Rode over from Gol Gol to the Aerodrome Ovals in Mildura on Eleventh Street to meet up with Ash, what a guy, after doing a couple of road rides with his Dad, he was dobbed in as the local MTB guru, and therefore had to baby sit me for the morning, poor bastard :)
We headed off West toward Merbein and cut in to ride along side the river. Stunning views the whole way and lush Australian Gum forrest. Some small hills, but really, we only did 155 verical meters over 70kms, so this has to be the flattest ride I've ever done, which made for fast and flowing riding on single track and firetail. Ash is pretty fit, so he was cruising at a hot pace and I was struggling to keep up!
At one point we hit the highest spot on the ride, a lookout where we could see back from Merbein to Mildura, and the surrounds, very nice.
Then it was time to cross over to Dareton Island, a spot where the river has cut back on itself and create a massive island, 8km in diameter. It's a favourite spot for campers, so long as you have a vehicle that can cross the river here... the crossing is a few inches deep for most of the way but features a few holes and traps for cars to fall into, it would be entertaining to spend some time here watching peoplem trying to cross :)
Ash has been in a race here with the local MRB club where they ran several laps of the 8km island. The track is pretty flat and fast, but sandy in places, so you have to watch your steering, I didn't, and came a cropper in one corner, a victim of own mis guided understeer :D
All in a wicked fast ride, lots of undulating single track and the girgeous Murray to look at all the way, awesome.
The crew:
| Jason | Giant Trance |
| Ash | Giant MCM Team Carbon HT |
The Stats:
| Distance | 70.0km |
| Time | 4:11 |
| Climb | 155vm |
| Speed | 19.9km/h avg, 44.8km/h max |