Jing had a Go-pro camera yesterday, more pics on his Flickr.

Just got back home from a crazy day out at Stromlo Forest Park in Canberra.

In attendance was Jing (Trance), Zi (Blur LT), Crazy Dave (Anthem), Simon (Cell carbon hardtail) and myself (Reign).

I had little sleep last night, and was more than happy to bail but with a bit of pressure from Zi and Jing I considered my arm twisted and up I got.

We hit the M5 and stopped over at Pheasants Nest/Mobil for a bite of brekky ($25 for 2 sandwiches and a pie? What a rip!). I handed the keys over to Jing at this point and went to sleep for a couple of hours (thanks Jing!).

The carpark was full when we got there, the park featured all new signage and identity design since I was last here (Word cup). There was a big group of newbies playing around on logs in what looked like an introduction to mountain biking course of some sort (nice). And it wasn’t long before we were sitting at the base of the mountain checking out the trail options.

We ended up going for trail Loop 2

Rating – Intermediate
Time – 45 to 90 minutes

Loop 2 is one of the shorter loops climbing, traversing and taking you to access points to most of Stromlo Forest Park. The trail uses the main trunk trail network to climb gently to the top of Mt Stromlo, before a long, flowing descent back to the car park area. Riders are rewarded with expansive 360 degree views of the ACT from the summit and a descent that will leave you smiling for days. This trail requires a degree of fitness and skill level as there are a number of challenging climbs and obstacles.

As soon as we got going there was a funny log ride structure the boys were standing around. I had Grant’s saying “those who hesitate, masturbate” in my head and despite not being warmed up I did it and that pretty much set my confidence levels up for a good part of the ride. Helps I was riding flats too.

The trail had a lot of tight switchbacks making the climb up the mountain (all the way to the damn top) interesting (ie: less painful). Once we got to the top the view from the observatory was amazing. And from there the descent back down to the carpark was an enlightening experience (yes the climb was well worth it!). Fanging it through the massive green container into a massive series of berms put a smile on everyone’s face.

We had a bit to eat and set out to do Loop 6:

Rating – Intermediate/Advanced
Time – 60 to 90 minutes

Loop 6 is a demanding ride that takes you over the Northern trails, climbing steeply to Echidna Gap before plunging down to the Western side of Stromlo Forest Park. The superb Double Dissolution trail drops you out near the Western Car park before you make your way back along the northern trails to the start point. The trail takes in a wide variety of the terrain and is able to be linked with a variety of other trails. Make sure you have your climbing legs on and enough in the tank to enjoy the fun and moderately technical descent

The climb was a little less fun than the last loop we did, steeper, more relentless but never boring. Again we climbed up to the top of the mountain but the descent down was more along side the mountain than straight down offering more variation in terrain. There was a silly see-saw thing that I had a go on too (only because the boys egged me on!) I almost fucked it, but managed to somehow pull it off :)

I was spent at the end of this, Zi had a few bad cramps, Dave and Simon were done too but Jing and Clifton wanted more, Zi decided the same but he didn’t want to climb up again so the three were shuttled up to the top and did the downhill part of Loop 2 again, at this time the rain came too so I was glad I was all warm and cozy in the car lol.

All in all despite the farking cold weather I had heaps of fun. The signage was insanely clear and you were never ever lost. I did think that the trails we did felt very man made, in the end I couldn’t help but feel that you really just had to climb up to the top of Mt. Stromlo in order to have fun going down.

6.30AM, stinging eyes but ready to roll.

7am at Zi’s. Dave’s Stagea is soooo hot. I love it. Lots.

M5.

A cyclocross event was happening.

Far from the best cyclocross bike there but unforunately the only one I got a snap of.

Decisions decisions!

Main map.

More trails!

Jing and Clifton just checking out some of the double diamond stuff.

At the very top of Mt. Stromlo these were these remains of an old observatory building.

I thought I’d go inside it and take a snap of the Reign.

We thought we’d check out the observatory building whilst we were here.

These things looked like space pods! So sci-fi cool.

Black Diamond warnings.

Loop 6.

Great signage througout.

Great names too.

