'The Grand Bocle', (which is Australian for 'La Grande Boucle', which is French for 'The Big Loop') is the term JP coined for the ride we undertook today.

We decided to undertake a loop of Canberra via softroads; so, mounting our fast dirt steeds, we headed out from Gunghalin and through Forde to the conservation area at Mulligan's Flat. Great quality road and no cars but a bit of water...

It was a short spell on the Federal Highway before we reached the base of Mount Majura and the fire roads surrounding it. Great views were plentiful and flowing trails, with the occasional climb, lead us past Mount Ainslie, Campbell and into Russell. Following the path around the Eastern side of Lake Burley Griffin we decided to lunch at VeloRepublic, how appropriate.

Before we cooled off too much we jumped back on the bikes and navigated our way back onto the dirt along the side of Red Hill, through Yaralumla and almost to Deaks Forrest before we followed the fire trails through the Arboretum (I don't know what that means either...). Soon enough we reached Black Mountain, and the hardest climbs of the day; the steep undulating firetrails lead us through Bruce Ridge and back onto Gunghalin Drive where we had to endure a few kilometres of bike path to get back to my place.

The ride ended up at 70km long and we considered it the basis for many future variations; for instance we think it'd be possible to design a ride in excess of 150km if we wanted, or even bias one toward a series of painful climbs. We do know that it was a great way to spend four hours on a crisp 12 degree Canberra day!

And there's more to come on the latest incarnation of the Slingshot!! Drop-bar MTB AIR!!!!

This weekend was the annual CSC 200, the brainchild of Ed, the masochist. The concept being a ride from Canberra to Batemans Bay (197.4km) with his vision being the following:

1) The route there is raced, but it'll be neutral until we're off the Captain's Flat road - I don't want chaos in traffic. The race finishes at the Bateman's Bay the marina.
2) Party / Dinner
3) A cruise back the next day, easier route.
4) Self-supported

Needless to say, it wasn't the most social ride I'd ever done, but allowed those who wanted to really test themselves to push as little or as much as they wanted; unlike some other rides I've done that had ended up being painfully slow, the result of riding as fast as the slowest rider.

A somewhat unlikely bunch of riders, it seemed that we had inadvertently created a Solo World Championships training camp, with only one of the fourteen riders not competing in October. Bikes were a mix of back country tourers, dual suspension and super light race bikes - the recurring theme however, was the popularity of 29ers, proof of there endurance prowess.

It all started at 6am, Wooley St, Disckson; on a freakishly warm winter morning with temperatures reaching a scorching 3.9 degrees, the warmest for a month or so! Fueled by Joel's strict breakfast of rich jam donuts, we headed through the burbs to Majura for a lap of the single track at the break of dawn; by the time we started heading toward Queanbeyan the sun had risen, with beautiful view of the Majura Plain.

Bitumen lead us all the way over the range and onto Hoskinstown Plain where the roads straightened before we hit the dirt which was flowing and smooth until we hit the Talleganda Ranges where it got rockier and headed up. Soon enough we hit the smooth stuff again just before Major's Creek and it was back on with the winter clothes as the cross winds were freezing.

The views descending into Araluen Valley were astonishing and it was fast bitumen once we reached the valley floor; the reward for our work so far was hot food and cold beverages at the Araluen Valley Hotel. The bunch had split significantly but the short stop ensured a few of us caught up to each other once again.

After a lunch of pie and coke we re-assumed our journey further through Araluen Valley and onto beautiful undulating roads that followed the river. Unfortunately this part of the journey was followed by one of the only climbs I've ever attempted that has nearly broken me (considering I've spent hours at a time climbing on the same bike, fully laden with panniers, this is no mean feat!). 4.5km doesn't sound like much, but the lack of effective granny gear on the Rohloff left me grinding up the climb with significant difficulty; something I really shouldn't complain about considering Brett was on a singlespeed....

The top of the range afforded great views once again before Kevin and I may have headed the wrong way, no great loss except the addition of an extra 10km to get us to Mogo on the Princess Highway. The sun soon disappeared as we rolled into Batemans Bay. We checked into our cabins and I enjoyed one of the best warm showers I've had in a long while.

We enjoyed great recovery dinner and beer in town before retiring to bed. The majority of riders left bright and early to ride back to Canberra on roughly the same route, minus some of the bad bits but a challenge just the same. Kevin and I secured a ride in Joel's car; him suffering from his recurring swollen ass and me, a knee injury (alarming considering it's the first time I've suffered an over-use type injury, not happy). Although at the time it felt like the soft way out, the weather we encountered on the journey home made me petty damn happy I was inside that tiny car, bikes stacked on the roof.

