happy birthday liz.

i readily admit i am not a big fan of the monarchy. maybe it’s being austrian (the monarchy and all related titles were abolished in 1918) or it’s just my general anti-authoritarian streak, but frankly i can’t wait until australia becomes a republic. however, until then we still get to celebrate the queen’s birthday, which…

pike reborn.

i did mention a few posts ago that complex (and very expensive) modern suspension components like to be loved and cuddled … … and want to have their innards replaced on fairly regular occasions. really. there are maintenance tasks every 50, 100 and 200 hours, and at least once a year. looks like i’ll be…

nat’s wee day out.

ok, manly dam is not particularly difficult or tricky. more than anything nat & i like to ride it because most other trails on the northern beaches generally don’t have much flow. plus many trails are simply too much work climbing over rocks and stones, which is not much fun when you have short legs…

can i fix it?

first there was a vivid (air), then there was none. then a nice person gave us one (crazy i know) but did tell us it was leaking air – albeit slowly – which meant it needed a service. i popped it on the nomad and immediately felt at home on my bike again, but nat…

canberra calling.

on tuesday we had to deliver oma to the airport so she could see her other grandkids again. i think one of them may now need special attention. 🙁 see you again soon oma! so we were alone again but nat happened to have a few days off school and the weather was so nice…

perfection.

remember i lost my first vivid air? i’m still unsure how a perfectly good shock can suddenly break on the third try to service it … or maybe that’s the answer right there. we come in peace – take us to your leader. anyway, i ended up with a vivid coil instead but it’s fair…

gravity rulez.

it certainly does. ever since newton copped the apple to the head people have done one of two things: play with it or try to avoid dealing with it. last weekend nat and i sort of did both: it’s called gravity enduro and it is supposed to provide a fair measure of gravity assisted downhill…

trigger.

dropper seat posts are the bees knees: they hold up your bum when required – i.e. when pedalling – and get the seat out of the way when you need all the room you can get, generally on the downhill bits. i have been pretty happy with the reverb that came standard on my nomad…

floating bed.

it was time for a new bed. actually, initially it was time for a new mattress. i am not really sensitive when it comes to beds: as long as it is vertical and not too soft i’ll sleep well. kris on the other hand is a bit more difficult to please: too soft, too hard,…

no school today (or tomorrow).

once a year thredbo stages the nsw mountain bike interschool championships. it means two days off for those kids brave enough to compete in one or more of five events: flow, downhill, pump, xc relay and xc. nat did get the two days off (actually two and a half) and chose to compete in her…

all coiled up.

as i wrote last time i now have a vivid r2c instead of the vivid air i was running with great success for more than a year. it’s easy to change the spring rate on an air shock: attach a pump and add more pressure to increase the rate. that takes a few seconds and…