Hi. Wondering about me? Well my name is Andrew and I live in Western Australia hence there is a bit of a Western Australia cycling and bushwalking focus about this blog. In the past I was a bit of a gear tester so I have kept up that interest in this blog, hence lots of owner reviews on cycling gear and some camping gear. I am also interested in advocacy; comes from being a bit opinionated :) You will find the more and more advocacy (board member of the Bicycle Transport Alliance) and cyclist safety posting here. So there you go a litte bit of a flavour to this blog.
Aushiker and Cycling
I am particularly interested in cycling (commuting, road touring, mountain bike touring, and Audax style riding, ride safety and improving cycling infrastructure for all), and to a less extent now days, bushwalking (also known as tramping or hiking). I am a past gear tester (and Senior Edit Moderator) with BackpackGearTest.org. I resigned from BackpackGearTest.org in August 2008 but continue to support whole heartedly their objectives.
I come into cycling keen to extend my outdoor activities as well as to improve my fitness, to loose weight, to enhance my enjoyment of life, to contribute more constructively to the environment and so on. Given my great passion for backpacking I am keen on adding the camping aspect and the long-distance travelling aspect to my cycling, hence my interest in off-road and on-road touring as well as just commuting.
I like to mix my enjoyment of camping with my cycling activities, hence my interest in touring on and off-road. I am also keen on replacing my car usage as much as possible with cycling instead.
With my purchase of a Look 555 in June 2008 I am slowly moving into Audax style riding albeit I suspect 1,200 km rides will be out of my league.
Currently my daily riding is commuting on a Kinesis Racelight Granfondo Ltd. I also do a little bikepacking on my 2008 Giant XTC 2 and road touring on my Surly Long Haul Trucker.
My first foray into touring was in October 2007 when I led a weekend group ride of the Waterous Trail for the Perth Bushwalkers Club. Since then I have completed the first stage of the Munda Biddi Trail in April 2008, a tour from Geraldton to Perth in 2009 and in April 2010 my first 1,000 km tourer, Esperance to Perth and my biggest tour a 3,000 km ride into the Gascoyne. In October 2012 I completed my latest tour, an overnight revisit of the Waterous Trail.
This first tour (can you call a weekend ride a tour?) was on Joe the Boulder SE (since sold) and was a pannier ride. I fitted a set of Delta racks to Joe and used a pair of Deuter Rack Pack II panniers on the rear and a pair of Ortlieb Front Roller Classic panniers on the front. Picked these up for $105 landed in Perth still with the tags attached. What a bargain!
I have now moved on to using a Extrawheel Voyager as my load carrying device on my off-road tourers and go with the Extrawheel Voyager or panniers on the road.
My next tour was to be the big one, the Dreaming Tour, however this became a four day ride in the Northern Territory, an expensive one and was replaced subsequently with my Chasing the Dirt – Out and Back to Burringurrah (Mt Augustus) by Bicycle Tour.
Bushwalking
With my growing interest (dare I say it passion?) for cycling my bushwalking activities are getting pushed into the background. That said I still love bushwalking and camping but see my camping direction go more towards cycle touring rather than walking in the bush. However, I will continue to maintain my pages on bushwalking as a resource for people interested in bushwalking here in Western Australia. To that end I will continue to run the Aushiker Yahoo! group which is a WA based discussion group focused on talking bushwalking in Western Australia and more importantly walking the talk – informal walks are often organised through this group. So if you are interested, please do join us. I am also a former member and walk leader for the Perth Bushwalking Club. My last pack carry was a six day walk of the Cape to Cape Track.
Contacting Andrew aka Aushiker
I more than happy to help out where I can so I am happy to hear from you. I do try to respond within a couple of day but please forgive me if it takes a little longer [from July 7, 2012 I will be touring for about three months so replies will be seriously delayed. Sorry about that!]. If you want to contact me here are some ways you can go about it:
- Comments. I love comments and having interaction on the blog. I try to reply to all comments.
- You can email me at
andrew@aushiker.com[thanks to Jetpack we now have a contact form to make contact easy]. - Twitter. I am a big Twitter fan. You can find me @Aushiker.
