S.S.S.S

S.S.S.S..... What is this you ask?
It was the Super Sunday Single Speed ride organised by Bruce Dickey. A day of urban single speed, single track madness through local trails around the eastern part of Melburn.
12 odd people turned up for a epic ride from Collingwood. The plan was to follow the single track of the Yarra Trails out through to Donvale, and the Mullum Valley trails followed but a run back down the Eastern Freeway single track. For me it was another day in the saddle backing up the previous days ride in Marysville. It would be a day of soul searching as I hit the wall.
I met Gav at his place in Ivanhoe for a early start, to ride in to the meeting point at 0830 hrs. We took a mix of road and single track to get to the start.
We hooked up with fellow single speeders who had a fantastic mix of bikes. Both 29er and 26er where represented, with some fine examples of what is out there. Bruce Dicky's Spot 29er with White Brothers carbon forks is a machine worth mentioning as was Lauren's Cog 29er called Home Brew. Both these bike were full of bling parts and nice paint as was Cam's blue single speed which just happens to have the same paint as my road bike.
We started by heading back along the river on some choice single track that if you get wrong. you go for a swim (just ask Jase from Epix). We encounted a few walkers but not to many, and those we did were friendly. One guy was a bit of a dick and chose to stand his ground on a narrow piece of trail.... not worth the argument, but fuk he was a cocky one, he had a nice cheesy little grin on his dial as he forced us to a halt.
Not to long into the ride NZ Gav came to grief with a major mechanical. He snapped his chain ring and had to bail. I was feeling guilty about leaving him but he was keen to get home and swap out his broken ring and re join us further down the trail. He some how rode his bike home doing half pedals!
We continued to follow trail and the speed was on for a Sunday ride. I was struggling after the day before, but kept gritting the teeth as I was determined to get round the loop. We did all the usual Yarra Trail single track out towards Westerfolds Park.
Gav managed to rejoin us in Heidelberg whilst we were fixing another mechanical (loose cranks). I was stoked to have him back. You feel bad when you hook up to ride with some one and then a shitty mechanical takes em out. After a bit of stuffing around we continued out through Hans loop (I sat that one out as I was feeling shitty and on the edge of a very large hole!) and on to the High Voltage Climb. This is a nasty bit of access road that heads out the back of Templestowe. I was reduced to being the last one up it walking!
From here it was Currawong Bush Park and into Donvale. Found some trail I didnt even realise existed but was glad to put it in the memory bank for next time. Man, there were some hills I had chosen to forget about in the local area, but Bruce found em all. We continued into my home trails and I showed the boys one piece that they did not know about.
We headed back down some short but fun bits of trail down the side of the Eastern Freeway, and I was glad to be on the home ward leg. Once back to the Yarra it was decided to call it quits as the day was gone. I had clocked up some 6 hrs in the saddle and was on the rivet. I estimate that it would have been some 60-70 km's of riding most of it single track.
Gav and I headed back to his place via the milk bar for some much needed Coke and a sugar fix. We followed this up with a nice burger from Bee Bee Q in Ivanhoe..... worth a stop, great burgers!
It was a awesome loop and what made it fun was the single speeds and a crew of good natured individuals. We encounted a few mechanicals, but none stopped us including Gav's chain ring. I had a blast and today I am paying for it big time but it was a great ride to put some miles on the clock.
Photos will be posted when I find and steal them care of Cam from Flat Hill
Keep a ear out for the next ride as it was a fun little urban epic!
Happy riding.