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Putting the big guilt trip on Chris for being a big skirt-boy, I roped him and Dave into Red Hill. It was only the three of us, so a climb straight up the guts of the mountain was the route of choice. We rode about 300m along the track from the start at Gowrie Drive and found a track that went straight up the Hill. We managed to ride almost half way up, but resorted to walking for the rest. At about three quarters of the way to the top we turned around and took the downhill, it was awesome. With full speed and ball tearing mountain work we made it to the bottom with a huge confidence gain :) It would be our downfall later.... Back at the bottom we rode around the base another 300 meters or so and found a track that swerved back and forth up the mountain at a much easier and ridable pace. This track led to lookout at the top, but we had to ride through what Dave techniucally described as 'spikey bushes', there has been a tonne of weed growth on the mountain and those damn weeds with big spikes gave our legs a tickle (and a scratch or two) on the way to the top :) A quick ice cream stop at the lookout and then the fast descent back down. Heading back down the North face, we took a track from the top that we thought was new to us, but we found out that it was the same track we took on the first climb/descent. It was very thin, steep and windy. Full braking was required to make some of the corners, but with the confidence build from the previous ride Chris and I took it at unprecedended speed.....until we found out that a 12 year olds confidence doesn't mix with late twenties co-ordination! Big spills saw skin lost, but bikes survive and nothing permanent done :) Dave had the sense to walk down the hard bits and survived injury free. Another 50m or so down the hill the leason hadn't been learned, Chris finding a large rock at speed and me finding new ways of ringing my bike's bell as I flew over the handle bars :) Whoops. Still a good fun track, but wouldn't put it on my revisit list with all the vegitation and bloody 'spikey bushes' scratching the hell out of my legs for a good part of the tour. Maybe when summer kills some of that off. PS: Apart from the climbs the track around the base was wide and flat, very easy going for those that didn't want to attempt the climbs. Not very many trees for shade meant you were exposed to the sun for most of the time, unlike many of our other rides. |