Karlati's Bytes: "Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower."

For a while there the mornings were long and dark, and leaving home the Vail of night still lingered. But a warm air surrounded me as I sped on two wheels towards the city. Summer holding on to the very last. The coast with its low mountain back drop is certainly something to behold. And then from behind Howth Head, the sun shakes of the last of the night sky, finally breaking through to bring with it early morning in Dublin city.

I really enjoy the commute to work, it's what I look forward to each day, there and back home again.
But now the clocks have changed and with it an earlier sun rise. The heat has gone, and now frost flanks the grassy pathway.
Still, the crisp air is fresh and the cold harbour waters don't seem to bother the hundreds of migratory birds that have flocked here from abroad. On holiday maybe!
Cruising along, my Merlin and me against the world, the traffic and the other folk who have taken to their bikes instead of the petrol guzzling machines that seem to forever stay stationary, traffic stuck in traffic.
Its near the end of the year already and it's been a wash out, not literally, but from a biking perspective. With my recovery from last years smash up in Whistler holding me back some, my crash in July didn't help. It did give me time to reflect and look over the years of great biking that I did have back in Australia, NZ, USA, Canada, across Europe and South Africa. I do love the freedom, and isolation it can bring, even if I am speeding up the middle of traffic in the city.. A bit foolish maybe, but that's me, always pushing it.

Both Esther and I have been getting out a bit more now though, and it's great having the people mover. With the seat folded and pushed forward, the bikes just slide on it in there.
We went to Ballinastoe over the weekend, and they have been doing some work on improving the trails. I think the heavy rain we had though might have undone some of the ground work as a lot of the top soil is now gone, leaving sharp exposed rocks biting at the tyres as you try to find a decent line to follow.

Esther, the Dublin Mountains.

Still, ya just gotta point and shoot, hope for the best and be thankful that good skills prevail. I also fitting some new X9 trigger shifters, despite what I said about sticking to the XO twist grip. To be honest, it was a really good move. I wasn't sure about both the ease of moving my thumbs to use the shifters, or if the action would be as smooth, but they are smooth and super quiet compared to the grip shift. Totally impressed. I do still run the grip shift on my Merlin commute bike though, good for city riding and less prone to getting damaged, not that I plan to get knocked of the bike or anything..

The Merlin Fat Beat - A Re-Build and some TLC, good as new..

The AY - UP lights are getting good use as well. After buying them last year, for the 24hr MoonRide in Rotorua, they sat in the cupboard gathering dust. But they're super lights. Having a double set means I can run them on both the handle bar and my helmet together, and with the battery being only about 50grams or so in weight, you hardly notice the extra weight, but you do notice the light streaming out of the double headlights, bright white and excellent in these dark mornings and now darker evenings.

So I got the day of work tomorrow to go see the dentist, just a checkup. It'll be a good excuse to see the folks as well and maybe catch up with Kevie, my oldest friend from years ago. We always keep in touch and have a good buzz, even get out on the bikes the odd time for some road rides. Kevie is a roadie, even though he does have a mountain bike, but he would rather pound the tarmac on his Lapierre super spec'd racing machine. Back in the day we use to train at the gym heaps, Break Dance when it was cool, and do Kung Fu over in the village, Bessbrook, or the 'Brook' as it's better known. It's also called the Model Village, having been first established by Quakers many years before I appeared on the planet. It still doesn't have a Pub or Bar, any dance halls, or even a Betting Office. in my opinion, it's not such a bad thing. It does have it's ups and downs, but that's like most places these days. It was at one time home to the biggest Linen Mill in Europe, until the troubles of Northern Ireland started, things got bad, and well, the British Army took it over, bit by bit until they fully occupied it. They're gone now, and the place is just a deserted over sized industrial waste land. there was plans to convert it into shops and apartments, but then the recession hit, and well the rest is as they say, 'History'.. Shame really, for my mum, all her friends and half of the surrounding country side worked and earned their living there.