Suga surprised me a few months back with a trip for 2 to Lake Crackenback for our 2 year anniversary. We just got back from our lovely little trip to the snowy mountains, here are some pics:

Before we set off on our 6-hour drive we dropped into Barloword to check out Suga’s new R32 Golf which will be ready on Monday. She’s pretty exited about it!

So fat from the rear.

We’re here at last…

Bug out!

The drive was long, but being a Friday, there wasn’t much traffic at all. The postcard scenery from our balcony (which was right on the lake) was amazing. You can still see snow on the mountains too.

Lambies.

Hello hello bike hire! We came just in time for great weather, but just a bit too early for the new 2009 Giant Halos, which were still in boxes waiting to be built up, but we hired some Trek hardtails which were crap, but still did the job and made us appreciate our bikes back home that little bit more.

Giant Halo’s (+ beer) waiting to be built up.

Lake Crackenback has a little skills park to play in. It’s so cool. A few beams, berms and some technical rock structures to play on.

Berms and jumps.

Fun!

Me having a go at the technical rock climbing.

And log riding.

The guys at Lake Crackenback have just built a scenic single trail around the whole resort which takes about an hour to complete.

You can see the trail is still pretty green.

The trail leads you down to a beautiful lake at the base of the mountains. If only we brought our swimmers!

We spotted this guy fly fishing for trout.

The postcard scenery was amazing.

Snow on the mountains – Thredbo was literally 10 minutes down the road but a comeplete ghost town at this time of year.

We stumbled onto a Triumph car show at Thredbo. This car was happy to see us :)

Great cars, we were checking out colour schemes in particular as Suga’s about to build up a custom road bike (that’s another story!).

The resort also had a 9 hole golf course which was heaps of fun. Suga’s 1st game and she was super frustrated (and super cute). PS: Nice golf boots!

We came across some roos, and these brumbies were in the way of hole 4.

Early dinner at Jindabyne, which was also a ghost town this time of year. I loved that everything was dead, and that we were there off-season, made the whole trip more fun.

We missed our chance to do an organised night walk to check out the wombats (we saw so many wombat caves everywhere during our ride) but the kiddies bikes weren’t locked up so we stole them for a little night ride instead lol.

Our apartment had a nice little open fireplace.

The package included a buffet breakfast in the morning. Buffet breakfast, no matter how shit it is, has to be on my top 5 favorite things in life list for sure.

Suga fondling The Big Merino’s nuts on our way home.

I was over at Mum’s tonight for dinner, and after a few glasses of red I decided to raid the old family photo albums to find photos of my old bikes. (LOL). It’s a shame I couldn’t find images of my old Cannondale mountain bike which I built up by hand and raced at the Nationals, but I did find these!!!

1990 Sydney to Wollongong – LOL too funny. LOOK pedals (I still have them!), LOOK spandex and profile aero bars. They didn’t have escorts down the national park then and you could go down those twisty roads as fast as you wanted. I remember not being able to make a few of the corners, hitting those little plastic reflectors in the middle of the road and crossing the line to the other side of the road into on-coming traffic, definitely dangerous. I did the gong flat out, no stopping. The frame is Italian, rebranded as a Europa, gold parts and friction gears I loved the thing!

1991 Sydney to Wollongong – I borrowed my good mate Eugene’s Shogun Praire Breaker and whacked some slicks on it, an awesome chromo mountain bike at the time.

My old GT shitbox which I used to ride to school. Check the oval chainrings and strange Scott bar.

1990 – Me on the left, my mate Eugene on the right. He was an awesome rider who later got into some serious downhill (Oxford Falls/north shore). He’s now a father, living in Taiwan and running a Giant bicycles dealership. :)

Cateye computer (stolen from Suga’s bike), translucent knogs, white brake cable outters and handlebar tape is on (installing the tape was fun!).

Cateye Computer, if it’s good enough for Cadel it’s good enough for me.

White cable outters look nice.

Old school Cinelli cork grip.

Found these lovely little stars on the inside of the forks.

Campagnolo cable guides brazed onto frame.

Little knoggy.

