Good Friday Appeal – Hail, Caesar!

WHO ARE WE AND WHY SHOULD YOU GET INVOLVED?

In April, a team of 14 people are taking part in the MURRAY TO MOYNE CHARITY EVENT and cycling 520km over a 36 hour period. Our aim is to raise money for the GOOD FRIDAY APPEAL to help fund much needed equipment, research and education to support the work of The Royal Children’s Hospital.  Make sure you bring all your spare change to buy raffle tickets for your chance to win some lucky door prizes.  Help make a difference in a sick child’s journey to recover.

WHAT ARE WE WATCHING?

Hail, Caesar! is being dubbed the movie of 2016!!! Written and directed by the Coen Brothers, it showcases the talents of George Clooney, Channing Tatum and Scarlette Johansson just to name a few.  Set in the 1950’s Hail, Caesar! follows a single day in the life of studio fixer who is presented with plenty of problems to fix.  Rotten Tomatoes gives it 82%!!!  Come at 6pm to grab some raffle tickets for the lucky door prizes and the movie starts about 6:30pm.

WHEN and WHERE IS THE FUN HAPPENING?

March 7, 2016 6:00 PM

Palace Cinema Balwyn, 231 Whitehorse Road, Balwyn, VIC 3103

Click here to book

 

 

 

 

 

Touring Down Under to Radelaide

It was was a fabulous Tour Down Under for me. Driving from home on January 15 and staying the first night in Pomonal with Mary Ann’s friends Jenny and Dennis, it was then on to the first ride, over Gariwerd via Halls Gap and up to Natimuk, west of Horsham. We stayed with ‘lynne for two nights, doing a few local rides including Mt Arapiles. There’s an active cycling community in Natimuk centred around the Nati Cafe. 

Next was a transfer ride to Goroke before continuing the road trip to Adelaide, finally arriving on 18 January. 

The Tour started properly for me with a ride out to the KOM on Stage 1 to watch the first pure climb. It was hot and thirsty up at the KOM but an enterprising bloke was selling cold drinks, coffees and ice blocks. I cut cross-country and hopped on to The GORGEOUS ROAD -the Gorge Road – for the big descent into the city. That is one ride which is quintessential Radelaide! 

Mary Ann and I saw the final stage of the Women’s Tour Down Under, a 1.2km crit in the twilight. Very exciting finish, with Kimberley Wells the winner.

Next day it was out to Stage 2 with Total Rush on a ride which included a huge climb and even a very solid 700 metre cyclocross section up the Pony Climb. We enjoyed a fab lunch in Aldgate at FRED! 

For Stage 3, Mary Ann and I did a 20 km ride down to Glenelg beach to watch the start of the race and came back on an unfamiliar cycling trail, the River Torrens Linear Park Trail, which is extremely beautiful. 40km+ return. 

The 1-hour Women’s Distance Challenge was another side event that was really exciting, especially seeing Bridie O’Donnell break the world record. So much cheering and clapping from the crowd as she smashed her way into the cycling history books. 

I caught up with Alain on 22 January and we did a coastal loop to Glenelg and back through Port Adelaide. Coffee and food at Hello Kitty while the Tour hit out to Victor Harbour.

No TDU is complete without Willunga Hill: this year I rode out there via Belair with Simon, Jay, Don and all the Rush Cycling Events crew.

The highlight of the Tour was catching up with Carlos Verona again. He was sitting in the Etixx Quickstep Team bus while I was riding past on the Anzac Hwy, en route to the start line of Stage 4. He IGed me from the bus! It was exciting to later see him on the front for 4 laps of the final stage of the Tour. I first met Carlos on a Specialised ride down to Glenelg a couple of years ago. It’s been fantastic to follow his career in cycling. 

I did two climbs to Mt Lofty, the second on the final leg home, stopping when I got to Aldgate.

Back home via Salt Creek and Robe and a place I’ve never been before -Beachport.  Gorgeous towns and landscapes to cycle through. 

Another brilliant Tour Down Under which to me is a cycling corroboree where the far-flung Australian cycling tribes get together and celebrate. There were rides, dinners, drinks and coffees with friends and cycling comrades.  Lots of wonderful seafood dinners, Italian food and that special Radelaide Coffee. (Nothing will be said about the XO Sauce at Concubine on Gouger Street.)

Next year I might make it two weeks and ride there somehow. 

Thanks to Mary Ann, Alain, Françoise and Denis, Don, Simon Coffin and the Rush Cycling Events Crew for making it a great week in Radelaide.

If you haven’t been to

The Down Under

You should !

