A life cycle

I fought the good fight and WON (for a change).

2012-01-30T17:30:00.005+11:00

Last post I wrote about my coming together with a car, destroying my bike, etc, etc, etc. In the aftermath, I had to fight tooth and nail to get the drivers insurance company to pay the full amount, plus deal with a stupid driver (driver on phone- "if your bike is written off and you get a new flash bike- I get your old one don't I????"). I was stuck with no bike for about 2 months. I was NOT a happy camper. During this time, a mate loaned me his spare bike- an Argon 18 Al bike with CF rear triangle, SRAM Rival and Ksyrium SL's. Pretty nice!

During these weeks on the loaner bike, I grew to like the SRAM shifters. The wheels were also a revelation- STIFF!! So this got me thinking about my replacement bike (once the insurance coughed up).

At first I was going to get a Giant TCR, buuut, try as I might, I just couldn't fall in love with it. I would walk past it several times a day at the shop I work at, and the price to me would be really good, but it didn't excite me in the slightest!

Then, one day while looking at the Wilier catalogue, I spied a Cento 1 with SRAM Force and it looked dead sexy! I made some calls. Hmm... if I put in a few hundred dollars, with my trade price on a frame set and some careful buying, I could own this very bike! YEEEHAAARRR!

Now the pressure was on the insurance company to pay up the write off costs of my old bike. But they were playing hard ball, even intimidation tactics (accept this amount, no negotiations will be entered into, blah blah blah...) to get me to agree to a lessor amount. It was disgusting what they were doing! I gave them 3 quotes from 3 shops, as they requested but NOW they wanted me to take the bike to "their" shop for a quote. Screw that! I know they shop they want me to take it to and they have a bad reputation. Plus, how was I supposed to get a bike in several parts to a shop 35km away? So I got some legal advise which I followed.

First I wrote a very to the point letter to the insurance company outlining my grievances. I told them, you have 7 days to pay into my account the full amount of one of my quotes, or I will take legal action against the driver, and YOU can deal with an angry client. Well... that stirred things up! 9.30am the very next morning I get a call from the supervisor (not just anyone) to talk to me. He was "oh so nice" and said things like "I don't think we want this to get out of hand do we?" LOL He was back pedalling so fast to me on the phone I was doing a little dance as he spoke! LOL

In the end, I said, "if you offer me $xxxx the issue is over as far as I'm concerned" to which he said "Done! Give me your account details and we will do it straight away!" Wow... did they fold like a house of cards. Assholes!

I'm not sure what I was more happy about- getting the money for my new bike, or taking on a insurance company and winning!

So in the end, I got the funds, ordered all the bits to build my new bike and started building up a pile of parts. It was so exciting. I really put a lot of thought into this bike, selecting every single part to make not only a great riding bike, but also a great looking bike. So much fun! I was even ordering single bolts off eBay. LOL

Finally I got it all built, finishing at 11.30pm one night. I couldn't help myself. I lycra'd up, popped lights on and went for a ride around the block. W-O-W-!

It rode sooo smooth and comfortable, yet, when I put down the power it took off. It felt so planted to the road, unlike any bike I'd ridden. Truly amazing!

And even now, 8 months down the track, it continues to put a smile on my face. :-)

The big bang theory

2011-08-11T23:39:00.004+10:00

So, last time was a pretty rotten post to this blog. It was full of 7ish months of misery and pain and I wish I could say that this post will be better, but only in that being hit by a 1 tonne truck is better than being hit by a 10 tonne truck. Ya follow?

So last time I was still recovering from a infected leg. It was ugly.. REAL ugly (see pics).
First set of stitches
Infected!

It took ages to heal up and during that time I had to do very little which of course includes- very little riding.

Finally it healed up and all stitches were removed. I was finally able to ride again and I replaced my drive train (but not before the chain skipped over the teeth on the chain ring upon accelerating from a set of lights! Eeek!

So it working hard towards regaining strength and fitness when one day on my way to work, I had a coming together with a stupid woman in a 4WD that left me with a damaged bike and scrapes and bruises.

I was riding down a road behind her as she slowed and slowed, with no indication of what she was doing (I was looking for indicators like a hawk), then, with a side road to our left coming up, the driver started to veer towards the left and slow down (still no indicators). Finally, fed up with sitting behind her and with plenty of room, I over took her on her right only to have her throw her right blinker on and turn right just as I was next to her.

I went straight into the side of her 4WD, scraping along the side, hitting her mirror and over the bars and onto the road. I WAS PISSED OFF!

Furious I got up and looked at bits of my bike scattered over the road. I yelled at the woman and her response was "why were you passing me on my right? ARGH... With no witnesses, I called the cops but they said it was my word verses hers. Brilliant! I was screwed. Again!

An ambo turned up (not sure who called them) and I was bandaged up and checked over. I broke my helmet, smashed my right shifter and ripped the crap out of my hand and arm. Sheesh.. I only just got my bike back on the road too. For Fuck's Sake!

So, I'm back to public transport again and suffering another set back to my riding and training. I was feeling crappier and crappier.

Back on the road again (thank goodness I work in a bike shop so I can get parts wholesale) and I'm working really hard to regain fitness. I struggle to do morning training rides during the week but I do my commutes to and from work at a really hard intensity and I can feel the benefit of the hard work.

Then... while riding home one night in the rain, I was doing about 40kph when a car did a right hand turn straight in front of me! I didn't even have time to touch the brakes as I went straight into the passengers side door, my arm and hand smashing through the window, me and the bike sent flying high into the air.

The last thing I remember thinking was "this is gonna be a bad one" and then I was tipped upside down and a feeling of weightlessness and then THUD CRASH WHACK!

As soon as I stopped tumbling I did the quick check over- Left foot wiggle, right foot, left hand, right hand- yep all working (sort of). But my head was sore as heck, my neck really hurt and my arm and hands were stinging like mad.

Suddenly several people were looking over me asking if I was ok. They were passers by who saw it all and stopped to check on me. The driver also stopped and he said- Sorry mate I didn't see you (SMIDSY). I was furious but also knew me getting angry wasn't going to help so I just set about getting help and assistance ASAP. I first asked- "was anyone a witness?" and then asked for someone to call for a Ambulance, the Police and also mum (I was only 1.5km from home). So I lay on the wet road, in the rain, wet and shivering. One of the witnesses covered me with a blanket and they stayed with me till the ambos turned up.

I knew the routine all to well sadly- checked me over for concussion, neck collar on, carefully onto a stretcher and into the back of the ambo. Mum arrived and I gave her VERY specific instructions to make sure all bits of my bike were found (I didn't want my Garmin left laying on the road for example).

Off to hospital and had lots of glass dug out of my fingers (I ALWAYS wear gloves but this one day I forgot them), hands and arm dug out and a few stitches put in. A few friends came to hospital to be with me (as well as Mum) and after about 6 hours I was close to being released when a change on doctor shift saw the new doctor question if my arm had been x-rayed. It hadn't and given the puncture wound in my bicep, he wanted to see if any glass was left inside. So off to the x-ray room where while standing and getting an x-ray done, I blacked out and smacked my head and nose hard on the concrete floor.

I woke up on the ground and my first thought was "who just hit me- WFT?!" So now I had to wait and get a MRI done to check my brain. Also, the x-ray found glass deep in my arm so that had to be dug out with tweezers (1.5cm deep!). A few more hours and I was OK to go home.

The next day I was sore as heck. I finally got to see my bike and my lovely Edge Composites forks were ripped apart, along with a crack along the top tube of the frame plus a whole assortment of other bits damaged (wheels, bars, shifters, etc). So now I had to contend with the drivers insurance company. But lets leave that for another post shall we?

Broken things

2011-01-22T04:08:00.003+11:00

I'm pretty sure anyone who was following this blog has long given up on me and I don't blame them. My posts have been erratic at best and, well, who would remember this blog with such long breaks between posts.

Well this brings with it a sense of freedom of sorts. I feel like I can now write what ever I feel like and not self censor, which, as it turns out is handy given the content of this post.

So, what's been happening since my last post? A SHIT LOAD actually.. and very little of it good. Rather than get bogged down into the knitty-gritty of my life, I'll go through it in point form...

My wife of 8 years, Lisa, left me out of the blue after cheating on me with SIMON HASTINGS (he was my friend, training buddy and clubmate FFS, AND he's married with 3 kids!!).
Lisa has done nothing but act with utter selfishness and treated me like crap ever since with zero regard for how hurt I was. What impact her actions had on me were washed aside. 10 Years together just flushed away down the toilet like it never happened and I never had a chance to try and work things out.
SIMON HASTINGS has threatened me with the cops if I go near him or his family, despite my never attempting to do either. He's nothing but a spineless, worthless, cheating ar$ehole bully. BTW, even after he came clean to his wife (to what degree I don't know), he's STILL seeing my ex... (go on SIMON, threaten me again I dare you! Nothing I've said isn't true....)
My own business went down the tubes as a result of the hell I went through, leaving me so far behind financially I have struggled to buy food some weeks.
Found a full time job pretty quick but was lied to and that turned out to be casual hours at best. Eventually found a full time job but my car broke down just after starting, leaving me with a $2K+ repair bill- I cant afford it so have no car.
Copped 2 speeding fines, both pissant stupid ones... struggling to pay them.
I had to move to mums place as I had no where to live after separation - this is a whole new world of hell in itself.
After separation all I had was my clothes, a computer, a few bookshelfs, a desk and the car. Didn't even have a bed or mattress!
Managed to slice my leg wide open with a broken dinner plate about 2 weeks before Xmas. Ambo trip to hospital and 15 stitches and no riding for 10 days. The day after I finally had my stitches out, I lightly bumped it on a pedal at work, which caused it to split open, blood pouring out, and 8 VERY painful fresh stitches. This wound then got badly infected, extremely painful, swollen and even now 3 weeks later I'm still not over it and no riding as a result for 5 weeks.
My bike seriously needs a whole new drive train as its worn to the sh!tter- no $$$ to do anything about it - I just ride and hope the chain doesn't break on me.
Now I need to find a place of my own ASAP - Mum pretty much told me to get out!
I have so many debts.. I just can't get on top of any of them. New crap keeps hitting me and I never have the chance to catch up.
I copped a pedal to the eye while trying to put a bike on a customers roof rack, and it hurt like hell and gave me a black eye. This was 2 days before NYE.
And just to top it off, my really good sunnies fell off my head and broke.

And this is just the highlights of my last 7 months. There is TONS more shit I've had to cope with. Just a never ending tide of shit in my life and frankly I don't know how I managed to keep myself alive given the depths of depression I hit.

One night, after Lisa mentioned divorce on the phone to me, I would have most certainly walked to the train line just 50mts from the apartment and ended my life if not for the fact that a mate dropped over unexpectedly.

I spent so many nights drinking myself to distraction and crying to sleep its not funny. I took to sleeping with the TV on all night just so if I woke up, I wouldn't feel so alone.

What also really hurt me what the reactions of many so called friends. Most of my friends have contacted Lisa in some form to let her know that they still regard her as a friend and that they feel no ill will towards her. Yet not ONE SINGLE of Lisa's friends has bothered to call or check up on me to see how I'm doing. In fact, many when I've seen them have treated me like I was dipped in shit. AND THEY KNOW LISA CHEATED ON ME! Its so bad, the last contact I had with Helena (another selfish bitch who treats men like play toys and is utterly clueless about relationships to the point of laughter), even dared to compare me to her ex (who by the way she dumped out of the blue to fly up to Sydney to fuck another guy). So Helena, if you are reading this- what you did to Bill is despicable. You and Lisa fit perfectly together as friends after all. Two selfish women, walking all over whomever to satisfy your vain attempts to lead fullfilling lives. Welcome to spinsterhood ladies- population YOU!

Anyway...

Finally, I had enough of Lisa and her crap and decided I deserved better. I deserved to be with a woman who knew how to love, who knew empathy and care and respect for others. And with that, I put an end to the chapter that is Lisa Coutts. I took off my wedding ring (I had taken to wearing it on a chain as my weight loss meant it was too big to wear on my finger), I took down all reminders of Lisa (photos, etc) and the last thing I still want to get rid of is a drawing of hers she gave to me as a present with a personal message on the back that obviously is utter bullshit given her recent actions. I'm thinking of selling it on Bay but I doubt I would get anything for it. In some respects, I kinda hope it doesn't sell for much. Id hate to give her any satisfaction.

Lisa broke me. My sprit, my life, my heart, my faith in humanity and she's broken my ability to be fully open to women. She's left me financially broke too as a result of the trauma I went through. And what does Karma give Lisa in return for her nasty, selfish treatment of me? Oh... just a free top of the line race bike, free kit and free race entry for being part of the SKCC women's team. Meanwhile, I can't afford to fix my bike, not that I can even ride atm with my fucked up leg.

Life just seems to have it in for me atm, no matter how hard I try to change things.

I since started getting back out there and started internet dating and have been on a fair few dates. I've met some nice women and even had some mini relationships with a few. But I feel a gutting sense of restriction inside me that holds me back from what I used to be with women I fancy. It feels like I can only allow 50% of my heart to be given to a woman and that pisses me off. I'm scared shitless of getting torn apart again. Because I doubt I could survive a second heart break like the one I just suffered.

As time has moved on and Lisa's actions have become more and more clear to those around us, more and more of my friends are expressing disappointment in her. Lisa is losing respect and, I doubt she even cares. See, this is what she does, she fucks up, walks over people, and rather than face what she's done, and be a grown up adult, she just moves on to a new life.

As for SIMON HASTINGS, that cunt will get his just deserts one day. Why his wife is sticking with him I don't know, and I don't know to what extent she knows the truth about what Simon has and is still doing. I think about sending her a letter, to just inform her so she can save herself further pain for I truly feel for her, but do I need that extra trouble in my life?

Probably not.

Blown away!

2010-07-10T15:47:00.005+10:00

After last weeks solid result, I figured it was time to man up and move up a grade. I hadn't counted on racing this week, but circumstances had changed so a later entry was made to the Newham Scratch race (C Grade - 90km) and I was set.

One problem. As I hadn't planned on racing I did two hard effort training rides during the week back to back (Wednesday SKCC ride with just 3 in the working group) and then ATOS on Thursday night. Add to that, Saturday's weather didn't look too flash in the lead up.

So how did I go?

Well, in a word- dropped!

The weather was really shit. 70+kph winds and later- driving rain. I started off ok but never felt strong on the bike. I mean I was keeping up fine and was in the front third up each of the climbs, but I just never felt any zip in my legs. Foolishly I allowed myself get suckered into pulling turns on the front into the wind and just after one of these turns I decided to drop back in the bunch to sit in. Just as I was moving sideways to get into the shelter, someone attacked on the front and the whole bunch accelerated. I was caught out and lost the wheel ahead of me and was promptly dropped. The guy behind me was also caught out too.

So I set forth to hopefully chase them down. I caught and passed one guy who dropped off the back and the other guy who was also dropped I left behind. But I just-couldn't-quite-catch-the-bunch no matter how hard I tried (I was zone 4.5/5 HR for a good 15-20km). I made up some ground and just when I thought I might make it, they pulled away again. I'd have to say, I think there was a few riders that were really B graders racing in C. And I'm pretty sure a few guys were playing team tactics too. Whatever...

So there you go. 17km into a 90km race and I'm dropped and solo with the wind. FUCK! I was pretty pissed off with myself for allowing myself into this position. I continued on into the second lap but by now the bunch was loooong gone, so I just settled into a groove and pushed along. Then it started raining, then pelting. Combined with the now even stronger wind (24kph in the small ring on a downhill anyone?) it was particularly shitty.

Along Three Chains Rd I passed a rider fixing a flat and asked if he was ok. A few mins later, the same guy pulled up next to me. He was a B grader and he was just looking to get back to his car so we both rode together for a while, chatting a bit and both frozen through.

Somewhere along the road, S came powering past, just off the front of D grade with just a small bunch in tow. I looked back for Lisa but all I saw was clear road. Wow.. D was smashed!

So I limped back to the start finish and pulled out. I didn't see the point in plodding along for another 30km in these winds and rain, shivering and shaking from the cold. As I crossed the line I popped a mono for the marshals and got a good cheer for my efforts. A little ray of sunshine in an otherwise forgettable day. LOL

Lessons learned
1. Don't go up a grade unless you are prepared for the race properly. See lesson 2.
2. Don't smash your legs during the week and expect to be able to keep up with a fast race.
3. Don't get suckered into pulling turns when you have just gone up a grade.

Time to go back and do some structured training again. After the 3DT I allowed myself to just ride a bit haphazard and its bitten me as a result. I also think last weekends handicap took a LOT out of me and I'm prob still paying the price.

Best birthday ever!

2010-07-05T13:52:00.010+10:00

Last weekend I turned 41 on July 3rd, which coincided with the Jim Fawcett Memorial Handicap at Broadford, run over 3 laps of a testing 33km course. I'd done this course as a handicap before and knew it was one tough race.

I was starting in the 20 min group (eg- we were 20 mins ahead of the last starting group) and in my group was a training buddy Paul, as well as Lisa and many of the guys I raced against at the 3DT.

Looking at the start list before the race, I felt we had a pretty good chance of our group taking the win or at least finishing high up and I was really looking forward to it. Personally, I felt like I was gifted the start position and that I and a few others should have been in the 15 min group (to be fair), but that’s what the handicapper worked out and so be it.

We set off and almost straight away I was worried about our bunch. There was a few guys who looked way out of their league and their rolling turns was scrappy to say the least. One guy who couldn’t hold a wheel while rolling turns yet complained when someone would fill his gap, didn’t bother to call about a huge pot hole in the road, leaving Lisa (who was behind him) to hit it really hard, jarring her hand in the process and she was lucky not to go down! Also, the pace was a bit slow for my liking and I was itching to hit the first decent climb to drop the stragglers so we could pick up the pace.

As we hit the steep pitch climb for the first time the inevitable happened and we were down to a working group of 8 riders, dropping about 4 or 5. Unfortunately, one that was dropped was a mate Paul whose rear derailleur cable snapped at the base of the climb. Bugger! He would have made a strong addition to the group.

So on we rode, rolling nicely and setting a solid pace. As we approached the narrow bridge, we had to make a detour onto a side route that was gravel and pot hole filled (we had been pre warned about this with plenty of marshals warning us also). I lead the way through here at what I thought was a very comfortable pace and as I started the climb out the other side of the valley, I looked back to see a 100mt gap behind me. Hmm, note to self- this could be the place to attack on the last lap!

Not wanting to go it alone for 70+ km I sat up and we continued to roll turns, passing the finish line for our first lap with the DNF’d Paul telling us the group ahead (they started 6mins before us), were only 2mins ahead of us now. Now down to 7 riders, the pace kept picking up, bit by bit. Lisa was climbing the steeper climbs really strong and I had to tell her to take it easy as she would have dropped the bunch. I saw a few guys gasping and looking at her in amazement of her climbing so I commented to one that she was my pick on the final climbs to drop us all.

About at the half way point of the second lap we caught limit (the group 6mins ahead of us) and a few of then started working with us with the rest quickly left behind. Ben, a designer mate jumped in and rolled strongly with us, leaving me to think he was going to be a contender at the end, so smooth and easy did he look to be doing it. Meanwhile, my legs were cramping up a little even though I didn’t feel like I was pushed to my limit. I’d been thinking for a few weeks that my saddle was a touch too high but now mid race was not the time to adjust it! LOL

At one point, while rolling back in the slow lane, one of the guys moving up looked like he had run out of oomph to keep moving forward and a gap opened up in front of him. Not wanting to see the turns get delayed, I gave him a helping push to which I “think” he was grateful for. United we stand, divided we fall right? LOL

Through the gravel section the second time I called to Ben and Lisa to follow my line and speed through and this time I took it with a “little bit” more speed and once again, I opened up a gap in the process. OK- this “IS” the spot to attack on the last lap!

Final lap and we were zipping along at a great pace now. One of the follow cars came around us, stopping at a corner where he cheered us saying we had it in the bag! We all got excited at this thought but with about 20km to go, anything could happen.

Then, just as I was amusing myself with thoughts of “what funny salute could I do if I found myself crossing the line 1st?”, the call came from behind to “stay left” and a quick glance back saw a bunch of deep profile carbon rims coming around us- The A graders! Bugger!

Two of our group jumped onto the back of this group but I made a choice NOT to follow as I could see their pace would see me blowing up. The group ahead rode out of sight and I was starting to wonder about my tactics when we came upon one of the guys struggling along solo, blown up. Ok, still one more to catch I figured and down through the gravel detour I hit it pretty hard, creating a huge gap to the bunch behind me. Game on!

Exiting the gravel I had tons of momentum for the following climb and wouldn’t you know it- the second rider from our original group was right there, alone, half way up the hill ahead of me. BINGO!

Now- I had a plan worked out so time to see if it would work. I caught the rider ahead and went in front, with the other guy now sitting firmly on my wheel. I sat there pulling us along for a few mins till I waved him around on a flat section of road a little before the next climb. Then, just as we started the climb, I came around as if to pull a turn but instead of rolling over I just poured on the power just enough to create a gap and kept that same pace all the way up the climb (thanks to Deryck for this idea!), not looking back, eyes firmly on the road ahead hoping like hell I was “out suffering” the other guy! At the top I glanced back and I had done it! Now with 200+mts between us it was time to go into pure suffer mode to the finish line 3km away.

What a final 3km it was! My legs had been cramping up the last 25km and I could hardly stand up. As I approached the final corner 2km from the finish, a HUGE flock(?) of kangaroos were crossing from one paddock to another over the road ahead of me. I could see that I was going to arrive at the corner right in the middle of the roos and started to panic- “what do I do?” A car approached very slowly from the other direction, spooking the roos with several falling on the road and sliding along on their backs! It was chaos! Finally all the roos saw me and the car and turned back, leaving a gap in the madness for me to ride through. Whew!

The final hill before the finish line climb was pure agony! I couldn’t get out of the saddle and my legs were cramping up as it was even sitting down, so I just had to HTFU and ignore the pain. My mind even crossed to Matt Keenan’s blog about Jim Fawcett and I tried to draw strength from that! I knew the guy behind me would be doing everything to catch me so I just had to get over this last hill and I knew I would be safe. But shit, I wasn’t sure I “could” make it over, now limping along at 13kph!

Finally at the top and with the finish line in far sight I glanced back and I still had 200+ mts on the other guy. Down the valley and max power up to the finish line, crossing in 12th, 3mins down on the winning group and first in our start group!

I was rapt! I didn’t care that I didn’t finish top 10. I didn’t care that I missed out on prize money. I was thrilled to put into place a tactical plan in my head and then execute it to perfection. I was giddy with excitement once I stopped coughing and gasping! LOL

Lisa came in 14th, just 1:10 behind me and looking strong! As an added bonus, not only did the bunch starting behind us (the 15 min group) not catch us but we pulled AWAY from them. And this was a bunch with some solid C graders in it. That was very satisfying to know as it bodes well for an upgrade to C grade.

After the race Lisa was a bit annoyed. It turned out she was determined to beat me (yeah- on my birthday and all! LOL), but my tactic to fly through the gravel put a huge gap between us that she couldn’t close. I did have a quiet word to her during the race to tell her that I was going to do exactly that, but she didn’t feel comfortable in her skills to follow my speed through the dirt. As I said to her after- “time to do some MTBing perhaps?” I think seeing the time she lost in this one 50mts section, she “might” just relent and give it a go. I know she’s very negative about doing MTBing but I honestly think she would end up having a good time doing it.

Race stats-
33.1kph - Average speed
99km - Distance
1100mts - Climbing
Full results here.

A most awesome day indeed!

(Photo: Myself followed closely by Lisa at the end of our second lap. Photo by Thorle)

PS- I did some googling and a group of Kangaroos is called either a "Mob" or a "Troop". (not a flock! LOL).

This is what training is all about!

2010-06-26T08:59:00.002+10:00

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Kilvington Dr,Emerald,Australia

D-Day has arrived - 3 Days of nerves, stress and excitment!

2010-06-25T21:54:00.008+10:00

OK this post was first written for a forum so it’s a bit sloppy, messy and probably has a few errors in fact. But it gives a pretty good overview of how I went at the 3DT-

I just got home and I’m shagged, so please forgive typos, errors of fact and people I've missed. The long weekend is still a bit of a blur atm.

Saturday - Stage 1 - 56km Road Race
Wet, wet, wet! Rode well within my comfort zone the whole way sticking to my pre 3DT plan. Didn't contest KOM but rode to ensure no one got away (eg- 6-7th but on their wheels). Climbing Dons Rd towards the finish I kept in the top 6 and waited for gaps to work my way forward. As the bunch wound it up for the sprint I went at 95% and found myself in 2nd and with 20mts to go saw a wheel just in the corner on my eye so pushed a little more to claim 2nd. Nice! It turned out that despite my asking the question at the pre race briefing, we WERE getting time bonuses (we were told there was no time bonus) so I'm damn glad I gave it some berries at the finish. Felt UBER pumped with that finish with lots of high fives with Paul! You couldn't wipe the smile off my face that's fer sure!

That night was a lot of bike washing, kit washing and I gave Deryck a hand rebuilding the front end of his bike after he crashed during his race. Thank goodness I took the bike stand as it made things a LOT easier!

Sunday - Stage 2 - 5.5km TT
With myself the second D grader TT starter and Paul after me, it made for interesting chasing for Paul and myself.

I had a perfect start and felt really, REALLY good powering off the line. After about 750mts I had to vocally tell myself to calm down as I was in zone 5.3 and I knew I couldn’t hold that all the way.

The Thursday prior to the 3DT, I was taken by surprise by Neil when he gave me a joint early birthday gift from a whole bunch of my cycling friends- A Garmin 500! This proved very valuable for the TT as I could see how far I had to go, what my HR was and it helped me manage my effort better. I can’t thank these people enough!

Anyway, I settled in but I felt s-l-o-w with the head wind and the ever rising road. But I look ahead and could see the guy ahead getting very slightly closer so that buoyed me on. Then just as I was feeling like I was fading, the bozo in front of my looked back and that was all I needed to HTFU and push on. In fact, looking at my Garmin Data afterwards on the graphs, I can pin point the exact moment where this happened.

I ended up finishing with a 11:34 time and with my car parked just past the TT finish and in the side lane, I kept on rolling down the hill and straight to my car to keep warm. Overall I felt pretty good about that and was now just concentrating on recovery and prep for stage 3.

During the break between stages, I went to the Newham café and chilled out a bit waiting for everyone else to arrive. While sitting there, the Commissioner for our grade (D) came in and told me I took 21 seconds out of the bozo ahead of me which surprised the heck out of me. I knew I had taken a bit out of him but that blew me away. Especially as I had expected that bozo would smash my TT time. Hmm… this is getting interesting! So much for training form hey bozo?

Stage 3 - 60 km - Road Race
It turned out the fastest D grade TT time was 11:00 so I had the 6th fastest TT time. Good, but I was now about 26 seconds down on GC leader in 4th. Happy to be 4th but I knew I had a heck of a task in front of me if I was hoping to climb higher up the rankings.

So off we go and no probs in the bunch. On one of the KOM's, that bozo went after a SKCC rider taking a strong 2nd in that KOM points contest. I was just marking the gap to be safe and found myself riding tempo and closing on 3rd for KOM. Figuring- why not, I clicked up a gear, put in 50 mts of harder effort and took my only one and only single KOM point! LOL Who would-a-thunked it! Go you mountain buffalo! Over the top of the climb I hit the front and heard the bozo yell- "we have a break- GO VIDDY GO!" so it was full pelt down the hill in the 11T with a train behind me. Gravity is my friend 50% of the time. But it only took 3km before the bunch was back on. Ahhh well- we tried.

Rest of the race was just about sticking to my plan. Conserve, conserve, stay with any breaks, do as little work as I could and aim for time bonuses at the end.

Up Dons Rd for the last time I was 2nd/3rd wheel with a strong looking SKCC rider leading the way. I moved up next to him and quietly asked if he had much left in him. “Not much” was the reply so I asked if he could give me a lead out (I think my words were- “if you can give me a lead out and I take the win- the money is yours!). So before I knew it my lead out guy started ramping up! Gah.. too soon… we have 2km to go!. A frantic call of ‘not yet, not yet” and things were back under control. With 1 km to go I said- “Ok now.. ramp it up” and the pace lifted. However 250mts later my lead out guy was done and he pulled off leaving me a loooong way out and on the front. With little option I just put the foot down and tried to out run them all. With 100mts to go I thought I had a chance but in the final 20mts I ran out of gas and was swamped right on the line finishing in a photo for second (see Richard’s pic above with 20mts to go). In the end I was given 3rd place and so still 4th on GC, 16 seconds down on 3rd, 22 secs down on 2nd and 26 down on 1st with just the final stage to go. Gah.. now mega stressed!

There were lots of friends up to watch and cheer which was much appreciated. Thanks all- it was much appreciated! Though finding out about my guttural grunts and groans in the sprint was a bit embarrassing! LOL

Sunday night
I was kinda freaked out. I came into the 3DT with a rough hope I could go top 5 but now it was actually happening and I was pooing myself about it! My back pulled up pretty sore that night and my legs were cramping a bit. My fellow accommodation sharers helped with Gabrielle offering me a magnesium tablets and a drink additive, Deryck gave me a tin of our secret weapon and I spent the evening on the lounge floor, feet up, sipping fluids till I burst with lots of deep heat on my back.

That night's sleep was awful. I couldn't stop thinking about stage 4 and every time I did my heart pounded at 130bpm. I felt sick to my stomach with nerves and I couldn't sleep. Even when I raced motocross as a youngster I don't think I ever got as nervous and stressed like I did that night. *shudder*

Monday - Stage 4 - Road Race
Rolled out on the Newham loop AGAIN. I had all the GC contenders written down on my bars with the time gaps so I knew who to follow and not to worry about. Up Roachford climb a guy 5 seconds behind me on GC attacked so all the GC boys followed closely. We were all watching each other pretty close and you could sense the tension (well, I felt it…).

No one attacked along the flat until we turned to head out to Pastoria loop and up each and every climb, a GC guy would put in a solid dig to try and drop some of the GCers (myself included). But they were all for nothing as we all marked each other closely. On the fast decent before the KOM climb, I was leading the way putting the hammer down pretty hard when bozo came powering around to give me a fast wheel to sit behind. Thanks bozo - perfectly timed but your climbing was pathetic especially for a guy 15 kg lighter than me and not riding with a sore back! LOL!

We hit the KOM climb at the front and I gave it everything I had (which wasn't much given my sore lower back was really killing me by this stage). Half way up, A grade came flyin' past which made things messy. A young kid who was 3rd on GC attacked HARD and flew up the climb while 3 others passed me (I re passed one to cross KOM 4th after thinking I was going to explode 3/4 of the way up). I quickly caught up to 2nd and 3rd and found out the "kid" was waaaay ahead and… sitting in on the back of A grade (big no no!)! A bit of discussion in the bunch and we decided to try and chase him down but sheesh, he was loooong gone (no wonder, he had a 45kph freight train to sit behind)! As we came in to turn to head home (turn right to leave the loop) we couldn't see the kid at all and we figured that he must have missed the turn off (following A grade which had 3 loops to our single loop).

I attacked up the climb out of the loop but to no avail- all the "heads of state" were right there. Bugger! A bit of chatter about "the kid" and given that he was sitting on A, we felt no sympathy for him missing the turn. The kid was freaken strong, fast and aggressive but he paid the price for hitching a ride. A few more half hearted digs by assorted riders over the rolling hills went no where and then it was back on the flat towards home. All the GC boys were up the front 3 wide watching each other. 2km to go and same deal. Lots of tension in the bunch as the meters ticked down.

1km to go and the yellow jersey wearer was trying to push up the left side of me. I was on the left hand most side in second wheel and there really was no room. He tried to get me to "give him room" and I kept telling him to forget it. In the end, he wouldn't give up so I just said- "Mate- if we bump I weigh a LOT more than you; you do the math!" With about 300mts to go the sprint started and I found myself in a crap position. A bit of fighting for wheels and jostling about and with 20mts to go the guy who was 3 seconds behind me on GC passed me just before we crossed the line. FAARKIT!

At the finish there was a bit of confusion between me, and the guy who beat me to the line. I thought he took 4th (4 bonus seconds) and myself in 5th (no bonus seconds). So I figured I got bumped from 4th to 5th by one crappy second. We congratulated each other, shook hands and that was it. 5th. Or so I thought...

With Lisa's race still to come in, I went back to the finish to wait for her while the rest of D went back to their cars at Newham. With it all over, all the pressure and build up and relief and remembering where I was 7 months ago just overwhelmed me and I had to go and have an alone moment on a old tree stump.

I was really happy to-
a) Be able to ride again after laying in hospital pretty freaked out;
b) Be able to race again after the nerve damage never seemed to get any better for months and months;
c) Be able to finish a 3DT after my crap showing last year;
d) To finish top 5 in my return to racing at a tough event like the 3DT.

Presentations
Well, it turned out we got it wrong.

It seems that the guy who was 3 seconds behind me on GC finished 5th (which it turned out got 2 bonus seconds) which meant- 4th overall for Viddy!

Was I happy? Well, the fist pump when my name was called out at presentations probably said it all! :)

Thanks to all the people who helped and encourage me these last 7-8 months. Many times I felt it was beyond me and your kind words and advice got me through the rough times.

Thank you to all the organisers and the volunteers who stood out in the freezing cold on the corners. I don't know if you heard me but I yelled a thank you as I went past every time.

Postscript
After the race weekend I was looking through the pics from photographer Ash Milne (excellent stuff btw) and there IS a pic of my stage 3 finish and I DID get 2nd by an inch! See here (look at pic 41 - Im on the right in the SKCC jersey). It wouldn't have changed anything in the end overall but the extra 3 seconds time bonus sure would have made me less nervous coming into the final stage sprint!

(Photo by Richard S)

Edit- Someone's name has been changed to a more appropriate name given recent events. Fuck you S! Your time will come...

Down to business!

2010-06-25T20:05:00.004+10:00

If you’ve been following my blog posts (and if not- where have you been? Sheesh…), you’ll know I’ve been back on the training band wagon and getting my shit together. You’ll also know I was training for a goal race- the Northern Combine Three Day Tour in June.

I had started to introduce some higher paced training rides and some sprint work. I went back to the SKCC Kit ride on Wednesday and after at first finding I was getting dropped (urgh!), I was soon powering all the way to the finish with the bunch and feeling better and better.With my goal race fast approaching, I figured I needed to get a few races under my belt to get back into the swing of it. So I renewed my race license and entered my first return race- The SKCC crit at Albert Park in D-Grade.

I was pretty tense before the race but with a tight course with hot dog turns at both ends of the course, I made sure I was at the pointy end all the way to avoid any potential drama. I even went to the front to see how I felt for a little bit, but mostly I sat in the bunch, trying to relax and overcome my tension of being in the bunch again.

Final lap and I moved up to about 6th at the final corner but I just didn’t have the legs for the sprint so sat up and cruised in mid pack, happy to just get that race out of the way.

Afterwards I was a bit bummed to look at my average speed but after comparing it against other grades; EVERYONE had seemingly low average speeds due to the twin hairpin turns (where you almost came to a dead stop).

I also had to remind myself that this was an Open event where traditionally a lot of riders drop down a grade, so effectively I was racing against a lot of C graders. That made me feel a bit better (I used to race C before my accident).

