Paul Petch

First post in some time – some updates

New Job.

I started my new job this week at the University and it has been a superb week. It’s like being back at University but I’m on the pay roll :D Everyone has been friendly- helpful and really nice to work with. What is another bonus is how remarkable the campus grounds are….I’ve never seen such green open spaces and services in one place. For lunch, you can find me sitting under a tree with a magazine checking out the um…. views :D

On the cycling side of things, I’ve not commuted but caught the bus instead. With an 8.30 start, and peak traffic along with finding my feet- the 40min bus trip has been spot on. What’s really cool is how many people ride through the campus- students to staff. Everywhere you turn a cyclist is cruising along…. I love it :) My staff card also gives access to a fantastic ‘roofed cage’ on site to store your precious ride. I tried to take photos, but my battery was dead! I’ll take a full collection of the grounds + bike cage this week for sure.

Interestingly, with gym membership being a low $50 for staff per term- I may well continue with the bus and add a class or workout to my week on top of my Wednesday SS ride and longer Hill ride on the weekend instead of the hassles in the morning. If it was closer to home- no problem- but a 30 minute ride through peak traffic first thing is not really my idea of fun. To be honest, I’ve been full of energy this week and had a fantastic mid week ride and spin today on the single speed at Bottlelake…..which would not be the case if I was on the bike everyday.

In a nut shell- I’m loving my new job. But the early rise of 6.30 is not that cool :/ *yawns*

Riding.

After the epic in the hills last weekend with the guys, this week has been a little lower key. On Wednesday after work Craig and I met up with John and Brent for a blast around Bottlelake…. and it was lot of fun. Interestingly John was a lot slower on a SS than I remember…. I think riding a geared light weight XC bike has made his style change since the winter when we were all on the single speeds more than the geared bikes. Interesting.

The group from the weekend had plans to hit Hamner on Saturday, but a bit of wet and strong Southerlies (cold winds) put a stop to that. Craig still headed out though to support his flat mate Jenny as she was taking part in a duathlon. He sent a text today that read ” trails are wet and ridden mainly on roads”. So I’m glad I gave it a miss.

Today I was found back at Bottlelake riding solo and putting in an extra lap while pumping out some tunes on the iPod. I had a ball. I had plans to capture some video on the GoPro camera, but it had other ideas with flat batteries (again!) putting a stop to that idea. I’ll be sure to capture the single track this week. I did manage another ocean trail photo though… I could not resist it :) It is fantastic to be so close to the ocean!

Update: Thanks to an email from Rambo (not Stallone) I now know what’s up with the Gopro and how it drains the batteries. It seems that standard off the shelf batteries cause it to short circuit! But using re-chargables should fix it up. More details can be found on this forum. It’s damn odd though that GoPro failed to tell me this “minor” detail when I had to send it back to the States because of this issue! Interestingly Rambo also mentions that the best way top speed up the transfer of data is via a card reader…. which makes sense seeing as it uses USB1! Again…. why did GoPro not mention this while issues of sloooow transfer speeds was another problem I had. Freaking Muppets :/ p.s. cheers Rambo!

Warranties. Sales. Full suss.

I’ve had enough of Chain Reaction Cycles and the nightmare that has been the faulty Rockshox Revelation forks. It has been more than 2 months since they were returned due to some serious issues, and after informing me that they would replace them under warranty- I heard or received nothing for 3 weeks! They were ignoring my emails and every time I rang the phone was either engaged or went to message. What is that all about? Anyway last week a miracle happened…. I got through to them on the phone. To cut a long story short- they will be refunding me. Thank fuck. This situation my friends has converted me from an international bargain hunter to a local bike shop buyer :) I HIGHLY recommend that you give these guys a miss if you care about customer service…. *shakes head*.

I’ve also managed to pass on the Pace RC31 forks this week too. The guy picked them up with his young son who wanted to lighten up his hill climbing bike some more. This young chap was part of a NZ incentive which timed school kids on a hill climb series. Currently he is 2nd :) It was great to see them go to someone who will love and enjoy them. I’m yet to sell my 2008 XTR wheels and Lynskey though… fingers crossed they sell soon!

So what’s happening with my dually plans? Well I’ve narrowed it down to FOUR bikes. A GT Force or Sanction / Marin Wolf Ridge or Rift Zone. I’m going to lay down some hard cash this week…. but I’m still not sure If I’ll go XC or heavy Trail/AM. What’s really cool though is the price of 2008 bikes compared to the 2009 models. I’ll not be able to afford a dually for a few years with price hikes so 2008 models are a bargain. Come Thursday I would have made a decision :)

Talking of decisions…. I’m off to ride Rotorua up on the North Island during my Christmas break! I’ve been ‘umming and arrring’ where to go and Rotovegas is where I’ll be hitting the trails hard for a week. Each year I head off on a solo trip somewhere- a tradition that I started last year while traveling around Tasmania and Rotovegas looks to be a mountain bike mecca! I can’t wait!!!

Weight Loss.

Interestingly, I’ve lost 1.6KG since revising my diet 5 week ago after a visit to the nutritionist. My exercise if anything has backed off slightly- so the new diet is obviously working. I’ve also had fantastic energy levels and the sugar cravings have still not come back. It has been a fantastic result!

Anyway, lets hope the week is full of sunshine and next weekend has Hamner in our sights!

Happy trails!

Hello there! If you are new here, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates.

Related posts:

1. Some quick updates
2. Some updates
3. April 2009 updates
4. September updates
5. November updates

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 19th, 2008 at 4:33 pm and is filed under Ramblings and tagged with bottlelake, commuting, gt, nutrition, single speed, updates. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.