 

Remembering Amy

If I’m right then Amy’s Gran Fondo in Lorne has taken place 5 times. I’ve been there 4 times and ridden it thrice. It’s a fantastic event that only gets better. This year the organisers added a Women’s Crit race in the main street of Lorne which was a marvellous spectacle. The hillclimb against the clock is brilliant, watching the riders putting themselves through pain to climb Bay Street to roar of the crowd is exciting.

Mary Ann did the piccolo ride and I raced in my age category (60-64) in the 109km Gran Fondo. I finished a minute longer than my best time in 2012 so that’s allowed room for improvement. The weather, the sprint down the Great Ocean Road and the Skenes Creek and Benwerrin climbs all combined for a a great day. I had one issue with my Garmin which caused me some grief but I pushed on and it seemed to come right when I switched off the Bluetooth. The segment timer came in really handy on the first two segments of the Benwerrin climb where I scored PRs. If I had more experience with it I would have got better times on Sprint and KOM stages.

Seeing local Eltham rider Brendan Canty clean up in every possible category really topped the day off as did a cold Forest Beer at the finish back in Lorne. We ran into old friends and made new ones, there’s plenty of places to eat and drink, all with the the fabulous Lorne backdrop.

You should enter the ride next year, its great.

Approaching Finish Line

1, 2 and 3 of the Women’s AGF Crit

The Cog

Hilltop

The Swing Bridge

Post race pasta

Waithing for the start

Race Day in Lorne

Race Kit

Brendan Canty the morning after basking in limelight

Paul from Total Rush

Papa Bears

Mary Ann and Alex

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Bastille Day – La Fête Nationale – le quatorze juillet

Its a year since I spent my most memorable cycling day ever. Its still fresh and exciting in my mind.  Here’s an Instagram image from that day. The date is out due to posting at the time. There is also a link to my ride on that day. Not a long ride but so memorable.

 

Two Recent Rides and Two Coming Up

Alex and Cyril

Sometimes you just have fun cycling and even though it seems a bit serious at the time (to me at least) it turns into like pure fun! George Greenough call that kind of thing the Innermost Limits of Pure Fun. Cycling can be like surfing in many respects or none at all depending on the view you take. I think its like it in the weather watching, exploring the country, screeching down descents and flicking back up along a curving wall. Mateship and planning. Talking about it all after a session in the water or on the road somewhere. I don’t surf anymore but I do ride bikes. On March 15 we ran the Warrandyte Cycling TT for the fifth year. A race against the clock and electronically recorded on Strava to see who finished the 41km through the hills in the shortest time. This year Cyril locked in 4 KOMs to give the climbers a chance at a prize.

Veronica and Shane

My ride was nothing spectacular but it was mine and I enjoyed it. I left later cause I was organising a few things, James Mugg came in as I was about to go and he followed me soon after. When he caught me on the climb out of Warrandyte I couldn’t talk cause I was near my peak. I appeared a bit anti-social but that’s how it had to be. We caught a couple of riders but I let him scream away up the hill towards Pigeon Bank. Somewhere down the road I surprised James by catching him and passing. Then in due course he swiftly passed me by until the descent to St Andrews again he caught me near A Boy Named Sue. We now had an unrehearsed, unspoken plan. Just keep tapping out the kilometres, passing and being passed by each other. Then we saw Dietmar and David in the distance. Chase time. Off we went and then at speed surprizing and leaving D & D behind at the Hursty/Panton Hill roundabout. From there it was on to Wattle Glen where we felt comfortable enough to chat for a bit before I remarked to James that there was a KOM coming up and he should go for it.. He did! After a couple of kms I looked over my shoulder and saw Dietmar in his distinctive fluro windbreaker on my tail and I was off climbing at full speed not wanting him to catch me.

Dietmar, Jack and Paul

James fell back into sight as I climbed towards Pigeon Bank and Dietmar had lost a bit of ground to me but he was “lurking”. I new both of these riders were better descenders than me and James was a better climber and in good form. My plan was keep Dietmar at bay by getting away and keeping James in sight but not too close and try to surprise him and steal his lead as we swept down the long hill to Warrandyte Bridge. That’s how it played out. Dietmar dropped behind and in that two hundred metres I surprised James passing him on a sweeping curve. He caught me just on the Bridge but the ride was over back about 50 metres before. We rolled into the finish, smelling the egg and bacon rolls closely followed by Dietmar who had descended very fast as expected.

The Ride for the Animals

Dietmar invited me to do a ride with him out Gippsland way in March and as it turned out it was within striking range of Maffra where Reuben has started his first year at teaching. It was a 95km ride to Bairnsdale from Fulham and the plan was to ride back to Maffra.

