I have tentative plans to do a 7 or so day ride starting at the Six Foot Track in the Blue Mountains (NSW, Australia) and heading South towards Wombeyan Caves. From there I will likely ride south-east towards Mittagong, and possibly head north from there. I have put this trip off a few times, and not sure when I will be able to get to it.

In light of this, my riding of late has focussed on keeping up a little bit of fitness, rather than anything exciting. I participated in the annual Critical Mass bike ride across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, a number of rides around [Kentlyn}(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kentlyn), and a couple rides from Oftord along the coast road and cycleway to Wollongong. I have included some pictures from the Bridge ride, and around Kentlyn. I have also added a photo a my new rear rack...

I left my previous rear rack in Canada. A new rack was also required to accommodate my Arkel briefcase pannier (discontinued). As I currently rely on a single bike, the short wheelbase required a larger pannier — or at least a pannier set further back — to prevent heel strike. After coming up empty for a long period of time, I stumbled across the Old Man Mountain Red Rock (discontinued). I finally managed to pick one of these up from Cheeky Transport (now closed, was the only Australian stockist) after waiting for new stock to come in. I think the rise in the $AUD saved me from some pain, though the rack still cost around $130. Whislt far from cheap, my initial experiences wit the rack are very good.

The mounting and hardware is very solid, and much more so than pretty much every rack I have seen. The extra long top shelf also sets this rack apart. After one of the Oftord to Wollongong rides, the length of the rack got a test — the picture says it all