One more off road adventure!

Yesterday I started exploring the dirt routes around here... Now when I say dirt is dirt, gravel, sand or whatever the terrain looks like...
Today's adventure was lots of big rocks... The kind that makes your wheel jumps all over the road or trail... Want to see what I am talking about??

At the start of my off road trip..

I know for your skills this might be nothing but for mine they were horrific boulders coming at me... At this point I got scared.. Put a foot down and lost grip so great opportunity to take a picture right??

Here was the turn around point.... Too many too big rocks..Loose rocks.. Many big loose rocks for the CX wheels to handle and not to mention my abilities off road... And it was steep..!! And hot !!! And I could hear dogs barking in the distance.. I was scared.. I turned around..

Someone that knows this route told me that behind that next bend on the trail it gets worst so good thing I turned when I did..

Here is one more image that kind  of work as a signature of me riding into the unknown  trails...

You have no idea how happy I was when I reached the pavement again....!!! But that is the beauty of a CX bike.. You can venture off road for a bit as long as you don't mind walking in the very technical bits.. Me personally I don't mind at all... I like to be back home in one piece..!

The way back home...

 And that's all for today boys and girls... Thanks for reading it..See you next time..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

What about Sunday?

Well last night I went to bed too late and have a few too many slices of pizza and beers… My body asked me to stay in bed longer then usual and I listened to it..

by the time I got up and had breakfast and check the internet it was too late to go for a real ride.. With time limitations and a goal to get to (10.000 Km) I decided to get on the trainer and make the best out of my little time..

The result? in images? This was my vision after the session… Or was it during it?

I did some intervals… Climbing intervals to be more precise.. Zwift – Watopia – The Gorby

After that we had a quick lunch with the family and headed out to the local trail that starts no more then 400 meters from our door steps

Some pics?

The beginning of it..

The water fall walk way

A closer look

Steep stairways 

Jessie checking the tunnel for us

A gravel route with no cars and full of leafs

A selfie?

Moos 

And us, my family

And that is the way you spend a surprisingly warm day in Belfast... I called it "Hiking in the backyard"

Those pictures were taken by me at the Castlereagh hills area, we live right at the foot steps or the area..

Hope to see you at the next post..

Thanks for reading

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

Combo Saturday..!

Hello everyone..! Missed me? No? Oh well... Life this time sucks to me and this is why I didn't update before... Don't worry I am fine just can't find a real job in a normal place at normal hours..

But you don't come here to listen to my problems.. You come here to forget yours for a few minutes so let me help you...

Last week(end) was a busy one..! Man I am still tired from it..! i didn't ride a very looong ride but it was the accumulation of rides from all week... Rode like 300 km or so.. (remember I want to get to 10.000 km by Dec 31 Th)

here are some shots from my weekend..

Look at how beautiful Northern Ireland is when the sun shines..

Lakes, fields and a blue sky

If you like dirt routes you can ask local people to point you the right way..

That was my Saturday morning.. group ride where I collapsed at the end and ended up riding by myself after a wrong turn and my riding buddies went on.. it was fine.. I was already close to home.. I finished the day with some 89 km and 800 + meters of climbing.  I you want to see more details of the rides follow the LINK (Strava)

Afternoon? A completely different story but as exciting as the morning in different ways, look:

That is my riding partner.. My little friend.. My son.. He just learned how to ride his bike and he is all over it..! The weather was nice so we went to a close by park to explore and verify what some locals told us...

We found this at the park..

I never rode on a track before... And I couldn't do it really this day either since a "futbol" match was going on in the middle of it.. Spectators were watching from the side with little kids and I didn't want to get into any accidents.

We still managed a lap at a very slow pace and either Felix or me like the banks that much..

Our first experience at the track wasn't great but we said that we are going to come back and use it a bit more another time.. 

We had a great Saturday and after all the activities outdoor we came home and had a family dinner and watch some TV before heading to bed and rest for another day out the next day...

Hope you enjoyed as much as we did reading this little story of our weekend..

See you Sunday..

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy

The Canberra Report - West Kowen Forest

Mike from bike.sipols.com here with another Canberra Report. This time we are hitting the dirt in West Kowen Forest.

Two things hit me whenever I ride West Kowen:

1. I'm sure it wasn't this hilly last time!
2. I really should ride here more often.

West Kowen offers quite a different style of riding to its sibling East Kowen. East Kowen is a renowned singletrack racing mecca, which hosts the Mont and Kowalski Classic. West Kowen certainly can't compete for flowy singletrack. But what West Kowen has, is space. Its a great place to go exploring on the fire trails and is dotted with old singletracks from back before East Kowen existed. So today I went exploring up to the ACT Fire Observation Tower.

The easiest access point from Queanbeyan is through the Molonglo Gorge entry road. After hopping past the gate (no unauthorised motor vehicles or motor bikes allowed, but cyclists are free to go where they wish), you are presented with a steep paved climb, as a challenge to keep out the unworthy. This one peaks out at about 18%.


After that warmup, I followed my nose north, following fire trails through the pine forest.



It involved climbs so steep that at times I had to dismount and push, but the views from the top were worth it.



On the way back I rode some of the old beaten up singletrack and spotted a chance for some stumpsurfing. Hang ten!



The fire trails around here really give you a physical challenge. The forest skirts the northern end of the Tinderry range, and the fire trails have been built with no regard for gradient. Towards the end there were a few kangaroos around, particularly in the grassier areas around the old homestead.



Much like in East Kowen, I saw whole flocks of yellow-tailed black cockatoos enjoying the pine forest.



So in the end it was 840m of climbing for 37kms - see what I meant about climby rides earlier!

For more details and photos on West Kowen plus some archival singletrack, check out Canberra Bike Rides.

Gravel routes at Divis Mountain with the family

I had an awesome day outdoors with the family that started something like this:

Did you notice anything different on that picture? There is 2 bikes on the rack...!

Here is a pic of my riding partner and me... You can read and +Google Chrome the name of the place for our adventures for the day.
By the way Felix is learning how to ride.. (or was?)

I hit every available gravel route I could find up there... While Felix stayed on the pavement with the rest of the family..

Most of the routes head up from this point... They look something like this:

I was heading to the highest point of the ride.. Can you see the antenna?

Some trails lead to no where.. I had no choice but to turn around and take the views with me:

Believe it or not somewhere there was a trail....

Some of the local fauna came out to say hi... This little guy didn't want to move..

After a detour here and there I caught up with the family and Felix decided that the middle of the route was as good as anywhere else to take a break...

After talking to them for a few minutes I made a left turn and headed for the highest point of the ride.. You can look in +Strava  at the segment or the are in general... Cat 2 climb out of Belfast.

A mandatory picture at the top..

One thing that hit me when I was taking this pic of the little man was that most kids learn how to ride at the park, around the block or some quiet area.. My son? Naaahhhh...! On a hiking trail..! Muchos kudos to Katja for her patience (mommy)

Look at how happy he looks..! Awesome job little dude..!

Belfast back, down there...

And at the end climbing out of the park after like 3 hours of hiking, pushing walking and riding..

It was a great day out with the family..!

If you like this sort of report put this in your favorites and check it like once a week for updates with rides like this and all sort of stuff that I might come up with.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy