The first thousand

Last month I began the Bicycle NSW commuter challenge and the Global Corporate Challenge. Now that the first 1000 Km of the commuter challenge has been done and dusted, I thought I would post an update on my progress and where I have been riding. The 1000 Km includes the Central Coast Century Challenge as well as the Pedal Power Social rides that I have attended. It also includes rides around  the local region.

It has had it’s interesting moments such as the time I was riding along the Great Western Highway and came across a guy riding a Surly 1×1 which had been converted to take a Rohloff Hub. He found himself a shifter which made his day because they cost a fair bit. He was on his way to Black fellas hands near Wallerawang.

I completed the first thousand with the Pedal Power Social ride from Tuggeranong which went to Curtin via Lake Burley Griffin. I found myself riding the final 5 km on a 3 speed after the gear cable for the rear deraileur snapped.

Today I went to Queanbeyan via the Kowen Forest. I went up Northbourne Avenue then took the Federal Highway to Sutton Road. I then took the Sutton Road to the Kowen Forest. The day was brilliant and warm – it has been a mild winter thus far. I rode on to Queanbeyan and then took the bike path back to Canberra. I stopped at the Bus Depot Markets for lunch and then went home via the bike path at Lake Burley Griffin.

The first thousand kilometers also saw me wear out the rear tyre on the red hybrid. I have replaced the Specialized rear tyre  with a Vittoria Zaffiro from Onya Bike Civic.

On the issue of the Global Corporate Challenge. I and the rest of my team started off from Red Square in Moscow. From there we went through Eastern Europe to Hungary where we were moved along to Afghanistan by the GCC’s private jet. The thing that strikes me most about this challenge by including Afghanistan in the virtual tour of the world we are going along to places that were previously part of the Hippy Trail – a route used by travellers to during the 60’s and 70’s. Of course now with Afghanistan and some of the neighbouring republics being conflict zones it seems pity that we are now reduced to going on a virtual tour instead of actually walking and cycling in these areas.

The interesting thing about the GCC is that they convert the Kms done cycling into steps – unfortunately they do not give a 1 for 1 kilometer count but they do include the steps. We are now at Khorog in Tajikistan. This is an interesting country to say the least. The step average is 29849 steps a day.

 I am determined to see these challenges through and expect to be able to give another update at the 200o Km mark of the Commuter Challenge which I am expecting to be around this time next month. I aim to give monthly updates which will be around every 1000 Km

Myths dispelled

Well today was the first day of the Global Corporate Challenge and there was some interesting results. I have been under the illusion that my commute to work was roughly the same at around 15 Km each way. With a bicycle computer on the Red Hybrid, I found that the commute in to work was 13.28 Km. I was also able to pull off some very good speeds – event getting to about 40 Km at one stage.

The commute back home was quite different the total Km for today was 28.25, which meant that 14.97 km was the return  journey. The reason is I used a different route. The return journey seems to work  be faster using the on road cycling facilities down Commonweath avenue and around State circuit to Adelaide Avenue. I have a couple of other routes which I use so things will be interesting comparing the Kms travelled.

The interesting part of the challenge at this stage is that when I compare the infomation gained from the bike computer to the whereis.com map I find that the whereis map claims driving travelling fastest with tolls is 17.5 Km which is a real surprise. Not only is riding to work cheaper it is shorter too.

I took 19831 steps a well which is interesting. I had a puncture on the way in to work and I wound up getting a new tube so I was able to go to a bike shop in Braddon to get it. I found a couple of people from work apparently have a bunch ride from the Ride Shop  and were enjoying coffee in the shop. I also used the fire stairs quite a lot and was easy on the way down but hard on the way up. I will have to record it all tomorrow.