New world

Four of us gathered for our regular Wednesday night ride. The weather is getting cooler as Australia moves towards winter but as it turns out it wasn't THAT cold and for most of the ride I was overheating in my new warm boots and bib type long pants. Fergie was one of the four and whilst not a regular he could thrash us all in any sport that required fitness over skill. Fergie is nearly fifty years old but competes at a very high level in his age group in swimming and cycling, though suffers a bit when running. We all gather outside of Harrys bike shop at 6pm. At about 10 minutes past we argue a bit about where we're going to go and then we head off. Last night we took of towards the Harris River dam, which supplies some of Western Australias freshest water. We started off on the Mundabiddi trail and then switched to a single track. We regulars know it by heart but Fergie wasn't a regular and didn't have good lights, so we dawdled a bit so as not to leave him behind. Eventually we arrived at the Harris River picnic spot and Fergies battery was nearly dead so he decided to ride home on the bitumen to town. We had a bit of a food break then headed west along a dirt track that followed a dry creekbed. It was a nice surface that inclined upwards in a series of small rises. Of course we ended up racing as soon as one front wheel inched in front of another. After crossing under a powerline we hit Arklow Road and turned right. Now we were going down a gentle descent along a wide smooth road, chatting as we rode with only one headlight between us to conserve battery power. We came to the Mundabiddi trail again, this was the spot where we found Harry waiting for us when he got lost a few weeks ago. We did a left turn and were now heading southwest along the Mundabiddi trail, which is wider than it needs to be but still isn't quite wide enough for cars. Once again we were going mainly downhill and swooping over low rises and cutting the corners, it's great fun. Since I put my longer headstem on the other day my weight has moved back a bit and instead of the front sliding out on slippery corners the back slides a bit too. There seems to be a better weight distribution between the front and rear wheels which also improves my cornering. We got home about 9:30 pm.