pushies,pasta&protest

Today is a good day. Probably not a good day to die, as that sucks, and not a good day to diet, that sucks harder. Cruisy day for cruising the city streets. Wierd done about thirty jobs, and haven't gone further east than Frome, south of Gouger or west of Morphett. Getting a bit sketchy none-the-less, taken some very, very small gaps, some bodge overtaking on North Terrace and not really paying enough attention in general. Still today is a good day.

Ran into Lars on Philips Street, showed off his scars from the weekend. Still plans to race next month, but has already missed a week's work. Tim has borrowed a car so looks like I'm feeling obliged to race on Sunday. Wierd how you know you enjoy something but can spend so much energy looking for excuses not to do it. Guess it's an aversion to the 'Rocky Paddock', I'm one of those wierdos that think Mountain bike races should be held in the forest (unless it's a World Cup Downhill race being held in central Lisbon, that looked cool). Rocky Paddock race will be differnet in as much as the track is really short, I think A-grade have to do 8 laps. Psych game will be important and going to have to saty on ball where overtaking and being overtaken is concerned. Still prob good race in lead up to Kona24HR, believe the tracks may have a bit in common.

Today is a good day, but lunch is too short...

Dan C and Lance House at Dan and Lance's House
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me with photo
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Will with post-its
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Dan C with photo
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will at fox creek
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How to fit three bikes and three people into a very small 4wd
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The Brazilian girl that works at Clinton's.
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Me, Will and the Thing at Fox Creek
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will and a monsterous mountainbiker
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Cruisy day, hardly any work, nice overcast day, no reason to hurry, but too much coffee. I'm flying around like it's 1645 of Friday and I've got a bag ful of expresses. I've done about fifteen jobs today, already checked my email, read an article about Stuart OGrady and perused the newspaper.

Most exciting things today is confirmation of KONA entry and news about my sister's new blog.

Now need to look up prices of cheap rental vans we can take into the Victorian bush and waiting to here from Viscious Power to see if I can borrow a kick arse light set.

Mmmm... tofu curry

what sort of loser spends lunch time typing emails, checking a list admin interface, ringing someone about an email and writing pointless crud on a blog?

answer = me

This site is now google's number one site if you search for pushies! Do the rest of the world call bicycles pushies, or is it only an aussie thing? I think treddlies is cooler but I've never really used it, I think it's more Victorian than Queensland. Also wondering if people spell pushies 'pushies' or 'pushees'?

Recent excitements: got my new Shimana 221 cross-country shoes that I won at the Dirty Weekend, carbon soles, 2 straps and a ratchett, tres cool but daggy colours. Why is it Shimano's giant R&D department doesn't include a group of Italians whose job it is is to make stuph look good? Definitely racing Kona24hr. Feeling pretty good, need much more training and it's about time to take health issues very serious, everything go to plan and podium placing not too unrealistic. Bought new Ritchey WCS stem, cool rainbow stripes, just a smudgen over a hundred grams for a 120mm 6 bolt stem. Booked Thomas Hill study centre at Fox Creek for Ellie finish thesis party, two days of mtbs and funky beats, lots of food etc...

mmm... salad...mmmm

The thing about blogging is, when you've got nothing going on you have lots of time to write but nothing to write about; and when life's exciting, you've got lots to write but no time to type.

Massive weekend. 100+kms of trails. Really starting to nail the technical climb in the second half of the Prospect Hill track. Much faster than I've ever been on the descents and my fire track climbing stronger than ever, beginning to master the sprint over the crest. Will and Dan did the ride and camp. Lots of fun.

We got the Bike SA arrows in as the sun set. Finished loop two off in the morning whilst people were riding loop one. Got given bags of nuts, sultanas and lollies, finger buns and stacks of bananas. Loop one was a flatish cruise around near Chookarloo and Kuipto Forest HQ. Loop two a much more demanding hill fest incorporating the XC track. At one stage we'd accidently added a final arse tearer to loop two, but I rerode it and we put the track nearer where it was supposed to go. The speedo watchers shouldn't have room to winge, if anything loop two was about 5kms longer than advertised.

Camping was an experience. Bogans in camp next to us at Chookarloo with heavy metal and drunken screams. We ended up packing up and camping at the end of a dead end road in the forest. Advantage of bivvy camping is ease of packing up and moving on.

Wierd highlights included driving along the freeway at sixty-five km/hr in an over laden and clapped out Suzuki; rocking up at a doof at 0730 and trying to explain to the sleep deprived raver folk that we had better things to do in the forest than hang around a campfire with a bunch of flouroclad folk coming down off acid and who-knows-what; and receiving a sms from Lars saying he'd bloodied himself up while riding with a 10-15kg backpack on.

In other news: Tim raced his first crit and didn't embarrass himself, Ellie did lots of work and some gardening and who knows what went on in my house, I haven't got there yet.

Didn't blog all week. Have used a computer, but no blog action. Why? Is my life too droll for my own patience? Have I had too much else too do? Is internet access just too expensive? Am I a slack bum?

