To Do
- XC race
- Build some wheels
- Munda Biddi Trail Section 2a
- Ride and paddle Avon Valley
- Learn to Swim
- Offroad metric century
- All Perth Hills & John Forrest singletrack on same day
- Ride all night
- Freo-Scarborough (16km) less than 20mins
Old News
30th November 2009, Jarrahdale, WA
Suicidal Possums and Flying Final Laps
This year the WA 12 hour mountain bike enduro was bigger than ever before with nearly 400 competitors and a lengthened 17km course. The end of daylight savings (boo) meant that there would be less time in the evening and more in the morning for daylight laps.
Myself and Pete entered the huge and very competitive pairs category. He lost scissors-paper-stone and had to do the first lap, which turned out to be not as congested as we had feared, so much so that I was 15 minutes into my first lap before I even saw another rider.
On Pete’s second lap his chain broke which saw us drop to 10th position in our category. Some steady lapping through the night, despite me running over a possum, saw us claw our way back up the field.
It was looking very iffy as to whether we would have time to do a complete 12th lap. Pete put in a solid time on lap 11 leaving me with 61 minutes to scoot round for one final time. The adrenalin rush that dawn brings, being able to descend faster due to the light and the knowledge that I would only have to push my way up the hills one last time saw me comfortably home with a whole 3 minutes to spare. This was enough for 5th place and a trolley load of prizes due to the size of the category and the generosity of the sponsors – not least the Bootleg Brewery.
I was pleased with my lap times. My fastest was around 54 minutes and only one slipped just over the hour. I also managed - similar to the 2008 Anaconda - to not be overtaken on the track.
02nd November 2009, Perth Hills, WA
5 Dams Challenge
A local roadie challenge is to ride a loop from Perth visiting Mundaring Weir, Canning Dam, Wungong Dam, Churchmans Brook Dam and Serpentine Dam. Myself, Pete, Robin, Muz and Clayton set off on a bright Saturday morning to see how far round the loop we would make it.
The usual spin out of town through Guildford and the Helena Valley was a good warm up. It was clear that we had learnt a lot from our cyclo sportif riding this year and we kept together well all day, especially on the flats.
The first climb was up through Darlington to Mundaring, before the long descent to Mundaring Weir and our first dam and photo call of the day. Clayton pointed out that this wasn’t actually a dam but a weir but it was ok because we soon saw several other farmers’ dams on the climb out of Bickley.
At Pickering Brook Store we had coffee and cakes before continuing south on Canning Rd and then onto some lovely quiet roads around the back of Araluen to Canning Dam.
It was a steady climb out of Canning Dam to Albany Highway but we were soon descending towards dam 3, Wungong Dam. None of us had been to this dam before and we were a little worried when we came to some road closed barriers. We presumed that these weren’t for bikes and climbed over them. The final descent into Wungong was stupidly steep and we prayed that there was a different road out the other side.
Our prayers were answered but it was still a long slog out of the valley on Admiral Rd. At the top we were highly amused as Muz was savagely attacked by a magpie.
Crossing Albany Highway, we headed for Dam 4; Churchmans Brook Dam. It was decision time now with Serpentine far to the south. Spirits were high so we all agreed to carry on and do the lot.
After a nice long downhill we had a miserable 10km slog into the wind amongst busy traffic on the Southwest Highway. Before we climbed back onto the scarp on Nettleton road we refuelled at the Caltex servo. The long climb saw us split up a bit and take it at our own respective speeds, but once at the top we formed up again and sped into Jarrahdale.
The café at Jarrahdale General Store was our last decent food stop. We were tiring a bit now so we had a good break of scones with jam and cream and milk shakes before heading off for the final dam.
8km later and we were posing for our final photos on Serpentine Dam, leaving only the 90km ride back to Perth. The climb out of the dam was longer than any of us had anticipated. Even as we passed Karnet prison we were still making our way up. Eventually we reached the edge of the scarp and plummeted back to Southwest Highway reaching 80km/hr. Pete quite correctly commented at the bottom that it had been like drunk sex; a long time coming, but good when it got there.
We zig zagged through from Southwest highway, through Serpentine on some quiet farm roads and up to Mundijong Road. Here we battled into the sea breeze whilst being barracked by bogan motorists. We were all starting to have a serious sense of humour failure when fortunately Muz had a puncture so we all got a break, stretch and some food.
Finally we reached the freeway where we enjoyed the tailwind up the bike path all the way to the city. We thought we were still riding pretty well but a mountain biker passed us with ease. It looked like a 6 year old girl on a pink bike was also going to beat us but Clayton pushed her off to avoid that.
Eventually the city hove into view and off we each wobbled home for some celebratory beers. With this milestone under our belts there is already talk of 7 dams next year and a 300km route.
21st October 2009, Scarborough, WA
Downwind Time Trialling
Whilst out on a morning hills ride with Pete we concocted a downwind time trial route from Port Beach to Scarborough, which conveniently worked out to be 16.1km which is exactly 10 miles; a standard TT distance. A respectable ‘evens’ time for a 10 miler is 24 mins (ave 40km/hr). This seemed a decent first goal.
As I left work that night the sea breeze was well and truly in. What the hell, I thought I’d give it a go. If my legs were mince from the morning ride or I got caught at too many lights I’d bail.
Despite catching a couple of lights in Mozzie Park/Cott I was still averaging over 40. A clean run through Swanbourne and it was on. Soon my average was spiralling to 43s and 44s. One long set of lights at City Beach and some traffic coming into Scarborough put paid to that but I was still crossed the nominal finish line in 22:31 for an average of 42.9km.hr.
That was too easy for a first time out with tired legs. Now I need some proper targets. 45 average? Sub 20 mins? I’ve got all summer to try.
14th October 2009, Denmark, WA
Great Southern Adventure Race
Last year the GSAR was a bit of a farce. The course was far too long and the storm on Sunday morning decimated an already struggling field. This year I predicted a much shorter, almost sprint race and safe paddling conditions. Well I was right about the first part.
Woop Woop were the same as at Espresso with Mark and Lee along as support crew. We had had a bit of a saga obtaining boats. Finn lent us some Molokais but we were too retarded to paddle them. After grovelling to them they said we could take their demo lightweight Endorphinns but then sold them all at the Anaconda familiarisation weekend. In the nick of time they made us three brand new boats and we picked them up on Thursday night, still wrapped in plastic.
So to Saturday morning and the start of the race. First up was an exposed but fairly innocuous looking ocean paddle. To the sound of Acca Dacca’s Thuderstruck we sprinted along the beach, Le Mans style, and paddled out into the breaking surf. As we launched a huge set of waves came through. I hesitated, watching Pete at the base of a 3m wall of green water and found myself knocked in. It was then a real struggle to paddle out through the carnage of waves, bodies, paddles and skis. After taking a plastic ski, Jude and Clayton’s double (with Jude still attached) and a huge wave front on I lost my boat and got winded. After a couple of minutes recovering in the shallows I picked my spot, finally found some clear water and powered out as I should have done first time and met up with Jon and Pete.
By the time we got to the first buoy the stamp had been ripped off it. No such luck at the second and amongst the wind and swell I had to get in close enough to clip. Amazingly I got it first time right in the centre of the square. Now turning slightly side on to the swell I had a couple of swims, but only when I wasn’t concentrating. It was clear that Jon and myself weren’t enjoying ourselves. Not as bad as Dr Dave and Lou from Admantium who we passed swimming more than paddling.
CP3 had also lost its stamp but I still fell in looking for it. Having rounded this we headed back to the beach with the surf landing to look forward to. We picked a good line in along the coastline where the rescue boats were coming out and looked like we were getting away with before a wave cleaned me up and smashed my ski into the back of my head. Even with a helmet on it hurt and groggily swam in and shoved my trainers on before setting off in pursuit of Jo on the coasteering.
By hugging the beach/cliffs we ensured that we found the first three CPs despite them clearly being in the wrong place. Teams that tried to more scientifically use the map and cliff top paths struggled more. Our only error came in the quarry but again I think the CP was on the wrong gnoll. We probably lost 10 minutes here.
Back into the boats and we had a flat paddle up the inlet after portaging over sand banks. We ignored two 10 minute bonus CPs. We paddled well in formation here and didn’t lose too much time on the teams in faster boats.
I now had my first rest whilst the others ran for 15km along the Bibb track with a flying fox and abseil halfway along. Jon overcame his fear of heights to enjoy these although seeing Admantium sprint into transition 25 minutes ahead of us was disheartening.
On to the bikes and I was immediately pushing/towing Jo. Our nav on this leg was poor. We did find the 45 minute bonus CP but made other small errors and never found the second bonus and wasted a lot of time looking for it. We rode well to limit the damage but our sorry state was emphasised when we couldn’t even find the TA.
Last thing on Day 1 was a short paddle along the river. Our lightweight plastic boats and river rudders were perfect for this and we set the fastest time for the leg. A shame it was only 5km long. It was still only 1630, a fair cry from last year’s midnight finish, so we were able to enjoy a shower, dry some kit and have a few beers with the other teams we were staying with. Overnight we were in a strong second place but Adamantium had a look of invincibility about them.
The start of Day 2 bore an eerie resemblance to the Sunday morning last year. We were paddling before dawn into the eye of a big storm. Somehow I convinced Jo to paddle this one instead of me, partly because of my struggles in the surf the previous day and partly because I had a decent inkling that the leg would be drastically shortened. I was right and the 8km was reduced to less than 2km. This didn’t the make the waves any smaller and it still looked terrifying. I didn’t see much of this as I was in the car marking up the maps for the day.
With our brave paddlers back we set off coasteering again. The shortened paddle hadn’t given me much preparation time but one small error aside we ran and scrambled hard to leave this leg in second place.
After running along the beach back to the boats we had a short paddle up a creek to a lagoon. There was a bonus checkpoint on the far side but the lagoon was clearly too shallow to paddle across so we skipped it.
Onto the bikes and we roared up to a farm, across some very wet and muddy fields before hitting an old railway form. The final climb to the top of Mount Shadforth was a real grind and I had to alternate between pushing Pete and Jon.
I had a rest whilst the guys sprinted around a well planned orienteering course with loads of bonus checkpoints. They were back in no time and we were onto the bikes for a downhill blast to the coast. The final 5km were into the not inconsiderable wind; a taste of what was to come.
The final proper stage was meant to be a cruisey 8km paddle up the inlet back to Denmark. The strong wind had other ideas. Initially it helped us as we surfed along the southern bank to the final CP. However we now had to paddle 3km across the wind and swell. As we turned the sky darkened and squalling rain started lashing in. I wasn’t comfortable heading across the metre high waves so headed at a 45 degree angle into them. I was now paddling against the wind and making virtually no progress. I did seem to be getting on a little better than Jon and Pete a short way behind and downwind from me. Finally I decided that I was in some shelter from the headland and allowed myself to drift down to them. Jon was visibly tiring and had one swim but we got close together and paddled up the river to the final TA.
Wet and very cold we stuffed some trainers on and sprinted the last 2km team run into town in around 7 minutes to easily secure our second place, probably the best we could have hoped for behind an exceptionally strong team even if our ocean paddling and bike nav could have been better.
22nd September 2009, Dwellingup, WA
D100 (well D104 really)
This was the inaugural running of the Dwellingup 100km Classic (quite how that makes it classic, I don’t know). Dwellingup, 90km south of Perth, is known for its hills and the sweet Turner Hill singletrack.
The excellent running of this event clearly ran to the promotion. When we rocked up there were a lot of very fast riders milling about on equally speedy bikes. This combined with the announcement that the distance had been increased to 104km because of a flooded bridge saw some quick recalculations as to our goals for the day.
The mass start wasn’t too bad. After 5 or so km I had worked my way into an ok position but then had to stop to pee which saw me at the back of a long queue for the first major climb. I caught Dan again but never really got any momentum up until 30km and the big climb back towards town. Finally I seemed to be riding with my peers. At around 40km I caught Andy Royle, which was a bit of a surprise as I thought he would be much faster than me. He was suffering with a bad stomach but I rode with him as far as the oval and encouraged him to drink water, have a rest and continue.
After a lightening transition I headed out on the road towards Turner Hill. This was a 10km non-stop section on tarmac. Whilst it was good to be able to eat and get some cheap ks in, it was still boring. Back on the dirt and John Carney caught me. We chatted for a while about Yetis and ARs but he soon left me.
Turner Hill was where I started to fade, despite overtaking some struggling roadies (there were plenty) and a cramping Rhys. Leaving Turner Hill we passed the 70km marker and this is where my legs really packed up. I rode with Ryhs for an hour and we laughed at each others pitiful attempts to crawl up hills. Eventually Rhys’ cramps slowed him even more and I left him.
There were some fast, fun and steep tracks in this section which used to be on the Munda Biddi. I failed to really enjoy them but did manage to admire the wattle that is in full bloom.
Marrinup was further on than I expected and also crapper than I remember. It all seemed uphill (it is dead flat) and nothing seemed to flow. Leaving the singletrack I did manage to find some energy for a blast back to town. Good job as the finishing straight across the oval had turned into a swamp and required a lot of strength to get through.
