I apologise for not being able to remember all the names (inserted as appropriate - tim) but I'm still in the process of meeting all the Melbourne Listees.

In attendance were;

• Fruitbat and Kim
• Paul and Ilana
• Tim and Bec
• Dave
• Alison
• Graham
• Matt
• Duncan
• Aymen
• Nat
• Tash
• Rich

Kim and I drove into the *almost* empty carpark. The only other occupant being a lone MTB rider whom we assumed wasn't MTB-OZ as no car was in sight. The lone rider turned out to be Graham who had ridden a lazy 40 km from Clayton for the ride. Not a bad warm up. People continued to rock up over the next 30 minutes or so, bikes were mantled, (isn't that the opposite of dismantled?) and hydration packs were stuffed with bags full of jelly snakes.

The motley crew headed off sometime around 11 into the unexplored wilds of the Dandenong's. I thought I was in for a long day when, after ~ 300 metres of Kim trying to clip her right foot into the pedal, she spat it and announced that 'this is why I hate riding'. She later explained that she was nervous about the group ride and holding everyone up and that the little explosion was merely a manifestation of all that stress. Ilana was the first to bite the dust when her front wheel washed out while negotiating some tricky blow down. Not too much damage to bike or person and some good battle scars to talk about later on.

The first downhill was a blend of wide single track, fast bends and hard packed loam. Good fun and all negotiated it without problems. At the bottom of this hill we regrouped while a few played around on a small jump and moto-x track.

A tricky little downhill with anti erosion steps followed by a flight of stairs with a 90 degree bend in them had all bar Rich walking. The combination of slippery timber, bark and that bend at the bottom saw Rich down cleanly with a little assistance from the hand rail I think.

A short climb, a fireroad cruise and then out and back along the aqueduct trail gave everyone the chance for a chat before we headed for the bottom of a downhill course which zig zags it's way down 300 odd metres off mountain side. The only problem was getting to the top of the run. This involved a fall line firetrail climb that saw the six or so who could be bothered pushing their bikes up at least some of it to get to the top. The downhill is about 400 metres long and traverses the hillside between off camber switchbacks. Fast and tricky.

Time to head back for lunch and Kim's prior fears about lagging behind proved groundless as her groaning stomach saw her leading the pack into the carpark.

Tim showed he could do amazing things with a pineapple but that his fire starting skills left a lot to be desired. Food was consumed, the Melbourne MTB-Oz Xmas tree was decorated and Dave, Rich and Tim played trials on the picnic benches and chairs.

After a suitable period of rest and recline around ten of the original group headed back out for another lap of the park, including extended play time on the jump and a couple of tricky erosion step sections followed by some sweet flowing singletrack. A nice way to end the day.

Thanks go to Paul for organising the guys and gurls ride. Kim ended up very tired but very pleased with herself after riding those last two step sections and she's decided that the MTB ain't so bad after all. Riding time was around 1 1/2 hrs and we covered about 19 k's.

Fruitbat.

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