I’d rather have a headwind on the way home when I’m not trying to beat the clock.. ie get in to work on time.

10 Miles each way most of the time five days a week.

Bike is a Whyte Stirling, which is my first ever skinny wheeled bike, fast and comfortable. Fitted a wider bar than standard and fitted some puncture protection strips to the tires. Roads are fairly big but cycle lanes down them all then into the back streets at either end of the journey.

40 minutes is average as there are a few big junctions to negotiate so getting the run on the lights always helps.

The car takes 40 minutes as does the train.

Never gets boring but can be a chore if the weather turns bad. Yet I live in South Australia so it’s never really that bad. Might get a scooter to fill in the days when I’m shattered or need to run errands after work. (I would take the car if I had the chance on these occasions)

I also have the facilities at work to shower/change etc so sweating isn’t a concern. The 45.6 degree day was hard work. Most of my colleagues advised against riding but made it home.

Try parking further away for a few weeks and build it up that way.

Get the right kit and be organised and you’ll be fine.

Good luck.

As said above,

If you don’t know the locals you’ll struggle to find the best bits. I’ve been in Adelaide for over a year and I’m now getting a good base knowledge of all the trails. I work in an area that has great access to the hills and employs a trail development officer, who is a very tidy bike rider (DH) so the trails are of a good standard.

He’s shown me plenty of the non-legit stuff too eg, walking tracks but as the population is so low the trails are hardly used. I’ve yet to be pulled up for riding on foot paths etc and that’s in conservative Adelaide!

Land access is an issue but the trails are already in place and have been used for year by the locals. You’ll need to find a riding club to join and you’ll be told about the other trails that they can’t put on their website. For me Adelaide is spoilt for choice on trails and I learn about a new trail pretty much once a month.

Granted it’s not the lakes but dusty trails are just as much fun.

MWS,

I was thinking it was a “proper snake scare” too.

4 feet away from a baby eastern Brown snake! It was lots of nervous giggling after that! brown pants moment as the small ones are worse! No venom control so you get everything it has!!

Riding in Aus, you never know what’s around the next corner..

The Bush freeview recorder attached to my TV that has dementia from new. Rubbish!

STR, you sir are a….

WG – “my speciality is wood!!! ” OMG….. Best comment yet!!!!

Sorry STW – WG, spent the night at mine, clearly up to no good on the internet.

I can confirm that picture is a fair likeness. A little photo-shopped but almost right.

She’s been fed Cider to cheer her up. So nothing to worry about.

Currently have tubeless x-king on the back and a rubber queen tubeless on the front. Both are 2.2 on my Whyte 19. Works well for me in the rocky dry trails of Oz! Had the same combo in the UK but 2.4 for both and non-tubeless loads of grip and the bigger volume helps track straight over rock gardens.

Crashed at low speed whilst traversing a 45degree slope, fell through a hawthorn bush. A couple of scratches and a thorn through my gloves and stuck under my finger nail. Stung a bit that did.

Sure am, well I’ve been up all day, the only race I’ll get to watch at a normal time!! The weather looks very “Melbourne” wet and a bit more wet. Still sunny in Adelaide

Brian, border terrier trail hound.

With training he would stay behind the bike and not directly in front of it! He is rubbish around sheep so had to avoid places with them around. Only had one Fenton situation but he came back after 5 minutes. I always made sure we didn’t get in people’s way and tried to be considerate to other trail users. Never had any issues. Videos below
As a youngster
http://vimeo.com/m/13080434
Alittle older and before I left last year.
http://vimeo.com/m/57359315

Brian

Dog and a bike video.

Hope that helps

Brian looking up….

Mid-air border!

Border and burner

Border and a bike…. I miss this little guy
http://vimeo.com/57359315

Dog threads are ACE!!!

16km ride home tonight, 41 degrees here in Adelaide, you need to mtfu! A couple of weeks back it was 45.7 degrees now that was warm ride!! I Ride in the morning, biking normally starts around 7am so done by 12 then down the beach. Hard life really.

