Early Starts and Silver Linings

I am most definitely not an early morning person. I am not grumpy early. I just am not .....anything really, except present! This has led to me wrangling my roster to maximise late starts, which I infinitely prefer to those mornings where I wonder if I have only just closed my eyes when the alarm is blasting me out of bed.

The down side to working lates is that photographic opportunities are somewhat limited. When a camera needs a longer exposure time to take in an amazing view, it just doesn't seem to work for some reason when the camera platform is doing 850 kilometres an hour!

So, to my newly re-discovered Silver Lining. There are some exquisite views to be taken in when most normal people are unconscious.

Take yesterday. Sipping a strong, smooth latte' I took time to reflect.

Then once it was time to get to it, we looked to Mt Warning for inspiration. I wondered if there was anyone at the top looking back at us while they enjoyed the fruits of their labour up the mountain?

We sipped coffee at 300 knots.

All very serene for us, however the good folk of Murrwillumbah possibly wanted to throw rocks at us for the deafening racket!

Then, looking down on an international arrival as it arced gracefully overhead Parkes VOR while inbound to Sydney. They never knew we were there........but we saw them........

They were sipping latte's too..........probably.

Then all too soon it was time to get back to work.

 Oprah's next destination.(cue wild screaming)"The Olympic City". A nice place to visit if you have Oprah's wealth. Luckily, Australia has a place to suit everyone's budget.

This will do me.

It must be time for a ride.

See you the other side of a good sleep and the Freedom Marathon.

A new toy.

I have picked up a new toy (a Samsung Galaxy S) in the last week or so. It just amazes me how far phone technology has come in the last few years. To be able to post this from the 17th floor balcony of a Gold Coast hotel with pictures taken on the same phone camera is doing my non techno savvy head in!(although I am being true to my roots because I cannot for the life of me figure out how to post my artistic exploits!)
Not to worry though, my long suffering reader! I will soon be able to waste precious seconds of your life with visions of from my only equally important existence!
Now if only only I can work out how to copy and past with only a touch screen keyboard.


Chow for now.

Single Speeding Slick Singletrack is Soul Soothing

Introducing Stanley.

He is a very unassuming, low maintenance sort of single speed. His technical name is Kona Unit 2 and he is modded with some White Brothers Rock Solid carbon forks.

He and I are just getting acquainted. Last weekend for our very first ride we decided to get to know each other fairly intimately and take on the Eastern Escarpment. Great first ride on a single speed, as by the end of it you will know if it is meant to be or if you want to murder your steed with an angle grinder and blowtorch, then hide the remains in several neighbours wheelie bins! I am happy to report that Stanley and I survived our introductory ride with the seeds for a healthy mutual respect being sown.

Yesterday morning dawned with passing rain showers. Perfect Stanley weather!

We planned a quick scoot over to Daisy Hill and back before soccer duties. Trails were perfect here in Cornubia with a little rain to damp the dust down and dry trails in Daisy. It never ceases to amaze me how localised showers can be at times. On the way home via Stupidly Happy we sampled some Super Sweet Single track Serenity.

The rain was clearing, yet the belly of the cloud was still dragging itself over the Cornubia Escarpment letting through random shafts of golden sunlight to highlight the trail.

This is going to be an interesting relationship................

By the way, I survived the addition of another steed to the stable. It is poor Stanley who lost out and lives in the garden shed. N+1......