Kelly's Story - A Bownesian Down Under !
It's the middle of February and I'm lucky enough to be in Australia on my honeymoon with my two favourite things in life....my wife..... and my BIKE! I have brought my trusty Scott Scale all the way Down Under to do some riding, and even a race. I have been riding a lot in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney, and as well as in the state of Victoria near Melbourne. To begin with, it is very hot and humid here, usually in the low 30's! And that has sure taken a bit to get used to. The trails so far aren't technical or rough like the ones back home...they are fairly wide andat the moment very dusty due to a couple of years of drought. This has made for great fun for me to get the wheels turning and shut off any worries in my brain of crashing.....just cruise.
On my first ride, on Australia day, I hit my first trailhead and found about 10 or so fellow riders and was immediately invited to join in! Lots of joking around and chatting about bikes and even more riding was to follow. Since then I've met heaps of riders on the trails and have told them them about the wicked riding around Alberta and BC while they point out the kangaroos, kookaburras and dead snakes. Good fun.
I also participated in a huge 100km MTB marathon in the Otway Ranges of Victoria. 700 racers in my category and another 300 in the shorter race braved mid 30 degree heat to race in Australia's hilliest marathon race. The hills were there (3450 meters of climbing) but not much in the way of singletrack. But there was  a timed climb and descent in the race that was sort of like a prime. Lots of National and Olympic Aussie dudes were there as well as ex-Motorola pro Phil Anderson .....who dropped out after 75km. I suffered like a dog to place 39th.....not great but at least a start!
To sign off, Australia is a great place to bike and I totally recommend that riders bring their bikes if they come down on a holiday. For the racers out there, there are tons of races of all kinds but the marathon type ones are very popular. Great weather and all kinds of freaky animals as well!
Thanks to the owners of Bow Cycle for letting me come down on this trip, the people at Scott for the chance to ride the Scale (which was awesome as always), and finally, to Dik Cox at Kona for getting Phil at Groupe Sportif in Melbourne to help me out!
See you on the trails
Kelly
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