Last night’s Sydney city CBD night ride was epic.

I made my way over to MC Cyclery to meet up with Grant (Thursday night closing time is 7PM). Ash is back from his 3 weeks away in Japan and I tried my best to concentrate on a few of his crazy stories, but in reality I was huffing and puffing hard from the small ride to the shop from my place. In the back of my mind I was already thinking of quitting the ride due to my sorry state of fitness, then… it started absolutely pissing down rain.

Grant and I were thinking of bailing out but we knew that all that was needed was a little shove, so I called Felix, who was already at the memorial rendevous point in the city and he said the weather in there was perfect, so to hell with it, off we went.

The rain was so hard that it felt sharp on my face. Not sure what it is about Sydney drivers, but some of them tend to speed up even more in the rain (perhaps because they’re frustrated with the drivers that do slow down). On Anzac Parade we had one fucker in a 4WD horn the fuck out of us. It reminded me of why I don’t like riding on the roads for sure.

I tried my best to keep up with Grant on the ride in. I was riding my Reign and he was on his fixie (brakeless too). Watching him skid around in the wet on Anzac Parade was awesome.

We made it in, late (sorry guys!) and we had a healthy crew of blinking lights at Hyde Park, diverse bikes too. A few fixies as expected, Adam had a DJ bike, Tom brought his BMX and Matt brought his cool commuter Boulder (I like it!).

We decided to head into the Australian down at the rocks. My fault for being on the side path on Elizabeth St but a lady in an Audi came lunging out of a carpark and almost took me out. So glad I was on the Reign and not my fixie. I would definitely have gone down.

Grant did the hugest skid on his fixie near the Opera house. It was almost as if skidding made him go even faster and seeing the cars and busses roll beside him whilst he was sliding down the road just looked so fucking rad. Blew my mind, blew Matt’s mind too who was sure he was a dead man! Can’t believe he was riding so fast, in the wet and running no brakes. Such a great sight which made me wish I could ride my fixie with so much confidence.

The group was split up due to confusion. A few of us headed to the Opera House whilst Tom and Andy headed straight to the Australian. Brandon scored a flat and Grant went over the bars trying to get up some steps on his fixie (?!).

We all met up at the Australian, Jarod left us at this point (too bad Jarod it only got more hecktic afterwards!!!), beers, chicken wings and pizza were consumed and with heavy bellies and cold wet feet/shoes (fuck it was uncomfortable) the havoc began.

We decided to hit the hustle and bustle of George Street which was rad. Seeing Tom getting loose and hopping up 4 consecutive park benches pretty much set the mood (get this man more beer! he was on fire!). Riding the bus lane felt right. If only it was a cycle lane (one day…). We then hit Oxford Street and stopped by the Local pub on South Dowling which was serving up some strange German beers on tap.

I said my goodbyes at this point and did the lonely ride back to Maroubra Beach from here. I just paced it, was cold and boring but I got home at midnight on the dot.

EPIC! The excitement of riding a bicycle was renewed for me, riding in a crew in the city felt safe/r, even for the guys who had never really ridden in traffic before, seeing them on the road was cool.

I knew a fair few fixie guys were going to be there so I thought I’d slap this sticker on my bike.

Grant, Felix and Andy @ Hyde Park.

Opera House.

The Australian.

Shit! Rabbits under the bridge!

Brandon, Matt and Adam on George St.

Locked up bicycle pyramid outside The Local pub on South Downling St.

Tomfoolery.

Check the CaesarStone bench top on the floating bench, it’s so damn massive I can’t reach the other side (the picture fails to do it justice). Splash back behind the stove is also made from CaesarStone. Pimp or what? So awesome to see a design go from a 2D drawing (with pen and lined paper sticky taped together!) into a reality. We did good me thinks!

Last month Ryan Lewis shot a cool little video at the JDMST End Of Month Meet (EOMM) at Fox Studios, it’ll give you a little insight to what our meets are all about!

JDMST EOMM – June ’09 from Ryan Lewis on Vimeo.

Yesterday Grant and I had a meeting at Single Origin cafe on Reservoir St. with the Bicycle Film Festival guys.

