An Aussie geek stuck in Texas

[tag]MTB[/tag]Well I just had my first fall of the season, both bike and rider are fine though just the pride is a little dented, it was more of a comedic type affair than anything and the first time I can remember actually going A over T on the bike.

I was being a little reckless in the dark along side the golf course (with lights of course) and dropped off what I thought was a tiny drop off but of course it was a large ditch filled with water and covered with leaves so my front wheel sank faster than the Titanic throwing me hurtling forward over the handlebars. Luckily I landed fairly softly and didn’t break or hurt anything significantly plus the bike suffered no damage so it is all good.

Now that is going to be one hell of a good fight!

If only I wasn’t investing so much in cycling right now, I’d be camping out on Ticketmaster to get tickets. Oh well I will just have to settle with watching the PPV live at my local watering hole!

Who to barrack for though?

Another thing that happened while I was at Daniel Boone Cycles this afternoon was that I somehow managed to join the Boone MTB Team for the upcoming 2006 season! I am finally going to race! I am so excited about that as back in Sydney I was easily at a competitive level and was about to start racing but other life changing events happened that prevented that but now I have another chance!

Now the team isn’t that formal as they don’t have a major sponsor this year as it is the first year they are racing so it is pretty easy going so I didn’t have to qualify to join the team but hey they are my local bike shop so I want to do them proud and I wouldn’t be too surprised to see at least one first place trophy for the beginner’s class on my mantle before season’s end! Yes that is right I’ve set the goal and I am going to do everything it takes to meet that goal!

This afternoon I set out on a search for my very first road bike with a limit of $1500 with tax and of course what happened to that limit? Well that would be the Specialized Bicycle Roubaix Elite Triple, isn’t that a sweet looking bike.

I have to wait until Tuesday though for it to be built and then fitted for me but damn everything that can be carbon on it is all except for the cranks, which is no big deal as it adds only a tiny bit of weight and saves a lot of money, the bike is seriously light as a feather. I’m happy I went above my set limit though as I ended up with a much nicer bike than what I would have otherwise and it wasn’t that much more anyway.

It is 27 speed or 9 speed as they say in the biz apparently and has a Shimano 105/Ultegra componentry so it is sweet all around, even the seat post is carbon for crying out loud!

I bought the bike from my local bike shop and by local bike shop I literally mean local, this bike shop is in the back of a house just two blocks away from my apartment and until a co-worker told me about it last week I had no idea it was there! But damn was it a good find, it is one of the best bike stores I have been in, they have everything there! Sure the range of bikes they have in stock isn’t huge but they still have plenty and you can’t beat the kind of service you get there, they know bikes so tell them roughly what you are after and then they just point out the perfect bike for you, they don’t beat around the bush at all.

The store is Daniel Boone Cycles and I highly recommend the store if you are in the market for anything bicycle related in Houston!

[tag]MS150[/tag][tag]cycling[/tag]I am using some forced motivation to get me back into shape and have entered myself in the 2006 MS 150 Bike tour, which is a “two-day cycling adventure from Houston to Austin that raises funds to help people living with Multiple Sclerosis.” As part of the tour each rider has to raise a minimum of $400 in donations so if you would like to help me meet that goal then please click here and make a donation.

I used to do a lot of mountain bike riding back in the day and was quite competitive so I am hoping to do quite well!

[tag]paintball[/tag]Went by Academy today as well and added the below to my arsenal:

• Camo pants, long sleeved shirt & cap
• Some better knee pads without the hard shell
• More cannisters for paint
• 3,000 high quality paintballs
• Some goggles for Megan
• a better barrel cleaner
• Some army style boots (but more comfy)

The next paintball outing is going to be fun!

I am still trying to find a decent blog client for my Treo. This one does look promising though…
Treo

Let’s see if this client works to my satisfaction or not!

[tag]The Apprentice[/tag]Is Trump running out of money or something? One week he fires four potential apprentices and now this week he fires another two, are they cost cutting or what?

Like really though how the heck can you stuff up marketing Star Wars?

I never used to be able to watch much UFC in Australia but what I did see I liked a lot but over here I am seeing more and more UFC on TV and well the best fighter usually ends up losing so it is just frustrating as all heck. I say scrap the rounds system or keep the rounds but keep having rounds until a KO or TKO, this points system is nonsense for a full contact fight.