Have to say the last guess is the right one. Went to Kuipto foresty last Sunday. Good burl around the PRospect Hill XC track. Some of the logs in the jumps are a bit worn and the climb out of the first section even more eroded than before. Found a cool piece of single to hte east of the race track. Lots of big fire road climbs.

Going down there again this weekend. Bike SA do 'track and trail" rides. I ride around and put arrows in the ground so middle aged people with a lack of mtb skills can ride around for a couple of hours and not get lost, then I ride around and pick the arrows up. For about 60 people to have a four hour social mtb ride it takes a minimum of about 8 volunteers, some of us 3 to 4 8-hr days. Least we get free finger buns and bananas for our efforts, and for a car free nut like myself the gauranteed lift helps a shiteload.

I made it into "Enduro Magazine", sort of... referred to in an article about the Dirty Weekend by one of the team mongoose riders. At least it's a start. Will have to start sending race reports to the east coast magazines as they seem to have an allergy preventing them from printing the names of SA riders (unless they're the number ten junior in the world, or the number two rider in the country).

must be off, the beautiful sky is demanding my attention.

Beware WARRANTY CLAIMANT. I know a person who only buys items with a lifetime warranty; then rides/runs them into the ground. Cheapest way to keep up with product advancement. Insurance can be great. Face it, most bikes that actually get used for stuff get stolen. Paying for insurance means you can panic less and you can save to upgrade the new bike you get when someone does steal it. I'm to sentimental to practice what I preach and lock my trusty battle-axe up with a kryponite d-lock.

Battle-axe is great, wheeler roadie, heavy ass wheels (capag sydney 2000 with deore hub and 36 spokes, and ritchey aero-roadroad rim with a 32 spoke xt hub). Tiagra and exgage groupo(hah!) Almost indestructible, and pretty darn cost effictive. Main prob I've had is flat tyres, and you can't blaim the bike if dumb arses think the passenger window was invented for the disposal of otherwise recyclable containers.

Best way to damage my wheels is to stick your foot into the front wheel why flexing at about 40kms/hr.

Best thing about flexing accidents is that your over the front of the bike and when you come down your arms are no where near where they could be useful. Got to love it.

I'm a nerd

Skipping breakfast is the dumbest thing in the world. been so hungry all day and probably will stay hollow till tomorrow. Wasted lunch playing with this box. Need to go to a bike shop, do some vegie shopping, pay bills etc....

Saw Emily who used to live at my place. She's just got back from Indonesia, sounds like it was too good.

Frisbee in the park tonight. Will have to start a blog dedicated to the Frisbee Fridays. Bugger ultimate frisbee, our rules involve lots of frisbees, beer and lots of stoopidity.

Must lobby for a six hour lunch break, would make the day go so much quicker.

Yay! Absolutely nothing remarkable happened today. Today was pure drudgery, with only the slightest hint of tedium and the wee smallest dash of excitement. Only had one woman do the old turn right without looking, and one dickhead in a van do the old change three lanes at once without checking mirrors or indicating.

Ever tried to do list administration. Everyday you have to go through and throw out more spam than you could believe. No I do not want to buy viagra caps, no I do not my credit rating checked, and what ever it is your selling me in Korean, forget it!

Excitement plus, someone found this site through a google search. They were looking for photos of the Mont 24hr, my apologisees to that kind and amazing person, I didn't make it. It's so cool that a real human saw this site, without me having to threaten them with a three month old sharehouse carrot.

Sun has came out, so I guess that means it's time for me to head towards a dark corner of a dingy pub. Bye.

yay! another wierd arse day. Express jobs, then sit and wait. Normally don't have the sort of time to sit and play blogs in the morning, but as I said, wierd arse day. As hot yesterday was, today is grey. Not really wet, definitely not cold, just grey. So grey waking up was the hardest thing in the world. So grey I don't wanmt to put my sunnies on, even though I know there are massive bags under my eyes. So grey even the biggest pancake in the world, two coffees and muffin just ain't enough...

still, better grey than hot... better hot than wet... better wet than at work

Sitting on a futon at a mac. Nora St. home to a dan, a will, an olli and a lance. This house rocks. fresh fruit, bicyles and inspiration.

Added more links to site, done nothing useful or historic but thought a lot. discussion about the signifance of action, the reduncy of regret and the need to live today.

Indymedia sites under attack, other free-media outlets shutdown. Must be time for an election.

We haven't really had any spring weather, and kerblammo! Summer hits. 36 degs Celsius. Windy too. The wind takes the edge off, but when you're pushing up into it the heat really bites. Three litres of water and counting. I'll probably drop a kilo in weight today just in moisture loss.

Sick of people who spend all winter complaining about the cold. 15 degs is great if your exerting yourself, perfect mountainbike weather, rain keeps the weekend warriors away. 36 degs burns your soul, scorches eyeballs and leaves you a sticky mess.

Coming to the opinion that car racing should be banned. Sunday V8 supercars raced at Bathurst, Sunday night riding home I had a sports coupe play chicken with me and I saw a Commodore rapped around a stobie pole and left to burn. Cars aren't toys. Stupid people shouldn't drive.

