Mark’s / Beddy’s Photo archive website–A real blast from the past

oldphotowebsite

 

Now this is a REAL blast from the past! I just found a copy of my old photos website which I put up from 2000 to 2003. Now if you weren’t around on the internet back then, THIS is what it looked like, pretty basic. I remember when I put these photos up on the internet, people were actually impressed there was a photos of them on the internet, ‘isn’t that just for people in the news’ they thought.

There are some pretty embarrassing photos here but what the hell, I’m going to be married in 3 weeks, I don’t have much to loose, enjoy the snapshot into my younger years Smile

Have a look at the old website here Marks’s / Beddy’s Photo archive yay

Highland Fling 2012 MTB race

Highland Fling 2012

I just finished the 2012 Highland fling MTB race and this year I did the half fling which is a 56km tricky and hilly course, I completed it in 2 hrs 50 mins. I liked the above photo that was taken by a professional on the course, the photo gives you  a sense of some of the action, click it to load it up in high-resolution.

Here are my stats below which I recorded using the free runkeeper app on my Android phone that was stored in a  little Velcro pocket by the handlebars and gave me audio updates on my speed and time through the race. I wanted to get a average speed above 20kph which is really hard on rough terrain and I did it, but it meant i was peddling for about 90% of the total time which made my feet numb for the majority of the race as there wasn’t enough blood getting past my leg muscles.

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Have just upgraded the bikes gears from Shimano XT to XTR (professional level) spec which made it stronger and 300g lighter for the race.

Looking at the results from last year, with my 2 hrs 50 mins time I estimate to finish in the top 10% of my veteran (over 30’s) category, official results will be released this week.

Hot air Ballooning for Sannas birthday

It was Sanna’s birthday weekend so I surprised her with something different, a hot air balloon trip over the hunter valley.

It started with getting out of bed at 4:45am before sunrise. They always do flights in the morning when the morning air is more still. We unpacked the balloon and they uses two large and very noisy ‘inflation fans’ to inflate the balloon canopy.

When it was 3/4 full they fired up the burners and it rose up. Everyone’s jumped in and we were off for an hours flight over the vineyards.

We saw lots of vineyard properties and 100’s of kangeroos which are so used to the balloons and so don’t hop away.

We landed with a small bump and the canopy fell around us. Afterwards we were allowed to walk inside the balloon canopy to look around.

Here are some photos and I have put two photos on my YouTube page.

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