MWG pointed me to Velobase.com which helped me identify all the parts on the bike and put the spec list together. The spec list goes as follows:

Bottom Bracket: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (290g)
Brakes: Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport
Brake levers: SunTour Superbe Pro
Cable brakes: Jagwire
Cable gear: Shimano
Cable housing: White teflon lined
Cassette: Shimano 6 speed
Chain: Shimano HG
Crankset: Campagnolo Nuovo Gran Sport
Frame/Fork: Frank Paino 48cm
Front derailleur: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (81g)
Handlebar: 3TTT Competizione Merckx Bend (275g)
Handlebar tape: Cinelli cork white
Headset: Campagnolo Nuovo Record (194g)
Hubs: Campagnolo Nuovo Tipo low flange
Pedals: VP 196 (280g)
Rear derailleur: Campagnolo 980 (200g)
Rims: Campagnolo Montreal 76
Rim tape: Zefal
Saddle: Selle Italia XO (295g)
Seatpost: Campagnolo Super Record Fluted
Shifters: Campagnolo Super Record friction
Skewers: Campagnolo
Stem: 3TTT Pantographed Paino (273g)
Toe clips: AFA
Toe straps: Europa/Campagnolo leather
Tubes: Maxxis Flyweight (53g)
Tyres: Diatech Gran Compe White 700×23 (200g)

Awesome work by American tattoo artist Mike Giant (his official site here).

The Paino is almost ready. Another new white tyre is on it’s way for the rear. White brake cable outers and white handlebar tape and I’m set!

I finally got around to registering for the 90km Sydney to the Gong MS bike ride today. I’ve done it twice before but I was 16/17 then! Even though I haven’t had any sort of distance training regime over the past few months I’m pretty sure I’ve got the mental ability to make it. I’m pretty sure my ass is going to hurt by the end of it though!

If you would like to make a small donation to support my ride and help people suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, please do so here.

The soundtrack is amazing, especially when the drums kick in, but then it turns to crap when the shitty wap wap keyboards take over. Nice clip though, looks like the Fixie trend is well and truly about to crap itself and die (not?).

Some say you should never sell bikes as they’re always good for parts, or for when mates come over or for memories sake but my Scott Scale sold on eBay for $3k and she’s packed and ready to be sent off to Melbourne. I’m not that sad to see it go, she’s truly an amazing bike, but a super rigid XC hardtail doing the kind of stuff I like to do and riding on the kind of stuff I like to ride just doesn’t go hand in hand. I’m sure the new owner will be ecstatic.

Had a hit of Golf with Mum today at The Lakes golf course, she’s been competing for over 5 years now. My sister Jamie and hubby Richie played too and we were playing so shit that Mum got a little frustrated and played well below par herself.

JDM yo! Their golf buggies are actually fast! lol.

Richie and Jamie.

One of a few which I later lost in the lake.

Haha.

Richie teeing it up.

Mum smacking it.

Bird?

Fish!

I’d wear that. Love the logotype.

The Lakes is as elitist as it gets. This was in the carpark. I suppose he can fit a set of clubs in there somehow.

New X6 is MASSIVE.

On another note. I spent last night polishing bits on the Paino whilst watching the F1 (yawn). A massive lot of rust has come off which is a good thing.

Brake pads: left – before, right – after.

I got these Gran Comp tyres in white, really not sure about them though, they were originally for the purple rims I was going to get (which I’m no longer getting).

I’ve been invited to judge another Cut&Paste event, this time it’s the 55DSL Logo Remix. The Logo Remix challenges graphic designers, illustrators, and typographers, as well as all-around creative types, to take the iconic 55DSL Shield logo and spin it into a remix that reflects 55DSL’s culture and spirit, its origins and its future. The Grand Prize winner of the 55DSL Logo Remix will receive 1,055€ in addition to seeing his/her logo design produced by 55DSL. More details here.

Had a great ride today at Loftus with Richie and Andy and 3 new guys: Grant, who wears clip-ins and has a lovely old Cannondale hardtail and is more into road bikes, Shaun who commutes on road 5 minutes to and from work on his Giant Yukon hardtail and has never ridden on a trail before (yeah we’re pushing everyone to ride with us!) and Johnno who had an old Specialized hardtail.

Bright and early at Richie’s place.

Left to right: Johnno, Richie, Shaun and Grant.

Left to right: Richie, Grant and Andy.

Group shot.

My fitness levels are definitely getting better and I’m also learning how to lean into corners much harder and modulate the rear brake whilst leaning in, as opposed to locking up the rear for a slide which does nothing much but slow me down and rip up the trail.

In other news the heat is on so Suga and I went to fetch some fresh salt water at the boat ramp for the fish tank. I put a little love into the tank, cleaned up the glass and did a 20litre water change. I’ll hopefully keep it up, weekly, over the summer.