I was slightly disappointed with my performance, fading when I thought I would be strong, but I was still well under 6 hours and thoroughly enjoyed the challenging course and well run event.
06th September 2009, Balingup, WA
Woop Woop Smashes Espresso
Now in its third year, the Espresso 24 hour is probably the stand out race on the WA Adventure Race calender. Race director, Muz Bryant, always guarantees plenty of hills, brambles and the same old, slowly sinking, inflatable bloody boats. I was racing with Pete, Jon and Jo in the highly branded and noisy Woop Woop.
Amid chaotic scenes all 25 teams commenced the race in the canoes. After a brief tussle with Adamantium we found some clear water on the right hand side of the river with Woop Woop B safely away further up the field. We soon caught them up and settled in near the front of the pack.
As the fourth hour of paddling approached and we started to get cold and tired. Eventually we arrived at the TA. A short portage, the boats deflated, wet paddling gear off and dry running gear on and we out transitioned a team to move into second place.
The running gear didn’t stay dry for too long as we had to cross over the river. First up was a rope bridge. Despite Jon making it look harder than it actually was we made it safely a cross. Then we were back in one of the canoes attached to a rope to hand pull ourselves across the second half of the river. Somehow Jon and me managed to overturn this boat and cop ourselves a swim. So much for the dry clothes.
Some fast running and spot on navigation saw us arrive at TA2 not only in first place but ahead of our bikes which earned as a nice 15 minute break with the clock off.
We were soon wishing that we had left our bikes behind as we pushed up a succession of steep, muddy hills on badly mapped tracks. We briefly tussled with Paddy Pallin, our closest rivals, but out rode them in the end.
At the rogaine we chose a short, fast and safe loop, we completed the maze and were back on bikes feeling string and still wasn’t even midnight. Better navigation this time but some more pushing and a couple of horribly overgrown tracks cost us time but we safely collected all three bonus CPs.
All this left was around 20km of trekking on the Bibbulmun Track. We set off at 0200, fuelled by meat pies. For the first hour we ran hard. After that I started to slow down and had to walk the ups. This was not much slower than my running at this point.
Eventually at 0430 we staggered back into Balingup rec centre to claim line honours with no other teams in sight. After a shower and sleep we woke to the news that we were outright victors. Woop Woop.
19th August 2009, Karijini, WA
Karijini National Park
Just back from five days of exploring the gorgeous gorges of Karijini in WA's Pilbarra region. We started by flying into Paraburdoo international airport and picking up our hire care - a mine truck complete with orange flashing light, flag and Pilbarra stain (an orange tinge that will never leave my feet/clothes).
Undoubtably the highlight was the day we spent canyoning with West Oz adventures. We descended below the earth through Knox Gorge which just got steeper and narrower until we were sliding 8m down rock shute and that spat us out down a 5m waterfall. We had to abseil down the next waterfall and then floated up the otherwise unaccessible Red Gorge on inner tubes before climbing out with ropes into Hancock Gorge and up the Spider walk.
There were plenty of other gorges, waterfalls and swim holes to explore on our own and we spent a day climbing Mount Bruce, the second highest mountain in WA. Photo link as usual below, or watch this movie clip from the canyoning.
08th August 2009, Perth, WA
More Pain
The Painathlon is the sort of sort of challenge that you only need to do once. Quite why I did again this year is something that bemused me for much of Saturday. As an added bonus, there was an additional run this year; 3.5 km up the Zig Zag Road and then back down any short cuts you deemed fit.
As per usual the first few hours of the day are frustrating; running in horrible sand on the beach, congestion at the control points, traffic and never changing traffic lights, cycling in running shoes and then the 10km Bridges run.
After all this running I was well down the field as I finally clipped into my pedals and headed out to the Truth at Brigadoon. None of the terror head winds from last year and a good run on the lights out of town so I made excellent time on the bike. All this brought the inevitable upon me sooner. I had high hopes for a better showing at the Truth but again it was just too steep and too long for me so I ended up walking a lot of the climbs again.
Back on the bike and off on a new route to the Zig Zags. There were a couple of small hills through Greenmount and again coming out of Helena Valley. These are the sort of gradients that normally only demand a quick click of a gear or two, a brief rise out of the saddle, and blast to the top. Not so today. With a peanut butter and jam sandwich hanging out the side of my mouth I used all of the cassette to grind steadily away.
The Zig Zags was very much a tale of two halves. I shuffled up in 28 minutes and bush bashed back down in pretty much a straight line in 4 minutes using skills (and toughened skin) honed on many a rogaine and adventure race.
Next up was the Quadcruncher out at Orange Grove. Luke and Sarah, having finished the half Painathlon in the morning, had driven out to support. Great to have some encouragement and even better they had my trail shoes with them. By now I had a couple of blisters on the balls of my feet from running in wet trainers and socks all day. The new, dry shoes felt great and they offered much more grip on the steep, slippy mud.
For a brief period I rode with another team back into town. They showed me a much nicer route onto Manning Rd that avoided Albany Highway completely. Last year the 7km Mount Henry Bridge run was my lowest point. This year I was cheered when some dolphins swam alongside me for a while and I actually overtook someone whilst running. On the downside I small child told me to run faster and some pensioners out for a stroll out paced me.
Before commencing Jacobs Ladder there was the small matter of the un-official 11th challenge – cycling up Mount St to park my bike. Having just injested a bidon of coke and three caffeine energy gels I was feeling strong at the bottom. However by halfway things weren't so great. As I wobbled over the top I was defnintely seeing big blue blobs in front of my eyes. Never a good sign.
The first couple of Jacob’s were murder. Slowly I started to pick up some speed on the descents in particular. On number 6 the blue blobs came back. At the top of 8 I was alongside a nice chap called Norm who also had two to go. I challenged him to a sprint from the top to the finish despite him being old enough to my father. I think this psychologically broke him as I skipped up and down the final two laps ahead of him to finally finish in around 10 hours and 20 minutes, a little bit slower than last year but with the extra Zig Zag run probably around 20 minutes faster in real terms.
A huge thanks to Jonno and the volunteers who organise this great event. Their support and encouragement is massive help and allows so much money to be raised for a good cause.
27th July 2009, Roliestone, WA
Teva Adventure Race
Myself, Jon and Muz made up Woop Woop for my third Teva race. Each year the format of this race seems to get slightly better. After completing a beep test to determine our start position we headed off on the bikes - initially in the wrong direction - via a few controls to a couple of easy challenges out in the bush. Returning to race HQ (Roliestone Oval) Muz then destroyed the bungee run, which we all won prizes for, and then we faffed about for an age collecting money to a build a shelter and stealing matches off of other teams. On the bikes again and up to the north to complete a foot orienteer before climbing back to finish only stopping to mend my puncture.
Despite our somewhat casual attitiude to preparation, reading the kit list, sleep the night before and taking it remotely seriously, we still trundled into second place in a reasonably competitive field. If we had known we were doing that well we might have tried a bit harder.
05th July 2009, Jarrahdale, WA
Kittys Gorge-ous
This was an absolute cracker of a ride. The waterfalls, mud (ok not much), bike carrying and vistas meant there was a real British feel. I guess the northern tones of the company (Dan, Nigel and David) also contributed.
We managed a bit more exploring and I think next time we will have a really great route nailed down that includes a visit to Serpentine Falls and not the couple of ks of climbing back along Kittys Gorge. Early summer will be a great time to visit when the river is still flowing and it is warm enough for a swim.
30th June 2009, Swan Valley, WA
Cyclo Sportif
My first tentative steps into organised road cycling with Woop Woop in the non competitive team Cyclo Sportif series. Cyclo is great in that it gives groups of friends, colleagues and training partners something to train for and do together (in matching garish lycra). It is easy to see why it is so popular and hundreds of people take part in every event.
I was a little disappointed with the course. We did five 15km laps of a very flat course in an area where there is plenty of scope for a long, scenic ride with some really good climbs.
The post race lunch was served at Midvale Speedome where there was a track race on. I didn't hang around and watch too much of it (after you have seen one man with enormous, shaved legs race around a 200m track you have pretty much seen them all) and the white water of the Avon valley was calling, albeit quietly.
22nd June 2009, Ngangaguringguring, WA
Killamunda
The Killamunda is an annual orienteering challenge tradationally organised by the previous year's winner. The format this time round was an adventure race combining running and mountain biking for individuals or pairs. Thus myself, Pete and Jo entered as a trio.
Four fun orienteering tasks were split up by some fairly straight forward, straight line mountain biking. The tasks were fun and required an element of brain power as well an pure navigational skills. This is probably where we went wrong. The final task was to complete the H1 course at Ngangaguringguring as part of the larger orienteering event going on that day.
Whilst our result may not have been spectacular we had a great day out. The race was physically challenging enough (30km of mtbiking, 4.5 hours total time) and hard enough whilst still having a large element of fun. Well done to the organisers. This should become a regular event on the callender and was better run, a more interesting course and far better value than many of the commercial races around.
08th June 2009, Wandering, WA
Wandering Around Wandering
It was WA’s turn to host the national Rogaining (like orienteering but longer and more painful) championships. This was held at the very aptly names Wandering, 100km to the south-west of Perth. This was my first rogaine but it is something I have been meaning to have a go at for a while, not least because it is ideal adventure race training.
After a couple of hours of highly scientific route planning we set out at noon to try and find as many control points as we could in 24 hours. Our strategy was to do a 50km loop and get back to the Hash house before we were too tired and tempted by bed and then get out and do another 40km loop. All was going superbly for the first 7 hours. We were moving fast, working well as a team on the navigation and finding all the controls immediately. A steep climb up a hill side covered in brambles saw us lose out bearings, miss a 100 point control and waste a lot of time. However we recovered well to get back to the Hash house at 00:30. Unfortunately the call for sleep was too strong and we got a 1 hour nap before fluffing around and eventually getting back on the course at 03:30.
The rest was mainly a painful slog battling blisters, upset stomachs, tired legs and minds. Much to Pete’s dismay, despite struggling for much of the night, I found renewed energy in the final hour and dragged him off to one final, senseless 10 point control.
Obviously the highlight was always going to be the Hash house (a 24 hour AYCE pit stop manned by volunteers) but the navigation and challenge was also fun. I still battle sleep monsters and I am no way fit enough or tough enough to go hard for 24 hours. There are 6 hour and 12 hour events and I can see myself having a go at these next.
20th May 2009, Perth, WA
Urban Max
Ages ago I did the Brownes Urban Max race with Pete. We were useless, repeatedly being overtaken by Lucy and Sarah and ultimately getting resoundingly beaten by them. It was good fun though and we made ideal team mates as neither of us could dance and we were both as retarded as each other.
I'm going rogaining with Pete this weekend. Please start searching for us around the aptly named Wandering region of WA.
17th May 2009, Goat Farm, Greenmount, WA
State Singlespeed Champs
To celebrate 20 years of PMBC there a day of fun racing was organised at the Goat Farm.
First up was the retro bike race. Sadly my fully rigid, singlespeeded Kojima with bear cage pedals only made it round one lap before pretty much falling apart. This gave me a couple of hours of relaxing, watching the downhill race, before the SS champs.
The handicap starting system seemed to a be a little random but kept you looking over your shoulder as to who was catching you. The first lap was ok and I kept in touch with Jason, who was unfeasibly on the same handicap as me despite usually racing Expert. The second lap wasn't so pretty as Mike Daws, who also started with us, passed me on the descent and then Simon Dec, who clearly didn't have a big enough handicap also went through. I was getting the feel for the course and the usual Goat Farm rocks and dust and actually quite enjoyed laps 3 and 4 despite, by now, having to push up the very steepest climbs. Tim Bennett got me on the last lap but a couple of retirements saw me 5th and well chuffed with that.
10th May 2009, Callamunda Camel Farm, WA
Build It and They Will Come
Myself and Owen spent the morning helping build the first section of the new Kalamunda Circuit mountain biking trail. When finished the KC is going to be 24km of sweetest singletrack, filled with jumps and bumps and berms. Most importantly to us it is going link up some of our favorite trails.
The 5km section we helped with is nearly ready for opening; they are only waiting for some cattle grids that are going to shake the die back off the bike tyres. Or something.
9th May 2009, Wrong Side of Rottnest, WA
Deep Dea Fishing
To celebrate Tom's birthday, Anna somehow got him out of bed at 0430 and we headed up to Hillary's for a day deep sea fishing. Well I didn't actually do any fishing at all as I spent the whole day hanging over the side of the boat providing flotsam to attract the fish. Despite wanting to die for nearly the whole trip I did quite enjoy the day and Andy caught an 8kg Dhuie which fed 25 people at the BBQ that night.
