trails but most of them are highly technical, black run trails with lots of drop offs, jumps and mostly very narrow on an off camber. Riding an off camber track that’s only 6 inches wide with a 10 to 20 metre drop off the side is challenging to say the least. Today and yesterday, I’ve ridden some of the most difficult and scary trails I’ve ever ridden and I’ve made it back alive – just. An interesting place to try to exercise some very rusty MTB skills. This afternoon we found a place called Alligator Gorge. Yet another spectacular spot – we’ve seen so many in the last week (have we really only been away from Canberra for a week?). I’ve been away from work for a month now but it really feels like years ago that I had to work for a living. Tomorrow we leave Melrose and head north for the Oodnadatta Track, Lake Eyre and on to Uluru and Alice Springs. And so finally we hitched the new van up to the newly repaired X-Trail and so excited were we to get on the road for an early start we rolled out of Canberra at lunch time last Wednesday (27/7). Part of the reason we got on the road so late was that for Canberra – Adelaide (V1.0) our stop at Yass for morning tea was so good we wanted to give it go for lunch. Also, just as we were heading out of Canberra we realised that the car rego was going to expire probably when we are in WA somewhere, so it was off to the Motor Registry for fun times in the Long Service Leave Motor Registry Queue. Anyway, we got on the road eventually and made it to Hay for night one in the new Palace. And what a palace. More than enough room to swing a cat in. We drove into Hay after dark and that was the best time to witness the fact that the mouse plague afflicting the outback is still very much in full force. The road was teeming with mice and I could feel them being squashed by the dozen through the steering wheel. All the mice on the road gave us another obstacle to watch out for – owls swooping in from all angles to feast on the mice. Some owls seemed to prefer their mice fresh and to enjoy a good chase, whilst others preferred Mouse Crepe al la Sturt Highway. Back in Adelaide, we stayed at a magnificent van park right on the beach at West Beach, between Glenelg and Henley Beach. We ended up staying there for 4 nights before heading off to the Flinders. I’ve learnt a few things on this crossing to Adelaide. Jen and I are the youngest to hit the professional Nomad circuit, probably by at least 20 years, so we’re more than ready to take out the championship. We know the etiquette now for the circuit: it’s important to compete with your neighbours in van parks over who’s stayed in or walked through the most picturesque places; a polite wave to caravans passing in the opposite direction is required; and the final rule, which not being quite old enough yet to have to implement and therefore we have special dispensation to ignore for now, wander around caravan parks and ask the younger more lively and attractive campers (such as Jenny and myself) if you can look inside at their set up. |
Greg ShawGreg Shaw - spouse of Jenny, layabout, documentary film maker (most noted for working exclusively with his star subject, Barbie) Archives
November 2011
Categories
All
|