So I rode over from Maffra and Dietmar from Golden Beach where he and Kathryn were staying. We went through the registration process, grabbed some extra food, filled our bidons and waited for the formalities to be completed.Then the 60 or so riders commenced the event through an honour guard of dogs lined to bark us off.

Somehow we found ourselves winding our way from the back of the bunch to the front and behind the Animal Aid team lead car. We sat on there and soon found ourselves moto-pacing the driver which wasn’t the best as he wound it out to 45 kph. We backed off and cruised at 35 wondering about the rest of the bunch particularly the teams who looked like they would out gun us. Soon we were joined by another rider Dave, who sat on for awhile and then excused himself and waited for for the bunch.

As we neared Maffra Dietmar indicated he’d need a “coffee break” so we turned off and headed down the road a km or so. When we came back we saw one rider coming through the roundabout and another within sight so off we went catching him and now looking for the bunch. we passed the official pitstop in Stratford and off we shot still not being able to see the elusive bunch.

We raced our hearts out without seeing a sign of them until we hit the second pitstop only to be told we were the first through with 35 km to ride. We had a short break, grabbed some water, food and were on our way just as Dave rolled in.

Finally we hit Bairnsdale and the Animal Aid centre much to the surprise of all there especially when we said we were only half way through our day and had to ride back to Maffra. The Animal Aiders photographed and fed us. Dave rolled in and we chatted before heading out passing the bunch which was split now.

Dietmar caught up with Kathryn after he’d done 175km on the day and I rode back to Maffra after a bit of refreshment at the Stratford Bakery. It was a fantastic day and I celebrated my 205 km with Reuben later over pizza, souvlaki and beer!

Two Upcoming Rides

Ride the Ranges 130km on April 26 at Euroa. I did this last year with Cyril, Marty and Andrew and it was excellent. I also met Sam and Adrian Cummins who did the race too. I’m staying up there over the weekend and Mary Ann is going to do the 30 km version.Its my birthday on the 24th!

Cradle Mountain Ride 230 km of Tasmanian roads on November 1, 2015. Hardly know a thing about this ride but I’m booked and am yet to make plans. Are you interested?

and let me introduce a third… Amy’s Gran Fondo on Sunday, 13 September 2015 in Lorne.

 

Bookending 24 Hours

I finished January 2015 with two mass event rides on the one day: the Cadel Evans Momentum Energy People’s Ride out of Geelong early on Saturday morning, and Ride The Night around Melbourne at midnight.

After arriving in Geelong at 5:30AM for a 7:00AM start, I had a fantastic 111km ride through Barwon Heads, Torquay, Bells Beach, Moriac and back to Geelong. The first 50km was with a fierce headwind and then 30 km of tail, followed by a mix of cross and tail with hills or sharp pinches.

Cadel farewelled the riders and I was fortunate enough to shake hands with him due to a little quirky moment. Cadel put his hand out to me, great fella. Thanks for setting up a terrific ride and good luck to Cadel with whatever he does in the future.

I got back home from Geelong around 2:00PM. Then it was getting ready to head into Melbourne for Ride the Night. This is a 60km ride along the bike paths through inner city Melbourne. The forecast wasn’t flash – rain – and it turned out to be spot on: heavy rain along the St Kilda foreshore and everywhere else on the south side of the river.

I parked at Albert Park and discovered I’d left my lights at home as I was getting ready to ride. I thought it was all over and I’d have to go home. I rang Mary Ann to check if they were on the garage bench; they were and she offered to drive in and drop them off to me! Wonderful Mary Ann, THANKS.

Mary Ann met me near the Shrine of Remembance and I finished my prep. There were about 2500 riders there on every kind of bike and wearing every kind of kit. People with flashing lights everywhere on the bikes. Xmas lights galore, a euphony of bike bells and later supplanted by on-board boom box music systems pumping out more watts than Cadel.

The riders moved off in waves that averaged about 1kmh, hundreds in each wave. The rain was coming down again after a short break. I was nervous, realising the potential for a tumble that could happen amongst all that inexperience and distraction on the slippery roads. Sure enough, on the first turn onto St Kilda Road on the tram tracks down went a rider, taking 5 others with him.

Eventually the swarms of “cyclists” thinned out and the speed picked up as a few of us in my wave wanted to get away to avoid crashes on the wet roads and tram tracks. I decided not to stop at any of the multitude of feed stops to avoid more crowds and risk. I saw one rider go down on a tram track on the first return to the city. Nasty. Then I saw a pedestrian running across Swanston Street; he slipped and went down heavily.

