Way back when...

1954

1970
Complete with dodgy glasses.

Snaps go out to h&b for putting me onto this one.
Try it yourself at www.yearbookyourself.com

I'm loving this right now...

"Nature Boy" lyrics:

There was a boy
A very strange enchanted boy
They say he wandered very far, very far
Over land and sea
A little shy and sad of eye
But very wise was he

And then one day
A magic day he passed my way
And while we spoke of many things
Fools and kings
This he said to me
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn
Is just to love and be loved in return"

Bit of a big weekend...

I keep telling myself that I really should grow up soon, but surely I'm not too old for these sort of weekend shenanigans just yet.

After hanging out with "long lost friend" on Friday evening (having fun helping him with his new Mac), I had going away drinks to attend for another good friend who is moving to Qld. These started at 11pm and I had every intention to only stay for an hour or so because the celebrations were in one of my least favourite nightclubs, Arq. Yes, handbag heaven Arq. Well, before I knew it it was daylight outside and 7am Saturday morning and I was having a great time still boogieing my arse off to really crappy music. Why stop now? So down the street we trundled to the local dayclub. The thing I like most about these sort of unplanned evenings are that they are so much fun and you meet so many new people.

Luckily dayclub closes at 1pm and I was home by 2. Rest. Then up and out to grab dinner and do some late grocery shopping. Sleep.

Up at 6am Sunday morning to get ready for the annual Sydney Running Festival. I had really lacked preparation this year so I wouldn't make the half marathon distance and opted early on for the 9km Bridge run. It was an enjoyable run, apart from the few occasions where I felt my brain bouncing around my head as I ran. Really, at a couple of sections of the race my brain felt like it was mushy and slopping up and down as I ran. Totally weird. But I think I was pretty much on pace to be equal to last year's run. Very happy about that.

Following on from the race I popped my head into dayclub once more just to say a final "goodbye" to my mate who was continuing the party, then home to some sweet sweet slumber. And boy did I sleep well!

No, really it is...

You think I would have read the label and put this beer back on the shelf, but NOOOOooo, I just had to buy it.

I am addicted...

to Gelato Messina. It's the finest gelato in Sydney and a favourite on my dining outings. Actually, at the moment, it's receiving a daily visit from me.

Tonight I discovered a flavour that I had never tasted before and I'm totally won over by it. It's Dulce de Leche. I can not put into words how amazing this little scoop of gelato is. In fact, I announced to my flat mate that there now IS something better than chocolate.

The other flavours on tonight's plate were:
honeycomb, panna cotta, pistachio and choc chip.

The thought of another scoop of Dulce de leche is making my mouth water as I post this.

A little bit of shopping...

is always good for the soul, and when it's new tyres it's a special day indeed.

These are the Diablo Strada tyres from Pirelli. Sexy aren't they?! I've been tossing up whether or not to get some new tyres for the past couple of months. Selecting the right set of tyres has been making me put off the choice, but I finally decided to go with these Pirelli ones because of their performance. For my style of riding they offer me a great balance between wear and traction.

My first ride on them yesterday afternoon was so bloody enjoyable. Rolling around the street corners I could feel they provided me with perfect turn-in and lean. As I approached the home stretch I could feel that with a bit of heat in the tyres I could start scrubbing them in with a little more confidence. I just have to say "SWEET!"
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Here's a local sign that I find rather amusing...

I'm going through...

a very big 80's Oz music phase right now. I'm loving this one more now than I ever did before.

I can finally welcome spring...

phew. And so, today this is me.
There's a hint of a smile and a glint in my eyes.

It took me 8 days of bed rest, but I've finally recovered and have a slight spring in my step. I've been soooooo bored recently cooped up at home, cabin fever had really set in.

Even though it's raining outside I feel spring has arrived. Leaves on the elm trees on the street below me are unfolding. I'm sure over the next 2 weeks the Sydney streets will start filling with renewed growth. Spring is by far my favourite time in Sydney.

Food meme

So, continuing on with the meme theme at the moment, here is one about food. This is kind of torture for me because I've not really been eating for the past few days...

