"Let's get as far away from Bangkok as possible"

Alright folks! Bangkok was a jungle show where I can only describe my self as 'Bambi'. Hated the place and not stowked about having to go back to fly out and probably to connect through to head to Chang Mai next week.

As for now, hanging out in the awesome province of Krabi, a connection hub to many world reknown islands including Phi Phi. Some of you may recognize this as the island used for the movie 'The Beach'. Can't wait to find those massive fields of that stuff the locals refer to as GUNJAH!

Tomorrow we are heading to Emerald Tiger Cave. According to our bible, the Lonely planet, it is a very unique 'Wat' in Thailand. Just inland from where we are, it is considered to be in the jungle and has a Buddha 1200 steps up from the main part. Climbing legs and running shoes here we come!!

Off to Railay afterwards. Arguably, Thailand's most beautiful beach and area. It supposed to be a spot where some princess' boat had to be ditched and where she lived for a while. She lived in the caves. We'll see! I don't want to butcher the story too much!

As for us. We are returning from some of the farthest Islands off of Thailands Coast line, sharing the boarder with Malaysia. Ko Lipeh, where the sunset shots were taken is a healthy hour and a bit away from Pak Bara, its coastal dock, by high speed boat. We lived in a hut on the beach and ate fresh fish which arrived daily. The beach was lined with more huts and awesome rasta bars. Instead of chair and table patios, the bars had beach rugs?? with those Triangular pillows. All while drinking down your beer and enjoying the sunset. Repeat each day!

The following 3 days were spent on Bulone, similar island, only lest developed. The power was only in place between 6-12 in the evening. Lots of beach time, and swimming in crystal clear waters. Some much needed relaxing after that Bangkok experience.

Enjoy the shots, and there are many more from where they come from.

Thailand: Can only get better from here!

Been scammed, lost in terrorist country in the deep south with no outlook on making it out and done enough travelling in 2 and 3rd class transportantion to circumnavigate the world!

Drug running boat awaits, cant chat long. Linds and I are alive for now but the beginning of island life is about to begin. I'd upload pictures however reading the keyboard let alone the screen is enough of a challenge.

Off to Kof Lipeh, 2 hours of electricity a day, and loads of 20 baht beers. See you soon, or then again... maybe not!

For those heading down south for training camps in the next few weeks, remember to pack that good ol'bottle of baby oil!

The week has been busy with the usuals.  Lots of riding and more working.  The work week sucked, being salaried and doing more hours than you are supposed to does not work.  Thankfully, the boss wasn't around so the slacking got pretty healthy!

The riding was pretty awesome.  My request for Mt. Tamborine came through this sunday.  140km in near death like humidity.  We ended up getting plagued by flat tires and I ended up spending the 25km before the hill chasing at 45km/h.  The hill was awesome.  Steady riding, beautiful rainforest views and knarly birds making crazy noises.  Half way up is an entrance for a Jurassic Park with a big pterodactyl.  It has you looking around, thats for sure!  The only regret was descending like a Grandma on the sketchy descent.  Because of the rainforest humidity the roads were very wet and slippery.  My Lack of insurance and nearing Thailand trip restricted the speed to 60 odd km/h.  Although it felt much faster because of the vibrations from the bad roads! 12 water bottles later we were home!

Another 100km ride on monday which was also australia day to Mt. Mee.  Pissing rain and more brutal humidity .  We decided not to climb the hill.  The climb would be fine but the descent would have been too sketchy.  We stopped at a bakery!  It ended up being a perfect ride, my legs were sore from Tamborine and the hard work in the wind on the way back.

Just getting back into town waiting at a light a white truck pulled up behind us blaring stupid loud music.  The driver pulled up a little more and shouted "HEY!  You from Bermuda"  (I was wearing my bermuda Jersey).  I shouted back yes and I could definitely recognize the guy, probably from school.  He then answered back, "You went to Saltus enna?"  The light went green and he drove away.  I still can't remember the guy's name but I'm pretty sure we were in the same grade.  It's a small world and Bermudians are EVERYWHERE!

Anywho, off to Thailand tomorrow.  Hanging in Bangkok for a few days and then taking the train south before making our way back up.

Should be some good stories, stay posted

JN

Spontaneity - Do's and Don'ts

I was half way to the barber shop and thought to my self.  Self, maybe you should just shave your head.  Thailand is only a few days away and a shaved head will avoid any bed head problems and/or any hair parasites I may come across as a bum it across the country.  It's been a few years anywho so it was time for a real trim.

Note 1 - Make sure the length guide is properly attached.

Yup, it slipped off and gave me a good stripe.  I ended up having to take it all the way down, no guide, just the electric razor.  

I now have more hair on my chest and face.  It's not horrible but my head goes through several temperature changes each day.  

I plan on getting some good miles in this weekend so I will probably have a good Giro Ionos tan that I can use for marketing!

Headline News - Canadian Ass Flying Through the Air - Part Deux

Part two to my hugely anticipated Melbourne write up!  I am still waiting on some pictures, but the picture above is just before 12 on New Years Eve.  The Gore Tex was out in full force!

NYE was pretty relaxed as I had not slept in 48 hours.  Just surprised there was still gas in the tank by 12 on the 1st!

The racing started on the 2nd so there wasn't much time to screw around.  Bikes had to be built and equipment ready to be transported to all the races.  The first stage was in this cool little boat village with cafe's everywhere.  I managed to score some TV time, rocking my white shades and stylish black and pink MB gear.  Tough life being good looking.  Anywho, the girls rode a strong race, just like Cronulla.  Some girl from Plan B, which isn't the morning after pill in Australia to my surprise, took the solo win with my girl taking 3rd after a sketchy sprint.