My 800 lumen front light lit up all the road in front and helped me negotiate the dark lanes, narrow roads and tunnels we rode through. I was constantly flicking it between flash and lighting levels. Through the city and the inner city early on Saturday morning there were heaps of people returning home, drunk, wet and cold. Two guys stood in the middle of the road and were waving at all the riders passing through and yelling “Go Cadel”.

Drunks everywhere added another interesting element to Ride the Night. There were moments on the ride in the pouring rain when I began plotting my escape, but I pushed on knowing that it could only get better.

Sure enough the rain eased, I got clear of the fixies and started to really enjoy the event. Once through Clifton Hill and back into the city, we looped the MCG and I hooked up with a couple of F&M riders. We sprinted to Cremorne around the MCG and other roads and trails that I wasn’t familiar with. A few more joined us and someone called out that there  was a “Strava Segment” ahead. Off we went like terriers chasing an unseen fox. Great fun in the dark on a section of the Boulie I’ve been on before. Before long, it was back through the city and copping a bit of abuse from drunks, this time in cars. Back into Docklands and Fishermans Bend and on to the final legs of the ride before back to Albert Park for some food and banter.

I imagined when I booked into this ride a hot summer night. Instead it was almost snowing at  Albert Park Lake. In the end, I loved Ride the Night and its calculated danger, cold and wet. Loved it.

PS Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race was won by Gianni Meersman from etixx Quick Step.

Cadel (BMC) finishes 5th, Brendan Canty (Budget Fork Lifts) 18th and Richie Porte (Sky) 20th. Full results here

 

The 2014 Festive 500

Another Festive 500 Done

I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it the challenge the year when a cold hit me right at the end of the year, my first in 2014. I had a new bike and it was Christmas, there was a ride of more than 100km to my sister-in-laws for Christmas Lunch. All the right ingredients to shake the cold and sniffles. So I started with a short Christmas Eve ride. I felt the congestion in my lungs clearing as I rode.

Then came the Christmas Day ride and finished it plus some. I was a third of the way in and improving.

Then there was the mountain climbs I’d booked into following Boxing Day with the Domestique crew but first some peddling around Bright in the summer sun on The Smashing Avocados ride with Mary Ann.

The next big number came from the the ride from Bright to Mount Beauty via Tawonga, up to Falls Creek and back.  Lots of VERT and Hurt on that one!

The next morning came the monster climb,  Mt Hotham with the Hells500 Domestique crew. that really knocked a big hole in the target.

I finally kicked it home on a ride with the long-suffering Mary Ann on our own Tour of Bright which we staked out on New Year’s Eve 2013/14.

That final ride of the the 2014 Festive 500 on December 29, nailed it good and proper. What a pleasure to finish what has been a big year in cycling and other ways. During the period I also completed my 1000km per month and 200,000 Vertical Metres of climbing. Thanks Rapha for providing the challenge to kick it home despite the heavy head cold.

Going down to climb Hotham photo by Caz Whitehead

Up to Falls Creek photo by Caz Whitehead

Up to Falls Creek photo by Caz Whitehead

Up to Hotham photo by Caz Whitehead

More Hotham chasing Up to Falls Creek photo by Caz Whitehead

 

Reflections on 2014

Allez Alain

Christmas Day 2014

Another year over, and a new one just begun … This time last year I was nursing a broken arm, having gotten too personal with a damp Flat Rock Rd. I’d reached a point, at the end of 2013, where I intended to put cycling aside to some extent, to focus on the ‘outside’ world. But the injury gave me an irrepressible determination not to be beaten, and my cycling focus was redoubled. I was straight back on the trainer, and on the road in a week, but I had more energy for the sport than I could expend on the bike with my arm and that’s where this blog came in.

So a year of cycling has passed and a year of writing about cycling too. It’s been a sometimes challenging way to write and I thank everyone who has shown interest.

The passage of time…

View original post 1,348 more words

 

42 Days to Years End – how are your 2014 goals going?

What were your cycling goals for 2014 and are you on track?