1. How do you like your eggs? As a simple omelette, not too much filling. Maybe just some mushrooms and cheese. I even love the sushi style Tamago one.

2. How do you take your coffee/tea? Coffee: never made at home, in a mug, white with two. Tea: White or black depending on if I actually have "in date" milk in the fridge. So, that's mostly black at home.

3. Favorite breakfast food: I'm going to go with crumpets. I love these.

4. Peanut butter: Well, in Qld we called PB "peanut paste". It had something to do with the peanut farmers and dairy farmers arguing over the use of the word "butter". But I like mine crunchy.

5. What kind of dressing on your salad? I often like an undressed salad. I do like a light French dressing though.

6. Coke or Pepsi? Hmm. I like both. I'm no cola snob.

7. You’re feeling lazy. What do you make? 2 minute noodles.

8. You’re feeling really lazy. What kind of pizza do you order? Ham and Pineapple.

9. You feel like cooking. What do you make? Chicken and asparagus risotto.

10. Do any foods bring back good memories? Crab. My grandfather was the president of a fishing club and I can remember going out in his boat checking crab-pots for fresh crabs. I don't eat crab these days, but even when I see one I still have fond memories of them cooking at home or at my grandparent's place.

11. Do any foods bring back bad memories? It's not really a bad memory, more a sickly feeling. Cherries. I just can't stand the sight of these things. I was so ill as a child after eating cherries that even to this day I will avoid looking at them.

12. Do any foods remind you of someone? Not really. Food tends to remind me of different places or time, not really a person.

13. Is there a food you refuse to eat? See Q11.

14. What was your favorite food as a child? Home cooked fudge or coconut ice. My mum used to make the BEST coconut ice. It was never crumbly and sugary, it was so creamy and ever-so-slightly chewy. It was delicious. Oh god what I'd give for some of this right now.

15. Is there a food that you hated as a child but now like? I was just talking about this with my flatmate the other night. Brussels sprouts. I really like these babies now.

16. Is there a food that you liked as a child but now hate? Toffee. I can't stand the thought of eating a solid lump of sugar.

17. Favorite fruit and vegetable: Fruit: Strawberries. Oh how I love these juicy red packages of goodness. I even love how in a punet of strawberries the flavour can range between tangy and sweet. It's a mystery how they can taste so different, yet so similar. Vegetable: Corn. The smell of corn on the cob cooking is just heaven to me.

18. Favorite junk food: I'm going to go with KFC here. I don't eat it often, but sometimes I just want to go out and dig into a two piece feed, mash and all. I guess my other fave junk food would have to be potato chips (crisps) with beer at the pub.

19. Favorite between meal snack: Polly waffle. I sometimes think I devour way too many of these. I think these may be an Aussie only food.

20. Do you have any weird food habits? It's not weird, well at least not in my books, but I don't like to eat fish that isn't farmed or self caught. The widespread raping of the ocean is something I feel ashamed of as a human.

21. You’re on a diet. What food(s) do you fill up on? Diet? me? I'm not one for dieting. Sure, I'm conscious of what I eat, but I've never been "on a diet". So let's say I'd fill up on Realfood's Corn Thins. These are good enough on their own or with peanut butter spread over them.

22. You’re off your diet. Now what would you like? A real good Surf and Turf steak thanks, with lumpy mash and green beans. The surf part has to be garlic prawns and the turf part med-rare for me.

23. How spicy do you order Indian/Thai? I like medium spicy Thai, but funnily enough, I don't like spicy Indian at all. I can do Mexican really spicy. MMMmmmmm.

24. Can I get you a drink? Sure, if it's warm outside, we're sitting by a pool and you're paying I'll have a Caipirinha. Otherwise, just get me a beer thanks.

25. Red or White Wine? Red, preferably a cab-mer. Or if it's going to be white, make it a dry crisp very cold one.

26. Favorite dessert? Custard.

27. The perfect nightcap? Umm, my perfect nightcap is not suitable for publication.

Shrinkage PtII...

Thanks for all the well wishes I've received recently. The good news is that I'm feeling much better today.

