Hidden Treasure (2 of 2)

Riverhead Forest is four km from my front door.






I had an actual adventure, trying to navigate my way to the WCRC xc loop on dirt and gravel from my house, rather than road. The thin ribbon of dirt in the distance was where I was trying to get to...

This photo is taken from the other side, with me sitting up top of the thin ribbon of dirt that I described before. Where I had come from was the ridge to the right of the above photo, via the trail you can see snaking down from right to left. The line of pines conceals a main road. The more familiar I'm getting with my desolate new territory the more I'm enjoying it. God bless buggering about on bikes.

Packin' for bikepackin'

Heading to the Southern Isle tomorrow and will see the month out down there. Hoping to get in a spot of bikepackin', a catch up with family and friends, and a solid dose of hills, trees and water (thereby removing any need I have of taking 'pot shots' at coachroaches as they climb the walls). Perhaps stupidly, I have decided to pack my singlespeed roadbike for the trip. Memories of the pain suffered of my last one geared Tasmanian mission seem to have gone AWOL...

It's raining outside so packing feels appropriate. Huon has jumped at the opportunity to assist and has been happily twirling spanners and spinning wheels. He doesn't know it yet, but I've thrown the Weeride baby seat in for good measure. I'm keen as mustard to get the little bloke on the bike and up into the mountains. Roll on the morning I say!

Vivat Rex (1 of 2)

My life is a whirlwind. A fulfilling and happy whirlwind but a whirlwind nonetheless. Gore Vidal said famously that one should never turn down the opportunity to have sex or appear on television. I've taken this on board as a mantra however have amended slightly to include trail riding.

Having not touched my trail bike for two weeks it's come to pass that I find myself able (not at the expense of anything else) to ride two days consecutively.

Day one I shot to my favourite favourite place to ride, The Royal Albany Trails. This place is awesome. 16 and a half KM of tight, twisty, mesmerizing old school xc singletrack tucked Tardis like into a small block of Massey University Land. The trails are beautifully organised and the riding rewards concentration and makes one feel agile and strong.The trail swoops,snakes and turns back in and around itself seemingly endlessly. I never ever tire of switchbacks and I counted about 1590000 of them. Bring glasses (the vegetation can encroach at times), water (It's reeeally hot in the bush) and your full concentration. Leave your white 800mm bars at home.

One For The Rook, One For The Crow...

Out today on a (ultimately fruitless) mission to find a new UBS cable for my camera I came across this stunning work for $14 and I couldn't pass it up. I've always been rather enchanted by this album cover and having the chance to own it in a tangible form was too good to pass up.

This album sounds HUGE, apparently there are about 70000 guitar overdubs on each track or some such. It's pleasing to mine ears and I'm sure will be the soundtrack to many a solo spin. Their blog isn't bad at all either.

With a couple free hours tomorrow I'm heading out to my favorite place to ride in Auckland and will have heaps of photos to document I'm sure ( Turns out I can just mate my camera to the laptop. Who knew?). Apart from the daily commute the riding has been sparse as I've been (happily) wrapped up in my own modern life at the moment...



This thing is beginning to resemble a favorite family broom, three new heads and seven new handles. Only the cranks, stem and frame are stock, I'll burn through those eventually.