Perfect way to finish off a weekend? A quick spin on the dirt sounds pretty close to hitting the mark. A txt or two rousted up the lads from their sunday slumber and down to the Longley Hotel for another ‘Tramway Dirt Run’. Gus and I turned up early, so we grabbed a seat, tucked into a couple of draughts and watched a beltin’ blues set in the beer garden.
Once Lingy and Clinton rocked up we rolled out and headed up the hill to Allens Rivulet for our first stretch of dirt. The climb out of the Rivulet and up to Kaoota is excellent.. ..I’ve been reading a bunch of Dave’s ‘Vintage Bicycle Quarterly’ magazines which do a fair bit of pluggin’ old school alpine cycling. Think fixed gears, woollen jerseys, 650b and handlebar bagged bikes being flogged across the donkey cart tracks of high altitude France and you’ve got it. Those mags have really has wet the palette for dirt climbs and this one certainly fitted the bill: steep, loose and a great big alps style road switchback.
From Kaoota we descended the old coal tramway to Margate. The tramway is probably a tad rough for the CX bikes we were on but hey, why not make it a fun trip? We really opened the throttle on the downhill and pushed the bikes hard. My steel framed bike really excelled in soaking up the bumps (two thums up for 4130!) and I finally worked out descending in the drops. Rad. Crossed the ‘Presidential Gap’ (Previously known as ‘Kiwi’s Gully’) on the rickety bridge and down in Margate via some paddocks and a horse trail. No leeches hitched a ride on this occasion
The return loop was fun as we discussed the merits of gears, steel and the 20 plus bikes stored in a certain BnC’ers garage. Really was a great arvo out, sure beats the hell out of sitting indoors infront of a computer game (Mischa).
I thought that bridge looked familiar. Wish I could have had another go at it today.
The inlaws have nearly all gone, so more ride time soon.
Not when that computer game is CoD:MW2 and features social run’n’knife sessions mixed with random abuse of the opposite team.
Sounds amazing. Great story to recount to ya Grandkids one day..