Next up was my return to road racing with a scratch race at Newham- the location of the 3DT.

Racing in D grade, I just wanted to go out, get a feel for the pace, put in some digs up the climbs to test myself against the bunch and generally to test myself with no real regard for my finishing position. This was a dress rehearsal for my goal race and I was treating it as such.

A training mate Paul was racing with me so we kept an eye out for each other, looking after each other, etc.

Up the first main climb on the first lap I held a steady tempo up and found myself climbing it far easier than I remembered doing it when I raced C last year (this might have been due to the overall pace being slower, or maybe I am stronger- *shrug*).

So up each climb I applied pressure, claiming the imaginary KOM points each time. Yep- feeling good.

Up the final climb with just 4 km to go I lead the way and even though I backed off at the top, no one would come around me. I weaved left and right to shake them but they had no intention of coming around me at this point. As we approached I made the stupid mistake of taking a sip of water only to have a few riders attack as I had the bottle in my hand. Panicked, I started spinning the legs fast to keep in touch and with no time to put my bottle away, I had to give it the old Pro “fling” over the rider next to me (after the race a few said I looked very pro doing that)!

As I came out of the final corner with 1km to go, I was in 4th and on what I took to be a strong rider’s wheel. I urged him on only to have him blow up right in front of me. Bugger! So I pushed ahead with 1st and 2nd out of reach now when a guy came grunting and screaming past me (he was screaming at himself to go harder!). With a climb to the finish and with my legs telling me what they thought of all this shenanigans, I eventually crossed the line a very clear 4th and just a little surprised! Awesome!

Next, my goal race- The Three Day Tour! Eeek!

(Photo by Roger Hammond - That's me in the SKCC jersey out front)

Headwind, new training buddies, 2km of 13% and a monster tailwind!

2010-06-25T19:38:00.006+10:00

(Pic- My new training buddy taking a well earned break)

Ok so I’m getting my mojo back somewhat as per my last post. Next on the agenda was another loooong ride out to Mt Macedon for my first climb of this hill.

Lisa was racing this day and with friends also heading out to Gisbourne South, she got a lift with them while I took in my own training ride with plans to drop in to see the end of the race on my way back.I set off in cool weather to start my ride out North into area’s I’ve not ridden before. A steady headwind on the way out kept my pace down but I was mentally prepared for this so it didn’t really bother me.

As I rode past Melb International Airport it felt a bit odd to be out here on a bike at 7am on a Saturday morning but strangely liberating all the same. Riding around the back of the airport and watching the planes take off over my head was interesting but that headwind was getting stronger, with my pace sitting at around mid 20’s at best on a flat road. Hmm, this could take a while!

Descending into Sunbury, a Kangaroo bounced along with my next to the road side fence for a few km. It was as if it was pacing me, occasionally looking over at me and adjusting it’s speed to stay just ahead of me (damn half wheelers!). Very cool and it made me giggle out loud! He he, the mind of the solo road cyclist is easily amused!

Getting to the base of Mt Macedon I suffered a puncture but thankfully I was passing a park so I pulled in and set up in a rotunda to replace the tube. Pulling the spares out of my tool bottle I discovered that my CO2 inflator was missing. CRAP! Thankfully I also carry a emergency micro pump but its strictly an emergency backup. So I settled in for 200 pump strokes (actually I think I counted 300) to get the tyre to an acceptable pressure.

Now there is one problem. I’ve been stuck standing as I fixed my bike getting cold, very cold. So my legs have locked up and are feeling like lead until I can warm then back up (normally takes about 6km). But one problem, I have 1 km till the base of Mt Macedon so this is going to hurt just a tad.

As I round an uphill bend, I see a sign that fills me with dread- “2km of 12%”! So I settle in and just accept the pain in my legs. Finally my legs are starting to warm up again and the road flattens out a bit thankfully. But then it kicks up again, and this time the sign says 2km of 13%. Oh goodie…

I finally make it to the Memorial Cross lookout at the top and its totally encased in cloud with howling wind. As I roll slowly along the final path to the cross, my rear tyre goes flat AGAIN, just as I roll to a stop. So there I am, fixing my second flat, huddling out of the wind behind the cross all alone, watching the wisps of cloud zip past me as I pumped my micro pump another 300 times! LOL

Back ok the road and now without any spare tubes left, I decided I should ride down to Woodend to get some spares. Flying down the mountain was awesome fun. After the initial steep twisty part, the road opened out and I was flying along at 55kph, enjoying the ride.

Now with my spares replenished and with the wind finally at my back, it was time to head homeward. And oh what a wind it was at my back!

Climbing a decent sized hill out of Woodend, it suddenly became aware to me that I was doing 35kph with my HR in zone 2 and I was climbing. WOOT!

As I rode along I found my way onto the Calder Freeway (bikes allowed here) and what a buzz that was!

A huge tail wind and mostly downhill meant I could cruise at 45kph with minimal effort on a really wide, smooth shoulder/emergency lane with no bother from passing cars and trucks. Really good fun!

A stop at Lisa’s road race and they were, or just had finished. So I hung about for a chat, found out Lisa did awesome as well as a few other mates and training buddies and off I went back the way I came, with a blitzing decent into Sunbury hitting 80+ kph. :D

As I rode back through Melbourne towards home, I was still feeling great. Yes I was a bit weary but overall, I still had enough to power up any climbs and sprint off from the lights. I’m getting there. Bit by bit it was all coming back.

A few stats from the ride-

Eventual route- http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Nothcote-Mt-Macedon-Woodend-Loop
• 173.5km's Total distance travelled.
• 26.9kph - Average speed.
• 82kph - Top speed on the downhill into Sunbury with a monster tailwind on my return.
• 2km - According to the sign, there was 2 km of 13% climb up Macedon which was preceded by 2km of 12%! After pushing into a headwind all the way out, this friggin hurt my legs!
• 2 punctures
• 2 Tubes purchased from Woodend cycles which ultimately I didn't need.
• 17kph - the lowest speed I saw while riding out on a flat section of road- such was the strength of the headwind!
• 4 Bottles of water drunk
• 1 Can of Coke.
• 3 Winners bars
• 1 Banana
• 1 Big piece of of home made "Team Garmin" recipe rice snack stuff
• 2.5kg of weight lost during the ride (water no doubt).
• 1 New training buddy – The Sunbury Roo!
• 1 Woman's purse discovered on the road around the back of the Airport
• 1 Pooped viddy!

Regaining my mojo

2010-06-25T18:24:00.002+10:00

Last post I hinted at some cool news to report and here it is to bring things up to date to where I am with my riding.

Firstly, since my last actual update I went through a bit of a downer with my riding and life in general really. Work was going crap, I was mega stressed and my training was suffering big time. My left arm numbness was a constant problem and my eating went to the crapper (my typical response to work stress). I was putting on weight and life just was no fun at all. My weight was back up to 98kg’s. FUCK!

So I went back to the drawing board and set down a rough plan for my training. I wanted to race the Northern Combine Three Day Tour if I could so that was my goal event to work towards; it’s always best to have an event to work towards than just train without a focus. So I did lots of base riding on the Richmond Bouli, with very little climbing or intense efforts. Lots of boring, dull, high cadence stuff at a steady pace. Lots of it! I also walked away from some stress jobs and I was starting to feel a bit better.

I did this for about 2 months and I think the backing off in efforts helped my neck/arm tingling and numbness recover. Then I slowly started ramping things up, bit by bit doing more hills at a harder effort and some faster group rides. My weight wasn’t dropping much but I could tell I was putting muscle on as my clothes were getting looser on me.

I started doing LONG training rides on the weekend on my own, riding to places I hadn’t been before and taking in new terrain. I think these did a HEAP to regain my strength, fitness, endurance and self confidence.

One of these rides was a pure ride of exploration (see map here and take note of the route notes along the way). I didn’t really have a plan in place when I left the front door other than to head out Yarra Valley/Kinglake direction. Along the way I would see a road that interested me so I would head off in that direction, not really sure it would take me. I ended up taking a series of ever hillier roads (inc Mt Pleasant Rd) till I spied a bunch of riders strung out ahead of me. Now some would accuse me of being competitive but I like to think of it as giving myself carrots to chase rather than “I must beat YOU” kind of attitude.

Methodically I set about hunting them down, one by one, finally catching the last two just at the base of a killer 13% climb. As I went past them out of the saddle, I knew I had to hold my form all the way up and over the hill for fear that I would look like a dick head if I powered past only to blow up half way. LOL So I grit my teeth and dug deep, pushing my limit the whole way up to the top where a quick glance back saw them no where to be seen. Whew! Now I can flop on the bike and recover down the other side. LOL

A bit later I figured out where I was and I now had a specific road in mind I wanted to explore - Pigeon Bank Rd (a road Jono told me about). So down I went down this “supposed” steep hill.

HOLY FRUCK! This was a monster! Not quite Glenvale Rd steep but it went on and on and my speed kept climbing higher and higher even with my brakes on. I was truly starting to shit myself, hoping it would flatten out as I had no chance of stopping quickly in an emergency and I was worried I might have serious heat build up and have a blow out at 70 kph!

Eventually, after 15 km of never ending up’s and down’s, I found myself at a fork in the road with both directions turning to dirt roads. There was a sign in the middle that said “No Through Road” however, it didn’t indicate which road was a dead end so I stood there, scratching my head not knowing what to do. Finally a local drove up and I asked him which way went to Yarra Glen. “The left road will take you to Yarra Glen mate but that road isn’t made for bikes like that!” he offered helpfully. “I’ll be fine, thanks for the directions” I replied and off I went down the dirt road.

Now, I come from an off road motorcycle background so I feel comfortable on the dirt, what ever the bike I’m riding. But this road was a little bit more than I bargained for, with constant acceleration and braking bumps (you know, those wave type bumps on country roads), lots of loose gravel and rock surface and hills - lots of hills to climb and descend.

As I rode along, a 4WD passed me from behind and 500mts up the road I came upon the driver stopped by the side of the road, the woman waiting for me. She asked where I was going (“Yarra Glen”) and she offered to give me a lift in her car if I wanted. Puzzled I asked her how long this dirt road went for and she thought it was about another 10km. “Well, if they can race on the cobblestones in Northern France, I can do this,” I confidently said and thanked her for her concern. A friendly wave from each of us and off I went. Little did I know what was ahead for me.

As I rode on, the hills got steeper and rougher. I resorted to climbing these steep pitches seated as to do it standing would result in so much wheel spin I was libel to fall over. So, there I was, seated, climbing rough dirt roads trying to weave my way up the smoothest and least rocky path, at a knee popping cadence of about 40 rpm (my usual rpm is 95-ish).

This hurt! A lot! Eventually I came to a fork in the road with a dirt road straight up another painful looking climb, and a nice smooth bitumen road gently down a hill. Now, it doesn’t take a genius to guess which one I took and so, down the smooth made road I rolled, enjoying not having my brain rattled about and being able to focus on the road. But my joy was to be short lived when 3 km down the road this riding nirvana ended in a dead end. So back I went, and up THAT hill I crawled.

Several more km’s of bone rattling dirt later, I found myself on a really steep monster climb (I’d guess 500mts of 18%?) with a really loose base. I tried to ride up it, I really did, but with my cadence now 35 rpm and my speed about 4kph, I had to face facts and get off and walk up the hill. It wasn’t so much the steepness that beat me but the surface I had to try and ride on. Stand up keeping my weight forward to keep the front wheel on the ground and I would wheel spin out of control; or I could lean back for traction but have the front wheel rise up into the air. So for the first time since I was a bit fat oompaloompa on the bike, I had to walk up, all the while hearing Dave T’s voice ringing in my ears “The only time you should walk the bike is when it’s faster than riding!” LOL

Finally I got to the end of the dirt road and rolled into Yarra Glen for a well earned break, tired but feeling very HAF with that satisfied feeling of tackling something a little bit crazy and beating it!

After a break I rode down to Coldstream, Lilydale, Montrose and up Mt Dandenong. I’ve climbed Mt Dandenong from just about every direction before but never this way and after the smashing I had already given my legs in the preceding 90km, this climb hurt. But plod along I did and over the top I rode, descending down the 1:20 with another rest stop at the base and then the final trip home, finishing up with thrashed legs but a happy soul.

That’s it for this post. I’ll save more for the following post (it’s 90% written so it wont be long before it’s posted).

Blogging on the move

2010-06-24T18:15:00.001+10:00

Having recently joined the iPhone set, I'm exploring all the things I can do with the little wonder from those crazy kids at apple.

With my spending so much time out on the bike, 6 days week, I figured posting from out on the road (ok, from the cafe stop) would make for a more up to date blog.

So, here I go with my first test blog post (yeah I know, pretty dull but I do have some cool recent happenings to talk about, trust me!).

- Posted from my iPhone

Location:Northcote

Long overdue update - Part 3

2010-04-25T17:58:00.003+10:00

Ok , so far you've read about my big stack. Now on to recovery phase.

So I'm back home, flat on my back in bed and unable to move much. Lisa would set me up with food, drink and drugs before she would go off to work so I was set for the day. Those first few days I was in and out of sleep all day (dosed up on drugs) with just the TV for company. Daytime tv sucks! I'm also stuck in a neck collar 24/7 and despite it being a soft collar, its constant pressure on my collar bones was really painful. REALLY painful.

After a few days home I managed to get up and move about the apartment a little. I hopped on the scales out of curiosity and to my amazement I was down to 88kg! As exciting as this was, I knew it wouldn't last given I would be off the bike for a few weeks.

Then I went into hospital for my follow up appointment. The doc took one look at me, consulted my scans and told me another 8 weeks before any riding what-so-ever. My heart sank when he told me this news. I asked if I could sit on the bike on the trainer inside but I got a firm NO!

FUCK!

And so I tried to just move on with my life but it was getting me down. REALLY down. All my friends and Lisa were out riding each morning while I was stuck doing nothing. Lisa would get back from rides all happy and hyped up and it would kill me to see what I was missing out on. After a while I drove out to meet the MRR crew at the cafe but mostly it just made me feel worse to see what I was missing out on. It sucked!

Around this time a few people I know had some back stacks also and they sustained pretty bad injuries (worse than me). And while I felt fortunate to get off pretty lightly, it WAS killing me inside to see my goals slipping away from me. Sure it "could" have been so much worse, but that fact was- I was still watching my hard earned weight loss and fitness slipping away from me.

I had hopes of getting back on the bike about Christmas time and regaining my race fitness in time for Baw Baw but I just didn't know what to expect.

Then one evening, I decided to ignore an overly cautious doctors advice and set up my bike on the trainer with a clothes rack to hold onto (the same way Anna Meares set up her trainer after she broke her neck - see above photo). It felt sooo good to move my legs again but I could see how much I had lost even in that 15 min session. Me pedalling was clunky, my bum hurt and as I was getting off the bike, my limited movement saw me almost topple over, tweaking my neck in the process. Bugger! :(

Then came my follow up visit to the hospital. I had stopped wearing my brace for the previous week as I felt it was hindering me more than helping me, but I wore it into the hospital to avoid any lecture from the doctor. The head doc told me I could get on the trainer now but no riding on the road for a few more weeks, but deep down I knew my neck felt fine and nothing was going to stop me from riding again.

And so, with a freshly purchased new helmet, I took to the roads on Christmas eve to ride down and meet the MRR crew at the cafe. A mate (Neil) loaned me his old bike to ride as mine was still not repaired from the crash (I discovered more damage than I first thought and was waiting on more parts). As I pedalled down the road and rose out of the saddle to accelerate up a rise for the first time, a HUGE smile spread across my face. I was overwhelmed with joy to be riding again.

At first I took it pretty easy with my rides. Mostly flat riding and shorter distances but at that stage I didn't care. I was happy just to be riding. As things progressed, I surprisingly got faster and stronger quicker than I expected. I was doing far better than I thought I would at this stage of my come back and I was pretty pumped. Even my weight wasn't as bad as I expected - 94kg. I went back out to the Dandenogs for some climbing and after a few trips, I put down a 18.30-ish time which was only 25 seconds slower than my PB. I was chuffed!

Then I got my bike back on the road and it was awesome. I had to replace the entire front end (forks, bars, stem, bar tape, headset, etc) as well as giving the bike a total overhaul (stripped it right back, new BB, cables, etc). The new front end made a huge difference to the bike and it did everything better than ever. A friend gave me his old HR computer so I ditched the old mix of bike computer and HR watch (which had died anyway) and I was very happy with that. A new bike light finished off the cockpit and I could finally see in the dark. Awesome!

But all this joy was to be short lived when things (me) started to fall apart for me again... (to be continued)

Long overdue update - pt2

2010-04-11T18:22:00.003+10:00

In my last post I made mention that a challenge was laid down to me and how it pushed me to new highs. This challenge was (ironically enough given it was held today)- The Baw Baw Classic road race.

It all came about because I was moaning about having to loose weight on Facebook and how I was struggling with it. I "naturally" received a whole bunch of "advice" which, well meaning as it was, was all unhelpful ultimately and a bit frustrating. In the end, Jono Lovelock contacted me and said that I should ignore what was being suggested to me and to just follow what I did to originally loose weight as I knew it worked for me. He also laid down a challenge to me to do the Baw Baw Classic road race as a goal to work towards.

At first I said no way, given the horror stories I had read about it including the tales of many many riders walking up the final climb or taking an hour to ride the last 6km. But being the cheeky bugger that Jono is, he kept teasing me till I took his bait and said yes. However I put one proviso on my taking the bait- when (yes, "when".. positive thinking and all that) I made it to the top, I was going to hunt him down and PUNCH him in the arm for making me do the race.

For those of you who don't know about this race, its an open race over about 100km and it finishes at the top of Mt Baw Baw. Mt Baw Baw is a 6km climb at an average of about 12% gradient. This is STEEP and given that it climbs some tough climbs even before you get to the base, its one tough mofo of a race and something that does NOT suit heavier riders.

And so I had a goal to work towards and one that I knew was going to take a ton of hard work. But I had a plan in place and I set forth to achieve my goal.

At first I told very few people about my goal as I didn't want or need everyone telling me to do this or that. I felt confidant in my plan and I was going to follow my instinct.

I started with plenty of hilly rides- Kinglake, Mt Dandenong and such of the weekends with plenty of MRR rides during the week, with the occasional ATOS rides Thursday nights. Interspersed with this was some Tuesday night rides to Mordi and back with a FAST bunch where I got stronger and stronger, even leading out to the final sprint (couldn't contest- some serious A grade legs in that bunch and I know my limits).

I was getting stronger and faster and I knew it. My weight was also dropping, getting down to 92kg's and feeling better for it). My road races late in the season were good even if my finish in the bunch at the end wasn't podiums or anything, I was a strong worker all race, making break away attempts and chasing down multiple breakaways. My finish didn't matter to me- my work effort was more important to me and for that I felt awesome.

Then one Saturday I set forth to do the Crucifix- a ride that takes in multiple climbs of Mt Dandenong to which I added a few extra climbs for added effect. I did 90% of the ride solo, having said my goodbye to my starting group at the top of the 1:20. I paced myself and finished strong with a total ride of 150km and almost 3km of vertical assent.

But my highlight was an ATOS ride one Thursday night in early October when I was at the front 1/3rd all ride, climbing each climb very strong and powering all the way to the finish, receiving few compliments from other riders after the finish line. Hell yeah! That felt good.

But then it ALL went to shit in one mistake one Wednesday evening.

I was racing the Hawthorn crits on the Kew Boulevard in C-Grade. I was feeling very strong with one rider off the front about 100mts away. He wasn't getting away and I was well within my comfort zone, even though I was doing a fair bit of work on the front.

So as we came into the hairpin in second wheel I decided to put some pressure on up the climb out of the corner to drop off any slackers who were just wheel sucking and to pull the break away in. As I exited he corner I took a tight line and with hands in the drops and standing out of the saddle to power up the climb, I saw a dropped A grader about 40 mts ahead up the hill. "No probs" I thought, "I wont catch him till at least the top of the climb" and I put my head down and poured on the power. So away I go, pedal, pedal, pedal and just as I lift my head to take in the coming bend I see mr A-grader riding at 5kph and just 2mts in front of me!

BANG!

I went straight into the back of him and my world was turned on its head like never before. After the blur that was the crash I was left laying on the ground, feet still clipped in, not quite knowing what was up and down. My arms were searing in pain and my head and neck were feeling very much the worse for wear.

My first thought was one of embarrassment to be honest given I had caused this crash by running into another rider. I remember thinking I hope the guy I hit is ok but then my own pain took over and I was getting a bit freaked out. A bunch of people came running to my aid and they seemed very concerned about me.

I distinctly remember doing a limb check as I lay on the ground- wiggle left foot; tick. Wiggle right foot; tick. Wiggle right fingers; not great but movement was felt- tick. Wiggle left fingers.... wiggle left fingers...... err... "left fingers.. I'm asking you to wiggle... please"...... finally a tiny movement from my index finger and I figured that would do for now.

As I lay there I saw Lisa looking over me as I started to breath fast as I struggled with my pain. A mate was comforting her which eased me a little but oh shit, my arms were in such pain I can't describe it. Think really bad pins and needles and magnify that by 1000!

In my mind I had bones shattered in my arms, sticking out of the skin, given my lack of feeling in my hands. I though- oh this is BAD.

Finally, after what seemed a long wait an ambulance turned up and there was a lot of questions asked of me about my forehead. I didn't feel anything and wondered why they were asking me about it when my arms were my cause for worry. It wasn't till I saw my face in a mirror several days later that I saw the cause for their concern (and this was after the swelling had gone down). Eventually they put me in a neck collar and took me to hospital.

There was drugged up (thankfully), put through test after test and scans and more. I think the worst test was when the specialist stuck a finger up my bum hole to test my muscles down there. "It's ok" I protested, "its working fine- trust me" I said over and over, but no- they were having none of that. I had to be tested. *shudder*

All the while I was immobilised in the neck collar which was pretty painful and caused me to suffer from anxious moments of claustrophobia. To say I was scared was an understatement.

In the end my arms were just ripped to shreds by the bouli road surface and the terrible pain was actually caused by the nerves in my neck when I hit my head on the front on the very forward tip of my helmet, causing my neck to hyper extend backwards with sever bruising and swelling of the spinal cord. This caused such pressure on the nerves down my arms (and in particular my left side) that I couldn't have ANYTHING touch my arms/hand at all. Even the lightest of touch from a sheet was too much to bare.

And so after 3 days flat on my back, unable to move or do anything for myself, I finally got the all clear that nothing was broken and was allowed to move to a soft collar and finally allowed to sit up,move about and- go home!!

I know that I got off lightly but for me, it was a huge shock and I was shit scared all through it.

The end result of this was 10 weeks off the bike, right when I was starting to really power from strength to strength.

FUCK!

(to be continued...)

A long overdue update - Pt 1

2010-04-11T16:48:00.006+10:00

Well, it's been a while since I last posted on my blog but none the less, here I am, still alive (just- more on that later) and still cycling.

Hmm.. what's been happening since my last post? Well a lot and not a lot really. My riding and weight loss has hit a wall after a series of setbacks including a loss of self confidence, loss of motivation (loss of confidence = loss of motivation) and a pretty scary crash in October 2009.

But I'll go back to my last post and try and recap what I've been up to since then shall I?

Well 2009 road season was a bit average for me. I did a few road races, got dropped on some and finished strong at others.

A the 3DT I rode ok in the first stage but got shuffled to the rear of the pack on the final climb which was ok enough as I had plenty of time to move back forward before the finish sprint however the pack was so tightly bunched there was no room for me to make my way through (unless I wanted to cross the center line of the road which I made sure I didn't- unlike some other riders *cough cough*).

It wasn't until the pace really picked up in the last 1 km was I able to find room, moving from the tail to the top 1/3rd. I was bit annoyed as I felt like I had TONS of kick in my legs but I just couldn't find space to put it to use. I found out after that a few guys went WAY over the center line in the road (a big no-no) during the sprint (right in front of the officials) and they didn't get pinged for it! WTF?! Yet I was trying to ride fair, picking my gaps, waiting for space and I even called to 2 riders ahead that had a 1.5mt gap between them that I was "coming through the middle", yet I got a talking too. Hmm... Selective officialdom me thinks.

Anyway, I was very happy to finish so strongly and was feeling optimistic for the remaining stages.

Stage 2 was the TT and I had never done a TT before. I rode ok I guess but not what I was hoping for. I finished about middle of the times for C-Grade.

Stage 3 and I just never felt strong. It was cold and wet and miserable. Normally I would relish the conditions but this day I just felt shite and it showed. As we came to the first climb of the second lap, the pack put some pressure on and my legs did not respond. I gritted my teeth, curled my toes and tried to ignore the pain in my legs but all I saw was the bunch pull away from me. I tried in vain to keep the power on over the top of the climb and decent to try and reel them back in but the bunch just got smaller and smaller up the road and then our follow vehicle went around me which totally crushed my spirit.

As I rode along it was a battle in my mind to keep going. I was cold, alone, demoralised and I then dropped my glasses on a fast down hill. Given I was done for I went back to get the glasses. As I picked them up off the empty country road, a rider came screaming down the hill and abused the fuck out of me. Mind you, this guy had a empty country road with a 1km line of sight of me, a ton of room to go around me and was also minutes off the back of the bunch. The thing was I was trying to get the glasses quickly so I could join with him to work together... but yeah.. fuck you too mate!

As I approached Lancefield to begin my 3rd lap I was beaten! I was shivering from the cold, my legs had given up and mentally I was a mess (see photo at the top of this post). I pulled out and cried as I rode very slowly back to the staging area where our car/gear was set up. I felt so bad for pulling out- bad for feeling unable to go on and bad for giving up. I just wanted to hide from the world so badly and I felt embarrassed to ride so feebly.

And so my 3 Day Tour was over for me with the 4th stage still to come. So home I went, tail between my legs, wondering what to do next. I knew hills were my weakness and I had to loose more weight (I was stuck on 98kg for the past 12 months).

And then a challenge was laid down to me, one that would drive me on to new heights and ultimately, an all time low... (see part 2 coming up next).

I'm back baby!

2009-03-29T20:29:00.004+11:00

Wow! I really suprised myself this weekend with my riding. After a fucking shitful week at work of working from 8am till well after midnight, I hardly got any cycling in at all (1.5 commutes). So I headed into the weekends riding worrying I had bugger all in me. I needen't have worried after all.

It all started with the monthly Franger Fang BBC ride. The BBC (Belgian Beer Cafe in St Kilda) has a "cycling club" which is basically a chance to pay $30 per year which gives you some vouchers and a free monthly breakfast.

The BV forum does a ride that ends at the BBC at 9am with 3 groups riding different distances/speeds- Black Rock (30km @ mid 20's kph average speed), Mordi (50km @ high 20's kph average) and Frankston (80km @ 30+ kph average).

Anyway, PDL and i meet up with 2 others (Blybo and Weeeee) at the start point- back of Luna Park @ 6am and set off south.

We started off sitting mid 30's and as we gobbled up riders ahead of us, we developped a mini peleton beind us of assorted wheel suckers! After Black Rock we upped the pace a bit with everyone doing some work on the front, dropping our followers, hill by hill. Turning into the long straight drag towards Mordi. I put on my Jen Voight (check out the link and watch from 1:28 on if you don't get the in joke) persona and started pounding out the k's on the front in the mid 40's. Ohh... that hurt a little.

No stopping at Mordi so straight on towards Franger with a run straight down the Nepean and once again we had another mini peleton of riders sitting in behind us as we kept up in the mid 30's, with us 4 all taking turns on the front.

At Frankston turn around point (the servo), PDL, Blybo and I waited for Weee to go do his nerdy geo-cashing thing. While waiting, two guys turned up at the servo, one all decked out in Liquigas kit and on a VERY nice looking Time bicycle. Uber bling! He asked us if we could give him a tow back and we all laughed. I took one look at him and figured he could prob blow us away. LOL

The 2 bling guys left before us so us 4 took off for the Mordi return leg and started doing track turns, sitting mid to high 30's. Ahead we could see the 2 bling guys and as I went past them I yelled out for them to "jump on". We kept doing track turns just the 4 of us till the 2 new guys started joining in the turns but I'll be dammed- they couldn't match our pace once then got to the front. So in the end Mr Liquigas dropped off after one turn on the front, while his mate kept trying to do turns with us as I "encouraged" the group to try pick it up and stick to 40kph. Hey- it ain't called a "fang" fer nufin!

As Mordi started to come into sight I let PDL know I was gonna take off and as my moment came, I clicking it up 2 gears, jumped out of the saddle and pull the trigger to hit 57kph in the final 1km run into Mordi. Woohoo! That was fuuuuuun!

After the Mordi stop we started off a bit slow as our legs had cooled off. It wasn't until we hit the Mentone Hotel that we started to get back into the groove and with Weeee not having the legs to go on with it, it was just Blybo and I doing turns on the front till we past the 2 Richmond Cyclery guys.

Then it was myself and the 2 RC guys swapping turns all the way back to St Kilda with PDL putting a few turns in as well. I have no idea what was going on behind me as the pace was well into the 40's now and with only the 3 of us doing 90% of the work, it was a solid workout indeed.

Turned the bend into the final straight towards St Kilda and I went off the front to hammer the last bit out of my legs towards the BP servo, hitting mid 50's till my legs said no more. I was surprised that PDL was not far behind me as the pace had really been on. Top effort!

PDL and I kept up a solid pace the rest of the way to BBC and arrived at 8:45am (and then proceeded to ride up and down the BBC paths, practising some skills) with an average for the ride of over 35kph for about 80-ish km's. Pretty happy with that.

---

The following day was SKCC crit racing at Port Melb. I was a bit tired from the previous day and didnt really feel that great pre race but figured it was my last crit for the season so I may as well give it a go.

I started out sitting in the bunch in the high 30's and into the low 40's and was surprised to be feeling ok. Then 4 gys made a minor break so I jumped onto the back of them, and looking back I saw we had a bit of a break on the peleton, so I yelled to the group "we have a break, there is 5 of us, lets work together and go for it".

So we went to work, but unfortunatly only 3 of us were doing (or able to) do the work and we were gobbled up surprisingly quick bythe peleton. :( So I sat back in the bunch for a while to recover a bit after putting in a bit of hard work.

After a bit of sitting in with the bunch doing high 30's/low 40's I looked up to see that 2 guys had jumped off the front by a good 100mts. I looked around the bunch and no one was showing any signs of wanting to chase so I leaped out of the saddle and set sail to chase down the breakaway.

Thankfully no one seemed to be going with me and after about 3 laps with me gritting my teeth and making a pure pain face, I caught up to the 2 man break away. Unfotunatly, just about at the same time, the bunch caught up to me also so my lone chase was for nothing. Argh!

So I settled in for a bit of rest and recovery after the previous efforts. About this time I looked down to my computer to see how long we had to go and saw that my #+!@#$#ing computer wasnt reading a thing! A quick look over at the rider next to me and I saw he had a nice looking Polar computer so I asked him what our time was and I was suprised to hear we only had about 10-15 mins to go.

A quick fiddle with my computer got it working again and either the rider told me the wrong info, or the race organisers got it wrong becase we races for a good while longer.

Along the way there was a few hairy moments with a young guy on a Specialized almost running me and Derek into the wall around the back and him changing lines out of the first corner too. He was in front of me so I yelled out "hey young feller on the Specialized, hold your line mate" and to which her drifted over on me which saw me hitting one of the traffic cones with my foot. Grrr..

Anyway, we finally got the bell lap and I was positioned about 10th as we started the last lap. Around the tight bumpy corners, Derek was just ahead of me so I said to him jokingly, "give me a leadout Derek" to which he replied- "nah I've got nothing" LOL. So I clicked up 2 gears and set off around the outside, passing the whole pack and catching up to the two on the front. Up past the roadworks, I went straight past 2nd place and was pulling in 1st at a great rate of knots to my total amazement!!

Around the last corner I was carrying more corner speed than the guy in first so I went around him but he drifted wide, wider and even wider till I was almost in the gutter. We were so wide I had to ride throught a cut up gravely bit of road normally way off the racing line and around the 1st place rider. However I had gone so wide, a rider cut inside of us and up the inside. I gave it my all to try and; 1. catch the rider a bike length ahead of me and; 2. keep the dogs behind me at bay! I put my head down and just pounded the pedals as hard as I could, totally stuffed since I had already been sprinting for 500mts! The line was ahead of me and I was praying for it to arrive before I ran out of legs. 10 mts to go and I could see riders either side of me in my peripheral vision so I threw the bike forward at the line and was thrilled and amazed to have taken 2nd in C-grade for my first C-grade podium and with 1st only a bike length ahead of me. WOOHOO!

Had a bit of a chat to the guy who finished 4th and the guy who won after the race and it was good to meet more of my competitors. I love racing hard but fair and being able laugh about it afterwards with my fellow competitors.

Next week for the club champs I will be marshalling and then it's into the road season. I'm looking forward to the suffering after my recent long fast paced road rides. To start with, if I can finish with the C-grade bunch in a road race I will be thrilled. My aim is to finish at the pointy end by the end of the RR season, with the aim to make it into B-grade during next crit season. I think (hope) its achiveable. Lets wait and see. :D

Vidman V's Glenvale Rd

2009-03-22T21:54:00.004+11:00

Just something I should have posted ages ago, this is a short video of an insane hill climb in Ringwood, Melbourne.

Head out along Marongah Hwy towards Ringwood, turing off at Deek Creek Road. Turn down a few side streets and you will find yourself on Glenvale Rd. Approching from the south and riding noth, you find yourself atthe top of the BIG hill and its mighty intimidating. Lets just say, I would NOT go down it in the wet.

Anyway, this is a video of my second attempt to climb this hill eariler in 2008. To put this hill into persepctiove, one of my mates with a Garmin 305 said his data pointed to the hill running at about 25% graidient. Its not long, but its scary steep. REAL SCARY!

A group of us did this hill as part of a crazy hill loop late in 2008, however it was a wet, rainy day that day and climbing this hill was slightly on the insane side. the whole way up I was fighting wheel spin, having to be careful with my pedal strokes. It was so bad that only 2 of us rode up with the rest of the group sensible enough to walk up.

Lisa's new bike - BLING!

2008-12-17T22:22:00.010+11:00

With the aussie dollar dropping so badly and all bikes sky rocketing in price, we decided we should bite the bullet and upgrade Lisa's bike ASAP.

After MUCH shopping about and several test rides (its hard to find a shop that has high end bikes to test ride in Lisa's small size), we eventually settled on a 2009 Scott Addict R3 at a ripper price from Melbourne Bicycle Center in Prahran.

Lisa did test ride several "woman's specific" bikes but in truth, their geometry is hardly different to the men's bikes and the female graphics and colours did little to thrill Lisa (who wants a serious race bike with swirls and flowers on it?).

We had to make a judgment call on the fit based purely on the geometry as compared to other bikes Lisa test rode and her current bike, but it turned out a perfect fit, just as we thought.

We had the shop swap the bars to FSA Wing Pro compact bars in 38cm (same as her current bike). Unfortunately the 38cm don't come in white so we had to have them painted (see below). We also had the shop swap the stock 100mm black Ritchey stem for a white Ritchey stem in 90mm to fit Lisa's reach better.

We went with the white stem because we had plans to bling up the bike with the bars painted white and the headset spacers also painted white to match in. A friend from the BV forum is a professional spray painter so we had him to the bars and stem spacers and he did an awesome job. Thanks Johan! Unfortunately, I managed to put a small scratch in the white bars when fitting them so some touching up is required. Bummer! :(

Then we fitted some nice white bottle cages we found on Ebay (nice find, clean design, work well, glossy plastic and best of all- cheap!).

