Dandenong Creek Trail Ride-Saturday, 28 August, 2004

Report by Ludo S, Photos by Robert W.

The weather forecast for Saturday 28/08/2004, looked good enough to kick off the doonah just after dark to get ready for a ride on the other (for us) side of town. Apparently apart from Renild and myself, only John and Arada must have heard of the favourable forecast, because they were the only other ones to turn up. Robert would never let the weather come between him and any bike ride. So it was only 5 of us who set off along the Dandenong way. The first 10 km I found a bit average : The bike path is good enough, but first the water sport centre and later the sad sight of Dandenong drain, which at one stage must have looked like what we were going to encounter further upstream, could do with a face lift.

As I mentioned above, things were improving and by the time we rode through Dandenong I was actually starting to quite enjoy this ride. The drain had reverted back to a creek and my legs were settling in to a long forgotten routine, after winter recess.

All was going well until we were flagged down by a nice lady in a car. She had been asked to let us know that one of our "mates" had a puncture and might need some help. By logical deduction we figured out who was in trouble and knowing his reluctance to carry too many tools we contemplated having lunch first before pedaling back, but then ... we are nice people after all and we preferred to return straight away to see how John would be able to fix his tyre without tools! By the time we got back the tube was already out and being patched and we decided to have lunch there because you simply can't argue with tyre patches when it comes to setting time.

The remainder of the trip to Jells Park was very nice through sensibly revegatated areas and restored wetlands, nice work indeed. The last kms were not the easiest, but the lure of a cappucino was enough to sustain us till the end ... where we met Peter, not on his SWIFT, maybe he even drove there by car, ... it wouldn't have been appropriate to ask. Some time after 2pm we decide to make a move to tackle the 30 odd km back to Carrum. A little later I had the chance to try Robert's and John's latest creations, which I hadn't seen in the flesh before today. Robert's Wilkinson replica is a very balanced and comfortable long wheelbase, the rear suspension taking all roughness out of the road. For a LWB recumbent with suspension it also felt pretty light to lift. John's Xevon is very special. The way all the forces are being taken care of is fantastic and the construction of the frame is definitely outside of home builder territory. The bottom bracket was a bit short for me, but that didn't stop me from getting a feel for the way the bike handles : Rides as well as it looks. Looking forward to the next ride ...