The past five days my Wii has been measuring exactly how much my illness has effected my weight. 3.6kg in 5 days. You can see on Saturday I was at my regular "happy with this" weight of 72.4kg. By this morning I was down to 68.8kg. Way too light.

Now that solid food is welcomed back into my life I plan to regain those lost kg with some tasty tasty food. Tonight was a calorie loaded dinner followed by custard and the thinest sliver of orange cake (Thanks Terry).

This really is a boring post, so I'll end it here and get back to listening to Transvision Vamp.

ps: That werewolf picture below REALLY gives me nightmares, and has since I was a young lad.

me meme 5...

5 movies you need to watch in order to understand me better

• The Royal Tenenbaums
• Beetlejuice
• Touching The Void
• The Dark Crystal
• An American Werewolf in London
  

5 TV Programmes you need to watch in order to understand me better

• The Amazing Race
• Futurama
• David Attenborough's Planet Earth
• The Muppet Show
• Food Safari
  

5 singers/bands you need to listen to in order to understand me better

• The Orb
• Eurythmics
• Grand National
• Simon & Garfunkel
• Danny Elfman

5 books you need to read in order to understand me better

• The Dharma Bums : Jack Kerouac
• Off The Road : Caroline Cassidy
• Blues and Haiku's : Jack Kerouac (spoken word)
  
• I am Plastic : Paul Budnitz
• Wuthering Heights : Emily Brontë

5 plays/Musicals you need to watch in order to understand me better

• Little Shop of Horrors
• Hamlet : William Shakespeare
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof : Tennessee Williams
• Pygmalion : George Bernard Shaw
• Jesus Christ Superstar : Rice & Lloyd Webber
  

5 periodicals/Journals/Magazines/Newspapers you need to read in order to understand me better

• Outside
• Australian Motorcycle News
• Australasian Sport Diving
  
• IDN
• Juxtapoz

5 places you need to visit in order to understand me better

• The Alps
• Paris
• Brisbane
• Any MotoGP
• Inscription Point to Monuments (Port Botany) : Dive site
  

5 restaurants you need to visit to understand me

• Hooters
• Guzman Y Gomez
• Pizza Capanna : Manly
• The Bistro at Brother's Leagues Club
• Pancake Manor
  

5 comestibles and libations of which you need to partake in order to understand me better

• Fajitas
• Big fat green olives with
  
• Peroni
• Toasted Marshmallows
• Snow Caramel's from Darrell Lea
  

Shrinkage...

These used to fit. That's 9kg less I have to carry around with me. A big "Woot" to me!

And I'm sure there'll be even less after this weekend. I've managed to develop a close relationship with my bathroom in the past 48 hours thanks to a bout of gastro. This is nothing like the weekend I had planned and is certainly not my idea of fun. 3 get-togethers and parties will all have to be declined now. :( But I'm looking on the bright side, I'll look even more fantastic for next weekend's round of socialising.

Sobering thought for the day...

From today's Sydney Morning Herald:
European avalanche victims still missing

A survivor of a giant avalanche that killed eight people near western Europe's highest peak has described the incident as a "a scene from the apocalypse"...
The Mont Blanc range is popular with hikers but every year claims numerous lives.
This summer season more than 30 people have died in the French Alps, most of them near Mont Blanc, and a further 60 have perished in the Italian and Swiss Alps.

Many people who know me know that I am preparing to ascend Mt Blanc in 2010. Part of my preparation has been looking into guides and reading a lot about the various routes to ascend this summit. I've become aware of the dangers and am taking preparation for this very seriously. I have given myself 3 years to prepare. Last year and this year I've been working on reducing my weight and improving my fitness. Next year I begin work on improving my alpine climbing skills. Part of this preparation will include a trip to NZ to be coached in ice climbing next year.

Accidents can happen. No matter how much preparation and planning you do you can't predict mother nature. I understand the risks. I've often said to my mum that if anything was to happen to me while I am doing the things I do that I hope she understands that I'm doing something I love. She says that's no consolation. I also understand her point of view.

Movie review haiku...

The Strangers

Whining Liv Tyler
The masked fiends took way too long
And then she survives...

(Ugh. I was sitting in the theater thinking to myself, "Hurry up. Just kill her. PLEASE!")

