A Month Of Pedalling Beckons

Hi folks.
 As usual, my posting rate is dismally low. In my defence it is not due to lack of stuff going on but lack of time to share it. As evidence, some pics from the last few months....

However, I can give you a view into the future with my plan for October. It has been 4 years since I last signed up but I decided it was time to add some purpose and challenge to my cycling again. Yes dear reader, I have added my name to the list of riders in the Great Cycle Challenge. The aim of the challenge is to gain sponsorship to raise money for research into finding a cure for kids cancer. Which cancer? Well, all of them because they all suck!

I have nominated to ride 1000 kilometres in October, as I did in 2013. That is 32km(18mi) each and every day of the month. I know it can be done but riding 1000km is never an easy task so I hope I am up to the challenge this time around.

I plan on getting off on the right foot (or pedal) from the get-go. I have been roped into riding in the Blacksheep Man Ride tomorrow. The Man Ride has it's own honorable cause so I will be a double cause and hopefully a double century rider by tomorrow evening.

Roadside nutrition...

If anyone can spare a few dollars (fully tax deductible for us Aussie tax mules....er..payers)  then please head over to my Great Cycle Challenge page.

I will be trying to keep the blogger ball rolling for the month so that I can keep everyone up to date with my progress, so keep checkin' in.

Thanks in advance.

Updating Some Motorcycle Gear

While it is true that I don't get out on the motorcycle anywhere near enough I thought it was time to delete another excuse not to ride it. 

You see, if I want to go for a quick spin it is too hard to gear up, get the bike out and head off. If I take the car I am half way to my destination before I would even be leaving with the motorcycle. My main bugbear to using it more is footwear. I don't like wearing my full boots to go for a quick spin but I hate wearing my elastic sided work boot as well. They equal zero protection in the event of a spill.

The solution? Well, it is to buy some lightweight motorcycle boots that will give me some protection yet be easy to slip on and get out the door. A quick trip to 100% Bikes Accessory Warehouse which is just down the road from home yielded a great price on a pair of Alpinestar Fastback shoes. Not exactly what I was looking for as I did want a heel on the boot but close enough!

They are much more comfortable than my old work boots and cover my ankles which makes me feel safer if nothing else.

Yeah, ok, I need new jeans as well....

The other new addition is another helmet. I keep reverting to my old Arai Quantum that I bought in 2001, which was manufactured in '98! The Kabuto just isn't that much fun to wear, sounding "tinny" in the wind.

A mate was looking to sell his Bell Carbon Star which had only been used a handfull of times in his drag racer. It hadn't seen a single bug-splat in it's life being used inside a car! It was a Medium size which had me concerned as I have always been a large in shirts, hats, helmets, beers.....errr...you get the picture. Well, it actually fitted quite well and is very comfortable thank-you-very-much!

Another plus with being a Medium size, it will fit the kids better than my other helmets. I had my first request ever from Miss 15 the other day of "Dad, do you think you could take me for a ride on your motorbike"? Thinking about it I can't believe I haven't taken her for a ride on it (or any other motorcycle I have owned) before.

She has been around them since she was born but never been for a ride on one.

Strange.

 

We must rectify that.....

Cheers.

F*CK Photobucket

I noticed a few weeks back some kerfuffle on the interwebs about Photobucket blocking 3rd party hosting. I didn't give it much thought at the time because I didn't really know what 3rd party hosting was all about.
I had used their service as my little Bro had recommended it to me as a way to share photos. So naturally, when I started blogging I was dubious about the 1GB limit Blogger put on uploads being enough so kept using Photobandit. That was until I got sick of their glacially slow upload speeds and the CONSTANT bombardment of pop-ups. Then I went to a paid service with Smugmug and have been very happy with their price and service.

Fast forward to the other day when I was looking for a ride report I wrote back in 2013. When I found it of course I saw that all of the photos show this.....

FFS!!!!!

To cap it off apparently you can unlock all of your photos for either a $100USD or $500USD annual fee! Thanks for the notice Photobandit.

I don't mind that these people want to make some money from their hosting but the manner in which they informed their consumers/customers is completely underhanded. If this is their way of cleaning out their servers and customers, well then, they might be onto something because I am reading all over the net diatribes from enraged users who are bailing on them.

Being a bit ahhhrrrm....older......and hopefully a little less rash I am trying to come up with the best solution to this issue of broken links. 

Should I pay for the $100 subscription so that I can see what all of my photos are on each blog post, then re-host them on Smugmug or on the Blogger photo server, then delete my Photobandit account? Or do I try to remember what each photo was from 2010 to mid 2013 and fill them in that way?

 Either way will be quite time consuming but I am happy to hear ideas from you guys as to what you think the best course of action might be......

I think I need to go to my happy place for a while......

Cheers.