A Sunday in Heaven

I had someone give me a dig about my blog last night; he accused me of being egocentric and boring him by writing about myself. Well, DURR! I pointed out to him that by it's very nature writing a blog has to be ego-driven. After all, I'm writing on my blog about things I am doing.

Naturally it also helps that I am somewhat less than a humble man, but really my main motivation is to simply write a kind of diary for my own edification - whether or not others enjoy it is secondary. I do give thanks to those who give me positive feedback about it, however - me and my ego appreciate it...

At the end of the day, my blog - like me - can't be all things to all people, but what or who can? I'm better off trying to amuse myself than try to second-guess how I come off to others!

Yesterday I had to exorcise some riding demons after a less than stellar showing in Rotorua last weekend (story to come), so I set off for a loop of the local trails. I'm very lucky to live 5 minutes away from the town belt so I just rolled out the door and into it.























This was a real morale booster of a ride. As seems to be par for the course these days I wasn't very fast - I got overtaken by a (slow) runner up Alexandra Road! - but I rode some technical bits without looking like a complete spaz, and mastered a few little things I've not mastered before. It's always grouse when a challenge is overcome. I'm loving my Meta 5 on rooty, techy descents that suddenly turn into climbs - usually one of my great nemeses. With ProPedal on I was able to keep my seat down yet stand and climb over the gnar as long as my legs could cope, and they mainly did. I still sketched out on a few verts, but the old outrigger technique sorted that out on the whole...

It wasn't all smooth sailing though; I had a sketchy moment on the Ski Jump - just as I started down the easier right-hand line a Doberman came out of the bushes running up the slope straight at me so in (barely) mid-air I had to change lines, just missing a large root and slamming my rear wheel hard sideways into the ground. I then experienced a phenomenon I've only ever heard about before - the phenomenon of burping air from a tubeless tyre. On this occasion it burped out to my right, showering the startled Dobie with a stream of jizz*, and I was able to make my escape unharmed though a bit squishier than before**...

*Jizz = the nickname for Stan's NoTubes Tubeless Tyre Sealant, which shouldn't be used in certain situations; "Sorry, I have jizz all over my hands!" As I said to a high ranking official at MTB Worlds after just having changed my first tubeless tyre.

**I lost some air pressure, you dirty swine! What else could that mean?

The perfect way to recover from a ride like that is with fish and chips with the family at Te Raekaihau Point as the sun lowers over the Kaikouras...Awesome weekend.

As ever, thanks for reading my blog about me. Cheers, Oli :D