The stock Scott saddle was swapped for a new Selle Italia SLK Lade Gelflow saddle which is the same model as on Lisa's old bike and its a perfect fit for her tush to rest on!

While shopping for bits online, I came across some metallic gold bar tape from Cinelli that looked like it would match the gold on the frame, so we purchased that. Lisa was a bit apprehensive at first but I (and most of our friends) think it looks awesome (and Lisa is starting to like it now).

I also came across some bling bits and pieces from Purely Custom including champagne colored bottle cage bolts...

and champagne cable ends...

a champagne stem bolt, and best of all, a champagne spacer with diamantes in it (Lisa LOVES this which was a surprise present from me).

A bike this nice deserves everything to be sleek and quality so we brought a Knog Bullfrog rear light which fits really well and is brighter than we thought, plus a Fenix torch for the front light with a Twofish lockblock bike mount to hold it safe and snug to the bars. To power the lights, we brought some decent rechargeable batteries to power it all economically. Sorted!

A Topeak carbon mini pump was purchased and a Pro storage bottle to hold tubes/tools/pump was chosen rather than a saddle bag to keep things clean and neat.

Koolstop dual compound brake pads were fitted to the front brake right from the start for better stopping power and the cables were shortened to tidy things up.

Shimano's 8 degree adjustment blocks went in the brifters to give Lisa better reach as per her old bike...

To protect the lovely frame, some clear System Ex cable rub protectors and a chain stay protector went on the bike for that detailed look...

and a Garmin cadence sensor and second mount kit were brought and mounted with white cable ties to match in with the frame (yes I'm anal enough to go out and buy thin white cable ties to keep it looking tidy, even though I had plenty of black ones laying about).

Matching Ultegra SL pedals are waiting to go on the bike as Lisa's current Nike shoes have a strange problem where the ball of the foot has too much curve in them, leading to the cleat also bending so much that it won't clip into any pedals, except that is her current old 540 SPD-SL pedals (yes I know.. very weird). So the new pedals will have to sit in the cupboard till Lisa's new Sidi shoes can be purchased.

And how does Lisa like her new bike? She LOVES IT and is much faster on it...

Its cool how its all black and all business from the rear...

yet white and bling from the front...

Please forgive me...

2008-12-17T21:41:00.002+11:00

Please forgive me for it has been quite a while since i updated my blog.

But I have been very busy... honestly!

Since my last update, I have been riding as much as ever, racing a bit and doing pretty well if I do say so myself.

Some highlights include-
-Several road races including my last RR for the season a handicap where I was started with several C-graders in my start group where I managed to beat most of them to the line.

- The following day my first crit race for the season where me and a young kid made a breakaway from D-grade and we spent the entire race passing and being re-passed by B-grade, far ahead of the rest of D-grade. Ultimately I didn't have the legs to match the young kid in the final half lap sprint and finished second.

- Lisa winning her first B-grade woman's crit race for the season easily (same day as my break away).

- Lisa racing the Amy Gillet Cup and doing awesome (2x 5th's and a 6th in her first open races).

- Moving up to C-grade and having an event filled first C-grade race including being the middle link in a chain of events that saw two riders go down after touching my wheel, having the marshal's call me in and having to explain that I had to change my line due to the rider in front cutting across my line, rejoining the race after explaining and then having 2 riders go down in a corner RIGHT in front of me, skidding to a stop in the gutter and helping a downed rider off the track, rejoining the race and finishing in the top 10 and just glad to get out of the race alive!

- Having my first race crash (this is a low light) in my second C-grade race when a young rider who was moving up on my left with plenty of room to move, strangely veered into me by accident, tangled bars with me and we both went down in a heap, me with a fair bit of bike damage.

- Getting my 1:20 time down to 18:30 and my Kinglake time down to 22'ish mins.

- Racing at the Hawthorn crits on Kew Bouli in C-grade several times and NOT finishing last on a tough, hilly course (stuck with the pack the whole way and even lead for a while).

- Finding myself comfy in further C-grade races, able to move up and down the bunch at will and able to finish top 10 (in a field of 40 riders) with a decent sprint at the finish.

- Doing the MRR with an average speed of 34kph with only a small group of 4 to share the work with (trust me, 34 average might not sound fast but there is plenty of traffic lights and lots of hills to sap the speed out of you).

As for my weight, It seems to have stabilized at 98-96kg's. However, my clothes are getting looser and looser so i am putting on muscles and dropping fat. While I would "like" to be lighter, it's not stressing me.

12 Months on the bike - a review

2008-09-06T22:36:00.003+10:00

Rather than a race or ride report for this post, I’m going to talk more about my life in relation to cycling and how it has changed so dramatically in the last 12 months.

Back in late July 2007, while watching Le Tour De France, PDL and I were inspired to get cycling ourselves with the thought of doing some cycle touring as part of a holiday, and maybe improve my health and fitness.

But I very quickly discovered just how unfit I really was and was determined to loose weight to become a better cyclist. Before we brought our bikes, I had in my mind the memory of my younger days as a kid on a BMX, and to discover that I was now so crap on the bike was a blow to my ego. So I just couldn’t let myself be beaten by my lack of fitness and obesity (there- I’ve said it, I was obese!), my ego wouldn’t allow it to happen. So this was an important moment for me because until then, every time I tried to drop weight, I was doing what ever activity or diet to loose weight, rather than loose weight to be better at the activity. It’s a small but important change in how I approached my task but it made all the difference to my mental state and determination.

And so I started thinking about foods differently. Suddenly everything I eat was about “what will this do to me” rather than “what will this taste like”. I was thinking of foods as fuel rather than indulgences and taste satisfiers.

I started playing a game with PDL in the supermarket where I would see a product (eg- chocolate) and I would talk as if that section was just empty shelves. “Gee, I wonder why this whole isle is empty” I would say. Silly I know but it helped me deal with the temptation that used to break me down, time and time again in the past.

Then I happened upon the BV forum and this was a huge, MASSIVE change to my cycling that I can not thank the people of enough. It started with me just reading, lurking and asking the occasional question. Then there was talk of a group ride that sounded like fun – the BBC ride. I asked if a overweight, flat bar riding newbie like me would be ok on the ride and was encouraged to give it a go.

This lead to my discovering the joys of group rides and the added and unexpected benefits of cycling of the social aspect that comes with the rides. I was totally hooked and this was a pivotal moment for both PDL and myself. I can not thank the forum’s members enough for this. It truly changed my life in more ways than I can count.

Which brings me to where I am today; I now ride 250 – 450kms a week without stress, I ride 2-4 mid week morning training rides and usually lead the groups now rather than straggle along at the distant rear of the bunch. I am decent climber now, can sprint pretty well, corner like a demon and decent without fear. I have learnt to track stand with ease and can leap my bike up gutters with aplomb.

I feel like the bike is an extension of myself and heavy traffic is stress free and simple to navigate. I consider myself a cycle racer now which even 9 months ago would have seemed totally ludicrous to even consider.

I have lost 1/3 of my body weight (about 50kgs), dropped my body fat % from the mid 30’s to about 18% and packed on TONS of muscle. My clothes have gone from only being able to shop at the big man’s store to being able to not only being able shop from normal shops but not even the biggest sizes.

I have met and made great friends with so very many people from the BV forum and I always look forward to catching up with them several times a week on our regular training rides. They make me laugh with their posts and I value their friendship more than they would understand, for it is their encouragement and positive words that have made me what I am today. A better person.

My confidence has improved and I am happier in life in general and I look forward to every day’s ride. I love my cycling and life is great.

I can’t wait to see where I am in another 12 months.

My second Road Race - May 17th

2008-09-06T21:46:00.003+10:00

As promised, here is a long over due update to my blog. This was my second road race back in May the 17th and it was a heck of a tough day to be riding, let along racing!

Sorry for the lack of updates but with my new job, still trying to get my own clients work done, cycling as much as I can and finding myself falling asleep on the couch every night, it's been hard to find the time to put into my blog that I used to.

Anyway, here my latest update from May 17th.

Firstly I have raced a few more road races with some varied results. My second RR was at Newham which is just over the back of Hanging Rock. Polkadotlisa wasn't racing that week for reason's I can't remember so we headed off early one Sat morning to get to the start. On the way the weather was looking grim with more and more showers. The temp gauge in the car was slowly dropping till it read 2 degrees and we made jokes about snow. Ha Dee Ha Ha!

Arrived at Newham and there was no one to be found. We waited for a while and as we were sitting in the car in this tiny little town, PDL exclaimed "What’s that (pointing to the sky)!" It was snowing. Yep, real soft fluffy stuff was hitting the ground. Yikes!

Finally some other riders turned up after I realised I had gotten my start times mixed up and was an hour early. A small group of cyclists rolled in and we all huddled under a shelter in the park, wondering if the race was still going to happen. Finally the officials turned up and they pulled out a card table- a sure sign that things are rolling!

The officials asked around to see how many were going to race and with such small numbers (1 E-grader, 1 D-grader - me, about 6 C and 6 B-graders) they decided to run it as a handicap style race and send me and the E-grader off first.

We all hurriedly got dressed, and then I and the E-grade guy assembled on the road where the marshals told us to “look after each other and good luck”, before setting the two of us to ride out into the soaked roads, with light rain falling and as near as much zero temperatures. YIKES.

Myself and the E-grade guy chatting a little as to set off, both rugged up with as much clothing as we could. I had on-
Thick merino socks
Full booties
I had the vent holes in the soles of my cycling shoes taped up
Leg warmers
Bib knicks
3 Jerseys
Arm warmers
Roubaix under gloves
Mitts
Thick polar fleece over gloves
Skull cap head warmer
… and yet I was still freezing!

We rode on getting soaked through rather quickly and freezing as a result. We agreed to work together taking turns on the front but on a long downhill I opened it up a touch and kept up the pace along the following flat. As I turned onto the side road I looked back expecting to see Mr E-grade right behind me, but he was long gone and no where to be seen. DOH! With no other choice I went into TT mode and figured I would ride solo for as long as I could.

The rest of the race was mentally very tough with the marshal’s car driving slowly a few hundred meters ahead at all times, and no one else to be seen. So I just slogged away on the soggy roads, trying to keep a good pace, with no one to draft or pace myself with, I had to use my speedo as a guide to avoid slacking off.

On the second lap about 1/3rd way around, I was turning into another road when my rear wheel slid sideways, giving me the classic flat tyre feeling, and sure enough upon looking back, it was very low.

So with 20kms to ride I figured the flat was a slow leak and I might be lucky enough to be able to ride to the finish. So I tried to move my weight forward on the saddle as much as I could to lighten the load on the rear wheel and I kept plugging away. However, after about 10-15kms, The rear wheel was bouncing under me with each pedal stroke and I was starting to feel the rim grounding out so I had to do SOMETHNG.

A decision was made, stop, dump my CO2 into it and hope it will get me home. So I pulled over, unclipped and went to pull off my CO2 pump from the frame mount, however with so many glove layers on, I couldn’t feel the Velcro strap and after 30 seconds of trying to grab the strap I had to pull off the outer glove from one hand with my teeth.

So I have the glove off and CO2 on the valve dumping its air into the tyre. The only problem is that now with the extreme cold conditions and the natural coldness of CO2, the pump stuck to the valve. After a bit of cursing and struggling I managed to get it off but now it was frozen to my glove! BLOODY HELL! Several frantic attempts were made before it came off, so I throw everything in my jersey pocket (inc my over glove), jump back on the bike and away I go. Whew!

Bike feels much better but I can hear the hissing of the air escaping straight away. Oh no! I struggle to get back into the rhythm I had before but the bike is at least rolling as it should now. The Marshals car had turned back to see what happened to me so I point down at my rear wheel to signify the problem.

As I approach the last corner and into the final 3 km uphill, I can feel the rear tyre is very low already and I know the uphill is gonna be shit like this. I yell to the corner marshal if he can see the pack behind me and he says “Yep! Don’t look, just keep going!”

As I turn the corner the rear wheel slides under me but I can control it fine and I am out of the saddle trying to keep the weight over the front. I look back and there they are. Damn it! Knowing I’m done for, I keep to the left, not wanting to get in the way and sure enough, with about 2 km to go C and B grade come past me as I am now just about rolling along on the rim. A few of the pack thank me for staying out of the way and a few say “well done” on my effort to stay in front of them for so long.

And then, I am last. In a matter of 50mts I went from first to last and it was beyond my control. I was pissed off but to tired to be angry. The sweep van pulled up next to me as I limped along and asked if I wanted to put the bike in the back but I declined saying I made it this far, I was going to finish.

And so I did, with PDL, Dave and Kathy cheering me as I crossed the line. I yelled out about my puncture as I passed them only to have Dave piss himself laughing about it (which at the time I wasn’t able to see the funny side). I rolled up to the car and all I wanted to do was lay down but I was so cold I was shivering from head to toe.

After the race in the public toilets, there was a whole bunch of us cyclists getting changed out of our wet clothes and we were all shaking with cold. My hands were shaking so much it took me a while to be able to control them enough to unbuckle my shoes. Damn it was grim!

And so that was it- my second road race and I was unlucky not to win. Oh well, lets see how I go next time. What doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger hey?

Im baaaaack!

2008-07-31T22:03:00.002+10:00

Firstly I want to say sorry (sorta) for being so slack with updates to my blog. I didn't know people returned so often as to know it was so far out of date. But I have a good reason for not updating, honest. And it doesn't involve my dog eating my homework either (not that I have a dog, but you know what I mean....).

So what have I been up to you ask? Well TONS including getting faster (MUCH FASTER), more races, setting great times on hill climbs, and several pretty big milestones I am pretty proud of. But as there is a fair bit to write out, I will just leave it at this for now with the promises that more is coming very soon (I have already written out 2/3rds of my first real post).

56km's of pain!

2008-05-03T20:56:00.005+10:00

Today I raced my first road race at Gisbourne South and it was hard, damn hard!

With the phlegm still clogging my chest from the cold/flu I have been fighting for the past few weeks, I was in less than ideal health to take on such an undertaking. However, I was determined to give it a go all the same.

The day started poor when I managed to punch myself in the chin while putting on my arm warmers at home. DOH!

We got to the start and I went for a warm up lap around the course. Up the back there was a nasty long hill which I found to be very hard work and realized that I was VERY down on power today. I wasn't "feeling it" as they say.

Sign in with slightly surly guy went something like this-
Me: "Hi I'd like to race D-grade"
Him: "Urgh... What racing have you done?"
Me: "I started racing just this year and have done a few D-grade St Kilda crits, but this is my first road race."
Him, looking at my license and his list: "Urgh.. you haven't pre entered"
Me: "I did send an email on time as was said on the calendar"
Him: "Urgh... well he's not here.. so I suppose you can slot in where blahblah has dropped out then"
Me: "Errr...ok"
Cheery chap indeed! :)

The race starts and I'm rolling with the pack fine. I fell back a bit on the climb but got back into the thick of it no stress until we hit the hill the second lap and I was dropped like a hot potato! Pulled back one guy but the pack kept getting further and further away each lap.

I ended up riding solo for 5 1/2 laps in the wind and would have paid good money for a wheel to suck.

The 3rd lap up the hill and my lungs were protesting big time. I contemplated pulling out but kept going for just one more lap... then just one more.. and another... and another...

Towards the end I saw another D-grader in a Melton Club kit ahead so I tried to aim for him. C-Grade passed me and the D-grader in front sat on the back of them on their wheels (which we were told was not to be done, using another grade to your advantage). As C-Grade seemed to be sitting up a bit and I was just getting a roll on I was unsure what to do- do I sit on their wheels or do I pass them?

I elected to do the second option, passing with plenty of room to not get in their way. As soon as I hit the front they all picked up the pace and passed me back up the following rise (with several thanking me!?), and then on the following long downhill, I passed them back again as I got into my aero tuck for the decent. I wasn't even pedaling (the only good part of being heavy on a bike), I was just rolling downhill!

Talking to Ian after the race I found out it's considered bad form to pass a higher grade like I did, so I will remember that next time. Oops!

Once again the C-grade pack passed me with the D-grader still firmly sucking their wheels so I latched on to them until the hill up the back again smashed me and i was dropped AGAIN! I was really hating that hill.. I really mean it. I wanted to kill it!

Last lap and I had Melton guy in my sights to give me "something, ANYTHING" to aim for. As I crested the final hill I saw Alison ahead to my surprise (I expected her to take the win) so I flew past her and Ross, hot in pursuit of Melton guy, but I wasn't quite able to reel him in by the finish line.

So I finished about 3-4th last and I think quite a few D-graders pulled out. Bloody tough work that course, not helped my my cold/flu.

Ended up back at the car, wobbly legs and all, coughing my lungs out while people tried to talk to me. Damn I felt crap.

On the course, I had several people pass me calling out "vidman!" and a corner marshal I know was urging me on to catch the back of D-grade ahead of me (no chance). Thanks guys for the encouragement. Next time- PUSH ME UP THE HILL DAMN IT! :)

I was disappointed to get dropped so early but happy that I fought the urge to pull out on lap 3 when my lungs were protesting so badly. In the end what made me keep going was (and this is pretty silly I know) thinking of the scene in the movie "Run Fat Boy, Run!" where he wont give up in the marathon and keep struggling to the finish. Meh.. what ever works hey?

I'll be back, hopefully lees phlegm ridden.

Above- Ross and Ian hard at work in C-Grade.

Playing with the big kids!

2008-04-28T17:46:00.004+10:00

After reading about the North Road Ride for quite a long time on the BV forum and even in RIDE magazine, it all sounded pretty intimidating. Stories of leadouts, breakaways, sprints and riding in bunches of 120 riders at 50+kph all sounded pretty hard core to me and it scared the pants off me.

But as I’ve progressed and gotten faster and faster, slowly the stories began to sound less and less insane. After reading that the Monday ride (the recovery ride) was run at a pace I knew I could ride, I figured I’d throw my hat into the ring and go play with the big kids!

After asking some people I know who do the NRR what to expect I psyched myself up to take it on for a Monday. Lisa was too chicken to do it so it was just me riding down there.

Riding down Chapel St and watching people come out of night clubs was an odd experience. Don't these people work? Down Nepean Hwy the power was out so a lot of it was spent riding in pitch black. Gah.. I REALLY must get a better headlight. Bit spooky at times.

Got to the BP at 5.35am after allowing way too much time to get down there. Had a guy on a Bianchi turn up not long after so we shot the breeze for a while and I listen to him drop the F word about 10 zillion times in each sentence.

Finally everyone rolled up inc Freckle. Caught up with her and met a few other BVers I know. Everyone asked where PDL was. I said she was soft and that I was sent ahead as a crash test dummy.

I decided to just sit in the back half of the pack to get a feel for it but we got split at a set of lights. Being the first one to catch the lights I called out “Stopping” only to be buzzed either side buy a few who didn't want to stop. They scared the crap outta me to be honest as they flew past out of the saddle either side at the same time sprinting!

Anyway, the split bunch hammered along at 46-50kph to get back on the back of the front group and just as we caught them- another set of lights! DOH! Green light and another race to bridge the gap and I took a stint on the front, however I wasn’t strong enough to hold the pace (48kph) up the slight incline and was soon passed by most pack as I ran out of steam.

We caught back to the front group again and cruised through to mordi with no stress. At one stage, a lot of riders cut through to Beach Rd via a shortcut. What’s with that? I don't get it... am I missing something here?

Back up Beach Rd the pace was between 32 and 42 the whole way (mostly low-mid 30's). It was easy to keep up, but I just wish I knew someone around me as I rode the entire trip back without saying a word (except for the usual "STOPPING").

Through Brighton there was another traffic light split and I set the pace for the split group back onto the front group again. THAT felt good.

Looking over across the bay, I saw the fog (or was it rain) moving in towards us and decided to not stop at Cafe Racer and keep going home to beat the weather. I waved good bye to Dillatante and Freckle and continued into the city via St Kilda road where a guy on a rattly MTB was sitting on my wheel busting his guts to follow me. I didn't realise I had a wheel sucker at first and thought my bike had developed a bad rattle. It was driving me nuts trying to figure out where the sound was coming from! LOL

Met up with Keely at the top of Collins and rode with her till when 50mts from my apartment, where I picked up a flat rear. Good timing!

Here is a map for the NRR route-
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/North-Road-Ride13425

King for a day!

2008-04-28T17:43:00.003+10:00

Since late last year, I have been riding the Maling Room Ride (MRR) with steady improvement in that time. I started being waaaay off the pace and finishing it solo without a rider in sight. But since then I have picked up my pace to the point where I can not only keep them in sight but even set the pace along the less hilly sections and finish the hills mid pack.

In that time the ride itself has evolved into several different groups (speeds) as the main groups pace has gotten faster and faster (up from an average of 26kph to 31kph).

But try as I might, I have never taken out any of the “points” along the route (we have several fun “points” sections to add in some spice to the ride, just like the Tour de France).

Until this day...

PDL and I started the MRR in our usual way, feeling the hills on our ride to the start and as always, wondering if we were up to it that day. There is something about those hills on the way that always makes us hurt as we are still waking up and warming up our legs.

After arriving at the start and taking off with the group, I was very pleased to stick on PDL and Silkishuge’s wheels up Canterbury Rd hill for the first time ever. Boy that felt great NOT to be dropped.

Along Middleborough Rd I was feeling good so I poured on the power up in an attempt to make it first up. However I dug TOO deep and by the time I got to the top I was 1mm away from blowing chunks. My guts were churning and I really didn’t feel great at all.

A quick recovery and I was back on the front with Silk, pushing a decent pace along Maroondah Hwy when that feeling in my tummy returned and I had to drop back off the front. I was worried that I was done for the day and even said as much to a few people around me as I slipped back a bit in the pack, but after about 2 mins of backing off my pace, I recovered and pushed on again, leading the way onto Mitcham Rd. Weird- one second I felt crap, next I’m pouring on the power.

Along Doncaster Rd and I was second, siting on Outlook’s wheel through the single file section. Outlook was going at a decent pace for a while till he started slowing a bit so I took the front to give him a break/draft for a while. It was then that Springvale Rd hit us.

I wasn't "trying" to sprint off, I was just ploughing along trying to keep a good steady pace up for the pack when the lights changed as I entered the intersection. Thinking that a good few must have made it through on my wheel, I looked back to see that I was alone! Doh! So I soft pedalled to the top of the hill waiting for the pack but with the lights STILL red behind me, I just decided to ride along at 80% thinking I would be gobbled up anyway. Plus my tummy was right on the edge of chucking the whole way so I didn't want to have the pack pass me as I painted the sidewalk, so it was a careful balance of speed v puke.

Somehow, probably a combination of my break away and their copping more red lights than me, they never caught me. Up Shoppingtown Hill I was expecting to be passed as its a heartbreak hill for me but nope! I took King o' Shoppingtown. Woot!

Over the top of Shoppingtown Hill I caught multiple red lights, but still no one caught me. I even descended down Elgar at an easy pace once again waiting for the pack but nope- no one!

Up Belmore I was spinning along at about 19-18kph when I could have sworn I heard a bike down shift behind me. Thinking that I was about to be swamped like usual I just kept up my pace and when I crossed the line, I looked back to see who was there but found no one as far as the eye could see. Cool. My first King o' Belmore (second king for the day).

It was about here that I was again very, VERY close to throwing up (no idea why I felt so crap today), so I backed it right off again, down to 12kph for a hundred meters or so until I recovered (again!).

Around the roundabout and over the last of the Belmore uphill, I started descending when, caught up with re-catching my breath and busy clicking up gears on the downhill, I looked up to see the lights just turning red and with me about to sail through them. I’m embarrassed to say that the light was far too red for my liking and I was cursing myself for getting myself into that situation in the first place. Bad vidman, bad!

Down into the King of the Valley section, I saw that there was no one behind me so I cruised down the hill for my 3rd "king" moment of the ride.

Turning into Belmore Rd and I could see some mice/rabbits (the slower groups that start earlier) ahead of me so again I picked up the pace, but kept getting caught by the lights every time I started to reel them in.

Up past Fintona School (a nasty steep bump in the road) I pushed again and took King o' the Bump (4th king!!) and set out to hunt down the small prey ahead of me.

I finally caught them at the corner of Canterbury Rd and sprinted down Canterbury to arrive first at Mailing Rd and on the edge of puking once again. Blarrrgh!

I was pretty chuffed to do so well, even if i DID have an unfair traffic light advantage. Still, I felt I rode the MRR stronger than I ever had, even with my crook guts.

Unfortunately, when I posted my ride report on the forum (very close to the above) as many of us do for fun, some people took it to be me getting a big head when nothing could be further from the truth. I know damn well that in a fair fight, I would have nothing for the usual suspects up the hills. All I would see of them is their blinkies in the distance. But for me, I felt I rode really well as compared to my OWN past rides. And for that I AM proud of my own personal improvement.

St Kilda to Portsea (and back) - 212km in a day!

2008-04-28T17:40:00.000+10:00

After doing many rides to Mt Eliza and back (116kms) and a Frankston to Sorrento and back ride (100kms), several of us on the BV forum were keen to link it all together for a St Kilda to Portsea ride in a day (200kms).

So one early Saturday morning, a group of us meet in St Kilda and set off south for our day’s adventure on the road.

Here are a few of my highlights in no particular order...

1. Riding back home on the approach to Princess Bridge, Lisa and I saw 2 guys in a punch-up on the footpath ahead, spilling onto the road in front of a car. Then a few guys broke them up and they both went on their ways (different directions).

2. Watching a woman on a MTB ride straight through a set of ped lights (red, dodging peds in the process). I yelled out- RED MEANS STOP... then as it was up hill, I easily caught her where I very politely started to chat to her about what she did, only to have her start saying sorry for doing it. All's good.

3. Riding along the rolling hills before Safety Beach and seeing the approaching rain clouds, then thinking about my complete lack of clothing for rain, I hammered it to get to Safety Beach before the rain hit. It was fun hammering the bike up and down the hills and noticing just how much stronger I was since the last time through here (Nov 07).

4. After leaving Safety Beach, I lead the way all the way to Sorrento into the headwind. I kept the speed at 28-31kph the whole way but as soon as we hit the first hill towards Sorrento I decided to "see what I could do" and put the hammer down. I had Percrime and PDL join me at the front and after breaking away from them at one stage, I dropped back to Percrime and taunted him to race me, but he wasn't taking the bait. Then, thinking I had PDL (and her hill climbing strength) on my tail on the last climb up to Sorrento I gave it all I had to beat her, only to turn around and see she wasn't racing me after all. DOH! It was good fun and plenty of laughs!

5. On the way back we ended up riding with a guy who started riding in 1949!! He lived in Rye and was just out for a pootle along the coast and then up Arthurs Seat!! I was so engrossed in chatting to him I didn't realized that Louisa had her road side incident until I was 1.5kms down the road and had to back track.

6. Yikes that big hill up to Mornington is a tough one. I can see why a lot of ATB riders end up walking it. I ended up plodding up at 12kph and was mighty glad to see the top.

7. On the way back around Sandringham, Commi saw the Spirit of Tas and wondered if we could beat it back to Port Melb. As we arrived at the finish point of the ride in St Kilda, we saw the Spirit just about to enter the dock. Lets call it a draw!

8. Leaving Frankston on the way back, Percrime took off at 40kph so Simon, PDL and I stuck to his wheel. Fun to fly along fast for a while but I then realized that Commi was going to be solo after Carrum so I pulled out of the speedy group to wait for him.

9. While riding down and seeing the turn off for Authurs Seat, I was itching to give it a go. What has happened to me that climbing Authurs Seat seems like a good idea?? Must be PDL's hill climbing prowess rubbing off on me...

10. It was very odd towards the end of the ride. My legs felt great, the lungs felt fine, I had a bit of soreness in the shoulders/neck but overall I could have kept going for another 50-100kms (with some food perhaps). Very odd sensation. Got home feeling fine tho it was the first time I had started and finished a ride in the dark!

Lots of miles and lots of hills- no problem-o!

2008-04-28T14:42:00.007+10:00

As usual, its been a while since my last post. But as cycling has become a steady part of my life, I have found it less "gee whizz" exciting to talk about each and every ride like I used to. Not that I enjoy cycling less than I did- not at all (I probably enjoy it more), but to ride to Frankston and back doesn't have the novelty that it once did if you see what I mean.

Anyway, Ive taken on some new goals since my last blog post so here is a run down of them in no particular order...

Alpine Tour of the Suburbs
Well, we did it! Matt and I rode the Alpine Tour of the Suburbs group ride!

But let’s go back to the start....

Earlier that day (that morning), the regular MRR ride was run and Mattyb from the BV forum missed it for several reasons. Being annoyed at himself for missing the ride, he mentioned in the forum that he was thinking of doing the Alpine Tour of the Suburbs as penance. As I had been giving it some non-too serious thought myself, i decided to jump in boots and all and take it on with Matt. *GULP*

So after some messages back and forth between Matt and myself and much “what the hell are we thinking” comments from the both of us, we decided to throw caution into the wind and take it on.

I was riding down to the start, wondering how many riders would be doing this ride, but as I approached the Guide Dogs entrance on Chandler Hwy, I was amazed to see about 20 + riders already assembled.

I pulled in and felt very intimidated. Lots of A-graders I have seen at the St Kilda crits, and plenty of bling bike and bling bodies.

I spotted Mattyb and rolled over to chat with him. We were both wondering what the heck we were doing with this group but figured that we made it this far, might as well see this through.

More and more riders rolled up and I counted over 40 riders just before we left. Wow... the biggest group I have ever ridden in by far!

Straight away on Chandler Hwy the group was split by lights and when the lights changed, we really took off to catch the lead group. "Oh boy, here we go" I said to Matt and the pack poured on a fair bit of pace, but we kept up fine and sat in the middle of the pack.

All the way to the base of Doncaster Shoppingtown hill, we sat comfortably in the pack at I have no idea what pace (I would guess high 30's?). Once at the base of Shoppingtown hill i knew this was going to hurt and it did. It's such a long climb and everyone soon passed me and evaporated up ahead of me. Slowly I slogged away and was starting to reel another rider in. I passed him and was starting to get some more momentum for the final climb when the Elgar Rd lights went red and stayed red for aaaagggggeeees. I asked the guy behind me if he knew the way and as he had only done the ride once and i had a map, he suggested we stick together. Good idea!

Finally the lights changed and we turned the corner into Williamson Rd and I was VERY happy to see the entire pack waiting in the slip lane. As I rolled to a stop, the pack took their time to let us slowpokes have a break which was really appreciated.

Rolling again and we set off down Williamson Rd which turned out to be a fairly steep downhill, followed by and even steeper uphill (of course). Out of the saddle and grinding hard but alas, I was last to the top damn it!

When we turned into Foote rd, i caught back up to the tail-enders and made up a bit more time down a big dip. As i flew down the dip, I realized that there were minimal street lights and at the speed I was doing, what ever bumps were in the road was just going to be a surprise! Note to self- must get better lights for these situations.

Turning into Hight St and as i began the long, long climb, a car passing us going the other way had it's drivers side window down and as he passed me i heard the driver yell out at us (in the dark mind you)- "Poofters!" All I could do was chuckle to myself at this comment.

High St was just one long, never ending drag. Up, up, up it went with no end in sight. Ahead of me was a guy on a very nice looking Orbea and I slowly closed the gap on him and passed. Seeing me pass him must have spurred him on as he sat just a meter back from me the rest of the way, both breathing hard, no chatter- just pedalling and spinning! At one stage when it was really hurting I had the following thought process happening in my head-

"Urgh! this is killing me... my legs are burning... the lungs are bursting... oh gawd how much further does this hill go for... maybe I could pull out... nah... I have no excuse other than softness... what about a puncture... that would force me to stop and even pull out of this madness... but I don't think there is anyone behind me to witness it so who would I be fooling... and besides, I still need to ride home... oh screw it... just stop thinking and ride..."

Back to Manningham Rd, A few of us were caught at the traffic lights including Matt who I hadn't seen for a while. Matt said he thought he was about to bonk so I dug out a handful of jelly babies from my pocket and handed them to him, and also took a mouthful myself. Mmm... fruity jelly goodness!

Just around the corner there was another regroup at the servo- once again, great stuff!

Off and rolling and down Maningham Rd as a pretty fast pace. A set of lights changed ahead and i saw several riders go straight through the red, with a few cries of "sheesh" from us tail enders. We stopped at the lights and seeing there was just 5 of us I commented to the group- "And then there were five" which got a few grins from the lantern rouge pack.

Lights change we all take chase of the rest of the pack, but the next intersection we caught them all and we all cruised into Heidelberg Shopping Center as one pack of 40+ riders. With the pack all together as one, I looked up Burgandy Rd and saw the monster that it is, looming in front of me. I motioned to Matt what we had in store for us but he suggested that maybe it was best NOT to look up. Wise idea! While waiting at these lights, I heard a guy mention to his mate that he thought a few in the pack would struggle to make it to the top which had to include me (and fair enough too), but this only served to spur me on. There is nothing like trying to prove someone wrong to make me push harder.

As we rode up the pace was manageable, but as the hill kept getting steeper, my speed kept dropping from 18kph to a low of 9kph at the final kick up at the top. The last pitch was really hard work but still I wasn’t last up the hill. As I climbed that last steep bit, about 3 riders slowly passed me, each commenting to me that I was doing really well and to keep going. Thanks guys, I really appreciated the kind words; I just couldn't spare the breath to respond! LOL

Re group again at the top of Burgandy Rd but I rolled past most of the pack looking for Matt, only to see some riders taking off again which suited me fine. So I was up the front heading down the hill.

At a set of lights I got chatting to another rider asking if this was the usual pace (I was expecting it to be faster) and I was told this was about average and that the regroups meant that it was a ride for everyone. I told him it was my first time and he said he that I was doing fine.

Along Lower Heidelberg Rd through the cutting, all of a sudden everyone took off, racing away into the distance. I tried to accelerate and get out of the saddle but the legs were lacking (to say the least!) so I just spun away up the hill, with the blinkies off in the distance (I was last) and car headlights lighting my way from behind.

Into Ivanhoe East shops, I made up ground on the tail enders on the descents and kept that speed up for the following uphill, passing yet more riders. I was surprised at my pace at the end really as I kept rounding up riders looking pretty stuffed while I was feeling pretty good.

I found Matt waiting for me at the Chandler Hwy intersection and he was stuffed and spent! I offered to drive him home and he agreed to that idea so we rode to my apartment to get the car. Whew! We made it! We were both pretty stoked to have done it! Awesome!

Stats
Average (inc a gentle ride to the start) = 27kph
Top Speed = 76.9kph
Total distance (door to door) = 39km

Will I be back? Sure will. Only next time I will bring Lisa along for a feminine touch to the ride (it was all guys as far as I could see). She will climb the hills at least mid pack and easily hold her own for the rest of the ride.

And me? Well I will just be happy to slowly improve my position in the peleton each time and not be the last up some of the hills in the future. It will come with time no doubt (and less weight might help too!)

Bring on the next challenge! :)

PS- Here is a link to the map of the route for those keen to try their hand-
http://www.bikely.com/maps/bike-path/Alpine-Tour-d-Suburbs

A grand week!

2008-03-11T12:31:00.003+11:00

Ah what a good week of riding last week was.

