Nerd Em's Adventures
What do you see when you look down the length of 2017 all laid out before you? What sort of year do you think will unfold?
For me, the whole year from here, five days in, looks like it’s going to be a bit disjointed. It looks like various fragments of riding here and there, and this journal is meant to link those fragments together. Read more
There is no denying that Australia has a certain laid-back quality to its culture. Oh, everyone works hard… some of the longest hours in the OECD countries. But there really is a ‘she’ll be right’ mentality that pervades. Maybe it comes from the extreme summer heat… you can’t be all that fussed about things when it is too hot to move. Read more
So the weather forecast for the weekend is good! A big cold front swept through Friday night and lowered the temps from 35C (95F) to a predicted high of 28C (82F) for Saturday. Sunday has a predicted top of 31C (88F). Read more
All week they’ve been warning of an ‘unprecedented rain event’ for southern NSW and Victoria. The warnings have been dire. They were predicting up to 300mm (12 inches) of rain over a couple days in our part of the state. It was supposed to start Friday and go through Sunday. We even had people at work who commute from nearby towns stay home on Friday – in case water went over the roads and they couldn’t get back home.
But Friday was a bit of a fizzer in most places. We only got about 16mm of rain where I live. It is unusual to get a day where it rains almost all day in December, but it would not be unusual at all in July or August. It even stopped raining around 4pm and the guys and I went out for a ride around town after work – just to get out. Read more
There is a big, gaping blank spot on my ‘roads ridden’ map. And it’s really close to home. There is a section of land that occupies the middle of the “C” at the nearby massive Lake Hume that I just never get around to riding.
This weekend we are going to take care of part of that. The weather forecast this weekend is great – three days with highs in the 20sC – the first time that’s happened since last November. It will be a bit windy but it won’t be brutally hot! Let’s go! Read more
It’s just a short ride today. I want to get out and get in a few miles. I want to feel like I’m nobody nowhere in a big landscape for a little bit. I want to tick off a few more new roads and complete the Goombargana series. But I’m feeling pretty flat and not-so-motivated today. Read more
If the world were perfect, I would be heading out for an overnight ride today. But the world is not perfect. Earlier in the week, I spent a half hour working with a guy who had a very bad cold. He should not have been at work. But he was, and he was coughing and spluttering everywhere. No one told him that it is best to cough and sneeze into your elbow. I had to help him with software stuff on his computer.
You know where this is going. Read more
The best laid plans….
The original plan this weekend was to head off to Woomargama National Park on Friday after work and camp at the Samuel Bollard campsite on the Hume and Hovell Track. Then I would hang out Saturday while Nigel went four-wheel driving in the national park. Then, on Sunday, I would head off for a two-day ride to test out my bike refurbishment and pick up a couple new roads for my list. Read more
The weather has been perfect for days now. The smoke hasn’t been as bad this year as some. I’ve been riding everyday and soaking it all in. It won’t last.
I organise to ride a short section of the High Country Rail Trail with my friend Don. It will only be a 20 km ride from the town of Tallangatta to the Sandy Creek Rail Trail bridge and back. But there are more gentle hills than our ride to Rutherglen the other day, so a bit shorter of a ride will be better for Don. Read more
The weather is perfect for a final ride in the ag areas northwest of home. I love the big blue sky and want one final ride north of Walbundrie. Montana claims a big blue sky, but it is not nearly as big and blue as Oz. This big blue sky stretches across a continent – you don’t run into much west of here until you hit the bicycle lifers over in Perth. Read more