04th May 2009, Jarrahdale, WA
Kittys Gorge and Karnet Rock Ride
Fast Freddie from PMBC has a passion for exploring new trails and leading rides in the Serpentine valley, just to the south of Jarrahdale. Sunday was his biggest ride yet. 19 riders left the Jarrahdale pub at about 0815, with a few returning almost immediately realising that this was maybe not the ride for them. Immediately we were into some technical singletrack with loads of climbing and descending, rocks, logs, the works. Brilliant. After a short loop in Kittys Gorge we headed out along the Serpentine river, down a dangerously rutted, steep fire road and along more great singletrack. The fun had to end and we started climbing to the look out on the edge of the scarp. With the dry, loose conditions it was mainly a push but the view didn't disappoint.
Some fast gravel sections led us to the forgotten valley where giant tree palms in an oasis of cool amongst the parched bush. Some bush bashing lead us out of the valley. By now everyone was running low on water so we took a minor detour to Karnet prison to fill up our bottles. One final scramble saw us up and on the exposed rock top of Karnet rock; more great views and an even better descent off of the giant slab.
Some fast tracks took us down to Serpentine Dam and we zoomed alongside the green water for several ks. All that was left in the day was the horrible, pea gravel climb on the Munda Biddi trail to Jarrahdale and a well earned beer in the pub some 7 hours and nearly 70km since we left.
This was the first of many epics this year and has given me a real taste for big days out.
28th April 2009, Kalgoorlie, WA
Kalgoorlie Boulder
A mere 7 hour train journey to the east of Perth is the mining town of Kalgoorlie. The first hour of the train is great along the Avon Valley. The next 6 through the wheat belt and finally into the gold fields themselves, less exciting.
Kalgoorlie is famous for its bars, skimpies and brothels. We did a brothel tour around the famous Langtrees 181 brothel. Some of the historic aspects were interesting, some of the themed rooms amusing but overall it felt quite seedy and sad.
A mere 180km to the north of Kal is Lake Ballard, a virtually dry mud lake, where Pommy artist Antony Ballard has scattered 51 statues. Surprisignly this was well worth the drive.
Last but not least is the mining. The museum was ok with a good view from the mine head but the real view was from the Super Pit look out only a km or so out of town. The Super Pit is as it sounds - a very large hole in the ground 4km long, by 1.5km wide and 500m deep. Big hole.
22nd April 2009, Perth, WA
47 Days in the Wilderness
Ok, so maybe doing the Karri Cup with a hurty knee wasn't the wisest thing I've ever done but it's seems to be much better now and I'm back on the bike. In reality I didn't miss much mountain biking as it's still very much summer (ie too hot and sandy) and I have been busy with visitors.
It is great to be able to cycle into work again and start to make a dent on the 700km deficit in my 10k challenege, which was looking too easy anyway. All that the break has done has recharged my enthusiasm and given me lots of time to plan some good rides to do over the winter.
12th April 2009, Perth, WA
Fixamatosis
My fixie builds are breeding like rabbits at the moment. The latest is a beaut - a 1987 Colnago Mexico that I bought off a bloke at work. It seemed criminal to strip the Campag Record groupset off but the lovely cranks and brakes remain as well as a Cinelli stem and Ti railed Selle Italia Flight saddle. The oonly real change is the use of my On-one track rear wheel that moves from bike to bike.
Predictably enough the bike rides like a dream - as it should. This was one serious machine in its day and would be the nicest frame that I've ever ridden. I have reduced the gearing a bit from my last build. Here I am running 42:15 (75") whereas the green machine was 52:17 (82.5"). This is partly to help my knee re-hab but does make for a bike that accelerates much faster.
Eventually I will get the frame re-sprayed and possibly the forks re-chromed. At the moment I am just enjoying the ride.
02nd April 2009, Fremantle, WA
Work Hard, Paddle Home
A nagging knee injury has stopped me cycling for the last month or so. Obviously I am missing mountain biking, but it is having to take the train to work that is the real drag. To avoid this I finally put into operation a long held dream to kayak to work.
This morning was the first trial run. I put in at Claremont just as the sun was rising over the city. It was a beautiful morning to be out paddling and I wasn't alone on the river. A couple of portages over sand banks gave my legs a stretch. As the river narrowed towards Freo it became apparent that I'd mis-calculated my tide predictions and I was paddling against a steady current. By the time I entered the harbor (possibly illegally) I was pretty bushed. This added to the feeling of vulnerability I had alone amongst the towering ships. Rounding the harbor wall I was hit by some nasty rebound waves and in my fatigued state nearly took a swim.
Safely on the bathers beach I deployed my mini kayak trolley (half a skateboard, some wedges, foam and a strap). I was slightly dismayed that the passage through the round house was locked and I had to make a longer trip around on rougher ground - not ideal for the small skateboard wheels. I got some good looks from the commuters arriving off the train as I pushed the ski down to the office where I stashed it in the basement.
The trip was not perfect and I don't think I'm going to paddle through the harbor again. I have spotted a good place to stow the ski at North Freo which I will try next time. Better understanding of the tides wouldn't go amiss either. Anyway, my route is shown below. Oh and the photo is from the previous time I paddled through the Fremantle.
24th March 2009, Perth, WA
Lano
Marc was in town from the UK, and most of my mates seemed to be heading up to Lancelin, 1.5 hours drive north of Perth, for some thrills and spills in the surf and on the sand dunes.
As soon as we arrived at the beach we knew we were in for a big day, with huge waves crashing everywhere we looked. The brave few paddled out as far as the main break whilst most of us were more than happy playing in the foam nearer to shore.
After a long morning of surfing and beach cricket some headed for some offroad 4WD action in the sand dunes whilst others went to the pub.
03rd March 2009, Northcliffe, WA
Karri Cup
For my third time I headed south to Northcliffe to take part in the 115km mountain bike enduro, the Karri Cup. A similar course to last year, but a slightly different format; no cruise stages. However the main difference was the weather. Heat and sunshine were replaced with thunder and rain. It was good to be reminded what proper mountain biking conditions are like even the trails were a bit heavier. This combined with the lack of cruising meant the toughest race of the trio that I have done.
03rd March 2009, Rottnest Island, WA
Rottnest Swim
One of the iconic events in WA is the Rottnest Swim. Solos, teams of 2 and 4 swim from Cottesloe to Rottnest 19km away. Now I'm no swimmer but each team requires a kayaker to show them the way. I shared the paddling duties with Lucy as Dusty and Billy swam to second place in the duos.
08th February 2009, Perth, WA
One Gear to Unite Them All
After the purchase of my Yeti the old Rocklobster frame has been passed down to singlespeed duties. Not having horizontal drop outs I experimented with a rather crappy tensioner before splashing out on a rather nifty Excentriker bottom bracket.
The Excentriker works with a HT2 style 24mm through axled chainset and allows a standard frame to run a single gear without a tensioner. I had to grind the stubs for bolting a granny ring off my Raceface chainset to allow room for the externally mounted bottom bracket, but apart from that the smooth German engineering works a treat.
The final finishing touch to the bike is a pimpy blue chain. We'll see how long that lasts.
24th January, 2009, Leederville , WA
Leederville Criterium
Bit of spectating for a change. Over the Australia Day weekend there is a series of criterium races around Perth. Saturday was Leederville, which was appropriate as this suburb is the home of the cappuccino roadies.
The standard of rider was pretty high in these races with cash prizes. The speeds they reached on, especially on sprint laps, was mightily impressive. The short crit course meant we could wander about and get a few different views and there was a reasonable crowd out a well.
18th January 2009, Pile Road, WA
Pile Road Trail Maintenance
Pile Road is on the edge of the Wellington Dam NP, just to the east of Bunbury. A dedicated band of bikers have built a sweet network of trails completely legally in conjunction with DEC.
Just before Christmas there was a controlled burn in this area so the newly re-formed South West Mountain Bike Club organised a trail maintenance day to tiday up the trails. After a morning of cutting and pruning we scoffed the complementary suasages and headed out on the bikes for an explore of the trails.
The network is comparitively small, although there is more stuff that I haven't ridden yet, but all the trails are sweet singletrack and well mapped and sign posted. A real little gem.
12th January 2009, Goat Farm, Greenmount, WA
Mad Dogs and Englishmen...
..and Australian mountain bikers go out when it's 35 degrees. Billed as a summer fun race the Cycles Bespoke 4 hour race didn't seem much fun on the first couple of laps grinding up the steepest hills at the Goat Farm.
As the race went on the temperature cooled a little and then the cramps set in... Mercifully short at only 4 hours long it was all over soon enough. There were some fun bits on the course as well especially the stuff in the quarry. The fun atmosphere did prevail at the very pleasant BBQ afterwards.
01st January 2009, Perth, WA
The Beast
I'm blaming the purchase of my new road bike. All of a sudden my beloved Rocklobster seemed old and tired and I also had this nagging guilt having spent so much money on what is only a summer training bike and a road bike at that. So when an as new Yeti ASR became available I leapt at the chance to redress the balance.
Real fans of this site will notice that I've been riding this bike for a few weeks. However I have only just got the new wheels and brakes so up until now it wasn't really finished. A quick run down on the spec: XT/R groupset, Hope Pro 2 hubs on Mavic 717 rims, Thomson and Easton Monkeylite finishing kit and new Avid Elixir R brakes.
I think I'm still getting a feel for the bike. It's certainly not slower than my lobster and is only going to get quicker as I get more confident, fitter and fall off less. The pro pedal on the RP23 is magic. I can see myself doing whole rides with this on. Whilst it is a smidge longer and a tiny bit heavier than my old hardtail I can still huck it about where I want on the tight technical bits and the ability to pedal through rough stuff, straight line descents and generally not get so based up has got to be worth it.
Watch this space as my Rocklobster is being rebuilt as I type.
14th December 2008, Perth, WA
Fixie Mark II
After nearly two years of sterling service, my old Raleigh Europa fixie has been retired to be replaced on commutting duty by the shiny beauty pictured above.
The frame is a Ricardo which Ben came across when running. The wheels are my old On-one track wheels, saddle is the super comfortable Brooks B17. Some neat bars and 105 brakes (yes two of them - about time) came from the Ricardo I think. The highlight is the improbably 52T Biopace chainring and I even treated myself to a new chain and 18T track cog. Paint job by brush from a tin of Bunnings metal paint. The only slight nag is the forks. The originals are crash damaged and are now my wheel truing stand. These came from a mid 90s Giant Kronos and don't have enough rake on them for such a steep head tube resulting in a somewhat responsive and twitchy ride.
08th December 2008, Perth, WA
Arachnophobia leading to Elephantiasis
On the Friday night before the 12 hour I was bitten on the chin by what was probably a white tailed spider.
During the race my face started swell and become puffy. By Monday morning I had a definite outbreak of elephantiasis, with a nasty red infection. This was so bad I even went to the doctors for some antibiotics. No pictures of my even uglier mug are available from this time but I think the artist’s impression above depicts it well.
By Wednesday night I was starting to feel a bit better and within the week my face has pretty much returned to its normal size and shape.
31st November 2008, Jarrahdale, WA
Alcoa 12 Hour
The biggest date in the WA mountain biking calendar didn't disappoint. The Alcoa night time 12 hour saw myself and Troye pitted in direct competition with Woop woop (Pete and Mark) in the male duos category. We thought that it would be close, but had no idea how close. For most of the night there was only a few seconds in with both partners lapping at identical rates. Time and again I would go out on the track hoping to have a cruisey lap but the sight of Pete just ahead of me on the trail or him breathing down my neck would result in another sprinted circuit.
Just when I thought that I had broken Pete he produced two stunning laps that deservedly gave Woop woop third place squeezing us into 4th, not far behind. This disappointed couldn’t take away from a fantastic night of hard and close racing.
23th November 2008, Perth, WA
Great Perth Bike Ride
We bloody did this time. No mechanicals, no stopping, well apart from a rather necessary massage of important parts at South Perth and saddle swap. Nope, the trandem performed faultlessly. Quite boring really.
18th November 2008, Northcliffe, WA
Road Trip
The much planned mountain biking road trip came to fruition in the end. Marrinup was Marrinup but the camp fire was good fun. Trail closures at Pile Rd meant we ended up exploring the rather good Timberline Trail at Nannup instead. Wildlife was plentiful includind some rather grumpy (and large) snakes and local bogans. A night out in the Nannup Hotel was similar.
Saturday was the centre piece of the trip; the Round Tu-it 6 Hour race at Northcliffe. Having sworn never to do this race on my own again due to the tight techy nature of the trail, I obviously raced solo once more. I went much better this year, completing 3 more laps than previously and winning a baseball hat for coming third. I felt strong throughout and I got my nutrition just right, especially the Christmas cake. Just my back and concentration in the middle third to improve on. As usual the race was super friendly and the post race BBQ and free breakfast were great. Even the showers were hot this time - a first.
12th November 2008, Perth, WA
Chilli Con Carnival
The inaugural annual Chilli Con Carnival was a success. Attendance was good and the standard of competing food was high. Most impressive was the imagination shown., there were no less than four chilli deserts so we had to make a new category for them.
The undoubted star of the show was Ben’s lovingly crafted kangaroo shaped Pinata. It seemed a shame to have to break it. It’s eventual demise was a real crime.
Oh, yes Brad won the cook off to secure his second papermache based trophy of the year.