Great work, start them early and all will be good. Nice pictures too, when I rode with Brian I made a point of being out early to avoid conflicts with other riders. As well as this I used to ride where he was unlikely to run off or be run over, ie not around sheep or roads!

There’s not much better than seeing your dog belting along side you enjoying every minute of there time out with you.

Enjoy

http://vimeo.com/57359315 (for those who haven’t cried yet)

Jon, great to hear the trails are doing well. I still get the meeting updates so have a look every now and then! Trail tested by Brian, am sure there are other willing mutt’s who’ll gladly do the job!

Trails are good here a bit behind the times but access is becoming more wide spread, and the checky trails are everywhere. The council I work at has a good network of trails due to its location. I’ve been dragged out by the trails development guy, not like I mind, due to being spotted with my park tools mug in the brew room!

Worrying about a dog being in the hole you’re digging is the least of the issues, snakes, spiders and inch ants are more concerning!

Hot riding home last week 45.7degrees!

Again thanks for all the comments.

Again thanks for the comments everyone.

I was just locking up and saw the keys and I remembered I had his name tag on them, actually made me smile as It reminded me of the little noise it made on his collar when he does his best Gromit trot/walk!

Chipps if the want to add it to the list on Wednesday please feel free ;-)

Brian rides, just behind the rear mech, seems to prefer the right hand side to. Trained him on the fire roads at Gisburn By tapping him with the front wheel when going slower than walking pace. Worked 99% of the time. also used words like away and he would move out from the back wheel and drop back

I bet he doesn’t miss me, well that’s what I tell myself….

I always have a keep sake with me,

Woody water proof key board indeed, the wife cried instantly when she watched it. However it’s got dusty at my place all of a sudden! reading the comments and actually thinking about it at length does make you well up a little. Thanks again for the comments.

Tony good to hear from you, I hope that you’re well? I didn’t really know how to word the title but felt that those in the know would remember Brian.

When I visit the UK I’ll be sure to head down to a dig day. How are the new tracks coming along?

Cheers for the comments guys,

It was and at times still is hard knowing that I’ve left him behind. Any dog I meet now is given lots of attention! more than I should especially when I’m at work.

Brian certainly is a loveable rogue, like scrappy doo who he has also been referred to!

Been in Australia (Adelaide) since, April last year. The wife got a job with perminate residency visas so all good on that front. I’ve got a job which I enjoy and my commute on the bike is great. Warm at times but you adapt.

My Mtb rides are with friends from work and folks off here! Normally I’m out the door at 6am, bike for a few hours and home by lunch time. Best bit is that it’s normally 20 degrees and when you get home the bike doesn’t need a full strip service like in the UK.
I do miss my closer family members, mainly my older brother as well as my mates but I had to think about my life and how I wanted it to turn out. Selfish but the way I did it.
Home is here not the UK, that’s where I grew up. It’s certainly hard work but I doubt I’ll ever return to work in the UK. My life has changed for the better I no longer have money worries as I earn almost three times as much as I ever could in the UK for my given level of experience. The job market in the UK was very hard, thousands going for the same job, here 16 per job seems a lot.
I don’t have any stresses and life feels happier and much more relaxed. It’s a great way to live.
Things I miss about the UK other than family…. Well the country side really. Yet as mentioned above it’s different here an no less beautiful so I appreciate it now.

As for the wildlife in Oz, you’ll get used to it, saw my first “proper” huntsman spider at work recently. Massive!!! The size of my hand, no real worry unlike the white tail in my living room!!!! I’ve come across a few snakes the Eastern brown is common. Kangaroos and koalas are regularly spotted as well as emu’s and cockatoo’s. All great stuff!

If you have an opportunity take it!! Highly recommended.

There’s two things I worry about running over in Australia (other than people) and they’re Kangaroo’s, they make a massive mess to your car and the other is snakes! they don’t always die and wait in the wheel arch so when you pull up at your destination they drop out and bite you back. Karma I guess!

