Epix - Epic rides and Images

From Croydon we chose to ascend the mountain via Montrose, and up past the dam, and climbed our way up into the RJ Hamer Aboreum (sp?). There are some nasty long pinches up there, and climbing was the news of the hour. I'm ever afraid to mention the granny ring, and it got a fair workout on those climbs...!!



Bellie was even enthused enough to come down and do it again (or maybe we weren't fast enough) yet we all made it to the top together as is the 'rule' with any Epix. We don't attempt to be the quickest, but I hope we have a heap of fun together out there!

From Olinda, Matt made the hard call to pull the rip cord and make for home. After 6 or 7 hours, the lights had pretty well gone out, and he made the horrible decision to head for home before he headed away from home once again. With our constant ribbing about catching the train home, he manned up and with a mouthful of food, hit the highway to make his way home. I think with some careful planning he actually avoided all the uphills on the way home, yet still had a monster day!!

Grover, Bellie and myself continued on, and took some sneaky little trail for the next little while... We'll leave the discussion about that little section, but it was a great trail.


Plenty of features, both man made and otherwise.


Yep, still looks like an Epix. Authentic I like to call it. Gee, that looks like it 'stings' (hint hint...)



Grover battling the blackberries and 'wait-a-while' plants. No leeches though which was nice!

Regardless, we popped out at Emerald and after coming to the realization that we were going through Emerald (!!... thats a long way from home...!) on mountain bikes, we headed down Wellington Road to Lysterfield.

Rolling turns to hold Bellies wheel, the lights slowly started to shine on my dash as well, and it was a slow old ride for me once we made the Lysterfield Track. Pushing and pushing to make it before the end of the race, I was cooked and groveled all the way there.. The boys practically skull dragged me there, and when Rob offered me a can of coke, I was a new man. 3.5litres of water down, Jack gave me a refill (thanks pal!) and with a handful of gummybears, it was 10/10ths into the evening to make it home for a dinner date.


What we now can call 'chase the sun', as the event by the same name has changed.



Bellie givn'er


Twilight after a long day, the caffiene and the sugar starting to make itself known to me - thankfully!!


And here is Bellie softening the blow to the family that he may just be a little while longer before he gets home....!

And so with that, I can declare that the latest Epix in Melbourne has been surmised. 11.5 hours door to door, over 160km on the mountain bike, nearly 3000m vertical, and at least one very tired fellah...! I hope it entertained you for a spell, now perhaps you need to get back to work??

On a footnote, whilst these adventures do cost us money, they would not be possible at all without the continuing and valued support of Felt Bicycles, Ascend Sport nutritional products, Nightlightning lights, and GVRaceTech. Please consider the products that each of these companies offer when making decisions about your next purchases.

Thank you for reading, and we hope to have you back again soon.