03rd November 2008, Geographe Bay, WA
Anaconda Adventure Race
An absolutely stunning weekend in Dunsborough for the Anaconda Adventure Race. We warmed up on Saturday by checking out the Ironman course in nearby Busselton. Dan swam around the jetty whilst Pete and I acted as life guards on our skis before we all hopped onto road bikes for one lap of the very flat and super fast bike course.
Sunday was Anaconda race day. Dan battled his way through the mass of arms and legs and shallow water to finish nicely in the middle of the pack in the swim. It was then over to me for the kayak. After portaging over the sand bank and fighting through some sea weed I rounded the marker boy and joined the massed fleet of boats on the long paddle up the beautiful coast to Bunker Bay. The conditions were perfect so I had little to do but settle into a steady rhythm and wish that I had a faster boat (or was better at paddling).
Safely landed on the beach I handed over to Dan again who set off on the very long and tough run. Rather him than me with the steep hills, rocks, sand and water jump.
After loading up some boats it was a short drive to a paddock for the next transition. Excitedly we waited by our bikes trying to spot the next runner out of the trees. Dan came through in a blistering pace. All his good work was nearly undone when my pedal broke (again) within metres of the start of the bike. I attempted some brief trailside maintenance but there was no fixing it and I had to complete the fast and surprisingly technical 22km mountain bike slopping about on a mangled egg beater. Despite this I managed to avoid being overtaken and squeezed past another 51 competitors to propel us further up the field.
All that was left was 1.8km of beach running as a team and the satisfaction of finishing a really good fun event on a brilliant course.
28th October 2008, Perth, WA
Beware the Darkside
After living in Perth for nearly two years now I have finally succumbed and joined the masses by buying a road bike. This is just for training on during the summer when it’s too hot and dry to mountain bike. I promise. It is rather fast and plush though.
The eagle eyed amongst you will notice that this is the same bike that I borrowed from Cameron to do the Painathlon on early this year. He has a fancy new machine so the loan has been made more permanent.
20th October 2008, Johannesburg, South Africa
Helicopters AND Guns
Due to the vagaries of South African Airways we were stuck in Johannesburg for 3 days on our return from Africa. Initially we weren’t best pleased about this stopover, with Jo’burg having a terrible reputation for crime. However we made the best of a bad job and very much enjoyed visiting this fascinating country.
The Apartheid museum was superbly presented and deeply moving. We also headed to Pretoria (one of South Africa’s four capital cities) for the day for a look about and met up with some friends for a night out at Emperors Palace, a rather tasteless casino at the airport.
As well as this we met some rather interesting locals. One taxi driver gave us a guided tour, whether we wanted one or not. His chat was highly informative; I had no idea that South Africans had invented so many everyday objects. We were also told that due to political isolation all goods had to be manufactured within South Africa, both guns AND helicopters. What more could you need?
17th October 2008, Zanzibar, Tanzania
In the foot steps of Freddie
After our exertions up Kili, John and myself headed to Zanzibar for what was meant to be a more relaxing time. Zanzibar is the birth place of Queen front man Freddie Mercury as well as having some pretty good beaches and top diving and snorkelling.
Unfortunately I was in the wars a bit. No sooner had a shaken off a rather nasty stomach bug than I fell off a moped.
Despite this, a good time was had by all.
10th October 2008, Kibo Hut, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
And so the Game Begins
Some rest, food and lots of drugs seem to do the trick for the altitude sickness and by the next day I was feeling great. We hiked on to Mawenzi Tarn where we had an acclimatisation day before crossing the open plane to Kibo Hut at the base of the final steep climb.
We started out for the summit at midnight. The official line was that the early start was so that we could reach top at dawn when there was the best chance of clear skies. However suspicions were that we were hiking in the dark so that we couldn’t see how much further we had left to go.
This was the game proper; who was going to make it and who was going to succumb to altitude or exhaustion. After 6 hours of hard, steady slog we reached Gillmans Point at the edge of the crater rim as dawn broke. Another couple of hours of easier walking, albeit it in thinner air, and we reached the summit of Kilimanjaro, 5894m above sea level.
We scattered some of Graeme’s ashes and John said a short and fitting prayer. Unfortunately our group had been split in two but we were able to pass the ashes onto the others and they had their own ceremony shortly after.
All that remained was the descent. With every step the air got thicker and we felt better. I spent much of this hike with Graeme’s dad, my hero for the trip due to his determination, fitness and good humour.
7th October 2008, Kikelewa Caves, Kilimanjaro, Tanzania
Sick as a Parrot
After two days of interminable flights and airports, John and I finally arrived at Kilimanjaro, with most of our luggage, to meet up with the rest of Team Graeme who had travelled from the UK. We were climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, in memory of Graeme Turner my good friend who died of a brain tumour two years ago.
The initial slopes were very dusty through green forests where we caught site of Colobus monkeys. From the first campsite we caught our first glimpse of Kili, looking very striking in the dawn light and also kinda big.
By the end of two short days walking we were at a height of 3500m, still 2300 below the summit. This didn’t stop me suffering from altitude sickness already. I can best describe this as being like a very bad hangover only without the fun bit beforehand nor the prospect of any respite.
01st October 2008, Midvale, WA
Speed Dome
The Speed Dome is the name of the velodrome in Midvale, just outside of Perth. On Tuesday nights they have an open session for novices and beginners. Last night I finally got around to going along.
Now this involves cycling and on fixed gear bikes. It also involves a lot of lycra and cycling around in tiny circles. Once I had got over the novelty of riding up the banked 42 degree corners that was about all there was to it. We then just did more and more laps. And then more laps. Now I’m sure when you get into racing it gets more interesting but you can see why they have thought up so many crazy categories involving motorbikes, track standing competitions, teams and the such like.
Having said all that the session was brilliantly run by some great guys. Beginners were welcomed and given plenty of tuition and the hire bikes were perfectly adequate. I just don’t think that I’m going to be the next Chris Hoy.
23rd September 2008, Albany, WA
Great Southern Adventure Race
What can I say? Everything about this race was huge. The distances involved (200km of mountain biking, 55km of running and two epic ocean paddles, the whales sighted on the first paddle, the waves at Taylor Inlet, the climbs in the Porongurup National Park, the abseil at Castle Rock, the wind and rain drops on the pre-dawn paddle on Sunday, the pace to make cut offs, the effort put in by our team (and support crew) and the amazing sense of satisfaction of finishing and finishing well.
Four weeks ago the guys couldn’t paddle, they had just lost their fourth team member to a broken wrist and had never done an adventure race before. Their solution to this was to hire Kate as a paddle coach (good move) and draft me in (maybe not such a wise choice). Their huge efforts in training more than masked my failings and our 3rd place finish in such a tough race is a staggering achievement. Well done us.
Bigger picture when I manage to steal one from somewhere. This isn’t a bad one though. That’s the abseil on Castle Rock in the Porongurups. We bust a gut to get to this point before the cut off. Not only did we get to do this fun activity but it guaranteed us a high finishing place.
14th September 2008, Perth, WA
Nanga Challenge
Following on from last year's disasterous change overs with John, I vowed to do the Nanga Challenge solo this year. Probably most importantly I procured a more suitable craft, an Endorfinn ski, for the paddle leg.
I survived the paddle and was still in touch with the rest of the field for the mountain bike. Again, I blitzed this leg being over taken by no-one and passing dozens on the grinding fire road climbs. The start of the run leg was hard as I had maybe be overdone it on the bike and the steep rough climb was not a place to recover. Eventually I found a bit of rythum and I hobbbled round to the finish.
I may have been well out of contention for the main prizes but everyone agreed that I was by far the muddiest person there, a personal triumph.
10th September 2008, Gunjin, WA
Car Track
Just found yet another new singletrack in the Perth Hills. This one is called the Car Track as it goes straight over the top of one of the many burnt out cars that can be found in the bush. Whilst it looks like I am doing well in this photo, in reality I didn't get much further. Something for the To Do list me thinks.
01st September 2008, Bridgetown, WA
Espresso 24 Hour
The leading Adventure Race in WA is the 24 hour Espresso race, this year based in Bridgetown. Teams of 4 travel navigate around a course of canoeing, trekking and mountain biking.
I was joined by Phil, Dan and Jeremy for our own adventure. Things were going really well until we punctured one of our inflatable. Barely afloat, we limped to the end of this second stage cold, wet, knackered and dead last overall. Some hard work throughout the long night saw us recover much of the lost time and we were all pleased with our provisional 10th placing.
26th August 2008, Albany, WA
Adventure Albany
Those nice people at Rapid Ascent who brought you the Anaconda race and now the Great Southern ran a free adventure race training weekend in Albany this weekend just passed. So on Friday afternoon we loaded up HMAS Falcon with 2 surf skis, 4 mountain bikes, 4 adventure racers and a carton of beer.
What ensued was fantastic weekend of ocean paddling (on silly tippy skis), mountain biking, beach running, abseiling and rather a lot of drinking. The weather was perfect and the scenery and company fantastic.
18th August 2008, Kalamunda, WA
Weekend Part 2
The second half, of what turned out to be a fantastic weekend, predictably involved a nice long bike ride. Amy and Owen kept me company on all the best trails in the Perth Hills. In return I promised that I would give them a mention here. Loads more photos in the link.
18th August 2008, Walyunga NP, WA
Weekend Part 1
Finally, now that I have got all that silly running and road cycling out of the way, I managed to get out and paddle some white water.
The levels at Walyunga on the Avon were just about perfect for my limited skills and experience and the weather perfect. A fun day was had doing 3 runs of the rapids with Tom and Marty only stopping for a BBQ lunch.
11th August 2008, Perth, WA
What A Pain
Probably one of my dafter ideas was to take part in the Painathlon, a 10 hour running and road cycling race. These are both activities that I have shown mixed emotions towards in the past. However something about this event really appealed to me. Whether it was the small friendly nature, the lack of road closures and complete choice of navigation for the cycle legs, the variety of the different run challenges or just the fact that it is completely nuts.
The day started at sunrise (0659) with 2.2km of running in deep sand on the beach and culminated at sunset (1746) or earlier if you were faster with 10 laps of Jacobs Ladder – a set of 300 steps climbing up to Kings Park. In between there were 8 other run challenges the longest of which is the 9.7km Bridges run, the toughest the gruelling Truth at Brigadoon; a 4.6km hill climb and return. The total running distance is 44.3km, a little over a marathon with some serious ups involved as well. The runs are all connected by 119km of cycling. This was the part that I was looking forward to but a troublesome derailleur and a killer easterly wind made the early cycles just as hard as the running.
My initial goals for the day were to finish 9 of the challenges and not to injure myself. Secretly I really wanted to finish the whole lot but was fully aware of the enormity of the task. Having survived the windy cycle out to Brigadoon and done considerably better on the Truth than I had expected I knew that a good finish was possible. Challenge 9, the 7km Canning-Mount Henry bridges run, was a real grind (well more of a shuffle really) but I stormed Jacobs Ladder to finish in smidge over 10 hours and well before sunset.
03rd August 2008, Brigadoon, WA
Avon Descent Carnage
This weekend was the world famous 2 day, 130km Avon Descent kayak race. I know it's on my To Do list but it will have to stay there until next year. I did, however, cycle out to Bells rapids to watch the carnage in record high water levels.
The ride was pleasant enough on Cameron's super speedy road bike accompanied by Nick, Erica, Amy and Owen. The weather was beautiful and we found a good vantage spot to scoff our burgers. I was slightly shocked by the action though. Pretty much every sit on top and most of the kayak paddlers took a swim and there seemed to be barely enough marshalls to help everyone to safety. The real fun began when the power boats started flying through whilst there were still plenty of kayaks still flapping around in the white water. It made for exciting, if a little scary, viewing.
I was informed by Brad that I am in a team with him next year so maybe it will get ticked off eventually. Finally well done to the ODCers who took part this year.
27th July 2008, Manjedal, WA
Happy Birthday Shello
Back at Manjedal one week after the Teva to celebrate Michelle's birthday. Me being me I decided to cycle there on the Munda Biddi. This went reall well until I was 90% of the way there. I then turned to head due west to cut across to Manjedal on Chandlers Rd. Despite being on both of my maps and the GPS this track kept disappearing into the bush. After two false starts I looped round on the roads via Jarrahdale where I stopped for the first Jarrah burger of the weekend.
After an evening of fine food and campfires we rode through the trails and Langford Park for a wet and wild ride, followed by another Jarrah burger.
The map below shows my progress on Saturday. Click on the pins for more exciting news about the ride.
27th July 2008, Manjedal, WA
Teva
Back again at Manjedal Scout centre for the Teva Adventure Race. This year the whole thing was a bit slicker and the challenges better. A good fun day with lots of invaluable navigation practise. We only made one real blunder when we spent 40 minutes looking for the penultimate check point in completely the wrong place. Fortunately it this turned out to only lose us one place. We finished a creditable 6th.
07th July 2008, Dwellingup, WA
Trail Building
Run by PMBC, there was a trail building day at Turner Hill yesterday, which myself, Amy and Owen helped out at. It was a really interesting day learning how to, and helping build 2 km of brand new singletrack and several obstacles including a monster berm, two gap jumps and a big roll over.
