Over the Halfway Mark

So much for the good intentions. I had intended to tell you when I reached the halfway mark in the Commuter Challenge but with all the intensity of work and other things I missed out. I am now up to over 3000 km on the bike and have had some interesting times getting there. I rode from Canberra to Queanbeyan via the Sutton Road on a number of occasions and have had some interesting encounters with motorists, many of whom (the ones displaying Red P plates) are generally so stupid it should be legal to shoot them (If I was armed I would – but P platers do a good enough job of killing themselves so I will leave them to it). On other occasions I have rode out to Collector and on Saturday I went as far as to have lunch/morning tea at Lerida Winery. I have to say that is a beautiful area to ride in.

The bike is now needing a service. I probably will get a new chain while I am at it. I have also bought a new ride on Ebay – home of many things dodgey. I have always wanted a single speed and have bought one from what appears to be a legitimate dealer. I had it delivered to mum and dad’s place and it has arrived.

On the issue of the Global Corporate Challenge I looks as if my team will not make the finish line this year. It is a shame and I feel that it hasn’t been for lack of effort. Our manager who signed up enthusiastically has not put his steps in and despite some massive rides by me and efforts by the rest of the team we are somewhere in Guyana. I gather we are going through the some of the worlds toughest areas. There was an orphanage in Africa which was the charity of for the event and I gave $10 as a good will gesture. We spent some time in Europe but it appears that South America is going to be where we finish up. We may be able to get past the 100 destinations but not hit the 152 finishing line. Still it is intersting learning about other countries and cultures, albiet from the comfort of a PC at work.

I will most definately finish the commuter challenge though and am looking forward to the spring/summer daylight saving racing and riding season. There are a number of rides in the pipeline. In particular a cycling Grand Prix in Goulburn using the original motorcycling track, the Gong Ride (which I might do with a team from work) and Fitz Challenge which will be a good ride this season given it doesn’t clash with the Gong Ride. I will provide further details on these rides as they come to hand.

On the issue of daylight saving and the racing season ACT vets will be starting soonish and the criterium season will be a good way to add kilometers to the bike computer. Depending on how the Single Speed fits I may even try using it in crit racing.  I have to say that it will be intersting to see how things go this year given I have been riding a lot through winter with the GCC and the Commuter Challenge.

Anyhow I am over the halfway mark and will be going on to finish the challenges as they come.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

This week has seen the Good, the Bad and the Ugly come out in a really big way. Most weeks see the Good, the Bad and the Ugly in much lesser strengths but this one they came out in almost maximum strength. I have to say that it has been a week of extremes but I will write about the good first as it is the bit we use to take our minds off the bad and dilute the ugly.

The good is that I have signed up for the Amy Gillett ride in Victoria and have sighed on as a fund raiser. I am normally a doubter but a doer and put the word out on Sydney Cyclist, The Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club Website Forum and the MASSBUG and Critical Mass email lists. I really doubted if I would raise much at all but I am pleased to say that so far I have raised $210. This is in spite of an economic down turn and the closing proximity of Christmas.

The good also flows into the logistics I have organised for the ride. I have been able to get a promotional first class seat on the train to Victoria on the 2^nd of January. I have booked the bike onto the train and have been able to get a flight on Jetstar with carbon offset to return to Sydney on the 5^th . I have also been able to book a motel room in Geelong for the evening of the 3^rd (the ride is on the 4^th). I will book a room in Melbourne for the 4^th and Vline ticket for the 3^rd on Wednesday when I get paid. I intend on travelling light and will get a day bag soon.

I now have to give you an idea of the bad and believe me I have had some interesting times. I have been doing some training for the ride and was using the Fearless Gearless for some hard training. I rode out to Olympic Park as a Training/Recon ride. I had a reasonable tail wind most of the way there and was able to get there quite comfortably. I have to say that I have encountered what athletes call the “bonk” on previous occasions. One this occasion I was hit pretty bad. I was able to keep myself going but had to stop at a service station on the way and got a cereal bar which got me the rest of the way home.

The problem with the bonk in my case is that it is a condition that can raise it’s ugly head and affect me for days. I have only limited time before the Amy Gillett ride and am anxious about copping the bonk on the ride.

I also had a moment which could have qualified as an “Ugly” moment but just works out the be a bad one, when I left my keys at work and went to the Broadway Shopping centre for Christmas shopping. I found out that I left my keys at work when I went to lock the bike to a rack and got the shock of my life. I searched my jersey pockets and the bag I had desperately. In the end I put the cable lock on the bike in such a way that it looked like the bike was locked. I went to Rebel Sport and bought a cable lock and locked the bike securely. I got my shopping and emails done and then went to the Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club roller training session. I had a dream run to Tempe Velodrome and got through the training session. I then helped one of our guys out with some advice on a first aid course before heading back to work to collect my keys.

