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YPRUK#2 – Marylebone to err… bike shop, street market and Regent’s Park

Wow… new WP 2.0 editor. Cool.

After forking out more pounds for some Shimano M520 SPD pedals and Specialized BG Sport MTB shoes (I have now almost officially spent more money on gear than the bike itself), Hay, Pete and I were going to meet up Sat morning to go for a bit of a cruise. Pete didn’t end up coming down to Hay’s place (the meeting point) in the morning and because he had the pedal wrench, we rode to his house instead which was about 3-4km away. Pete had to change his pedals as well as he’d just recently purchased clipless too. When we got to Pete’s, I gave it a shot at changing the pedals but given that me and pedal wrenches never seem to get along (I can never figure out which way to turn them), we ended up riding to a local bike store to get it changed. This actually ended up being a good thing as until now I have only been shopping at the big chain stores and it was a welcoming change to see a (cheaper) mum and dad type store stocking a half decent range. Anyway, they lent us their pedal wrench (I’ve gotta say the Park Tools are just so much better and easier to use) and after telling me which way to turn, it was a piece of cake. We changed Pete’s pedals there as well but given that he hasn’t used clipless before, he continued riding with his sneakers. It felt so good to be clipped in again and not bouncing around… (felt so much safer too).

Anyway, our next destination was a street market as I had to do a bit of grocery shopping. The fruit and veggies were not only cheaper than the supermarkets as expected, but it was a lot fresher too. Special thanks to Tara and James for recommending this place to me (who else would know more about where to get the best and cheapest foods!). We also ended up having a kebab there. And it was a HUGE kebab too. Pete went to order and he asked for 3 kebabs but when the guy put 3 skewers of meat on one, Pete tried to correct the guy by telling him that he wanted 3 separate kebabs only to have the guy tell him ‘yes, I know, this is just one’.

After scoffing down lunch we went back to my place to dump the groceries, and Pete headed off home. Hay and I did a couple more lazy laps of Regent’s Park before we both headed home. I must admit I quite enjoy these cruises through the city… it’s an excellent way to see London without having to worry about where/when to catch the bus or tube. Gives you complete freedom to ride through those dodgy neighbourhoods if you want to..

Oh yer, getting better at my ‘track stands’ too, although I still can’t quite fully do it cos I haven’t mastered rolling backwards. I tend to creep forward bit by bit still.

Ride stats:
Dist – 29.03 km
Avg – 17 km/h

WordPress upgrade

I figured I’d finally get around to upgrading WordPress on this website to version 2. The upgrade has broken a few things so I’ve reverted to the standard theme. In the meantime, you can use this post for your random chats.

Mini YPR – Ruffey Lake Park

Keith and I headed out to Ruffey Lake Park this evening for some MTBing. Usually not worthy of a post, except for a minor achievement – after a year of MTBing, I managed to conquer that tricky downhill bit! The last time we were at Ruffey Lake, it had been raining the day before. I had one try at it on that day but I was struggling with a very slippery track and didn’t manage to make all the way to the bottom without putting a foot down. I decided that today was going to be the day I would conquer it.

First attempt, I nearly took a tumble because of a bad line so I spent a few minutes walking the first few turns working out where to go. Back to the top and lined up for another approach with Keith watching from the top. This time I made it safely through the first turn where I had put my foot down on the first attempt. Then came the next little tricky bit and before I knew it, I’d ridden it without even thinking about it. Another sharp left-hander followed by some very slippery tree roots and before I knew it, I’d reached the bottom. Finally I’d ridden it without one of those Alan cartwheels!

Anyway, we did three more laps after that and I managed to nail this section each time. The last lap I managed do the entire loop without putting a foot down. Reasonably happy with the effort today.

Mini YPR – Wombat Track, Woodend

HYG and I headed out for a first look at Wombat State Forest Mountain Bike Park. We headed out from my place at 7am to avoid the traffic. There was a little trouble finding the trailhead but we made it eventually. For future reference, the trailhead is 4.1km down Finger Post Road after turning off from Old Calder Highway. Map here. Hmmm… was it cold? Let’s just say there wasn’t going to be any mooning from me on this ride.

Although there has been some recent rain making the track a little tricky, it’s a great course. Tight tricky singletrack but mostly ridable. Worth going back except that’s it’s so far away.

On the way home, we came across this:

On another note, I’m disabling photo uploads to qweop. I’m pretty sure everyone has access to some sort of photo sharing service, whether it’s Yahoo! Photos, Flickr or Photobucket.

New York & Canada

Here are a handful of photos from our recent North America trip.