With our rakes and shovels packed away we broke out the bikes for a test run. There has been a lot of work at Turner Hill recently and the track is vastly improved with a rather scary number of opportunities to get lots of air. Our new trail was a disappointment being soft and slow and in desperate need of riding in. Time and traffic will improve this.
Sunday’s trail building was the second part of a weekend of riding in the Dwellingup area. The previous day we rode the fast, easy Marrinup track then span through to Turner Hill on the Munda Biddi for a play there before doing it all in reverse. The Munda Biddi was a real disappointment. After the fire last year sections of singletrack were diverted along the touring route and on fire roads. There is no sign of these diversions being un-done. I fear this is happening in several places where the existing trail is affected by fire of disease.
01st July 2008, Avon Valley NP, WA
Thermal Balls
Mid winter, so it's time for the ODC to let their collective hair down and have a party. The Thermal Ball is a held far away from civilisation, and complaining neighbours, deep in the Avon Valley National Park. Hideous stripy thermal underwear is strongly encouraged to be worn on the outside with an increasingly competitive fashion parade.
My evening got off to a slightly stressful start after Phil, in the car in front of me, swerved to miss a kangeroo and parked his car in a tree. Thankfully he was ok, but by the time we got his car towed away the party was in full swing. I was immediately pressed into action, being the only sober person there, to halp make Brad's bra as this required the use of power tools. My efforts were not in vain as we were later crowned king and queen of the ball.
17th June 2008, Jarrahdale, WA
Mud Glorious Mud
In contrasting conditions from last year, and the day before for that matter, it heaved it down for most of this year's 6 Hour race at Jarrahdale. Some of the new sections of the course became quite bogged and the race was hard on the legs, gears and brake pads in particular. Having said that, this is what proper mountain biking is all about.
This year I teamed up with Amy and came 3rd in the mixed due category. We were both delighted with this result and even won $50 for our troubles.
04th June 2008, Boranup, WA
Whale Ahoy
Monday was the last public holiday for a while after a great run through from Christmas. To take advantage I trundled off down south for the long weekend. The rough plan was to kayak out to St Alouarn Island, 9km off of the coast of Augusta and camp there for the night. However there had been an impressive number of electrical storms in the area and we didn’t fancy putting up our metal tent poles on the highest ground for miles around. Instead we made it a day paddle, the highlight of which was seeing a humpback whale not far out of the river mouth of Augusta.
On Sunday we paddled around Hamlin Island which involved threading through some massive surf before fighting some very unpleasant rebound around Cosy Corner. These were comfortable the biggest and most unpleasant conditions that I have paddled in, but satisfying to have survived.
Monday may have involved mountain biking and surfing, to make a change.
27th May 2008, Fremantle, WA
Doorstep Trails
I have just started a new job in Freo. This has three main benefits; there is a strong chance that I may now be doing something that I am actually interested, I have a worthwhile commute and I am right next door to some fun trails in Manning Park.
Here is my 15km commute on Google Earth. After following the cycle path alongside the railway line I hug the coast, allowing me to check out the surf, before crossing the Swan River into Freo.
The trails in Manning Park are good. Once round is about a 10km offroad loop..
22nd May 2008, Augusta, WA
Cape to Cape Hike
The Cape to Cape track runs for 135km along cliff tops, across beaches and through Boranup Forest from the lighthouse at Cape Naturaliste to the corresponding lighthouse at Cape Leeuwin. Ben and myself took 4 days to hike this scenic trail.
Using much of Ben's hiking and camping gear that he has used on the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail we traveled pretty light. Our camps varied wildly from a great little spot under the Peppermint trees at Moses Rock to Prevelly Caravan Park and then finally some imaginative pitching on Boranup Beach.
This is a rugged coastline. Most of the people we saw were surfers and it would be great, although a serious challenge, to return one day and repeat the trip by sea kayak.
11th May 2008, Perth, WA
This Has Been a Good Day
The end of summer has brougth some rain to firm up the mountain bike trails and much better conditions for surfing. Today I did a fairly epic bike ride before heading down the beach for a Sunday evening surf.
The whole weekend was good actually, containing yet more surfing and biking and even a spot of camping.
27th April 2008, Shark Bay, WA
Sea Kayaking Shark Bay
Last year I did a short guided sea kayaking trip in Shark Bay. At Herald Bluff e saw a couple of paddlers passing us the other way who were paddling from Denham around Cape Peron, into the headwinds, to Monkey Mia. I wondered at the time if I could ever undertake such a trip.
One year on and I am just back from just such an adventure. A group of us from UWA Outdoors Club completed the 100 odd km paddle in mainly light winds. If anything the Denham side of the penninsula was more stunning than the Money Mia side. Somehow the reds of the cliffs and green sea seemed stronger. Again we saw plenty of dolphins, sea eagles, giant turtles, rays and reef sharks and we had one distant glimpse of a Dugong.
For me the highlights were the remote camps on completely empty beaches and general lack of people. We filled the long drive back to Perth with plans for many more trips.
15th April 2008, Bali, Indonesia
Bali Biking
After I heard that there was singletrack to be found in Bali, only 3 and a half hours flight from Perth, it was only a matter of time before I filled that final page in my passport.
The trails were a good mix of singletrack, steep climbs and descents, rough jeep tracks and broken tarmac. There is no such thing as wilderness riding in Bali; you are always on someone's doorstep. As we raced along the narrow footpaths that connected tiny rural villages I lost count of the number of chickens, dogs and women carring impossibly heavy loads on their heads that I nearly hit.
As well as being pretty good riding it was also a great way to see the quieter, more scenic, rural Bali. By far the highlight was the final ride around the the rim of the crater of the active volcano Mount Batur.
06th April 2008, Perth, WA
Rocko to Perth Paddle
Last real training run, for me at least, before the big paddle up at Shark Bay. Two tough but very satisfying days paddling from Rockingham to Perth started in un-Australian torrential rain. Once past the oil refineries at Kwinana the sun came out.
We lucked out with camping on the grass at Woodman Point yacht club before a nice day's paddling through Fremantle harbour and up the Swan river to our boat house at Matilda Bay.
22nd March 2008, Busso, WA
Snorkeling at Busso
Emily was in town this week so I got to play tour guide all week. Probably the best bit was snorkeling at Busselton jetty. Obviously it's always good to have time off work but it was a lot of fun showing someone around and made me really appreciate that it's quite good here.
09th March 2008, Mundaring Weir, WA
Camp As You Like
My fourth consecutive weekend under canvas, which is very easy to do when it's a steady 34 in the shade. This weekend I was up at Mundaring Weir with my Pommy friends. After a nice cycle we collected a mountain of pizzas from the award winning Little Ceasars and headed off to the Kookaburra open air cinema. The film we saw was Angel, which was so bad we didn't know whethre to laugh or cry.
This morning we did another gentle ride. Tim and Rache tried out the offroad capabilities of their excellent tandem.
04th March 2008, Northcliffe, WA
What a Karri On
My how time flies and what a difference a year makes. Last year I hired a car and drove down on my own to take part in the Great Karri Ride. This year I headed down with Owen, Amy and Nigel and met up with hoards of ODCers and Perth Mountain Bike Club guys that I know.
This year the route had been re-jigged a bit and was all the better for the changes. The course was interesting and challenging throughout its 120km length. All day everyone was mega friendly and the organisation spot on. The tiny town of Northcliffe really made us feel welcome.
25th February 2008, Secret Harbour, WA
Surf's Up Dudes
Ever the party animal, Brad hosted a surfing party at his new pad in Secret Harbour. Only a couple of minutes from a pristine beach, it was great to see up to 10 play boats in the waves. Even by Australian standards the beach was beautiful; almost white sands, green water topped off with azure skies.
A hard evening of re-hydrating followed. Maybe the highlight of the weekend was the monstrous BBQ breakfast on Sunday morning. Brad's local butcher stocks all sorts of hard to find contraband including some rather fine black pudding, something that I have been craving a lot. They also make white pudding and haggis, which also need to be sampled.
18th February 2008, Wellington Dam NP, WA
Summer White Water
White water kayaking even in winter in WA can be a bit hit and miss. However the Collie River below Wellington Dam flows the fastest during the hot summer. This is when the most water is released for irrigation further down the valley.
I didn't actually get to paddle myself - I stubbed my toe swimming the day before and couldn't fit the swollen appendage in my boat - but I got a good chance to explore the mountain biking in the area. A chance meeting with the legendry local trail builder Wal enlightened me as to where the Gold is. As of next week there should be a map board and sign posting for the sweet singletrack around Pile Road. The trail head is also conveniently over the road from a brewery. On saturday we rode the Sika trail up to Wellington Dam and then back along the river to our camp at Honeymoon Pool.
I think we have struck upon a mountain biking, kayaking, hiking gem only two hours drive from Perth. The only downside is its close proximity to Collie, which is bogan central.
30th January 2008, Hamelin Bay, WA
Hamelin Bay Sea Kayak Trip
Whilst the rest of Australia celebrated their national day by standing around the BBQ eating badly cooked sausages and skulling weak beer, we trundled down to Hamelin Bay for a three day sea kayak trip.
Strong afternoon breezes and a large group of wildly varying standards meant that we did much of our paddling in the mornings. After lunch we found a nice beach to set up camp. Those that wanted to explored nearby islands, cliffs and rocks by kayak or foot. Other activities included fishing (badly), sand castle building (brilliantly), making human pyramids (dangerously) and cuttle fish carving (terribly except Maria).
Not only were we fortunate enough to be lead by Les Allen, a vastly qualified and experienced expedition kayaker, but we were also accompanied by Sandy Robson. Sandy has spent the last 12 months paddling solo around much of the Australian coastline. We were honored and slightly bemused that she spent the last three days of this epic journey with clowns such as us.
23rd January 2008, Above Perth, WA
Talk To Me Goose
David "Goose" Brown has been promising me a flight in the aerobatics plane, the Christen Eagle, which he part owns for forever. This evening he made good his pledge as he needed to test fly it after some maintenance work before his display on Australia Day. Any apprehensions I had about being a test passenger were multiplied when I saw how tiny this biplane is.
Dave's professionalism reassured me and after getting clearance from the tower we headed out to the coast and up to Scarborough to get a good look at the city, my house and all my favorite surf spots. It looked like you could touch Rottnest as the sun started to set behind it.
With the sight seeing done and photographs taken Dave proceeded to show me why he is state aerobatics champion. During the several barrel rolls, loops and other even more disorienting maneuvers we touched +4g and -1.5g, which is considerably more than you'd experience at Alton Towers and plenty thank you very much. My dinner did stay down, but it was touch and go for a while.
04th January 2008, Perth, WA
Way Down South
After a sizzling Christmas – Perth was reportedly the hottest place on the planet at 44.3° C on Boxing Day – a group of us packed up the cars with all the toys and camping gear and headed down South for New Year.
Initially based in the beautiful Boronup Forest just South of Margaret River we split our time evenly between mountain biking, sea kayaking and eating. Two rides that really stood out were the cool singletrack trails around MR (again) and a spin from Boronup down to Contos beach for a swim in the crashing surf, returning via the café at Jewell Cave and some good singletrack in the woods. The best paddle was undoubtedly from Meelup Beach, past Castle Rock. We landed on a tiny beach and did some snorkeling. Everyone else saw a huge ray. I saw some stripy fish. On the return the wind and swell had really kicked up. It was great fun surfing down the back of these waves at great speeds.
After a couple of days our little band, which had swelled to 6 (Simon, Zoe, Joel, Kathryn, Kamma and myself), left tranquil Boronup and drove across to Walpole to meet up with a larger group of friends. No sooner had we got the tents up than we headed on down to Banksia Beach to toast the sunset. This allowed Kathryn test out the offroad capabilities of her new 4WD ute. There was just time before New Year to squeeze in a two day paddle on the Nornalup Inlet, more about that later. Back at Crystal Springs we welcomed 2008 in under the stars and Peppermint trees.
24th December 2007, Perth, WA
Christmas Eve Paddle
I suspect this going to be rather a good Christmas holiday. It certainly started well enough with Simon's wonderful sunset paddle from South Perth.
The moon rise, tainted orange from the smoke in the air from the earlier fire, was spectacular. At the Lucky Shag (it's a kind of sea bird and a pub) we toasted Christmas with a beer.
22nd December 2007, Perth, WA
It's Christmas
The cycling Santa is Nigel who organised this festive ride and following BBQ back at his gaff. I was cruely robbed in the bike decorating competition, let down by the poor quality of my baubles.
As you can probably make out in the pic, we are unlikely to get a white Christmas in Perth this year.
20th December 2007, Perth, WA
Final Mawson Trail Fundraising Total
Either I’m really bad at adding up or you’re all much more generous than you first made out. The total amount of money donated to the Team Graeme fund was an amazing £835 (nearly AUD$2000). Thank you for your generosity to this worthwhile cause.
