Hi. Wondering about me? Well my name is Andrew Priest. I am an academic, lecturing in accounting (scary huh ), I live in Churchlands, Western Australia (WA), Australia and hence this blog is very much about my outdoor activities here in Western Australia (WA). That said, where I have walked, or toured outside of Western Australia, I will add details on same. One example is my walking of the Larapinta Trail in the Northern Territory. Adding to that, I will blog on other cycling or hiking related matters that catch my eye.

I am particularly interested in cycling (commuting, road touring, mountain bike touring, and Audax style riding), and to a less extent now days, bushwalking (also known as tramping or hiking). I am a past gear tester (and Senior Edit Moderator) with BackpackGearTest.org.  I resigned from BackpackGearTest.org in August 2008 but continue to support whole heartedly their objectives.

I like to mix my enjoyment of  camping with my cycling activities, hence my interest in touring on and off-road. I am also keen on replacing my car usage as much as possible with cycling instead.

With my purchase of a Look 555 in June 2008 I am slowly moving into Audax style riding and have started doing more endurance riding in 2009.

With my growing interest (dare I say it passion?) for cycling my bushwalking  activities are getting pushed into the background.  That said I still love bushwalking and camping but see my camping direction go more towards cycle touring rather than walking in the bush. However, I will continue to maintain my pages on bushwalking as a resource for people interested in bushwalking here in Western Australia. To that end I will continue to run the Aushiker Yahoo! group which is a WA based discussion group focused on talking bushwalking in Western Australia and more importantly walking the talk – informal walks are often organised through this group. So if you are interested, please do join us. I am also a member and walk leader for the Perth Bushwalking Club. My last pack carry was a six day walk of the Cape to Cape Track.

I come into cycling keen to extend my outdoor activities as well as to improve my fitness, to loose weight, to enhance my enjoyment of life, to contribute more constructively to the environment and so on. Given my great passion for backpacking I am keen on adding the camping aspect and the long-distance travelling aspect to my cycling, hence my interest in off-road and on-road touring as well as just commuting.

Currently my daily riding is commuting on Sir Lancelot, my 2009 Surly Long Haul Trucker and to a lesser extent on Froggie, my Look 555.  I also do a little mountain bike riding and touring on Julia my 2008 Giant XTC 2.  I am currently exploring options to build a summer commuter bike. This may involve converting my Giant CRX 1 to a roadie or building up a frame. Decisions decisions.

My first foray into touring was in October 2007 when I led a weekend group ride of the Waterous Trail for the Perth Bushwalkers Club.  Since then I have completed the first stage of the Munda Biddi Trail in April 2008.

This first tour (can you call a weekend ride a tour?) was on Joe the Boulder SE (since sold) and was a pannier ride. I fitted a set of Delta racks to Joe and used a pair of Deuter Rack Pack II panniers on the rear and a pair of Ortlieb Front Roller Classic panniers on the front. Picked these up for $105 landed in Perth still with the tags attached. What a bargain!

I have now moved on to using a BOB trailer as my load carrying device.

Well that is a little about me.  You can contact me via email at andrew@aushiker.com or  via Twitter, my user name is Aushiker or please post a comment here if you have questions or comments.

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