Need another flatmate, Becque needs to move as her dog can't cope with our minimalist yard. Don't know where I'm going to find a young vegetarian bike rider, but never know rent at our place is dirt cheap and the house is amazing.

Howard and co. have won the election. Or more rightly, Labor lost the election. Too many ads, not enough info. Probably should have offered free pasta to everyone. Mind you, it must be hard to win an election with both media moguls publically supporting the incumbant.
Mind you, my suspicion is that it reflects how many Australians are in debt up to the eyeballs and are therefore scare witless by the prospect of any rise in interest rates.

oh, well. We can look for to three more years of tax cuts for the wealthy and wage cuts for the poor. Yay!

was planning on holidaying in New Zealand next year, might look at land emmigrating if Oz keeps up the downward spiral.

Elections tomorrow. Hopefully howard the rat doesn't win. Probably will. Then he'll retire and his number one toadie costello will take the reigns, this guy is a neo-liberal smirker, no morals, no charisma and not a trace of humanity. At least Howard is very easy to make fun of.

Trasharama-au-go-go is on at the Mercury tonight. What a fine night of zed grade cimena awaits.

Another weekend of washing clothes and riding bikes coming up. May go for a night ride if I can talk a sucker into it.

More stupid rules at work. More stupid work at work. Work is stupid.

I love my job.

must be off, eyes turning square
Added hit counter to site, did an IQ test 138, i think that's good, but I know all IQ tests are a joke.

my attempt to post from melbourne airport was a waste of two bucks, and tewnty minutes of verbose typographical nonsense. All the way back in Adelaide now. Adelaide's just the way i left it, only the wind is stronger. Must be off beer and salad await.

At the Airport, woo-hoo. What a way to spend the day. facing imminent prospect of delayed flights due to security scare at check-in counters here at Melbourne International. I'm already in, having disembarked from a unremarkably unremarkable fli9ght from Brisbane. Been reading "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" by Tom Robbins, hence my over eagerness to type in a verbose manner fitting of a first year student trying desperately to reach a word limit unnattainable with a mere three hours of research.

Loved seeing my neices and family. Didn't see any friends, got a mere six hours of riding in. Gap Creek trails rock. Nice to go to Brisbane in a month other than January, much nicer. However Brisbane is already hot, and untypically dry. Tinder dry in fact and I wouldn't be suprised to find out the trails I rode on Monday have been burnt out in today's blazes. Must say, a six-hour-never-use-the-same-track-twice burl around Mt. Cootha was a very plaesant way to spend my Labour Day Holiday.

Made a nice meal for the family today. Spagetti, boiled with fresh basil, parsely and oregano added for flavour. Candied onion and garlic, fried with s, tomato, carrot, broccolli and beans (put in pan in that order, OLIVE OIL) olive oil and vinegar drizzled for flavour plush lashings of salt and pepper.

Must be careful crddit card salesman doesn't corner me as I leave this terminal.

Chris at IF, with evil coffe nazi
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Chris at IMA
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Chris and Jen and Installation
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Jen, Chris and Mandy outside IMA, Mandy apologises for pulling an aweful face
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Tae, the Irrepressible
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DRCC Dirt Crit Oct2, Bushland Park Ashgrove
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Chris and Mandy at the IMA
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Lucy the amazing... AKA PurpleTiger
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Hey, I'm not in the back room at Drift. I'm at my big sisters place, in sunny BrisVegas. This computer is weird. My niece Lucy is normally on this computer. The keyboard is covered in stickers. She likes rathergood.com. I think it's a little bit disturbing. Also disturbing is the floating Pokeything that's making noises at me. This house is cat heaven. A million cats on the walls. A trillion toy cats in every nook, plus a smattering of the real things. My two nieces are diametrically opposite in every way. Lucy is tall, thin and quiet, a seven year old cat-oholic and a lover of computer games and fantasy. She also likes Bjork. Tae, is a two year old ball of kinetic energy who thinks Spiderman rocks. Tae is currently in the fridge.

More tyre trouble so no race this morning. Watched the dirt crit. Pretty small crew, mainly teenagers racing. Track definitely on the tame side. Still, interesting event and a good intro to racing. Definitely keen to get similar race happening in SA, but definitely going to add some more technical sections to any track.

There was movement at the station....
Dan's putting on an exhibition of street art stuff at Drift. Only thing is it starts at 1800 it's now 1745 and not all the art's here yet. Laura's off to Cambodia, Jeremy's holding court on the couch and Tim's got his helmet back on, and I'm still waiting for my soy-moccha-carob-ina (iced-coffe, soymilk, carob syrup, coconut...)

Stencilrevolution.com has cool art.

Puncture this morning before work, second puncture before lunch. yay. Got UST tubeless tyres for my XC bike. Just read heaps of reviews, really seem like a love/hate thing amognst mountain bikers. I'm going to give it a go. Last week's crushing defeat still stings. Found a couple of really good sites with heaps of MTB forums irule.co.nz and bikemajic.com.

Beautiful day, feel sorry for those who work indoors.