Lying in bed last night listening to the howling winds and teeming rain I thought dang you’ve really gotta love riding in the bush to plan a 20-30km single track ride when the forecast includes sleet, hail, storms, strong winds with a cosey temperature around ride time of 6 degrees to top it off. Either that or you’re just plain NUTS. (more…)
My old POS Bell helmet has done a good job of protecting my head during a lot of crashes over a lot of years — especially on the Mountain Uni. I probably should’ve replaced it a long time ago, but it seems I have a weird shaped head and finding a helmet that is a snug fit isn’t an easy task. Thanks to The Bike Vault in Castlemaine and a change of Australian safety standards my head is now sporting a cool fresh lid — a Fox Flux complete with a graffiti ‘Punk Black’ style paint job and a rear spoiler, to assist flight control I guess 🙂 (more…)
Three sunny and cool Winter days equaled an idyllic Queens Birthday long weekend in Central Victoria so when the chance came up to ride the Mt Franklin to Vaughan Springs section of the Great Dividing Trail (now called the Goldfields Track Victoria) I jumped on it, even though I last rode it a week ago and was still feeling pretty well beat up from a recent crash. (more…)
In 2005 as part of a book project I had the opportunity to explore and photograph many of Bendigo’s historic properties. Early one morning I drove up to Bendigo to photograph sunrise over the inner city from the roof of the Hotel Shamrock, a grand 19th century building that is very much a part of region’s gold rush history.
To get to the small square section of roof where the flagpole stands I had to pass through the vacant fifth floor which had an eerie vibe. Heading back down after sunrise I noticed a series of doorways, the dark and the light, the cracked and peeling grubby walls, the colors, and the word ESCAPE with an arrow pointing down. (more…)
Full fingered gloves are the norm when mountain unicycling (MUni) , not because of wind chill due to the blazing speeds achieved on one wheel but because you crash a LOT and your hands and wrists take a beating. It’s not surprising that MUni gloves come with strapping and a flexible splints. (more…)
Some shake, rattle and roll in the bones after yesterday’s crash so no riding today. Instead I headed out to Maldon to walk some of the trails on Mt Tarrengower — good way to get to know them better though maybe sometimes the things you notice while walking might put you off next time you’re riding them! (more…)
Crash day finally arrived today, biggest crash in a long time and first decent one on the Mojo HD. It hurt, and taught me a good lesson too. Not that I didn’t get fair warning that I was being stupid… (more…)
I lost count a long time ago of how many rear derailleurs have met their end while out riding — ripped off, busted apart, you name it — no biggie as the life of a rear derailleur on a MTB is often a short and sweet thing. But looking through old slides the other day I came across one of the funniest MTB mechanicals I’ve had over the years which involved a substantial branch and the rear wheel. Somehow the derailleur survived, unlike most of the spokes. (more…)