A blog by Paul Petch - New Zealand, Mountain Biking, commuting, ultra marathon, trail running, photography

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A real gem of a day!

Truth be known the past 8 weeks have been a very frustrating time for me with- family illness -broken ribs- Peroneal tendonitis in the right foot- and a right royal mess at work with contracts etc etc. I don’t cope with stress very well at all and having so many niggling and annoying life things” [...]

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Toycamera Analogcolor

The retro Toycamera Analogcolor application (now say that 20 times I dare you!) is one heck of a sweet little toy for both mac and PC. With a click of a button it takes us all back to when cameras were analog and not so pixel perfect! With some cool presets and manual control too, [...]

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Body Surfing…

What a sweet little collection of images this Aussie website has! I’ve never really been keen on surfing or the ocean since being scared shitless by the movie Jaws…but people can change right? Body surfing is free, simple and by the looks of it…..a heap of fun! If we ever get above 35degs this summer, [...]

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Brett Walker

I’ve just stumbled this guys work and its bloody breath taking. I’m all for black and white, saturated colours as well as a bit of photoshop tinkering- but these images take it to the next level don’t they? Check out his popular his Flickr collection here. Wow… just wow.

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2009 Kepler Challenge Photographs

I set a challenge to run a 60KM Ultra Trail within 6 months and against all the odds- from lack of experience, injuries and getting very sick in the week leading upto the event……I pulled it off in 9.35! Wow what a day!
Amy & I have just got back from Te Anau Fiordland after 9+ [...]

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Wellington Weekend

Amy’s boss shouted air fare and accommodation for us back in October (better late than never to blog huh) to visit Wellington as a thank you for some recent projects that she had just competed. Nice eh. Flying into Wellington we could not believe how sketchy the landing was, but once on our feet it [...]

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Anne Keller Photography

A bit of mountain biking, friends and the outdoors captured so nicely by Anne Keller. I absolutely love this girls work and the website is pretty well designed too. Very nice work that inspires me to get back into my outdoor photography for 2010.

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My first ultra marathon distance of 49KM

After a nice weekend on the mountain bike where I rode a solo to Godley Head, this weeks training has felt much better than the last with a little more juice in the batteries. Tuesday’s “lunchtime” run was a good one and I hit the road to Hagley Park and after several laps I was [...]

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Port Hills Crater Rim 30KM trail run

Only a few more weeks now before I start to taper off for the Kepler & I’m really looking forward to it. Since last weekend I’ve clocked up about 75KM which, as you can imagine is a first for me! The Mcleans 12hr mountain bike event last weekend found me racing flat out for 1.5hrs [...]

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The Wharfedale Track – wet n’ wild

After recruiting a small group of crazies from the Derailed forum we headed out to the infamous Wharfedale Track near Oxford yesterday. After getting lost on route (again :)) Spence and I were on course for lateness as usual but made it in time. We all checked over our gear- threw on knee pads and [...]

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Christchurch SBS Marathon photos

Better late than never I suppose :) My first half marathon at 21.1 KM was on the 31st May 2009 and on a cold and snowy/ wet morning here in Christchurch. I ran a time of 1.55.18 which I was really happy with. Here are a few a photos that my Wife Amy took.

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Weight loss, nutrition & cycling

Fun, fat and flabby? (no idea what title to put in here :) )
It’s Winter time here in New Zealand and I’ve been thinking about the past of late and in particular my fitness and where I’m at. I’d say that currently I’m the fittest and healthiest that I’ve been since being a teenager- and [...]

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Hanmer 12 hour by Blue Dog Events

Getting ready
Taking Friday off and packing for the weekends sillyness at the Hanmer 12hr race was a great idea and a relatively stress free experience in contrast to the Cyclic Saga only a few weeks prior. Infact by the time Craig got here for 7ish I was totally ready to rock and roll… and chomping [...]

