Aareing out on a Berning day

Headed to Bern Switzerland for 2 days(monday Tuesday) to get peters bike fixed and do some fun riding. Arrived at Suspention Centre mid day and wandered out about an 2 hours later with functioning forks. Gery the guy that run the place is absolutely fantastic. Couldn't have been any more helpful if he tried. Its awesome to know that there are people like that are out there and makes you want to share the favour to someone else.
From there we went and hung out at the BMX track that Gery told us about. Good fun and an eye opener as to how fit we arn't. Here are some pictures of us playing.














So yea, tired ourselves out at this BMX track about 30km away from Bern so hopped into our fabulous transportational device and drove to bern. Some time killing was in order so we went for a wander along the river Aare that runs through the centre of Bern. We noticed a large amount of people jumping in and floating down river which turns out to be quite a popular past time on sunny days. You climb out further down and wander up a pathway which runs along side. We being cheap and up for fun joined in the fun and had our share of jumping off a bridge and floating like turds till peter couldnt float anymore. Heres a picture that i modified as we had no pictures of ourselves jumping into the river.(this is actually the river Aare and what it looks like)

It so happened that Italy had just beated Australia in the World Cup soccer and they wanted every one to know. We got over our paranoia sp? that they were beeping at us and continued on our way to eat a huge pizza that was quite frankly huge(we funished it. . . . pete finished it).

Had our full of pizza and wanded Bern till the wee hours. Bern is truly magnificant, old and beautiful. Even has a Pit with Bears in it, really unnatural though.

(hopefully you get the Title of this post now. . . i personaly thought its was rather stupid)

Sooner or later

It so happensn that on this fine European summers weekend there are no races for Peter and i to compete in. So without any requirements to drive our EuroLease we thought maybe we would head to Burn for the weekend and ride our bikes down a fabulously fun track.
BUT... always a but, we headed out today for a burn around the local track and ride an awesome track that Alex showed us on Wednesday. Well..... burning down this track full tit, myself up for the thrill of riding my bike way too fast down a fire road i dont know, riding into flying insect. Notice i ride into the insects(i feel they generally fly into me) i see it as when your traveling 50km plus i should be watching where im going. Anywho i was following Peter burning down this fire road covered in rutts from the water traveling down it. Coming up to a right hand corner and watching Pete take the dodgie line over the rutts. SUDDENLY pete washes out(looses traction and both wheels slide sideways) im gunning from behind thinking oh dear(see mum curving my naughty language) i cant turn the corner. . . .well peter is sliding along in my way isn't he. Pete keeps sliding into a tree and bush where as i straight line it into the bush trying to slow down. All i see are fallen trees and then i see one that i just knew id land on once i hit a pile of old logs. Well i scrubbed some speed still hitting the logs with some pace, this chucked/flipped me into the tree i knew is was dona hit. Smack i land right right in the middle of my back on this fallen tree. Not much happened in the next few seconds as my lungs didn't want to work after a good winding. I lay there making noises for a few seconds while pain flooded my back and staight thinking thoughts come back to my brain. Pete had gone for a slide but came out largely unscathed, my back fare dinkum hurt. Climbed out from the bushes, said bonjour to the walkers we had just flew past and assessed ourselves and bikes.
WELL...... always a well, peter was fine but his bike was broken, ha now thats karma for making me crash. Me, my back hurt somewhat, very thankful to the milkman for my strong bones and Mr bike has had worse but enjoyed it.

We did get in some fantastic views though. and some good riding

The Past 20 Days of our Lives

We arrivied in Lyon on the 1st june and continued to Morzine where we were greeted with snow and 0 degrees at 10pm at night. The 34 hours of traveling and 5 hours sleep in 43 hours had not yet set in till the following day where we lay down at 5pm for a nap and woke at 9am the next morning. Our flights had gone with no hitches and all our luggage was there for us to greet at the other end. This being a major relief as NO bike NO ride. Above is a picture on morzine from our home of 2 months, a chalet owned by a lovely english fellow whos letting us rent out a room for our stay. Its awesome, it takes up to 19 people but there are currently only 3 of us. Greg(lovely english fellow) also collects dvds and game consoles so when were not riding we have a world of options right infront of the tv.*below a picture of pete giving the XBOX a rather grand workout

2 Races Down

We have had 2 races since being here, a French Cup and an IXS German Cup.The French Cup was our first race on the second weekend of our stay. It was a mear 20minute drive up the road which made it a good ease into the whole race thing but still be able to go home to a bed and kitchen at night.
This race was held at Montriond which was still covered in snow and had the track cut into the snow making all the dirt mud and the rocks slippery. Peter and i hated this race with a passion and never intend to race another of the sort again. I some how managed 3rd in the elite womens field but im not sure as to Peters result.

On the 15th june Pete and i ventured out into the wilderness battling our way through and over the concrete highways to arrive in Germany 9 hours later at our second race destination. This was an IXS Cup and i was really looking forward to a proper race track after the previous weeks let down. The track turned out to be really fun but rather short, it took about an hour to complete a full run as you had to stand in line for the super duper slow chair lift. There was about 400 or so people in attendance which i feel also helped. Both Pete and i really enjoyed the track and i also manage my fair share of soil sampling(crashes). Our enjoyment for the track showed as i tookout the Elite womans and pete got a respectable 33rd in a large field of men and his second DH race.

Kiwis Taking on the Froggies

Im on a 2 month holiday as i guess it would be taken as. So while i sit here not wanting to watch Pete play XBOX and be as unproductve as possible i thought id set this up on blog and here you have it, well its starting.
Currently im in france riding my MountainBike down hill with Peter one of my bestest buddies. We flew in a whole 21 days ago now and time seems so be taking the fast boat as its going by very very fast. But when life is fun fun fun that seems to be so.
We have had 2 races so far and i am in the middle of trying to find a race for us to do this weekend 25th june. If not we get to hang out in Morzine where we can ride our bikes all day every day unless there is lighting. So either way our bikes get ridden and thats what makes us happy.

*photo of pete and i at LA airport during our 34 hour epic journey to get from one side of the planet to the other