Maybe it's the honey...
It is soooo nice to be out and about...
07 & 08/10/2020
Following the advice from the Friendly Local, I have been slowing down the pace and I'm finding the slower I go, the more fun I am having. The weather forecast was for a big storm rolling through on Wednesday afternoon. I didn't feel like riding in the rain... and the Bidjar Njoulin hut was sooo nice... and the people I was meeting were sooo interesting... I thought I'd kick back and spend a second day at the hut and try letting the adventure come to me.
The end-to-end racers kept coming and going quietly through the first evening and into the next day. It was fascinating to observe their physical/mental states as they came rolling in. And I started taking stock of the bikes everyone was riding, too. I'm seriously thinking of getting a more modern off road capable mountain/touring bike, probably a rigid framed 29er. So, I started conducting an informal survey of riders and their rigs, which I kept going for the entire trip. I've now got my eye on Surly ECRs and Ogres, Kona Units and Salsa Fargos. Those bike riders were thoroughly interrogated. But another slow Munda Biddi rider I met at the hut helped put things into perspective for me. Shane was riding a $500 Aldi supermarket mountain bike which he picked up second hand at a pawn shop for only $350. Much to my amazement, he told me that Aldi occasionally stocks a very nice exceptional value for money mountain bike. They are very well made, great value and as a result are snapped up very quickly. I'm going to have to start buying my groceries at Aldi.
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Late Wednesday afternoon a couple of young Aussie Blokes rolled in on a pair of fat-tyred (5") mountain bikes. They were very enthusiastic and also very unprepared and under equipped for riding the Munda Biddi. They had no food and no rain gear. And with the big rain storm bearing down on us, their low cost sleeping bags and tent would be especially problematic. We told them the storm was approaching. They showed us the sleeping bags and $20 tent. Everyone replied with a low key "that might not be enough to keep you warm and dry tonight." And off they went down the track. The storm clouds quickly rolled in, followed shortly thereafter by the two Aussie Blokes who very wisely ruminated on our collective advice while pedalling along under those looming storm clouds. It started raining soon after their return. Amazingly, the end-to-end racers quietly kept coming and going throughout the stormy night, stopping for just a GPS check and a water top up from the now overflowing rainwater tanks.
The forest looks especially lovely at this time of year (early spring) and it is probably the best time of year to ride the Munda Biddi. There is plenty of fresh water in the streams and ample water supplies in the hut rain water tanks. The forest flora is extra special green and the wildflowers are all coming into bloom. I hit the track at exactly the best time for the wildflower show. The wildflowers were everywhere - in some stretches of the single track I had to plough through them with the bike, pushing them aside with one hand and steering with the other. The Egg & Bacon flowers were the best - their scent was outrageously strong - both the bees and I thought they were fantastic. The week before I started riding I was given a small jar of "special honey" from a friend. I was adding a wee dose of it to my breakfast most mornings. It certainly is becoming a splendid ride...
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