And yes, I'm posing....

however, that aside, I was mighty proud of the way my legs were looking this morning when I got in from my jog. I've also been watching my weight closely and after a trip to the doctors last week for an official weigh-in it seems I've lost 8kg since my last official weight check. Weightloss can be a tricky thing, but I've done it steadily with mostly exercise and only minor changes to my diet. This makes me very happy and quite proud, so here is a total show off picture of my right calf:

Now, please excuse me while I go and finish off my quarter pounder and fries...

Fancy footwork...

I've loved this clip (and song) for many years now.
So here's a question for all the SYTYCD fans out there:
What is the style of dancing in this film clip?
and part two for a bonus point:
Do you know where I can learn this in Sydney?



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

PS: I love this song and came across the video for it today... Ummmmm WTF?

Oh, I know it's a cop out post but...

here's another meme. So how else will you get to know me?
Thanks Yani for this one.

# If I were a direction I'd be... preceded by "No! No! I said go *insert direction here*!"

# If I were furniture I'd be... your favorite pillow

# If I were a liquid I'd be... more than a mouthful

# If I were a gem/stone I'd be... unpolished

# If I were a metal I'd be... part of an outdoor sculpture in the grounds of an art gallery

# If I were a tree I'd be... lost in the forest

# If I were a flower I'd be... about to bloom

# If I were a fruit I'd be... still on the tree

# If I were weather I'd be... that change that's blowing in from the south

# If I were a music instrument I'd be... played by a school student who never practiced

# If I were an element I'd be... part of something bigger

# If I were a colour I'd be... that one the guy in the paint supply shop could never quite match again to your sample.

# If I were an animal I'd be... untamed

# If I were a sound I'd be... an echo an echo an echo

# If I were a lyric I'd be... hummed by millions

# If I were a song I'd be... sung with gusto by Dannii Minogue at the end of a Parkinson type show

# If I were a music style I'd be... more of a genre than a style

# If I were a perfume/cologne I'd be... unnoticeable by about 10am.

# If I were a feeling I'd be... that one that you have buried deep inside that you'd love to let out just once

# If I were a book I'd be... left on a park bench for someone new to pick up and read

# If I were a food I'd be... a dish that you tasted and loved, but can't remember the name of the restaurant you tasted me in.

# If I were a city I'd be... just waking up at dawn and slowly coming to life

# If I were a taste I'd be... hardly fashionable

# If I were a scent I'd be... attractive to hummingbirds

# If I were a word I'd be... in one of those "word of the day" desk calendars

# If I were a verb I'd be... a carelessly used predicate

# If I were an object I'd be... width="760" height ="420"

# If I were a piece of clothing I'd be... that t-shirt that you wear out, then strip off and stuff into your back pocket when you were too hot in the club.

# If I were a body part I'd be... the one that you just wanted to kiss

# If I were a facial expression I'd be... characterised by one raised eyebrow and a curled up lip

# If I were a cartoon character I'd be... two dimensional

# If I were a movie I'd be... downloaded, burnt then shared around with your friends.

# If I were a geometrical figure I'd be... rather boring by myself, I'd need other shapes

# If I were a season I'd be... the one you were really looking forward to about 4 months ago, but now just want to be over

# If I were a sentence I'd be... 4 years with good behavior.

Album Art Meme...

This one is doing the rounds. It's so simple and clever.

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Random
The first article title on the page is the name of your band.

2. http://www.quotationspage.com/random.php3
The last four words of the very last quote is the title of your album.

3. http://www.flickr.com/explore/interesting/7days/
The third picture, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.

4. Use your graphics program of choice to throw them together, and post the result:

I'm loving this right now...

One of my new fave blogs:
"It's Lovely! I'll Take It!" - A collection of poorly chosen photos from real estate listings.

This is truly one of the funniest blogs I have ever read. Totally laugh out loud material.

Postcard from: Moab...

- Hot and Dry. Just how I love it. This is the desert. The average temp was over 40c (100F).

- Riding here had to be completed as early as possible. We would start riding before sunrise. On one ride I felt like a vampire. I seemed to have one eye on the trail and the other was watching the horizon with fear that the sun would soon break through.