It all started with my strong rides on the MRR, followed up with a great ride to Mt Eliza again and finished off with a GREAT days racing for both Polkadotlisa and myself on the Sunday.

MRR - Tuesday 4th March
Started with the pack and stuck with them the whole way to the finish. No breakaway with the traffic lights after last weeks hammering I did solo, but this time but I stuck to WAK’s wheel all along Doncaster Rd as the diesel pounded out the pedal strokes. I contemplated trying to go on the front but I don’t think I would have been any good so I just tucked up in close behind and hung on for the ride. Hehe

MRR - Thursday 6th March
At the start I wasn't "feelin' it" and got dropped by about 20mts up Canterbury hill but was soon back on the pack down the other side. PDL was flyin' down the other side and after I passed her, the little bugger came back on me DOWN the hill. Wow... she has really come far in the last few weeks, she can climb, go fast on the flat for long periods, can now go downhill fast and her cornering is pretty good too!

On Maroondah I started to come good with the legs finally getting stronger. Squeaza is with us now and I note how strong she is riding. You GO GIRL! I was back in the pack about 10th wheel but as we crossed Springvale I was starting to work forward (not out of any plan, it just worked out that way). Then with about 200mts to go till Mitcham Rd, I saw Mattyb about 20mts off the front so I pulled out and made a run on him. As I went past I did a classic, look back at him as I went by. Ah, all those long hours of watching the TdF have taught me a few psych out moves! LOL

Along Doncaster I upped the pace into the mid 40's to start with and Matt came up along side me and he looked a bit stuffed. So I kept my cards close to my chest and pushed on forcing the pace upwards. Just as we came to Springvale Rd I was about 3 lengths ahead of him and I "just" made it through while Matt had to stop. As I went through the intersection I waved "goodbye" to the rest and then put my head down in anticipation for the solo ride of pain ahead.

All along Doncaster I was pushing at about 90%, in the 40's most of the way and hitting the low 50's at one point. At the bus depot, a bus pulled out RIGHT in front of me, forcing me to swerve out into the next lane (quick head check) to avoid him. Grrrrrr!

Up Col d'Shoppingtown I was hurting and was expecting to be passed at any stage. In the distance up the hill I could see the taillights of Kathy, Simon (Squeaza's Bro) and Mrs Blybo (sorry- don't know your name). At the very top of the hill I was caught by the lights which seemed to stay red for aaaaagggggeeeesssss and while I was thankful for the rest, I was impatient to keep going as I was aiming for KOM.

Lights change and down the hill I charged, top gear, in the drops, flat out! All green lights so around I turn into Elgar Rd and I’m cranking hard for max speed. Unfortunately I got the red light down Elgar Rd and I lost a ton of time there but I caught the early start group as I turned onto Belmore.

Huff, huff, puff, puff I went, all the while hoping like hell I had enough to get to the top first, but alas half way up, Jim fly’s past with Mattyb hanging on for grim death to Jim, about 20mts back. Matt laughed as he passed me, saying that I was "a bastard for making me hurt so much trying to catch you". As the KOM line was coming up I was expecting a lunge from somebody from behind to beat me but no one was in sight so I did the two hands in the air celebration as my first KOM podium (3rd). HAHA Ah well, small victories!

I caught back up to Matt around the roundabout and put the power down over the last rise. KOV was out of the question with Jim loooooong gone so I settled with 2nd.

Finally caught Jim at Whitehorse Rd intersection and with a bit of a run up on him, I lead the way up KoBump for a while feeling stronger up this hill than I ever have (even changing UP a gear on this hill which normally has e in granny gear!). Jim passed me asking if this was a "comp hill" and Matt passed me again out of the saddle, giving it his all.

Along the flat of Balwyn I gave it one last push and took the lead to get to MRR first! Woohoo!

Over drinks I was so tired I could hardly talk for a while. Just wanted to rest my head on the table. After a rest and a drink or two, PDL and I rode home feeling refreshed and very happy with our rides.

St Kilda to Mt Eliza (plus some extra pootling about) - Saturday 8th March
Nice weather with a few clouds to keep the sun from burning us while the wind was nonexistent and the overall air temp was “just right”. We started with a group of around 16 of us riding down to Black Rock. I stayed out of any sprint but turned up the pace after Black Rock as I ended up on the tail of a merging of what looked like 3 or 4 groups all mixed up. Not wanting to get caught up with any touched wheels, I upped the pace and rode around the lot of them which in hindsight was prob not the smartest thing to do. Ended up on the front and riding at a good fast pace. Then I looked up and “thought” I was about 500mts from Mordi so I really upped the pace hard into the high 40’s, low 50’s. One problem, I still had another 1.5kms to go and I ran out of steam, only to see the rest of the fast riders in the group pass me. DOH!

I had been riding with the front derailer rubbing a bit on the chain and it generally not feeling “right” so a quick fiddle at Mordi to hopefully fix it and onwards we rode. I was sitting towards the back, chatting when our group was broken by a set of lights. The front group slow pedaled to wait for us but Jon and Dez didn’t realise what had happened and didn’t want to ride slow so they went off ahead.

Into Frankston we rolled and I had Commi and his “MUST... BEAT... VIDMAN” comment as he passed me up Hopes Rise still ringing in my ears. So I picked up the pace more than normal or Hopes and just a the hill starts to kick up I jumped out of the saddle to really start cranking the pedals, only to have the chain start jumping about on the rear cassette. “Crunch-grind-clunk-thunk” it went. “Bugger” I thought as it made me loose a ton of momentum, but I kept pushing as hard as I could, even passing a few. But alas, I suddenly heard those familiar words passing me on the right- “MUST... BEAT... VIDMAN”.

We all stopped at Mt Eliza for a bite to eat and drink with plenty of happy chatter going on. These Sat morning group rides are always happy affairs with everyone in good spirits and new riders always welcomed. We had some new riders to the group turn up and I think they really enjoyed the company too (well I hope they did!).

After the break we all set up back and PDL said she was going to try and keep up with me down Olivers Hill. I sped off down the road back to Nepean Hwy and lead the whole way as per usual or a downhill. Down Olivers Hill, a 4wd changed lanes in front of me which forced me to touch the brakes a touch, but I still managed to better my top speed down that hill (and no, I’m not going to incriminate myself in public..LOL).

At the bottom I backed off and looked back, hoping to see PDL close by but I couldn’t see anyone at all. So I freewheeled almost all the way to the visitors center waiting for the rest to catch up.

Back to Mordi we all rode as a tight knit group in the low 30’s. But after the Mordi stop, it was the usual race to Black Rock for some of us with me leading most of the way. The second last uphill did it’s usual trick on me and saw me drop poff the pace and fall back several positions (mind you, we were riding in the high 30’s the whole way) but I surprised myself with my recover and I was soon back up to full speed and I closed down the 75mt gap to re pass Simon, Lisa and Nick. Nick responded when I caught up to him and we raced all the way up the incline to Black Rock with me slowly pulling away from him and taking the sprint by about a bike length. I raised my hands in the air in mock triumph and had a good laugh about it with the rest of the speedy group. Good fun!

We backed off the pace a lot after Black Rock, waiting for the rest to catch up and as I was on the front, I glanced back after a while and seeing several of our group behind me and plenty of other riders back as well, I wrongly assumed we were all on so I picked up the pace to about 32kph and kept rolling forward. As it turned out, the “rest” of the pack behind me were wheel suckers but in my quick head check i thought they were with us.

It wasn’t until we were back to St Kilda that I realized that it was just a group of about 6 of us on the front with the rest waaaay back. Sorry guys and gals. It was not my intention to drop you all. My bad.

W regrouped at the Old Beaconsfield hotel before riding as a group to Mart 130 which is a fantastic cafe located in Albert Park. There I had fantastic corn fritters with bacon, relish and sour cream. Superb!

After lunch, PDL and I wen around to a few bike shopped looking for new sunglasses to replace her broken BBB ones. Eventually found some really nice Shimano ones at Melbourne Bicycle Centre in Prahran and we headed home to make it 125kms for the day.

St Kilda Crits - 9th March
This was my 6th race and PDL’s 3rd but the big difference was we had both been put up grades with me now in D-Grade and PDL now in B-Grade womens (there is only Womens a and B grades).

PDL was up first and she had 6 riders in her grade. This race had sprint points through the race which are like mini races at specific points where they race for cash (first across the line on specified laps wins $$$). PDL was a bit thrown by this at the start but she soon got the idea, taking 3rd in the first sprint and 4th in the second sprint. PDL was looking very calm and relaxed in the race and there was a group of about 8 of us BVers all cheering her on.

Come the final lap and a few of us walked down the finish straight to cheer her on to the finish. Around the final corner and we could see her up powering down the far right hand side. She was pulling AWAY from 3rd and closing in on 1st and finished a VERY strong 2nd. We were all thrilled for her, high five-ing each other and cheering for her. As PDL came around back to the finish after her warm down lap we all cheered and clapped for her and she had a HUGE beaming smile. I grabbed her and gave her a huge hug. Great Stuff! And just remember, she has only been riding since August last year! She will be a champ- no doubt!

Then it was my turn to race. *GULP*!

For me it was a bit intimidating starting in a field of 33 D-grade riders and with about 40 B-graders also on the circuit at the same time it made for a crowded road at times.

I started out with the intention of just finishing in the pack and would have been satisfied with anything more than last. However early on I found myself surrounded by the DeVeer kids and finding them very umm.. errr... how do i put this- "skittish", I decided to just move up and away from them.

The pace was more than I was expecting, steadily above 40kph pretty much from the start and up into the mid 40's for some laps. I was sitting around 5th - 10th for most of the race and was doing OK but definitely working hard and taking any chance to recover where I could.

It’s only recently that I have noticed my improved ability to recover quickly and I was taking every chance to do this with the fast pace taking its toll on me.

Around the middle of the race, up the top of the course where there is a nasty bump across the circuit, I found myself much further to the right than I had been hitting it all race and just before the bump (which was bigger on the RHS), my front wheel skipped off the side of a sizable stone just at the same time I hit the bump, causing me to veer over to the right by 3-ish feet. As soon as that happened I knew I must have pissed someone off and the marshal told me down the next straight to "hold my line as I caused someone to have to brake". I explained what happened and he said "cool no stress." I would have looked back and apologized to the rider behind me but I was somewhat preoccupied at the time (you know, cornering, riding at 43kph in a pack, etc).

Somehow I ended up in second wheel on one lap and i was left thinking "how the heck did I end up here", so I slowed down and sure enough, was back in 7th in no time (they were all pushing pretty hard).

Last lap and I was about 6th up the final straight, into the corner I came around the outside but misjudged my line slightly in relation to the guy's line on my inside and I came a bit close to him (yep, I heard the cursing). However I truly don't believe it was any worse that what I copped through the race myself with riders closing off my line and having to hit the brakes numerous times. A few times I even had to yell to the guy cutting me off "hold your line", but I bare no grudges. It’s just a racing incident. However, having said that, I will make sure to take even more care next time just to be safe.

Anyway, final straight and I was giving it my all in 5th. I was truly expecting to be swallowed up by the riders behind me but surprise-surprise, no one passed me and I finished 5th! I was spurned on in the sprint by hearing the riders in 3rd and 4th both grunting and gasping as they gave it their all about 2 bike lengths ahead of me (off to the right). I even heard one say to himself "FASTER!" hehehe

Afterwards I was impressed to see that I hit 52.3kph in the final sprint! I think in my first race my top speed was the neck snapping speed of 38kph so that’s a HUGE improvement overall!

So I was totally thrilled with my finish. Waaaaaaaay more than I was expecting I was capable of and waaaay more than I was planning. I just kinda got swept along with the top 10 riders and figured I would see how long I could hold on.

Oh yes, almost forgot- RDK came out and had his first race today in E-grade. He sat towards the rear most of the race, moving up to the middle on occasions but when the pace picked up for the last few laps, he was spat out the back and finished off the tail of the bunch. However we were all proud of him giving it a go and gave him a rousing cheer when he crossed the finish line (hands held in the air no less!). Careful mate, they'll disqualify you for that!

After the finish of the racing, a few of us went for a ride down to Brighton to Startline Cycle Fashions with Sara, where she showed some improvement from last week and several bursts of speed up into the high 20’s on occasion. She really seemed to be relishing the improvement and I was glad to see her determination. On the way back (with a slight tailwind), Sara was sailing along at 26-28kph nicely. If she keeps working like this on a regular basis, before she knows it she will be able to ride all the way to Black Rock and back in the mid to high 20’s which is more than respectable.

So all up for the week it was about 350kms. Good stuff!

Moving on up!

2008-03-04T13:12:00.006+11:00

Well, we did it. We have now become cycle racers! Who would have thought it (not us, thats for sure)?

Polkadotlisa got out and gave racing a go and she did AWESOME (just like I thought she would). It took her just 2 races to score a podium in E-Grade (and subsequently bumped up to B-Grade women's) and I did as I had planned/hoped and took a win in E-grade and will now be racing in D-Grade.

Two weeks ago on the 24th of Feb, there was another Coffee Crits session where they teach women crit racing skills before the start of racing and after she completed that skills session, I talked PDL into signing up for E-Grade with me.

On the start line PDL was looking VERY nervous and I could fully appreciate how she felt having been through it myself just recently. She was pretty worried about her cornering speed and skills but I kept on reassuring her she would be fine.

As we started the race, the instructors who have us under control were trying to get us to do rolling turns. But this was a race dammit (hehe) and I'm gonna do whats in my best interests and so I stayed off the front. PDL however was encouraged to move up (which she did with an eye opening burst of speed) and she was left stranded there for 3 laps on a day with a pretty strong head wind up the back straight.

At one stage I moved up behind her and yelled out to her to "get back in the draft" but she didn't know it was me. Dang!

In the second last lap it was a friend from the BV forum Alison (Freckle) who was in the lead as we came up the back straight. Knowing how strong a rider she is I had a move in mind to try and work to my strengths (corner speed and quick sudden surges of speed). As we entered the last corner for the second last time I suddenly pulled out around Alison and powered into the corner as hard as I could. I kept the power down hard down the straight and past the bell (to signify the last lap) and at the end of the straight I glanced back to see if anyone was on my tail and I couldn't see anyone. WOOHOO!

I kept my speed up around the bottom corner and into the back straight where about 2/3's of the way up I hit the headwind and my legs said "cya later, I'm outta here". I dug deep and kept pushing but I was struggling and even had to change down a gear! :(

Somewhere around the last corner (can't quite remember), Ed (a guy I apparently inspired to give racing a go), went past me and left me for dead. I put my head down for the finish sprint and gave it my all and took out 2nd place which I was pretty happy with.

After the race I caught up with PDL and found out she was 3rd until the last lap when her legs gave up in the back straight and all the front group past her, leaving her with a mid pack finish.

She was pretty down on herself but considering she was in the middle of a energy slump after over training, it was her first race, and she spent too long on the front doing too much work, I thought she did awesome.

PDL was fine in the corners, she handled the pack racing without a worry and she looked a natural.

After that weekend, PDL was pretty intent on NOT racing the following week but I just knew that if she got out there and did it again, she would surprise herself and also wash way any negative self doubts she had after the first race.

So come March the 1st (Sunday) and we are off to the crit race and I had pretty much talked PDL into giving it a bash again. We both signed up and were surprised to see Stu (a BV rider) signing up for E-Grade also.

When I saw Stu there I thought to myself, "Well, there goes any chance for a win". PDL and I did our warm ups and before we knew it we were being called up to the line. All week I had been telling PDL to just follow me and NOT to go on the front unless she had a reason for it (to up the pace, or to make a break for it).

Race starts and we are under control as per usual. There is a field of about 19 riders with quite a few women and a few little kids (10yo's), and one guy on a hybrid with flat bars (I thought you weren't allowed to race with flat bars?).

Anyway, we are rolling about and all the young kids (I think 3 of them) are all yelling out to each other and I think the riders around them. At one stage one of the kids runs wide on a corner and goes around the markers and it told off by the marshals. Later on he did it again and was given a second warning. Dang kids! hehe
Good on them for having a go against us oldies though. In another few years these kids will be smashing old grandpa vidman as they sprint off into the distance. LOL

The flat bar guy was on the front which was fine by me. As long as I don't have to get my bars mixed up with him, thats cool. Slowly the pace rose into the low 30's and the pack started to sort itself out (flat bar and kids off the back, all the contenders up the front).

I sat in around 3rd/4th wheel with PDL mostly behind me. With about 10 mins to go, Stu made a break for it off the front. It was about then that Stu's question to me before the start was ringing in my ears- "Will you be chasing any breakaways?" to which I dismissed saying "Nah, its E-Grade, there won't be any breakaways of note". LOL

With Stu opening up a 50-75 meter gap, the guy in 2nd made a lunge for him but I didn't panic. I just upped the pace without going too hard. I have discovered that the hard surges to keep up are what hurt you- NOT the actual speed. So I moved up in due course until I was back on Stu's tail (3rd) where upon Stu started weaving across the road, wanting to get off the front. But of course, we all followed him- left... right... left... right... hehe

Two laps to go and I have lost sight of where PDL was. I didn't want to mess about looking for her to much so I just pushed onwards. Last lap bell and I was feeling good in about 3rd/4th wheel. Stu was back up the front and I moved up on him after the first corner and surged forward HARD into the 90 degree corner. My aim was to fly through the corner FAST and make a break for it (making my surge later then last week so I would have some thing in my legs for the finish).

I sliced through the corner a good 10kph faster than at any other stage during the race and kept powering on up the back straight. As we came around the sweeper past the barriers, I could see a riders shadow right behind me (I assumed it was Stu) and as I could feel the early beginnings of burn coming on, I backed it off to keep something for the finish straight, all the while watching the shadow to my left.

With 20 meters to go before the final corner I piled on the power again, accelerating HARD and flew through the corner, barely pausing to lift my inside pedal. I felt the tyres slip just a touch through the loose stones on the road works in the corner but I was un-phased and kept hammering.

Up the straight and I could hear people yelling and the commentators yelling too. I was worried that I would see Stu come past me but as I closed in on the line there was no sign of anyone either side of me. As I crossed the line on the far RHS of the course, the chequered flag was waving and .... I was alone on the road - 1st place! I did a fist pump in the air as I crossed the line out of pure joy! Sure I know its just E-grade at a local club crit but I was thrilled to have achieved my aim and to have ridden the race EXACTLY how I wanted to.

After the finish on the warm down lap (after catching my breath), I looked around to try and find PDL but I couldn't see her anywhere. It wasn't until I got back to the finish line and saw Kathy and Dave that I found out the she finished 5th (or so we thought). PDL pulled up and she was grinning from ear to ear and I told her that I won. We were both on SUCH a high- it was awesome!

Later on during the next race, we were standing around chatting when somebody said my name was being called out for the presentation, so I ran over (well, as best you can run in road shoes) and was given my 1st place voucher ($25 for Total Rush cycles in Richmond). Then while we all stood around talking, PDL's name was called out as being the first place female and that they had a special award for her. Turned out as the first place woman, she was given a voucher for free race entry and as she was given the voucher she was told she was up to B-grade womens! Wow! Were were a bit confused as it said 3rd on the envelope but assumed it was a mistake.

The rest of the day was spent chatting to friends and then when Sara turned up, we went for a ride with her down beach road to just before Brighton and back to get Sara back in the spin of cycling again after her break from it. Sara did great and she had the right attitude to it, gritting her teeth and showing some guts and determination when it got hard for her. Good to see! :)

Cut forward to today (Tuesday) and I checked the St Kilda Cycling Club website to see the results up (gotta see my name in 1st hehe) and low and behold, PDL finished 3rd and not 5th as we first thought. Turns out it was 2 instructors that passed her off to the side in the finishing straight. It was like she had raced and done well all over again to see that she finished 3rd, and we were beaming with grins from ear to ear once again. Great stuff.

This coming Sunday, I get to watch PDL in B-Grade womens (GO LISA) and then she gets to watch me hang on for grim death in D-Grade. I think she is in with a chance to podium in Women's B-Grade (prize money!) while I will just be happy to finish with the pack in D-Grade.

Can't wait! :)

PS- Sunday morning the 1st i did my usual weigh in and I'm now down to 115.7kgs which is slightly ahead of schedule to reach double figures by my birthday. My clothes are all falling off me (hehe) and I'm looking and feeling great.

Super-duper-quick update

2008-02-18T17:17:00.006+11:00

As usual I haven't updated my blog for a while. So here is a ultra quick update on the highlights of the past few weeks...

Amy's Ride
120kms plus the ride from the motel to and from = 130km for the day. Did it easy as. No doubt made easier by Kenny suffering from cramps and such, so we were slowed down somewhat.

Highlight was getting to chat to Cadel Evens as we rode up to the start of the ride. I saw him turning right in front of us so once we got to turn left I took off after him (he was pootling up a hill). I rolled up next to him and told him that watching him in the tour last year inspired me to get off my arse, buy a bike and lose 20kgs. He seemed genuinely happy to hear that and asked if I was going to keep at it. I said I sure was and that I was addicted. He said it was the same for him, becoming obsessed, and with that we went our separate ways. I could have followed him but I didn't want to hassle the guy. I just wanted to thank him for his part in changing my life and hope that my joy rubbed off on him in even the most tiny way.

My dad also did the ride (tho the shorter 65km route) and he did it fine. I rode with him till the turn off point and I think the amount of riders and their pace was surprising to him but I think he's hooked. I'll have to get him down to Melbourne one day for a Beach Rd ride one Saturday.

New Bike
After Amy's Ride, while I was organizing the motel payment, Dave took my bike for a spin around the car park and he said it was rotten (or something to that effect). This somewhat shook me up enough to go out and seriously look at road bikes.

That following week after testing a few and looking at what was out there for what money, BSC in Fitzroy had a awesome 2007 Felt F4 that they were clearing for $2900 and they would give me $600 trade-in on my Kona Dr Dew. Add in their great finance plan and before I knew it I was now the proud owner of a new bling road bike. Its awesome! It added at least 3kph to my riding everywhere and its far more comfortable to ride for distances.

I call it- "Black Magic" (yes I know.. corny as heck!). :)

Maling Room Ride (MRR)
After my first attempt of the MRR last year on the flat bar, PolkaDotLisa and I have been making the Maling Room Ride a regular part of our training every week. I find the hills a struggle to stay with the pack but I'm slowly getting there. PDL is easily the Queen of the Mountain (QOM) up Col de Belmore (Belmore Road has a 500mt long hill and its a race to see who can get up it first) but so far she hasn't quite been able to beat the really good male climbers to take King of the Mountain (KOM).

Racing
Yep thats right- I have started racing (Crits). Criterium racing is multi lap races around a street course usually around a block. The St Kilda club runs crit races each Sunday morning in Port Melb on a closed off course and they have a E-Grade for beginners. So far I have had a 4th (out of 30), 3rd (out of 15) and 4th (out of 20) and I've picked up heaps each time. Its nerve wracking and really hard work but I'm loving every minute of it.

Shaving my legs
Yes, I succumbed to the cycling fashion and shaved my legs. I looked around at all the other guys legs I ride with and the shaved legs do look better with the lycra and given that I am racing now, if I "do" come off, a lack of hair will help with recovery. So I did it last Saturday night. Six razors and 30 minutes later and they are like someone else's legs when I look down. Very strange! LOL

Stats
I cracked the 4000km mark with my combined cycling! My god that sounds like so much for my first 7 months of riding. But I am now reguarly doing 250kms a week so I expect to do 1000kms a month from now on. Who would have thunked it!?!

I have also now dropped 25kg in 7 months. To get to my first aim of under 100kg by July 3rd (my birthday), I will need to loose 0.95kg a week till then so it's going to be a close call. Either way, its great (although all my clothes are falling off me- very annoying).

I'm sure there is heaps more that has happened in the past month or so but those are the highlights for now. When I get around to it I will post some photos.

Ride updates- 27th Dec to 2nd Jan 2008

2008-01-05T13:08:00.000+11:00

Ok, this is the final of the backdated ride reports, covering 27th of December 2007 to 2nd of January 2008.

27th December 2007 - Northcote > St Kilda > Port Melbourne > Northcote
Distance: 34km
Description: Flat
Weather: Slight headwind

We took an easy ride in the afternoon.
PDL and I rode down to St Kilda pier where Lisa had a flat. Sheesh… I’m getting sick of these.

We rode back via Port Melbourne, along the bag trail and up under the Westgate to the Yarra and back via Southgate.

The ride was nothing spectacular, just a roll of the legs after a bit of a break from the bike.

29th December 2007 - Ocean Grove > Point Lonsdale > Queenscliff > Ocean Grove
Distance: 34km
Description: Flat with some hills
Weather: Very hot with headwind on the way back!

Today was a gentle training ride with Dad for Amy’s ride, with Sara coming along for the ride as well.

After setting dad’s bike up with SPD pedals and a computer, followed by a fairly unsuccessful lesson with the pedals against the wall, we took to the road figuring actual riding would be more effective. One minor cleat fall later and dad had the swing of them and we set off.

Riding towards Point Lonsdale was easy with a slight tail wind. PDL had a flat but being at the back, Sara didn’t look behind for a while and when she did Lisa was no where to be seen. I turned around and rode back and of course- she had a flat- again! Found a nail in the tyre and changed the tube quickly and were back on the road.

Turning right we had a small hill to climb and Sara was not dealing with it at all but she made it after some encouragement.

Stopped at Point Lonsdale, and then rode onto Queenscliff where we stopped for a cold drink in the shade.

Riding back it was even hotter with a section of road melting and sticking to our tyres.

I suggested to dad we take the short way home but after a miscommunication we turned off towards a hilly way back. Before we got very far, Sara had a meltdown. We all stopped on a shady, grassy spot on the side of the road and I volunteered to ride back and get my car to pickup Sara. Dad and PDL would wait with her then ride back once I arrived.

Riding solo, the headwind was really bad and the heat was a shocker. The road was mostly uphill and I was trying to keep a good pace up. I’ve never been so hot in my life. Every sip of water from my bottle was hot and my mouth was bone dry 20 seconds after each sip.

As I rode up the highway, I doubted Dad’s instructions as I couldn’t find Banks Rd where I had to turn. Finally I saw a sign appearing slowly from behind a tree - first the “S”, then the “K” and so on. Whew! Apparently as Dad was reclining in the shade he mused that he probably should have suggested the other route with less hills! Grrr…

Finally I made it back to the house and I was wobbly on my legs with slightly blurred vision. Lots of cold water and my head under the cold shower cooled me down, and Dad’s wife Judy and I both drove back in our cars to pick everyone up as the temperature was too extreme. As luck would have it, whilst driving back the cool change came through!

I was pretty stuffed for the day after doing what amounted to a 10km time trial in 38 degrees into a headwind, uphill!

30th December 2007 - Northcote > Frankston > Northcote
Distance: 107km
Average Speed: 26
Description: Flat with some hills
Weather: Cool at first, warming up into the high 20’s for the return trip

After the ride yesterday in the heat, we decided to go for a ride down to Frankston to get some serious k’s under our belts.

The ride started surprisingly cool and we originally intended an easy pace but once on Beach Road we found ourselves behind some guys riding too slow for us (27kph) so we passed them all, only to have then tag onto the back of us.

We kept up a good pace and as I passed another large guy riding just out of Black Rock. The other large guy picked up his pace to repass me, so I clicked it up again to pass him back! Take that! LOL! Then he turned off.

PDL blew me away over the rolling hills around Rickets Point then waited up and again blew me away again. Ah well, she’s just faster than me. I hate holding her back.

Our pace was consistently in the high 20’s, low 30’s the whole way down, except of course up Hopes Rise where I drop down to a paltry 10kph.

On the way back we tagged onto a Triathalete who was doing mid to high 30’s with a slight headwind. When I was finally able to pull up next to him at a set of lights I thanked him for the wheel and said I would be happy to take a urn but I doubted my strength to hold his pace up front.

At one stage at a set of lights, I had the momentum to take the lead but I wasn’t able to keep up a 37kph pace for long so dropped back again and wheel sucked. At least I thanked him. LOL

At Mordi, a guy pulled up and said- “you must be the famous Vidman”. Turns out he is a BV forum lurker and he said he recognised me by my bike. He said he really liked the BV jersey and was considering joining up and posting a bit so he could get one. Cool.

Heading back I suggested to PDL that she should just ride off at her pace so she’s not always being held back by me.

PDL was waiting for me in Black Rock, where she bought a pack of socks at Le Knicks. 5 for $10 - bargain!

The ride back was good, rolling together with only a minor cleat incident for PDL. Doh!

Back in St Kilda we were stuck behind a triathlete woman who was very tentative in making a move in the traffic. In the end, PDL and I overtook her and went past all the cars banked up at the lights.

Our average speed for the ride to this stage was my best yet at 26.8kph. Awesome!

Breakfast was great- had fancy porridge at the Grocery Bar which went down a treat!

Rest of the ride home was smooth sailing.

2nd January 2008 - Northcote > Williamstown > Northcote
Distance 40km
Description: Flat
Weather: Fine and warm

Today we rode to Williamstown to watch the Bay Classic racing and to catch up with some friends who recently moved down there.

PDL slipped her foot off the cleat and jarred her back 200mts from home which left her in pain for a few hours.

Down Footscray Rd, we pretty much had a lane to ourselves but once we turned onto Whitehall St, it was a single lane with semis thundering past us. Most trucks were good and gave us plenty of room but 2 trucks went by us with what felt like only cm’s to spare. One of the trucks freaked PDL out and she had to stop to compose herself. I stopped to console her but by the stage we were past the worst of it and we rode the rest of the way trouble free.

We stopped at our friend’s new place and then the 4 of us rode down for lunch and to watch the racing.

Saw a crash at the end of the men’s support race where the winner had a brain fade and he slipped and fell into the fence in the roundabout corner. Ouch!

The four of us wandered around the crit course as the women’s race was on. Looked like hard work with headwinds just about everywhere.

We watched a bit of the men’s race from the roundabout and then moved on to finish stage where we saw Cadel Evans and Phil Ligget commentating. Everyone had their camera out and PDL took a photo of me with Cadel (ok - Cadel was 10 mts behind me but he’s in the same frame as me! LOL). Too bad we only had the camera on our mobiles!

Riding home we took a slightly different route to avoid the trucks but we still had to ride down Footscray Rd where the noise of the trucks intimidated PDL again. I feel bad for her in these situations as there isn’t anything I can do to help her.

Back home on the Capital City trail and we made it home incident free.

Next ride- Amy’s Ride.

Ride updates- 22nd Dec 2007 - Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle

2008-01-05T12:58:00.000+11:00

On the 22nd of December, we undertook the Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle ride to donate food to the mission to feed the homeless. Unfortunately the weather wasn't so kind to us but it was a memorable ride all the same.

22nd December 2007 - Northcote > St Kilda > Frankston > St Kilda > Northcote
Distance: 106km
Description: Flat
Weather: Rain- LOTS of rain and plenty of wind!

Today was the Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle ride day hat I was a bit nervous about- would many turn up? Would it work as intended?

I started the ride a bit overdressed and I had to roll down the arm warmers to cool down before we even got to St Kilda.

In St Kilda, PDL and I met up with Commi and Mikeyp and we rode south at a swift pace till Mordi. PDL and I were felling pretty sluggish after the MRR ride during the week. Those hills took a bit of a toll on us.

I slowed the pace down after Mordi as we were ahead of schedule and had a stop to put on our wet weather gear when it started to pour. Damn rain, I’ve had enough of rain riding to last me a while!

We arrived at Frankston early and mum (in the support vehicle) was already there so we started preparing with dress ups and tinsel on bikes.

In the end we had 14 riders turn up- all keen to brave the conditions and with backpacks filled with food.

We started ride with thunder overhead and black clouds. The rain started pelting down on us and the wind blew us from side to side. I lifted my fist to the sky, shook it and shouted “Is that all you’ve got!” LOL

As we passed the shops, I threw chocolate coins and candy canes to kids as we rode past. I think I need to work on my aim as they bounced all over the place! LOL

We had heaps of drivers tooting at us and waving. We made plenty of people smile and it was a great vibe despite the prevailing conditions.

After Mordi the wind picked up even more as we were riding next to the beach. Kathy was really scared of the winds so she jumped into mum’s car (sage wagon- thanks mum) and we rode on.

Somewhere around Mentone we picked up Marcel and he had blinking lights on his bike. They looked really cool!

After Black Rock we made a change to the route to get us out of the wind and headed inland, guided by Rudolph (Mikeyp). We zigzagging our way towards St Kilda via shopping strips so I could throw out the lollies to kids (some kids looked really excited).

As we were getting into St Kilda outskirts, Mikeyp had a slow flat so we quickly pumped it up and kept going.

Finally, after the rain and wind, we made it to SHM right on 11am (perfect timing) and after some confusion, we met with Sally from SHM who showed us around and made us all feel valued in what we did. It was a nice feeling to give rather then receive.

After dropping off the food, we had breakfast in St Kilda and then I had to ride home solo (PDL rode back in mum’s car as she was too cold to cop another soaking in the rain).

Being just me riding, I decided to ride the whole way down Punt Rd. It was bit scary under Richmond Station having to ride in the middle lane but no stress other than one green Ford Territory who wouldn’t give me any space when passing me twice (what is it with some Territory drivers?).

Made it home before PDL, soaked through again and shivering. Glad to be home.

Later in the day I had to go to mums to pick something up and on the way out, slipped on her steps and bruised my tail bone and shook myself up pretty bad. Crap way to end the day.

Ride updates- 15th Dec to 20th Dec 2007

2008-01-05T12:40:00.000+11:00

More backdated ride reports including several wet and soggy rides to Sorrento, our first MRR ride and PDL's first crit pseudo race.

15th December 2007 - Frankston > Mornington > Sorrento return
Distance: 104km
Description: Flat with some hills
Weather: Rain, LOTS of rain!

PDL and I met up with Vicjane, Commi and RedZ61 around 8.00am and huddled under a shelter as we waited for everyone to get ready. It was raining non-stop and the flies were fierce (I thought the flies went away in the rain?).
PDL and I were hopelessly under dressed for the rain- no booties, no under layers, no rain jackets or vests. Doh! What were we thinking?

Up Hopes Rise and within a few km’s, Jane had a flat. A few km’s later Jane had a second flat and while waiting under the shelter of a servo fixing the flat, the owner comes out and tells us to bugger off. Nice! I finished changing flat in the rain and Stu rode past. We tried in vain to call out to him, but he didn’t hear us so Commi rode off to catch him whilst we finished off the flat.

We rode on and met up with Stu and Commi where Jane had her third flat (yes- third!). I helped fix it and gave her my tube so she could turn back for home (Stu had already 2 flats on the way down to Frankston).

PDL was shivering in the cold so we rode on, turning off for Mornington so we could get some garbage bags to make vests to keep PDL warm. They looked silly and felt icky to have the plastic against our skin (I put one on also- we wore them under our jerseys) but it kept the wind away from our skin and they achieved their aim.

Stu had to ride on as we were now so far behind schedule, so it was down to just the 4 of us. We rode on down to Safety Beach in pouring rain with water running over the road 3 inches deep in places!

Stopping for a break at Safety Beach, a guy hopped out of a car (with cycling jersey on) said we were tough for still heading out in this weather and I agreed. LOL

At Rosebud, RedZ61 had to turn back as we were running so late (he had a flat on the way home) while the 3 of us kept riding to Sorrento.

Riding past Arthur’s Seat, I pondered riding up it one day. I imagine it would make the 1:20 look easy. I’ll keep that challenge for another day.

