For some reason, I've decided to make a trip from Mundaring WA to Albany WA along the Munda Biddi Trail (www.mundabiddi.org.au) - a 1000+km off road trail through the SW Australia forests and farm land. My decision was quite rash, I had never contemplated such a journey or expedition, but somehow the time seemed right to give it a shot.

I recently was reintroduced to mountain biking after Cooper (my 10 year old son) begged me to take him mountain biking in the hills outside of Perth in Kalamunda. That was in September. (quick aside - I hadn't been truly mountain biking on a regular basis since the early 2000's with my best mate Stefan in the mountains outside of Denver, CO.) I was instantly hooked, grinning from ear to ear as I followed Cooper down the single track through the bush, dodging grass trees, rocks, and stumps trying to stay on the bike through the tight turns and somewhat slippery pea gravel and dirt. What a blast we had. We logged around 26 km that day over about 4 or 5 hours. About a week later, we found ourselves at the bike shop - each of us with a new bike on order. Big smiles all around.

We spent the next 4 weekends at various MTB trails outside of Perth, improving our skills and our confidence. Each session we learned more, and Cooper began to realise that MTB is not always going fast downhill; sometimes you have to slog your way up the hill to get the sweet reward. We struggled, but we felt ourselves getting stronger and more comfortable. I'm so proud of Cooper and his abilities to quickly gain skills and command of the bike. Turns out, at my age and skill level, I'm a very competent biking partner for a 10 year old - it won't be long before he leaves me in the dust! And I'll be proud when he does, so long as he still let's me go with him to the trail (he'll still need a ride in the van for a few years, so I won't be totally obsolete too soon) :)

Somehow we starting talking about a way to go on a multiple day biking trek, doing some camping along the way. After some research, we found the Munda Biddi trail and found a friend that was also keen. We thought about just doing a section over a long weekend (there are 9 sections). He too has a 10 year old son and they were off to give the first section a try the next weekend. We couldn't go as we had other plans, but were anxious to hear their stories upon return.

I had recently made a decsion to quit my current job - with the last day being 31st of Oct. I was looking at having all the free time in the world - something I haven't had for some time. That is when it hit me; I should do the whole track from top to bottom. I mean really, how hard can it be? It came to me very clearly - I was going to do it, and with only a couple of weeks to go, I should start my planning and preparation.

By the way, after I made my decision to go, we got word from our friends that the track was so tough, they didn't make the first camping hut (45km) as it was very difficult track and lots of climbing for the boy.

(Oh Geez!!! What have I gotten myself into - I already put it out to my friends and family that I was going to do it - no turning back - no chickening out now!!!)