YPR #28 – Lysterfield/Churchill
I figure it’s my turn to write up a YPR ride. I haven’t done one before. I’ve even made the effort to use CAPITAL LETTERS, to make it easier to read.
HY, HP, Al and myself all rocked up to the Lysterfield car park at roughly 2pm. HY and I got there first. I spent the time drooling over HY’s new bling bike parts – his new brakes and wheels which cost more than my entire mountain bike. We then had a random conversation with “S-Works dual-suspension” guy. Or rather HY and S-Works guy continued to talk about their super-expensive bikes and I sat there, staring at my own rather cheap-looking bike, in comparison.
Eventually, the 4 of us rolled out. We started along the Blair Witch trail. The super-fast toboggan-style track was gone. They’ve built a new super-twisty track which is not as fun. It hasn’t worn-in yet. Hopefully it will be better in a few months. Also, the BMX-style jumps are gone. The big hole in the ground has been filled in. Not that I would have done them anyway. The last time I tried to perform a jump, I did a 2 metre endo on the landing. Luckily I survived that one.
Next came the Buckle Trail. I love the signs they have there – it has picture of a bicycle, and beneath it, a picture of a walking stick-man, but with a cross through it. I tried to rollover the first big pile of tree logs, but ran out of momentum near the top. I didn’t fall because the pile was quite well-built and stable. Of course, the first stack of the day belongs to HP. As usual, another static fall. He attempted to rollover a pile of logs. Somehow, he picked a diagonal line over it. As you’d expect, he got stuck halfway over it with nowhere to go (except backwards, perhaps). And then, like the Titanic, the front of his bike lifts up… and up, and he proceeds to fall backwards.
The Buckle Track links up with the Comm Games track. Here, we encounter the Rock Garden – and it’s called the “Rock Garden” for a reason! As we watched some of the pros roll through it as if they were cruising on Beach Rd, Al decided that it couldn’t be that difficult. However, despite my encouragement, I couldn’t get Al to tackle the double black-diamond run. He mentioned something about the consequences of falling off your bike, and the abundance of boulders to cushion your fall.
Finally, the infamous Churchill climb. It’s short but not very sweet. I like to call it the lactic acidosis hill. It’s a steep singletrack climb that requires a lot of concentration and spinning. HP blasted past me at the start. However, he had misjudged the length of the climb and blew up soon after. I kept my tortoise-pace going, kept spinning and retook the lead over the puffing HP.
We finished the rest of the Comm Games track. Tackled the berms which is always fun (when they’re in good condition, that is) and headed back to the car park.
A great day and weather for riding. Lysterfield is still a great park, even though we always complain that we’re bored of it.
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