The Loop

Gav and I headed out yesterday for some crazy km's on the single speeds. We have a loop that heads out through Warrandyte to Smiths Gully via some serious climbs for single speeds. On the way out the door post some morning wake up coffee we ran into Jase who was more than jealous at the prospect of being anywhere but work on a glorious day. Luckily for us we were on the bikes, unluckily for him his day was packed with work, and more work.
Gav was on his new Kona 29er as he snapped the last one and was tweaking things as time wore on and the trails shook things loose. Sweet looking ride in all black, finished off with his new bit of bike bling, a King headset in silver. I was on the familiar Gellie, however I am currently forced to use a shitty rear tyre made by Maxxis (Crossmark), as on the last ride a tore the side wall out of a Racing Ralph. Now I will say that Maxxis made a beautiful 29er tyre in the way of a Ignitor and I still state that they are bang for buck they are hard to pass up as they are a reliable tyre in most conditions and surfaces. I will soon be back on the Racing Ralph as I have some in a jet airplane on the way from the US.
Anyway we conquered the loop with a stop at the General Store so Gav could get some more H20, I did the stupid thing of having a can of Coke and paid for it during the next 30 mins, as it seems that the huge sugar rush messes a little with the body. The trails out there at Smiths are in top shape and are progressing nicely, as are some of the less ridden local ones.
So after 4.5 hours of riding we had climbed 1500 odd meters, covered 65km of trail and black top, seen 1 echidna, 1 blue tounge lizard, and Gav had polished off 6 bars, me 1 bar and 2 pieces of fruit cake.
Bloody great way to spend the day, in near perfect conditions.
In further news about the next project, the Karate Monkey landed on my door step this week after being ordered 4 days prior via the web from the USA. Now whilst there is always the argument about supporting your LBS, I argue that why bother supporting local distributors when they have you by the nuts. If I can find the gear I want at a reasonable or unbelievable price why wouldn't I buy it. It is my hard earnt $$$ after all and I want it to go as far as possible. In all the years of supporting the local industries/ distributors I argue that they have put little back into the cycling community, particularly as the cycling boom has increased rider number. It appears that distributors wallets get thicker and bike and the accessories stay the same $ value. This is a personal observation, but one that I feel is shared by many. I will continue to support my LBS with particular purchases, however if it suits me I will purchase elsewhere.
Now the project of a geared 29er is running smoothly and I have put some parts on and am sorting out a headset so the fork can slide in. Next thing will be some brakes, not to sure what to use but I will work that out as time moves on. Just need to find a shim for the front derailleur and the drive train will be done. Not long til it will be out on the trails.
Get out there and ride people
Happy trails!