A necessary evil this one, but somebody should know the route you plan to ride.
Had we not met a logger driving a vintage Landcruiser or a bunch of Christian 4WDers we may well still be out in the jungle right now.
20k isnt very far in most places but in the Crocker Range National Park where there are only hills that go upwards its a bloody long way.
Out of water (schoolboy error), on the wrong road (ditto) the only thing that went right for us today was the fact that it was overcast. Had the sun been out we would have fried.
When we finally found a way out and made it to a small village, there was only rubbish Indonesian Cola for sale, no water! the obligatory sunday drunkards got free entertainment as Mark dispensed a tuneful belching session thanks to the over carbonated beverage.
Alls well that ends well or so they say, and apart from a little chafing we are none the worse for the experience and in a funny way it was a good day out on the bikes.
Grown men in their 30's and 40's, with more than a little experience riding mountain bikes in remote jungles of Asia, we really shouldn't be getting into scrapes like this should we? Theres no fools like an old fool...........
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Wakey wakey!
You'd need to be a bit short of adequate mental faculties to have escaped the non-stop battering from both the 'Arab Spring' and the Global Financial Crisis.
We are, as a race committed to an awareness of the wider world and its goings-on. Tsunami in Japan, Russian space station, US presidential elections, whatever. There is no reason why many of these things should impact our lives but we choose to know about them. Knowing about them gives us perspective, enables us to reflect on our own lives and influences and enables us to become more rounded human beings.
In the Middle-East people are rising up, enough of the brutality of dictatorships they are saying and many are giving thier lives to the cause, nothing is more noble than sacrificing your lives for the benefit of the future of your people, nothing.
In the world of global financial wrangles there is almost the opposite going on, self-serving minorities of privileged people draining the world of its heart. Sucking out the hopes of millions of hard-working people and injecting vast quantities of despair where they had built hope and the facade of opportunity.
I was mulling these issues at the weekend as I watched the sweat stream off the end of my nose onto the hard-packed gravel on what felt like the worlds longest hill. My thighs were burning, not just from the exertion but the sun was stripping my flesh with no wind at all to cool me.
Its an abstract existance we have, so little of what we consider comes from direct experience, while I can get irritated by stupid European polititians whacking each other with their pathetic egos I dont really need to know this stuff, its makes little difference to me.
What did make a difference was the fact that every time I go out on my bike I realise that there is something that I meant to fix after my last ride that I never got around to. On this particular occaision it was sticky brakes, on the uphill that is far more irritating than anything Sarkozy or Cameron can say in a news conference.
Damn Juicy 5's have some glitch with the return spring on the levers and they just stick the pads against the rotor preventing the wheel from rotating freely. I am sure the resistance is tiny in real terms but on a hot uphill it feels disastrously unfair and I feel like a seal pup being beaten to death by a cruel Alaskan just because Sarah Palin needs a new purse.
The new carbon frame continues to be a source of pleasure and I remain happy with the gamble on buying unbranded from China. I guess it could blow apart any day but so, so good.
We are, as a race committed to an awareness of the wider world and its goings-on. Tsunami in Japan, Russian space station, US presidential elections, whatever. There is no reason why many of these things should impact our lives but we choose to know about them. Knowing about them gives us perspective, enables us to reflect on our own lives and influences and enables us to become more rounded human beings.
In the Middle-East people are rising up, enough of the brutality of dictatorships they are saying and many are giving thier lives to the cause, nothing is more noble than sacrificing your lives for the benefit of the future of your people, nothing.
In the world of global financial wrangles there is almost the opposite going on, self-serving minorities of privileged people draining the world of its heart. Sucking out the hopes of millions of hard-working people and injecting vast quantities of despair where they had built hope and the facade of opportunity.
I was mulling these issues at the weekend as I watched the sweat stream off the end of my nose onto the hard-packed gravel on what felt like the worlds longest hill. My thighs were burning, not just from the exertion but the sun was stripping my flesh with no wind at all to cool me.
Its an abstract existance we have, so little of what we consider comes from direct experience, while I can get irritated by stupid European polititians whacking each other with their pathetic egos I dont really need to know this stuff, its makes little difference to me.
What did make a difference was the fact that every time I go out on my bike I realise that there is something that I meant to fix after my last ride that I never got around to. On this particular occaision it was sticky brakes, on the uphill that is far more irritating than anything Sarkozy or Cameron can say in a news conference.
Damn Juicy 5's have some glitch with the return spring on the levers and they just stick the pads against the rotor preventing the wheel from rotating freely. I am sure the resistance is tiny in real terms but on a hot uphill it feels disastrously unfair and I feel like a seal pup being beaten to death by a cruel Alaskan just because Sarah Palin needs a new purse.
The new carbon frame continues to be a source of pleasure and I remain happy with the gamble on buying unbranded from China. I guess it could blow apart any day but so, so good.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Gimme dirt and gimme hills....
Right then, a lifetime ago I decided it was time to run a marathon, no idea why, why did not come into it, I just decided to do it. Had there been any mention of a why then it probably would never have happened and my knee would not hurt so much now but you live and learn, apparently.
