Day 275: Labour Day Ride

Today was Labour day so I spent the day riding around Tallaganda on the dirty Husky with Andy, Pete and Matt. Andy had recently upgraded his bike from the old XR400 that he'd owned from new to a fancy Husqvarna that makes mine look a little dated.

He says it's been taking a little getting used to and I guess that's easy to understand with the new bike having brakes the work, roughly 3 times the power and modern suspension that allows him to choose which part of the trail he wants to ride on regardless of ruts, roots or rocks. There is however one part of the new bike that hasn't taken much getting used to for Andy and that's the magic little button that starts the bike, you see the old XR was a kick start only bike and this was the main reason for the upgrade.

I only took a few photos today because the new camera is much less portable for taking out on the trails than the old Canon and the photos I did take were of Andy's XR so he could advertise it. So today my photo is likely to be the last one I'll ever take with Andy's old bike in it.

As usual it was a great day out with the guys, only this time I came back a little jealous of Andy's new toy...

Day 236: Loaded Up, Ready To Go

I loaded the Dirty Husky into the trailer tonight because I'm off in the morning to Wallerawang with Matt and 9 other guys for a weekend of riding. We'll be led into, around and through the Sunny Corner State Forrest by the guys at Sunny Corner Trail Tours. I did a ride with these guys last year for the first time and it was awesome: The trails were great, the group of guys were good fun and the organised tour was exceptional.

This year, it's a few of the same guys from last year with some new faces and the overnight tour will be going to a different pub. It's also the last run for the Sunny Corner Trail Tours guys, they're calling it a day after our tour which is a real shame because they put on such a good ride. I'm sure they'll have some special trails lined up for us as a farewell gift.

Day 233: A Little Worn

I bought new rear pads for the Husky to day and chucked them in this afternoon... I noticed they were 'a little worn' on Saturday arvo when I was refitting the rear wheel after having a new tyre fitted. It's safe to say that 'a little' was quite the understatement, the green one on the left is down to the metal backing plate in the top left corner as it sits in the photo and the other was down to what I'm estimating is a little under 1mm. Oops. I'm sure Pete will try to rib me for lack of maintenance on this... I'll just have to refer him to his throttle cable.

I'll have to fit the front pads another night during the week, and I also need to re-oil my air filter and attach my rego label. After all that the Dirty Husky will be ready for the trek Sunny Corner on Friday and two days of riding through some spectacular bush. Last time I did this two day ride I came home with 6 stitches in my chin, I'll be doing my best to avoid anything similar this time.

Day 87: Ride Preparation

While I was doing the much needed maintenance on the Dirty Husky over the weekend I also added a camera mount for the Contour HD video camera that I haven't used yet. I thought it would be wise to check the camera over well before next weekend when I'm planning to capture a bit of footage in the Forest. There wasn't really that much to check over in the end, the Micro SD card was fitted, empty and ready to go and it was only the battery that needed some attention in the form of a charge.

Having never used the the Contour before I gave myself a quick read of the instructions before testing it out. I discovered that it is the coolest camera on the planet because it's got not one, but two lasers that are used to help you aim the camera when you mount it and to ensure that the lens, that rotates 180 degrees, is level.

A thought occurred to me when I discovered the lasers: If I could strap this camera to a shark it would be, in an approximation of the words of Dr Evil, "A frickin' shark with frickin' laser beams attached to its frickin' head". You just can't get any cooler than that.