Chiltern 05
The rain and freezing wind caught us by surprise and took a bit of fun out of
the morning. The hastily built trials course proved a hit with the trial
riders and some of the more mature riders cruised around a bit with the
occasional swapping and lending of various types of unicycles. At 12:30
the local Policeman turned up to escort us down the main street and luckily the
weather cleared up enough for the ride. I had some problems with organizing the
street ride and publicity, so when it finally happened it took any one at
the main street at the time by total surprise.
After lunch we headed to the Magenta Mine site. Magenta is an old disussed
goldmine in some beautiful country. We did a 3k warm up with the first hill a
bit of a challenge going up. Young Tom cruised up next to me chatting all the
way. He made it to the top easily and I didn't. I think (correct me if I am
wrong) James also made it on the first attempt. After the warm up I drove
everyone up to Pipeline track with full intentions of going down the easer side
to the South.
Everyone looked down the steepest side to the North and decided to go that way
instead. Previously I have never been game to try that side by myself;
peer pressure does wonders. Tom sped down enjoying the challenge. The rest us
stopped one way or another but all made it down somehow including 13 yo Matt
Clark who had never ridden off a basketball court before. Tom was the first
ever to join the unofficial "Pipeline Masters" After a rest and some
messing about at Magenta Mine, Pipleline North was on every riders mind. We all
walked, tried to ride and somehow got back to the top of Pipleline to give it
another go. Tom actually stepped off this time but James Ross of Albury became
the second ever Pipeline Master. We then rode back to Magenta on a great
challenging single track.
That evening a few of us went to the local to debrief and watched all Kris Holm
and Alex Tom's Videos on the big screen. At first the other customers found the
extreme action amusing but definitely outside their schema. One guy got a bit
aggro claiming it couldn't be done. As Julian stated in his report, they
thought we had also been doing the extreme thing and we didn't try to change
their thinking too much. Finally they all went home and left the unicyclists to
watch the last video "Into the Thunder Dragon" without
interruption. James' car broke down on the way back to Albury late
Saturday night after the video session, so James and Mark did not get back
Sunday.
On Sunday we went to Donchii Hill Track which is a reasonably maintained track
(locals call it Donkey Hill) to tackle Bull Ant Track which runs across Donchii
Track. Bull Ant Track is a relatively un-maintained minor track with lots of
wash aways. The first ride went West with a reasonably technical downhill
section then some steep to gentle tracks back up hill. To add to the rides
complexity, Tom managed to find old gold diggings, fallen trees and all sorts
of natural trials obstacles on the way. I also felt humbled when Matt out
accelerated me going up one of my favorite steep hills. I was on my Roger Davis
CF with all the good gear including a Michelin Hot S tire and had ridden the
hill lots of times. Matt was on his first Juggleart unicycle and his first
weekend in the bush. I think he could have a big future.We had another short
but steep down and up Bull Ant to the east (we all ended up walking up that
section of Bull Ant) to finish the day.
It was a great weekend. My aim was to share my terrain and for all of us to
share skills, challenges and unicycle stories. I hope and also think the aim
was achieved by the participants. Thanks to the riders who turned up to
support the weekend.
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