Thing is my life has been dominated by the training, like a downtrodden servant I have been dutifully getting up way before dawn and plodding the streets of Kota Kinabalu to meet the demands of my evil master - The Training Schedule. It all culminated in a sweaty, nauseous overheated, five-hour odyssey of bleary-eyed ass-dragging on sunday.
Now I can go riding again.... and. I have four new bearings in my suspension, hopefully some improved stamina and a hunger for trails.
I shall take some photos of Dave trying to keep up with me, like he did to me before, git.
Thing is my life has been dominated by the training, like a downtrodden servant I have been dutifully getting up way before dawn and plodding the streets of Kota Kinabalu to meet the demands of my evil master - The Training Schedule. It all culminated in a sweaty, nauseous overheated, five-hour odyssey of bleary-eyed ass-dragging on sunday.
Now I can go riding again.... and. I have four new bearings in my suspension, hopefully some improved stamina and a hunger for trails.
I shall take some photos of Dave trying to keep up with me, like he did to me before, git.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Island expedition in October
Having heard some amazing stories about the islands of Balambangan and Banggi we have decided to run an adventure expedition there in October, purely for Sabah riders. Its gonna be unsupported and done as a team. If you might be interested drop us a line at simon@fieldskills.com.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Big ride coming up
Gonna take some punters on the round Kinabalu route along with a couple of pro-riders from OZ who are coming to do some skills and mechanics training for us.
My bike is getting new bearings fitted to the suspension after the last round Kinabalu ride! all four of them were totally mashed. Must have been made of cheese.
Anyway, anybody want to join in the fun? we are taking local riders at a fantastically reduced price on account of the fact that none of us get paid proper salaries and got no money.
Drop me a line for our special offer (simon@fieldskills.com).
When? oh yeah, 21 - 26 th of June
My bike is getting new bearings fitted to the suspension after the last round Kinabalu ride! all four of them were totally mashed. Must have been made of cheese.
Anyway, anybody want to join in the fun? we are taking local riders at a fantastically reduced price on account of the fact that none of us get paid proper salaries and got no money.
Drop me a line for our special offer (simon@fieldskills.com).
When? oh yeah, 21 - 26 th of June
Friday, February 18, 2011
Too busy breaking bikes
Its a lousy excuse but to be fair my bike is pretty broken again.
Not sure what to do now, it looks like the lovely Litespeed needs new bearings in the linkages, Borneo is a pretty harsh place, well for American bikes anyway. Hey maybe thats why there are so few American humans here too, its just too tough for them. Mind you I have ridden in Colorado and its not that easy, well they did have marked trails, and it was all groomed but still....
Moooooooving on..... so what to do? I am now riding a Giant hardtail and enjoying it quite a lot, it is making me think that maybe, just maybe I should invest in a hardtail again, something light and twitchy, with smooth gears, hardcore brakes, flat bars and stripped down to race spec.
Am I turning my back on the full-susser? No, not really, its a great bike especially for long rides but there is an awful lot to go wrong with it and its pretty darned complicated for a simple guy like me.
Its been raining here for the last three months or so, proper rain, landslide-making rain. The kind of rain that falls in droplets as big as bowling balls and cuts visibility down to five feet. If you are out riding when it comes it inspires a rush of adrenaline and sodden, dripping laughter tinged with temporary madness. Disc brakes start to grind and you get a facefull of mud if you try to ride faster than 10 kmh but its proper fun, until you realise that your handphone is in your backpack and not waterproof, the experience loses its shine right about then.
I am headed off to the Kinabatangan river on monday and plan to hunt out some trails for riding over there, lots of snakes and crocs to keep it lively!
Not sure what to do now, it looks like the lovely Litespeed needs new bearings in the linkages, Borneo is a pretty harsh place, well for American bikes anyway. Hey maybe thats why there are so few American humans here too, its just too tough for them. Mind you I have ridden in Colorado and its not that easy, well they did have marked trails, and it was all groomed but still....
Moooooooving on..... so what to do? I am now riding a Giant hardtail and enjoying it quite a lot, it is making me think that maybe, just maybe I should invest in a hardtail again, something light and twitchy, with smooth gears, hardcore brakes, flat bars and stripped down to race spec.
Am I turning my back on the full-susser? No, not really, its a great bike especially for long rides but there is an awful lot to go wrong with it and its pretty darned complicated for a simple guy like me.
Its been raining here for the last three months or so, proper rain, landslide-making rain. The kind of rain that falls in droplets as big as bowling balls and cuts visibility down to five feet. If you are out riding when it comes it inspires a rush of adrenaline and sodden, dripping laughter tinged with temporary madness. Disc brakes start to grind and you get a facefull of mud if you try to ride faster than 10 kmh but its proper fun, until you realise that your handphone is in your backpack and not waterproof, the experience loses its shine right about then.
I am headed off to the Kinabatangan river on monday and plan to hunt out some trails for riding over there, lots of snakes and crocs to keep it lively!
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