I found them to be great my order arrived in Adelaide 7 days after ordering, I guess some orders take longer. Maybe small items that need to be “picked” and sorted unlike my order of pedals and a helmet. Still I’m impressed and that was on the “free” (delivery included) option too.

Cheers CRC

Our Visa is a regional sponsored migration 119 class so different to most due to the wifes job. Gives us permanent residency in Australia forever. Not sure about the other types but friends are on different sorts of 457 and didn’t have too much trouble getting sorted.

Getting a job sorted before you come out is the ideal, a couple of people I know have managed it. Some firms/businesses aren’t keen to commit to someone who isn’t in the country so finding work in advance is a lottery. If you think about how many people say that they are moving to Oz then don’t I can see why some maybe reluctant.

Binners, I actually fancy doing some work and would feel rather bad not doing considering the salary I’ll be getting! More than double what I could get in the UK for my given level of experience.

As for the cost of bikes it’s not actually that bad when you look at import costs.

Now more beer!

Cheers everyone,

Wife’s bought me pizza and beer to celebrate!

Mike I’m based in Adelaide where abouts are you? Tazzie?

Although jobs are out there it’s been hard getting work. I think the issue I had was mainly the time of year. Trying to find work in April and May and June has been really difficult especially getting into a government job. The tax year start in July so I think that has played a big part.

What line of work are you in?

You’ll know that they are false widows as a real black widow will still be attached to you when it bites as it doesn’t retract it’s fangs after biting. Nice.

Still waiting for my “first encounter” with a nasty spider. Seen a few big bum Orb Weavers here in Aus but it’s winter so most will be hidden away.

My two biggest fears when I get out riding here are: riding in to a massive web with a spider like the one pictured above in it and the other is meeting an angry Eastern Brown Snake across the trail….

I’d just buy Shimano’s Deore/SLX/XT all will be good.

The company I used to work for had a contract with Mac D’s for Building works. I remember seeing a set of plans for the main “restaurant” and it’s a temporary structure with a seating capacity of iirc 1500. There will be many more smaller outlets around the site too.

What gets me is that the past few Olympics have been sited on land that needs redevelopment in the host city.

Both Sydney and Athens have these sporting areas which are generally under used and become a dead spot for a city. Also who is going to pay for the up keep of the site once the games are over? The local council won’t be able to cover it all and if the housing stock that has been built is predominately for those in need of subsidised housing, the revenue raised by council tax isn’t likely to go far.

It’s ideal to keep all the sporting activities in one area for a commercial point of view but if you need a ticket to enter each event then why don’t the games spread out across the country? and show case the best the country has to offer. Can you imagine.. TV guy right we’ll be crossing over to the Yorkshire Moors to watch the Shooting or to Nottingham Forest for the Archery.

A friend of mine was in the U.S.A and he was asked by a young women; “so how far away is London from England?” Now she could be stupid but I think there is a greater need to sell the whole country not just a small section of the Capitol that everyone knows.

I’m not a massive fan of track and field sports but I can appreciate the efforts the athletes have put in to get there and well done to them. It’s a shame that the politics and corporate nonsense is over shadowing their efforts.

I popped into the local bike shop (here in Oz) for a quick look round. Ended up having a friendly debate with the lad in the shop about 29er’s he even got one off the rack for me to look at. All it did was add to my argument that they look “wrong” and as I’m only 5’8″ it would be pointless. He was convinced that they are indeed better and told me that everyone at the local xc race was using 29er’s. I then pointed out that I don’t race which simply didn’t compute in his mind.

He did tell me that he came from a road back ground and had only been MTBing for a couple of years.

They might work for taller folks but I doubt I’ll enjoy it. Didn’t the guy at HTN win on a 26er this year?

Vehicle interference and is a criminal offence so not recommended. Draw a massive talliwaker on A3 paper and tape it to his windscreen.

