Rob's blog

After a bit of pondering and the like, lookie what showed up on my doorstep this arvo? Shiny new Bianchi Cross Veloce. Actually better looking in the flesh (my pic I mean, than the one on their site) 'cos you can see the nobby tires, and the wheels are black.

Ahhhhh... all the badnessness of couple weeks back is gone. New grips (ODI Ruffian) + new brake blade. All sorted.

Note to self: get some circlip pliers or a spare for next time. Luckily it did as it was told, but that pesky little clip could have shot off into the oblivion of the garage all too easily.

I've been riding with Fox Sidewinder gloves for a ages now. Can't really remember when I bought these but must be well over a year ago. At some point back then I decided that wearing fingerless gloves was a bad idea and began using them on every ride.

Anyhow, so they are beginning to split where the main leather (artificial?) palm meets the reinforced plastic type material on the outer (little finger) side.

Picked up some Fox Static gloves (size - L - feel a little tight but should bed in nice) as replacement yesterday. They have a Kevlar palm panel where the others had that plastic type stuff. But the main reason for this choice though was double thickness panelling and double stitching on the palm - should be more comfortable and last longer.

Not that any of this is particularly interesting, but at least I will have a record of when they were purchased and will be able to gauge how they last.

Dunno if anyone knew, but my time of walking to work has gone, replaced most of this week by sitting on a bus in traffic (yerch!).

However, today things changed. Finally got everything sorted for a ride to the office, and here it is:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/episode/view....

Stats are wrong for a number of reasons, and a few wrong turns were taken. But the ride wasn't that bad at all so hopefully this will become a regular occurrence.

Can't do this all the time on the Rush of course. So... suggestions for a commuter bike?

Well, I had to make a note of this somewhere and here is good a place as any.

Just changed the chain on the Rush. HG53 lasted (consults MotionBased) just over 400Km in just over 2 months... pretty pathetic.

Let's see how the replacement HG93 goes - it is a little cheeky Cannondale don't give you a quality chain right off the bat though, given the measly cost difference (I paid 20 bucks for the HG93 from T7 - picked up a couple at that price... niiiice).

OK, so - the 'eventful' Dirtworks this year?

As I say on MB, "First 50 looking good, around 70Ks beginning to falter, last 20Ks - pure hell! Didn't eat/drink enough to keep the early pace going. Doh!"

As I often joke, I should write a book about what not to do on an MTB. On this occasion the planning was probably OK, but poorly executed I suffered for it.

Oh happy day - this evening I finally conquered the last part of the Dam that has been getting the better of me for years (well, a couple anyhow). Of course I refer to the technical climb shortly after the golf view (or the talking/meeting rock).

The first time I rode this trail (sometime end of '04) I thought that most was doable - but there was that one part that I figured was pretty much impossible. Well, two and a half years later, and many, many attempts, it's all over for the Dam, I can ride the lot. Hurrah!

Great feeling, and then to go on and storm up the boardwalk and over the next peak without dabing was also nice (although that has been done before).

P.S. Please don't ask me to repeat the feat on camera - although Bruce and Caro where on hand to whiteness this minor miracle I can't vouch for when it might happen again

Someone was asking how Japan was... the answer is very nice thankyou. How did you know I was there? No secrets round here is the answer I guess

Anyhow, I've often said that I thought one could go a fair bit faster on skis then a bike but have come across some non-believers in my time.

The fastest time I've recored off road on a bike so far has been 54.4Km/h down part of the Tianjara Fire Trail:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/1452504

Update: Ah, actually, I think faster was had from the helipad to gate on this run down The Oaks, looks like maybe 56-57Km/h:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/1856460

Quicker still down the Causeway means the exact figure isn't shown (erm... that, and a crazy GPS error right at the end).

Over 40Km/h is routine at places like Cascades, but I believe the above is fastest in the MB digest. Maybe I'm just a wimp when off road... have hit over 70Ks on sealed stuff (coming down Black Mountain in Canberra) so those rocks and dirt must be hurting either the rolling resistance or one's sense of security

Whist in Japan though had the chance to ski with a GPS, and also on some fast runs - they were groomed to perfection in Shiga Kogen and as there was no snow during the day for the first few of the trip this landed some nice fast runs. The GPS shows that one can hit 50-60Km/h down just about any wide open run. It also shows that max speeds completely blitz a bike, day 3 here I managed 105.3Km/h:

http://trail.motionbased.com/trail/activity/2078011

Nice, eh? So there you go - skis will beat a bike any time (erm... that there is snow on the ground and it's a big slope!)

So... we were over in WA (Perth->Augusta->Margaret River->Perth) over the holidays. As you might expect, the trip involved a lot of eating and drinking and generally not really getting much exercise. Thought a quick note about the few hours we got to do something vaguely energetic was worthwhile though.

There was something a little different going on this week... a spot of 'commuting' on the bike. Well, sort of commuting - not in the usual sense (I walk to work daily) but in the 'riding on the road of an evening' way. The car needed some work so had to get to Gladesville from home in St Leonards and back. Dropping it one evening and collecting the next with a quick ride filling the gaps seemed the way to go...

... and to be honest, on this showing, commuting by bike must be a very sensible option. Not only is this going to keep you in great shape, but it might take just about the same time. Note that the trips this week were actually taken probably way after most people would be travelling - 7-8pm so the advantage of the bike is very much diminished, but even so, the time taken to ride was only twice that of the trip by car. Let's not forget during the peak I wouldn't have been able to drive in... erm... the rather rapid way I usually do - there would be much more time spent queuing at intersections and the like.