Friday, September 08, 2006
Danzig!
I've been getting over a cold I had last week, so decided to take it easy on the bike ride (well, it was still a 2 hour ride). I went for a ride up at Danzig today, and it was great like usual. I forgot to take my camera today and I realized that I don't have any pictures of the trail, I guess I'll have to go back sometime soon. Here's a nice shot from the eastern hills instead.
Heres the group of bikers I ride with, not too fast not too slow, just right. Who is that handsome guy on the right?:
Heres a link to a video I shot using my little Olympus camera, strapped to the front of my bike with an inner tube. Its not the greatest, but its still fun to watch: Makara video.
"You can't beat Wellington on a good day" as they say (Wellington on a bad day is a different story). Actually coming from Canada, Wellington on a bad day is still pretty good. It almost never dips below freezing, which lets you continue doing outdoor sports all year long. I will say that I've never seen rain fall as hard as it does here, its amazing.
The ride was great, though I did manage to run into a fence and bend my brake lever! It was the end of a steep trail that was covered in sticky clay rich mud. This mud is crazy, its like biking on ice. I came around a corner with a 'reasonable' amount of speed and saw a fence/barrier to keep dirt bikes out. I tried to stop, but the mud didn't give me any traction, and I bumped into the fence. The brake lever took the force of the blow and looked pretty mangled, but I managed to bend it back. I'm hoping it won't break from fatigue later on, but its pretty solid so I think it'll be alright.
I really like that 'post ride euphoria' that comes with a good bike ride. All I need is a nice day, a BBQ, some beers, and a few good friends to be totally content. Its so nice to get everything into perspective after a hard week at work. It seems like biking is all I ever do, so I'd like to get into some other sports like:
sea kayaking
sailing
climbing
hiking, oh I mean tramping
touch rugby (still dealing with a High School rugby injury - arrg!)
Actually I've done a bit of tramping already, this place is great for it. I went to the end of Wainuiomata drive a couple weeks ago, and was impressed with the beach. It was a great secene, a nice blackrock beach, damn windy, and a beautiful day. There was so much driftwood on the beach that people were collecting it for firewood! Theres a few good pics on the gallery, like this one:
Heres the group of bikers I ride with, not too fast not too slow, just right. Who is that handsome guy on the right?:
Heres a link to a video I shot using my little Olympus camera, strapped to the front of my bike with an inner tube. Its not the greatest, but its still fun to watch: Makara video.
"You can't beat Wellington on a good day" as they say (Wellington on a bad day is a different story). Actually coming from Canada, Wellington on a bad day is still pretty good. It almost never dips below freezing, which lets you continue doing outdoor sports all year long. I will say that I've never seen rain fall as hard as it does here, its amazing.
The ride was great, though I did manage to run into a fence and bend my brake lever! It was the end of a steep trail that was covered in sticky clay rich mud. This mud is crazy, its like biking on ice. I came around a corner with a 'reasonable' amount of speed and saw a fence/barrier to keep dirt bikes out. I tried to stop, but the mud didn't give me any traction, and I bumped into the fence. The brake lever took the force of the blow and looked pretty mangled, but I managed to bend it back. I'm hoping it won't break from fatigue later on, but its pretty solid so I think it'll be alright.
I really like that 'post ride euphoria' that comes with a good bike ride. All I need is a nice day, a BBQ, some beers, and a few good friends to be totally content. Its so nice to get everything into perspective after a hard week at work. It seems like biking is all I ever do, so I'd like to get into some other sports like:
sea kayaking
sailing
climbing
hiking, oh I mean tramping
touch rugby (still dealing with a High School rugby injury - arrg!)
Actually I've done a bit of tramping already, this place is great for it. I went to the end of Wainuiomata drive a couple weeks ago, and was impressed with the beach. It was a great secene, a nice blackrock beach, damn windy, and a beautiful day. There was so much driftwood on the beach that people were collecting it for firewood! Theres a few good pics on the gallery, like this one:
# posted by Chris LeBlanc @ 11:27 PM 
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Great video Chris, was like I was on a roller coaster...excuse me while I hurl! Pretty cool though. Looks like it was a pretty mild trail, was it?
hey man!
I said the video wasn't that great ;) I'm still trying to hook it up to get a better video (bigger too). It would be best if the camera was on my helmet, but that would look pretty stupid.
Yeah, it was actually a pretty tame trail, at least in terms of rock and roots (this is part of the Makara bike park), but that means you can go FAST. The thing is, it goes very close to the edge tons of dropoffs, if you fell down them you'd be dead for sure. That kinds of freaks you out a bit, but its still fun. Also, the mud here is the slipperiest (is that a word?) stuff I've ever ridden on, its like grease.
Makara also has some massive climbs, real lungbusters. Theres nothing like that around Halifax so I'm still trying to build the endurance (not easy on my portly Kona Dawg).
Oh I've got a funny video of me causing a sheep stampeede somewhere, its hilarious. I'll try to post it.
Cheers
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I said the video wasn't that great ;) I'm still trying to hook it up to get a better video (bigger too). It would be best if the camera was on my helmet, but that would look pretty stupid.
Yeah, it was actually a pretty tame trail, at least in terms of rock and roots (this is part of the Makara bike park), but that means you can go FAST. The thing is, it goes very close to the edge tons of dropoffs, if you fell down them you'd be dead for sure. That kinds of freaks you out a bit, but its still fun. Also, the mud here is the slipperiest (is that a word?) stuff I've ever ridden on, its like grease.
Makara also has some massive climbs, real lungbusters. Theres nothing like that around Halifax so I'm still trying to build the endurance (not easy on my portly Kona Dawg).
Oh I've got a funny video of me causing a sheep stampeede somewhere, its hilarious. I'll try to post it.
Cheers
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