Myself, Kevin, Niall and Billy went up to the Blue Mountains for a bit of mountain bike riding yesterday. I left home at 7.25 and cycled up to Niall’s, got the bikes in the car, waited for Kev to arrive and then left in convoy for Newtown to pick up Billy. After messing around for a bit in the warren of streets that is Newtown, we finally got on the road and drove straight to Blackheath.

As Billy hadn’t been MTBing before we had chosen to do two shorter routes, rather than one long one. It also helped that none of us had been on these rides before. The first of the two was a 14km out-and-back to Hanging Rock (pictured above). As you can see from the picture, the rock (on the right) has almost separated from the main land mass, on the left. There’s a one metre jump to get across onto the rock, which you’d think would be piss easy. However, there’s really only one place to cross, and as you stand there contemplating the jump, about 1.5 metres to your right is a looong drop into the valley below. Basically, if you screw up the jump, you’d probably have time to ring someone and deliver a parting message before you hit the valley floor. It’s amazing how this fact managed to change the perspective on what should be a walk in the park.

You have to walk down a steep track to get to the jump point, and on the way down I was thinking to myself “I’m just going to walk up to it and do it”. However, as I approached the edge, and started noticing the drop my legs started to get the wobbles! It’s quite funny really as it’s obviously your subconcious’s way of saying ’you’re going to kill yourself’. After a bit of hesitation, we all made the jump and hung around for a bit to admire the view before jumping back onto the ‘mainland’ and climbing back up the track to our bikes. Everyone was a little hyper from the adrenaline rush which made the steep climb a little easier. Rode back the car, had some food and then headed for Faulconbridge.

This was another out-and-back route, this time 8km each way, ending in another spectacular lookout. There were no jumps required, just a 270^o view of heavily wooded valleys with a river running through the one at our feet. I keep meaning to bring my camera/video on these trips, but in the early morning rush I usually forget it. Yesterday was one day when I definitely regretted not having it, though I suspect we’ll end up doing those rides again.

PS: I downloaded the photo above from the web, so that’s not one of us sitting right out at the edge. Maybe next time!

S: 6600m – B: 88km (30km MTB) – 2 weights/core