While I was on my way to collect the keys I ran into Paul Johnstone and we got talking about what was happening. It sounds like I will have to put the link to the Amy Gillett Foundation page on the Critical Mass email list again soon. Fortunately I got to work and found the keys. Things would have been ugly if I hadn’t been able to get them. The Broadway shopping centre is known for bike theft so it was a good thing that the bike was still there when I came back with the new lock. Curious thing about the new lock is that it is not all that good , I found this out when I had to lock the bike outside the office when I went to get my keys. The lock literally unlocked without keys. I will have to tinker with it to see if I have done anything with it or if it really is a useless lock.

On the Ugly side I am sad to say that I and other rider with Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club were witness to some of the worst demonstrations of driving I have ever seen. We rode to Centennial Park on yesterday as part of the Saturday Slowies ride. We got there and did out individual training and were waiting for the group to regroup before heading back to Marrickville when we saw a black BMW 4 wheel drive do a left turn and drive the wrong way up a one way street. It seems that with drivers with big cars and no brains have come out with the drop in petrol prices.

We then headed out towards Marrickville and I and a few others got separated from the main group. When I caught up one of our guys was rendering the air blue with expletives directed at (from what I could see through the tinted windows) a woman in a small sedan. The others had moved off and I asked what had happened. It turns out that our idiot driver had either almost reversed into the group while reverse parking. Our rider was quite irate and I decided to hang with him until the anger subsided and we headed off. I did this because if could have turned violent and it may have been necessary to restrain either party. When I caught up to the main group I checked if everyone was OK – they were fortunately.

While motorists actions imperilled the safety of the group of riders, our riders reaction to the motorist’s actions was not good . I would not be surprised if we see more issues with drivers not all of whom will have the good sense to stay in their cars.

The other ugly incident I had was with a white HSV Commodore on one of the back streets behind King Street. I was on my way to the Rocks Markets and turned into one of the side streets off King Street Newtown and he followed me. The driver started yelling something unintelligible and revving his car’s engine. When I got onto the back street he sounded the horn and overtook me at speed. It was unsettling but I got to the Rocks OK.

These incidents have made me determined to do the Amy Gillett ride. I will do it and raise the funds. I will let you all know how things go.

Resurecting the Katana & Triathlon

There has not been much going on at the present moment. I have been looking at the possibility of participating in the Lithgow Triathlon. It has been set up to be a fun day. There are 3 categories, Try a Try for small Children, the Preliminary (which I am likely to participate in) has a 200m swim, a 10 km bike leg and a 3 km run & the main event which has a 400m swim, 20 km bike leg and a 5 km run.

I have decided to try (pardon the pun) things to see how they go before I enter. I went to the pool on Friday and did some laps. I got sunburned in the process. I also found that I am a slow swimmer doing freestyle while being slightly faster doing breast stroke. The pool has not changed much in the years since I last visited (I must have been at school at the time).

Today I did a slow run to one of the bike shops involved in the Triathlon and found that I had to stop a few times for breath more times than I care to admit. I have never been a runner. I have to say that it was a major effort to get things done at school when running came up in the PE classes.

All this effort is making some of my muscles noticeable (read tight) I would have to say I wonder how I would go riding to the pool andriding back. I intend on doing the training a day at a time. I will make a decision by the end of the week as to if I am going to enter the event the decisive factor will be if I see if my fitness improve. 

All this has turned my attention to the Katana which has been languishing in my room for months. I have decided it will get the new wheels from another 2nd had bike put on it It will also have a new chain and a new set of cables. I took it to Belly’s Bikes in Bathurst for the service and adjustments. I will find out on Monday if things have been successful.

I have also been considering getting some aero bars for the triathlon (should I enter it!) I have searched the on-line bike shops and eBay for time trial bars andhave found that they are hot items on eBay and expensive everywhere else. I have even tried looking at some overseas sites. Aerobars also known as Time trial bars or triathlon bars are used for triathlons but have been used for time-trialling. They may be useful for time-trialing if DHBC competes in time-trials. I have heard that they are not used for group rides so they will have to be taken off the bike should I take it on slowies.

I have also decided to get the new wheel for the fearless gearless in spite of the price going up due to the drop in the Aussie dollar (otherwise known as the pacific peso). The impact of the drop in the Aussie dollar has been felt in the cycling industry – most bikes containing any US content eg Trek, Cannondale and Surly now have hefty price tags. Combined with the drop in petrol prices due to the crash in the economy it will be interesting to see how things shape up in 2009 with regards to cycling infrastructure.

