Sunbeam on a Nasturtium

An illuminated nasturtium is a sight to behold.

Cymbidium Orchid

Cymbidium Orchid, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

I saw this cymbidium orchid at a retreat back in May. The retreat grounds were filled with all sorts of colorful flowers, especially California-native wildflowers.

The China Wall

The China Wall, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.

Here's a local rock formation that is (amazingly) known of by few people. Called the China Wall, it extends for about 1/3 of a mile across a gap between hillsides. And speaking of hills, they're starting to get really green out here in California. Looks like it might actually be a pretty good spring...

No reaction

Haven't been on much the last couple of days. I figure it's about time for an update. In my last entry I referred to a punch-throwing/car-throwing yobbo that I encountered on Sunday evening. However, the surprising thing has been the total lack of reaction to this incident from the cycling advocates whom I've contacted (Bicycle Queensland, Bicycle Gold Coast, and anyone who read the thread over at bikeforums). Especially when compared with other "hit and run" incidents which weren't quite as blatantly deliberate (albeit quite suspicious).

Granted, I wasn't hit, however, a less experienced, less cynical and less judgemental cyclist would have been. And while such incidents (fortunately) are relatively rare, this is proof that they still happen. Admittedly, the muted reaction may be partially my own fault. After all, I didn't have a pen and paper with me to record the details of the vehicle (a registration # would have been all I needed), but it does still raise one or two questions about why there is so much more focus on the supposedly "accidental" incidents than the blatantly deliberate ones. Have we just accepted ths sort of behaviour as something that can (and will) never be changed? Are advocates so wrapped up in the "building things" ideal that they pay more attention to the incidents they expect to give more credence to this mantra?

In something more positive, it hasn't stopped me from riding (why would it after Sunday night?). Yesterday morning was particularly pleasant with the low-lying cloud near Hinze Dam. That place seems different everytime I go out there, and it does serve a purpose for quick hills when I need them (and right now, I need them as much as ever!).


I'm still a little undecided about where to go this weekend. "Officially" I'm supposed to be leading the Tweed Mystery Ride to cover for Martin, but I'm not expecting anyone to get in touch now that I've taken over. If they don't, it leaves me with options. I could head for O'Reilly's (I usually do when I've had it with the world). Alternatively, I could say sod it all and jump on a train to the Glasshouse Mountains. I just don't know at this point.

First time wielding tools again

Manu on the local training route in the Ecrin, France
Last week I was in France, to speak at the Ecrin Ice Festival. On one of the days, I had the opportunity to go and climb with some good climbers. Although I was still uncertain about going winter climbing, it would have been crazy to turn it down. So I turned up and heard from my climbing partners that the plan was to do a very overhanging 6 pitch M9 dry tooling route. This was kind of perfect. The bit I was most worried about was walking in for 30 minutes on snow. But that went fine and my arms proceeded to have a fine wake up call to climbing with tools again. The next morning we did a short ice route with a very rapid retreat due to everything melting around us and making scary cracking noises. I was amazed that my foot was not sore the next day as I expected, and nice to add another first on my list of climbing comeback milestones (or perhaps metrestones).
Obviously I felt quite rusty on the tools. It was quite heartening to see that I could still pull hard, but I’d forgotten so much of the subtlety of the movement in tooling, if I ever knew about it in the first place. I climbed the first pitch in ‘pull up contest’ style with not much weight on my feet. But watching Luca in action reminded me of a lot and by the final pitch I had improved a little.

Luca relaxing on another M9 pitch!
Since then I have stepped up the volume of training a little more, with a 5 days on, one off schedule. This was perhaps a little premature as I can feel my ankle a bit after that. However, it hurts in the context of everything else hurting from the work, so it’s not too bad. I’m still feeling fitter with every session and back up to doing 8a routes indoors. That is pretty much as hard as I’ve climbed indoors ever anyway. Quite soon I may well get the chance to try some hard sport routes outdoors too.
Since it’s rest day time now, I’m back to full on writing of my book..

2000 and 2000

Today I made a milestone for the year, and one of my bikes made one. I topped over 2000 miles for the year. That's the second year (of 3 years) to reach that threshold. From the log, I estimate 20% or more of those miles are on singletrack.
Not riding my hybrid very much recently. Today, I decided to get a couple pavement miles on the hybrid. That took the bike over 2000 miles. That's riding over 3 years. In contrast, my hardtail has over 3200 miles since Apr 06, and my new full suspension bike has over 1000 miles since this April!

100 Mile Week

Another beautiful day for a bike ride. Headed out from the Wabash Trace trailhead. Rode the Lake Manawa Trail and the Indian Creek Trail. Finally, city streets to the new location of Xtreme Wheels.
The show floor is open. They were scraping the paint off the windows while I was there. Today's photo is the rack of bikes at the new location.
No hurry today, weather was just perfect. On the way back to the car, stopped to take some photos.
Another 100 mile week - this week all on the road bike. No, I'm not turning into a "roadie", enjoying the weather and riding but missing the dirt at Manawa. Probably be on crushed limestone (Wabash Trace or Steamboat Trace) Sunday.