Steve's decided to try and get bike polo up and running again in Canberra after the momentum of some earlier in the year faded. I was lucky enough to see a tournament in Brisbane when I was there last and had a chat to some of the Adelaide players on a fixie ride. Looking forward to trying it myself.

So today I built my bike out of bits in the garage. No Italian bits, no boutique prettiness or stylish accessories; just pure purpose.

The Shogun frame is actually very nice, built of Tange Infinity tubing; something I've been setting aside for a project, but I already have too many bikes so it's perfect for this. The rear hub is free, with a ratio giving me somewhere near 50 gear inches. At this stage I have a rear brake, we'll see if that's workable. I may or may not fashion a front disk to protect the spokes but not going too far just yet. Who knows if polo will even take off in the Can'!!

Considering it has cost me less than a few hundred bucks to become the owner of five vintage film cameras (not shown in the link is my new Yashica Electro 35 GS Rangefinder!) and developing kit, I have been procrastinating over the purchase of a film scanner, as it would end up costing more than the initial outlay. So in a fit of DIY creativity I decided to create a kind of light box diffuser projector back light thing.

Pretty simple really. Just a shoe box, full of whiteness, with my SB600 on commander mode flashing through a hole in the top, the negative attached to a side over another hole and utilising the bright white light to present the image. My D90, with macro lens attached then takes a pretty picture and I spend a couple of minutes playing in Photo Shop to get the end product.

Of course they are crap images, but for zero outlay and a kind of cool effect, I'm really happy with the result.

Epson V500 on it's way as soon as I'm sick of playing with the box!

'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!