Forgiveness

These lyrics hit me like a ton of bricks...

In my silence I would love to forget
But restitution hasn’t come quite yet
And with one accord I keep moving forth
I stretch my heart to heal some more
It used to be all I want to learn
Was wisdom trust and truth
By now all I really want to learn
Is forgiveness for you
As my seasons change I’ve now grown to know
When one’s heart creates, one’s soul doesn’t owe
So I wash away stains of yesterday
Then tempt my heart with loves display

Forgiveness - Collective Soul

Maximum Adventure 24hr

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Originally uploaded by cnschulz.

Well, Team Goanna finished the Maximum Adventure 24hr race on 24/25 September 2005. What an epic adventure! The race had us up at 4am to drop off bikes and boxes for the 6am start. At the "start" we were told that the "real" start was at 7am and that we had busses waiting for us outside... We marked our maps up on the bus as we made our way to the Rangers office near Bungonia Caves.

We had a short-ish trek to the first TA where we were issued kayaks. After we inflated them we had to trek 1km down (and I mean down!) to the Shoalhaven River. The next leg was a kayak of about 5km, including an awesome rapid section (well, it was fun for a kayak novice!). We suffered a slow leak in the left side and had to stop to re-inflate about half way. It was smooth sailing after that into TA2. Then began the next trek... up Bungonia Creek and into Bungonia Gorge. I had only ever seen this gorge from the lookout at the top. I had also read the many warnings at the top about the nature of trekking through the gorge. The best part was the boulder field where we ended up in a sort of 3D maze. After the checkpoint was obtained, the trek back was OK as we found the trail we should have followed in the first place! The climb up to TA3 was very hard but in hindsight it was a breeze compared to what was to come...

We reached TA3 at around the 5 hour mark where we filled our packs and had a quick feed before the descent back to the kayacks at TA4 (same as TA2). The downhill was tough on the knees and I was concerned at this point about continuing. My teammate was a considerable distance ahead of me and it was after this realisation that I had the first though about killing him (only joking Graeme...) . I tried to think only happy thoughts as I checked the map again and noted that there wasnt much more downhill and ascending presented me with no "bad" pain.

I was nervous about the next kayak leg as this by far my weakest discipline. This was going to be a long leg (10km or so) and I wasnt sure how Id hold up. I had done a little gym work after the last 24hr at Myall Lakes where my effort could be described as pitiful... I certainly didnt get as much pain this time but the shallow sections saw us out of the boat and walking (falling!) quite often which was a welcome break from paddling. We both opted to wear gaiters and after looking like idiots at the start, we felt much better after seeing some other beaten shins at the finish. This leg is where I discovered that Glad Snap-Lock bags are NOT waterproof! My mobile phone completely filled with water and hence I can not supply any in-race photos :( Graeme discovered that the easiest way to get over some of the rockier sections was for me to stay in and steer while he dragged himself along on the very back of the kayak. Im sure we need work on our style but it got us through unscathed. After fixing the left-hand valve at TA2, we now had a slow(er) leak on the right hand side! We ignored it and paddled on knowing that the checkpoint wasnt too far away.

Words simply cannot describe the agony associated with this next section. We had to portage the kayak up a 450m climb which was only 1.7km long! About 1/3 of the way up my brain snapped. Something had to change... This could not be real... Someone get me out of here! NOW! Graeme did his best to get some food and drink into me and we switched positions. I found that, despite our height differnce, carrying the back of the boat was easier than being at the front. I owe Graeme a lot for his efforts on that section. Im not sure when we got into the bike TA as my BP-service-station-$30-special-waterproof watch was filled with water as well.