Finally made it to Sorrento and stopped for late breakfast. We sat outside as we were soaked and dirty but this only made us even colder and PDL and I were shivering despite the warm drinks and food.

The waitress asked us where we rode from and after telling her, she thought we were very hardcore- damn right! LOL

Riding home apparently Commi and I had about 50 flies on our back. Damn freeloaders!

Into Mount Martha, I was getting hot in the plastic bag vest and tore holes into the chest area as I rode to try and cool myself down. Eventually, PDL and I stopped and ripped off the whole bag and we felt much better.

Back on Nepean Hwy I had a flat rear and had to wait for Commi and PDL to realise and ride back to me (I had no tubes now and no pump). I fixed my flat rear and as we were about to get going I found my front was now flat.

Now out of tubes between PDL and I, I borrowed one of Commi’s tubes and then found PDL’s rear was flat. We used Commi’s last tube (the 6th flat I had changed on the ride) and we limped back to the car - 7.5 hours after we started!
Whew! What a ride!

I spent the evening washing PDL’s bike and cleaning the drive train in preparation for the coffee crits in the morning.

16th December 2007 - Northcote > Port Melbourne > Black Rock return
Distance: 60km
Description: Flat with some hills
Weather: Fine, cool, headwind riding south

PDL and I rode down to Port Melbourne for the Women’s Coffee Crits today for PDL’s first crit. We got there a bit early with Sally (RedBike) turning up just after us.

There was a big turnout of Women for the coffee crit with plenty of nervous and apprehensive women standing about.

PDL was pretty nervous while I wished I could have given it a go myself. I will have to wait till I drop more weight and get a road bike. *sigh*

There were lots of nice bikes to look at all around me. I felt a bit feeble on my Kona flat bar next to all the nice road bikes.

During the warm up instruction session, PDL picked up plenty of skills, going around the corners faster and in the drops which was good to see as corners were her weakness.

I acted as a domestic for a few of the women we know, holding jackets, etc.

The women’s group was split into 2 groups- a leading group and a chasing group (PDL was in the chasing group). As PDL came around every lap, I yelled encouragement for her, urging her to go and chase the leading group but the pace was too high for her to mount a chase. At the end, PDL finished second in the chasing group without her even sprinting for the line. I was impressed. She even smiled for the camera as she crossed the line, hehe!

Afterwards we rode with Rey down Beach Rd to Mordialloc. We were behind some older guys at first who were all over the road and pretty slow so we eventually passed them and rode at a much faster pace, only to have them sit in our draft (it was a headwind). After a fair while of us leading the way we stopped at lights. One of the previous slow guys pulled up next to me so I cheekily said with a smile that he was “welcome to take a turn on the front” to which he replied “we were waiting for you to go up front earlier”. I don’t think he got my joke. Oops!

I wasn’t feeling it today so pulled out at Black Rock and sat down at Kennedys while PDL and Rey went to Mordi. On the way back they found Redbike and the four of us rode back to Pt Melbourne as a group for breakfast.

At home, PDL went and rode around the block to make it 200kms for the weekend. Nice work!

20th December 2007 - Northcote > Canterbury > Mitcham > Doncaster > Canterbury > Fitzroy > Northcote
Distance: 50km
Max Speed: 75.3kph
Description: Hills
Weather: Warm and humid with rain later in the ride

Full of trepidation, today we did our first Mailing Road Ride, arrived at the start a bit early. I was feeling like crap on the way to the ride, and doubted my ability to complete the ride at the groups pace.

We rode down Canterbury Rd and I was dropped straight away. Jim and Barry rode with me which was nice of them but I really hate being a charity case and holding others up. Gotta get faster…

We were just about to catch back up to the group at Maroondah Hwy when lights changed and Barry and I were dropped again. Bugger!

We finally caught up in Nunawading and rode with everyone till Doncaster where me and another guy were separated from the group again by traffic lights (damn it!).

I took off down Elgar Rd, clocking 75kph (which was a total surprise as I didn’t know I was going that fast), however up Belmore Rd the guy I was riding with (forgot his name) rode past me as expected and I rode the rest of the way solo, with no one in sight. The final hill on Balwyn Rd after Whitehorse Rd had a kick to it that really hurt. I finally limped into the Mailing Room café knackered and a bit wet.

Apparently PDL took Queen of the Mountain points and she impressed many seeing as this was her first MRR. Not bad considering she was a fair way behind at the bottom of Col de Belmore and had to close the gap and then pass up the hill. I think she is starting to believe in herself now. Finally! 

After a drink, PDL rode back to work but by this stage it was raining steady and we were wet and soggy.

Just near work we met Commi outside his work and gave him back his tubes from last Sat’s ride.

During the day I had to buy new socks to ride home in as my others were soaked through with no way to dry them during the day.

Ride updates- 1st Dec to 8th Dec 2007

2008-01-05T12:33:00.000+11:00

Continuing on with the backdated ride updates, here is a few ride reports from 1st December to the 8th of December 2007.

1st December 2007 - Northcote > St Kilda > Frankston return
Distance: 109.5
Ride Description: Flat with some hills
Weather: Fine with a little headwind on the way down

Today’s ride was an especially early start as Polkadotlisa and Sara had to be at Hampton at 7am for the first Cogs Girls session. So we were out the door at 5.30am in the dark for the ride down.

This was Sara’s first ride in cleats so that was also something for her to come to grips with, but she took to them without any problems at all. She’s always good with picking things like that up and she doesn’t have much fear either. Good for her!

I was a touch concerned with Sara’s pace after last weekend so I wanted to allow plenty of time to make it there, however at the top of Brunswick St; Sara got a flat front tire. I jumped into mechanic action and was whipping through it all in no time at all.

However when it came time to reinflate the tyre, I discovered that the CO2 canister was empty (even though I DID put in a fresh one). Ok, no stress, so I put in the spare one I carry. But wouldn’t you know it as I screwed the new canister in place; it let all the air out of it before I could use it. SHIT!

Now I had to pump up the tyre by hand- which seeing as this pump only has that as a backup option; it was a very slow process and very hard work. By the time I had the bike back on the road we were really running late so I sent Lisa off ahead to let the others know we were on our way.

Sara and I kept pushing ahead as best as she could go, but we copped every single red light! Sheesh!

Finally we made the meeting point late and I immediately borrowed Marti’s pump and got Sara’s tyre up to pressure and we set off to Hampton. Once again I suggested to PDL to ride off ahead to Hampton to make it in time and I asked Dave if he wouldn’t mind pacing Lisa (he seemed to relish the challenge).

We all rode along at Sara’s pace and I did my best to encouraging her along. Up an incline in Brighton, I gave Sara a push along up the hill with one hand, accelerating as I did this. Sara played a joke on me and stopped pedaling and let me do all the work. Everyone who was behind us had a good laugh! Yeah… ha ha! 

Eventually we made it to Hampton 15 mins late and there was nobody at the meeting point. I called PDL and found out they were 100mts away in a car park so we dropped off Sara with the group and the rest of us went on our merry way towards Mordi.

The group rode along in the high 20’s until Andy (53-11) took off a bit faster and I tried to keep his pace but I wasn’t feeling it that morning and I dropped back pretty quickly.

With everyone racing off ahead, Marti and I were dropped by Black Rock so we worked together towards Mordi. After one hill, Marti commented to me that I was a strong rider. I didn’t know what to say to that complement and said “um.. I guess?” LOL

Finally into Mordi, I was happy for the break as up until now my legs just weren’t feeling as strong as they normally are. So a drink and a bite to eat were well in order.

Several of the group headed back to St Kilda so it was just a few of us left- Ian (Parawolf), Dave (Percrime), Marti (Marti), Richard (rdk) and myself.

We set off south again in high 20’s, low 30’s and I was feeling a ton better. Along the way Marti turned back for home and it was just the 4 of us guys riding.

At the train crossing intersection, there was riders coming and going in all directions, as well as cars also going in each direction. There was a comic moment of mass confusion with no one quite knowing what to do. I got dropped at the lights and with one of the confused cars now next to me I apologised for the confusion, but they saw the humor of the moment and had a laugh with me.

I caught back up to the guys and we cruised along in the low 30’s, joining up with a bunch of triathletes with one guy in a futuristic looking Y framed, plain silver bike. I pulled up next to him and asked with a smile if it came with booster rockets which thankfully he took it with humor in which it was intended.

All along I was NOT intending to do Hopes Rise but as I came into Frankston I changed my mind and said I would give it a go (as the legs were feeling much better now).

I made it up better then my last effort and got to the top with a gear to spare and not trashed. Dave looked surprised to see me up as fast as I was and I gave him the “bike lifted over the head celebration” routine that he ribbed me about last week, except I threw the bike so high I ended up almost letting go on it in the air, LOL.

Back down Olivers Hill I didn’t push it this time with an easy 63kph top speed, then stopped at the Frankston visitors centre for a drink refill and dunny stop where there was the Peninsular Toy Run (motorcyclists carrying toys for disadvantaged kids). As I came in someone was taking a photo of the assembled motorcycles so I rolled past the frame and waved at the camera. Would make a funny photo and I just hope they see the humor in it (tho with digital cameras, they will probably delete it straight away).

Back on the road after a very quick stop and we set a whip cracking pace with Ian and Dave leading the way with Richard and me bringing up the rear. We were passing everyone riding along at around 38kph. At one stage Ian looked back and asked if I was ok back there (which I was, for the moment anyway).

Then we caught up to a bunch of triathletes and they picked up the pace to around 40kph making it a pretty impressive paced peleton (I think we had a few others tag onto the back of us as well).

With only 2kms to go till Mordi, I wasn’t able to match the acceleration from a set of lights one last time and I didn’t have the legs to get back on, so I backed it off to the mid 30’s and me and a woman who was behind us rode in together.

At Mordi, Richard and I were feeling the fast pace a bit and we were both intending on taking it easy but somehow yet again, we were racing along in the mid 30’s (with Dave and Ian disappearing into the distance).

As this day was the Sub Women’s ride, the road was full of newbie women and some were very wobbly on the road, so we gave them a wide berth for safety.

On the last hill into Black Rock, a fly flew straight into my throat, hitting my tonsils in the process. This was the equivalent of putting my fingers down my throat and I was gagging as it buzzed down the back of my throat. I dropped right off the pace and tried to cough the fly back up, taking mouth fulls of water and spitting them back out but I think the bug went down instead of up. Yuck!

Back on the pace again and I was working hard to catch back up to Richard after my fly moment. On the hill out of Black Rock, I was abused by the passenger in a boat towing 4wd who leant out the window and yelled “get out of the way ya arsewipe” to which I raised my middle finger and returned a “Fuck you too”.

Now back with Richard, the two of us were cruising along at around 35kph when Richard suggests we back it off a bit. I think I was to blame here; I always end up pushing myself hard despite my earlier intentions.

We kept riding along and for some reason we never really did drop our speed. We passed so many riders it was incredible as for so long it was ME being passed.

At North Road, Richard had to turn off so I was left to ride the rest solo. I glanced down at my average and it was 26.7 kph which was fantastic considering I had the very slow start with Sara. Man we were pushing it and I was beginning to regret it now keeping in mind the following days ride I had planned. Gulp!

Finally I made it back to Fitzroy St and Dave looked stunned to see me there already. Apparently, he and Ian were flying all the way back, so to see me just a few mins after him surprised him somewhat. While I was happy to take the complement, I’m guessing that I just had a better run of the traffic lights to account for my great time *shrug*

I found a seat and slumped down, feeling really trashed from the days riding. I wanted lots of cold drinks and food and FAST, but the service this day was rotten and even a bit snooty!

Breakfast over and we rode home via the city. While stopped at a red light on St Kilda road, a fellow rider went straight through the red light, and then he stopped to pickup something he dropped. As we came up to pass him, we saw him finish eating an energy bar and just fling the rubbish on the ground! Nice…

The rest of the ride was uneventful except for a rather massive incident with a 4WD which I will make a separate post about.

2nd December 2007 - Brimbank Park > up Calder Highway before turning around > Riding around Port Melbourne
Distance: 40kms
Description: All uphill
Weather: Strong headwind

I was very tired from the previous day’s ride, with legs feeling weary and weak so I went into this ride a bit apprehensive. There were very strong winds and it was quite warm; a bad day to be on the roads.

After a bit of confusion on the start point, we eventually found the others and 6 of us headed out, however within 3km we lost one guy with knee problems.

Onwards we rode into the cross/headwind and never ending uphill which sucked (for me). Out onto Calder Hwy and it was a non-stop incline into a strong head/side wind. I was giving it my all but was reduced to 15kph as the rest disappeared WAY into the distance.

My saddle was causing me a lot of pain. The centre of it had gone soft and was sinking in the middle. Eventually the combination of wind, tired legs and buggered seat saw me throw in the towel. I felt really crap for giving in.

Johan, PDL and I turned back for the car (downhill, tailwind- whew!), leaving just Beatmasterbee and Marc to go on to battle the conditions.

Despondent, I drove back and decided to get a new seat at Freedom machine (we were a bit early so waited in crap café next door). I think the café next door to Freedom Machine would have to take the award for the worst eggs I have ever had. Microwaved- yuk!

In Freedom Wheels I brought a new Specialized seat and it immediately felt better. I could feel more power in my stroke and a ton more comfort overall. I should have done this age’s ago.

We decided to go down to Port Melbourne to watch the crit (had no idea where it was plus I think we were a bit late). After driving about for a while, we eventually just stopped in the industrial area and rode our own crit course just PDL and I.

After a few laps, the heat, wind and flies got the better of us so we went home.

8th December 2007 - Northcote > St Kilda > Frankston return
Distance: 106km
Description: Flat with some hills

Today PDL was supposed to do Cogs Girls but she had been moaning all week that she wanted to get in a good ride and didn’t feel like doing Cogs Girls. I kept telling her it was her call.

We met up with the others at St Kilda and rode down to Hampton. Kathy and PDL turned off at Hampton while the rest of us rode onwards south. Suddenly as I was chatting to Commi, PDL whizzes past us. HUH?

It seems the lure of a long ride was too much for PDL and she changed her mind when she arrived at the meet point with Kathy and chased after us. LOL

Into Black Rock I was determined NOT to go too early for the sprint. I sat on Dave’s wheel as he increased his speed heading towards Black Rock and he knew I was there the whole way. He could have tried to lose me harder but he was kind enough not to do so. As he got faster and faster, I decided that this was the moment, clicked up another gear, pulled out from him and gave it my all to power past him and finally take out a sprint. Woohoo! I was so knackered after that sprint but it was fun all the same.

Arount Mentone, a bunch of riders passed us pretty fast with some of then cutting past us a bit close and silly. Then as we rounded a corner, we saw the aftermath of one of these riders crashed on the ground. He was getting up and had mates with him so we kept on going. Then as we came into Mentone, a HUGE pack blew past us very fast, must have taken them a good 45 seconds for all pass me. WOW!

Down to Frankston as we cruised along, PDL was trying to tap her bar plug back in with her hand, but she lost control for a second and had to lean on me to regain her balance. Nice work.

On the lead up to Hopes Rise, I urged PDL to chase down Dave up the hill and after closing the 75 meter gap she wasn’t quite able to beat Dave up the hill. She getting better and better tho.

Back at Modi on our return, we saw the Cogs Girls and stopped to say hi. While at Mordi, the Drapac Porsche team went past at a great rate of knots as a BIG group, followed by the team car all done up in team livery. Very impressive!

We stopped at LeKnicks and I brought a Caisse D’Epargne jersey. It looks heaps better than the plain red one and I was pretty happy to be free of the plain red. At last I can fit into a decent looking jersey and I wore it for the rest of the ride.

I was caught behind the group trying to cross the road, and had to work flat out to catch up with the group, which I finally did when they were caught at lights and I zoomed past (they didn’t recognise me due to the new jersey).

We all stopped at Hampton to catch up with Kathy and others for breakfast where I dobbed Lisa in to Warren from Cogs Girls re the coffee crits and Warren agreed that PDL was ready.

As the group left breakfast, for some reason everyone followed my suggestion about which way to go, where I made a total mess of the directions. Doh!

We stopped in at Startline and had a look around and chat to Liz and Caren. Liz was amazed at my weight drop.

Riding back into St Kilda, I heard a spoke break, so once again we all stopped while I pulled it out. Dang it!

Stopped at BSC on the way home to book my bike in for a service and replacement of the spoke.

Ride updates- 10th Nov to 25th Nov 2007

2008-01-05T00:30:00.000+11:00

Its been ages since I updated my blog so here is the first of several posts that backtrack on what's been happening. Some of it is simple point form while some is more detailed. Read on...

10th November 2007 - Northcote > Docklands > Werribee River
Distance: 83.55
Ride Time: 03:27:52
Average Speed: 24.10
Max Speed: 46.60
Ride Description: Flat, flat, flat!
Weather: Fine

- PDL and I met up with beatmasterbee (Andrew) on way down to the ride start where we had equal numbers of flat bar bikes as road bikes.
- The group was abused within the first 5 mins of starting the ride (for daring to ride on the road) down Footscray Rd.
- Along the way there were tons of stinky factories, green smoke, etc. We played guess that smell!
- Stu caught up with us along the way after changing his mind about his days ride and they riding in the general direction hoping ti catch us. Dunno how he found us- I would have been totally lost myself.
- The bike path was ok except for the annoying road crossings breaking up a good path surface.
- The path was mostly empty path except for the occasional slow casual riders.
- Eventually the path ended at Werribee River, where we boys relived ourselves against the trees. However with no toilet for PDL, we rode back to a servo so lisa could avail herself of the facilities.
- The ride back uneventful, but I did try to chase down Stu after he took off to no avail.
- At one stage, I found myself on the rough footpath and while trying to cross back onto the road, I rode over a sand patch and was lucky not to be thrown over the bars.
- Towards the end of the ride, the pa e picked up more and more, leaving Johan struggling to keep up.
- Back along Footscray Rd we passed heaps of cars into Docklands due to the road works. Love doing that.
- All back in the Docklands, we had a group photo taken for us by group of excitable women.
- We all sat down and had breakfast at Docklands; it’s always good to have a feed at the end of a good ride.
- On the way home I saw Saw 53-11 (Andy) in the city and yelled hi as we zoomed past.
- After the ride we drove to Le Knicks (picked up a second pair of bib knicks and a cap), tried on jerseys- still don’t fit me. Damn!

11th November 2007 - Northcote > Black Rock return
Distance: 53.30
Ride Time: 02:36:56
Average Speed: 20.40
Max Speed: 49.80
Ride Description: Flat
Weather: Fine, Practice ride with Sara

- Today was a test BBC ride for Sara.
- We did an OK pace all the way, the hills hurt Sara but it reminds me of myself when I started.
- Met up with an older bloke I met ages ago, so I rode off from Sara and Lisa to chat with him as he was trying to keep up with his group.
- After riding ahead, I dropped back for Sara to encourage her along.
- Later on, I raced off ahead to chase down some road riders on the long incline before Black Rock (did it easy).
- Sara bumped into a woman she knew from music course at Uni on the road, and I think Sara was happy to see so many women on the road.
- We stopped at Kennedys for a drink, then a look at LeKnicks (Lisa bought Bojour jersey).
- The older bloke saw us again as we rode up the Black Rock hill (I was going slow for Sara, wanted to race off to show I really wasn’t slow hehehe).
- Lisa and I raced each other along the flat for a little while- I got to 48kph but it left me stuffed.
- After the foolish sprinting above, I backed off and worked with Sara all the way back, stopping in St Kilda for breakfast at The Grocery Bar.
- After breakfast, we rode home up Collins St, a really hard hill for Saz but she never gave up. Good for her.
- In the end Sara finished the ride with a decent average speed; impressed.

11th November 2007 - Northcote > Boulevard return
Distance: 20.74
Ride Time: 00:57:15
Average Speed: 21.80
Max Speed: 49.70
Ride Description: Hilly
Weather: Warm

- PDL and I hit the Kew Bouli for an extra workout later in the afternoon after the mornings BBC ride.
- It was still hard work but I find the Kew Bouli a bit easier every time I do it.
This time I was able to ride up all the hills in the middle ring.
- Interestingly, I discovered I only use the brakes just the one small moment on the entire bouli.
- At the Richmond end we waited for Sally and Bryce.
- We all set off for Chandler Highway together with me leading the way down the first hill, but everyone passed me on first up hill. Bugger!
- I tried to keep Sally in sight but lost her half way around the Bouli.
Lisa apparently was keeping Bryce honest the whole way (she really is good on the hills).
- Rode home having done our first full lap of the Kew Boulevard (there and back).

13th November 2007 - Northcote > Boulevard return via Fairfield boatshed

- PDL and I took Sara on the Kew Bouli for her first time. Credit where credit’s due to Sara for giving it a go.
- An unknown rider fired a pretend gun at PDL and me as we rode up the first hill (he was riding down)- WTF?
- I stopped to wait for Sara at top of the first hill, where I was bailed up by the unknown gunman (a BV forum member it turned out). I was so pissed off after he talked AT me, that I hammered along the Bouli as hard as I could, so much so that PDL couldn’t catch me until the final hill.
- Sara made it all the way- a top effort on a tough road.
- On the way back we took the short cut through the Kew boatsheds and headed home feeling rather shite.

17th November 2007 - Anaconda > 1:20 > Sassafras > Skyhigh > Kalorama > Sassafras > Anaconda
Distance: 47.70
Riding Time: 02:21:27
Average Speed: 20.20
Max Speed: 67.60
Ride description: Hill climb
Weather: Warm

- There was a big group for this ride, with about 30+ riders joining in.
- I lead the way from Anaconda, with everyone treating me as the group leader (which felt pretty strange).
- We regrouped at The Basin where some riders were already waiting.
- Everyone (I thought) passed me within 100mts of the climb, leaving me with a long and lonely ride up (which I always expected).
- Along the way up I was able to pass just the 2 riders on mountain bikes.
- Sette came back down twice to me after reaching the top which just served to highlight my lack of hill climbing ability. *sigh*
- I finally made it to the top with no rest stops, so I achieved my aim for this ride (I still collapsed on the grass at the top though!)
- After a rest, we all headed to Sky High, where Louisa and I rode together at the back, urging each other along up the hills.
- I flew down a long downhill and turned off to Sky High (where several riders were waiting at the intersection, looking a bit lost). I was passed again up the hills, but I kept pushing up some really steep hills that had me in my lowest gear- ouch!
- Finally I made it to the top, where someone (an angel perhaps?) took my bike from me when I got to the top- thanks!
- It turned out that Dave, Shane and Richard took the wrong turn and went the long, steep way up to Sky High.
- On the way down, I was group leader again, leading the way down a very steep fast downhill with a sharp turn and stop sign at the bottom. You could smell my disk brakes at the bottom I was working them so hard!
- Back to Sasafrass was hard work again. Glad to make it as I was getting pretty weary legs by this stage.
- After breakfast in Sassafrass, we headed back down the 1:20. I left after most (I was busy jabbering to Dave) and I pushed all the way, finally catching and overtaking our entire (now smaller) group before the end. I was dubbed the “Red Flash” afterwards! Hehehe
- We rode back as a group to Anaconda in the high 30’s which was fun (a bit of a tail wind).There was HEAPS of fast traffic on Bayswater Rd; loud, scary, and not fun at all.
- We drove home stuffed and hot and sweaty, but it was a great day’s ride all the same.

24th November 2007 - Northcote > Hampton return + Bouli return + Brunswick St > Northcote
Distance: 71.35
Ride Time: 03:42:23
Average Speed: 19.20
Max Speed: 51.6
Ride Description: Flat + hills
Weather: Warm

- Today’s ride was a very slow ride to BBC- Sara struggling bad- not sure what the problem was.
- Lisa chain came off- again! Getting frustrating.
- Matt turned up with his new bike- finally! Wish I was on a road bike, but I need to wait for A- more money, and B. more weight loss.
- On way down with the group, Kathy and I stayed back with Sara.
- The group stopped outside Startline to wait for us (which was nice), but they then passed us straight away as Sara struggled up an incline.
- Sara was finding it harder and harder- and eventually we turned around and I told Kathy to go ahead and let them know what happened to us.
- On way back was I was buzzed by a big fast group and tapped on shoulder by a rider at speed. It turned out to be Andy so I waved hi back.
- Along the way we were passed by many of the fast 7am group.
- Back at the BBC, breakfast was back to normal after last months poor effort. Good.
- After breakfast, PDL, Sara and I rode to Spoke(n) to have a look around. Lots of nice stuff in there, and very friendly staff who even parked our bikes for us in the store.
- As we rode back up Nepean Hwy, we were was buzzed by a Wattle bird. Never been swooped before.
- We rode back via Swanston St, up past Melbourne Uni, and took the Rushall Station way to avoid hills for Sara.
- I really felt for Sara- she was just having a really bad day on the bike and she was crushed I think.

- After the ride we all voted and John Howard lost. Finally! Very happy.

- Later PDL and I went to do the Kew Bouli via The Pipe bridge. It was a steep climb and I pushed too hard and gulped too much water which made me feel sick.
- PDL’s chain came off two more times on the way back, so I cracked the shits and we rode to BSC to have it fixed properly.
- They could make it jump proof but it was a “lazy shift” (double click to move the big ring). PDL didn’t like this so we took their advice and paid for a Shimano 105 big ring to be fitted- fixed the problem and now shifts better than it ever has!

25th November 2007 - Northcote > St Kilda > Mt Eliza return
Distance: 116.31
Ride Time: 04:34:21
Average Speed: 25.40
Max Speed: 70.30
Ride Description: Flat with some hills
Weather: Fine with some low headwind on the way down

- A cool morning start to the ride.
- An idiot in car on Gertrude St screamed out at us as we were crossing the intersection (with a green light)- “FUCKING CYCLISTS” *shrug*
- PDL and I made the meet point with time to spare for once.
- The group was made up of- Dave, Matt, Richard, Rey, Katrina, PDL and me.
- Dave and I lead a fast pace on the way down. I tried to out sprint Dave into Black Rock but I still went too early but i beat Richard. hehe
- We kept the pace up into Mordi, where Dave took off, so I encouraged PDL to chase him down (she didn’t quite make it).
- We backed off the pace to Frankston, and we saw a woman in a group in front of us almost crash in front of us- lucky save.
- One guy that passed us had a Brumbys Bread jersey on and the back had French bread sticks printed to look like they were sticking out of the rear pockets- very cool!
- The woman who almost fell earlier, was walking up Hopes Rise as I rode towards her. She looked back and upon seeing me she started running up the hill in cleats. Very strange.
- I made it up Hopes Rise without walking for the first time. Woohoo!
- Apparently PDL passed Dave up Hopes Rise for a while- wow!
- Katrina made it up on her first attempt- VERY impressed!
- The ride towards Mt Eliza was hard work and my legs were a bit wobbly by the end.
- At the coffee stop in Mt Eliza, we stopped for a rest and I had a choc mud muffin served to Dave with a birthday candle for his birthday.
- After the stop, Dave took off so I pushed really hard down Olivers Hill to catch him and topped 70kph for the first time!
- As I was riding down at 70kph, a car slowly passed me and the kids in the back seat were all staring at me, mouths wide open in amazement; funny stuff!
- The ride back towards Mordi was fast and in the mid 30’s. After Mordi we were supposed to back off the pace a bit but Richard and I got carried away and we were sitting in the mid 30’s again.
- Dave and Lisa took off, from the rest of us and I was passed by everyone by the last hill around Ricketts Point, but I passed Katrina and Rey back into Black Rock, caught up with Richard and we rode the rest of the way north together.
- Into St Kilda I saw my average was 25.9kph so I pushed hard the rest to get up to 26kph (made it).
- Turns out that Dave and PDL had been waiting for a while at the cafe as they were really flying the whole way.
- I really enjoyed lunch as I was starving by the time I made it back. I really worked hard this ride.
- After breakfast, PDL discovered that some kids had cleared her computer while messing about- damn them!
- The rest of the ride home was uneventful.

Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle

2007-12-18T12:07:00.000+11:00

Well it's been a while since I last updated my blog due to having a ton of stuff to do and not a lot of spare time. For those who asked- yes I am still churning out the miles every week with continued weight loss to boot (tho the last 2 weeks its slowed right down- GRRR!) and I do have a summary of these rides tucked away which I will flesh out into a series of short ride reports to be posted soon (prob after Christmas when things are quieter).

However one important happening in my cycling life is the Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle ride I have organized.

The Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle is a FREE ride from Frankston Visitors Centre (Melway's map 100 A9) to the Sacred Heart Mission in Grey Street, St Kilda (Melway's map 58 A9), on Saturday the 22nd of December, 2007.

The Sacred Heart Mission's prime activity is to supply food to, and cook for the poor and homeless. To assist the Sacred Heart Mission with this ever growing demand for their services, the Sacred Heart Mission Community Cycle will be delivering food to the mission via the backpacks/messenger bags/panniers that all riders will be carrying with them on the ride from Franskton.

The ride from Frankston to St Kilda is a regular route for many cyclists and it is well known for its long stretches with few traffic lights, it's mostly flat elevation and its wonderful views over the bay.

Ride start: 8.30am, Saturday the 22nd of December 2007
Start location: Frankston Visitors Centre
Route distance: 40.5km
Ride finish time: 11am
Ride pace: Approx 22kph average
Ride finish location: Sacred Heart Mission, St Kilda
Ride cost: FREE! FREE! FREE!

All riders are encouraged to dress with a Christmas spirit. Leading the ride will be Santa and his nine reindeers with the rest of the group following. So wrap your bike in tinsel, or dress as an elf, snowman, what ever. Lets make it a fun ride! Even better- several prizes will be given away at the end for the best dressed, so make sure you hang about at the end!

Now, go do yourself a favor and go visit the website I built for this event. It's gonna be a great fun ride and a nice way to give something back to the community and to help those less fortunate than yourself.

So don't let me down OK? I expect you (yes- YOU, the one reading this) to join us on the road with a bag of food to donate. Even if you just join on for the last 5km- I don't mind. Just as long as you come along, have a laugh and share in the giving spirit.

Cya out there on the road this Saturday the 22nd of December! I'll be looking for ya (I'll be the one dressed as Santa).

The horses are on the track!

2007-11-23T02:03:00.000+11:00

Continuing with the overdue ride reports, this ride report is about a Melbourne Cup public holiday ride to Mordialloc and back.

The day dawned sunny, clear and warm. Heading down to the meeting point in St Kilda and the roads were extra quiet except for all the early morning race goers at Flinders Street station headed for Flemington in their finery. Polkadotlisa and I had a good chuckle at all the cashed up bogans (CUBs) dressed on in wanky suits with their collars up and tool-worthy shoes and sunglasses on. I weep for the future!

At the meet point the group all arrived promptly except for the rider organiser- Jane (vicjane). One rider I had never met before was an older guy John (fixie on the BV forum). He was on a MBC R1 bike that he had just recently picked up and Matt (commi) was green with envy (Matt was STILL waiting to get his bike). John was a bit stiff and sore from a recent crash and wasn’t able to reach his back pockets, so I was a little worried about him right from the start. Eventually Jane turned up and we all set off towards Mordi.

We had a slight headwind so we rode at a manageable pace of around 26-28kph, but before we even got to Brighton, John had to pull out with his heart rate apparently skyrocketing! We were all a bit worried about him but he assured us he would be fine so we rode onwards as he turned back.

At one set of lights, a few riders pulled up behind us with a car load of partying louts yelling stupid crap at us all. As the riders rolled past us they commented that “their not with us” which was pretty funny. Just what is it with some people in cars wanting to yell things at cyclists who are not in the way or doing anything wrong? I just don’t understand it!

With the headwind giving us some resistance, Richard (RDK) and I took over the lead a bit before Hampton to give Jane and Marc a break from the wind. Richard and I pushed hard to keep the pace up with everyone giving a bit of a sprint into Black Rock.

As we left Black Rock, I called PDL up so she could take her turn on the front but combined with the effort to sprint, her lack of drinking while riding and the rolling hills around Rickets Point, PDL was struggling with the pace and she dropped off a bit. We all splintered up over the hills but with some hard work, we all regrouped into the final flat into Mordi.

The tradition rest stop was pretty quiet for a change with not as many riders assembled. So the usual pee, drink and chat were had and we all headed back towards St Kilda for breakfast.

The pace back was really on and everyone was splintered up fairly quickly over the hills. PDL was a bit ahead of me on the uphills but I was able to close back in on her without going into the red zone too much and we rode together from Black Rock all the way to St Kilda.

Along the way we passed a heap of riders, some looking far fitter and lighter than me, and on lighter, faster road bikes than my heavy flat bar. To say I was pleased was an understatement. It’s not that I want to beat other riders; it’s just the fact that I CAN beat other riders that makes me happy. It’s a measure of my improvement and that is the best reward I can think of.

Back in St Kilda and the rest of Melbourne was just starting to wake up. We took a table outside the usual post ride stop (the Grocery Bar in Fitzroy St) and had our usual eats and drinks. Yum!

PDL and I talked about doing a group ride up the 1:20 and everyone seemed keen about the idea which would later on turn out to be a really popular ride (see later post).

After breakfast we all split up and went our ways. As PDL and I rode down Brunswick St back towards home, we were both enjoying the ride so much we just wanted to roll on and on and on. However a BBQ that afternoon was beckoning so we finished with a good speedy 72km of early morning riding under our belts.

PS- Later that day there was a horse race. Some horse won with a tiny guy on its back, much cheep booze was drunk, many a cheap polyester frock was vomited on and the trashy had their moment in the sun. The sport of kings they say… classy!

By the time we got to Woodstock…

2007-11-22T00:56:00.000+11:00

By the time we got to Woodstock
We were half a million strong
And everywhere there was song and celebration…
'Woodstock' by Crosby Stills Nash & Young

A few weeks ago on a drizzly Saturday morning of November the 3rd, three guys set off on a ride from Melbourne to Sydney in three days as part of a fund raiser called ‘Ride Like The Wind’ for the Starlight Foundation. With the route passing right by our door, we really had no excuse not to join the trio for a send off ride, so Polkadotlisa and I found ourselves rolling up and down the service road at 6am, waiting for the group to ride past.

The guys (and other entourage of fellow riders) suddenly arrived from around the corner right on time, so we took off up High Street with them. As we came up to the Westgarth Rd intersection, the group kept going straight rather then turning off towards St Georges Rd as per their predetermined route. This route diversion really isn’t a big deal, but it meant we now had to ride up the High St hill which for some reason I had always viewed as killer hill (yeah- this from a guy who has already ridden up Mt Dandenong twice- go figure?).

Fearing I would be totally dropped up the hill and knowing the guys were not going to wait around (fair enough, they had 900 odd kilometres to go), I really put in a big effort up the hill with no warm up to get the legs going and I was happy to find that although I was last up, I was well in sight of the group and was quickly back with them. Whew!

From High St we zigzagged to St Georges Rd and continued north. As we rode on, the drizzle started to fall on the quiet Saturday morning roads with only the sound of our breathing and chatting cutting through the silence. It was great!

The whole way north out of Melbourne was slightly uphill and with a pace around 28kph, I had to push hard to keep up. Somewhere around Epping, a group of the riders ahead found themselves running through a heap of broken glass on the road which resulted in one of them having a flat. With all the ‘Ride like the wind’ riders ok, we kept going, eager to help the guys keep to their schedule.