Team Graeme is a group of friends and relatives of Graeme Turner who died in October 2006 as a result of a brain tumour. Team Graeme is raising money for research into brain tumours with the aim of finding the cause of and a cure for this horrible disease. For news of forthcoming events as well as stories about events already held go to the Team Graeme Homepage
11th December 2007, Perth, WA
Kayaking the Peel Inlet
In preparation for more strenuous adventures further a field, a group of us from the Outdoor Club headed down to Mandurah for a two day paddle on the Peel Inlet.
As you can see from the photo our gravest danger was a lack of water, particularly at low tide. We survived this and some strong head winds to find a sweet wild camp spot on Grey Point where freshly caught Blue Mana crabs, port and Tim-tams were enjoyed.
10th December 2007, Perth, WA
Nice Shed
After far too many years of living in second storey, one bedroom flats with multiple bikes I have finally rented a house that is more befitting my status and hobbies.
The garage is more of a barn really; complete with sliding doors and useful rafters. One third has been dedicated my bike workshop. The larger side is rapidly filling up with kayaks.
I also now own two BBQs. It would be un-Australian not to.
26th November 2007, Perth, WA
Great Perth Bike Odyssey
The Great Perth Bike Ride is a mass participation timed bike ride around the Swan River. For us this was our longest and toughest outing on the Trandem.
We did complete a lap of the river but some time after everyone else had packed up and gone home. The bike worked well. It was fun to ride, managed all the huge hills in Perth and brought a smile to face of most. However a shoddy rear tyre let us down in spectacular fashion just short of Fremantle. We never managed to repair it convincingly and due to the Victorian opening hours of Perth bike shops a replacement was not found.
Read more of our trials and tribulations here.
19th November 2007, Perth, WA
Six Hours of Southern Singletrack
Following a very cool snorkel at Busselton jetty, Dan, myself and team camera woman Anne-Marie headed on down to Pemberton for the Avanti 6 Hour Classic. Short laps, tight singletrack, darkness for half the race and a small friendly field made for a fun event. It was a good job that it was a small field as I was in far from my best form. Persistence and determination saw me crawl in 4th.
Everyone who competed stayed at the Round-tu-it campsite who host the course. This contributed to the friendly atmosphere. Most stayed chatting around the BBQ long after the race had finished and the rain started. Complementary breakfast the next day was also a nice touch.
11th November 2007, Perth, WA
Riding Along On the Crest of a Wave
When it's 36 degrees outside what better than a play in the sea, and what's better than kayaking surfing? I can see this happening a lot this summer.
11th November 2007, Adelaide, SA
Kangaroo Island
With the Mawson Trail out of the way I had a few days to relax in Adelaide. By far the highlight of this was taking a two day wildlife trip on Kangaroo Island. Here I got up close to seals, roos (of course), possums, wallabies, penguins, koalas, lizards and all manor of bird life.
05th November 2007, Adelaide, SA
Mawson Trail Bagged
Helped by some unseasonally cool weather and hindered by some persistent headwinds I made it Blinman and the end of the Mawson Trail on Saturday.
This journey took me from the centre of Adelaide, over the steep Adelaide Hills, into the wine regions of the Barrossa and Clare Valleys, through endless flat windy wheat fields and finally to the rugged, remote Flinders Ranges.
The highlight was definitely the Flinders. Some proper mountain biking trails and great scenery on the edge of the huge Australian Outback. All along the way I met friendly people who wanted to chat and find out what I was doing. Most thought I was mad but wished me well. More details and photos to come when I get back to Perth.
26th October 2007, Adelaide, SA
Mawson Trail
Over the next two weeks I will be trying to cycle the 900km offroad Mawson Trail in South Australia. The ride is in memory of my friend Graeme who died last year.
As ever I am woefully underprepared. My main concerns are the heat, the hills and how on earth I will get back to Adelaide when I have finished the trail. I am sure solutions to these problems will present themselves.
If possible I'll add a few entries to this blog along the way. Otherwise check out the main Mawson Trail page.
14th October 2007, Perth, WA
Stirling Range
As preparation for a more serious ridge hike myself and Ben headed down to the Stirling Range for a wee recce. We confirmed that yes it is feckin steep, the paths are poor once off Bluff Knoll, there are wild flowers but not as many as advertised and it is worth the drive.
On Saturday we scooted up Bluff Knoll by the tourist route and then continued along the ridge towards Moongoongoonderup Hill. We soon lost the path and were scrambling down dangerously steep cliffs. Once back on track we bashed through a section of dense prickly bush before striding along the ridge amongst wildflowers. When we'd had enough of this we turned round and went back.
Today we climbed the third highest mountain in the area, Toolbrununp Peak. This was a short steep scramble which rewarded us with fine 360 degree views including the main Stirling Ridge itself. We'll definately be back to hike the whole ridge at some point.
12th October 2007, Perth, WA
Happy Birthday to Me
Very unoriginally I went for a mountain bike ride. Afterwards we had a BBQ. Not one of these outdoor gas grills so popular over here. This was a real fire with wood and everything.
Thanks to everyone who came along, it was a fun evening.
03rd October 2007, Margaret River, WA
Weekend at Marg’s
To celebrate the Queen’s Birthday, bizarrely a public holiday in WA in October, I headed down to Margaret River with 40 of my closest friends from UWA Outdoor Club for a long weekend of extreme mountain biking, kayaking and Tim Tam eating.
We were fleeced $40 a head for a brief guided tour of the local bike tracks. In the end it proved to be money well spent as we rode the sweet trails 2 more times and also found an amusing offroad route through to the campsite which involved a rather dodgy summer only river crossing.
We paddled on the Maragret River, Blackwood River and the sea at Geogrpahe Bay. Tim Tams were used as straws to suck up boxed port. It was better than it sounds especially eating to the saturated choccy biscuits afterwards.
23rd September 2007, Perth, WA
Gratuitous Fixie Photo
Clicky to make biggy
16th September 2007, Perth, WA
Litchfield Photos
Finally got some photos developed from my trip to Litchfield National Park near Darwin in July. Follow the linky below to see a couple more.
10th September 2007, Perth, WA
Lost in Transition
Another Sunday so it must be another adventure race. If I could afford the entry fees I could do one of these a week until Christmas.
Nanga this week which was a lot of fun. This time there was a kayak leg. Now neither me nor John have entered a kayak race before and it kind of showed, not in John's paddling ability but more in our choice of craft. It was kind of slow.
Fortunately I pulled out a strong mountain bike leg (4th overall) and John also stormed a top 10 run to drag us back up to mid-table mediocrity. Well it would've been top 10 if we hadn't lost a lot of time in the final transition. I returned from the cycle to discover that John was on the lavvy having eaten a dodgy sausage off the BBQ. Still we won a book in the raffle and the race T-shirts are ace so a good day overall.
08th September 2007, Perth, WA
Freo Paddle
I was in exulted company of WA's chief painting conservator for this great day paddle to Fremantle for lunch and back. It was a bit windy on the way out but once we'd overcome the fast retreating tide and digestion we had a great blast back to Matilda Bay.
01st September 2007, Perth, WA
WA White Water
First taste of white water WA style-y. Lots of fun it was as well. Might have to get myself one of these cool little play boats especially with the possibilities of kayak surfing in the summer. Mmm more toys. Best of all you can fit two, maybe three, in the back of HMAS Falcon. With my newly purchase roof bars, there’s room for another two on the roof.
19th August 2007, Perth, WA
Teva Adventure Race
Something a bit different today with a team adventure race. Myself and John, old hands at running around lost in the rain, were joined by Sam to complete team Adventure Possums.
First up we did a 20km mountain bike ride with one long stop to complete a movie quiz and a short rogaine and toughest of all, read Mens Health Magazine. Then there was a cargo net to scramble under, a soapy slide and a basketball to throw through a hoop. The more serious 10km run followed which also included a flying fox (high wire zip line thingy) and some rather damp smelly caving. With all this complete we were back on the bikes for another 20km or so, with stops for orienteering on foot and also a section where 1 person ran and the others cycled.
As you can imagine all this took a while and I'm not sure I quite figured out the point of it all. Good fun none the less.
15th August 2007, Perth, WA
Six Hours of Singletrack
Sounds good doesn’t it? It was actually quite tough as I chose the Riders Choice 6 Hour at Jarrahdale as my first go at riding solo. Some minor problems with pit stops and refueling strategies aside, it went really well and I was more than happy with the 9 laps that I completed.
All in all it was a great day out. As ever the WA weather obliged, the event was well organised, the course fast and interesting and, above all, the atmosphere was very friendly despite some very competitive racing going on. I loved riding solo – I had no time to stiffen up – but I did feel that I missed out on the social side, when you are standing about waiting for your turn, bantering with mates and other teams.
08th August 2007, Perth, WA
Bike Pooling
Due to overcrowding on Perth's cycle paths we experimented with bike pooling on the commute to work this morning. Very liberating it was as well. We need some higher hooks in the bike locker though.
09th July 2007, Perth, WA
Top End Photos
Back safely from my adventures on the Gibb River Road (or not) and in the Territories. Follow the links below to see more photos of the trip. Lichfield pics to follow.
06th July 2007, Darwin, NT
Kakadu National Park
Any slight disappointments I might have had about the Gibb River trip were soon forgotten when I reached Kakadu. This 3 day tour was probably the best thing I've done in Australia. A nice group of fit people, a very knowledgeable and motivated guide, great scenery and lots of Aboriginal culture made from a memorable trip. The days were action packed with lots of hiking and climbing, swimming in gorgeous waterfalls and marvelling at the rock art work, some of which was tens of thousands of years old. At night we cooked around the camp fire before sleeping in swags under the star filled sky.
02nd July 2007, Darwin, NT
Happy Territory Day
Our arrival in Darwin last night coincided with Northern Territory Day. This weekend is the only time and place in Australia that fireworks are on sale to the public. Everyone buys loads and then heads down to the beach at sunset to set them off. There aren't many rules and regs up here in NT (they only introduced speed limits last year) and it is a bit of frontier. As a result the fireworks were a free for all, with rockets and bangers flying horizontally through the crowds. The air soon filled with smoke, cordite and the smell of burning flesh. We observed from the safety of high ground, helping casualties where we could.
29th June 2007, El Questro, WA
El Questro and Beyond
We did make it into the far Eastern end of the Gibb to El Questro - a series of gorges and a large expensive resort. I dropped my camera in the hot Zebede Springs before we went for an excellent scarmble up El Questro Gorge and a swim in the waterfall at the end.
The remainding couple of days of our trip were spend driving through to Darwin, stopping at some great wild camps and swim spots. The Archer Fish and swimming at Lake Argyle were the highlights.
28th June 2007, Purnululu National Park, WA
Bungle Bungles
We have given up on the Gibb. However the upside to this is that we got to spend a day in the excellent Bungle Bungles. After an early helicopter flight over these strange striped domes we hiked into a couple of gorges - Cathedral Gorge in particular was stunning.
25th June 2007, Fitzroy Crossing, WA
Geikie Gorge
Unseasonal rain in the east of the Kimberley Range has meant that most of the dirt roads we are meant to be travelling on are closed. After a couple of days at remote Cape Leveque we tried to enter the Gibb River Road but it is still shut. Staying at Fitzroy Crossing we did manage a boat cruise on Giekie Gorge. Very nice it was as well.
22nd June 2007, Broome, WA
Crocs and Sunsets
A day relaxing in Broome (quite long enough) before starting my Gibb River Trip. Broome is a bit like the Wick of WA, but with a few more tourists and a lot more sunshine. After visiting the interesting croc farm, where I learnt more than I wanted to know about salties, I enjoyed the sunset on Cable Beach. Trip proper starts tomorrow.
16th June 2007, Perth, WA
Bike Porn
Big goody bag of bits has just arrived from the online credit raiders that are CRC who are now delivering free to Oz if you spend enough. I do. Along with some very expensive and shiny mountain bike parts is a Brookes B17 saddle, pictured above with my ace Carradice saddle bag. This is my first Brookes and I feel that I can now call myself a proper cyclist. Or I will be able to in about 1000 miles time when I've broken it in.
In other news I seem to be the new University of Western Australia Outdoors Club moutain biking officer. I'mm not quite sure how this happened.
10th June 2007, Perth, WA
Proper Biking
Sat: 53.7km
Sun: 63.4km
Good weekend on the mountain bike. Recent riding has been based around a couple of laps of some tiny, predictable XC race course. In fact this weekend I very nearly entered the state champs race at Mundaring. Bloody glad I didn't, apart from the fact that I would've probably come last, my class consisted of three 5.5km laps. Approximately 1 hour of riding on the same course.
Instead on Saturday I headed out from Darlington with a group training for the forthcoming adventure race. We rode some trails I knew and some I didn't. Today I did a long, fast ride on my own. In total I rode 117.1km over the weekend over about 10 hours total cycling time. I rode a variety trails from tight, singletrack to tough fire road climbs and full on downhill descents. I rarely repeated myself. I think I made the right choice.
02nd June 2007, Perth, WA
Dig Out the Thermals
Today was the second day of winter, although you wouldn't have guessed it by the weather; a rather pleasant 23 degrees C and sunny.