I luckily saw the comment on the map control reference sheet about doing the points in any order and having at least 6 before doing the abseil. Missing that could have meant a nasty disqualification. We left the TA just before 6 and rode the tar sections without needing lights. We put our lights on as we hit the gravel. I am still confused as to where the hell we went on our way to CP5. We figured we overshot the entrance to a trail and verified that by matching the next one (or so we thought). We went back 200m and took the "trail" which was just a tree-felling path. Still, it was heading in the right direction... until it wasnt... bugger... We decided to break the first rule of orienteering and press on regardless. Luckily that paid off and we successfully relocated ourselves (30 min lost!). I found the controls challenging given the map scale and the riding was slow due to the thick fog that rolled in. We made a few mistakes on this leg but nothing noteable.

We rolled into the abseil at about 9pm. This was only my second abseil (the first being the 24hr in Jan) but I found it quite easy this time. In fact, at only 20m, it was a little dissapointing but logistically I think it was the best the organisers could do given the restricted access to cliffs. The ascent via the wire ladder was fun... I was put off by the lad in front of me who had great difficulty but I found it not too difficult at all. I though I was going to freak out when the ladder started to turn around but my teammate sorted it out for me. We were out of there pretty quickly, maybe too quickly because we both hit the wall within minutes of each other. I saw Graemes head hit the map board, eyes tightly closed, gasping for air. I just needed snakes, lots of snakes. I ate 5 in one go and nearly vomited. Our goo was causing gag refexes in us both. We needed to finish. Soon. The last 3 CP's were OK, we took them slowly and tried not to make any mistakes. I got excited and shot off to one but the realised I had ridden straight past it (I was one trail behind where we actually were). I could see Graeme was very tired he calmly got us back to the control and I am still alive to tell this tale! :)

The down hill ride back into town was a very welcome relief. Almost as nice as the pie and saussage roll at Marulan truck stop at 12:30am. Mmmmmmm truck stop...

We finished in about 17h and 40min (including the bus ride) and I was happy with that. These long events are hard, sometimes you finish and you think you could have gone faster here or there but you never really know whats around the corner...

Sleepmonsters has a race report here: http://www.sleepmonsters.com.au/racereport.php?race_id=1443 They have a galley link on that page too.

Id like to thank Gary and the Maximum Adventure team for an excellently planned and executed event, the volunteers were awesome. I especially owe great thanks to my teammate, Graeme for his perseverance and skill. Cheers. See you at the AROC :)

[PXT from +61419625193]

PXT Message: Ok... Its lights out the night before the 24 hour race. We have marked up and laminated our map, packed our two transition boxes and done a kit check... Or two... Or three... Next its up at 0400 to have breakfast and drop the bike and box two at the transition area. Other box is loaded at 0500 and the course briefing is at 0530 for the start at 0600... Tired yet? We have not even started yet! The course is issued at the start. I like that. Course planning can be stressful! Anyway... Im sleepy... Might take some pictures out there...

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Baa Baa Black Sheep...

Saw Felix this weekend. He is really into the "NO!" phase... We sand Baa Baa Black Sheep together and Felix corrected me on some of the lyrics. He rode his bike down the path so fast that I freaked out and made him wear his helmet! The guy is going to be a downhiller for sure! :)

Yarrr! It be "Talk Like A Pirate Day" once again!

Yarr!

It be Talk Like A Pirate Day once more!

THE BEST O' YER PIRATE JOKES

By far the most popular joke be: "Why be pirates called pirates?" "They just arrrrrrrr!". Twenty pirates be sendin' me some variation o' such! Here be the best o' the rest:

Q: Where does a pirate keep his software? A: On his Arrr drive!

"Them's luvverly earrings you be wearin', me hearty. How much did ye pay for 'em?" "They be costin' me 2 Dollars for the pair." "Arr, that's not bad for a Buck-an-ear!"

A pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants. The bartender comments to the pirate, "Y'know, you have a steering wheel in your pants..." The pirate says to the bartender, "Yarr, 'tis drivin' me nuts!"

Dailysonic

Robot: "Dailysonic podcast is good. I like music. I like stories."
Human: "Fuck you, Robot."

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Image001
Originally uploaded by cnschulz.