As we left the suburbs behind us and headed into the paddocks, the drizzle progressed into rain which meant the now country road caused muddy water to spray up from our wheels, leaving us not only wet but also dirty. Me- I loved it and was enjoying the whole experience, even though I was struggling to keep up the pace on the constant incline.

By the time we got to Woodstock (which was nothing more than a house and a roundabout), I said to PDL that I was done for the day and wanted to turn around. PDL also had to be home in time to go to work, so four of us (Marti, Dave, PDL and I) said goodbye and good luck to the group and headed back to the city.

Now with the road all downhill slightly, we kept up a cracking pace in the low to mid 30’s. I looked down at my bars as we rode along and it was covered with watery grit while PDL’s lovely new wool jersey was left with a great big brown dirt streak down the back. Nobody wanted to ride close behind me due to my tyres throwing a huge water spray so I sat up the front and went progressively faster and faster until Dave yelled out to me to slow down as I was dropping everyone. Oops!

Back in the suburbs and while rolling up to a set of lights on a 3 lane road (with no traffic), Dave was ahead and had pulled up at the lights taking the whole left lane. A blue 4WD had pulled up right behind him. On the lights changing, rather than just pull around Dave, he sat right on his ass, revving his motor aggressively, so Dave ignored the 4WD and held his line (as he had every right to).

Around this time I arrived on the scene and pulled up on the left of the 4WD wondering why he was doing what he did. I moved up to get the drivers attention and waved for him to just go around Dave (2 totally traffic free lanes next to us remember). The driver ignored me so I yelled to him and again motioned for him to just go around. This time the driver started hurling abuse at me and started to drift over towards me. I yelled at the driver but he kept moving over on me so I thumped my fist on the side of his car to get his attention. Next thing I know, there is 2 tonnes of blue metal swerving towards me, forcing me right into the very depths of the gutter. I unclipped as I attempted not to fall and the 4WD sped off (wow- now he changes lanes – dick head).

In hindsight, thumping my fist against the guys car probably wasn't the smartest thing to do but I was trying tell him off for drifting over me.

With that scare over, we kept riding south towards Melbourne with a few sprint points raced for on some of the downhills just for kicks which were great fun! Eventually we arrived back at our apartment having done a swift 52km’s, wet, mud splattered, but happy.

Yes I know - I'm overdue for an update!

2007-11-19T01:57:00.000+11:00

Before you all start pestering me to update my blog, I've been REALLY busy with work and I have been generally lacking in spare time. However I'm over the hump now so stay tuned for a complete update very soon. I promise!

It started as a dare…

2007-11-05T03:19:00.000+11:00

Last weekend was the monthly BBC ride. However with the Around the Bay in a Day ride just the week before, many of the usual riders seemed to have backed off. Its funny but I only just realised that while I view cycling as a personal challenge and I really enjoy pushing myself every week, for most people cycling is actually just a fun activity and they are quite happy to have an easy ride. I have to remind myself that not everyone’s as driven as I am and that’s perfectly OK.

Anyway, the BBC ride this month was split up into two groups- the 7am fast ride to Mordi and back; and the usual 7.30am easy ride to Black Rock and back. Being the limits pushing guy I am (hehe), I went for the 7am ride. Polka Dot Lisa wasn’t able to make the ride this weekend due to her working at the Illustrators Festival so it was just me heading down to BBC for the start.

After a late start (damn the snooze button!) I hammered all the way down via Brunswick St, Collins St, St Kilda Rd. I think I averaged about 27kph which wasn’t bad at all, however I missed having PDL along to pace with. :(

The ride down to Mordi started as a fairly easy pace as far as I was concerned. Commi from BV (Matt) rode next to me and somewhere around the Hampton area I piped up and asked the guys up the front if we could “pick it up a bit”. Opps... BIG mistake! Andy, Stu and one or two others took off like a rocket and that was the last we saw of them. “Hey guys, I said a bit faster, not 10kph”! LOL

Into Black Rock I did my usual trick of pulling out and sprinted at the top of the hill, only this time everyone tried to follow. I really MUST time my sprint a bit later. 1km of sprinting is a bit too much and everyone streams past me at the end!

As we rolled through the hills around Ricketts Point we spread out a bit as usual but we all pretty much grouped back up as we rolled into Mordi for a quick stop. Apparently we were only a few mins later then the uber fast dudes which was nice to know. It was warming up into quite a warm day so I took off the arm warmers. Unfortunately 10 km later I had wished I had taken off the leg warmers as well. I’m still getting the dressing for the temperature thing dialed in at this stage.

The ride back we all spread out a bit. My legs were feeling the fast pace down and I dropped off the pace in the hills. Thankfully, jmcleod waited for me which I really appreciated and we rode all the way back just the two of us. Along the way I noticed that his rear wheel was very out of true which upon making it back to the BBC we discovered was a broken spoke and cracking all through the rear wheel. Yikes!

As the day was so nice and sunny, BBC had moved the breaky outside, however the usual buffet breakfast was replaced with cardboard trays filled with an assortment of food. No fruit salad (wow, a mandarin!), no cereal, no refills of juice. Not impressed seeing as most of the foods was not low fat. Grrrr…

Over breakfast I was working on Matt re a ride up the 1:20 that afternoon. The night before I casually mention if anyone would like to do the Kew Bouli after the BBC ride as I wanted to do some more hills work and Matt jokingly suggested I do the 1:20 ride again. Taking the dare, I said that I would if he joined me. Matt was a apprehensive about doing the 1:20 but I nagged him until he relented. Oh I’m such a bad influence, LOL!

After breakfast a group of us rode to Melbourne Bicycle Centre to get Matt a new tyre and jmcleod some new wheels. 15 mins later and jmcleod wheels his bike out with a killer set of Mavic wheels (very bling!) while Matt has a new tyre. I brought nothing! :( Back at Matts place we fit the tyre and then ride over to my place to load up for the drive out to Mt Dandenong.

The day was heating up into the high 20’s and we were both pretty hot by the time we got to Northcote. A couple of glasses of Poweraide and a cool down, then it was into the Renault and onto the freeway to attack the famed 1:20 ride!

Because it was so hot and we had already done a good 74km’s of riding already, we parked right at the base of the climb rather than Anaconda for a warm up ride. A quick dunny stop and then it was straight into the 1:20 climb.

Matt quickly dropped me (just like I knew he would) and I pretty much did the same as last time, spinning in the mid 80’s rpm at around 11kph. It’s slow, damn slow, but any harder and I can feel my legs blowing out and my heart rate overdoing it. Last time I had to take 2 rest stops on the way up and my aim was to just stop the once this time which I managed to do.

As I stopped and sat on the bike catching my breath, I glanced down the mountain into the trees and there, about 50 metres down the hill in amongst the trees and rocks was a late model Honda road motorcycle leaning against a tree, facing back up the hill. It didn’t look damaged other than the rear cowling missing the top part and I couldn’t see how on earth it could have been ridden down there. I was worried that a rider may have crashed and somewhere down there was a hurt rider but I couldn’t see any sign of anyone. Another motorcycle was coming up the hill so I waved him over and showed him what I saw. He and his pillion had the same thoughts as me but unable to see any sign of a person, we both left to go on our way.

Now back on the road I only had about 2km to go. As I rounded the final corner I could see Matt standing at the timing finish line with his camera. So I rode towards him with one finger raised to signify how many stops I took. Next time- zero stops is my aim!

As I rolled to a stop in the small park at the top, I retained a bit more dignity than the previous week, and just sat down on the grass rather than falling in a heap. I was still rooted after a pretty hard day but happy all the same. Matt was pretty thrilled to have done it as well, giving me a big hi-five in celebration. He was hard to convince to do it before hand, but now he was rapt to have made it!

Both of us were pretty hungry after the meager breakfast at BBC, so we stopped at a café with tables and chairs out front and both ordered open gourmet burgers and soy chi lattes. Mmmm… it was good!

The ride back down was awesome with both of us flying all the way down. I lead the way with Matt right behind me. I think my top speed was about 55kph and it was a buzz. Approximately nine minutes of downhill is a ton of fun and at the bottom Matt and I were both buzzing! We packed up and headed back, stopping at Anaconda (Matt discovered he needed new brake pads) and a stop at Glenvale Rd to get some photos to show the steepness of the road (pics weren’t much use- I need a level and protractor).

After dropping Matt at home, I drove back home, but along the way, PDL called me to say she had just had a crash. She sounded a bit upset and shaken up with a few tears over the phone. I was really worried about her and said I would come and pick her up as fast as I could but to her credit, she wanted to get back on and ride home. I rushed all the way home, thinking she would beat me but as it turned out I got home about 3 minutes before she did. As she came in I was shocked to see how banged up she was- ripped clothing, weeping big grazes on her knees, shoulder, chin and assorted bruises and scratches all over. My poor polkadot was a mess!

I immediately went into nurse mode and helped get her out of her ripped clothing so we could wash all the wounds. It turned out that PDL got her front wheel caught in a tram track at the top of Brunswick St after some guy was sitting in his car with his door wide open, leaving PDL to ride out over the tram tracks. After hitting the ground and sliding along, not one miserable prick bothered to stop and help her. She was lying on the ground, bloody, with her bike in the middle of the road and no one gave a damn! One cyclist that was behind her slowed down but never said a word and kept on riding. What is wrong with people?!?

Anyway, PDL was pretty sore and lacking much in the way of bandages we drove up to a chemist to stock up. At the chemist, the woman there suggested we use the spray on bandages as nothing else they had would cover the size of the grazes. As it turned out this was the WORST thing we could have done. The spray on bandage was SUPER painful, leaving PDL screaming in pain. Never EVER use that stuff. It’s useless.

The next day (Sunday), PDL again had to head into the Illustrators Festival. As she had a lift already arranged she was right to go so I went for a ride with my sister Sara and Dave (Percrime) from BV. We met in the city and rode down to Port Melbourne on the bike track. It was a really windy day with the wind pushing up sideways on the road, but thankfully the wind was mostly at our backs so it wasn’t too bad.

This was Sara’s first time down Beach Rd on the bike so it was a new experience for her. Unfortunately with the crap weather, not a lot of riders were out so she missed that part of the experience, but it was good all the same. Dave and I were in super cruise mode with the wind pushing us along while Sara was doing fine also (tho still a good 8kph slower than I would have liked).

We stopped in at Startline to see Liz and then kept on riding to Black Rock. Sara struggled a bit on some of the inclines along the way and it SO reminded me of the first time PDL and I rode down this way. That time we stopped at Hampton and trained it back to the city as I was dead tired. So for Sara to ride to Black Rock without too much bother (all be it with a massive tail wind) was a great effort. We stopped in at Kennedy Cycles for a bite and a drink and Sara got a taste of the cycling culture of post ride café gatherings. The social side of riding is a great attraction and it was most unexpected when I started. Now if I have a ride without that part, the ride is really missing something.

Heading back was always going to be a tough ask for Sara. The head wind was so strong that drifts of sand from the beach were stinging us and we were being pushed all over the road. At one stage I almost got caught out by the gutter and only JUST unclipped in time. I tried to ride as a wind break for Sara to help get her up the hill just north of Black Rock but I just couldn’t ride slowly enough for her LOL. But to her credit she never stopped, even despite the wind and the hill. We rode on until Sandringham where Sara and I left the road to train it back (the wind was just too much for her and she had an appointment to keep). Dave kept riding on back to Startline where Kathy (Dave partner) was doing some training and I really felt for him in that wind on his own.

On the train as we traveled along next to Beach Rd we saw Dave struggling on. At one point the wind was so strong it blew his forward momentum to a stop and he had to get off. I really felt for him.

All in all it was a pretty tough weekends riding. I did about 74kms on Sat morning at an average of about 27kph, and then I did 15 km up and down the 1:20 ride, followed by 30km on Sunday with Sara and Dave. Sunday afternoon I crashed on the couch and slept for about 4 hours. I was stuffed.

Oh yeah- I lost 1.8kgs the past week. That made up for the previous week where I actually put on 0.1kgs. I'm getting there, bit by bit.

Hubba Hubba! How cool does my wife look!

2007-10-25T02:03:00.000+10:00

Lisa brought a pure merino wool jersey from eBay and it turned up today. We went on a short ride with my sister and PDL looked so good in her total outfit that I just HAD to get a photo of her (I took it while riding next to her).

As I said to PDL, she looks like she could be riding in Europe with a bunch of other hardcore cyclists. I would even go so far as to say she looks sexy in her cycling gear.

Yep- cycling has become such an obsession that I think PDL in the gear looks sexy.

What have I become... *shakes head*

My first 1 in 20 ride - a picture tells a thousand words!

2007-10-25T01:51:00.000+10:00

The sun is creating dappled patterns on the road as it shines through the trees and the sound of birds is the only thing I can hear other than my own labored breathing. I have been in pain for the past 40 odd minutes and the countdown to the finish rolls under my wheels bit by bit- 500mts, 250mts, 100mts and so on. My chest is burning, my legs are aching, the sweat has soaked through my headband and is dripping onto my sunglasses, my feet feel like they are on fire and my jersey is unzipped as far as it will go in an attempt to cool my body down. All I can think of is that next meter of road in front of me...

Man it feels good!

Ok; I’ll go back a bit…

The first time I heard about the 1 in 20 ride up Mt Dandenong, I thought it was crazy. Sure the pro riders can climb the mountains but we mere mortals don’t ride up such hills. Or so I thought. Then I read more about the climb and while it still sounded like hard work, I was feeling stronger and stronger on the hills and the idea of pushing my limits up such a climb sounded like a good idea.

Polka Dot Lisa and I drove the course one dull Sunday to see what it was like and while it did seem like a long hill, it wasn’t too steep and not unfeasible. “We can do this” I said to PDL, but she just thought it was way too much for us and deep down I think she was right. Then on one of our rides down to Frankston, I attempted Hopes Rise for the first time and didn’t get very far before I had to stop and walk up. At the time I was really disappointed in myself and the whole idea of riding the 1 in 20 was put on hold.

Then all of a sudden, my fitness and strength seemed to ramp up suddenly and I felt like I had a new burst of strength in my legs when riding. The rolling hills around Ricketts Point didn’t slow me down too much and all other hills that previously made me work hard, no longer seemed to be a problem.

Then, with the Around the Bay ride coming up and with PDL and I not entered, I figured what the heck- let’s undertake our own personal test and give the 1 in 20 a go. “We’ll just spin our way up slowly in a super low gear” I said to PDL when she thought we were biting off more than we could chew. And so, reluctantly, PDL agreed to give it a go with me. She calls my constant pushing of our limits the "Vidman School of Accelerated Cycling!"

Sunday morning I did my weekly weigh in after getting up. I discovering that not only did I not have my weekly 1kg weight drop, but I actually put on 0.1kg! Not happy, not happy at all!

We packed our bikes into the back of our Renault Megane for the trip out to Anaconda for a 7am start. We had never tried to get two bikes into the car so it was a bit of an experiment but luckily they fitted in easy with room to spare.

At Anaconda we met up with Ian from the BV forum who had done the 1 in 20 before so it was good to get a bit of a guide. Sunday had dawned hot with a hot northerly wind so it was less than ideal for us newbies to be attempting such a challenge but so be it- I wasn’t about to let a bit of heat stop me.

As we rode towards the mountain down Colchester Rd, PDL picked up a rear puncture. Damn those tyres are puncture magnets! A quick swap of the tube, a short burst of the CO2 cartridge and we were back on the road. On the approach to the official start of the 1 in 20, we climbed some decent looking hills and I was worried. My legs felt dead and I was hurting already. I doubted my ability to do the climb and I was feeling crappy about me lack of energy and my morning weigh-in.

We stopped at the shops at the base of the climb and had a breather. Ian had to take off up the mountain as he was running short on time so we said our goodbyes and PDL and I discussed whether to go on or not. After weighing up the prospect of how much physical pain I would go through to ride the climb or how much mental pain I would have to deal with if I DIDN’T do the climb, I figured the physical pain was the lesser of two evils and I would give it a go. Plus- given my lack of weight drop that week, I HAD to push myself harder if I was to keep on dropping the kilos.

We set off and ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurt. My lungs were working hard and my legs ached. I had to spin fast in a low gear as my legs didn’t feel like they could push harder for long. I was sitting on a pathetic 11-13 kph and at a cadence of around the mid 80’s. PDL was obviously doing it easy at my pace but she stayed with me to help me keep going.

After about 15-20 minutes I had to stop to catch my breath. Even though I had been working on keeping my pedaling and breathing at a steady pace, it got away from me and I had to cool off before I totally blew up. I staggered off the bike and sat on the embankment, breathing hard and dripping with sweat.

I took my mitts off for the rest of the ride up to help cool me down and that helped me a lot. PDL was concerned about me doing this climb but I assured her I would stop if I felt like it was too much for me.

We continued on and the road felt a touch easier and I was even able to click up a gear or two and my speed picked up to about 18kph. Unfortunately this easier section of road didn’t last long and I was back down the gears, plodding along at 11kph again. Riders we riding past me regularly and I felt so damn slow and crappy.

Another 15 mins and I had to stop again for a breather, only this time I didn’t slump on the ground. I sat on the bike and sipped water while slowing my heart rate down. PDL pulled the camera out but I felt too trashed to even raise a smile. Before we took off again I told Lisa to watch out for the distance to the top painted lines on the road and to go off at her own pace at the 1km mark so she could take a photo of me getting to the top.

Slowly the distance lines on the road went down- 1km, 500mts, 250mts, 100mts, etc. The view off to my left was great but all I could do was concentrate on my breathing to keep a steady pace. At once stage I rounded a corner and was hit by some of the northerly headwind. Gee great, as if the mountain wasn’t enough of a challenge!

Finally I made it past the official end timing point but there was still a corner and short rise to reach the top. As I rode towards PDL, I raised one hand in mock celebration but PDL was too slow with the camera and I was too stuffed to do it again.

I slowly rolled to a stop at the park, dismounted, found my legs were supper wobbly so petty much dropped my bike and staggered to the grass and lay down (well it was more like I fell down). As I did this spectacular dismount and lay down in the grass, all the other cyclists who were sitting around burst out laughing at me with one yelling out to me- "yeah that’s how we all do it!" I didn’t take offense to the laughing and comments as I must have looked pretty funny.

As I lay there, one guy asked "if I wanted an ambulance called", so I waved I was OK. I was too stuffed to actually speak. PDL walked over and asked if I was OK as she tried to stifle her laughter. She asked if she could take a photo of me and I just spluttered that she could do anything she wants for all I cared at that point.

Eventually I got up and sat with PDL. One cyclist said that "he was trashed the first time he did it too". I suggested he try it with a keg strapped to his back to see what it felt like for me but I‘m not sure he got the joke. PDL and I then took some photos, had a pee and made a few phone calls to work out the rest of our day. Even though I was stuffed, I was elated to have ridden all the way up. It almost seemed surreal to think I had ridden up Mt Dandenong. Woohoo!

The ride down was great for me but it scared PDL. I cruised down at around 45-50kph while some riders zipped past me and left me for dead. Wow they must be flying!

After a quick breather at the shops, PDL and I rode the rest of the way back to the car including a stretch with a tailwind down Canterbury Rd at about 40kph. You little ripper!

Back to Anaconda and after packing up, we brought some more tubes (where PDL was ogled at in her lycra by a bloke with his wife and kids!) and left to drop in and visit my mother and prepare for the afternoons ride with my sister Sara.

All in all it was great to have done the 1 in 20 and I felt a real sense of achievement to have made it up at a weight of 135kgs. Yes it hurt but I still did it all the same! My aim next time is to make the ride with only 1 break next time and then the time after that with no stops.

I know I can do it. I won't allow myself NOT to meet my goals! Its the "Vidman School of Accelerated Cycling" way! LOL

I wonder who stenciled this on the road??

2007-10-24T02:44:00.000+10:00

Last Saturday was the first Saturday in a long time that I didn't get up at the crack of dawn to head out on a group ride. With the ATB on Sunday and all the events in the city as part of the Melbourne Cycling Festival (because Melbourne just doesn’t have quite enough festivals…), no one was doing a group ride this weekend so we figured we would have an easy day as well and just head into watch the races and meet up with some of the BVers.

After the drama of PDL’s new bike breaking, she got it back but Shimano had forgotten to send back the spacer for the brifter. Good one! BSC didn’t have any of the shims in stock and said they would get some in, however it seemed they didn’t know of any part to fit the Shimano 105 brifter after all and they suggested we take it back to their city store (where it was fitted in the first place) as they didn't know what they had done. Now, why-O-why they couldn’t just call the city store themselves I don’t know but that’s Brunswick St BSC workshop for you. *sigh*

On the way to the race, we rode over to BSC in Elizabeth St and picked up the shim and fitted it ourselves (after getting the extra little lug cut off to fit right). Now if I could figure out the deal with the shim and fit it while standing in Elizabeth St, why couldn't the Brunswick St BSC workshop guys do it? Anyway, on the way down I MADE PDL ride in front as she seems to ride more confidently when she leads and low and behold, she rode confidently and without fear.

Once at the cycling course, we rode a lap of the botanical gardens on the closed roads, which was really nice. As we rode up Anderson St, we stopped to take a photo of the HTFU stencil spray painted on the road. Hmm… I wonder who did that?? After stopping on Anderson St, PDL and I ended up racing each other to the top and as usual, PDL beat me but not by as big an amount and she used to. I’m getting there!

While wandering around the start finish area, checking out all the riders and their oh so trick bikes, PDL decided to enter a race and she won in a mass sprint finish! Ah… comedy gold!
Next we bumped into Richard and Meggles from the BV forum and then as we returned to Anderson St for the TT we met Freckle and her partner. We also saw Weg across the road and waved from a distance (well, actually I didn't see her but PDL did). We caught up with Kathy and Dave on Anderson St and then saw Kenneth and a cast of many other BV’ers. It's nice to be able to go to a big event like this and randomly meet up with so many people we know.

It was fun watching the TT riders fly down the hill for a while but it was watching them punish themselves going back up that was the fun bit. We all shouted encouragement to them and Stuart O'Grady got the biggest cheer. I just wish there was a big crowd with cow bells, air horns, flags waving and devils- just like they do on the Alp d’Huez”!

After the race we all rolled over to the bar for a drink and chat with more BVers and then left to go do the Kew Bouli, this time starting from the Richmond end.

To get to the Kew Bouli we had to ride down Swan St which was jam packed with cars. PDL rode through the mayhem with ease and zero stress. She was riding like a champ.

The start of Kew Bouli was riding up the big uphill climb and I was hurting. On the downhill I flew past PDL but she just caught back up to me on the next uphill which we repeated several times until PDL rode out of range (I think she picked up her downhill speed a bit).

I’m not sure but the Bouli seemed that much harder in this direction. Eventually we turned off at the track that goes down to the Fairfield Boathouse to avoid the Chandler Hwy bridge and boy that trail was interesting! Not only was is steep but it also had a series of narrow switchbacks, one after another!

By the time we made it across the bridge, PDL was feeling good about herself and her riding that day. She rode confidently in traffic; she rode the hills well and even picked up a bit of speed without feeling out of control. The smile on her face was unwipeable. Good stuff.

The following day we had planned to attempt the 1:20 ride up Mt Dandenong. I am expecting to be very slow but I think it’s doable *fingers crossed*.

Mofo snakes on a bike!

2007-10-24T01:46:00.000+10:00

Last week after work on Thursday, Sara dropped over after work to go for a ride with me. I suggested it to her to help keep her rolling along and Sara seemed to appreciate it.

Once we got sorted and ready to go, there wasn’t a whole heap of sunlight left but have lights will ride! We decided to follow the Merri Creek path as we had not ridden that way yet. Dropping down onto the path at High St the path was a bit of a surprise. The trees and creek crossings made it feel like we were a million miles away from the city and it was cool and refreshing.

As we passed under the Heidelberg Rd bridge, the path took an unexpected uphill so I jumped out of the saddle and worked the pedals hard to climb my way to the top. The light was low so my vision was less than optimal so as I approached a stick on the ground half way up the hill, it was something of a surprise to see the stick was in fact a SNAKE (see image above, note- not actual snake LOL)!

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of creepy crawlies, snakes and spiders so to say I was surprised was an understatement! I swerved suddenly around the snake, freaked that it would rear up and bite me. As I was moving pretty slowly at this stage I almost lost my balance but I kept it together and rode on past as fast as I could. I yelled out a warning to Sara and stopped at the top. Sara was able to keep pedaling till just past the snake where she got off and walked to the top. Whew, that was a bit of a scare for both of us.

We rode on along the path and wouldn’t you know it- there was a sign warning of snakes. Pity they didn’t have that sign up earlier! LOL We turned across the creek towards the Fairfield Boathouse to make it a loop. Both of us rode cautiously and kept our eyes open for more snakes. Strangely enough, in the dim light on pretty isolated tracks in the park, there were several single women walking in the dark with their iPods on. I don’t like to be paranoid but that seems like a bit of a risky thing to do.

Along the way I chatted to Sara about her getting some knicks and she was starting to get used to the idea. I think it’s just the initial idea of lycra that freaks most people out until they get out with other riders and see that its not all that bad. We crossed over Heidelberg Rd onto Westgarth Rd and cruised back home for a nice quick spin.

Neat-O!

I'm proud of my sister!

2007-10-23T03:31:00.000+10:00

It seems that lately my ride reports have been more about the people and bikes around me more than myself, but I suppose that’s a sign of my own riding with less fuss and stress. The hills seem smaller and the pace seems easier to do. It’s all starting to feel more of a pootle and less of a struggle to keep up. And even though the incidents are not happening TO me, they are having an impact on my cycling life so here they end up, as posts on my blog.

So once again I have a ride report that’s more about someone else, this time my sister Sara.

As mentioned in my post about Polka Dot Lisa's scary first ride on her new bike, Sara has started cycling with PDL’s previous bike- the Kona Dew Delux. So for Sara’s first ride, our aim was to start her of gently on a bike track by riding down to the Docklands and beyond.

After fitting the bike up for Sara and getting her set up to ride (Lisa’s old helmet which used to be my helmet) we set off. A few laps of the side street to get comfy with the bike and get a feel for the brakes and gears and off we went. PDL was also keen to go for a ride to try and shake off her fears from the day before.

The sun was out and it was a nice day. I rode in short sleeves and it felt nice to feel the breeze against my arms for a change. PDL had on her new Castelli long sleeve jersey with no gillete and she REALLY looked good in her outfit.

Straight away I could see that Sara was awfully slow and it was hard not to streak away from her. Sara hadn’t been on a bike for a LONG time and it showed, but to her credit she showed no real signs of nervousness and seemed pretty confidant despite her lack of fitness or speed. In fact she was even able to reach down and take the drink bottle as she rode almost straight away.

The first hill we hit was the rise after the underpass under Royal Parade and straight away Sara was hurting (she said “Ouch!” as she hit started to climb! LOL). I rode with her and told her to change down gears and spin rather than grind the gears. Eventually she made it and we stopped for a second as Sara caught her breath. Its funny but I can remember my first time down this path and struggling up the same hill, stopping to catch my breath at the top and thinking how unfit I was. My how things change fast!

As we approached Docklands we had to ride along a multi-lane road and cross over 4 lanes of traffic to make a right hand turn. Sara and PDL both followed me with no stress and Sara in particular was totally un-phased about riding on the road.

A quick stop for a drink and bite and we headed off towards Southbank. As I rounded a corner there was a dad with his 10yo daughter on bikes and of course the daughter wobbled straight into my path as I was just a few meters away from her (she wasn’t looking where she was going *sigh*). A slam of the brakes and an emergency unclip saw me come to a stop. The girl looked shocked so I said in a calm but forcible way, “You have to look out for other cyclists” and I then rode off. Sara and PDL who were behind me heard the dad’s response which was to say “well you’re riding awfully fast”. Good one dad, your daughter learnt nothing from that incident, did she?

We rode along the light rail trail to Southbank where we dodged peds on our way to the Yarra trail. Along the Southbank precinct I worked at riding to the 10kph speed limit and boy is was slow- stupidly slow. In front of me at one stage was a man in a motorized wheelchair and even he was doing 11kph. Passing the Hun building, I mentally gave them the finger and that made me feel good.

As we rode past Burnley I gave Sara the option to turn off there and ride back via the roads or keep following the path (the longer way) but she seemed keen to keep going and she was enjoying the ride even tho her backside was hurting.

Approaching Bridge Rd we decided that we had better hightail it home on the main roads as it was getting dark and none of us had brought lights with us except for the rear lights on mine and Sara’s bike. To get up to Bridge Rd from the bike path there was a super steep section of path that ended in steps, but remembering this bit from when I was a kid living in Richmond, I dropped down to my lowest gear and got up on the pedals and rode up as far as the steps. As it was so steep I almost had an incident unclipping but saved it JUST in time. Whew! PDL and Sara walked up and PDL didn’t believe that I rode up. It took much convincing to get her to belive me that I made it that far. Sheesh…

On Bridge Rd and up Burnley Rd, PDL lead the way with Sara in the middle and be behind offering encouragement (she was getting tired at this stage). PDL preferred the ride on the roads and she was starting to feel more comfy on the bike. To me she looked really good on the bike, pedaling very smoothly, riding wobble free and dealing with the traffic fine.

The climb up the hill to Queens Parade was a real struggle for Sara. I sat behind her and told her what gears to press and gave her encouragement to help her keep going. Eventually we made it home and she pumped the air in celebration of completing the ride which turned out to be exactly 30km. Sara said she felt like she had just won a race and I was proud of her. 30km's for a first ride is pretty darn good!

I was pretty surprised that she wanted to go on that far and that she even managed to make it all the way without once walking the bike up a hill. She was sore after the ride but she loved every minute of it. PDL also benefited from the ride as it helped wash away the previous day’s bad experience.

We ended the day by watching the classic cycling movie- “Breaking Away” which inspired me to want to try racing criterion's one day. I can still remember the first time I saw that movie as a 10yo with my parents. At the end when the hero wins the race, the whole cinema cheered out loud. Awesome stuff!

The new bike blues...

2007-10-22T01:20:00.000+10:00

If you have been reading the posts in chronological order, you will know that this post will be about Polka Dot Lisa and my ride to Frankston with the BV group.

We started the day with our usual trip to St Kilda via Collins St. As we set off PDL was really feeling unsure about the bike and she was super nervous. So as we rode down to St Kilda I sat on her wheel just to the right of her to act as a kind of protection for her. However PDL was just really in a bad frame of mind the whole way, eventually coming to a head on St Kilda Rd. I had to pull over and comfort her and assure she was doing fine but it didn’t seem to help much. Eventually PDL calmed down a bit and we made our way to the meeting point, a bit late.

As we rode down Beaconsfield Pde, PDL’s front derailer was rattling as she rode on the small front ring and the small back ring. I suggested she give the derailer a slight adjustment but it didn’t do anything. So once we pulled up at the meet point (and with everyone eager to see PDL’s new bike) we asked for some help to adjust the front derailer. Dave jumped in to give us a hand while everyone else patiently waited for us as they got cold (sorry all).

After a bit of fiddling about we discovered that the front derailer brifter was not working at all, so we left it in the small front ring and took off for Frankston.

The pace south was gentle and Dave and I rode together while Kathy and PDL rode together behind us. Kathy was riding in cleats for the first time and she was very nervous about it so I was hoping that the two of them sharing their fears would help each other. Somewhere near Black Rock, PDL moved up next to me while Dave dropped back to Kathy and that unfortunately was the last we saw of them for the day.

PDL and I rode on south and I dropped PDL around the hills of Ricketts Point (wow- ME dropping PDL on hills!). I think PDL was finding the going a bit tougher on her new road bike as the ride position is far different to her flat bar bike, and also the ride position wasn’t quite right yet. We all regrouped at Mordi for the customary break and chat while we waited for a while wondering where Dave and Kathy had gotten to, but eventually we figured they had turned around and so we continued south.

As we attempted to get through the round about at Mordi, our group was split up with PDL, Matt, FlatBarDave (we had too many Dave’s on the ride so we assigned different “Dave” names to each) and myself being dropped at the intersection. As we tried to get through the roundabout with a black 4WD in the right hand lane, the group of riders grew and grew. Finally, the black 4WD moved out into the intersection and positioned itself to allow all the cyclists to get through. Everyone waved and yelled their thanks to the driver. Must be a cyclist we figured… LOL.

Down Station St it was Matt and Dave in front, me behind them and PDL just a few meters back. I was trying to get PDL to move up just those few meters to catch the draft but I think she was struggling. Slowly but surely PDL dropped back and by the time we came into Frankston, she was about 50 meters back. I backed right off to bring her up to me and I thought she was right behind me so I lead the way down the road. After a min or two I did a quick look back to check on PDL and she was no where to be seen. SHIT!

I turned around and rolled slowly back on the footpath. In the distance I could see PDL walking towards me and judging by her hand movements she appeared to be upset. When we met up she was struggling for breath and I immediately saw she had some sort of panic attack. Having had one of those many years ago I can understand how scary they are.

After a bit of a hug and calm down, we decided that it was all a bit much to deal with today and that we would catch the train back. FlatBarDave, rode back to us to see if we were OK and I told him our decision and also called Matt back to let him know also.

So we slowly rolled into the station and tried to remain inconspicuous to avoid the abuse by the bogan knuckle draggers who were yelling crap at anyone they didn’t like. Somehow we made it into the station unscathed and trained it back into the city.

As we rode up towards Brunswick St, Ben from Australian In Front happened upon us. I wasn’t 100% sure who it was at first as he was on a MTB, in street clothes and he had also grown a beard. Anyway the three of us rode down Brunswick St, all stopping at BSC for a quick chat (Ben wanted to check out PDL’s new bike and we wanted to get the broken brifter fixed).

In BSC we explained the problem to the mechanic and how we at first tried to fix it ourselves with our experienced cyclist friends only to be met with the comment- “Is you mate a bicycle mechanic? No? Well I am, I’ll have a look at it!” What a smart arse! So we go and sit down on the couch to wait for the verdict only to have the mechanic come out and tell us EXACTLY what we already knew- the brifter was broken (gee, fancy that- us average Joe’s knowing a broken part when we see it!). At least the mechanic was friendly with us for once. Maybe he is starting to get the fact that we are not total know nothings after all. Grrr.. lets not go down that path shall we?

The verdict was that the mechanic had seen this happen before and they had to remove the part, send it to Shimano for a replacement part to be sent out. As nothing could be done on a Saturday, he left the bike in the small front ring so PDL could keep riding it over the weekend and return the bike on Monday morning. My thoughts are- why can’t they just put in a new part off the shelf and deal with Shimano in their own time, but I didn’t want to have an argument so we just let it slide.

We made it home and PDL was super down on herself about only making it to Frankston and not riding back. As I kept on telling her, she has only had the bike for a week and the different ride position coupled with her fears early on and the bike issues all tallied up to wear her out emotionally.

She will live to fight another day and I still totally believe in her (even if she doesn’t).

Wet tram tracks are to be respected!

2007-10-21T01:35:00.000+10:00

My last post was about Polka Dot Lisa’s new road bike and that theme has run into this post as well.

Monday morning and on the way into work we dropped into BSC on Brunswick St to get the brifter shims fitted (we forgot about them when we purchased the bike on Sunday afternoon). The brifter shims for those that don’t know about them are little rubber wedges that fit between the levers and the stops to space them in closer to the bars for easier reach.