- Google+. I prefer Google+ over Facebook … shock horror :)
- Facebook. Yes I do have a Facebook account
but really not active there much but will respond to messages etcbut it is no longer used. - I am also on YouTube and Vimeo.
afFrDh hi! how you doin?
afFrDh hi! how you doin?
G’day Andrew
I have recently arrived in Perth from Sydney where I was looking at getting a LHT made up for touring. Did you look into getting your LHT built at any of the bike shops in Perth and if so what was your experience.
By the way have spent a couple of enjoyable hours reading your site.
Marty
G’day Andrew
I have recently arrived in Perth from Sydney where I was looking at getting a LHT made up for touring. Did you look into getting your LHT built at any of the bike shops in Perth and if so what was your experience.
By the way have spent a couple of enjoyable hours reading your site.
Marty
G’day Andrew
I have recently arrived in Perth from Sydney where I was looking at getting a LHT made up for touring. Did you look into getting your LHT built at any of the bike shops in Perth and if so what was your experience.
By the way have spent a couple of enjoyable hours reading your site.
Marty
G’day
I am not interested in paying some one to build it for me; my interest is in the experience of doing it myself. That said I believe Bike Force South Perth is known for building up touring bikes.
Regards
Andrew
G’day
I am not interested in paying some one to build it for me; my interest is in the experience of doing it myself. That said I believe Bike Force South Perth is known for building up touring bikes.
Regards
Andrew
After bumping into you all over the Internet, I finally stumbled onto your blog. Nice job. I’ll add it to my Daily Must Read list.
After bumping into you all over the Internet, I finally stumbled onto your blog. Nice job. I’ll add it to my Daily Must Read list.
After bumping into you all over the Internet, I finally stumbled onto your blog. Nice job. I’ll add it to my Daily Must Read list.
G’day Ken. Thanks for your comments. I am afraid I am not as productive as you so don’t get to update this blog as much as I would like.
All the best
Andrew
G’day Ken. Thanks for your comments. I am afraid I am not as productive as you so don’t get to update this blog as much as I would like.
All the best
Andrew
Hi Andrew,
Came across your site whilst searching for hiking / walking tracks around Perth.
I’ve recently started to get out and about (primarily in my 4wd) and explore WA and all that it has to offer, starting with a 2 month tour of the Kimberley for my honeymoon in 2007.
I’ve only just started getting into bushwalking / hiking, and mainly do half day / full day trips at the moment.
If you’ve got the time, check out my blog http://rufn.it/blog and forum http://rufn.it/forum
Cheers,
Jason.
Hi Andrew,
Came across your site whilst searching for hiking / walking tracks around Perth.
I’ve recently started to get out and about (primarily in my 4wd) and explore WA and all that it has to offer, starting with a 2 month tour of the Kimberley for my honeymoon in 2007.
I’ve only just started getting into bushwalking / hiking, and mainly do half day / full day trips at the moment.
If you’ve got the time, check out my blog http://rufn.it/blog and forum http://rufn.it/forum
Cheers,
Jason.
Great blog Andrew. One day I hope to do some hiking / bushwalking in Western Australia!
Great blog Andrew. One day I hope to do some hiking / bushwalking in Western Australia!
Hey,
Love your website! I had a touring website for a while but forgot to pay the renewal on the hosting in a period where I had no internet OOOPS. Anyway, you have inspired me to get something up and running again in the near future. I really like your bike maintenance logs. I have a CRX2 though I think I am easier on it than you are on Chase. I think you have inspired me to ditch the velo saddle for a Brooks – the bike has done a little over 8,000ks and I still don’t particularly like the saddle.
Anyway it’s good having this kind of Perth-specific content. Though I’m using Internet Explorer and something weird is going on with your forum page. The comments are showing with no content?
-tailwinds-
-Jet-
Hey,
Love your website! I had a touring website for a while but forgot to pay the renewal on the hosting in a period where I had no internet OOOPS. Anyway, you have inspired me to get something up and running again in the near future. I really like your bike maintenance logs. I have a CRX2 though I think I am easier on it than you are on Chase. I think you have inspired me to ditch the velo saddle for a Brooks – the bike has done a little over 8,000ks and I still don’t particularly like the saddle.
Anyway it’s good having this kind of Perth-specific content. Though I’m using Internet Explorer and something weird is going on with your forum page. The comments are showing with no content?