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Latest Posts

Fixing laggy blue tooth mouse problems on a Mac Pro

A few years back I had issues with my wireless mouse always lagging. An Apple Tech visited my house to replace the blue tooth unit in the 2007 (first Intel Gen) Mac Pro in an attempt to resolve the problem- but it never quite fixed it up. I just had to accept that I’d be running a wired keyboard and mouse combo instead. Anyway, the Apple store on campus had a sweet deal on the new wireless keyboard and “Magic Mouse” this week that I just could resist. I planned on trying to fix it myself- and worse case I’d sell them as new on Trademe. The good news is that after some Googling it looks as if I have solved the issue. Hoorah! (more…)

Mar 13, 2010 | Categories: Geekery | Tags: apple, blue tooth fix, faulty, first gen, gadgets, Geekery, how to, mac pro | Leave A Comment »

Salomon XT Wings 2 – Trail Running Shoes Review

I’ve only really paid attention to what’s on my feet since taking up trail running last winter. I’ve tried minimal support runners and to be frank- they are not for me. Yes all of you barefoot runners can scream as loud as you want at this guy- but I won’t hear you – I like some support out on the rocky unforgiving trails. So on that note – I want to introduce to you my latest trail runner- the Saloman XT Wing 2.

Salomon XT Wings 2 Trail Runners features

As per the Salomon website, the XT Wings are described as having the “perfectly balanced combination between cushioning and agility”. This is achieved by building the shoe with two integral parts: Agile Chassis (AC) Skeleton and Muscle. Construction is such that this shoe is built with both asphalt and trail in mind–something that’s not always the case with trail runners. (more…)

Mar 10, 2010 | Categories: Reviews | Tags: Gear and Reviews, salomon XT Wings 2, trail running | Leave A Comment »

W H Worrall & Co Ltd / Rockshox New Zealand

Well, as much as I don’t want to rant and rave and act like a “consumer” the time has come to share my awful experiences with Rockshox’s New Zealand distributor W H Worrall & Co Ltd. I’m also hoping that lots of traffic find this post and seriously consider purchasing mountain biking products from W H Worrall & Co Ltd because they simply donot support their customers. Need I say that these kinds of companies are the reason why the mountain biking culture is so messed up these days where the $$$ comes before safety, the component and lastly…the customer. Put frankly, it’s just plain dangerous!

Anyway, rather than going over the same ground here is an email that I sent to Rockshox USA as well as W H Worrall & Co Ltd after weeks of insisting that my fork be replaced after 6 failures within 14 months. Considering that the fork was stored for winter- that equates to about 8 months of “on and off” riding. Anyway, here it is… (more…)

Mar 07, 2010 | Categories: Ramblings | Tags: faulty, PIKES, rants, rockshox, W H Worrall & Co Ltd, warranty | Leave A Comment »

KHS Tuscan 29er mini review

Gee. It has been sometime since I’ve reviewed anything at www.paulpetch.com hasn’t it? Well, I’ve now discovered that I can ramble and rant on video now about the bikes and gear that I enjoy. It’s kinda lazy, but works much better me thinks.

So here are some thoughts about the new KHS Tuscan build- which is totally custom. I did forget to mention that the BB7’s suck on the steep downs- but I’m sure this will come good with some good old sintered pads. As for some quality ride time, I’ll update how it goes in a few months once I’ve got to know it better. Overall this bike is alot of fun and as much as it saddens me to split up Fargo- it does guarantee that it will be ridden off road- which suits me just fine.

It’s a pretty solid build for sure and weighs in at a respectable 13KG. Saying that, I’ve got my eyes on a XT 29er wheelset which will be UST friendly as well as offering less rolling weight. I’ve got better things to waste my money on these days though- and I’ve lost out big time with the Fargo – so I’ll see what happens. (more…)

Mar 03, 2010 | Categories: Reviews | Tags: 29er, ge, KHS Tuscan, review, rigid | 4 Comments »

Long time no blog…

Apologies for the lack of ramblings of late- Summer has eventually arrived over this side of the world and I’m keener to be out doing stuff rather than sat in front of this screen.Truth be known, I’ve not done anything that exciting since breaking my ribs anyway- other than attempting to keep my base fitness up. Talking of ribs they have now fixed up!

First ride in seven weeks…

Today’s ride had a long climb in 30degs up Kennedy track and across the Traverse to the Old Bowenvale downhill track with Ben who I’ve not ridden with for ages. I was utterly foiled by the “body bag” section at the top of Kennedy’s. By foiled- I simply ran out of gears! I was on my new 29er you see- a rigid KHS Tuscan- that was quite an experience! As well as nearly knocking out my fillings and forgetting that dropping off stuff and “pumping” the front will actually hurt….it was just “bloody good” good to be back out in the hills on two wheels. (more…)

Feb 28, 2010 | Categories: Ramblings | Tags: 29er, ben, KHS Tuscan, port hills, rock shox, trail running, Trails & Rides, warranty | 4 Comments »