Just general surfing stuff

[Thud]

You serious? It’s mammoth.

[steve shearer]

mountain biking?

but what do you talk to them about?

it's riding down a fcuking hill.

gear wanking?

[Cranked]

and there's an actual mountain biking scene?

America has 40 million mountain bikers and 2 million surfers

[steve shearer]

I can only imagine the thrilling repartee.

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[PeepeelaPew]

...

[Trev]

Compared to fishing, for example?

Fly fishermen in Canada use Go Pros on their heads to record their catches.
It must be exciting.

[Cranked]

I can only imagine the thrilling repartee.

Pretty remarkable comment.

I've hung out with both, I have not noticed any great differences. People are pretty much people.

Mountain bikers are a bit more friendly though, as there's no competition for tracks and there's a lot of group effort in building and maintaining those tracks and running comps.

[steve shearer]

Compared to fishing, for example?

real fisherman don't talk

[Lucky Al]

What do the locals think about your surfing Al? Respected dude or figure of fun?

i would like to think a bit of both, but i don't really know. would depend who you asked i guess. quite a few of the kids seem to think it's cool and want to do it as well, but most of them so far have only been game to boogie in the shorebreak. mind you the surf in this bay of ours is not well suited to learning to surf, with back-breakers on the shore and steep drops straight to mush out the back when it's working. as for the adults, they either ignore my surfing completely or laugh and point as if at a clown, none seeming inclined to give it a crack, although i've seen them ride waves incidentally in their basket boats. on the other hand i'm pretty sure they appreciate that i'm often there checking the waves and can jump in and help out with a flipped basket boat reasonably quickly, although i don't know if they regard that as a surfing skill. i think if i'm respected for anything at all it's not my surfing but rather my square jaw, thick hair, cheerful demeanour, jaunty limp and financial stability. of course this is all my conjecture and you'll have to ask different locals for the real stories.

[godsavetheking]

Perhaps you could raise your standing further by setting up a surf lifesaving club. You could be an irascible enforcer in a hot pink crop top ruling Bai Xep with a stinkeye of iron

[The Mighty Sunbird]

Whilst delivering mayonnaise to backpacker chicks via the lobster

[Lucky Al]

I think I might prefer just to be left alone to do my surfy thing, let the locals keep doing whatever they were already doing unless any show particular interest. This one little boy who lives a few doors up the lane is definitely keen for some: https://www.facebook.com/49998952669925 ... 992008049/

[godsavetheking]

Rippin! Is he on bluefish/redfish? Couldn’t see from the vid

[crabmeat thompson]

Well crabby I quit my day job to take up a coastal job that means I'm at the coast 2 days a week, and I find myself unreasonably excited about surfing poorly in crowded springtime Gold Coast slop.

In general though, I have to say I'm liking the mountain biking scene a lot more than surfing.

You know how you're at a party where you don't know anyone and they introduce you to the only other surfer assuming you'll be friends, but the dude is either a Mad Huey doing shoeys or a dentist who went to the Ments in 2004 but still has the GoPro footage on his phone, 3 handsets later?

I find I'm much more likely to get on with a mountain biker, if that's all we've got to talk about.

i nearly bought a block of land just outside derby in tas. went out there to check it out last time i was down there ... they already have some of the best downhill MB runs in the world there, with a growing and cooking blue derby MTB scene.

you'd love it.


the block of land was nice too. a freshwater stream running through the 4 acre property at the foot of the hills. total flat land for an acre, grading up into a gradual slope that catches all kinds of sun in the darkest most fertile soil I've ever seen.

surrounded in the distance by a literal life time supply of peppermint gum, for burning wood in winter.

somewhat ironically, and defs thoroughly stupidly, i didn't buy the 28k block bcos it was too far from the ocean ... where right now it wouldn't bother me. and since the land there has skyrocketed to 50+

[Lucky Al]

Rippin! Is he on bluefish/redfish? Couldn’t see from the vid

No, it's a piece of Little Baz's old softboard which we bought in Brisbane three years ago and I broke in the shorebreak the other day.

[ajohnsen]

New board arrives today. I'm clutching my crotch.

[steve shearer]

post it up when you get it AJ