It was a great ride, something I'll definitely do again, but I'm not sure the knowledge of the climbs will make it easier or harder? Special thanks to Ed for inventing it and again to Ben for building my front wheel, it seemed to hold together perfectly, now for the Rohloff to be re-laced so it matches the bright red front!

.....all my life? Drop bar mountain bikes!

There really is a distinct difference between a drop bar mountain bike (or DBMTB) and a cyclo-cross bike, the main difference being that they are not bone shaking!

I installed drop bars on the long suffering Slingshot experimental bike and love it so much that even though it's below -3 degrees every morning I can't wait to jump on it and head to work the long, long way.

Well there was another tweed ride this weekend just gone, unfortunately I was a bit under the weather due to Box's farewell drinks the night previous. So it was a late start for me but a great time was still had. Discussion arose in reference to a Spring Tweed, so I'll keep my fingers crossed and stay off the lash the night before.

That's a lot of tweed and leather saddles!

"As one considers one's pictures less, one produces fewer truly considered pictures" - Stephen Shore

For  a while now I've been a little perplexed about my photography style. It seems that I've lost the feeling. Instead of riding along on my bike and finding interest in the way the light falls on something, I merely take photos of damn near everything. The scourge of digital photography I suppose.

So I bought three 35mm SLRs and a 35mm compact.

So over a period of two weeks I picked up:

1966 Yashica TL-Super (Japan) - M42 mount, needle metered.
1979 Fujica ST605n (Japan) - M42 mount, needle metered (TTL).
1985 Nikon F-301 (Japan) - Uses all my Nikon lenses, auto-exposure, the first Nikon with auto film advance!!!
1954 Voigtlander Vito B (Germany) - Fixed 50mm F3.5, no metering, from the oldest name in cameras (Est. 1756).

And a couple of lenses:
Tokina 35mm F2.8
Yashinon 50mm F1.7
Yashikor 135mm F2.8
Yashica 200m F3.5

All up somewhere near $300 with $100 dollars worth of film processing kit in the mail.

I'm having a ball getting shots and can't wait to start developing the film!!

Had a cool (sorry, freezing) morning of cyclocross madness with JP on the trails in and around Stromlo yesterday. Then we headed out toward Burley Griffen and then into Yarralumla for some bakery. It's amazing how tranquil it can be so close to town; crisp blue skies, not a person to seen and long smooth flowing roads.

JP's new (old) Ritchey Mount Cross is a sight to be seen. Note to self, get some bike-porn photos on the next ride.

iPhone camera, not too bad if you know what it can achieve. Luckily there is also a series of applications that turn a crap camera into something a little quirky, like the Polaroid emulator. So I thought I’d post these just because they never really get include in most of my real posts. (And yep, these are all straight out of the phone, no PS manipulation).

I met my niece last weekend for the first time. Happy days!!

After my stay in Queensland earlier this year I had mixed feelings about Brisbane. Luckily that was only because I'd spent too much time the the hell hole they call Surfers Paradise. This time round I stayed smack bang in Brisbane city, with a view of the river and surrounded by 24hr a day fun. Here's some pics from my most recent stay.

On two occasions this year I have had my euro/handmade/boutique bike snobishness drowned in a shower of asian mass produced bike parts.

The first was my Christmas vacation in Adelaide when I borrowed my brother’s carbon fibre Avanti for some extended rides leading up to the 'Be In It' stage of the Tour Down Under.

I picked it up from his house then spent an hour or so adjusting and re-assembling bits and pieces in order to get the Shimano 105 working well and the bike fitting me. To tell you the truth the 105 was pretty much flawless from the get go. I left Rach's house to head up the bikeway that heads south out of Adelaide on a 9km climb into the hills. The words - stiff, light and comfortable came immediately to mind. The front end was rigid and the bottom bracket wouldn't budge. Once over the hill it was time for some speed - precise, compliant and responsive. Soon enough I was in wine country on long smooth paths in the vicinity of McLaren Vale - all day comfortable-ness.

A sub-$3000 dollar bike that rode like an absolute dream! The Tour Down Under stage saw me ride 180km through city streets, winding roads, up mountain passes and along second rate bitumen roads with 40km'h cross winds. I was impressed and somewhat bewildered.
 
Then a few weeks a go I found an ad at work for a Mongoose Randonneur for $350. It’s pretty much a road bike with large clearances and cantilever brakes, built for touring or cyclocross type riding. I bought it with not too much expectation and really because I was thinking of building the same thing and thought the parts off of this two year old $1600 (market price) bike would come in handy.

I picked it up from work and spent half an hour adjusting it so that I could meet John for a softroad ride through Bruce Ridge and Black Mountain that night.

It was.......perfect just the way it was......