http://www.ambmag.com.au - 113I feel I need to apologise in advance as we’re
going to be light on dirt specific content but bear
with me – I’ll tie it all together I promise!
Our new life has more or less settled down into
a routine and with kids and job more or less
settled thoughts have turned to more adventure
related activities. As you might have gathered,
a flat urbanized environment that you can
circumnavigate by (road) bike in less than 4 hours
is not exactly conducive to communing with
nature.
With long distance dirt a fair distance away and
my (current) dirt focused steeds unsuited to
going long (too flat for the singlespeed, and long
distance mixed terrain on the fat bike would be
some kind of hell) I’ve had no choice but to get out
on the back roads on my trusty gravel bike. Or as I
like to call it, my Justa - as it it’s ‘justa’ bike.
First up was a jaunt over to Bali (less than 2 ½
hours flying time but nearly 2 hours in customs)
to ride the Bali Audax (www.baliaudax.com) – a
400 km circumnavigation of the island in two
days. This was certainly an interesting experience
- whilst it was all on tar, I hesitate to call this
road riding as the surface was anything but
predictable. Once again, the value of having a
Justa was proved as I was able to happily sit in
with the little bunches that formed but wasn’t
having to panic about Bali’s definition of tarmac
munching a wheel or being shaken apart on the
super-stiff Tour de France wannabe machines
many were riding!
WOrds And phOTOs: ArrAn peArsOn
Whatever you
do, just ride
With that under my belt I hooked up with the
crowd from singapore Audax and think I have
found my people – this is the crowd that likes to
go long and isn’t too stressed about being more
than 500 metres from a supplier of (usually bad)
coffee. rides with these guys usually involve
carrying a passport as we ride over into Malaysia- I always think the experience of riding into
another country is one of the ultimate expressions
of bicycle freedom and the routine of dodging
motorcycles and wheel eating security grates to
present my passport at border control never gets
old.
Finally, as a treat I decided to head over to nZ
and attempt the Lake Taupo Maxi enduro – 4
laps of a 160km course, once again on the Justa.
Well, the actual ride was a bit of a disaster for me
as Taupo was pretty much the anti-singapore.
Cold, hilly and blowing a gale. A real wake-up
call after having spent the last 5 months riding in
conditions where 24’C at 5am is considered ‘cool’.
however, despite the less than stellar ride
the Taupo Challenge event weekend (www.
cyclechallenge.com) which encompasses
everything from a 80km MTB marathon through
to nutters doing 8 laps of the 160km road course
is one of the best cycling experiences you can
have. For a single weekend, this town of 10,000
or so attracts over 10,000 riders and their families- essentially it becomes bike town and the locals
love it. Truly a brilliant weekend and I think next
year I might go back and have a crack at the dirt
side of things (I’ve clocked up 4 laps of that lake
now and had enough).
so by my count that’s riding in four countries
in a little more than six weeks or so with
some pottering around phuket to come over
Christmas. Of course behind all of the riding is
the knowledge that 2015 is looking huge from a
riding perspective with the 1200km Kiwi Brevet
scheduled in for January / February and the
3500km Transcontinental race from Flanders
to Istanbul locked in. All to be done on the same
bike – you see, Lance was right in one respect,
its not about the bike... it is about getting out
and experiencing it be that on the latest dual
suspension wonder bike or on the clunker that’s
in the shed.hope you had a great 2014 and have been inspired
to get out and about and ride somewhere different
than your local loop. For me the mark of a great
ride is rapidly becoming how few strava segments
I manage to hit – imagine how annoyed the next
guy is going to be when on his adventure ride
he checks in to find that you’ve got the KOM on
‘Fireroad 431’.For those inclined I can be internet stalked on
twitter / instagram as @arranp and on strava
as Arran pearson. see you out there and I look
forward to you stealing my unknown KOMs!OUTBACK &
BEYOND