Hidden Hills

hill: noun a conspicuous natural elevation of the earth's surface, smaller than a mountain.

Contrast this with 'over the hill', meaning past prime efficiency; past the peak of physical or other condition, etc. I, for one, managed to rediscover my etc.

Coincidentally, the Macquarie Dictionary offers the definition for 'Himalayas' on the same page opening. (But I digress.)

Our ride began at the Armory Wharf in Blaxland Riverside Park (top of map), part of the Sydney Olympic Park uber precinct. None of us had explored the cycleways hereabouts before, so it was an all around day of discovery. What lay in wait were hills, thrills and spills.

After an exhaustive mechanical check of his rusty, sorry, trusty steed, Saw Horse was all set to go. We meandered along the Parramatta River for a stretch before turning inland and hillward to the top of Woo-la-ra (the green lassoo in the top right of the map). A sister hill, higher, without an unpaved cycleway but distinct single track to its crest beckoned. We surprised ourselves by having a crack at it. 

A few lessons were learned:

1. Single tracks are better handled by mountain bikes.

2. Do whatever you can to maintain momentum in the early stages of the climb.

3. Let the momentum carry you to a point where one of your lowest gears can take up the slack.

4. Avoid crashing into your mates.

5. Consider more regular cycling to increase strength, fitness and ability.

Today's lesson over, we headed through a maze of cycleways, crossing armory railway tracks, passing sandstone cuttings and venturing through woodland screening extensive waterways until we'd ventured off the map.

Correcting our course, we stumbled upon this elevation. This is the view from atop the spiral hill (bottom left of map), showing, faintly, Horse With No Name, Saw Horse and Lightning Horse engaged in deep philosophical debate over a matter too abstract to reflect upon in this abbreviated blog. Suffice to say: philosophical musings - 1 vs. listening skills - 0.

Not that far from here was ANZ Stadium. We contemplated time trials around its perimeter-potentially over its roof-but decided it could wait for another day. A day when 'over the hill' didn't resonate so painfully for some. (The roof in particular.) 

In defence of others, let me say that, Lightning Horse was managing a calf injury; Horse With No Name was cycling several leagues ahead of us in terms of bike fitness; and Saw Horse was travelling much better than he'd anticipated. It was yours truly who was feeling the heat and lack of recent riding causing a growing fatigue of a minor 'over the hill' variety.

This snapped us out of any fatigue. I'm still impressed by the extreme variety of terrains that we managed to experience in just over 20km of bike-back meanderings.

On what planet were we now? Planet Brickpit, as it happened.

The Brickpit Ring Walk is an out of this world experience. Bicycles are strictly a no-no, and for good reason. We'd been standing, almost mesmerised by the lake below for only moments, before we struck upon the idea, simultaneously as I recall, that not only could we ride the ring, but we could ride the walls of the ring. You know, a la the Crusty Demons.

OK. Bicycles are not allowed. It's a silly and dangerous idea ... but wouldn't it make a great chase scene in the next Bond film? (Right, no more digressions. They'd probably use motorcycles anyway.)

We passed another spiral hill on our way back up towards Woo-la-ra from this other-worldly denizen and an archery centre, which I discovered after the ride has a track leading to a mountain bike park ...

Thirsty horses all, we headed for home, discovering a wide and cobble-free Champs-Elysee style return to the Armoury Wharf through the Newington Armory precinct.

A great day out by all accounts.

Until next time, pedal on!

Thunder Horse.

PS: See Lightning Horse, I didn't mention your catastrophic kerb jumping crash at all. Quite a spill. Unfortunately, dear readers, there's no photographic or video record. It really was a sterling effort.

Recon 1: A reconnaissance mission ...

The surface of that muddy water is frozen!

In the interests of actually putting rubber to the road, I went out on a recce a week or so ago to see what the trail alongside the railway line was like between Blackheath and Medlow Bath train stations. In a fit of imagination it was called Station St. It's a good trail. Very good.

One small catch--the rocky hill just off the streets of Blackheath. You get it once going out and again coming back. No surprises there. However, it's more like alpine scree than anything else I've encountered.

That sunlight in the middle of the picture, that dot, is the bottom of the scree slope on the return leg. It seems to drop about 100 metres in 25. According to the maps, it only seems to do that. Walking it worked for me on the way out. I considered walking it on the return leg, but managed to stay aboard as I bounced and jounced to the bottom.

It's not a long journey - around 6 km one way. Enough of a warm up to consider pedalling further afield--perhaps out past the Katoomba Airfield. On this day I was too tired, cold and basically out of shape to do more than consider the possibilities. However, one day soon it would make a great ride from Blackheath to Point Pilcher (beyond the airfield) and back. Any takers?

One last thing--the Whisk and Pin cafe stop at Medlow Bath. Excellent coffee and they make great breakfasts too... for the longer rides.

Heading for home, after filling my lungs with clean air and my stomach with high potency caffeine, I cycled up the final hill and onto the macadamised roads of Blackheath, no trouble at all.

Pedal On!

Thunder Horse.

Dark Horse's new bicycle ...

... not quite what we were expecting, but very tasty! Just what the doctor ordered after quick spins around Centennial Park. We fairly set it ablaze, covering just over 22km in what must have been a terrific time ... if only I'd been timing it. Anyway, very balmy weather, compared to the mountains; and we managed a couple of climbs for good measure.

In a very small way, it was our salute to the Tour de France 2010. (I did say small.) Although, we managed to swerve the cobble-stones, injuries, Pyrenees, tyre throwing, head-butting and overwhelming fatigue. Well, maybe not the fatigue.

Huge effort from Lightning Horse, having spent the past 3 weeks soaking up a veritable gastronomic degustation of Southern European savouries and then fighting off a lurgy on return to our wintry shores.