Piccy is of Leederville tennis club, where I am a member. One of the smaller clubs in Perth, we have 12 beautiful grass courts, used almost all year round, and a further 6 floodlit hard courts. Saturday afternoon is social play. At 3pm we stop for tea and cakes. At the close of play beer, wine, cheese, biscuits and nibbles are served in the club house. Very civilised.
29th May 2007, Perth, WA
How Australian am I?
Up (well) before dawn today for a paddle on the river. As we set off from the boat house we were treated to a red sunrise over the city. At the Narrows Bridge we spent a while watching 2 dolphins feeding before turning for home. After such a great start to the day it seems a shame to come into work to ruin it.
20th May 2007, Perth, WA
Woe, woe and thrice woe (plus one close shave)
Eventful ride at Jarrahdale. I broke a pedal, a spoke and skinned my knee. Cammy stripped the thread on the bolt that holds his rear gear shifter together. Fortunately Bunnings was open early on Sunday and we managed to bodge a rather effective repair.
As I mangled my spare left hand pedal on Friday on my fixie I am down to zero working pedals. Various complaints, warranty replacements and orders from the UK have been put in place but with WA not being known for its efficiency I am not holding my breath.
As a footnote to the weekend's woe/Bunnings to the rescue it happened again today. As I pedalled into work my new (crap) crank came loose. Luckily this was just outside Bunnings which opens a 7 in the week. $7.99 secured me China's finest socket set and I tightened the crank up saving my evening ride. However half way round the river tonight it came loose again. I think it is properly burgered this time. It seems to be made of the heaviest type of brie known to mankind. Ah well, I am getting good use out of my new bargain bike tool kit that I bought at the weekend. To fit the new spoke to my lobster not only did I have to remove the cassette, as per usual, but the disc rotor had to come off as well. Ho hum.
14th May 2007, Perth, WA
5 Poms, 2 bikes and lots of cake
With Tim and John both finally back onshore at the same time we took the Threesome for it's first decent outing. Escorted by Rachel and Michelle on a tandem, we made quite an Armada.
We succesfully made it down to the beach at Cottesloe, only losing 1 ghost ring along the way. After a bracing swim in the sea (it was nice once we were in) we feasted on a large fry. On the short journey back to Nedlands we had to stop at the Claremont Hotel to re-fuel with cake.
03rd May 2007, Perth, WA
We Are the Night Riders
First proper, offroad night ride in Oz with a couple of laps of the race course at Jarrahdale. Tip top it was as well. A full moon and some firm trails after the recent precipitation. No scary spiders and snakes encountered but a few worried roos.
19th April 2007, Perth, WA
Perth at Night
The city viewed from King's Park at night.
Just been for a blast around the park trying out my new lights. Looking forward to using them in anger in the bush.
12th April 2007, Perth, WA
Sea Kayaking Shark Bay
I took advantage of the long weekend over Easter to trundle the 900 odd kms north of Perth to Shark Bay and join a 3 day sea kayaking trip.
The marine wildlife was really quite stunning; dolphins, rays, sharks, turtles and dugongs swam underneath our kayaks as we paddled along on clear green seas. At night we camped under the stars on desrted beaches. This was about as good as it gets.
31st March 2007, Perth, WA
Anyone for a Threesome?
Oh yes, my newest and bestest bike is complete. Tim, John and myself have built a trandem from scrap we found at the tip. For a heap of junk badly welded together it actually rides ok and we are looking forward to getting out and about on it.
Click for full build details or view the making of video below.
26th March 2007, Perth, WA
Australian National Life Saving Championships
The Aussies were held this weekend in Scarborough, just to the north of Perth. This is one of the biggest sporting events in the year and it doesn't get more fair dinkum' Australian than life saving.
We tried to work out what was going on in the many disciplines but were generally just scared by the huge, bronzed, muscled athletes in their budgie smugglers.
21st March 2007, Perth, WA
Roasting Marshmallows at Camp Dell
I have done the near impossible and made some friends who are Australian and aren't in the employment of Subsea7. In fact they don't even work in the oil and gas industry. This is harder than it sounds. Jolly nice people Meg and Neil are, even if they tend towards the iron man, bonkers end of going for a cycle.
Last weekend, along with a couple of their chums, we went camping at the Dell near Kalamunda. A thunderstorm of biblical proportions added amusement to our Saturday afternoon ride. We were soon ringing our nicks out round a great campfire. Several dead cows and marshmallows followed.
Another good ride on Sunday morning. Contrary to popular belief, there are some sweet trails in WA.
09th March 2007, Perth, WA
Bikeweek Breakfast
This morning I enjoyed a healthy breakfast in the Supreme Court Gardens, just round the corner form my office, as part of Bikeweek 2007.
More 2500 cyclists took advantage of the free grub and various promotional stands. Personally I was pleased to discover that the second section of the Munda Biddi Trail should be opening in the (southern hemisphere) spring. I also liked the display of vintage bicycles.
It was very pleasant to sit around outside chatting with new and old friends alike before scurrying off to start the working day.
05th March 2007, Perth, WA
Karri On Pedaling
A holiday weekend, and I spent it down south at the Great Karri Ride. This is a 105 km mountain bike race set amongst some majestic forests.
This was my first tentative step into semi-competitive mountain biking in Australia and I had lots to be scared of; the uber fit locals, huge distance involved, heat and massive March flies.
It all worked out fine and I had a great time completing only my third offroad century (and first in a race) making lots of friends along the way. Read more here.
26th February 2007, Perth, WA
Photo Special
Few pictures of the beach, the bush and the bike from the last couple of weeks.
24th February 2007, Perth, WA
Perth Critical Mass, where are you?
For the second month I failed to find the Critical Mass ride in Perth. Various websites that haven't been updated since 1995 list it at one of two locations, neither of which had anyone there at the alloted time on Friday. Pants.
18th February 2007, Perth, WA
Finally the Rough Stuff
After 2 months off the mountain bike the mercury finally dropped below 30 (just) so I took the chance to go for a proper ride.
Like all good rides I overslept, forgot my sun screen, ran out of food and water, got a bit lost and cycled a lot further than I intended (hence the lack of sustenance). Good to see that I haven't lost my touch.
The trails, and pea gravel in particular, weren't as loose as I had an anticipated. It was good to get out of the city into the Perth Hills for the first time in a while. This is a great area with lots of interesting bush, some actual hills (rare for WA) and some lovely little towns. I had my (belated) lunch in Kalamunda today, which is as nice as any.
14th February 2007, Perth, WA
Moonlight Cinema
It may not sound much, but one of the attractions that brought me down to Perth is the open air cinema. During the summer months a selection of contemporary and classic films are screened at sunset in the city's own bit of bush; King's Park. Take your picnic along, hire a bean bag, remember the bug spray and enjoy cinema under the stars.
My initial visit was to see the 80s, fighter pilot, cheese-fest, Top Gun. However last night I balanced my movie karma by watching Copolla's ever masterful The Godfather. I had forgotten what a perfectly complete film this is.
11th February 2007, Perth, WA
Windsurfing on the Swan River
Still too hot and dry for mountain biking. This is slightly worrying as the Karri Cup is only 3 weeks away and I really need to put some miles in my legs.
Not to waste the great weather, I have been mainly windsurfing this weekend. Badly.
01st February 2007, Perth, WA
fbuk 07 Fashion Range Launched
The feedback that I get about this website indictates that people aren't interested in my mamouth, continent wide cycling tours, nor my travails on many an epic mountain bike ride. No, the thing that they like the most are the T shirts.
There are nine (count them) new logos for 07. Clicky to be amazed.
27th January 2007, Perth, WA
I've Created a Monster - It's the Anti-coast
A long held amibition has been fulfilled and I have now built and am riding a fixed gear bike.
Bought for AUS$10 (4 quid) from the tip I started by removing all the working parts and replaced them with a track cog and a BMX chain. A little trimming with an angle grinder et voila!
14th January 2007, Perth, WA
Pinnacles Desert
Despite being back in gainful employment I stayed in touch with my backpacker roots with an overnight bus trip to the Pinnacles Desert to see the sunset, sleeping under the stars on a 'swag' and then sand boarding at Lancelin on the way back to town. All good fun.
Have been playing with my new computer. Click (or maybe right click and Save Target As or something) to see a video of me sand boarding. Ok so I'm sitting on it.
More good pictures in the link below.
12th January 2007, Perth, WA
Living The Dream
Just cycled down to Cottesloe Beach to feast on fish and chips and watch the sunset over the Indian Ocean. This is a nice ride as there is usually a tailwind on the way home, which is helpful with a full belly.
05th January 2007, Perth, WA
Happy New Year
Christmas and New Year in Perth were a lot of fun. Needless to say beaches, BBQs and pools were involved. I even squeezed a wee road trip down to Margeret River in with Tim, Rachel and Busta in their ace camper van.
On a slightly depressing note, I have found a job and started 3 days ago. It does mean that I will be in Perth for at least the next 6 months.
More ramblings and NZ stuff when I have more time.
15th December 2006, Perth, WA
Hello Sunshine
That's right, I have made the short hop back accros the ditch. It's farewell to snow, mangled vowels, endless screenings of LOTR, affordable bananas and all those fab mountains.
One last observation: Christchurch airport has a bike assembly area complete with a rudimentary workstand. I may well be back.
Right, I've got a ticket for the WACA so I'm off to the cricket.
11th December 2006, Kaikora, NZ
By Kaikora!
Ho hum, more mixed weather meant that my trip to Kaikora was a parcial success. Rain (and wind and hale) stopped play for whale watching and sea kayaking. Things brightened up for my 2 day ride on the Kaikora Coastal Track though.
This great little ride involved an overnight stay on Ngorama farm. In the evening I went out on quad bikes with the farmer and his dogs to round up some very worried sheep who were off to market the next day.
The devoted FBUK readers out there will notice that I have now completed everything on the to do list. Do not fear as I am working on another one for 2007. I never did learn Esperanto anyway.
07th December 2006, Christchurch, NZ
Not Quite the Ashes
With tickets for the Ashes a little hard to come by, and England's performances so far somewhat depressing, I took the chance to see some Test cricket in Australiasia by spending a day at the 1st Test between New Zealand v Sri Lanka here in Christchurch.
Predictably the Sri Lankan batsmen struggled on a Jade Stadium green top, before the Black Caps did a little better, although they didn't seem to know how to score off Murali.
The large rugby stadium was just about empty. I think that there were was a bigger crowd last time I went to see Worcestershire.
04th December 2006, Christchurch, NZ
Perilous Peaks to Plucky Pengiuns
One of the reasons that NZ is such a popular holiday destination, and why I am having such a good time, is the diversity it offers. And I don't just mean the weather.
Saturday was a fine example. In the morning I hiked to Hooker Lake to get a good look at Aotearoa's highest mountain, Mt Cook (pictured). Then, after a drive through the semi-arid Northern Otago wilderness, which bares a striking resemblance to parts of Spain, I reach Oamaru on the Eastern coast.
Here I spent a magical evening watching over 250 Blue penguins come ashore after a day's feeding. An un-forgetable experience.
30th November 2006, Alexandra, NZ
Snow Joke Indeed
As a quick footnote to my last post, on the bus no the way back to Alexandra today I saw how much snow has fallen. Even at relatively low altitudes it looks good for skiing. This is where I should be camping tonight. This has justified my decision to wimp out of doing the Dunstan Trail a bit.
In other disappointing news is I'm not going to get to go heli-biking. The guy in Twizel has a website, loads of flyers everywhere, an elusive entry in the Lonely Planet and the freephone number 0800 HELIBIKE yet isn't running trips at the moment. If I had known this I would've gone at Queenstown even if it was inordinately expensive there.
29th November 2006, Dunedin, NZ
Snow Joke
The best laid plans of mice and men are often screwed up by the New Zealand weather. Having completed the Otago Central Rail Trail I am meant to be returning to Alexandra over the mountains on the ancient Dunstan Trail. However forecast gales and snow has meant that I have had to shelve that idea. Instead of camping tonight at an old jail, deep in the hills I am in Dunedin YHA.
All is not lost. I managed to do a bit of re-arranging on the hoof and have took the historic Taieri Gorge Railway to Dunedin. This trip was interesting although being a train journey there were the obligatory Glaswegians drinking Tennents (actually it was Speights - the local hooch) and screaming toddlers in my carriage.
Now I have 24 hours to see Dunedin, a city I would not have otherwise got to, before my bus back to the car at Alexandra. I have not yet decided if this is a good thing or not.
26th November 2006, Queenstown, NZ
Sweet As Bro
Have spent the last week in the southern alps - proper hills these. Some great wilderness biking above the tree line, so views to die for. I even did a spot of hiking the scenery is so good. I could easily spent the whole 2 months of my trip in this part of south island and it definately requires further exploration.
Queenstown itself is the adrenlin capital of the world ie a hellish pit of backpackers bungy jumping, rafting etc. Not to worry, this means that the hills are empty.
