MTB Slovenia 2009

Day 1 - Ljubljana and Drežnica
The first night was just a stopover in Ljubljana, then in the morning had a short walk around the city centre. Very touristy, and most places shut due to public holiday, but all the bars/cafes were open. Then we drove to Kobarid in the Soča valley and up the mountain to Drežnica where the guesthouse was. Unpacked and rebuilt the bikes, and did a short ride up to Slap Krampež waterfall just to make sure everything was fine.

Kosec-Slap Krampez at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 2 - Bovec Moznica Trail
The first proper riding day. Drove up the valley to Bovec (ski resort in winter), and then rode up the Soča and Moznica valleys. Stopped off at Fort Kluže on the way, and then did a nice rooty piece of singletrack back down to the river. Was pretty warm and sunny all day. The Soča River really is a strange turquoise colour.

Bovec-Moznica at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 3 - Drežnica Singletrack
Did a shorter route on the 2nd riding day. Quite steep on the way up, all on gravel track, then down a rocky bit of singletrack that didn't really allow any flow.

Dreznica Singletrack at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 4 - Slap Kozjak
A day off from riding, and transfer day to Prevalje. Took a quick detour to the Slap Kozjak waterfall. The end part of the walk, just as you approach the waterfall is strange, almost like being in a platform+ladders computer game. Waterfall was very impressive.

Day 5 - Jamnica
On the first day in Jamnica, the guesthouse owner recommended us a 21km round trip around the mountain. The views were amazing, and often right next to the Austrian border. The last part was fast downhill gravel track right back to the guest house.

Jamnica at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Day 6 - Jamnica - Mežica
Last riding day was in 2 parts. Firstly was a long fast downhill right to the valley, then up and over the hill to Mežica, passing right alongside the Austrian border again. In the afternoon we went on a guided tour through an old Lead ore mine. They drive you and the bikes from Mežica to Igrčevo a few km away, then you ride underground about 6km back to the start in Mežica. Quite cold down there (10c underground, 22c above ground).

Mezica Underground Mine Tour at EveryTrail

Map created by EveryTrail:GPS Geotagging

Where we stayed:

• In Drežnica (near Kobarid) - Turistična kmetija Kranjc
• In Jamnica (near Prevalje) - MTB Hotel / Bike Nomad

Recommended MTB Guidebooks:

• In German - MTB Slowenien

Recommended eating places:

• Idrsko (near Kobarid) - Jazbec
• Tolmin - Pension Rutar
• Prevalje - Gostilna Rupar

Photos:

• http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/Slovenia2009

EeePC 901 and Jaunty Jackelope

Just bought a new Asus EeePC 901 (Linux 20Gb Black).
First thoughts are: the stock Xandros based OS is a bit "My First Computer".

Now Ubuntu Jaunty Jackelope is out (about 2 days after getting the EeePC), I thought I'd give it a quick trial run, to start with just as a "Live SD" version of Ubuntu Netbook Remix running off a 4Gb SDHC card (class 6, 15Mb/s).

Looks nice. Don't know if I prefer the Netbook Remix interface or the normal Desktop interface. It's not a big deal to swap between the two though.

Things that work out of the box (Stock Ubuntu Netbook Remix v9.04):

• Webcam (enable it in BIOS first)
• Bluetooth (enable it in BIOS first)

Things that nearly work 100%:

• WiFi (minor bug - set your home router to WPA/TKIP, not WPA2 and it all works fine)

Silly bugs:

• The Horizontal volume control is daft, and although works fine on the EeePC, it is inconsistent and unintuitive when used with a mouse with scroll wheel.

Skiing in the Dolomites

Wow - what a week! The Dolomites are simply stunning scenery!
Stayed in Campitello on the snowHeads 5th Birthday Bash, but the Sella Ronda area is so well linked and signposted that we easily managed to ski Campitello, Canazei, Arabba, Corvara, Selva, Ortisei as well as Alba, Malga Ciapella / Marmalada all within the week and all on one (very pricy) lift pass.

On 4th Feb, we (Talltone, Whitenoise and The Duke) skied the Sella Ronda (green/anticlockwise) loop, which is where the above pic was taken (near Colfosco I think).
On 5th Feb, a whole load of us skied via Arabba, over to Malga Ciapella, and did the 1 mile vertical in 3 end-to-end cable cars.
Anyway, final stats for the week according to the nifty online liftpass checker thing were:

• Nr of Lifts: 104
• Height difference:33,792m
• Slopes length estimation: 177 Km
• Nr of wipeouts: approx 3
• Nr of beers: many
• Nr of Bombardinos: just the 1

Can't wait to go back...

