{"id":726,"date":"2013-11-30T00:31:39","date_gmt":"2013-11-29T13:31:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cyclingwild.com.au\/?p=726"},"modified":"2017-09-07T21:59:18","modified_gmt":"2017-09-07T11:59:18","slug":"the-dirty-rat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cyclingwild.com.au\/blog\/the-dirty-rat\/","title":{"rendered":"The original Dirty Rat"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Grampians have enthralled me since I was a kid when I would peer out of my parents car window \u00a0on frequent road trips between Adelaide and Melbourne along the western highway. I often wondered what magic those mountains held! Fast forward to the late 90’s and I began to explore it for myself! Fifteen years ago I spent a few awesome long weekends exploring fire trails and single track in the mazes of ancient rock! Ever since I’ve been hooked on micro adventures into the region as it makes a great long weekend from Adelaide or Melbourne!<\/p>\n
When I started pushing longer distances on day rides with friends in Melbourne I came to the realization that those long weekends could be compressed into one very big day. From Ararat dirt roads lead all the way to the Grampians. This is how the Dirty Rat came to be.<\/p>\n
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On the first Dirty rat in 2013 ten of us caught the Friday night train out to Ararat devoured pizza and tried to get a good nights sleep crammed into the cabins of the salubrious acacia caravan park.<\/p>\n
We rolled out of Ararat at dawn on some magical country roads. As the morning unfolded the Grampians came into view and the looming presence of Mt William greeted us.<\/p>\n