Blogs

Big thank you to Scott who guided me around Manly Dam today. Lots of fun. Apologies for not hanging around for a chat but thought I was going to swallow my heart. Hope to ride with you again. Perhaps we can get the girls out sometime.
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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.

Here's the profile from today's ride... we agreed, it was toughest 14km Craig or I had ever 'ridden':

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

I use the term 'ridden' loosely as much of this was lugging bikes up from the abyss that is at the end of the left fork of Road to Nowhere. Yes, yes, my profuse apologies to Craig - the rides was perfect right up until the point he mentioned how good it was going and perhaps we should swing back and join the XC circuit. At this point there might even have been time for a side trip to Moon Rock when we got there.

Well, I'm not going to blog about every ride I go on, so check out my MotionBased digest for that. Well - if I've remembered to take the trusty Edge along

Not much to say about this... I'm only blogging here to record the results for fun

Not much to say about this... I'm only blogging here to record the results for fun