ALRS 2008

Well not long after getting back from Scotland and Kansas it was time to get back to more rocketry, but this time in Switzerland. I think that this was my 5th attendance at ALRS IX but I can't be certain. The weather was cooler than some years, the wind was a bit stiff, and to spice things up a bit there was a TV crew there all weekend filming a segment for a programme which airs on the ARTE French/German channel.

I didn't fly anything in the end, but did take a large number of photos, a selection of which can be found here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/ALRS2008
This is probably my last rocketry event of the year, so now time to concentrate of a bit of mountain biking and plan the next ski vacations. Winter is nearly here :)

3 Weeks of Rocketry Madness (pt2)

26th August

Flew to Kansas City via Philadelphia on the Tuesday lunchtime. US Airways was surprisingly not bad, despite being only £392 for a return transatlantic flight. We were sure that one of the attendants was the woman from Prisoner Cell Block H (the one that looks like a bloke). Philadelphia airport is strange - food outlets everywhere, and calming classical music piped everywhere. In the unlikely event that you go there, you can get free WiFi near to gate C28 (Saxby's Coffee has open wireless, unlike the rest of the terminal ;) ).

Kansas City airport is even stranger - given its size, it is empty, and only a few paces between plane and pickup/dropoff.

27th August

Kansas City itself seems to have little of interest, but we do recommend the Wowieccinos in the mall near the Old Station, Mimi's Cafe for breakfast (Zona Rosa shopping mall) and Smokehouse BBQ (also in Zona Rosa mall) for dinner.

28th August

This was actually the first day of LDRS, but we knew it would be a bit slow, so we used the day to stock up on supplies and travel on down to Argonia.

The Kansas Turnpike has a few rest stops on the way, and conveniently they place them in the middle of the Highway, so there's only one services for both directions, and you exit from and re-enter to the fast lane. The best bit was the shop - 15 full floor to ceiling fridges full of drinks, of which 3 were all Red Bull and similar energy booster drinks! Oh and then there was a separate self-serve post-mix drinks kiosk.

Walmart was an essential stop off point, since we were going to be camping in Argonia. US Walmarts sell everything, literally, including firearms right next to the camping and DIY sections! We did work out that denatured alcohol works very well in Trangia stoves (lights first time and less sooty than the purple Meths found in the UK), and costs peanuts.

29th August - 1st September

Argonia itself has literally nothing. Just a few small stores and a Railroad Crossing, and when a train passes, it must be easily a mile long! Very Very Impressive!

The LDRS rocketry event was the best event I've ever been to, and was buzzing all day every day. There were way too many flights to note them all, but some of those worthy of a mentions were: Insane Projects Q-motor powered Pershing (which was a fantastic sight, but then crashed), the 5lb rocket powered by an L1300 (which seemed to warp into another dimension), all rockets powered by an M2200 SkidMark motor (they are very cool to see and hear).

The Saturday was by far the busiest day, and all days were scorching hot. Lots of sunblock and ice cool drinks were called for. At the banquet in Wichita, I managed to win an Aerotech 38/360 casing (inc. closures) in the raffle and Phil won a 54mm motor retainer. Everyone on the table except Eric Cayemberg won a prize.

Monday was a bit slower, since this was Research day. Never seen so many P motors (and 1 Q motor) fly.

2nd September

We knew the last day would be slow too, so we left around lunch time, and traveled back to Kansas City via Topeka. Dinner was at Smokehouse BBQ in the Zona Rosa mall. Excellent service and good food there, with a wonderful aroma of hickory smoke inside and out.

3rd September

Got a refund for the canopy that we bought a few days earlier, cos 1 guy rope snapped off in the wind! Handy, cos we had the shade all week for free, and no need to ship anything home afterwards! Weather in KC was pants, but in Philadelphia on the way home it was perfect. Unfortunately the weather on arrival in Gatwick was dire and the ferry back was dreadful, but it was good to be out of the 36C heat.

On the whole, it was a fantastic rocketry event to go to. The best by a long way IMHO, and we made many friends. Everyone there was very welcoming, especially the Kloudbusters organising team, and those involved with the Insane Projects Pershing II. Can't wait until next year's event now... in New York :)

All of My Pics and Phil's Pics are here...
http://picasaweb.google.com/andysrockets/LDRS27
http://picasaweb.google.com/wikrok/USALDRS27