The finish line break down went pretty well and fast but there was always a little work to be done.  Always had awesome dinners with good beer/wine courtesy of my boss being over the moon.  Thankfully Kirsty and the girls always pulled through.  I don't even want to know how much the trip would have cost if the girls weren't finding good legs or form!  I got to know everyone a little better including Gina who is definitely one of the coolest people I've ever met.  Always stowked about anything and everything and down to do what ever.  

While getting changed one day I over heard her taking to a few others.

Gina: Hey my name is Gina

I think it was Jono she was messing around with

Gina: Do you know how to say Go GINA in french?

Just being in the other room, I start thinking to my self, "where is she going with this?!"

Gina: VAS GINA!!!!

The reason I am outlining all this is because the next day at one of the longer courses the girls were riding quite comfortably and Gina was surfing wheels mid pack just having a Jolly Good Time.  Being the awesome team Mechanish that I am, I always tried to shout things of encouragement or info.  Having thought about the previous night's joke, I decided to shout VAS GINA!!!!! as loud as I could as they came cruising by for another lap.  Haha funny right.  Immediately, I looked at Jono and asked him if I had honestly just shouted VAGINA to 55 girls riding by.  I'm not sure if anyone actually paid any attention but I was pretty embarrassed.  I stayed to english after that!  Kirsty ended up winning that stage which also gave her the lead overall and the Yellow Jersey.

The 3rd stage was in the same location, but a smaller, tighter course.  An Island in the middle of a downhill 90 left turn also made things much more difficult.  Unfortunatly, Gina found out the hard way when 2 girls crashed infront of her and closed her door.  Gina flew through the air and ate the road hard.  She somehow came out ok.  A little sore but nothing serious.   That was also the moment she became an Australian Celebrity.  Because that turn had a view on the finish line, there were several photographers.  My girl was on the front page of every news paper in the area and a few of the national publications.  A series of shots that outlined the beginning to the end of the crash.  A super star!  Her back end would now be recognized by anyone who picked up a paper for the big price of a buck!

She still finished the series like the bike racing animal that she is.  Hands down the reason Kirsty walked away with 4 yellow jerseys, 3 wins, 2 3rd.

I worked most of the last night in Ocean's Grove.  Packing bikes and organizing equipment to be shipped or taken to the TDU.  Ended up going for a swim in the Ocean at about 4am before taking my final drive to the melbourne airport. 

Had the afternoon off and was back at work the next day!  

Anywho, thats it for now.  Banged out a tough 100km this morning and it's nap time!

2 Dudes, 1 Day/Night, 1 Kia Minivan, 2000kms and 12 Hard Boiled Eggs- Part 1

Alright alright.   Take it easy throopanator!  I've been super swamped dealing with people at work and riding 450-470kms this week.  Suck on that Mr. I wanna be an ironkid.

Anywho, I just thought I had to drop the weekly milage as my tan lines are getting ridiculously awesome and the legs are getting into some sort of good form.  Anywho, enough about how amazing riding is here, the Melbourne Story!

Basically, the drive sucked!  Jono, my partner in crime, managed to keep the fun levels high throughout most of the drive but there is only so much anyone can do at 4am after 16-18 hours of driving living off of Maccas food and coffee!  Jono was also given 12 hard boiled eggs as 'snacks' for the trip, which were banged out early in the drive to get them over with, but also made a come back mid sleep in the dark of the night.  They weren't cool, but sure beat the weak effects of bad coffee!  

Another highlight of the drive was the 2am piss break.  We stopped at some huge truck parking lot in the middle of nowhere, where towns and places have names like "Not Jimmy Creek".  Emptying our bladders, trying to hit as many bugs and avoiding the poisonous things and admiring the billions of stars I've never seen and then some.  It was a pretty cool moment.  Jono showed me the Southern Cross Constellation and a few others.  And you thought holding your wang taking a huge piss couldn't be romantic!  Anywho long story short, we got driving again but began to hear some noise in the back.  Plastic bags crackling. 

JN - Jono!  Did you hear that?

Jono - Yeah, I think so, what was it?

JN - Holy crap, something is going nuts back there with the chip bag!

Jono - It's probably a possum, we left our doors open at the truck stop.

JN - A POSSUM?!?!  *Puts legs up on seat*  No way dude!

Jono - Probably man, those things are everywhere!

JN - PULL THE PHUCK OVER

We pulled over on the side of the highway, turned all the lights on and tried to figure out what the hell we picked up back at the truck stop.  1 Grasshopper later we were back on the road, embarrassed but happy a hunt wasn't in order!

We arrived at our destination in Ocean's Grove (yes it was as cool as it sounds) around 8 am.  Built the bikes and went for a quick 65k burn with some locals.  

For all those of you putting in those winter miles.  I have to admit, Victoria (the province) was cold as shit!  I will post a picture later but I had to steal some knee/arm warmers and had to use my wind vest!  It was absolutely freezing!  Probably bringing my average riding temperature down a degree to 31 or 32.

Spent most of NY day running errands and making another trip to the airport.  The trip was pretty good.  The girls won loads of stuff, the work was relatively easy albeit was horribly organized.  Everything got done and no one ever showed up late for races so it wasn't too bad I guess!

Riding tomorrow, will post part deux of melbourne post ride.

Kicking Ass and Taking Names

Just a quick "Hello" for those of you who might be thinking I got lost in the outback somewhere.  I'm alive and well.  The drive was awesome up until the 50% mark but it was all worth it in the end.  Great time, the girls are all over cycling news and showed that a small shop can be a force to be reckon'ed with.

Loads of updates to come as I sort my life back in Brisbane.  Getting back to work sucked.  Haven't stopped since the 30th!

Happy New Year Everyone.  Keep reading, I will break down Melbourne and Ocean Grove in a few write ups.