- Fantastic hamburger from the Eclectic Cafe

- The Lizard Ale from the Moab Brewery was my pick of the beers.

- The cliffs along Potash Rd were being used by climbers and abseilers. I looked on with both envy and lust.

- Arches Nation Park is a wonder.

- Don't ride one handed. If you need to adjust some part of your equipment stop and do it.

- Slick Rock was an amazing landscape. It comprised of deep valleys and ancient petrified sand dunes. Follow the white lines painted on these or you could find yourself riding straight off into a canyon, with many broken bones.

To finish I must quote from our guide book on the riding in this area. It was a slight cause for concern: (The grading system is 1 to 10)
"Techno Factor: 11. Big descents, big rocks, BIG danger. Fear factor: 11. Off the map unless you are blind or brain damaged. Okey, have you figured it out yet? This trail is simply not safe to ride in its entirety. Many parts of it probably shouldn't give you more than a compound fracture. A couple of pieces, however, have killed in the past - read the signs. If you find yourself on this trail without pondering mortality you are probably the type who wants to ride it all. My heartfelt condolences got out to your relatives - I'm serious."

This did have us re-considering our day's riding. We did however ride the "Kinda scary 2-track downhill, heinous in some spots on singletrack (with Death on the Right!)" with the added advice "Don't be afraid to walk them"... which we did occasionally.

Yes, that is a sheer cliff I'm standing on. Moab was my fave part of my holiday.

Ode to the 8th of the 8th oh 8...

My song consists of only two chords.
And both of them are minor.
Sung by neither ladies nor lords.
The Olympics are on in China.





Ok, I might not be the best song writer.

Vectored...

Inspiration can strike in the weirdest of places...

so you just sketch it out on whatever is handy (after going to the bar to get a pen), and jot it down on the paper bag your dvds are in.

Flickr Meme:

The concept:
a. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
b. Using only the first page, pick an image.
c. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into mosaic maker.


The Questions:
1. What is your first name? Murray - opps, now is that the first time I've actually said my first name here? As if you would not have guessed.
2. What is your favorite food? Fajitas
3. What school did you go to? St Edmunds
4. What is your favorite color? Green
5. Who is your celebrity crush? I dare not speak thy name as I am not worthy.
6. Favorite drink? Tea - You thought I was going to say "beer" didn't you?!
7. Dream vacation? Mt Blanc. Been there, have the strongest desire to go back and conquer its peak.
8. Favorite dessert? Grandma's trifle
9. What you want to be when you grow up? An adventurer
10. What do you love most in life? Good kisses.
11. One Word to describe you: Contemplative
12. Your flickr name: Muzbot

Postcard from: New Mexico

- Hot.

- Food. OMG, I discovered my love for chili here. I've never been a huge fan of food that is too hot or spicy but here my desire for it grew with each meal. Our final night in town was capped off at a local restaurant where I enjoyed a baked dish containing whole green chilies which had been stuffed with cheese then crumbed in a sort of bread crumb and mashed potato concoction and served with rice and beens. It was so good. I also enjoyed the BEST fajitas ever. They were bought from a stall on a street corner. Seriously, the best food.

- Adobe style is the only way to live. I loved these buildings. I would love to build something like the one we stayed in in Santa Fe here in the Blue Mountains.

- Walked in Tent Rocks Canyon. This is an Indian reserve. Once you have negotiated the canyon and the long hot climb to the top you will be rewarded with the most stunning views of wide open plains that seem to go on for eternity.

- Stunning evening storms here.

- We rode the Windsor tail here. It was a bit of a lengthy start, due to an extra loop which we tacked on at the trail head, but an enjoyable ride. There was some fun downhill on this ride and I managed to get some air on a few of the bunny hops towards the end of the ride. We finished this ride at the Teseque Village Market. They serve great food. MMMMmmmm: tamales, green mole and blue corn chips.

I'm still loving this right now...

Postcard from: Salida (Monarch Pass ride)...

- Cool early morning start.

- This ride climbed above the tree line up to snow drifts. These are impossible to ride. We had to guess the best route across these that would take us safely to the rest of the trail. One of these had a 10ft vertical drop that we had to slide down. I had a rather ungraceful slide, but boy was it fun!