Cool guys, great coffee and some good ideas. The street has come a long way since I used to live on it, back then there was nothing at all there but now there are cafe’s, furniture stores, a design book shop. Culture is breeding.

On Saturday we went for a little drive to Palm Beach, always reminds me of Byron. I came close to seriously considering living in and around Palm Beach once.

Din Tai Fung – still one of my fave haunts for dinner.

The dumpling kitchen window.

On Sunday Christina spotted a whale jumping out of the water at Maroubra Beach, we pulled over and it jumped out 3 more times, one breach was so big we almost saw his tail! That sparked us to go to the Zoo!

The bird show (awesome!).

We didn’t even think about how packed it would be due to school holidays, but it wasn’t that bad.

The Giraffes.

Sunset.

Still in limbo. Living at Mums place and trying to now work from her place instead of coming home to work (the construction noise is just too much). Going to Europe for 3 weeks next month too (!).

I’ve been spending a lot of time in Microsoft Word writing a new business plan (something I’ve never done). It’s been crazy, intense, awesome. I’m gunning after a new business, more on this when I’m allowed to talk absout it!

Surveys have shown that a lot of people would consider riding into work if they weren’t so scared of cars and bad Sydney traffic.

The City has allocated $70 million over the next four years to build an effective cycle network across the City. The implementation of the network reflects the commitment of the City to deliver greener, connected neighbourhoods and maximise the benefits of cycling, which include reduced traffic congestion, cleaner air and better community health.

I’m 100% for this, it really excites me. What excites me even more is that Clover Moore is pushing for a completely car free CBD. Imagine George St. minus the cars, an open mall a lot like Pitt St. Mall.

There’s something really nice about the idea of returning the city to the people, especially considering that the city is one of Sydney’s greatest assets. Sure, public transport within the city (trams anyone?!) will have to be amazing, and parking just outside the city for those who drive in from outside the city has to be realised but I think it’s possible and perhaps forcing Sydney drivers to share the road is the only way it’s going to happen.

I’ve created a thread about it on BikesMoveUs.com. Interesting that even cyclists on the forum are being a little negative about the council’s plans. I’m hoping that’s just a typically Australian knee-jerk reaction though, and that everyone will get excited about it once they see the change happening. Click here to view the discussion.

Earlier this year (or was it late last year? I forget!) it was a sunny day on Crown Street and I met up with Daniel Dittmar (who rode in on his killer SE Quadangle BMX) and Ozlem Eskicioglu who were working on launching a new magazine.

Launching my own magazine has always been a dream of mine. At one stage I got very close with ACP Magazines, the guys who publish Rolling Stone Magazine (and a whole lot more) but the money side of things fell through. In restrospect I probably shouldn’t have been so greedy about the money.

Anyways, when I met these guys (Daniel and Ozlem). They had that energy you have when you first work on starting something new, they also had a load of confidence. They interviewed me for an article on bikes and yesterday I got issue #1 of their amazing magazine Happenstance in the mail.

It’s so slick. Opening the first page there’s a stamp to tell me that my edition is one of a limited run of 1000. The design work and writing is amazing. I’m so excited and proud of these guys.

The bike article also made the cut and I love it. I’ve asked permission from Daniel to post up the 7 page article. So here it is, hope you enjoy it:

Click here to read the whole article in PDF format.

They’re already planning iussue #2 and #3 so be quick and grab this first issue of Happenstance from their site, or check out the list of local stockists.

Tweet this twit that WTF is the appeal of it?

I’ve been reading the local newspaper a bit lately (only because I’ve been staying at Mums and it’s always on the table in the morning) and every day I spot the word “tweet” in an article. Whether it’s about the masses tweeting whilst watching Michael Jacksons memorial concert, some gay dancing with the stars judge being told to stop tweeting on advertisement breaks or Lance Armstrong tweeting to avoid real life interviews. The fact that the papers use “tweet” as common vocabulary just further strengthens this crap.

So this morning I get a mail from my good friends Tom and Sue who have just released a lovely line of anti tweeting T’s available from their Tomsuey Store. Me likes :)