Epic Kit!

I had arranged to go mountain biking in the afternoon with a friend from out of town. 30 mins before I was supposed to leave (late), the General Manager turns up, then I make my escape (normal knock-off time), then I get a text from a colleague saying: He wants to talk to you, urgent!. Me: Can it be done by phone? Him: He will call you. Then I have this “meeting” whilst driving (I don’t remember anything about the drive – I can see why it is so dangerous), arguing with the GM about why I need to delay a big piece of equipment by year, but how it won’t affect the project at all.

And then did I mention the bike dramas? The night before, I go to check on the bike, tyres are a bit down, so I try and pump up the rear one, end up fully deflating it, then snap the valve off the tube (means it won’t ever pump up), so I go to change the tube, find that the rubber of the tyre has glued itself to the rim of the wheel so I can’t take it off. Then after I left work, I went past a shop to see if they could replace it, and *he* couldn’t – he was asking if I had used a special glue or compound to fill the tyre, left the wheel with him to try and fix. And that’s when I got the text about the GM wanting to talk to me. Then I race home, pick up my spare wheel with the city slick tyre (mostly flat), and drive out to meet the friend. I'm only one hour later than we had originally planned. Mountain biking on a city slick tyre? It can be done, but looks really silly!

Becstarr : Hopping kerbs

Feeling very triumphant about organising the very successful family picnic we had on Sunday to celebrate my brother's birthday (Tim, half of the twins).

There was a picnic with free-range bbq chicken and lime & coconut macaroons, then a walk along the Bay Run and coffee at Cafe Bones. We had fun watching the dogs, and I got to try out Tim's Rather Expensive superbike, getting some coaching on how to bunny-hop kerbs. I have a bit of training to go, I think...

Kit - Bye-bye wheel

By keeping my bike obsessively locked on the balcony, I've somehow managed to break the little disc-y thing that all the spokes are connected to. Bye bye wheel. :-(

Becstarr : Marrickville rain biking

Biked to the Sustainability festival in Steel Park, Marrickville (just on the Cooks River) twice... once on Saturday, a day early (oops) and then for real on Sunday. Plenty of manageable hills, so I guess it was good exercise at least!

The festival was small (clearly in its first few years), which suited me fine. No chai tent (wha?) but there was an indigenous food stand with kangaroo & croc burgers. Plenty of families and various freebies and workshops. Unfortunately the rain then hit and our attempt to bike home between showers was a wetter venture than I was hoping for. Urgh!

Overestimated my fitness

Did the adventure race on Saturday in the Avoca Beach/Terrigal/Central Coast area. 4.6km on the kayak, 8.5km on foot and 17.6 on the bike. Totally underestimated my fitness. Walked most of the running legs. Bloody Kincumber Mountain - Pushing bike up the narrow steep & rocky track up to the Wariwari look out - painful and disheartening. Compunded unhappiness because the mozzies hovered, ready to devour you if you paused for a rest. Hot. Got dehydrated. Still sore. Did I have fun? Ummmm….

Becstarr : Reunitions

Finally got out of meetings at 2pm and escaped to lunch at Macro. TWO PEE EM!! Afternoon, reunited with bike (now with shorter stem so hopefully less wobbling), ipod (so much RN to catch up on!) and gym. Evening, jelly with Joel and Zoe.

Evelyn - Bike Shop Sale

After going out for a ride in the evening to be coming home in the near dark - now that summer's over the sun starts setting around eight-thirty, we finally decided it was time to pony up for some lights. Yesterday, Tancred and I headed into the Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative for the sale - yay, half-price lights.