Anyway, BSC didn’t have them in stock but the city store did have them so PDL had to ride into the city on her own on her new bike. She was nervous about doing it but I kept reassuring her she could do it and so she did (I had some urgent work to do and couldn’t go in with her.

As it turned out, PDL made the trip with no stress and it was fitted in a matter of minutes. She even enjoyed the ride so much she even took some extra side tracks down some back streets just to enjoy the ride on her new bike. The shims made a difference to her ability to control the gears and brakes so it was good news all round.

Everything was going fine all week with our commutes until the ride home Thursday after work. We left a little late and it was getting a bit dark (PDL’s new lights hadn’t turned up yet), the traffic was heavy, the road was damp and it was raining lightly just to add to the miserableness of it all. I was fine and I rode in front up Brunswick St. PDL got stuck at a set of lights so I pulled over up ahead and waited.

By the time PDL caught up with me she was very freaked out. The traffic was bad (why does the afternoon peak traffic all want to shove aside cyclists?), the rain was scaring her with the skinny tyres and she felt like she had no braking power. So we kept going in an attempt to get home before we were soaked through. As I turned right across the tram tracks, my back tyre got caught on a track and skidded sideways until it caught traction and just about high sided me. Luckily for me I had quickly unclipped as it was sliding and my now unclipped foot enabled me to maintain my balance when it tried to flick me over the left side. Whew! That was a close one!

PDL once again was scared and I had to calm her a bit. I think she feels pressure from traffic behind her and lets it all get to her rather than just dealing with what is in front of her. I didn’t tell her that I was nearly flicked off my bike as I didn’t think she needed to hear it at that stage.

Anyway we made it home and while wheeling our bikes through the foyer, PDL’s rear tyre was hissing air. Bugger! However by the time we took it upstairs, the hissing from the tyre had stopped- very strange.

Friday was our traditional Badminton night, so no bikes that day as usual. After a bit of research I discovered that it might be worth changing the brake pads to a high quality set to give PDL more power and a better sense of safety. So $44 later and we has a set of Swiss Stop pads which I fitted myself.

With no one wanting to play Badminton this night, I canceled the whole thing and went into Cecil Walker to buy some shoe covers (none of my LBS’s had them in my size). Cecil Walker was a cool shop with some really nice bikes and plenty of accessories to spend your money on.

Then it was on to Goldcross Cyclces at Victoria Gardens to get PDL a Specialized mini-wedge saddle bag (same as mine) in Navy blue, which looked very nice on the Kona Lisa RD.

Once home I noticed PDL’s rear tyre had gone flat after all, so I whipped it off to pop in a new tube- one problem, the spare tube was in fact a patched one. No stress, that should do the job so I put it all back together and pump it up but I can here the air hissing out of the tubes patch. Bugger, bugger, bugger! So off with the tyre, in with the second patched tube and re fit everything until- SHIT, this tube is worse!

Now we are in trouble. It’s now 9.45pm on a Friday night with no tubes and a ride that starts at 7am in St Kilda. So I turned to the BV forum to see if anyone could help me with a tube tonight. Within several minutes I had several offers for patched tubes, etc that I was assured would work.

But the best idea was Commi who suggested the 24hour K-Mart might have tubes. Bingo, brilliant idea! A quick call and yes they do have them in stock so we drive over and to our surprise the place was full of people shopping for stuff at 10.30pm on a Friday night. Get a life people… why are you shopping for crap at this time on a Friday night? At least my situation was an emergency.

So now we are set for the morning’s ride to Frankston and the weather is looking fine.

Whew!

Polka Dot Lisa on a Lisa

2007-10-20T00:56:00.000+10:00

If you read my previous post, you would seen that Polka Dot Lisa was looking at upgrading to a road bike from her flat bar of just 9 weeks. But how did this happen so quickly since starting riding you ask? Read on…

It all started after I was talking enthusiastically to my sister Sara about our cycling and my improved fitness and weight loss. Sara expressed an interest in doing some cycling herself and after promising to fix up her old MTB and put road tyres on it, I then saw the condition of the bike and came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth the trouble of fixing it.

I had a chat with Mum and we decided that we would help Sara out by both putting in for a new bike for her (flat bar road), just to give her a head start to help her with weight loss, fitness and generally a improved outlook on life.

So one afternoon I was wasting some time looking online at bikes for Sara, including Ebay and the local online bike shops. While looking, I saw that BSC had the 2007 Kona Lisa RD on special for $1499 (reduced from $1999). We had already had a quick look at it in the shop a few weeks ago, mostly because it was a really pretty looking bike and also because it was called Lisa (hehe), but upon seeing it on sale and then checking out the specs in detail, it was obviously a good deal.

So the mind gets ticking… “What if the money that was to go towards a bike for Sara, was put towards PDL’s road bike and then PDL’s current bike (the Kona Dew Delux) is handed down to Sara (giving her a MUCH better bike than she otherwise would have gotten in the bargain)”. I run it past everyone and all think it sounds like a great option with everyone winning as a result.

On our way back from our Frankston ride on Saturday, we drop into BSC to have a better look at the bike and allow Lisa to test ride it. A few rides back and forth between the 49cm and the 46cm and it looks pretty obvious that the 49cm is the right size. The only tiny issue is the seat tube is too long and wont drop down enough to allow PDL to sit right but a few mins with a hacksaw will fix that.

The next day (Sunday) we head out to Freedom Machine in Port Melbourne to give PDL a chance to test ride some other similar bikes. While they didn’t have anything in the same price range (a women’s Orbea about $2200 and a full carbon Specialized for about $2600), PDL did have a test ride on them up a side street to give her a point of reference. The Specialized especially was an impressive bike, so light it was laughable!

On the way home we forgot about the Melbourne Marathon and we caught up in the detours and traffic jam which ultimately directed us towards Prahran Freedom Machine and with a car park open right out front- well, how could we NOT stop?

The staff at Freedom Machine Prahran, were super helpful, even though they were flat out busy. After seeing a 2007 SUB 2.0 on special for $1399, the staff grabbed a 49cm and put her on the bike on a set of rollers to make sure it fitted her. They took the time to measure her up and check all aspects of the fit for her which was fantastic. While they did this, it helped give me a guide on what to look for when fitting a bike to a body which would turn out very helpful later on. Anyway, PDL took the SUB for a test ride and once again it felt good to her but she was struggling to feel the differences between them being so new to road bikes.

In the end considering that the SUB’s wheels were average Shimano’s, to upgrade to Mavic Aksium Race wheels like the Kona had, would add another $300 to the price. Hmmm...

So back to BSC we go to look at the Kona Lisa RD again and another test ride. After thinking and pondering for a while, PDL was just about to leave it for the night to think when while I looked at floor pumps. The sales man tells us the Serfas is the best pump and he will throw one in with the bike (the pump is priced at $100). PDL and I looked at each other and we both knew it was a done deal!

So with the shop in the process of closing up, they prepped the bike for us while PDL looked at the helmets to upgrade to, finally choosing a white pearlescent Met Stradivarius II (its VERY nice and I’m jealous). Then before we knew it we were walking out the door with a new bike, new top of the line helmet, free pump and more free rim tape (yep- after my bike had a blow out from a failed rim tape the day before, PDL’s flat bar did the same thing overnight on the bike rack).

Just we were about to walk out the door, I realised they had left the Shimano SPD pedals on the bike that they had fitted for the test ride and just as I was about to open my big mouth, PDL gave me a “shut-up” and so we also scored some free pedals. Noice!

When we got home, we were both pretty excited about the fast chain of events. PDL quickly put her gear on and we went down stairs to take it for a spin on the side road. A few photos and then PDL rode up and down, practicing corners, riding one handed, and some general bike handling skills. She was a bit nervous about her ability to handle a road bike but I just know she has the skills to do it (even if she doubts herself). As she rode up and down the side street, she looked so good and pro looking. Watching her ride made me smile and I even got a tear of joy. Ahh I’m a silly duffer!

That night, we hit the online OS bike shops to order bottle cages, a bike computer and lights. Cha-ching!

Rain drops keep falling on my head...

2007-10-19T02:31:00.000+10:00

Yes I know. I’m late with my weekly report. Very late! But I have legitimate reasons including being busy with work, bike repairs and bike shopping (yes bike shopping!).

Two weeks ago (gee, am I THAT far behind with my blog?) we had planned to ride to Frankston with an attempt at Hopes Rise (gulp)! Our usual Friday night badminton game saw my upper thigh muscle pain return which had me a bit worried about the following morning’s ride, so a hot shower and some deep heat on the affected areas were in order when I got home to try and salvage the weekends ride.

The day dawned and oh no- it was pissing down with rain and the city was enveloped in a grey cloud. Polka Dot Lisa was having second thoughts about riding but a few choice HTFU’s and it was decided that we would tough it out and to heck with the rain.

We started just after a shower had passed and set off on the now rain soaked roads and within the first 200 meters, my arse was soaked from the spray off my rear wheel. I foolishly put my hand behind me for the first 20 meters to shield my backside from the rain but all that did was soak my palm. Good one David! What was I planning to do, ride one handed for 100kms?

We rode on towards St Kilda, rolling down Queens Parade, Brunswick St, Collins St and onto St Kilda Rd. As we rode past the National Gallery, Bowi_68 from the BV forum joined up with us asking us if we were Vidman and Polka Dot Lisa. Seems everyone knows us!

As we rode up St Kilda Rd, we had to make a strange right turn to get onto Kerford Rd across wet tram tracks which I think spooked PDL and she freaked out a bit. I slowed and rolled next to her, reassuring her everything was ok and also replaying what just happened to show her that she actually had nothing to worry about.

As we approached Beaconsfield Pde, the rain started to fall. I rolled through a set of lights while PDL and Bowi_68 were caught at the lights but I figured there was no point in my hanging about in the rain so I powered on in the now pelting rain. The water from my front tyre was soaking my summer vented shoes right through and my socks were totally soaked through. The rain was streaming down the front of my helmet and my backside was numb from the cold. By the time I made it to the meeting point, I was soaked through all over and shivering a bit. Eventually all the hardy souls turned up (though a lot wimped out) and we set off down south (thankfully the rain had stopped at least).

We rode at a moderate pace with the streams of water streaking off all the riders’ rear tyres. Apparently my tyres were particularly bad at this, causing the riders’ behind me to drop back to avoid the soaking I was giving them. Sorry guys! It was strange to see Beach Rd with so little traffic on it. You could tell that the riders still out there were the real HAF riders. My toes were so cold that I really wanted to stop and buy some dry socks but we were out too early for the shops to open. Damn it!

Along the way I mentioned to a few others that PDL was considering getting a road bike as part of a trade down deal with my sister, but she wasn’t sure she was ready for a road bike. Everyone thought she was well and truly ready so I said for them to have a word in her ear about it (yes- I’m devious but all for a good cause).

As we started the downhill into Black Rock I was feeling a bit frisky so I pulled out from behind Matt and sprinted forward, taunting Matt to follow me. As I flew off ahead, no one seemed to be following me so I backed off after a very short while and just cruised thinking why bother if I am the only one doing it. However after I backed off and was soft peddling, Stu flew past me yelling something about my going too early and then Dave and the rest flew past. Damn- I should have kept going- now they all think that was all I had. But honestly, I had PLENTY in the tank and I could have kept going all the way to the round about.

Eventually we rolled into Mordi and the usual gathering of cyclists in the car park was very much reduced. After the usual pee, drink and munch we were rolling again with some of us dropping into the small bike shop to look for a change of socks but it was not to be. So we kept riding south in a nice tight knit bunch until PDL, Sachamc, Mark and 1 other were caught at a set of lights (and then boom gates it turned out), so Matt (Commi from BV forum) and I soft pedaled to wait for them. With no sign of them we assumed they must have been caught at several lights so we rode on, catching up to the rest of the group.

As we rode into Frankston I have to admit I was pretty nervous about the Hopes Rise hill. I gulped down some drink and tried to rest my legs as much as I could in the final few km’s. I felt like flinging my bidon’s off to the side just like the pro riders do to save every last gram of weight LOL! As soon as we hit the hill, all around me left me for dead as I dropped down and down through the gears. I was spinning as hard as I could but I was going slower and slower. Just past the first speed hump I tried to get out of the saddle and “dance on the pedals” as Phil Liggett would say, but I forgot to click up a gear as I did this and I was spinning too fast for a standing position. My legs just about crumpled under me and I had to quickly unclip and get off and walk the rest of the way. DAMN IT, DAMN IT, DAMN IT!!

As I walked up the hill, rider after rider rode past me and I felt a bit demoralised about my inability to make it. About half way up PDL rode past me and she looked ok doing it too. As the hill flattened out I got back on the bike and slowly rode up to the group who were waiting for me. Matt had his camera out to take the prearranged photo of me but I waved for him to not bother. Yes I was at the top of the hill but having to walk it means it doesn’t count. We stood around, sipping from our bottles and talking about the hill but I was in a dark mood. I smacked my bottle against my bars in utter frustration and I was cursing my weight for making hills so hard on me. A happy camper I was NOT!

After the quick regrouping we all decided to do the Mt Eliza loop. PDL and I were apprehensive about it with all the hills around us but we were assured the rest was pretty easy. As PDL and I rode down Nepean Hwy, the rest were disappearing ahead of us and we were pretty stuffed from the hills (well, I was but I think PDL was ok). Not knowing how much further we had to go, we decided to turn around to head back to the Frankston visitors centre and wait for the group there.

As we came to Olivers Hill, I told PDL to just ride down at a speed she was comfortable at and to use her brakes all the way down to control her speed so she didn’t get too scared. I on the other hand was looking forward to flying down the hill at top speed. As I dropped over the top, I pushed the pedals reasonably hard, clicking up through the gears until I was in the highest gear. I pedaled with reasonable force but defiantly not as hard as I could go. Into the visitors centre I rolled and I was surprised that I hit 67.9kph down the hill. Sheesh- I could have pushed it much faster than that and still been within my comfort zone. I wonder what the speed restriction is down their? LOL

Eventually the rest of the group rolled in and we were informed that we missed the turn off for the loop by just a few hundred meters. Argh.. it’s just like my first attempt to make Black Rock all over again! As we all sat and chatted (see the photo taken by Matt), we were wondering where Dave (Percrime from BV) and Sasha had gotten too, but eventually they made it back after they had given up looking for PDL and myself. Sorry guys...

The ride back was nice and tight with a good average speed the whole way. There was a bit of a headwind but nothing too bad. As we rode through Seaford, some moron screamed “nice pants” as he zoomed past. Wow, I bet that one took a while to think up! I was really enjoying the ride, singing to myself and generally loving life. We were an odd numbered group so there was always going to be one rider without someone to ride next to and that was me but I didn't care at all. In my head was that song 1,2,3,4 by Fiest and I was wishing I had an ipod in one ear just to add to the vibe.

Mordi and another quick stop and we were back on the road for the final stretch to St Kilda and a yummy breakfast. As we rode towards the rolling hills of Ricketts Point, Sacha was next to me with Stu and someone else in front, all making for a nice big wind break and draft for Sacha. Everyone seems to like riding behind me for the draft it seems, I wonder why?

For the first time ever, the hills around Ricketts Point didn’t have me being left behind. I was flying along at a great pace, even passing a few of the riders and leaving PDL working hard to keep up with me. It felt great! But as we left Black Rock and were just starting on the hill, suddenly my front tyre went POP and I was straight onto the rim. Now considering I was travelling at about 26kph, it was a bit hairy trying to pull up to a stop with a totally flat front tyre. Matt, Mark, Sacha and PDL all stopped to see what was wrong but I said they might as well keep going while I fixed the flat with Mark and Matt.

In no time at all we had the wheel and tyre off, all working as a team. As I inspected the tyre for what ever caused the flat, Mark saw the puncture was actually a big round hole on the spoke side of the tube and a quick inspection showed the spoke tape (well… it was more like a big rubber band) has deformed into the spoke holes, cut open and exposed the tube to the sharp edges of the spoke holes. So in with a new tube and now I had to figure out how my CO2 pump worked (my first time using it). After a bit of head scratching I figured it out and with a quick burst of CO2, it was ready to go again and the three of us were back on the road.

After the rigmarole of the flat, I had lost a lot of my rhythm that I had going before. Damn! So the three of us all pushed reasonably hard towards St Kilda, each taking a turn on the front in a random pattern of drafting (hey- we are not that organised to do the whole team time trial thing LOL).

Eventually we made it to the Grocery Bar Café and pulled up a spare seat with the rest of the gang. As we sat and eat, Richard walked past with his arm in a sling so he came and sat with us for a while.

After brunch, we all went our separate ways with PDL and I planning to stop and check out the 2007 Kona Lisa RD that BSC had on special. After a few test rides on different size bikes, PDL seemed fairly settled on the 49cm size even though the seat tube was too long and would have to be cut down to fit her properly. But all in all the bike seemed like a great deal and it sure was a pretty bike! While at the bike shop I picked up some new rim tape to replace the crappy rubber bands in my wheels.

Finally we made it home after spending a while at BSC, and it was yet another great day’s ride (even if the start was pretty miserable). In the end I completely dried out, however I vowed to buy some shoe covers and also rig up a simple rear mud guard to keep our asses dry like Marti had on her bike (a bit of plastic jammed into the rear of the saddle to form a splash shield against the spray).

The green jacket has been retired

2007-10-01T12:01:00.000+10:00

The past week has been a bit busy in my cycling life with a new jersey, 2 rides and a bit of a self image crisis to report on. Rather than crap on for a stupidly long post, I will "try" to keep it short and too the point for a change. :)

A day off and time to hit the Boulevard
With work pretty under control this week, I took most of Thursday off to go for a ride and generally chill out for the day. So buoyed but my noticeable increase in hill climbing ability from last weekends ride, Polka Dot Lisa (PDL) and I decided to do the Kew Boulevard with maybe a bit of extra riding beyond that.

As we headed down Heidelberg Rd towards Chandler Hwy I was prepared to do a hook turn after our last attempt here freaked PDL out, but as I came to a stop, PDL told me she felt comfortable enough to change lanes and turn right with the traffic. Not only that, but PDL dealt with the ride over Chandler Hwy bridge with no stress what-so-ever. I’m so proud of her having overcome her fears of the traffic. She is moving ahead in leaps and bounds!

The Boulevard ride went smoothly (well, about as smoothly as the Bouli’s surface will allow!) however for some reason all the uphills were into a headwind just to make it that little bit harder. Grrrr! We rode without break until the Studley Park overpass where we stopped for a drink, photo opportunity and natural break. While I found the hills hard work, not once did I feel like getting off the bike while just a few weeks ago, I had to force myself to stay on the bike and keep pedaling (even with several breathers along the way). I can really tell I am getting stronger with each passing week and that is an awesome feeling.

We decided to go all the way to the end of the Boulevard and then roll down to Richmond to drop into some of the bike shops. The last climb to the Richmond end of the Bouli was not nearly as bad as I had expected.

Down Burnley St and we peeled off to have a look in Richmond Cycles. Mmm, Colnago’s and Pinarellos… it’s nice to dream! Back down Burnley St to Swan St and the traffic was all bumper to bumper. Traffic down there was a bit nuts, with cars trying to park, trams, trucks etc. It was pretty easy to deal with for me, but I think it was all a bit much for PDL, so I comforted her and assured her she was doing fine and not to worry about keeping up with me.

Back on the bike after having a look around at Total Rush (more drooling) and it was straight up and over the Church St hill which was a surprisingly hard slog that I didn’t expect. As we came up through Collingwood and Fitzroy we were hit by a mega headwind that saw me having to drop down a gear or two to keep going. It was pushing me a bit sideways and I had to cycle on a lean into the wind. Ouch!

Just as we we’re riding up Queens Pde, PDL pointed out a MASSIVE black aircraft approaching us pretty low and slow. It was some sort of bomber or cargo plane and everyone around us on the street was looking up and pointing.

Ride Stats 27-09-07 - Northcote > Richmond via the Bouli > Northcote
Dist: 20.00km
Time: 01:00:00
Max: 46.9kph
Average: 20.00kph

New Cycling Jersey
Later that day (Thursday) after the Bouli ride, I received a call from Liz at Startline Cycle Fashions who called to tell me she had a jersey for me to try on. So Friday morning we drove down to have a look. It was plain red and despite Liz and PDL’s assurances of how good it looked on me, I felt super conscious about it showing my rather ample gut. But I threw caution to the wind and decided to get it on their advice, along with a pair of Pearl Izumi arm warmers.

Later that day I was feeling very dubious about wearing the jersey and I feared I had wasted my money. I felt really ugly in it and didn’t want to be seen in public wearing it. All I could see was that it showed every bulge of my gut, and this just made me feel fatter and uglier, causing my self confidence to come crashing down like a house of cards. Urgh!

After a game of Badminton that night, PDL urged me to try the jersey on with the rest of my kit. I felt a lot better about it and had to admit that I did look a LOT better in it than I did in the old green jacket. So to everyone who knew me by the green jacket out on the road- sorry, that was the old Vidman! The new Vidman is now in red (red goes faster remember!).

BBC Ride - Saturday
Saturday morning and after the worries that it was going to be wet and windy, we woke up to an almost clear sky and not a breath of wind. Thanks big guy in the sky! We set off on the Northern Stopping All Stations, picking up Gregg (Gregga from BV) and Ian (Parawolf from BV) at the old cannon and then collected Snuffy and another guy who’s name I have forgotten already (sorry!) at Johnston St. I led the way down Punt Rd, through Gosch’s Paddock and was left for dead up Anderson St hill. Some things never change… LOL. Down through Fawkner Park (trying to make sure I was going the right way having never actually ridden this path before), onto St Kilda Road and before we knew it we were at the BBC with plenty of time to spare. Cool!

The BBC group was pretty big this time with over 30 riders. It was funny to think this time last month was our first time on a group ride and it was all so new and slightly scary to begin with. Now just a few weeks later, we felt like old hands at the whole thing, knowing how the hand signals work, group etiquette, and even just having familiar faces to chat to.

As we took off, the guys on the tandem got a puncture just on Fitzroy St which was a rotten way to start the ride and wouldn’t you know it, the street sweeper was just a few streets ahead sweeping and blowing any broken glass in the gutter, straight out onto the bike lane. Nice work.

As we rode south towards Black Rock, we had a tail wind slowly picking up behind us and the pace was swift as a result. I rode mostly with Matt and Gregg until Matt dropped me at a set of lights. From then on Gregg and I rode together and at one stage we were cruising along at about 40-43kph on the flat (a new record for me)! However as I was to discover on the return trip, that was probably mostly as a result of the now sizable tail wind that had sprung up, so that record is officially marked in the books with an asterisk for "wind assisted".

We cruised into Black Rock and my back was giving me a few twinges so a few stretches and it was fine again. PDL rolled up with Dave (Percrime), Rey and Katrina so I waited about for them to refuel and catch their breath. Dave was worried about the whereabouts of his partner and brother-in-law so we hung about wondering where they were. Eventually we figured they must have turned around somewhere so we took off back into the headwind.

I was the first to get going and for the first half of the rise out of Black Rock I was leading the way until Dave pulled around me with the comment “you will be very popular in the peleton, thanks for the draft” LOL. A few more passed me up the hill (Matt, etc) but I caught back up to them after the hill and was looking forward to hanging with them the rest of the way.

Unfortunately a set of lights caught PDL behind me, so I soft pedaled for a quite a while until PDL caught back up to me. She was exhausted by the time she caught up (the headwind was dropping our speed a fair bit) so I led the way to give her a draft in the wind. What a gentleman I am! LOL

Apparently Rey and Katrina were behind us with Katrina struggling with the wind so PDL promised to save them a seat at the BBC. We rode on just the two of us, passing a few riders and being passed by a few as well. With the headwind we were sitting on about 24-26kph the whole way which wasn’t too bad considering we had no pack to work with.

At one set of lights I pulled up next to a guy who I got chatting to about the headwind. He was telling me about his ride the previous Sunday from Frankston back to St Kilda and how the headwind was so bad it took them 4 hours to ride the 50 km! Ouch! As we took off, he offered to give me a draft for a while but I said I didn’t think I could match his pace and he blew off into the distance. That will be me one day, I thought to myself.

As we rode up Fitzroy St, I saw Dave pootling along with his partner (Kathy) and Brother-in-law so I accelerated up and tapped him on the back as I rolled past. Hehe A little later as we made a hook turn, I felt someone fiddling around with the back of my shirt and shorts. Looking around I discovered that Dave had snuck up behind me and was trying to dack me. Fat chance mate- bib shorts!

Breakfast time and like a good boy I stuck to the fruit salad and juice, while everyone around was having waffles with chocolate sauce, danishes, croissants, etc. Rey and Katrina made it back not that far behind us and we sat with them.

After breakfast we decided to do a few laps of Albert Park with the girls but as we started our first lap, the wind was freezing and hitting us in the face. It looked like it was going to rain and so deciding that dry was better than km’s, we piked out and headed home. The city was full of feral footy fans (Grand Final day!) so we took it extra gentle, up through Carlton, along Brunswick St and home the usual way.

When we got home we felt like we hadn't had much of a work out at all. I didn't mind though as I had intended on having an easy weekend after the punishing we gave ourselves the past month. Next weekend- Frankston most likely again with perhaps Hopes Rise as an extra challenge!

Ride Stats 29-09-07 - Northcote > Black Rock > Northcote
Dist: 53.03km
Time: 02:22:32
Max: 50.9kph
Average: 22.3kph

Lazy Sunday
I had arranged with Matt to meet up with him and Stu for a few laps of the Kew Bouli but upon waking Sunday morning and txt-ing Matt, Matt had chickened out of the ride and after lying in bed all warm and comfortable, we decided the bed was a better option. Later in the day PDL and I decided to drive out and check out the 1 in 20 ride up Mt Dandy (for future reference of course). Man, that looks like HARDWORK, but I no longer doubt that I would ever be able to do it. In fact, I am sure that I could make it now, even though it would take me a ridiculous amount of time... LOL. Anyway, I will keep that challenge for another time and another lower body weight!

Speaking of weight- Sunday mornings weigh-in and like clockwork- another 1.1kgs lost. I can now start to feel my clothing getting looser on me, my shirts hanging better and even my belt has gone a notch tighter. The road to a healthy body weight is long but I am traveling well and I’m enjoying the view!

Fitter, stronger and faster (but still dropped)

2007-09-23T14:47:00.000+10:00

Another weekend and another Saturday morning ride. After completing our first morning group ride only less than a month ago, we are total converts and we look forward to each weekend ride with anticipation.

The day started with a 5am rise and it was totally pitch black outside. Urgh! After last weeks horrid bonk that Polka Dot Lisa and I suffered, we were taking no chances. We had a bigger breakfast, more and better food to carry with us, Staminade drink in one of our bottles and a baggy of extra powder to refuel ourselves for the return trip.

Unfortunately, because I can’t find a jersey made to fit me (and believe me, I have searched the world for a jersey big enough), I have no pockets to carry anything and so PDL had to have her jersey pockets filled up with both our snacks. She makes a great domestique! LOL

PDL was pretty nervous about her new cleats and pedals after only getting them the day before. We did a little trial ride the day before around a local park where we did some work on her technique for corners, but the 2 falls (1 on grass, 1 on concrete) shook her up a little.

As we left our apartment, PDL saw $5 on the ground - score! Then just as I was rolling down to the old cannon as the meeting place for the Northern Stopping All Stations ride, Gregga from BV turned up in his car to say he was running late and that he would meet us at the Beaconsfield hotel.

We rode on down Hoddle St and oh my gawd it was cold! There were a few other cyclists riding but they dropped us when we caught a set of lights. As we descended from Bridge Rd, for the life of me I couldn’t get my left shoe to clip in and I wondered if my cleat had fallen off. I stopped, and of course the cleat WAS there and it clipped straight in. I had adjusted the cleat the night before and just a few mm difference and I was all at sea! LOL

As before, we rode up Anderson St and just like the other times, it hurt like crap. Every ride we do I feel like shit for a good hour or so before I feel in the swing and then I feel like I can keep going and going. Strange.

At the Beaconsfield Hotel meeting point there were only 2 other riders already there but soon the corner became a mass of about 24 bikes and riders, all a bit tense and nervous before the start. Maybe it’s the cold or maybe everyone is a touch apprehensive about the ride ahead but the chatter is short between everyone. I don't mind because I am cold and apprehensive about the ride too. :)

The call went out to get going and yikes- the pace was ON. Until now the pace has been gentle to start with for the first 10km slowly building up to around the 28-30kph but this time it was straight into the 32-34kph speed and I was pushing hard to keep up but doing ok-ish. Then a few sets of lights around Brighton and the group were split pretty badly. Matt (Commi) was riding with me but after a set of lights, he took off to chase down the group and that was the last I saw of him, and the group.

PDL and I rode on alone wondering where the crap everyone was. Even on the long straight sections we couldn’t see them and it was a pretty lonely ride south. As we rounded Ricketts Point and hit the rolling hills around this section, we were both feeling shite and I doubted once again my ability to do the full ride. The fast pace at the start took it out of me and I was paying the price now. I think riding as a group makes SUCH a difference and I was cursing the group for not waiting for the traffic light slowed riders, and also cursing myself for not being able to keep up a faster pace.

As we rode the last flat section into Mordi, Ben from InFront, his GF Melissa and his Belgium mate rolled up next to us and we turned into Mordi together. Thankfully, we met up with the rest of the group and one of the women in the group in a Predictor Lotto jersey (sorry- can’t remember your name) told us that she told off the group for riding so fast, but just as we were trying to shovel down some energy snacks and drink, the group all took off leaving us totally unprepared and alone again. Sheesh, you guys may have been here for 10 mins, drinking, peeing, eating and resting but we JUST rolled in! PDL also though there was 2 women behind her but we never saw them again and don't know what happened to them.

I hope these fast paced rides don't put off any slower riders as it would have done to me if this was my first ride. Maybe a quick chat with the group before we head off will allow those slower riders to stick together so the fast dudes and dudettes can then do their thing at their faster pace.

Thankfully, Ben and co were still with us so we rolled down Station St at a very modest pace of about 22kph. As we crossed back over the train lines to Nepean Hwy, Ben suggested we stop at Carrum for a coffee and although I was hoping to keep going in an attempt to catch up with the Franger return group, I figured what the heck- we have been totally dropped so we my as well stop for a chat.

We assembled on the footpath and drank and chatted and it was nice to feel the sun on our faces. We watched the groups of riders whizzing past and wondered what value all the bikes would be worth. You would have to think on a weekend morning, at least a millions dollars worth of carbon fibre would roll past. Wow!

Ben’s mate from Belgium (sorry- I have forgotten you name) was telling us how the whole cycle and coffee thing is a real Australian thing and that in Belgium it is usual to ride and then have a few beers. Now, maybe it’s just me but the idea of a beer after riding early in the morning doesn’t exactly thrill me. Maybe on a hot day I could understand it but on a cold morning, never! EVER!

As we rode on, a few k’s out of Frankston I noticed a small group of BV’ers riding back towards Melb so I waved thinking- “there goes any chance of any company on the way back”. But to my surprise a few mins later, Dave (Percrime) rolled up next to me having turned around to keep us company. I was SO grateful for the company I could have kissed him! LOL

A stop at the Franga visitors centre for a pee and drink refill saw Ben and co leave us behind as they rode off to Mt Martha while Dave, PDL and I headed back north. As we rode through Frankston, PDL was hurled unknown abuse at by a 10yo from his front yard. Charming child, his parents must be so proud!

We had a really good pace going back, sitting on 30-33kph and passing quite a few riders along the way. As we came up to one rider, he tagged onto the back of us and rode on our wheels for a good 15km without even a word to us. The really funny part about this guy was he was wearing a fancy aero TT helmet with the integrated visor, yet he had on big baggy flapping shorts. THAT must make for interesting wind tunnel data!

A stop at Mordi and we caught up with Oz and Eddie. The usual chat and refuel was had with plenty of looking over my trusty stead (Oz has a Dew Deluxe as a commuter so he was comparing the difference to his bike). During this chat Oz showed me how to align the hydraulic brakes properly. Strange that BSC never bothered to do this from new, nor during the bikes first service. I give up on that workshop. I’ll do it properly myself!

A refill of our drink bottles with the Staminade powder (carrying around a bag of powder- very suss!) and a nut bar and we were back on the road, headed straight for the dreaded hills around Mentone. As usual I was dropped on the hills but THIS time I wasn’t totally killing myself to make it up the hills. I spun the pedals well up the hills and I think my slowest speed was about 19kph which was a big difference to other attempts. As I spun the pedals, a song came to mind which I kept singing to myself – “Spin The Black Circle” by Pearl Jam (see below).

It was the perfect song to accompany me up the hills and before I knew it I was at Black Rock for a quick drink and regroup.

As we went up the hill out of Black Rock, I was surprised how easily I did it this time. I wasn’t fast, by no means at all, but I also never wanted to get off the bike, nor did I curse and swear my way up the hill. Not great - but MUCH better.

Once up on the flat, we rode as a group of 5 at around 30kph. Dave mentioned that we should drop in to see a friend of his who runs a cycle clothing store in Brighton to see about a jersey to fit me which I was grateful for.

Unfortunately PDL didn’t see Dave stopped at the shop and rode on while I stopped and waited. Dave took off to catch her but she had already stopped as Oz let her know she had passed the place so Dave didn’t have to sprint too far.

In the shop we met Liz who had a look around the shop for something to fit me, however I knew very well it was a lost cause- nobody makes anything even close to my size. Been there done that. Liz gave me an XL and asked me to “try it” but exactly as I knew- it wouldn’t even go over my shoulders. In the end Liz suggested a custom made jersey which I knew was the only option so we measured me up for size and Liz will get back to me during the week for price and style options available.

After this break and back on the road, my right upper thigh was really sore. The muscle was hurting every pedal stroke and it was getting worse and worse with each stroke but I kept on going hoping it would warm up and be OK (it didn’t - it just got worse and worse).

As we rode up Fitzroy St headed for the return meet point, 2 of the BV riders pulled up behind us just as we were about to cross the road. Surprised, I looked across the road and there was everyone else. I had figured with our being dropped so badly and our extra stops they would have been long gone but apparently they just got to the café before us, having passed us while we were in the clothing shop. Good timing.

We jumped into the last 2 seats which much have made for quite a sight - 18ish cyclists clad in Lycra seated along a long table on a sunny Saturday St Kilda morning. I have to admit, I love the feeling of being part of a group of cyclists after a ride. We are all in a great mood, all with our own tales to tell of our experience on the ride, all laughing and chatting with people we have just met or only known for a short while. And you just know that people walking past are looking at us with a sense of envy and slight intimidation in them. LOL

While we eat, a dodgy looking guy came walking up and asked us if it was OK if he looked at our bikes. We all said “umm, yeah ok” (what were we going to say - "avert your eyes mere mortal"?) and we kept an eye on him without making a big deal about it. I felt bad for being a bit suspicious of the guy as all he did was have a good look at the assembled bikes. You could see he was really digging them and I wished I had been a nice guy and gotten up to have a chat to him. You never know - he might have been inspired to get into cycling himself with a little encouragement *shrug*. Note to self - don’t be so quick to pass judgment!

With food and drinks consumed by all, we all got up to go our separate paths when Richard (who was nursing a cold pack on his shoulder) turned away from me which caused me to see his back shoulder blade which didn’t look right at all. I mentioned to Matt that he didn’t look right and after mentioning it to Richard and a closer inspection, it was obvious that something was dislocated badly. After a few of us talked to him out of genuine concern, he agreed to walk home and go to the hospital (he would have none of us walking him home - HAF!).