Dulwich hill rocks... Its the only suburb in sydney where you can learn to speak chimpanzee!

NZO 12 hour 2005

Did the NZO 12 hour MTB race on the weekend. Team Goanna came in 20th in the Mens 4's. The night riding absolutely rocked. I have ridden at night before and did that 24 hour adventure races as well, but never before have I raced at near maximum speed on a specially designed MTB race track!! The sigle track was sweet and twisty but also contained some fast stretches where I topped around 45 km/hr. This totally rocks when all you have is a 10w halogen on your bike and one (gaffer taped) on your head. My night lap was interesting as a thunderstorm was looming and some scattered rain was about. Surreal stuff. It cleared up straight after my lap (typical!).



Congrats to my team mates Rowan, Simon and Graeme! Ill be doing my second 24hr adventure race with Graeme in two weeks. Cant wait. :)

Where is Chris? MoGeoBlog (Ive done it Francis!)

The MoGeoBlog is complete! I had to work through a WorldKit bug and hack Geocities Ad-Bar (please let me know if you get those annoying ads on my map site...)

The bad news is the the blog will have to move over to geocities :( because blogger doesnt support FTP uploads.

The new url is http://au.geocities.com/cnschulz/blog but Im not updating to that just yet... Still ironing out a few hiccups and getting some better maps (hopefully with zoom).

WWDBotW is here! ;-)

Where is Chris? MoGeoBlog

BlogShares - Blog Off

WTF??... What the hell is this... My blog is out of control! It says there are shares in my blog! What is even more crazy is that tey are worth something! Ok, Im selling... give me money... Im confused... SHOW ME THE MONEY!!!

BlogShares - Blog Off

Saw the boy again this weekend. Had heaps of fun. Saturday was clear so we went over the other side of the river where there are many more things for boys to hav fun with like rocks and sticks and mud. Well, thats about *all* there is really but it made for an excellent day. Sunday was rainy and I didnt have enough money to go to KidZone so we spent the morning jumping in puddles, watching Bob The Builder and reading books. Felix made up this crazy game where we had to put our hands in the puddle then wait for a period of time (specified by Felix) and then jump up, squeal and laugh our heads off. Seems like a good game to me. I still have no idea what the point was but Ive not laughed so much in ages! Happy Fathers Day to all the Dads... especially the new dads like my bro Nathan. :) 

Cabbages and Condoms

Ummm... so I googled my blog and this came up as a match... I also got on some lists about David Bowie and John Peel. I might just throw a few random words into my posts to se how far I can go with this! ;-) aardvark sex trousers ;-)

Cabbages and Condoms Pictures, Pictures of Cabbages and Condoms, Bangkok, Thailand - Yahoo! Travel

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Originally uploaded by cnschulz.

Hello from tamworth geo:lat=-33.068283 geo:long=150.939422 its raining up here and i forgot how cold it can get here... Quite a change from the lovelly warm spell we had in sydney. Felix is really great. His speech is superb. Today as we walked under a bridge he said "underneef bitch". Funny... I didnt see her up there... ;-) will post a pic of him tomorrow for fathers day. Have fun.

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PXT Message: My brother nathan and his partner lisa are the proud parents of a lovely bouncing baby girl Jade Evelyn. More details as they come to hand. Congratulations to all 3 of them!

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61419625193.mms.2
Originally uploaded by cnschulz.

My Dad (and Felix apparently) got me a tv for fathers day! I caused a bit of a commotion in the office when a huge box arrived for me. Its really great to know that he is thinking of me... Heres wishing all dads a great day on sunday!

Nomad Zen Xtra Headphone Jack Fix

This is for the extra (30GB) but Im hoping it will help me out... and maybe you too... :)

Nomad Zen Xtra Headphone Jack Fix

P R I M E R

Go and see "Primer" at the movies. Thats all I am going to say... Go! Go NOW! 8-O P R I M E R M O V I E