Ring Road and Railway Rumble

Photo: Arleigh Jenkins

Sometimes all it takes is a single small image.  It sparks a memory, a thought, a plan.  It ignites my desire to ride and gives me purpose.  A reason to make an effort to get out and be active.

The photo you see here came through my Instagram feed one day and I immediately felt the need to ride my bike. I had an idea to try to ride a completely offroad loop around the city.

At the time a new road was under construction and not yet open to the public.  But it could be accessed through gaps in fences and what not...

I rolled between the first set of barriers, ducked under the arm of a parked up excavator next to a front end loader and grinned as I spotted my first 'cross obstacle ahead.  Deep sand interspersed with hunks of rock was a good test.  I lost my momentum, the bike snaked around beneath me and I ground my way through to the other side.  The surface was pretty good, but not at all consistent.  Loads of soft spots in the gravel kept me on my toes and I tried to keep to the wheel tracks of the machines that had been working the site.

I rode the wrong way down the closed expressway section, through a major intersection with a big hole in the middle and grinned again as my next 'cross obstacle loomed.  A large 'speed hump' had been formed at the end of the work site to prevent vehicles from entering the site.  It looked pretty soft where I needed to cross it, so I 'crossed it.  I dismounted, picked up my bike and ran over the hump.  A somewhat clumsy remount on the other side and I was straight into ducking under another excavator arm and around behind a smaller excavator.  A short section to climb over a newly formed bridge and I was coasting down the other side and across an adjoining road.

Next up was a shortcut through a local park - all grass, but littered with muddy potholes to keep things interesting.  Then it was time to hit the road.  Down a couple of State Highways and onto a rural road, my next offroad section was getting closer.

I felt like I was being watched as I turned off the road into the driveway, dismounted and ducked under the gate.  A good gravel track was ahead of me, with the railway embankment to the left and industrial properties to the right.  No one was here, except for maybe the kind of people that shouldn't be.  And me.

My cadence picked up, my heart rate shot through the roof.  I was pretty nervous about being here.  Being caught by the authorities, or someone much worse.

Nevertheless I dismounted, ran with my bike up the railway embankment and parked my bike on the tracks for a photo opportunity.  I had increased feelings of being in the wrong place, so I kept a good check of the area around me... particularly both directions along the track.  I'm well aware of how much noise trains don't make when they are moving directly towards you.

With the photo shoot over, I got on my way with even greater urgency.  Lungs and legs were burning and I had quite a way to go.  I crossed over another State Highway and got back into the gravel track.  Dodging potholes and broken bottles were the main obstacles for this section.  Then I ran out of track, popped out onto another road and had to cut across town to the river path.  The final pave section was pretty long, but it was smooth and relatively flat.  It was nice to be next to the river and amongst the trees again.  And from years of 'urban riding' with various mountain bike dudes, I know a few of the offroad detours from the river path too, so a couple of rooty diversions meant I had to pay attention to what lay ahead.

Rolling back home, I clicked over 30k's in a much more interesting ride than if I had stuck to the roads and stayed away from the places I shouldn't have ridden in.  I avoided flats, crashes, and cars.  I improved my gravel riding, sand riding, and had a few practice dismounts and remounts.

I smiled for days.