(Pics courtesy Ty Kona Australia)

I seem to always time it pretty well when leaving the UK as most of my local area was underwater as I drove to Heathrow !! It felt great knowing that in a few hours time I was going to be riding my bike in my shorts again, no more overshoes, leggings and woolly hats ! The flight to Sydney went pretty well even though I was travelling with 3 bikes and a massive kit bag !
We were met in Sydney by Kate and Ian Potter. Kate is an elite xc racer Australian but living in the UK. She was back for a few months to do some of the Oz races. We spent the first few days with her just north of Sydney and got straight into riding the bikes the day we arrived. It was great to be out riding and having some local knowledge to show us around the trails. It felt like we had brought some of the UK