Common theme here, children. However best I’ve seen is parking both sides of a single lane road bumper to bumper for 200 metres. So no where to go when cars at a both ends trying to get past. Idiots.

Also why is it that kids need to be picked up at 15:30? Surely this doesn’t fit in our modern society where both parents are generally working? It seems daft to me and cause’s pointless disruption to peoples days.

Surely it would be better to have kids in school from 08:30 for a nice gentle start to their day and then they would be ready for class starting at 09:00

Normal school till 15:30 then from there the kids stay in school but can dress down and the formalities are relaxed. During the time from 15:30 till say 17:30 the kids can use the schools facilities to do “homework” in a fair and even environment or other after school activities such as sports or music etc.

Seems fair to me. I used to stay after school loads to play sports or finish of technology projects it used to be great fun.

Other things, parents can remove kids from school after 15:30 if they want too.

Here in Oz it appears mandatory that you wear the “right kit” for riding. There is an advert on during the TDF for a special edition bike and if you buy it you get the matching riding kit to go with it!

No ta.

Ride how you want to ride, I certainly won’t be changing my attire to suit those around me. I’d even use flats on a road bike if I had one.

Agreed plenty of real pubs and they are generally in a close area. Yet there are plenty of fekk tards around to make it pretty eventful in a bad way. Generally a night out ends in a takeaway which is the only successful business on the high street.

Used to live there. Not bad but isn’t good either. Sort of a place where if you move away for UNI or work you don’t move back. There are a few nice pubs for real ale (The Continental)and that but I’d avoid a “big night” out as well, it’s pretty rubbish.

Riding is good, lots of stuff close by for a night/evening ride. Road as well as MTB, Gisburn is 40 minutes and Lee Quarry is about the same. Healy Nab and Rivington are close by to.

Bike locks. GET A MASSIVE ONE! Plenty of scallie ninja’s around to help them selves to other peoples stuff.

I’d did the same trip as part of my round the world holiday. KL is ok, I headed into the mountains in Malaysia, (Cameron Highlands) lots of things to do and see. Then I visited Penang, some other nice things to see like the massive budda and so on. I took a shared cab, (mini bus) to Surat Thani on the East Coast of Thailand.

Got a ferry to the islands of Ko Samui which was really nice. Then after a couple of nights headed over to Ko Phangan which was also really nice and cheaper than Samui. After another couple of nights I headed over to Ko Tao, which is small and rugged but had the best snorkelling I’ve ever seen. (beating the great barrier reef hands down) the place I stayed was on the eastern side of the island was situated in a small sheltered bay.

From here I headed out to Kanchanaburi in Thailand. Lovely place stayed for a few nights by the river. Then to Bangkok, not much I really wanted to see other than a couple of temples. Ko San road is dirt cheap for fake goods as are many of the big markets. When getting a tuk tuk, there are different kinds, some are government run and other private iirc, the licence plates are different colours and the prices vary massively.

I have no idea about the western sea board of Thailand. I travelled 3 months after the 2004 tsunami and avoided the area to be honest.

You’ll have a great time!

We shipped with 7seas. It left our UK house on the 30th March and arrived in with us Wednesday which is around the time frame we were given. Nothing was damaged including my golf clubs so I’m happy. Customs however charged me $176 for the privilege of inspecting a couple of the boxes. Cheers.

Anyway it’s like Christmas when it arrives and you’ll be smiling for days!

Mike our stuff arrived this week. No bike but a couple of boxes of items that are important to us. It’s been fun opening them even tho I packed them I couldn’t remember what was in them!

Spanner, I’m based in Adelaide too, Woodville area “when” I get a MTB again we could head out for a ride if you like?

Scott.

Have you looked on the Thule, website to see if they have info regarding this. As for the legality I reckon it will be, IIRC I read a review of one in a local bike mag recently.

The towbar’s here appear to be the box section ones like in the US and then you can add whatever attachment you require to it. Seems a good idea.