Here were my 2014 goals and the results with 42 days to go

• Complete 7^s Domestique  (✓)
• Sub12 on the 3^s Challenge  (X) finished in Sub13 but was sick and just blew up really.
• UCI Medal on the AG Gran Fondo (X) in recovery from op did marshalling instead and no medal for that.
• 3 rides interstate  (✓) on track with two down and 1 planned
• 3 Stages of the TdF  (✓) yes rode on Le Tour stages and came off Planche des Belles Filles with the Peloton
• 1000km per month  (✓) yes I’m on track for that
• 150,000 VM  (✓) 174,667 VM done so far
• Set up some good social rides/events to enjoy  (✓)
• Set a substantial segment goal each month and accomplish it (X)

During the year I also set a goal of doing all twelve of the Strava Challenge rides. I’m on track despite having 6 weeks off the bike

How are you going to finish the year? A commute, blow the dust off the bike, complete that Strava Challenge, do a long ride into the country, race crits, KOM or buy a new bike for Christmas?

I’m thinking about 3 rides before midnight on New Years Eve

1. The November GreenWEDGE Cycling ride on November 30

2. The Sexagenarians and Septuagenarians Double Century (qualifications apply) on December 7

3. The GreenWEDGE Cycling Christmas ride with a lunch at A Boy Named Sue on Sunday December 21

The year is closing fast! 

 

Back on my Bike

Almost all of September was written off for me as far as cycling went. I was recovering from a hernia operation in August which meant six long weeks off the bike. It nearly killed me to lose that time, my fitness went down and I put on weight that has proved hard to shift. Finally it was time to get back on the bike and oh how I enjoyed it! The exhilaration, speed and freedom. I started with a lunch-time ride in North Melbourne followed up by a couple of solid weekend rides.

Then came the Challenge, the Strava September Challenge. I needed to do a ride of 130km on a single day and I had a grand total of 3 rides in my legs when I fronted up to Don Sitlington’s place to ride down the Bay and back. For me it was an incredibly hard ride given the disappearance of my fitness in the proceeding weeks. The wind howled and the road loomed large in front of me. Don put up with my tiredness as we pressed into the return journey, sheltering me from the wind and keeping my spirit up. Lunch in Middle Park eventuated around 1:30PM and I was famished. It was then just a matter of getting back to North Melbourne to pick my car and get home. Nature wasn’t quite finished with me at that point and whipped up an enormous storm that gusted across Melbourne bringing some rain and hail in the last 2 kilometres or so.

I was never so happy to complete a ride. I got there!

Throughout October my form started to come back with small rides and moving on to some longer more elevated excursions. Back into the GreenWEDGE I found the hills hard as my heart rate seemed to rise up to meet the hills but didn’t come down as I dropped back down again. It was hard work. I was puffing and my legs were screaming as I tried to keep up with the others on the October GreenWEDGE ride. The companionship helped me through it though.Thanks everyone.

I lined up a ride with James Stratford over to the Dandenongs to have a crack those foreign hills. It was fantastic that’s when I became aware that my heart was starting to work the way it used to again. It was rising up quickly to meet the hills and then the beats coming off fast as I descended the climbs. It was great to watch that on the heart meter.

James and I enjoyed getting over to the Devils Elbow and spinning back down the Burwood Highway before heading off beyond Boronia and discovering the Donut Van Man. A very good day with a proper lunch back at Karen’s Roundabout Cafe in Warrandyte.

I pushed on with my target to get around 250km a week during this recovery stage and the km stats were coming along well. The one thing I had not counted on was how hard it would be to get my weight and my blood sugar levels down*. I hadn’t realised how dependent I’d become on cycling and how good it is for my health. Its truly is a miraculous thing and I don’t know where I’d be without it. There were more rides throughout October that were a buzz too including a Ride 2 Work special and the Australian Cycling Executives ride.

I needed to get the October Challenge done and time was running out fast. I set up a route that would mean some climbing and get the distance in too. It was out to Flowerdale via Kinglake and Glenburn. I gave myself sufficient food and coffee stops to get through it. It was cold and how the wind blew! A bit of a repeat of the September Challenge without the sea as a backdrop.

My Strava October Challenge

Health improvements. The revelation I’ve had about my cycling is how good it is for my health. My weight has dropped from 83.kgs to 79.8kgs currently and my blood glucose from levels 6.7 to a mean of 5.2. Both of those are going the right direction but its slower than I want. I want to get my weight down to 75kg and an avg blood sugar levels in the 4.2 – 4.8 range. My avg speed up in the Warrandyte hills of 23kph. I’ll see what happens through November and December.

*Diabetes is an autoimmune disorder of the pancreas that occurs when the body stops producing the hormone insulin. Insulin is used by the body to extract glucose from the bloodstream and carry it to the muscles. Without insulin, glucose can accumulate in the bloodstream, and untreated diabetes can lead to blindness, amputation, organ failure and death. 

IF YOU DON’T RIDE A BIKE YOU SHOULD!

October ended well.