The Jennings 3

Probably not much interest to those of you who aren't bike obsessed, but for those of you that are I have just got back from my maiden ride on my single speed mountain bike. The deal is that its a fully rigid, old school style, bike with just one gear (32x16). Some of the rides round here involve long fire road climbs followed by smooth flowing single track back down through the native bush. My full suspension is a bit of overkill so I figured, during winter, I would try riding a stripped down, back to basics, bike. Its super low mainteinance, keeps your reactions tuned in and is a good all round workout (you use a lot more upper body effort to get the thing up the steeper inclines). Anyway - we did a 3hr loop this morning (2 on single speeds and Glen on his full sus bomber) and it was great. Just like razzing round our local trails with Andy and John when we were kids. The effort involved was a bit extreme at times but overall it was great fun. Doing away with suspension made the downs a bit eyepopping at times but no crashes so overall I would give it a 9 out of 10. I'll still be riding the full suspension bike as a preference but I can see the new bike getting a lot of action on our night rides around the woods.

Out of interest you adjust the chain tension using an excentric rear hub that extends or shortens the wheelbase slightly. Its really simple but cool engineering. I borrowed it of a mate but it worked brilliantly and saved mucking around with tensioners or rear mechs.

I was walking through the supermarket the other day and came across the 'bargain' isle - and everyone knows I like a bargain. Anyway, standing proud on the shelf with 50% off was an cowboy style shooting game, just like when I was a nipper. The deal is that you shoot at the log and, if your aim is right, the plastic tin cans or bottles get flung into the air with a great 'pyowng' noise. As you can imagine Buster loves it, as do Lisa and I. Anyway, I was cuffed with the picture above - it took me about 20 shots to get one with teh can flying off. Sometimes the old games are the best (especially when they cost $20!)

I recently upgraded the lights that I use for mountain biking at night (thanks to my mate Steve who is an electrical engineer - he made them from scratch and just charged me the price of the parts) and wow, do they light the way! Buster didn't want to miss out on the fun so I have started to take him and Bones for night walks in the woods. Its good fun, and you sometimes get to spy some possums and owls. Its also helping Buster get used to tramping around the woods in pitch black without being scared, which is a bonus. The lights themselves are ridiculous, pretty much turning night into day. Winter might be here but, because its still really dry, it has opened up a few new activities to while away teh evenings.

I was having a trawl around Flickr before and stumbled across a load of images on Rock Balancing (click here). Looks like a fun way to spend 20 minutes - I'm off to build one (and try and get a picture before Buster and Bones get to work destroying it).