- This was by far the most difficult ride. The conditions on the trail ranged from shale, dusty dry trails, deep gutters, to river crossings and heavily forested pine groves.

- I had a bit of a tumble on this ride over the handlebars bumping my head and knocking my kneecap out of place (and quickly back into place as I stood up on it). I could not put my weight on it for a few minutes and horrible thoughts went through my mind about what would have happened if I couldn't ride any further. For a moment the pain was quite unbearable. Luckily the pain subsided into nothing worse than a major dead-leg as I hobbled onto our rest point.

- The bump to my head must have had some sort of effect on my sense of smell. We were in the middle of nowhere and I could smell freshly cooked blueberry muffins. It was weird and I was hungry and in pain.

- Rocks featured heavily on this ride. It's amazing that no matter how carefully you maneuver the front tire around a rock, you can be assured your back tire is going to collect it.

- My confidence was a little shaken and I managed to have a couple of further tumbles. I was not overly happy, but I could not deny that we were in some of the most remote and beautiful countryside and those thoughts thrilled me.

- The end of this ride was down an unsurfaced road that was badly corrugated from years of off-road traffic. That road was the WORST I have ever ridden on in my life.

Postcard from: Europe in general...

Postcard from: London...

- Ok, this picture probably doesn't really show much of London, but I do love the local breakfast cafes in London. Big helpings, small price.

- Hung out mostly in the West End and Soho areas. So lively.

- There is a musical on here for everything.

- Had a great time catching up with Darth and when we finally found lunch it was delicious. Thanks DG, looking forward to our next meeting, wherever and whenever that may be.

- Could have spend a small fortune on T-shirts, and a LARGE fortune in Ted Baker and Paul Smith, despite both stores having sales.

- Rain. In fact a whole months worth in 2 days!

- The Tube. Brilliant transport system when it's working.

- Pret A Manger: Meatball wrap. Tasty!

- Fun bars. Couldn't help but have a small boogie to Marvin Gaye as one DJ really knew good music and kept me going all night.

Postcard from: Helsinki...

- The city is made of stone. Everything is stone.

- They have pokies in the supermarket?!?!

- Very friendly and well educated people.

- Don't fold your arms. It's a sign of rudeness. I was never conscious of how often I actually folded my arms until I was told not to.

- It didn't get dark. We walked out of a bar at 1am and the sun was rising, or was it setting??

- The bar was called "Albert's Room" and it literally was just big enough to be only a room. 20 people max in here at any one time. It was rather cool.

- The city was full of strawberry stands. The smell filled the streets and was so beautiful.


- This city is a cool, hip design hub.

- I wandered around a historic park that contained early Nordic houses that were being preserved. Very beautiful part of town.

Postcard from: Solden...

- Typical looking Alpine town. Beautiful.

- The first hotel we tried to get a couple of rooms in was fully booked (thanks to the Trans Alpine Mountain Bike Race), so we were sent across the river to the hotel owner's Mother's place. Kind of a weird experience, but we got 2 rooms none the less.

- Dinner was in a restaurant that was decorated with mannequins enjoying the sport of Luge across the ceiling. The pizza's here were HUGE! Way to big to even eat half of one.

Postcard from: Salzberg

- Nuns seemed to be wandering the streets aimlessly.

- Very wet. Sat outside a rather cool bar enjoying beer and a D&M with Judo about life while rain dripped down from the canopy onto our table.

- The town is alive with The Sound Of Music.

- Great beer options here.

- Had the biggest laugh as Judo and I drove through the traffic restricted area into the main square to the horror of the people sitting eating their sausages. A priceless moment.

Postcard from: Japan...

- What an amazing place.

- Wacky and totally entertaining. I was so tempted to splash a little water on the toilet seat in my hotel room just so I could find out exactly what sort of "trouble" I could get myself into.

- MMMmmmm Jellyfish. The food in Japan is not based on flavour, it's based on texture. Once you get your head around that fact, eating here becomes a learning experience.

- I will be back and I will spend more time here.

