Canberra in the darkness.

Have been getting out quite a bit lately, the suburb of Kingston seems to have some kind of gravitational pull.

James lives there, which often provides a good starting point.



Then it's a stumble to the pubs. My favourite so far is the B-Bar; with a nice setup, pale ale on tap......


and good gin.


Occasionally Langers experiences a moment of clarity.


and we discover droids.....or hydrants?


And I Can't forget the Australia Day Stockmans Cut steaks, holy cow!!!!!

MTB Nationals - Stromlo

The MTBA Nationals were held at Stromlo MTB Park over the weekend. It was nice to stroll around there for once and not actually be competing in a 24hr race.

The trail looked great, with some serious technical sections and some really windy stuff.




Chris was racing again. Much the same as when we last saw him in Adelaide last November, he blew the field away. Almost two minutes of daylight before the rest of the field crossed the finish line!!





SS convert?


The A and B lines, over and around obstacles, often provided much entertainment; some harsh words were muttered.



Had a look at the DH run as well, some impressive stuff with some painful crashes!! But I think I'll stick with the 24hrs of pain.

The Pug.

Yes I went and bought another bike. But this one oozes with pure old school style!


A bit more expensive than the Lady, $150 with a full build of Suntour Cyclone and various other parts.


I didn't see much point in rebuilding the bike with the Cyclone gear as it wasn't in the best condition and wouldn't really serve a purpose as an unreliable geared bike. So a fixie it became, but with a difference - a brake and toe clips, for relaxed duties.

The frame is Tange double butted CrMo tubing and the model seems to be something along the lines of Classique or Prestige - well that's what's written on it!!




Looks like it hasn't ventured far from it's original seller. Who knows who Easgate Cycles and Harware was, but the old 7 digit Canberra number indicates it's a local.



And it even comes with subtitles if you can't speak French!


She rides like an absolute dream and may step up to heavier duties one day, but at the moment I just have to sit back and admire..........(sigh).

p.s. there's nothing wrong with my camera, just thought I'd give the photos a bit of an eighties feeling and fade the colours back. Enjoy.

New home.

Well I arrived in Canberra on the 4th of Jan and was welcomed in true Canberra style,. with a beautiful sunset over lake Burley Griffin.


Moved into my house the next day, discovered at least five cafes a five minute cycle away, found the local fresh food markets and planed my cycle route to work.

Yesterday I sold my soul to the devil (university started). Looks like it'll be a busy year! There'll be lots of travel, but none of my patented cycling odysseys. Had to grow up and do the hard yards I suppose and every day this year is money in the bank, or future funding for said odysseys!!!

So what are you trying to say???

Okay, it may be a ladies bike, but I bought it for Rach, honestly! And who could walk past a bargain like that - German imported ladies bike (still wiz ze German shop sticker)- $10.

After spending much of my spare time sifting through the more affluent suburb's hard rubbish I came across this gem at the dump shop.

Meet Lady.


It had a severely taco'd rear wheel which I replaced with a had lying around. From five speed to six speed the rear Positron derailleur didn't seem to mind at all.


I was most impressed with the fact that the dynamo and front and rear lights were still fully functioning. The rear light had been damaged in the taco'ing incident so I completely removed it (I'd rather a super bright Basta light on there for safety anyway) but the front lamp shines like the sun - at any speed above walking pace anyway!!



Only a few parts on the bike are Asian, most are French or German.




Unfortunately I found it just before I left Adelaide so we haven't been out on a double date yet (that's two bikes and two humans, just in case there is some confusion......)

X-mas and New Years.

Of course, the reason we all get holidays over the Dec/Jan period is to get pissed....um....celebrate Christmas and New Years. So here's some images of just how I did that.

Christmas Eve with Tim and friends.








Christmas drinks at Rach's house.








And New Years Eve with a seventies theme, still trying to figure out the relevance but it was fun either way.









Now for detox.....