The Skyline Loop

So with one third of the Sat morning crew away at the snow it was just Nat and I out on Saturday morning. It started out extremely cold but after half an hour with the sun coming up it started to warm up and ended up being great weather for a ride.






It was a clear day and we had a great view from the top of skyline road down to the Yarra Valley and the Dandenong ranges.

Some people were out early like we were but doing a little bit less exercise, would have been a great day to be up floating around instead of sucking on the handlebars chasing Nat around.

We also found a few pieces of single track of the main road, with Nat pointing them out!!

Skyline it just keeps going up and down and up and down until you have had enough and then it throws in a few more ups and downs.

Sugarloaf Dam at the end of the winter, not really looking that full.

So after just under 3 and a half hours in the saddle, I was heading to the shops for some bread and food for brekky when up the road were 4 road riders, who I naturally chased down and went past just before the top of the climb. It has to be one of my favourite pastimes.

So this weekend we head off into the Ranges to do the Walk into History, and camp overnight, so no Sat ride this weekend, just alot of walking, should be a lot lower intensity which will be nice for a change.

Early Morning, Wombats and Kangaroo's

5.45 am and we were out on the roadies. Jas, Nat and I. It was the usual start with Jas and Nat the pace was on from the get go. I really struggled on the first few climbs on the road out to St Andrews. So I got used to following the red flashing light.




The sunrise was spectacular and it was quite a warm morning, but there was a bit of wind around.


As we approached the base of the Kinglake climb this little fellow casually wandered across the road. We stopped and took a few photos of him and he just stayed outside his hole looking at us.


As we started the climb I started to feel a bit better and was able to stay with the boys for the first couple of kilometers, the wind on the climb was brutal. You would come around a corner and almost come to a dead stop. It was definitely one of the toughest climbs I have endured due to wind. As the trees have no leaves on them there was no protection from the wind. As you came through the protected areas of the climb the noise of the wind across the top was so loud.

The area is still getting greener but not as much as I thought it would have. It is still very eerie riding through the area knowing what has happened and the visual reminders.


After getting to the top of climb a bit of food and then the descent, which was interesting to say the least, there is nothing like coming around a corner at 50kmh and hitting a head wind and wiping off 30kmh.

As we were rolling into St Andrews there were a couple of riders who were slowing rolling along the other way and then as we were about 20 meters apart these 2 Kangaroos decided they wanted to cross the road, one taking a major tumble as it sprinted across the road.

This continues the near misses with Kangaroos that we have been having, and it does not seem to matter if we are on the road or MTB bikes.

So as we rolled turns back from St Andrews I started to find my groove after struggling for 2 hours I was feeling really strong.

So with another busy week at work with a couple of nights away it will be hard to do much riding mid week so it willo be back for another long ride on Sat morning.

Teva Melbourne

Well we had a good race at the Teva Melbourne.

I was very rusty on the nav with lots of little mistakes, no big ones, we really struggled on one of the challengers and cost us 16mins to the winners.

We had a great last 15 minutes and raced along with two other teams and managed to just be a bit surer with our nav and faster by foot to get across the line in 3rd place.

Whilst we were 25 mins behind the winners it was a good hitout and good practice for the 24hr race in September.

Team HTFU check out our results here