We were joined by 'Horse with no name', seen here murdering ginger bicycles by the thousand.

 

I, for one, was startled--and hungry! 

A handicap system may find its way into team management, as 'Horse with no name' is practically a professional cyclist, managing a daily Bondi--City commute. (Hyperbole? Moi?)

Haematite Horse was travelling well. The indoor trainer is clearly paying big dividends. Looks like Haematite and 'Horse with no name' didn't pick up on the Caisse d'Epargne reference in recent transmissions. Looks like red may feature heavily in team colours once contracts are finalised with a spectacular array of team sponsors. (What, more hyperbole? ... perhaps.)

Thanks to Dark Horse's better half for this pic!

Just on that topic - team colours - here's a site that, were we not sane fellows, might prompt the purchase of a batch of team-coloured bicycles: MojoBike.

And, finally, ever get that feeling you're being followed?

Until next time, Pedal On!

Thunder Horse.

The race is long ...

Ok, so I finally set up the indoor cycle trainer and eventually realised that a small step is needed to leap comfortably, and at no risk to the family jewels, into the saddle. I've opted for the garage instead of the lounge in deference to Hugo's curiosity. It's hard to remove grease from his face, hair and clothing--funny, but hard.

Beanie atop my head, jumper zipped up, legs pumping and a TED talking, it's a great way to stay in touch with the tour, if only in the most marginal, peripheral, distant and fleeting way. After 30 minutes at most I'm off the trainer, out of the garage and back in front of SBS's TDF 2010 highlights.

Even as an avid viewer of Le Tour for a few years now, it's still hard not to marvel at what is a truly remarkable feat of human endurance and teamwork. The cobblestones and crashes in the first 10 stages have left a significant impact on the field, not least Lance Armstrong and Cadel Evans.

There were a lot of criticisms of the field for their finish-line strike in the 2nd stage from Bruxelles to Spa. I think that, whatever your stance on the cobble-stoned stages and at times spectacular (no doubt very painful) crashes, the one thing we all need to keep in mind is that 'the race is long'.

Fighting on, with his team in support, it'll be interesting to see how Cadel finishes in the final placings and how his health holds up.

Cycling with a hairline fracture of the elbow--legendary! 

(Not recommended, but legendary nonetheless.)

Good luck to all and enjoy the ride, whether you're viewing from near or afar.

Sensational television.

Thank you SBS!

And ... part of me can't help but wonder if Cadel has a surprise stage win looming ... Vive le Tour!

Pedal on.

Thunder Horse

Higher Altitude Training

Inspired by our last team ride, 'more altitude' was the cry.

So, on a chilly Sunday afternoon, Sunday last in fact, Haematite Horse and Thunder Horse rode out to Mt Blackheath (Elevation 1065m).

Perhaps you're wondering how two riders constitute a Team Iron Horse training session. Let's just say that for a grand variety of reasons, other members of Team Iron Horse expressed an inability to attend--extenuating circumstances and the like. [Frankly, if you're going to have an overseas vacation I think you need to work it between scheduled training dates ... ;-).]

The ride was quite rustic in parts--horses and everything!

Our main aim was to gather up at least 20km, keeping 'events upcoming' in mind. The ride from the village of Blackheath out to its eponymously named mountain (I may have the naming the wrong way around) was ideal at around 22 km with various minor detours factored in.

The mileage was fine (and isn't it odd how we don't go on about 'kilometre-age'?), but what we hadn't anticipated fully was the chill in the air. While riding, the temperature oscillated between 5C and 6C-- chilly.

Still, we made it.

And, for our trouble, we were greeted with the sight of paragliders preparing for launch. Some were preparing more than others. I can appreciate how lifting off beneath a light fabric wing, tethered to your harness with filament wire might give one pause, but, as you can see in the video below, it's a compelling thought.


As this chap took to the skies, a couple of relatively new paragliders were considering whether to take wing. While that debate raged internally, we gleaned how the sun, heating the valley floor, generates hot air. These 'thermic bubbles' then rise up the escarpment, providing the lift the paragliders would need to get airborne.

Keen to stave off the cold and tuck into some lunch, we saddled up and headed back to the village. We still don't know if trepidation prevented them from taking to the air. If they did, we they had great flights.

I'm also wondering if there's potential to harness one of our trusty, rusty steeds to a paraglider. It'd make the hill climbs a breeze ... oh come on, someone had to say it.

Until next time, Pedal on!
Thunder Horse

2010 Training Begins at High Altitude

It's been a long time coming, this blog.

For starters, let's rely on the adage that "a picture is worth a thousand words" and move on to more prosaic expositions when the muse descends. 

On Saturday last, Lightning Horse and I headed out from Blackheath to Hargrave's Lookout for a meandering ride past mountain homes and more pastoral retreats on Shipley's Plateau. It's winter here so where the sun shone we were fine-where the shadows fell, we shivered.

Inspired by our efforts, the pit crew went for their own ride out to a spot near Govett's Leap Lookout.

A cyclist's sixth sense must have dawned on our newest team member because he fronted up for training the next day for a Sunday ride out to Govett's Leap and Evans Lookout.

It was another 20 kms or so of high altitude rolling, with the occasional steep pinch thrown in to test our mettle. The general consensus was that those steep pinches would be better attempted on our bikes after we'd developed more strength and stamina. First gear on foot came in handy ... a couple of times.

We finished Sunday's ride with a picnic in the park, thanks again to our pit crew--who were probably as relieved to see us as we were to end the first training ride of the season!

The good news is that the second ride is easier than the first; and the third easier than the second; etc.
Until next time, Pedal on!
Thunder Horse.