It has been a tough week at work and generally, I have been working on a public counter and am getting pretty tired of it. I do occasionally go out on the road but this week was dealing with the ugly beast that is the general public for all 5 days. To make matters more interesting one of the guys who was in the work area when I first arrived is coming back from military leave. He was an officer in the army reserve and went fulltime for 3 years (after having a pretty rough year with Customs). He is not far off becoming a major (I could say what kind of major but will leave sleeping dogs lie). I don’t know if he will want to stay. He was saying he was happy earning $75000 a year tax free while on overseas service (when he sees his first payslip from Customs he may want to call Arthur Scargill!).
With all of these issues on the horizon I began to make plans for the rest of this year. I had a look at the ride guide from Sydney Cyclist (the online edition) and did some research. I came up with a selections of charity rides which sound interesting and challenging and could (with a bit of luck!) enable me to ride 1000 kilometres for charity.
Some would call it a New Years resolution but New years resolutions are so difficult to keep and are often a complete and total waste of time. However there is one that I am deadly serious about. I have called this project “A Grand for Charity“. What is it? Well normally I ride in a large number of charity rides. These are rides frequently organised by Rotary Clubs and other service groups as well as the MS Society and other interest groups to raise funds for their activities. Distances range from small rides such as 25km for the Woodford to Glenbrook Classic & the Big Canberra Bike Ride which I did on the Fearless Gearless, up to the 120 km Amy Gillett Ride which I under took earlier this year.
I have always been interested in how many kilometres I go when riding for charity and I have decided that this year will be the year I start calculating how far I ride to raise those desperately needed dollars for charity.
There are a number of charities that I am committed to. These include the Amy Gillett Foundation and charities such as Coast Shelter (which look after the homeless on the NSW central coast).
I will also give an idea of how much I give/raise for the charities and write a profile of the charities I ride or raise money for.
To qualify for the project the following rules will apply
1. The ride must be in support of a registered charity
2. The organiser must give the distance. I will record the distance given by the organiser and write about the ride, how I got there and what the conditions were like etc.
3. Rides selected earlier in the year may be substituted for rides that are easier to get to. These rides may be or lessor, equal or greater distance.
4. As I am on the redeployment list at work the project may be suspended or cancelled if I am rotated to a shiftwork area and thus limit’s the amount of charity rides I undertake.
5. I am not a machine, the project may be cancelled or suspended if I am injured or sick.
6. I will endeavour to give a profile of the charity I ride for – this will enable readers to understand why charity rides are a good event and why (In My Humble Opinion) we cyclists do more for charity than most other road users.
I will also try to do a couple of rides interstate with the view of being able to ride in all 3 states on the eastern seaboard. I have already taken part in my first Victorian Ride and will be looking at doing one in Queensland.
The other issue of interest that I will add was on Saturday I rode with a celebrity. I met Antony Green, who comments on elections & politics for the ABC on television, radio and on the internet. I never knew he rode much less lived in the Marrickville area! He rode with us all the way to Centennial Park and joined us for coffee when we returned to the Marrickville Road Café.
I also began riding the Fearless Gearless this week as a commuter. She works quite well although I suspect that another service is coming up soon. She will need some minor wheel trues and probably a new chain. I was considering getting a new rack after the pannier got caught into the wheel Friday and Saturday rides.
It was quite a good ride though. As usual we had some interesting discussions about rides. Some people went on a ride from Marrickville to Mona Vale and back which is about 85 Km on a weekday morning. They apparently had little trouble although there was a lot of traffic on the road at the time they went.
I also had some news on the health front. I went to the Red Cross Blood bank on Thursday. It was the first time I used the new facility at Elizabeth Street. I did the usual filling out of forms and had the usual tests when I was told that the Iron level had dropped. This is concerning – It was still normal though although it could explain a lack of energy over part of the holiday period. There are a number of ways I can deal with this. One way would be eating more red meat – steaks, beef etc, eat more green vegies and take supplement. I am of the opinion that I would do well to eat more of the meat and green vegies. Supplements can be useful but they do need to be monitored.
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