Long time no write...

In the climate there is this week and because I HAVE been asked(!) I thought I might start this off by saying that as the proud possessor of many titles and many records on road and track -  state, national and world in age grades from aged 55 up to today (I'm now 68)..I have not doped!

 I'd also like to say the reason  I have not doped is NOT because I'm  worried about the effect on my health or because it's too expensive ...I have not doped because it's not allowed in the rules of the sport and therefore is illegal, immoral and unfair to other competitors.  If I'm going to win or do well, I like it to be something that I own,.... the result of my hard work and NOT something I have to share with my friendly chemist/drug dealer.

Phew, now that's out of the way...

Melbourne to Taree is 1175km and no 1 son and I went there for a weekend of MTB orienteering.  Alex 'cos as a highly ranked MTBOer so he should be competing in the nationals and me to help with the drive.  The original idea was that I would take my road bike and do some training km's around Taree.  However, when you don't compete, the inevitable orienteering focussed conversations are incredibly boring, so I decided to compete.

I took the MTB out of mothballs and searched for the map board.  The bike needed a visit to the bike shop and the map board still had the map of my last ride in it...the 2010 nationals near Castlemaine.  I peeled the plastic cover off and since it took half the map with it, spent an hour cleaning up the resulting mess.  The bike is old school and twice as heavy as my road bikes...Alex thinks I need a new bike...I think probably not, afterall if I only ride once every 2 years.....!

Alex won both his competitions and somewhat surprisingly I won the long course and came second in the middle length course.

Major impressions of the drive...

• some NSW drivers are rude and stupid
• petrol in NSW is more expensive than in Vic
• no need to cull kangaroos..just send them near the Pacific Highway and they do the culling themselves..the amount of bodies and red smears across the road was quite sickening.
• when everyone is on cruise control it's really difficult to overtake when you only have 3kph over limit to play with
• when a police car follows you for 10km, the likelihood of taking the road to Alexandra instead of the road to Melbourne is 100%
• my GPS has no brain or logic and failed us 3 times.
• falling off an MTB is a given and I am the proud possessor of quite a few bruises large and small

Next races..next week in Tas..the AVCC nationals near Launceston.

MTB riding is a total blast..haven't had so much fun on 2 wheels for...well ....2 years!

Ikea chair build fail

well ok...I got it right eventually!  I think there are  4 possible options and I tried 3...hmm.

More pix

Definitely avoiding this one!

and this parking in Melbourne (my car is the front one and  was there first)

just isn't up to the giddy heights of Italian parking!