Racing For Sheep Stations!

Great weekend of racing just passed.... sadly our last BMX race of the season!!!!
Over the last few weeks we have been up at Centenery Plains BMX track (gorgeous facility with paved berms and a sweet layout of jumps) training for the Southeast Queensland Championships. On one of the nights, I ended up chatting with a fellow 40-44 Cruiser racer, Paul Wilson, about the upcoming event. He taught me about a my new favorite Aussie saying.... Racing For Sheep Stations! After curiously tilting my head in bewilderment and asking what the hell that meant....he informed me that this was.... "laying all on the line", "bettin' the farm", "going all in", "giving it everything" ..... during the race!! Love it! Thanks Paul for the lesson! I R4SS and ended up 5th in SEQ!

We miss our MTB world at Hardwood, However the Nerang BMX club has certainly filled that hole. We have enjoyed the opportunity to both train and race at Nerang which has been the hub of SEQ BMX for many years. We have enjoyed the weekly nights meeting the various familes involved in the sport the exact same way Hardwood familes race MTB's.

Many thanks go out to the people at Nerang BMX for making us feel at home during our year in Australia - The Jenkinson Family for inviting Hannah to give it a try, Jason for coaching, Deb & Jo for looking after our "Noms" when they were late, Paul/Wayne/Smiley for the chats about Canada & Australian sport and finally to athletes of Nerang that Hannah & Noah raced with! Have a great finish to your season and maybe we will see some of you at a World Cup one of these years!

All in all great results this past weekend (read....great, more trophies that can't fit into our backpacks!), everybody met their goals and are looking forward to some new tracks in BC and of course Canadian Nationals for BMX in August!

Two new BMX bikes await the kids when the see Uncle Norm next. Kevin's bike will hopefully make its way home through the mail and the strike is over in time for Nationals.


On to Bali for 2 weeks of dry land BMX training intermixed with several surf sessions (gotta be some fitness in that?).

Thanks TSS Out/Ed Staff

The TSS Outdoor Education staff must have been pleased with my efforts at the school since they presented the family with a Jet Boat Ride Coupon last week. They were trying to find a present that included an Adrenalin Junkie Event that the Simms Family HAD NOT DONE!

Yesterday we headed down to Surfers and played TOURIST on one of the Jet Boat Tour companies. We bombed around the Broadwater for an hour - doing some serious high speed spins. It was something we probably would not have done on our own so.... very cool present - Thanks Heaps!

New BMX Athlete

There appears to be a new BMX athlete in the family. Wendy jumped on my cruiser and got a quick lesson on the typical jumps on a BMX track from H & N.

She was awesome and a total natural. Ripping the berms, jumps and step ups with ease. Hannah might have a little competition at the next race. Next step.... Gate Practice!

4 days until Queensland Sate Titles.

Happiness is a Journey, Not a Destination, Enjoy the Ride!

We visited the Gold Coast Surfing Museum yesterday after surfing @ Currumbin. Amazing to see the history behind the sport. We wandered through the gallery of vintage photo's and surfboards.


Replica and original surfboards from the days when THE DUKE arrived in Australia and initiated the surfing movement. The old boards were huge planks that look like they would make a nice table top.

We viewed the Word Cup trophies, awards and photo's of award winners.

Gold Coast legends - Mick Fanning, Steph Gilmore and Joel Parkinson had dedication corners in the place. Boards that were used for multiple world titles. Amazing to see the original short boards were old longboards that were simply "cut off" and ridden to explore their potential. Now shortboards are the norm. 6'4" Joel Parkinson on a 5'8" board - amazing!



Wendy came across a quote that basically sums up our year..... "happiness is a journey, not a destination, enjoy the ride".

A great day just strollin' through the place - a must see if you visit the Gold Coast and have any interest in the sport of surfing.

200 Days of Surfing

Surfed Maroochydore/Alexandria Headlands on the weekend drive home from Noosa and it marks the 200th session of Surfing for the year. Any session, in order to count, needed to be...

1) at least 90 minutes on the water

2) a minimum 12 waves

3) a wave height of 3 feet (hips-ish) or more

4) a ride length of at least 10 seconds

As a family, we have enjoyed about 100 of these sessions! The Noosa weekend was beautiful, with a sunset surf at the point and nobody around but us! good healthy closure to the Sunshine Coast.

We are into "winter" here (haha) and so are wearing our wetsuits - enjoy this comical video clip of wetsuits exit strategy.