Cyclocross, what I hear you say is that?  Well it is a cross between a mountain bike and a road bike but looks like a road bike.  It is a road bike frame with disc brakes (like a mountain bike) and fatter tyres.

I am lucky enough to have a bamboo bike that was made by my good friend, James Wolf in Vietnam.  Their company grows the bamboo there and he makes the frames.  Niels was my bike mechanic and kitted it out for me.  Now, what would a bike be without a name, introducing Bam Bam:).Here is their website and the Fat bikes are awesome.  http://boobicycles.com/

It was Bike Week in Brisbane last week and they had some events and one of them was a come and try cyclocross, so off I went.

It was held in the middle of the old velodrome and was like an obstacle course with logs, ramps and small fences that you had to get off your bike and lift it over.  I had my own personal photograph who captured the event.

It was also a fancy dress and Batman made an appearance. 

The highlight of the night was watch Robbie McEwen competing who is a triple winner of the Points classification, Green Jersey, in the Tour de France was arguably the fastest sprinter in the world. He is on the far left of the photo below.  

I had a great time out there and it is harder than it looks, not only the skill required but all the fitness as you are accelerating and braking all the time.

The Ippy or as it is formally known, Ipswich, is my place of work.  It is about 40km West of Brisbane and with the motorway upgrade that happened about 9 years ago, it is about a 40 minute drive.  No traffic jams, going against traffic and I normally listen to podcasts, so all good.

Ipswich began in the 1820s as a mining settlement and was originally intended to be the Queensland capital but Brisbane was instead chosen because of its geographical accessibility for ships.  It has a population of about 200,000 and I work in the centre, in the tallest modern building on the top floor, the 9th.

It is a very historic city and has some wonderful architecture. This is all right about side my work place and I have wonderful views of it all and can see the tall buildings of Brisbane from our office windows.

This is outside my building, I call it the disco ball

So it is show week in Ipswich at the moment so there are many displays and art exhibitions on and here is a sample of some around my work.

There is a diverse population and in close proximity to work; we have a Methadone Clinic, the local district court and the transport hub so it makes for an interesting array of people.  Stayed tuned to see photos of the view that I have in an instalment coming soon.

After our trip to New Zealand for my Grandmother’s funeral, I arrived home with the Hamilton Family Bible.  Dorothy as the oldest of the Hamiltons’ and my Grandfather’s sister had the bible and she left it to my father, so I now have the honour of keeping it safe.

With anything old, it needed a few repairs.  So I took it to a book restorer and was impressed with the results.

They had to replace the spine of the book so they made it into a bookmark.  

During my conversations with the book restorer I found out that around the time of this bible, families would pre order and also pay off their bible as they go and they would receive the parts of the bible they had paid for only.  Nowadays we would put it on the credit card and then complain about having too much debt.

I am not a religious person, but I understand how important it is to people and to have a faith and I use this often in life.

Matthew 7:12

“In everything, then, do to others as you would have them do to you.  For this is the essence of the Law and the prophets.”

The Bible I have inherited contains the notices from the paper on deaths and births so I will be continuing this tradition.

As you know, I have a passion for things on two wheels, Oscar my bike in Vietnam and all my bicycles here in Australia.  My new job has me driving 40 km each way for work and I have tried the train but getting to the train in the morning adds at least 15-20 mins onto my commute.  So, to solve this issue and to help with my passion, I bought a Lorry, a mini truck/van, now known solely as “The Little Lorry”.

Now you may laugh at this “Little Lorry” but it is fantastic, it has cruise control, Bluetooth, power steering, electric windows and enough pick up to get me out (or into) trouble.  It has sliding doors on both sides and the back opens right up.  Now the best thing is, we can fit our two mountain bikes in the back with both tyres on.  Niels has been a genius and soundproofed it and fitted it out so we can transport two bicycles in it.

Now you maybe asking about the need for the sound proofing.  Well I made a call using blue tooth while driving and the person on the other end asked where I was.  It sounds like I have the ocean behind me, hence the need for the proofing as it is all metal.

The other great feature of the “Little Lorry” is that we will be able to go camping in it by sleeping in the back.  Home away from home.  So if you see a “Little Lorry” while out cruising around, it could be me.  I will keep you posted on the adventures we have.

It was on 25 April 1915 that the armies of Australia and New Zealand entered into their premier battle of the First World War, at Gallipoli, Turkey. The aim was to capture the Dardanelles, the gateway to the Bosphorus and the Black Sea. At the end of the campaign, Gallipoli was still held by its Turkish defenders.  Thousands lost their lives in the Gallipoli campaign: 87,000 Turks, 44,000 men from France and the British Empire, including 8500 Australians. Among the dead were 2779 New Zealanders, about a sixth of those who served on Gallipoli.

In Brisbane the Enoggera Barracks had an open day in Chermside to display their equipment and expertise.  We decided to go along and check it out.  It was amazing; we saw fire trucks, people movers, drones, helicopters, snipers, machine guns, mortars and bazookas.

I had a great day trying out the equipment and I have a great respect for the soldiers, this equipment is heavy, loud and you have to have strength and skill to operate it.

An interesting observation that I made was the origin of the men and women who were serving, white caucasian males in their 20s.  There were a few females but it didn’t seem like a representation of the community.  Even at a young age, it is predominately the boys that are climbing on the equipment, and excited to be there.

I was very impressed with the professionalism on the soldiers who answered my questions and the quality of the equipment.  I am glad to see that my tax payers money is being well spent.

