G
Gags
Guest
Last night I was on the mtb and coming home along the Yarra Trail. I had
just followed the dirt track along the river from the Fairfield pipe bridge
to the bottom of the stairs at the Chandler Hwy and as I approached the path
that joins in from up near the Guide Dog School a guy on a roadie was flying
down so I slowed a little to let him get in front of me and onto the bike
path. He was on a Cannondale road bike and hooking along pretty well so I
decided to see if I could get onto his wheel. I shifted up a couple of
gears and put the hammer down, working on the premise that if I managed to
catch him I would be able to recover once I was on his wheel. The path
there is pretty flat and I got the mtb up to 48km/h and managed to reel him
in just after the turn to the left as you start to parallel the Fwy. I let
him know that I was going to "sit back here for a minute if I can hang on!!"
and then I proceeded to suck his wheel and recover from my effort to catch
him. We sat on about 40 km/h or so all the way along to the sports fields
and we caught and passed another guy on a roadbike just before that and he
jumped onto my wheel.
When we hit the bottom of the hill that leads up to the overpass (only about
150m or so long but pretty steep) I said "thanks mate" as I wasn't confident
that I could keep up with him up the hill. I went pretty hard and only lost
about 5m or so by the short flat bit at the cul-de-sac but I managed to gain
it back by taking the shortcut up the dirt hill instead of going around the
paved S-bend (melbournites familiar with the trail will know what I am on
about). I came out of this shortcut just in front of him but let him go
through and got back on his wheel. He got about 5m or so in front of me
crossing the road but once we hit the downhill on the other side my 100kg +
heavy backpack worked to my advantage and I got back on his wheel. I
continued to suck his wheel right up until the bridge at Bourke Rd (he was
still hammering it) where I again said "thanks mate" before turning off to
cross the bridge.
Just prior to the bridge we had passed a guy on a mountain bike (could have
been a hybrid) and he ended up getting onto my wheel and wheelsucking me for
a while along the dirt road up until the open section where there is a drink
fountain next to the trail. I stopped for a resupply of water as it was a
stinking hot day and I had already finished an entire bottle by this stage
but the guy kept going and by the time I had refilled and wet myself down a
bit he was long gone!!
Was a good ride home despite the heat and I definitely appreciated the tow
from the guy on the Cannondale - thanks champ!!
Gags
just followed the dirt track along the river from the Fairfield pipe bridge
to the bottom of the stairs at the Chandler Hwy and as I approached the path
that joins in from up near the Guide Dog School a guy on a roadie was flying
down so I slowed a little to let him get in front of me and onto the bike
path. He was on a Cannondale road bike and hooking along pretty well so I
decided to see if I could get onto his wheel. I shifted up a couple of
gears and put the hammer down, working on the premise that if I managed to
catch him I would be able to recover once I was on his wheel. The path
there is pretty flat and I got the mtb up to 48km/h and managed to reel him
in just after the turn to the left as you start to parallel the Fwy. I let
him know that I was going to "sit back here for a minute if I can hang on!!"
and then I proceeded to suck his wheel and recover from my effort to catch
him. We sat on about 40 km/h or so all the way along to the sports fields
and we caught and passed another guy on a roadbike just before that and he
jumped onto my wheel.
When we hit the bottom of the hill that leads up to the overpass (only about
150m or so long but pretty steep) I said "thanks mate" as I wasn't confident
that I could keep up with him up the hill. I went pretty hard and only lost
about 5m or so by the short flat bit at the cul-de-sac but I managed to gain
it back by taking the shortcut up the dirt hill instead of going around the
paved S-bend (melbournites familiar with the trail will know what I am on
about). I came out of this shortcut just in front of him but let him go
through and got back on his wheel. He got about 5m or so in front of me
crossing the road but once we hit the downhill on the other side my 100kg +
heavy backpack worked to my advantage and I got back on his wheel. I
continued to suck his wheel right up until the bridge at Bourke Rd (he was
still hammering it) where I again said "thanks mate" before turning off to
cross the bridge.
Just prior to the bridge we had passed a guy on a mountain bike (could have
been a hybrid) and he ended up getting onto my wheel and wheelsucking me for
a while along the dirt road up until the open section where there is a drink
fountain next to the trail. I stopped for a resupply of water as it was a
stinking hot day and I had already finished an entire bottle by this stage
but the guy kept going and by the time I had refilled and wet myself down a
bit he was long gone!!
Was a good ride home despite the heat and I definitely appreciated the tow
from the guy on the Cannondale - thanks champ!!
Gags
