Posted this over on 26 Inches, but thought you gys all being locals thought might stick it up here too.

At Manly Dam yesterday, riding up the fire road next to the pipe yesterday, pass a couple walking two large dogs off their leads. One of the dogs, a friken Doberman, walks right in front of me so I have to turn to avoid it ( not going that fast as it was still uphill).

Suddenly the dog goes berserk and starts running after me, barking. Then it bit me on the leg. Stoked. Lucky I had pads on. I stopped and got off my bike so that it was between me and the dog. The guy comes running over yelling at it and the dog runs off.

Well, it had to happen sooner or later... last night I tried to drive into our underground carpark with a bike on the roof rack.

I've been carrying bikes on a hitch mount for a while now, but this weekend had one on the roof for various reasons. Driving back from Blue Mtns remember looking at the car at the last stop and thinking, "I should open the sunroof so I remember it's there". But then not doing so because I thought I couldn't forget. Doh! Bit tired after driving around all day probably didn't help either.

Anyhow - I write all this as someone may be interested in what happens when you try and squash your bike into low clearance

Hi

Anyone keen to go for a lap, or two, or three around Narrabeen Lake tomorrow arvo?
Latest start time would have to be 5pm.

...in the lack displayed at The Oaks today, and will not be riding with particular people again unless they change their attitude, you know who you are.

However good you (think) you are or however fast you want to ride I would expect people posting a group ride here to behave with some consideration for the others they are riding with, which would include:

- If somebody stacks then you 'kin well stop and help out, not just ride past and say OK mate, then discover when you haven't seen the person behind for half an hour that they actually had a serious technical or physical problem that they didn't immediately realise in the five seconds they had to consider your question as you sped by. If certain people had cared to stop when I stacked they would have realised at the same time as I did that I had a broken left brake lever, which was only the beginning of me getting the shits today...

Just saw the ad on TV. A guy slams into a tree on his bike at full speed, his friends must have been filming it. and the story is about his treatment and stuff it seems. But i'm sure it will have loads of riding, plus loads of "the dangers our youth are up....where are your children now" usual media rants.
Might be worth a watch.
cheers
Mike

OK, after being able to clear everything else on the track there remains the nagging 19th hole A-Line. Having tried every other (3) line off the 19th hole last night I've almost convinced myself that the A-Line isn't as hard as it looks and can be taken just over walking pace as long as you get seat down and weight back.

Has anyone actually tackled this and got any tips?

Also what is probably the B line, to the left of the A line, caught me out last night, front wheel into dip before rock and OTB resulting in a stupid hand out hyperextended finger incident and very sore typing this morning! That one can certainly catch you out!

I notice more talk of LED on the board so thought would share this link that popped up today. Just in case you needed any more persuasion to DIY:

http://www.gearreview.com/2007_led_lights.php

Nah - OK - so these things are getting a little cheaper, but they are still waaaaaay pricey given how cheap the components we know are inside cost.

Actually - top of the range LEDs available at any one time will probably always beat what is inside commercials, just because of the lag that's needed for them to filter from the bleeding edge.

Hi Everyone

A few of us are riding at Oxford Falls on Wednesday 21st March. You're welcome to come along for a bit of a fun ride!

Time: 7.30pm (should we make it any earlier to take advantage of the failing light?)
Meeting: usual place
Bring - A beer!

Andrew

Hoping to hit up Garrigal NP this weekend for all those interested, mostly wide open fire trail with some hills. If its raining I wont be riding this trail as it is prone to flooding in places.

Meet at: Stone Pde in Davidson at trail head to National Park

Ride time: 8.30am

Ride Duration: Hoping to ride for close to 2-3 hours more if we can handle it.

Bring plenty of water and some munchies.

Hope to see some of you there for a spin on Sat.

Cheers

Sam

Well here we go again.
Daylight savings won't be around much longer so I'm thinking I will need to make up some lights soon to join you all on the night rides.
So I've been looking at putting some LED lights together. I'm sure I've got Rob's attention now

I was thinking of going a more simple route than Rob's setup. I was thinking just 2x 3W halogen replacement LED bulbs. Like this:
http://www.ledshoponline.com/high_power_mr16_led...

For power my friend has some old laptop batteries lying around. They are 3.7V 2000mah cells. And since he's a remote control helicopter flyer he's got all the charging gear for the lithium cells already. 3-4 cells in series should provide plenty of power for a fair few hours.

I went for a ride today, exploring this new industrial area they've put up near my place. I was riding down this new road which turned into a dirt track. So I thought I'd have a bit of an explore. This dirt track goes for about 500 metres, eventually leading to a farm's driveway ie a dead end. So I stopped for a sec, caught my breath before turning around to head back the way I came. Next thing, I look up to see these two massive dogs tearing down towards the road from this bloke's farm house. I hop straight on the bike and start sprinting hard down the road, while one of the dogs has jumped the fence! Anyway, the dog chased me for about 500 metres, almost grabbing my foot a few times.

hi all, just wondering who has entered into the sydney 24hr. I am entered in a team of 4, i think we will be quite slow as 2 of our team members are lucky to ride a few times a month and fitness is not one of there strong points, so our team could turn into 2 by the time night hits. Anyway we are in it for a bit of fun, a hopefully good track and to just generally have a good time. Our main goal will be to finish and to not come last in our category. I will be heading there friday morning to setup camp and to run a few test laps. If anyone wants to meet up over the weekend for a chat and hello, give me a yell