- I'll refrain from posting the pic of me in my Japanese robe.

Postcard from: Munich...

Hmmmmmm.... What can I say?

- The beer was ok, but I must admit I was a little disappointed.

- There are some very cool T-shirt shops here

- To visit here you must love sausage, potato or bacon with your green beans.

- Take a TomTom or a decent map if heading out to the suburbs to find the motorbike shops.

What a ride...

and I'm home. More to come. :)

Another small update...

I've just spent the weekend in California. The reason for flying to there for the weekend was to see the US leg of the MotoGP. It was a good race and quite different to the European races. I still don't understand why the majority of fans support Rossi. He's an industry all to himself. It was a good battle between him and Stoner until Casey made a mistake on a corner. The sound of MotoGP bikes still gives me goose bumps!

California was interesting as well. It's probably not the sort of place where I would live, but it does have a lot to offer. I'm enjoying New Mexico a lot though. The food here is great and I'm starting to appreciate chili a little more.

My time on the mountain bike has been great, but I'm starting to miss some of the comforts of home. 10 Days to go.

Heavy rotation...

I put my space suit on
Count back 10 to 1
The gravitation pull gets stronger
My skin it floats away
My brains are on a plate
The weightless feeling here is bliss.
This is the best thing that has ever happened to me
These are the colours that I've always wanted to see
And although I've never said it before
I love you
I need you
I need it
I love you.

I wish I had a way to post pics...

because some of the rides I'm doing are really beautiful. However, I'm taking notes along the way and when I return to Sydney I'll be able to do some retrospective posts with pics.

Yesterday I did one of the most difficult rides of my life. Actually, I'll even go as far as saying it WAS the most difficult ride and rather extreme too. Part of the ride was high above the tree line and we had to traverse a few snow drifts. These look harmless enough before you start to cross them, but you never really can see the other side. They are slippery. One of them still had beautiful 30ft cornices on it that dropped away suddenly to a rocky base and would have been very dangerous if you got too close to its edge. Sliding off these things was actually fun, but with no control over the fast slipery descent I came to a very muddy and rocky abrupt stop.

The terrain was incredibly difficult to cross. I had a few tumbles, knocks and cuts, but I enjoyed the challenge and it's a ride I know I'll never forget. I can't wait to share some pictures with you.

If I was slighlty competitive...

this is how my Colorado section of my holiday would be panning out:

I've just completed day two of a very grueling cross country leg. Day one (yesterday) was more fun. I was leading for the middle third of the ride. Which was great as I didn't know the trail and was just following the bends and curves of the track. I was struggling a little trying to get used to the altitude. Riding, or any strenuous exercise, at these altitudes is hard work. By the end of that leg I was bleeding from the nose and really struggling with my breath. OK, sure it was not a stream of blood, but it was enough to make things uncomfortable. I couldn't wait to get back and shower and clean myself up a little. Let's say I did ok on this ride and was the second home.

Today was harder. The trails were mighty tough. Plenty of up hill and lots of rocky down hill. I'm a little bruised and slightly battered, but now it's over I can say I really enjoyed it. Some of the trail crossed some very high ridges that had the most spectacular views. Very beautiful.

so, not sure what tomorrow will bring. I'm a little sore and not too keen to jump on my bike. I might just call in my rest day and do a hike across one of the snow capped peaks. Yes, there's still snow on these peaks even in the height of summer.

Just a quick update...

Hi all. Am having a great time. Am currently in Helsinki soaking up the incredible design atmosphere of the city.

Had a great time so far. What more can I say? Next stop, London. But only briefly.

If we took a holiday...

It's on...

During the next 5 weeks I'll be:
Eating Japanese food - actually in Japan.
Beering it up in Munich.
Re-visiting my beloved Alps, but this time along the Austrian border.
Visiting the hub of cool nightclubs, Helsinki.
Beering it up in London with Darth and Killer.
Mountain biking on high altitude single track in Colorado.
Visiting the Sand Canyon in Cortez.
Riding the deserts of Utah.
White water rafting in Keystone.
And lots more hight altitude single tracks with wicked descents.

I will blog where possible and keep tabs on what's happening back home.