To those that have served both Australia and New Zealand, I am truly grateful for the freedom I have.  We shall never forget.

It is with great sadness that I learnt today that my Grandmother, Isla Hamilton, died yesterday aged 91. It had been on the cards but it is always still a shock when it happens.  We (brother and sister) spent a lot of time with our grandparents growing up as they were just up the road from us, 3km.  Their house was always a happy one and we loved the sweets we got there as they were rationed at home.  My Gran and Grandad were great entertainers and there were always visitors at the house or they were off visiting friends.

Both my Grandfather and Father passed away before Gran, and I think the passing of my Father, Garth, was the hardest one for her. She missed the talks that they had together and his sense of humour and common sense.  Gran loved her cross words and would complete the one in the ODT (local newspaper) every day.  Gran’s other pass time was the phone, and she often commented that it was her life line.  She enjoyed going to the local church on a Sunday and taking her dash hound Lilly for daily walks.

Niels and I spent a wonderful couple of days with Gran last April when I went over to do the Routeburn with my best friend Rachel Routeburn.  We sat and talked and drove up the Ida Valley to the base of the Hawkins and had a picnic.  Gran told us about how she came up here as a girl helping cook for the shearers.

I think Gran was ready to go, all her friends from her generation had gone and she was having trouble with her back and her blood.  Gran grew up in Ophir and it was great that she got to see the Pitches Store refurbished.

Rest in peace Gran and make sure you say hi to Dad from us down here.  It is certainly an end of an era.

Finally I have paying job again.  I am so relieved!  Now here are some facts.  I have not been in a paying job since November 2014, that is 28 months, and I have applied for 37 jobs in Brisbane, Tasmania and India and I have had 2 interviews.

During my daily internet surfing time this article took my fancy: Article I related to

About 2 and a half years ago I got made redundant from my job where I had been for over 4 years.  To me it was like the loss of someone very close to me,  I experienced a form of grief.  For everyone it is different but I would not wish my experience on anyone.

Most people would say you are so lucky not having to go to work; you can train, watch TV, have coffees with friends and relax.  Well, that is not the case.  Everyone I knew worked and if they didn’t work they have children, so who do you hang out with?   I have found that you can only watch so much TV a day.  So, what did I do?  I took up bridge and got beaten repeatedly by a 90 year old (I was the youngest playing) visited museums, did courses on line, became an expert watcher of Netflix, and started my family tree.

With the job market the way it was I did the only thing I could, volunteered overseas in Vietnam and unfortunately had to leave Niels behind, someone had to pay the mortgage.  That was hard, but to me, I had no other choice.  The year I spent in Vietnam was one of my best.  I was independent, doing some good and meeting some wonderful people.  Coming back home to Brisbane from Vietnam was like coming back to where I left off, nothing had changed, no job and everyone still busy during the day.  The one thing that I am truly grateful for is there was no financial pressure on me.  Thanks Niels.

However, now I have managed to secure a role with a company that I respect, is vital for the community and is what I love doing.  I am truely relieved and ready to start the next chapter of my career.  Oh, and I can talk to people again during work hours:)

I have written about my tour of the Mekong and my trip up Cam Mountain in this blog: Me Kong Tour Part 1.  Because I was sitting on the back I could take a video which I have now formatted and here it is.  Downhill express

It took 18 mins to go each way and it was so steep going up that the driver and I had to sit as far forward on the seat as possible.  Downhill was a bit easier, it was one of the highlights of my time in Vietnam.

On the weekend Niels and I were lucky enough to watch the National Cycling Track Championships live at the new velodrome. It is named the Anna Meares Velodrome after the legend track star from Queensland.  The velodrome has been built for the Commonwealth Games that are being hosted by the Gold Coast next year.

The facility is amazing and all the seating allows a fantastic view of the track.  Due to the steepness of the boards, you have to be going a minimum of 30km/hr on the steepest slopes (corners) to stay upright.  What struck me was the noise that the cyclist create riding over the boards, the surface is made out of wooden planking.  

There is so much to capture your attention there, not only the cycling but the preparation in the middle of the track, mechanics, bike inspections, athletes warming up and officials doing their jobs.

They can get up to about 70 km/hr and with these bicycles they have no gears and no brakes and you can’t stop pedalling so it sets up the situation for some crashes.  We witnessed one and fortunately the rider was ok.  They also have individual pursuits and they use a frame to hold the bike until the count is complete.  

It is great watching them then moving the equipment off the track before the cyclist comes around again.

Here is a video of the U19 25km Sprint event and every 10 laps they have a sprint for points.U19 Sprint Race – 60 laps

I have done one season of track cycling on a concrete surface and think that help me negotiate the street of Vietnam as they use the same principal of only looking forward and worrying about what is happening ahead of you.

If I had to pick one thing that I truely loved in Vietnam it would have been riding my scooter, Oscar.  To outsiders it looks dangerous, no rules and frustrating.  To me it was the opposite, a challenge, satisfying, and somehow it works.

I have made a video of it to try and give people an idea, it is not really that scary. The footage at the beginning is from a restaurant at an intersection that I named 5 ways, five roads meeting at one point.  I never felt scared for my life when riding as the maximum you would ride in town is about 30km/hr.  One of the things I loved was riding with friends on their scooters and driving down the road, each on our own scooter and talking to each other like we were in the same car.

I hope you enjoy the little video that I put together.

Scooters