Day Trips & Dirty Detours.

An Ode to Off-Plan.

By Black Sheep Cycling

March 14^th, 2021

Matilda Raynolds laments on the joys of a dirty detour as she heads off-road and off-plan with good mates David Foira & Harold Lord in toe, for a day of croissants, gin & fly-away sunnies. All whilst decked out in our new drop of Adventure Tees with ActiveCotton.

"Adventure seems to have a different meaning the older you get."

As a child adventure was going into the back garden and building forts that would protect you from the siblings or pitching a tent under the trampoline and going camping on your own. But as an adult, ‘adventure’ seems to only hold weight if it is in some far off, plane ticket, visa holding destination. In cycling I feel ‘adventure’ has taken on an even more extreme connotation, adventure must be arduous, it must create deep lines, is it really worth a story if you’re not carrying your life belongings across multiple longitudes.

"Adventure needs a face lift. It needs to lighten up, have some fun, not take itself so seriously. It needs to go down to the local park or the closest dirt trail and just ride without meaning."

Scenes from a day trip.

I didn’t realise how much I needed a day away. Two weeks post Nationals fall-out where both the Road and Criterium race ended for me with the medics, it was enough to hand back your cycling licence and put the bike on eBay, plus off the back of another snap Melbourne lockdown, it was just an enormous relief to get out.

There’s just a different feeling when you throw a t-shirt on and head off-road, there’s a lot more giggling, a lot more detouring and a need to play.

"When was the last time you just played?"

We wanted to keep this ride close, 90mins from the city to be precise, in the stunning Healesville region, still considered Metropolitan Melbourne. It was a day with a loose plan, a bit of a map, a lot of detours just knowing that we wanted to start with an almond croissant and finish with a Four Pillars gin.

"That day absolutely filled my cup."

I just couldn’t stop smiling, that’s the effect I find from this style of riding; off-road, little traffic, stunning scenery, and no care for power, speed, time or metrics. It’s a freedom that seems so much more precious these past 12months, but one that we rarely indulge in. Weekends filled with chores, jobs, tasks, commitments, food prep … Is there anything more boring than spending precious free time on a weekend food prepping! So, we become too busy or it seems too hard to adventure, when it’s literally a few postcodes away.

It’s a commitment I’m trying to make, that day absolutely filled my cup, and whilst I no longer live with a backyard, I sure as hell am keen to find one.