Biking Ups and Downs Down Under

Caution - Nigels bike bit coming up!

Well it's about time I caught up and bored everyone with the bike exploits so far. Still cycle commuting most days and riding in the hills when I can (including at night...scary!), which has taken it's toll on the bike (and perhaps the rider). After 4000 Km's the worn out/broken list gets longer, 2 tyres, 4 inner tubes, 3 chains, 1 cassette and 2 seatposts. Australian conditions seem to be hard on bikes...could it be the heat?...the dust?...or the clumsy rider? answers on a postcard please. The second seatpost break was the last straw managing to break the frame as well, leaving me with a dilemma of no cycle transport for a couple of weeks with a new mountain bike frame on the way, not suitable really for just riding to work. Anyway with Nadine to rescue...i.e. telling me to get on my bike and stop moping around......a new commuting bike and new mountain bike frame are now added to the stable...cheaper than a second car....just.
I now owe Nadine a big diamond ring in return I guess...better get digging in the those Perth hills then.

Melbourne Trip - Nigel

Although it happened in April, though it was about time I downloaded to the blog. Work had me in Melborne for a week so it was nice to see another city for a while. Still four hours flight from Perth. Melbourne has much more of a European feel to it, much busier in a pleasant way than Perth (even on a Sunday night when we got there). Suffice to say with most business trips I got to see the hotel, the office and not a lot else, some good restaurants though. Balloons flying over the hotel in the early morning was a nice suprise (you have to look closely at the daytime photo above) ...some folk will do anything to beat the rush hour!