19th November 2006, Reefton, NZ
Wild Wild West
Just a quick update - mainly because I've got free internet access. I have started the journey down the rugged west coast of south island, made more impressive by rather a lot of weather.
The pancake rocks at Punakaika were quite cool and now I'm biking around Reefton; a quiet little town off the tourist highway at the foot of the southern alps. Sadly tomorrow I leave this peace and quiet for the Franz-Joseph and Foz glaciers which offer stunning views, hords of Germans and expensive accommodation.
This connection may be free but it's too slow to upload any photos.
16th November 2006, Motueka, NZ
Abel Tasman-tastic
For my latest adventure I teamed up with Lena, a German girl I met on the QTC, and hired a double sea kayak for 2 days to explore the Abel Tasman national park.
A day of exploring crazy rock formations, beautiful beaches and admiring the many sea birds ended with a dangerous paddle around the Manic Mile - an exposed headland with threatening rocks. It was a little un-nerving to sea our huge double sea kayak slam off of some of the waves but we made it to the tranquil Te Pukatea Bay with no real alarms.
After a night at as good a camp spot as any, we set off early, wary of the forecast storms in the afternoon. In the end all we saw was a bit of drizzle and a lot of seals before taking the water taxi back to Kaiteriteri. Sea kayaking rocks and I may well have found a new, expensive hobby.
12th November 2006, Picton, NZ
Probablty the Best Cycle Ride in the World
After some fairly apocalyptic weather in Wellington I hopped on the ferry across to South Island. I was treated to a calm crossing with stunning views of Wellington Sound and the Malborough Straits.
The ferry docked at Picton, start point for the Queen Charlotte Track; the ride that I had been looking forward to so much. It didn't disappoint. Over 70km of continuous singletrack with views to die for. The excellent water taxi dropped me at the start, with some bonus dolphin spotting on the way, and then ferried my luggage to Portage Bay where I stayed overnight. Next day the luggage was again collected and was waiting for me in Picton when I returned. You can't ask for much more than that.
12th November 2006, Picton, NZ
New Zealand Discovers Brilliant Film Critic
Maybe not then. Good film though. Kenny that is.
06th November 2006, National Park, NZ
Mountain Biking Heaven
In the last week I have ridden for 2 days at the world class trails near Rotorua, done a very technical nature trail, conquored the Craters of the Moon at Taupo and today completed the 42nd Traverse.
The 42 is one of the best rides in NZ, partly because local tour companies can drop you off at the start and pick you up 46km and some 500m lower at the finish. However I was cycling on my own they deemed me too risky and would not take me. I managed to blag a lift to near the start with a bus going up to the Tangariro Crossing, but this fell through when the tramp was cancelled due to bad weather.
To defy the tame locals I bike the 18km to the start, then the 42 and then the exclusively uphill 22km back to National Park in weather deemed too bad to tramp in. All good fun.
31st October 2006, Waitamo, NZ
Starting to Get Interesting
I think that I'm starting to get into my stride over here. I'm more savvy with what's good and have managed to speak to a few people about where the good biking is.
At the weekend I took the 4.5 hour ferry from busy Auckland to the tranquil Great Barrier Island with no electricity, few paved roads and only 500 inhabitants. I did a great bike tour of the island past white sandy beaches, up volcanoes, along old logging tracks and ended the long day with a relaxing dip in a hot spring. On the ferry crossing over there we were treated to a great sunset over the Auckland skyline. However, by Sunday normal service had resumed and it was a wet, rough journey back.
After the best scrambled eggs ever at Dizengoffs in Ponsonby, I started making my way south. This morning I did a black water rafting trip in the Waitamo caves. This involves floating through glow worm filled caves in an old inner tube and throwing ourselves off of underground waterfalls in the pitch black. A good fun mix of stunning scenery and adrenelin, with a healthy dose of freezing cold water thrown in.
27th October 2006, Auckland, NZ
Some Piccies
Finally managed to get some pictures uploaded.
26th October 2006, Ponsonby, NZ
Cape Reigna and the Bay of Islands
Plans to go blokarting (sand yachting) in Ahipara were thwarted by a lack of wind. Instead I drove up to Cape Reigna - the John O'Groats of NZ. 20km of very dodgy gravel road took me to the lighthouse there amongst massive sand dunes. There was a real end of the world feel about the place.
I then crossed over the the East coast and Paihia in the Bay of Islands. This is a real tourist honey pot and it is not hard to see why. I spent 3 very relaxing days in the bay taking in the local history (it is one of the earliest Europpean settlements), spotting dolphins and cycling around the local hills.
21st October 2006, Ahipara, NZ
And On To En Zed
After a month in increasingly sunny WA, I made the longish hop across the Tasman Sea to New Zealand. After spending a couple of days pretending to be interested in museums in Auckland, I picked up my hire car and hit the road. For the next 2 months I will be driving a 92 Toyota Corolla sedan. I was initially worried that my bike wouldnt fit into the trunk, but it does (sans wheels and saddle) and is out of the way of prying eyes. There is a massive problem with theft from cars in NZ.
First pitstop was Helensville, an unremarkable town with a nice hostel and a great art deco cinema. Best of all it is just down the road from Woodhill Mountain Bike Park where I spent 2 days on the fast sandy trails trying to hurt myself on all sorts of jumps and north shore.
Today I have driven up to the very north of the country, through the ancient Waipoua Kauri Forest. The museum was interesting and the trees enourmous. The largest have a diameters of around 5m. No pictures yet as Im on a lousy dial up connection with a dodgy keyboard (hence no punctuation).
12th October 2006, Dunsborough, WA
Tall Trees and High Seas Part 2
Leaving the coast at Walpole I spent two hot, hilly, windy days cycling through the tall karri forest. The roads were quiet and towns few and far between. By Tuesday night I still hadn't reached civilisation (the mill town of Pemberton doesn't count) so I bush camped at Alexandra Bridge by the Blackwood River. This would've been an idylic spot but for the other campers who had generators and blared REM tracks out all evening. Surely bringing electricity, lights, a TV and your unimaginative CD collection away camping with you rather defeats the point?
In the night the weather turned and it started bucketing it down. The tent held up but by 10am I had finished my book and was thoroughly bored so I made my soggy way to Margeret River. I checked into the grotty backpackers and spent the afternoon mooching about the overpriced tourist town avoiding the gangs of Amnesty International recruiters, who it turned our were responsible for the rubbish tip that was my dorm.
This morning I made my way to Dunsborough trying unsuccesfully to dodge the heavy showers. I stopped off on the way at Ngilgi Caves. The deepest of these is 37m below the ground and the impressive rock formations are well presented. Just waiting for the bus back to Perth now.
08th October 2006, Walpole, WA
Tall Trees and High Seas Part 1
I'm away on John's road bike again, this time in the far South-west of WA. I took the 6 hour bus from Perth to Albany on Friday. The journey just flew by with the screening of Big Momma's House 2, which ended with the terrifying threat of a further sequel. Surely 2 Big Momma films is 2 too many? Albany was nice. I did a couple of walks up the surrounding hills commanding great views of the town, bay and the Stirling Range.
After exploring the dramatic coast on Saturday I pedalled on to the small town of Denmark. The weather is a bit cool so I have been staying in hostels. I ended up going on a big bender with a German and a Chinese man I met in the hostel, quite an achievement in a 2 pub, 1 horse town.
Felt like crap today until I found meat pie around about mid day. Then I cycled up a big hill to do a tree top walk. This was interesting, well presented and expensive. The experience was also slightly marred by bus loads of backpackers and a joker playing the bag pipes.
04th October 2006, Perth, WA
Munda Magic
Just got back from the excellent Munda Biddi Trail with John. Over 4 days we cycled 338km through the bush staying in campsites. This is a brilliant trail, well signposted, great facilities and tougher then we expected which made for a good challenge. The further south we travelled the more the hills eased, and we covered over 200km in the last 2 days, including 109 on Monday alone.
28th September 2006, Perth, WA
Avon Valley Tour
I spent the weekend watching John perform heroically at the Anaconda Adventure Race in Dunsborough (3 hours South of Perth). I had tried desperately to get a late entry in the mountain bike leg but to no avail. This was probably for the best in the end as the course was very sandy and the competitors were struggling to make the 3.5 hour cut off for only a 32 km ride/push.
This week I stole John's road bike (pictured) and did a delightful 3 day tour of the Chittering and Avon valleys about 80km to the East of Perth. In the main the roads were quiet and the bush flowers were blooming. I camped in the attractive towns of Toodyay and York and generally met some nice folk and had a good time. Best of all I got to try out all the songs that I perfected in Europe in the summer on the Australian wildlife.
17th September 2006, Perth, WA
G'Day from WA
I landed in Australia sometime after midnight on Friday. John and Michelle had come to meet me from the airport. John had thoughtfully made a sign (pictured) in case I didn't recognise him in his new native haircut.
Michelle's plan for me to recover from my jet lag was to play tennis all afternoon on Saturday. It seemed very hot and sweaty to me but the locals didn't seem bothered. A thoroughly sensible club where we stopped for afternoon tea and biscuits.
Did a tip top bike ride this morning in the Perth Hills that followed the slightly cheeky, but highly technical and excellent Eagle Trail and finally passed through the longest (and darkest) railway tunnel in WA. A few photos in the link below.
12th September 2006, Kinnersley, England
Where Women Glow and Men Plunder
Yes indeedy, I'm headed for a land down under. The fools have granted me a 12 month visa and I didn't even have to steal anything. This means that I'll have to find some work at some point, hopefully in Perth.
I will be taking my mountain bike and have lots of trips planned, not least an extended hop over to New Zealand.
Some ace programming hopefully means that I will be able to blog this page regularly to keep you up to date with my adventures. Now give me a vegemite sandwich.
Pedalabikeaway Away
Did a great little friendly sponsored bike ride in the Forest of Dean today. Accompanying me was Rich "Tomo" Thomson of Hanley Castle and Upton Cricket Club fame.
I have been meaning to explore the trails in the "Forest" for a while, but it is serious 6 fingered banjo player country so it was great to be able to do it in the safety of numbers. Came away with a map of the route as well so when it's not quite so near to the full moon I can go back and do it again.
Posted: 10/09/06
Wet Wales
Seeing as I'm off to sunnier climes in the not too distant future, I thought that I ought to sample the finer points of British moutain biking, mud and rain before I left. Where better to do this than Wales.
A traumatic train journey took me to Machynlleth where I spent a while sampling the local trails before heading off on a two day tour through Mid Wales to Abergavenny.
The trip was not without mis-haps, not least the many punctures I received from the recently strimmed hedgerows. I also bust a spoke but managed to get it fixed in the bike shop in Machynlleth. While they were at it they also cleaned my bike and told me the many other things that are wearing/worn out. Most of these I knew about but was in denial.
Mach 3 report and Machynlleth to Abergavenny report.
Posted: 07/09/06
The Long Way Home
On the 23rd June I took the ferry from Aberdeen to Shetland and then onto Bergen in Norway with the vague goal of exploring a bit of Europe and eventually getting to my family home in Worcestershire, England. Apart from some planned walking with old college friend, Simon, in Norway and a preference for ferries over planes I had few other preconceptions.
In the end I was away for just over 5 weeks visiting such foreign and strange parts as Shetland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland and East Anglia.
I have now organised all my journals and photographs which you can view by going to the Long Way Home index.
Posted: 17/08/06
Turned Out Nice Again
For the second year running myself, David and Lynda enjoyed superb weather for our coast to coast efforts.
One coast to coast wasn't enough this time so we went there and back. Starting in Inverness we cycled down the Great Glen to Fort William. We then made our way back to the East coast via the Cairngorms and the Speyside Way.
The only real calamity was when the bolt that clamps my saddle to the seat post sheared. Luckily we were only 5km from civilisation, although 5km standing up was far enough.
Although maybe not as challenging as last year's Kyle-Aberdeen route, the main goals of less roads, less pushing and more sunshine were easily achieved.
Blood, Sweat and Broken Gears
A real epic; a Munro climbed, a 640m descent, some filthy weather, a grazed knee, a broken chain and the sweetest natural singletrack in the area.
Paul said that he wanted to get some miles under his belt (before 10 Under the Ben) and that's what he got. As well as being soaked, frozen and clattered in mud.
As well as the long long descents, one of the highlights of the day was chatting with an entertaining old cove who first cycled up Mount Keen in 1952. We were impressed.
Click here to read more or here to see some photos.
Posted: 22/05/06
Great Drumtochty Challenge Conquered
A weekend of firsts; mine and David's first mountain bike orienteering event coincided with our first victory in a cycling race.
I would like to claim that our success was down to inspired tactics and route finding but as our main strategy was to look for good singletrack this may not have been the case. Good fitness, some fine decision making by David near the end and, of course, excellent teamwork saw us to a comfortable win in the senior male team class. We even got to ride the formidable Kerloch Hill and some sweet technical sections as well.
Highlights of the day included a superb display of retro Bell cycle helmets, learning two new words (whins and larchon), more singletrack than expected and winning. I did mention that we won didn't I?
Click here to read more or here to see some photos.