A day in pictures.

Spencer arrives for the ride. Finally.

We did a repeat of last weeks ride today. The weather has not been kind of late and so we stayed off the single track and headed out on the management roads instead. 

Robbo got a basting last week for not bringing out his new bike. This week he brought it out and got it dirty

Scrub Creek causeway. It was looking awesome. I haven't seen this much water in the creek for ages. You could hear water flowing down the gullies on most of the ride today. 

And now we go up. This is the start of the climb up Scrub Road from the bottom. The ground was soaked with spots of clay that grabbed the wheel and made going hard for quite a while.

Centre Road. It is a pinchy little climb with no breaks once you cross this causeway. There were trees across  the creek and the water was flowing here stronger than anywhere else we had been. I struggled all day but the climb out of here was a real heart breaker for me. Good mental training though as a cup of concrete was consumed at the bottom and the teeth were gritted and many swear words passed the lips to goad and harangue myself to the top.

Bellbird Grove. A little rest before the final assault out to the road and the fast bitumen descent to Ironbark Gully. The bike is a Giant XTC 1 29er the same as the one Giant have very kindly provided to us for the race. I can't wait to get my grubby little fingers on one to put some K's in on it. It was also the official unveiling of the Velo Club Moulin strip today and I hope I did it proud. Onya Mark!