Learning from mistakes. Many, many mistakes.

Getting a feel for the way the bike squirms around underneath you in the mud is something that takes time to get used to, especially for a typical roadie like me with minimal bike-handling skillz.

This morning after a quick 60 to Mordi and back with Mitchy and co, followed by a coffee, Tim introduced me to his good friend Yarra Trails.

Despite losing count of how many times I binned it this morning on the slippery wet clay-ish singletrack, I think I'm getting better.

At the very least it was wicked-sik fun, as evidenced from the below photos.

I also discovered that road brake pads don't have such a long lifespan in the mud. I found metal filings around the brake area, which was from the pad wearing through to the screw which holds the pad in place, and this was griding into the rim's braking surface after only about 8 rides.

Note to self, just don't use brakes:

Until next dismount..