I must comment here that PDL had ridden really well all day with her first proper ride in cleats. She didn’t have one mishap all day with the cleats, her bike handling was miles better after Friday's training session, she changed lanes and did right hand turns without fear, and she also tackled all the hills without a problem. Stu (Stubacca) was sure to make special mention of her efforts over breakfast as I tend to get all the attention (due to this blog and also my participation on the BV forum). For a woman who just a few weeks ago was scared to even look behind her she has come in leaps and bounds with her skill and confidence. I am super, duper proud of her!

After breaky we rode home around Albert Park and through the city with no incidents or drama at all after last weeks drama filled 8km. Down Brunswick Street I was SUPER careful of car doors, riding really, really slowly. A quick stop at BSC for a Topeak Tri-Bag to hold my snacks and Ben looked after me really well. If you want great sales service at BSC - see Ben. Top bloke!

Ride Stats 22-09-07 - Northcote > Frankston > Northcote
Dist: 105.53km
Time: 04:28:26
Max: 47.7kph
Average: 23.6kph

The following morning (Sunday) and it's weigh in time again. Woohoo- another 1.1kg lost and I’m down to 138.8kg which means I have lost 3.8kg in 3 weeks. It’s not a massive amount but it’s a sensible, measured amount that is healthy.

My right upper thigh is still sore and I am struggling to lift my leg properly. If its still hurting on Monday I will go see my osteo. I struggled to put my undies, socks and pants on today.

I have to admit I am looking forward to an easy ride next week. We have been pushing hard for 6 weeks now so a bit of a back off is in order I think.

Feeling fat and fugly

2007-09-20T13:57:00.000+10:00

Recently I have been reading "Heft on wheels" which is a true story about a guy who gave up his unhealthy lifestyle and cycled his way to health and weight loss. As it is an American writer, it's all written in pounds rather than kilograms and I haven't a clue what those weights mean compared to kilos. His worst weight was 265lbs and that just "sounds" a lot and so I assumed he was as big as me.

Or so I thought.

So today, in an attempt to stall for time on a job that I was lacking inspiration on, I looked up one of those online conversion websites to see what my weight was in pounds and I was horrified. My current weight (about 140kg is equal to about 300 pounds, while the writer of the above mentioned book's worst weight was just 265 pounds (about 120kgs).

I don't know exactly why but that made me feel so freaken crap to discover this. I mean, it's not like I am suddanly fatter, of less fit or anything. I suppose it just goes to show how damn long a road I have ahead of me and how hard I really am working.

Now, if your reading this and thinking- "20kgs- whats the big deal". I suggest you go pick up a 20 liter container of water and imagine cycling with that on your back. And if your an average build, try imaging riding with 2 to 3 of those strapped to you, while every single pedal stroke has to push against your gut to reach the top of the pedal stroke.

BAH! Double BAH!

Don't mind me, I just feel crap and this is my rant.

*sigh*

WHAT a day!

2007-09-16T09:12:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was quite a day for me and Polka Dot Lisa with our first 100km plus ride, a mechanical incident, several close calls with stupid drivers, an uncooperative bike shop and a near car door crash!

It started with another early start and a ride down to meet up with a group to ride down Beach Rd to Frankston. It started OK but as PDL and I hit the hill of Anderson St, Sth Yarra (next to the Botanical gardens). We both really struggled to make it over - I felt worse over this climb than last weekend and I was a bit apprehensive about the ride ahead. My legs just didn't feel full of energy and I was a touch concerned.

On Beaconsfield Pde, we meet up with several riders in the group (everyone seems to know me by my green jacket). Outside the Beaconsfield Hotel (the meeting point) a group of about 12 riders showed up all ready to hit the road.

We take off down Beach Road and the pace was pretty swift right from the start. Polka Dot Lisa and I were keeping up OK, but we could feel the strain of the pace and wondered if we would be able to make it to Frankston at this speed. All was going fine till the climb just before Black Rock where the rest took off leaving PDL and myself for dust. We tried to catch up over the rolling hills around Rickets Point but try as we did (and we gave it our all), the best we could do was get within about 150mts when the bunch stopped at a crossing.

PDL was worried about not being able to make the distance and wanted to turn around at Mordi, but I kept reassuring her that from Mordi to Frankston was dead flat and if we got too tired we could always catch the train. As we came into Mordi we saw the group in the car park and we pulled into regroup and refuel.

We were both pretty stuffed at this stage and I slumped over my bars for a moment, trying to regain my breath after the hammering I have given my legs and lungs until now. Apparently we were only 30 seconds behind them and everyone seemed surprised that we were that close after their sprint (or were they just being nice? LOL).

A drink, pee and munch on some dried apricots and jelly babies gave us a sugar filled boost and a now much smaller group headed south while about half the original group turned back towards St Kilda.

As we headed south, we turned left to ride down the other side of the train tracks. As we came around the left hand turn (in the left hand lane), some tool in a white shit box zoomed around us WAAAAY too close, almost touching Sally and Bryce. We all stopped at the boomgates where Bryce knocked on the guy's passenger window and said "that was too close and uncalled for". The guy's response was to jump out of his car - and he looked like he was gonna knock Bryce's head off. There were a few heated words thrown and I think the driver saw the 20+ riders stopped there, then thought better of trying to punch Bryce. Just as he looked like he was gonna go back for more, I yelled out, "Are you sure you want to take us all on mate?" and he retreated to his tin box, the gates lifted and we all moved on. I just can not understand this aggressive attitude some drivers have. 20+ bicycles were taking up only 1 of 2 lanes, with little traffic about, yet he seems to think we should be off the road and out of his way!

Onwards we rode, on a perfectly smooth road surface such delight to ride on. As we crossed back onto Nepean Hwy (a dogleg over the train lines), several of us mid pack missed the traffic lights lights changing so there was sudden squealing of brakes and frantic un-clipping of shoes from pedals. Oops!

Coming into Frankston I was feeling nervous about the "optional" climb up Hopes Rise (Olivers hill). My ego wanted me to do it but the rest of me didn't. As we just started the initial climb I could feel my legs straining already so with the last place to stop and u-turn upon me, I pulled out and PDL did too. We rode back to the Frankston Visitors Centre to waited for the rest. I was surprised how quickly they arrived back and we all sat around and chatted, drank and munched.

Just as we were about to head back I noticed a broken spoke on the rear wheel (drive side). We took out the broken spoke and tried to remove the other end at the hub, but were unable to remove the gears to get at it so we had to leave it in flopping about as I rode. Everyone assured me it would be safe but I was a bit nervous. I'm a big guy so one broken spoke and 50km to ride had me worried.

Just about this time Matt (Commi) from BV forum turns up having ridden down from Windsor solo at top speed. He had slept in and had to play catch up to meet up with us. I was surprised that he still wanted to do Hopes Rise after the smashing he had just given his legs already. We waited a few minutes for him to do the climb and return. What an effort!

Heading back I was careful to avoid any bumps and I rode on the RHS to get some shelter from the wind. Dale was kind enough to shelter me by riding on my left which I appreciated VERY much.

Another quick stop at Mordi then into the section I dreaded the most - climbing back up the rolling hills to the top of the cliffs around Black Rock beach. I had cause to be worried because I was pretty tired at this point, before we even got to the hills.

As each hill passed I hurt more and more, struggling along and spinning my legs. Damn, I was slow but I kept going forwards; cursing and egging myself onwards. I wasn't wearing my HTFU band - dammit! Ross rode with me most of the way so I wouldn't be riding solo and I appreciated this very much as everyone else had disappeared off ahead.

As we came out of the Black Rock roundabout I had one last hill ahead and I was so close to walking at one stage but once again - I willed myself to make it to the top. PDL had stopped and waited for me as I think she was worried about me. I rode on past her, telling her I was OK and not wanting to break what little momentum I had. I was sooooo glad to finally make it to the top of all the climbs and knew I would be OK from now on. a little way down the road, around Sandringham, the group had pulled over to wait for PDL and me.

I pulled up and slumped over the bars (again) and everyone was full of encouragement (again). Stu (Stubacca) said that next week they should all wear backpacks with 40kg's in them and I would smash them, LOL. I really appreciated the comments yet again but I was starting to feel embarrassed at being the centre of attention. I also felt bad for holding everyone up when I know they could have all zoomed off without a care in the world. Maybe I should hold off on longer rides until I am fitter and faster so I don't slow the group down.

Finally we turned into the finishing straight and to my relief, I could see the Palais Theatre ahead of me. I was pretty spent at this stage, so it was like seeing the '1km to go' kite in the at the Tour De France...but with out the sprinting! Every single part of me was hurting and I was pretty much willing myself to go on with every pedal stroke. It was then I said to PDL "when we get to the cafe I'm going to lie down on the footpath." She did not say it at the time, but she hoped I would not really do it - which I didn't, LOL.

We rode up Fitzroy St and I was so tired I struggled to clip in my shoe after each traffic light. I was rooted! Finally we made it to breakfast and whilst everyone was trying to find a place for us to sit, I just slumped on the step near the doorway. Everyone laughed at me, but I didn't mind - I was far too tired to care!

After some food, drink and a rest I felt a ton better and we all went our separate ways with PDL and I riding around Albert Park lake, onto St Kilda Rd and up Swanston St towards home.

We were riding at a gentle pace up Swanston St when a horse and buggy pulled out straight in front of me (no signals, didn't even look), causing me to slam on the brakes and giving me quite a scare. As I came to a skidding stop I let out in exclamation - "FUCK" to no one in particular, to which the driver finally turned his head and yelled at me - "Ya gotta give way to horses mate - and don't swear!" I was pretty angry and yelled back "You just pulled straight into my path and I almost fell off" to which he yelled something that I didn't catch. Would he have pulled out like that if I was a taxi or a tram? No of course not. But a cyclist doesn't matter - we are expendable. Maybe I should have just run into his horses?

As I got back riding again, PDL pulled along side me and told me what the driver said that I didn't hear. He said "Why don't you lose some weight". I was FURIOUS to hear this and I was in two minds as to turn around and pull him up and confront him. The traffic incident is one thing, but to insult my weight is a totally different matter and I will be making a formal complaint to the operator of the horse and buggy rides, requesting an apology. I am NOT letting that one go. No way - no how!

We rode on, planing to stop at BSC to get the broken spoke replaced but as we rode slowly and carefully down Brunswick St in the cycle lane, suddenly a car door was flung out in front of me and I locked up both wheels up in an attempt to avoid slamming into the door. The driver pulled the door back a bit just in time as I finally came to a stop with my front wheel just past the edge of the door (missed the edge by 2cm) and I had to grab hold of the door to stop my self from falling (feet still clipped in).

The guy immediately started apologizing but I was in shock at the near miss and could only say gently "OK - mistakes happen but please look before opening your door from now on". I still had a block or two before reaching the bike shop but was too shaken up at this point so wheeled on to the footpath where I crouched down next to the bike to compose myself (I was shaking a bit). The driver and his partner came over to see if I was OK. I just repeated what I had already said (it was all I could think of; in my mind I kept seeing the door edge flying towards me over and over- yikes!).

OK, that's incident number 2, moving on.

Into BSC and the bike mechanics tell me that I must have fallen on the RHS (pointing at some scratches on the rear derailer) which has caused the derailer bracket to bend, which in turn caused the chain to come off, damaging all the spokes on the RHS, (which was why one of them broke). They said it was going to cost me about $70+ dollars to fix which didn't impress me at all as the bike had not received the damage they claim it had. I told them the truth of the bikes history-

1) The only time the chain jumped off was on my second ride, 1km from home, which caused the bike to lock up.
2)Right after the chain jump incident, I took the bike straight down to be fixed (where they just adjusted the gears).
3) The bike had NEVER been dropped on the RHS up until that point (not even bumped).
4) I DID fall on the 4th week of owning the bike which "may" have bent the bracket but that was AFTER the chain jump incident anyway.

The mechanics (who also referred the matter to the boss) kept holding the line that there is no way it could have happed without the bracket being bent (by me) and I kept sticking to my side of the story (which was 110% true, as recorded right here in this blog!!). Finally they begrudgingly backed down and said "if you feel THAT strongly about it, we will do it for free but its gonna take a few hours". Gee - screw you too!

Now I was in the position that I had cycling shoes on, was 3km from home and I had to be home in 20 mins so I could drive PDL to a meeting at 3pm. The shop gave me a loaner bike which was the biggest pile of crap I have ever ridden. It was a Malvern Star MTB with a seat pointed WAY up at the front, soft spongy tyres and front suspension that bounced like a pogo stick. I was embarrassed to be seen riding this pile of junk and I was so slow on it (remembering I am already knacked). I felt like I was riding on an old tractor. YUK. PDL could not ride slow enough to keep up with me...or was it just that I was cramping her style? LOL.

Just as we are 20 metres from home in a service road with only High St to cross to be home, a white hatch zooms from no where, swerving around me and he pulls up to a stop next to Lisa (who was just coming to a stop at the intersection). I could see it startled PDL, so as I pulled up next to the car (on his LHS) I said calmly, "slow down a bit buddy". As usual with an abusive car driver, he started yelling at me, "why don't you ride on the bike path, fuck you, blah blah blah..." to which PDL and I said that we have every right to ride on the road. The tool in the tin box started swearing at me so I started yelling back for him to "get out and say it to me you chicken shit". I felt like I wanted to knock this prick to the ground - I had had enough crap for one day, but of course the pathetic bully just drove off, pulling out onto the road which caused him to be beeped for being a dick head and cutting the other cars off. I hope his bimbo girlfriend sitting next to him was suitably horrified at his behavior but somehow I doubt it. Idiots tend to stick together.

Once we are home, PDL quickly changes out of her lycra, I drive her to her meeting, come home, jump BACK on the shite bike, ride back to BSC (expecting some hassles with the boss about my bike but thankfully it was ok), grabbed my bike and rode home (again). Wow, the difference between the bikes was night and day.

Ride Stats 15-09-07 - Northcote > Frankston > Northcote
Dist: 112.27km
Time: 4:35:30
Max: 46.6kph
Average: 24.6kph

Overall, I did almost 40km further than my previous longest ride, our average speed was our best yet, the wind was its worst and all this just 3 weeks after my inability to complete our first BBC ride to Black Rock.

Am I happy? YOU BET!

I have to say that I am less than thrilled with the service from BSC. The workshop staff make you feel like you are intruding, are less than cheerful and their work is questionable. Two of the sales staff have been VERY helpful (particularly Ben - nice guy, always happy to chat no matter how busy he is and I always get knowledgeable service from him), but some staff treated me like I knew nothing. NEVER underestimate a customer!

So, if you are a bike shop owner and are reading this, we would like to find a new LBS- we are committed to cycling, will be buying road bikes as soon as finances allow and we will continuing to need parts, accessories and service, so leave a comment with your shops details and your name so we can ask for you :)

Oh and one laaaaaast thing, I did my first weight check in this morning (Sunday) and I am down from 141.1kg last weekend to 139.9kg. That's a drop of 1.2kg's in exactly 7 days.

Woohoo!

Sunshine, flat tyres, sprints and man love

2007-09-09T09:21:00.000+10:00

What a great day for riding. After standing on our balcony watching the hot air ballons take off into a beautiful sunrise, we set off. Shortly after we met up by chance with Allez Allez from BV on Hoddle St and rode as a threesome down to St Kilda for the meeting point. We followed Allez Allez through Gosch's Paddock, then up the steep hill of Anderson St past the Botanical Gardens which really hurt me but I made it. Two weeks ago I wouldn't have even thought about riding up that hill. Down Beach Rd we were all enjoying the ride too much and as we approached Fitzroy St we all realized we had ridden past the meeting point and had to pootle back on the footpath (slowly). Doh!

Good turn out and a nicely behaved ride down. It was really nice to be up at the front of the group for once. Along the way an older guy asked me if he could join the group, to which I replied "of course". We chatted for about 15k's before I dropped him somewhere around Hampton. Turns out he had been out of cycling for about two years and was really enjoying being back in the saddle and and wondered why he had left it so long. I told him about BV and he sounded keen to further investigate. Vidman recruits: one.

I was shocked to be able to stay with the group without ANY problems on the way down. I can't believe it was just 2 short weeks ago I struggled on the BBC ride and now the rises that I struggled with so much just seemed to pass under the wheels without so much as a sweat broken. I actually wished the group would pick up the pace a little!

On our descent into Black Rock, everyone was cruising down slowly so I jumped out of the saddle, sprinted past everyone and hurtled down into Black Rock at top speed - I couldn't resist the chance to stretch the legs and go for a sprint. Downhill is the ONLY place where overweight has its advantage.. LOL! As Polka Dot Lisa said- "you can take the boy out of the racing, but you can't take the racer out of the boy!"

On the way down to Mordi a dog darted out from behind a car directly into my path but unbeknown to me, was on a leash and was pulled back just in time. Boy, did I shit myself over that one! Mordi was filled with bikes - WOW. PDL, RedZ61, Tennisdude and someone else (sorry I can't remember who you were now) had a dunny stop and drink before heading back. The Mordi pier was blocked off by the cops and later that night on the news we saw that some guy chained his wife up in the car and drove it off the pier to kill her!

The ride back was a bit harder with more uphills. After the series of hills to Black Rock my legs were feeling pretty dead. I did hang on to the back of a group for a while until a rise saw me drop off- damn those hills! The rise out of Black Rock hit me hard but I used the power of the HTFU wristband to drag my sorry ass over the top and was fine the rest of the way, sitting on about 25-30 kph.

A cafe stop in Hampton with RedZ61 and Tennisdude whilst PDL did Cog's Girls refresher course was nice, though after about 20 mins, all the cyclists left leaving us as the only lycra clad customers left.

After a while the guys went their own ways so I stretched out on a park bench and took in the sun. It was oh so nice to feel the warmth of the sun on my face and I was hoping to keep my muscles warmed up for the return ride (it didn't).

On the way back I think I was giving PDL a run for her money and she was working hard to keep up to my pace (however she hadn't had any lunch, and she was still riding while I sat and relaxed so fair's fair). We stopped on the St Kilda foreshore for a dunny stop, water refil and photo, but while walking back out to the road (with PDL behind me as she had stopped to adjust her shoe) two gay guys we walked past apparently gave me the BIG check out and noise of approval! They much have a thing for fat guys?

As we rode into the city, the road was really packed with cars and to PDL's credit, she handled the weaving through the traffic jam without any drama. Riding up Swanston St I got my first flat. Bugger! While working on the front wheel, a guy knocked my bike over with his shopping- nice work MATE!

Whilst trying to pump up the new tube, the pump would only take it to 40psi. Considering I usually run it at 110 - well you get the picture. I had to really nurse the bike till I could get it pumped up (keeping the front light over any bumps). Time for a new pump me thinks. We carefully rode home via Brunswick Street where we stopped at BSC to pump up my front with their track pump.

All in all it was another big jump in distance and fitness for me. I can't believe how quickly I have progressed in so little time. PDL also regained her confidence after last Sundays incident which was also good to see. It was mentioned to me several times and also to PDL that given how I am riding with my current weight and fitness, when I drop down in size I will really fly. I can't wait!

Ride Stats 08-09-07 - Northcote > Mordialloc > Northcote
Dist: 74.33km
Time: 3:12:13
Max: 50.5kph
Average: 23.2kph

Look what I got today!

2007-09-06T01:23:00.000+10:00

Wow!
Today I was most fortunate to be GIVEN for free a Minoura Rim Drive trainer for free by Jumbo (Mark) from the BV forum. I feel so humbled that a stranger would just give it to me with the only request that I put it to use (which I plan to do as much as I can).

I got home and set up the trainer in the lounge, put on my knicks and shoes and had a quick spin to see what it was like. I was actually surprised how hard it was and I could feel the heat build up even on a quick spin.

I set up the fan and got to work while Polka Dot Lisa took photos for this blog and Miette watched on, acting as my coach. Quickly I was dripping with sweat and PDL grabbed me some towels. Spicks and Specks came on the TV and my aim was to ride till the end (30 mins), but PDL had dinner ready at the 20 min mark so I gladly stopped to eat and rest.

I was covered in sweat, even though I had a fan blowing straight on me and had stripped down to just the knicks. The trainer was working great but the constant work on the pedals without any break that you get on the road was really killing me. But I suppose that is the point- It's not supposed to be easy. It's supposed to give you a workout and that it did in spades!

More self motivational messages

2007-09-05T10:53:00.001+10:00

After the lows of last Sunday, I decided to turn lemons into lemonade by using my shocking weight reading as a motivation to push harder on the bike. So next time I'm on a hill and my lungs are about to burst and the legs feel like they have nothing left, a simple look down will give me ALL the extra motivation I need to keep going.

It's SPRING time

2007-09-05T02:01:00.000+10:00

The flowers are blooming and the trees are full of fresh tyres. Hmm.. I wonder where the Campagnolo trees are?

After the highs, comes the lows: a bad day today.

2007-09-02T23:50:00.000+10:00

After yesterdays achievement in riding to Black Rock and back, today was a day of frustration, fear, pain and disappointment.

It all started in the morning after a lazy breakfast when I went to change the tires to the Continental Ultra Gatorskin and i discovered the valves on the new tubes that Brunswick Street Cycles sold me were ridiculously long (60mm). I did mention to the sales guy that I had a Kona Dr Dew with the deep-ish rims so I just trusted what he gave me. Grrrr...

A trip back to BSC and they didn't have 3 tubes with 40mm valve stems and they gave me the line "oh we haven't got any sorry." So I pointed to the Continental tubes which were right next to the other tubes (sheesh!), and they finally handed over 3 of those with 48mm valves and said- "here, take these, they are more expensive but that will do". Gee, thanks!

Ok, off to buy some scales and a tiny tool bag so I can carry a tube for my bike. We found a set of scales that measures your fluid levels and body fat which I thought would be a good idea for me and I find a nice tiny Specialized seat bag.

Back at home we tried the scales out and the damn things don't work properly. I followed the instructions to the letter but it doesn't work as it should. I did manage to get a weight reading and.. well.. umm.. *sigh* take a look at the photo right.

The last time I weighed myself I was about 130kg and I thought I was about the same so it was a really awful shock to see just how heavy and fat I was. And to add to my rotten feelings, the scales, although rated to go up to 150kg, wouldn't give a body fat or body fluid percentage for weights above 120kg (this was not disclosed on the packaging anywhere- I only found out by supporting myself to test the scales). Those scales are going straight back for a refund- the extra features are useless to me!

Anyway, knowing I have to loose 1/3 of my body weight to get even close to healthy, and struck with the enormity of my road ahead, I decided I had to work even harder if I was to get somewhere.

So I set about changing the tyres to the Gatorskins and I discover that the 3 tubes with 48mm valve stems are actually 2 x 48 and 1 x 38. Grrr... So I'm changing the first tyre and all was going fine until- SNAP! One of the plastic tyre leavers broke the tip off. Ok, I just use the other end carefully as the second lever. I get the tyre on, pump it up and as look on at the wheel, pleased at my work, I remember the tyres are directional and bugger it, I got it wrong.

I take it off and wouldn't you know it- half way through it the already broken lever breaks off the other end rendering it a useless piece of plastic with sharp tube cutting edges. With only one lever left and tyres that were a bit tough to get on/off, I had to dig up an old metal tyre lever and hope I wouldn't scratch my black aluminum rims (which try as I did, I couldn't avoid).

OK, the tyres are on and pumped up, no pinching and the bikes looking mighty fine. The bike looks faster and sleeker just with the change of tyres. Sweet!

With the knowledge of my weight freshly eating away at my self ego, I talk Polka Dot Lisa into going for a ride around the Boulevard and back (our first time). PDL is reluctant to go but I reassure her that we can make it around the Bouli and that she will be fine across the Chandler Hwy bridge.

It all starts well, riding down Westgarth Street and I can tell that the new tyres are faster. As we ride down Heidelberg Rd I am a bit worried about PDL as we approach the intersection with Chandler Hwy. A quick head check and the road is totally clear so I move over to enter the two right hand lanes and I give PDL the big thumbs up to signify that it's cool for her to follow me. As I stop at the lights, I look back and Lisa rolls to a stop next to me and she's a VERY freaked out by that maneuver. She's really upset and I don't really know what to do other than try and relax her. We have the Chandler Hwy bridge to cross up ahead and considering its just the one lane with no footpath, we have no choice but to ride across taking up a whole lane.

I advise PDL to try and pick up some speed on the downhill onto the bridge, move over into the lane as you approach the bridge and position yourself to take up the whole lane, then straight after the bridge move into the right hand turn lane where you can stop and wait for a brake in the traffic (in the shelter of the traffic island).

The lights change so I head off assuming that PDL is right behind me but as I pull up to a stop in the right hand turn lane, PDL is not behind me and a car comes across the bridge straight after me. "Shit- where is PDL?" Slowly she comes across and pulls up next to me and she is TOTALLY freaked out now. I comfort her and tell her it's ok, and that we can just stay here till she feels better but she's not in a good way. A woman in a car pulls into the lane behind us and I motion for her to go around us. After pulling around us, the woman opens her door and asks if we are ok and we just motion that we are. PDL is embarrassed that people are seeing her like this and she wants to cross the road and get going again.

I feel really bad at this stage, wondering if I would have been best to ride at HER pace down onto the bridge and across with her. I suppose I underestimated her fear factor. My bad... my BIG bad!

Now we are on the Bouli and its straight up a decent hill (well- it's a decent hill for us). I ride wide so PDL can ride on the left of me to give her reassurance and at the top of the hill we have to stop. PDL is suffering from stomach cramps as a result of her earlier freak out and then riding up a hill. I drop my bike, take her's from her and try to talk her through it. I know she just has to gather her breath and take some water on board. I hug her and reassure her that I am NOT angry or annoyed at her tears while several cyclists ride past looking at us (I just give then a thumbs up to let them know it's ok). After a while she calms down and is feeling ok enough to ride again.

Onwards we ride and as we head down a long sweeping fast corner, a bug decides my ear hole is a great place to stop for the night. I'm doing about 40kp/h +, entering a corner while I try to shake my head from side to side hoping to shake it free but the FREAKEN bug thinks that in deeper is better than out! Oh shit, what do I do? So as I round the corner at 40kph, I have my head tilted to the side while I'm trying to dig the little fucker out with my pinky (hoping not to push him deeper). It's about at this stage that I wish I had a long fingernail on my pinky finger. Eventually I squish the bug in my ear and I'm trying to dig him out (all at 40kph mind you). Finally- its all out but I come to a stop as the bike path ends and I spend the next 30 seconds shaking my head about to knock loose any stray legs, wings, bug guts, etc. Yuk!

As we ride on, I am REALLY struggling with the uphills. These are the biggest hills I have ever ridden up so far and its hurting REAL BAD! On the second last uphill before the Studley Park Rd overpass, I come very, very close to getting off and walking but I drop down to the small front gear and I spin the cranks to get myself up. I'm breathing way too hard to verbalize it, but I'm thinking to myself- "C'mon David, Harden The Fuck Up" and I manage to reach the top without stopping; just! As silly as it sounds, those wrist bands do help me. Finally we make Studley Park Rd and we stop for a break and drink. It's getting quite dark now and I slump over my bars and blinking headlight, unable to do anything but struggle for air. Polka Dot Lisa also struggled up the hills, but she did it much better than I did.

As I gather myself together, I worry how PDL will do down Studley Park Rd considering its a fast downhill. I tell her I will not zoom away so she can ride with me and feel safer but even with no pedaling and the brakes on for a considerable length, I still pull ahead by 50mts so I slow right down at the bottom so she can ride on my wheel up Johnston St. At the Wellington St corner, I figure a hook turn is the more conservative approach and PDL is happy to do a right hand turn this way.

Wellington St takes us up into Clifton Hill and I'm feeling every single kilogram of my 142.6 kg weight, pulling against my efforts up the hill. We ride on along Queens Pde and as we approach the Merri Creek bridge, I decide I am too stuffed to plod up the last hill to home, so I sprint down the hill harder than I ever have. I'm clicking up the gears and pulling on the bars so hard that the front wheel lifts off the ground with each pedal stroke. Yep- sprinting is definitely my strength and my top speed for the ride was during this sprint! Cool.

Home finally and we are both totally rooted! PDL is really down on herself and I try to offer her words of encouragement. I remind her that she has only been riding for 6 weeks after not driving for approx 6 years.

Ride stats 02-09-07 - Home > Boulevard > Home Loop
Dist 13.14km
Trip Time 00:36:48
Av Speed 21.50kph
Max Speed 46.9kph

Me- While I hurt like never before on those hills, I was happy to complete the ride without getting off to walk. I was also very happy considering I did 54km the day before so my recovery has also improved.

As for my weight, well I have been stewing over it all evening and yeah, it's really got me down I'll admit it. Discovering my weight is 142.6kg and that my goal is to get down to at least 90kg means I have to loose a minimum of 52.6kg. That's right- I have to loose 37% of my current body weight! As I type this and think about the path ahead of me, its pretty much overwhelming to even imagine reaching my goal. It really rips me deep inside and I feel a tear welling up just thinking about it. But at the same time, I haven't given up and I'm tempted to do the Bouli ride tomorrow morning on the way to work alone (PDL isn't ready to tackle the traffic and downhill speeds). I'll wake up early at 7am and see if I can muster up the energy and enthusiasm to do it again.

I DID IT!

2007-09-01T19:47:00.000+10:00

What did Polka Dot Lisa and I do for our 5th wedding anniversary?

Go riding of course...

Yep- I achived my goal of riding from Northcote to Black Rock and all the way home again, and I did it SOOOO much easier than last week on the BBC ride. And whats more, I could have ridden another 15km more before I would have had to wave the little white flag.

Am I happy?

BLOODY HELL YEAH!!!

Ride stats 01-09-07 - Northcote to Black Rock Return
Dist 53.75km
Trip Time 02:25:28
Av Speed 22.30kph
Max Speed 49kph

We started off leaving home about 6.45am, following the same path as last time Punt Rd > Swan St > St Kilda Rd > Fitzroy St > Beach Rd and back. As we set off, OH MY GAWD! The air was freezing cold. Our faces were stinging and the air hurt our lungs.

We rode on and as we crested the Punt Rd hill at Bridge Rd, I climbed it waaaay better than last week. Hmm, this is looking better I thought.

We rode on up St Kilda Rd and our original plan was to stop for a drink outside BBC to replicate our last ride but I felt too good to stop, so we kept on riding until we stopped for a quick 2 min drink break at a servo somewhere in Brighton and a bottle top up.

Onwards we went and as usual all the more experienced cyclists passed us with one guy mentioning to his mates- "Beginners!" Gee, thanks buddy! However as one group of guys all decked out in Team Discovery gear and riding nice looking Trek's passed me, I latched onto the back of the last guy and managed to ride on his wheel for quite a while (10 mins). Now- I know he was taking it easy and he knew I was behind him also but damn- it felt GREAT. Of course as soon as we hit a rise, the group dropped me but not like previous rides down beach road. I even got to experience my first draft as well and I was amazed at how much easier it was. Polka Dot Lisa even said she was struggling a little to keep up with me. Cool!

As we rode past the spot I turned around at last weekend, I was really feeling a sense of achievement. I had thought about this moment since last Saturday and I was dammed if I was gonna be beaten again.

Down the hill into Black Rock and I was full of energy. I clicked up the gears as I pushed down on the pedals and I zoomed ahead of PDL. I passed one or two riders on the way down the hill and as I rode into the roundabout I couldn't resist myself and I gave a fist pump in the air to celebrate. How embarrassing!

We stopped at Le Knicks as I wanted to see if their size 10/6XL jerseys would fit me and to my horror they were no where near big enough- yikes! The nice woman in the shop said they sometimes get in some size 12 (yep- that's XXXXXXXXL kids!) but truth be told, I doubt they would even fit me. Boy these cycling tops are stupidly small sizes... what gives? In the end, I brought a Liquigas headband which felt nice under my helmet soaking up my sweat but I quickly soaked through that so I will have to get a few more so I can change over during the ride.

We walked across the road to have a drink and stretch in the sun and PDL took some photos of me with the clock with her camera phone (see right) but the photo turned out awful. After a very short break and watching in wonder at the sight of cyclists EVERYWHERE (roads, parks, cafes, side streets) we set off on our return.

Now this was the moment I had been dreading the most- riding back into a slight headwind and back up the hill I so joyfully flew down. Polka Dot Lisa rode off ahead while I spun the pedals in my attempt to make my way up. As I struggled to keep up any pace, hurting from the strain of dragging my heft bulk along, I reminded myself of my HTFU wrist band and talked encouragement to myself. "C'mon David, Harden the fuck up" I kept saying to myself and it DID help. PDL slowed to wait for me at the top of the rise and from then on she was actually struggling to keep up with me (except for inclines of course hehe).

At one stage we took off from a set of lights behind a big peleton and I said to PDL, "Try and stick on their wheels and enjoy the draft" but we didn't have a hope- they took off like a bullet and were out of sight in no time. Ah wishful thinking... LOL

As we came into the home stretch of Beach Rd, I pulled myself up to the rear wheel of a guy and I stuck to him for quite a way until he peeled off. I rode on solo until we got to Cafe Racer where I stopped to wait for PDL.

We found a table to share with an older couple and we both got fruit toast (2 slices) which was too much for me. I think my eating has reduced which is strange considering I am exercising harder than I ever have in my entire life.

PDL noticed that the guy across from me had on a Rapha jersey which has to be the best looking cycling clothing I have ever seen. If you don't know what I'm talking about- do yourselves a favor and go click on that link (don't worry- it will open in a new window so you won't loose this blog). Anyway, I asked him about it and he said it was really nice to wear but also expensive (which he added emphasis with the universal sign for expensive by holding up one hand and rubbing his thumb against the side of his forefinger, LOL).

After a short break and a little leg stretching, we resumed our ride and boy- we could both notice that our bodies had cooled down and it was a lot harder than it was before we stopped. Eventually we got back into the swing of it and headed towards the city down St Kilda Rd. As we rode down, stopping at all the lights, I managed to balance and slowly inch my way forward at every single traffic light to avoid putting my foot down. that reminds me, I really want to get some cheap flat pedals to use to learn the art of track standing!

In the city we stopped at "High and Mighty" to see if they had any new athletic tops in that I could use when cycling but alas, it was all the same stuff so we rode on.

As we came to the intersection of Lonsdale and Swanston St, a tram had stopped at the lights and a police car was also stopped at the lights next to the tram. Myself (on the RHS) and another guy on a bike (on the LHS) stopped behind the cop car and we didn't try working our way past as he didn't have any blinkers on. As the lights changed the cop car moved forward before turning left and coming to a stop. The other rider and I got a shock at this as he didn't have any blinker on and we almost ran up the back of him. Being on the RHS, I maneuvered around the car and as I rode past the drivers window I yelled out very loudly- "BLINKERS" (but I should have added- DICKHEAD after it)!

On the way down Brunswick St, we stopped at Brunswick Street Cycles so I could select some faster tyres and book our bikes in for their free 200km service. After choosing Continental Ultra Gatorskin 25mm's (which I would go back to pickup later in the day), we rode home where I was ecstatic to have achieved my aim and I celebrated with a high 5 with PDL! Not only did I make the full ride- I did it with plenty of energy to spare! What a difference 7 days makes.

I spent the rest of the day, unable to wipe the smile off my face! Fantastic!

Next week- the same ride only FASTER!