35'C outside made this ride a bit hot.
The
drive to the old Tracking Station and dealing with a
couple of flats delayed the kick off (isn't there always
something!) until 10ish.
Setting off from Orroral
Tracking Station (which is now, nothing more than four
concrete slabs!) we headed due west along the Orroral
Valley walking trail toward Smokers trail.
Since
the removal of Civilisation from this area there has
been a take over by the local wildlife and we saw
hundreds of Kangeroos (some to close for comfort when
going flat out on dirt!)
The track was shown as
a 'walking trail' on the Namadgi Map but was as
wide as a fire trail. This meant we were aloud to ride
there with no hassles.
we rode 5kms into the
Valley, but it was around a 200m vertical climb over that
distance, something the girls didn't find too amusing :) So
we decided to turn back after a kind bush walkerr
informed us we hadn't seen the worst of the climb! Hitting
speed of 58km'h on the descent, there was much fish
tailing under brakes on corners, but no spills! A big
splash down into a creek crossing cooled us off and we
headed back the way we came.
This would have
panned out into a better ride if we had taken the
intended turn off to Booroomba Rocks, maybe next time
:)
Dist: 9.8 km
Time: ~1hr
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