Olympics + Single Speed raid on Olympic Park

A lot of readers may be curious as to why I have not included the Olympics and the Tour De France in this blog. I have followed both events with interest but given that this year is another of those years of poo, I have restrained myself from barracking for Cadel and the gang. This year as anyone who has seen TheSydneyBlog has not been a good year as a spectator for me. Both my rugby league team (the Canterbury Bankstown Bulldogs – with the Money Bill William$ saga) and my AFL team (the Sydney Swans with Big Bad Barry Hall Belting several shades of brown out of his immediate opponents) are not faring too well on the sports field.

Like everyone else I desperately wanted Cadel Evans to take the Tour De France, but had this sneaking suspicion that this was not the year. This suspicion was confirmed and people began the usual post race analysis along the lines of the post match postmortems that are held by supporters of the loosing sides in football games. Some especially foreign bloggers like BikesnobNYC were quick to bandy the word Chocker around. This despite the glaring fact that the Silence Lotto team for which Cadel rides were out spent – multi million dollar teams have almost no limits. Others pointed out that the other Silence Lotto riders did not give Cadel the support he needed in the mountain stages in the Alps and the Pyrenees.

What both sides failed to realise is that the rider came second. That is a good effort for someone facing the financial hurdles and team work issues that came up. When it came to the Olympics there were those who complained about his withdrawal from the Australian team due to injury.  When he came 5thin the time trial it turned out he was riding with an Anterior Cruciate Ligament injury – one that sidelines footballers for weeks without shame! (www.smh.com.au/news/cycling/cadel-evans-soldiers-on/2008/08/13/1218307011869.html) At the end of the day 5th is still good and in closing my piece on the Olympics I say to anyone who wants to knock Cadel or Michael Rogers or indeed any of the Australian Olympic cycling team – if you can do better get on your bike and do it!

It is the same with women’s cycling Oenone Wood looks set to retire and unfortunately Sara Carrigan was not able to repeat her performance at Athens where she won the women’s road race. She wound up having to settle for 38th. All the results are on www.au.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/sports/results/-/cycling

Last night I went on a speculative ride. Purely a recreational one although it became a real test for the fearless gearless.  I have been riding the Green Trek into work recently, it has a rack for panniers and it is my favourite for commuting. I had been doing little favours for the coffee club at work and scored some chocolate for my efforts (very naughty). To burn off this energy I decided to  ride the fearless gearless out to Olympic Park via the Cooks River Cyclepath.

I watched the end of the men’s time trial on SBS and after watching Fabian Cancellara and co take the medals, I decided to go and really give it to the Fearless Gearless. I took the lighting off the Green Trek and mounted up. I went all out for a while but was pleasantly surprised. I have found that my average speed on the Fearless Gearless is about the same as on my geared bikes. This time was no different. Given that we are at the tail end of winter I have been able to ride the Cooks River Cyclepath without the usual pedestrian traffic on the past two occasions I have riden it.  

I had the usual issues with the bridge at Dulwich Hill. but once I got across. I picked up the pace and found I was able to climb some of the hills that I had serious doubts about climbing. I found myself pretty much alone although there were some of the usual suspects as I went along. I wasn’t looking at going to Olympic park initially but given things went so well I decided to give it a go.

After the Bridge across the M4 I found that the road leading to Olympic Park was closed for road works. I followed the diversions until I got to a park. I road across the park, I can thank God for cross country tyres because I was able to go over a grassed area without any serious trouble. I got to the entrance to Olympic Park and was able to ride a circuit around the park. I thought I would be clever and ride to Pommeroy Street but wound up taking a wrong turn and wound up on Homebush Bay Drive. This was potentially dangerous as I wound up having to rely on the shoulder with cars pelting past at 80 km/h. I walked the bike across the road when a suitable gap in the traffic appeared and rode back the other way and got back to the cycle path Fortunately I got back via the Cooks River, I took the hill from hell by sprinting all out and then climbing. I would wonder how I would go when the Peds particularly the walkers (with or without dogs and or ipods) and the joggers with or with out ipods are about.

The reason for this raid was to see if I could commute to Granville/Clyde on the Fearless Gearless. I know Lindsay Munks for Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club has commuted from Marrickville to Parramatta on a one speed mtb and it looks like I will be able to do the same even if it does mean doing some things differently. That said I will have to repeat the effort with a rack and loaded panniers not to mention at some diabolical hour in the morning or late evening (after 10pm) after putting in a full days work or at times when masses of pedestrians and other path users (I gather a Tai Chi group hold their lessons right on the path at certain times) are milling around in the way.