take the kids on your bike

We are still here, still growing vegies and doin loads of other cool stuff too. Like having babies, now its 2 little peices of heaven we share our home and life with.

Previously my ramblings alluded to a passion for pedalling, particularly off road. And its become apparent that this is going to be a big part of my kids upbringing. Mainly because unlike all the other sports I do, MTB is just super convenient and easy to take the kids along. Especially in winter when the water is too cold to take littlies surfing.

Basically since T-man was 6 months old he has been heading bush with me in the baby bjorn pouch. And that was cool, as he grew stronger I would go faster and with him in the superman position we belted down all the gnarly stuff me whooping and him ..... falling asleep. True story. Here I was thinking he was getting high on adrenalin just super stimulated by daddys bike skills when actually he was having a kip. At least it gives mum a break hey.

So at about 18 months he was getting pretty heavy and by 2 years intolerable. But he was really getting into the whole idea, often coming out with "wan bike ride in bush daddy" A new way had to be found. Now as a bit of background, I have a history of reinventing, and always baring things back to essentials for ultimate function. So of course all the bike seats on the market got the big thumbs down, too complicated, too bulky, too limited, no flow, no moment, and mostly no fun. So in a flash I came up with the system pictured below, and we have not looked back.

Specs: one pool noodle attached over top tube and stem. A timber T-bar attached to the down tube.
Cost: free, all the bits were in the shed. If you had to buy them maybe $10.
Why: Check out the videos in next posts, its way cooler than any other kid carrier. We are both as free and unencumbered as we could be.
Why not: If you are not a good bike rider dont do it. If your wife is the worrying type dont do it.

Man this is fun, I get goosebumps just thinking about the trail times we have together.

Peace.. Mat

Rain Rain go away

Heres those radishes, gorgeous healthy specimens and tasty as you imagine. In the background you can see the compost bin, which is a cheap plastic garbage bin with some holes drilled and 25mm PVC pipes jammed through for aeration. Like the rest of the garden learning composting is a work in progress. What a spectacular difference there is between this old photo and the garden a few weeks on. Most of our vegie beds are now obscured by towering plants, delicious juicy beans, rampant cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplants, and some soggy zuchinis. Unfortunately we have had to nuke the zukes because incessant rain is rotting them. Also they started to take over the whole bed, stopping anything else from growing.


The rain has hardly let up the last 10 days, pretty much halting what little work I was doing in the garden. Its so frustrating to see everything deteriorate, the vegies going soggy and ground untrafficable. I probably would have continued to work in the mudpit anyway but had a few days of limited bodily function due to some idiotic bicycle antics. Cycling is another facet to the whole eco way of life. In my case its more than that, because mountain bikes were my passion as a youngster, and still get me excited now. As my current nasty gravel rash proves. There are so many reasons to ride a bike - economic, environmental, social and perhaps the most important, its great fun.... until you stack.

On the proffesional front I am preparing to start a consultancy for emergent eco sports, including cycling particularly off road MTB. The way I see it, smart communities will begin to engineer their transport and recreation to suit cyclists. In fact they will even compete to attract active, sustainable residents and tourists. Of course those smart communities need expert advice to make it happen. Thats where I come in with an abundance of experience and knowledge about sustainable activities. Moutain biking, Kitesurfing, Hiking, Canoeing the list goes on.

So anyway the sun is starting to shine, the garden is going off and the gravel rash is healing nicely. Happy New Year to all creatures great and small and may we all share in lots of fresh home grown organics..... and ice cream.

Mat