Dirt Works 100km Classic

The commitment has been made, 4th May 2008, myself and a small group of keen riders from work are going to attempt the Dirtworks 100km Classic. This is a 100km off-road MTB race (if you choose to race) around St Albans about 1.5hr north of Sydney just on the other side of the Hawkesbury river. I remember reading a review of this about 2 years ago, not long after getting my MTB and thinking you must be kidding, a 100km off-road, scary steep hills, why would you do it to yourself? Well mot much has changed, I am just now one of the crazies going put them selves through the pain of it all. I have begun training…. To a point. I have now got the knobblies back on the bike after having the slicks on there for many months, in the lead up to the Sydney to Gong ride.

On the weekend I had a rude shock as to how out of form I am ridding the bush. Besides being the sweeper guy to clear all the single track of spider webs, I seemed never to be prepared for the next rise or dip, which saw me scrambling up a few hills in the walking (climbing) gear. A word of warning for everyone who thinks this is the safest gear on the bike, you can still fall and do damage. Ouch. Well, didn’t need that skin anyway. After doing battle at the foot of the mountain with the mud caking on the bike and clogging every moving part, I did manage to get higher enough to turn around and get some speed up, however this only brought its own issues as the mud began to fling back in my face. So I guess what I am saying here is I have much work to do before 4th May. Lucky there is still some time left to do it.

National Ride to Work

Tomorrow, as you probably know, is national ride to work day here in
Australia. For myself this is my weekly ride to work, with a free
breakfast courtesy of one of the major sponsors Lend Lease. I would
encourage all readers of this blog to join in. It was this event last
year that encouraged the group of seven or so people i now ride
regularly with. It has been an excellent way to meet cyclists in my
area and also leads to other social rides. Give it a in and then let
us all know how it went.

The Gong

For those who don't know, The Gong Ride is a 90 km charity ride from Sydney to Wollongong to raise money for MS Australia. A walk in the park for the serious roadies out there, however this is not me. Having rediscovered cycling only 2 years ago my focus has been off road, which I find pure joy in. However, I have registered for this one. Despite the great pressures of completing my final year of University studies whilst working, I have been talked into the joining the large continent of riders from our office, 30% of the staff have agree to this. It has provoked at least two people to go out and buy a bike for this event. How could I possibly refuse as one of the regular cyclists in the office. Did I mention that this was only five days out from a major submission of my university work...... why did I agree to this? I am still asking the question, but the momentum created is so great, I can not wait to have completed my studies to really push this enthusiasm further, beyond this the Gong ride.

This is a charity ride and I have agreed to also raise a minimum of $250 for MS Australia, please follow this link and lend a hand. Stay tuned for pics of the event.

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Welcome to [re]cycling people. Hopefully over time this website will develop along with the riders into a well oiled machine that runs like clock work. This site is aimed at sharing information that we may find of interest in our travels Please post feed back as to what you would like to see on the [re]cycling people.