-tailwinds-
-Jet-
Hi I am looking for a 24 inch Giant Cypress or CRX4 bike, one that can be dismantled and transported at the back of a car. I do not want to pay the retail price is there any way you can suggest i can find one for less than $500?
thanks very much
Hi I am looking for a 24 inch Giant Cypress or CRX4 bike, one that can be dismantled and transported at the back of a car. I do not want to pay the retail price is there any way you can suggest i can find one for less than $500?
thanks very much
Hi I am looking for a 24 inch Giant Cypress or CRX4 bike, one that can be dismantled and transported at the back of a car. I do not want to pay the retail price is there any way you can suggest i can find one for less than $500?
thanks very much
Hi Jeanette
I suspect you would be looking at a second hand bike for those dollars. I would suggest keeping an eye on eBay, Gumtree and also BikeExchange.com.au. Another option is to ask in the WA sub-forum at the Australian Cycling Forums @ http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/index.php
Regards
Andrew
Hi Jeanette
I suspect you would be looking at a second hand bike for those dollars. I would suggest keeping an eye on eBay, Gumtree and also BikeExchange.com.au. Another option is to ask in the WA sub-forum at the Australian Cycling Forums @ http://www.bicycles.net.au/forums/index.php
Regards
Andrew
Dear Andrew,
Soooo glad to have found your site. It can feel a little as though all the exciting things are happening away from WA at times. In the first 5 mins of reading your blog I was helped immensely by your link to Tamia Nelson re: adjusting the saddle on the LHT. (Don’t smile – I never claimed to be mechanically talented). I am looking forward to a good few hours perusing your archives whilst trying not to get too excited that I actually know some of the places you’re writing about. As a bit of a middle-aged tub-pot I don’t claim to be atheletic in ANY way. However, I don’t have a car, by choice, so rely on my bike to commute, shop, socialise, and get away (with a lot of help from the train). I’ll be checking in regularly from now on. Thanks!
Dear Andrew,
Soooo glad to have found your site. It can feel a little as though all the exciting things are happening away from WA at times. In the first 5 mins of reading your blog I was helped immensely by your link to Tamia Nelson re: adjusting the saddle on the LHT. (Don’t smile – I never claimed to be mechanically talented). I am looking forward to a good few hours perusing your archives whilst trying not to get too excited that I actually know some of the places you’re writing about. As a bit of a middle-aged tub-pot I don’t claim to be atheletic in ANY way. However, I don’t have a car, by choice, so rely on my bike to commute, shop, socialise, and get away (with a lot of help from the train). I’ll be checking in regularly from now on. Thanks!
Dear Andrew,
Soooo glad to have found your site. It can feel a little as though all the exciting things are happening away from WA at times. In the first 5 mins of reading your blog I was helped immensely by your link to Tamia Nelson re: adjusting the saddle on the LHT. (Don’t smile – I never claimed to be mechanically talented). I am looking forward to a good few hours perusing your archives whilst trying not to get too excited that I actually know some of the places you’re writing about. As a bit of a middle-aged tub-pot I don’t claim to be atheletic in ANY way. However, I don’t have a car, by choice, so rely on my bike to commute, shop, socialise, and get away (with a lot of help from the train). I’ll be checking in regularly from now on. Thanks!
Hi Andrew,
I was wondering if you could write about our products. We are Seight Custom, a custom cycling wear company based in Victoria. In return, we can offer you discounted group clothing or test clothing to ride in.
Here’s a link to our website to find out more about us http://www.customcyclingwear.com.au/
Thank you
Hi Andrew,
I just wanted to stop in and say hi. I am just about to enter my first IronMan triathlon and wanted you to know that your cycling posts have been a great source of inspiration and guidance for me over the past six months as I went from not owning a bike to 120mile+ rides!
Feel free to stop over at my blog sometime or give me an email
Cheers
Ross
Your site is great and so complete. Great information for new cyclists like me.
Keep it up!
Patricia
Hi Andrew,
We’re keen to use a couple of your great images of the Old Timberline and Sidings Trails. Could you drop me an email at the above email address to discuss?
Many thanks
Chris
(Tourism Western Australia)