Earlier start than usual, meant to be 8, became 8.15, and still they werent at my place so i meandered round the road to petes, and we got going from there, Patten St, Retreat, Dallington round past Horseshoe lake, Lakewood Drve, Burwood Rd, to the plantation. hung a right out there, did the south track, stuck behind slow people a few times, trails had a few puddles, muddy sand if thats possible, or sandy mud. great for the brand spanking drive train. bah. headed along the beach, and back in but as we still had heeaps of time we did the next section of the circuit, north a bit, then across what's been know as Muddy Rd, then back to the carpark. people we encountered through there were a fair bit faster than the few we encountered on the first section. then we cruised it to Horseshoe lake and planted a whole bunch of native plants for Trees For Canterbury... yay!!!!! Last years planting at the same site is looking pretty good too.
Oh yeah, and i'm still loving me new forks...
Monday, October 10, 2005
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Minute Ride, lost Adidass
they rock. the new forks ROCK. felt rather long and weird at first, but i've gotten used to it. its quite the effort riding UP hill with them up. wound them down and easy climbing. rockin' on up the hill, Pete, Andrew, Tony and me. Steve was resting his back for the Nelson travels in less than a fortnight. so, up rapaki we went, turned right, that first hairpin there is rutty, bit of a struggle to make it round without dabbing. Pete was filming with his camera on the front. after we crossed the road, i tightened up my headset, seating in as it was, and bloody well left my bag unzipped a little... as a result, somewhere between there and home lie my sunglasses in their wee hard black case. BAH! i loved those sunnies. so if you find them, can you let me know?
anyway, down Bowenvale we honked. took every steep line, Tony had a little trouble i think, lovely lovely trail that. one of my favourites, and a couple spots that let me know how well i'm riding. one of my Gauge trails... sooooon i shall venture up and see if i can find the glasses. its pissy weather today, so wouldnt wanna go there now. maybe tomorrow. i struggle to live without shades.
anyway, down Bowenvale we honked. took every steep line, Tony had a little trouble i think, lovely lovely trail that. one of my favourites, and a couple spots that let me know how well i'm riding. one of my Gauge trails... sooooon i shall venture up and see if i can find the glasses. its pissy weather today, so wouldnt wanna go there now. maybe tomorrow. i struggle to live without shades.
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Minutes... and millenia
Little Ak was excellent. walked, looked at countryside, sea, did my back in either carrying Otis or breaking branches off fallen gum-limbs, threw sticks for dog.
K brought my bike over last night, now i have delicious 130mm forks, Manitou Minutes... kinda minute 3.00, but kinda minute 1.00's, custom fitted, they're a 3.00 lowers with the coil spring of a 1.00 instead of airspring... mostly 04 bits but the spv valves are new 05 bits... looking forward to riding them tonight. now the only thing left of my original KHS ProST is the front wheel and rear derailleur and the shifters. they seem to always be the last bits to be replaced as i slowly replace my entire bikes over the years... strange that.
oh, i'm reading the absolutely most fantastic book at the moment, called A Short History of Progress. its all about our human evolution and civilisation and progress and 'progress traps' as he calls them. its VERY well written and so incredibly interesting. if you ever get the chance you should find it and read it. (eg, put a hold on it at the library, you might have to wait a while, but you'll get it eventually, its not just gonna magically appear on the shelves sometime, cos people have it requested to the max, i waited almost6 months to get it) puts a lot of things in perspective. for example, agriculture and cities/civilisation have only really come about in the last 10,000 years, agriculture was slowly developing 20-10K years ago, and various domestications of plants and animals across the globe, independent of each other have only occurred within the last 10K years, eg, wheat, barley, sheep, cows in fertile crescent 10K years, potatos maize etc central/south america 6K years ago, and millet and rice in east asia about that or 8k years ago. prior to that the climate was more variable, up til 15K years ago was ice age, and that was in and out up til about 10, and since then the climate has been very stable, thereby enabling us to build the civilisations we've built culminating in what we have today. his point is that our staple foods, wheat, barley, millet, rice, corn, and all the other vegetables we eat were developed thousands of years ago, and all our cultures are grounded on a good climate that enables the production of these staples. along comes major climate change, and there's evidence that ice ages can hit in a matter of decades, not centuries, and we're screwed. he thinks our current "befouling of the nest" is seriously upsetting the balance of the world's climate... anyway, obviously there's a heck of a lot more to the book than a 316 word ramble by me in the short amount of time and space i've got here.
K brought my bike over last night, now i have delicious 130mm forks, Manitou Minutes... kinda minute 3.00, but kinda minute 1.00's, custom fitted, they're a 3.00 lowers with the coil spring of a 1.00 instead of airspring... mostly 04 bits but the spv valves are new 05 bits... looking forward to riding them tonight. now the only thing left of my original KHS ProST is the front wheel and rear derailleur and the shifters. they seem to always be the last bits to be replaced as i slowly replace my entire bikes over the years... strange that.
oh, i'm reading the absolutely most fantastic book at the moment, called A Short History of Progress. its all about our human evolution and civilisation and progress and 'progress traps' as he calls them. its VERY well written and so incredibly interesting. if you ever get the chance you should find it and read it. (eg, put a hold on it at the library, you might have to wait a while, but you'll get it eventually, its not just gonna magically appear on the shelves sometime, cos people have it requested to the max, i waited almost6 months to get it) puts a lot of things in perspective. for example, agriculture and cities/civilisation have only really come about in the last 10,000 years, agriculture was slowly developing 20-10K years ago, and various domestications of plants and animals across the globe, independent of each other have only occurred within the last 10K years, eg, wheat, barley, sheep, cows in fertile crescent 10K years, potatos maize etc central/south america 6K years ago, and millet and rice in east asia about that or 8k years ago. prior to that the climate was more variable, up til 15K years ago was ice age, and that was in and out up til about 10, and since then the climate has been very stable, thereby enabling us to build the civilisations we've built culminating in what we have today. his point is that our staple foods, wheat, barley, millet, rice, corn, and all the other vegetables we eat were developed thousands of years ago, and all our cultures are grounded on a good climate that enables the production of these staples. along comes major climate change, and there's evidence that ice ages can hit in a matter of decades, not centuries, and we're screwed. he thinks our current "befouling of the nest" is seriously upsetting the balance of the world's climate... anyway, obviously there's a heck of a lot more to the book than a 316 word ramble by me in the short amount of time and space i've got here.
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