Ben, Kate and James's move

We helped Ben, Kate and James with the move to their new house in Forde yesterday. I helped Ben with the furniture and Jem took James for a while so Kate could get some stuff done. The boys apparently loved looking after their little cousin taking him to the Library.

Photos from the saddle

I went for a ride interstate today and shortly after crossing the border I seemed to suddenly be somewhere in Serbia!

...well at the local Serbian church anyway.

Speed cubing

William has been right into Rubiks cubes for a while now. With only a bit of guidance from a teacher at school, he has basically taught himself and can solve it in around 30 seconds! Amazing. I have absolutely no idea what he is doing when he goes through the 'Algorithms' to complete the puzzle (a sign of things to come as a parent I think!). Jacob can also solve them and has learnt almost all of what he knows from Will.

Our clever little brainy boys!

William here showing what he can do, see if you can keep up! -

The climb

"As I gasped for breath and zigzagged across the road, I saw the ghost of the rider I once was looking back over his shoulders at me. He laughed at how slow I had become and rode away".

words: Tom Southam

Pain in the legs, burning lungs and the sweat onslaught - all a given when doing a decent road climb. But its the wonderful feeling of achievement and the constant challenge of the climb that keeps cyclist coming back for more. The mountain never changes, but the way you feel climbing it most certainly always does.

A lovely quick video by Rapha with a visual representation of the changing emotions during a climb, in this circumstance Italy's Monte Zoncolan -

Grandad the gypsy

Dad/Grandad has now made the big move to the other side of the country and is officially homeless! He stopped in to Canberra for the night before heading down to Merrimbula, his future home this afternoon. Its going to be great to see him on a more regular and much easier basis.

Today me and Lucas took him out to the lovely Arboretum for some morning tea and a walk around.

4 in a row!!

I think I need to start charging AMB for my input as either me or my boys have appeared in their magazine 4 issues in a row now! This time I was joined by Jackson who also got in the 'On any weekend' photo's section riding his new bike.

Now, the question is - Can I make it in every issue for the year?........

Family

A beautiful morning at the National Arboretum with the crew yesterday.

Strava ride stats/Photos from the saddle

I racked up my 100th ride on Strava today, 500th km for May Massive, 2000th for the year, rode 90kms and started the ride in -4.4 degrees!! Welcome to riding in a Canberra's winter.

Sime, Joe, Chris and myself set off for Lake George at about 6.30am - the coldest part of any day. What nutbags like riding in the dark and freezing cold you ask?? Well apperently we do. Ice cream headaches, frozen water bottles, ice on our bikes, numb hands/feet and frosty jackets, sounds nice doesnt it. Didnt stop us having a beautiful ride out to Lake George, which actually for decades now hasnt really been a lake with not much water left in it.

The turn around point at Lake George lookout

Photos from the saddle

Early morning 'May Massive' ride past the Lake stopping at the National Carillion for a snack

Goose bumps

I love finding those YouTube clips, whatever they may be, that give you goosebumps watching them. Most of the time they are sport related, showing amazing athletes doing what they do best, usually with a sweet backing track and commentators going nuts. Its sure to get you pumped!

Watching great basketball players achieving amazing feats is one of those things for me. Here is Michael Jordan doing what he does best with some of his all time best dunks -

Photos from the saddle

Early morning roadie with Rich looking over the fog covered CBD and Telstra Tower at sunrise

Lanes in town!

The Lanes came to town this weekend. Em got to pick up and ride her new bike with Jem at Kowen and the kids got to hang out again. Rich and I also got to go out on a lovely early morning roadie.

Big boy ride

I dont get the opportunity to take just the big boys for a ride all that often, so on the weekend I took them out to Stromlo for a 'big boy ride'. We ended up going a fair way and doing some pretty steep climbs out the back of the mountain. The boys did great and although Jacob hated the hills (and me!) at the time he did really well on the way down, picking his lines even though he was quite tired. By the time we were done about an hour and a half later, he was smiling from ear to ear. William surprised me with how much he has gotten stronger, climbing up out of his saddle and powering on.

Well done boys you did great!!

The 2 of them at 'Willow link' named after the well known mountain bike rider James Williamson who tragically past away doing what he loved. Me -  "Its mostly down hill from here Jacob!" Jacob - "Mostly?!, you said that last time!"