Shed Clean Out

This old mountain bike is taking up space in the shed - was bought in about 1998 for one of the boys but never got ridden much at all. I'd be happy to get rid of it at some stage .... details below.

Konya Excell 777 from mid/late '90s ...
26" MTB Cro-Mo tubing
Big knobbies on board
21 speed Shimano gears,
Right hand twist-grip shifter is damaged (5 min repair at LBS I'm sure ...)

3 Day Tour 21-23 November 2011 - Colac to Apollo Bay ... and back !!

This is just my second bike tour and this time we decided to do it fast and light. The main aim was to ride Turton's Track in the Otways.


The sculpture at Gellibrand - We are Still at the Low Bit on The Left...

For Sale

Still lying around at home.... a TRANZX stationary trainer, in very good nick.

Up Mt Donna Buang

I'm now officially crazy. Rode up Mt Donna Buang today with Justin. Great ride, beautiful day.

It was a bit windy but the view was good....

Touring Trip from Warrnambool to home via the Great Ocean Road.

I made my touring debut last week with a ride from Warnambool/Port Fairy back along the GOR to Melbourne. It was great fun in conditions that included everything from solid SE head winds on day 3 from Warny to Port Campbell, chilly SW winds and rain all day on day 4 to Lavers Hill, and a variety of much nicer days thereafter.

Here's a few more pics from the trip....

Pre-Ride - Great Ocean Road Tour October 2011

Tomorrow I train to Warrnambool to catch up with my pal justin and ride to Port Fairy then back along the GOR to Ocean Grove by next Thursday. Today I got the bike back from its first free service and loaded it up and took it out for a 'shakedown ride' around the 'the Hills....' i.e. Box Hill & Surrey Hills :)

Here's a photo to prove I actually rode it up some hills for practice with a load on board.

Next Thursday we will ride to Peter's place at Ocean Grove for the night. It will be great to catch up with Pete, who I met on the trip to the Tour de France in July.

2011 ATB 50km Ride

Kevin and I completed the ATB 50km ride last Sunday.Very windy both ways but what a difference the tailwind coming back made ! Also hit by a squall inc hail as we re-crossed the WGBridge - whoo-hoo !!

Great fun again, but really felt for those flogging down Geelong Rd into the stiff SW breeze. Kevin survived OK, I think, and hopefully will get some more riding done soon.

CAADX with Spare wheels and 25c road tyres

3 pics of my new(-ish) Cannondale CAADX 105, with my spare set of 'road' wheels on board.

Stockholm Sunday 24 – Tuesday 26 July, 2011

First impressions of Stockholm are very good. Within one hour of landing at Arlanda Airport (45 kms north of the city centre) we were already in the city and bording the metro for the short journey out to our apartment. The Arlanda Express is fantastic, a 150kph direct link to/from the airport. We settled in and did some shopping (500m to the supermarket). We had dinner 'at home' then went for a bit of a walk down to Fridhemsplan and Kronobergsparken. First night in a new town, and it's always a bit of a relief to relax and unwnd after the day's travel.

Copenhagen 17-24 July, 2011

I guess most of us know that certain European cities take a different approach to things in general and urban planning in particular. Well Copenhagen is a Melbourne cyclists dream come true. There were bikes and cyclists everywhere throughout the city...

Maybe I should have come to TdF sooner ....

In 1986 my wife and I travelled O/S to Europe and I sat in my brother's flat in Holloway, London, and watched as Greg Norman won his first British Open. Of course I thought he would win a few more majors than he did but I remained big fan of the way he played the game and the fact that he failed gloriously a few times just made him more likeable to me. I don't judge his private life - couldn't care less - because he always played fair and square on the course and showed his emotions and gave credit to the guys who beat him.

As it happens I don't play much golf these days and our Aussie road cyclists have become my new sporting favorites. I'm sure they all have their good days and bad days, public and private, but they play the game fair and square and a great ambassadors for the sport in Australia and reflect well on all of us through their sporting efforts and achievements and the way they go about it.

What to wear....? TDF 2011 Kit

Before heading to Le Tour I flirted with the idea of taking Simon's Bomber footy jumper with 31 on the back. I thought the better of it for a couple of reasons - my body shape would be an insult to D Fletcher, grey-haired middle-aged guys in footy jumpers just--look--stupid ... and, as a friend pointed out, the whole footy-jumper-at-Le-Tour thing is a bit passe anyway.

I'm glad I didn't take it as I hate those guys that jump out on the mountain climbs and hassle the rider and I cringe when I see some dopey aussie in a footy jumper and/or flag making a goose of himself.

Then there is this guy who we saw waiting outside the BMC bus at Aigourande (Stage 7 start) for a sighting of C Evans - no footy jumper but he has the flag and a Hawks cap on board (that figures...). He made short work of his hot dogs and didn't look like he'd been near a bike in a while unless the rider was flogging food.

But, hey, at least he's a sportsfan!!

Pics from TdF2011

Here is the man himself,Cadel Evans, doing media before the start at Aigourande, Stage 8 Saturday 9th July.



La tete de la course tearing through Buzancais on Stage 7, Friday 8th July.

Last Day on Topbike Tour to Le Tour de France 2011

Today we rode a huge loop from Mur de Barrez to Vic sur Cere then to Aurillac and bck to MdB - 93kms and lots of hills. The weather finally came through with 30C here today.


It's the last day on the Topbike Tour for me and it has been great, something I've always wanted to do. 


A rest and coffee in Vic sur Cere....

4 Days of Le Tour

Today we rendezvous-ed at Rennes railway station at 10am.Wayne & Bev were running a bit late so we set off for Hede 2 short but they were picked up by Kahn 20 minutes later. We had a diverse group of 3 staff (David Olle, Emma Colson and Kahn Franke) plus 6 single riders and 2 couples.All up 8 riders and 2 riding staff made for a nice small group able to split a little on pace but support each other when required.

The Long Haul to TdF2011

Somewhere over Broome I swore this was the last time I would take the long-haul to Europe. Jammed uncomfortably in economy class with another few hours before KL, the prospect of another 12 hours to Paris after that wasn't pretty. But things improved on the 2nd leg with a spare seat on the aisle giving us 4 between 3 of us. I was tired enough to sleep a fair bit as well having watched 3 (and a half) movies on the first sector.

We landed in Paris on time about 6.30am but had a long wait for our subsequent departures for Barcelona and Rennes respectively, Wisely my wife and daughter have chosen to have a week in Barcelona whilst I pedal around after the TdF pros. I overestimated the time required for a smooth transition so we had way too much too spare. Still my train was away on time although the girls' plane for Spain was 30min late leaving. Hope they get it sorted alright with the apartment when they finally arrive.

Bizarre observations for the day are both musical. Starbucks in KLIA (worst ice-choc ever apparently...) was playing Bob Marley then followed up with the first two tracks off one of my fave albums of all time, Supersession by Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills, then Beds are Burning by Midnight Oil wailed out over the concourse PA at the CDG Railway station between regular announcements.

I'm writing tis on the TGV to Rennes, still wondering who won Wimbledon, but hoping to catch the end of Stage 3 on le Tour when I get there in couple of hours.

PS: Djokovic!!?? And I did see the end of the stage .... time for bed now...zzzzzzzzz

Tour de France here I come ....

I'm leaving tomorrow and getting a bit excited now. The first stage I may be able to see is Stage 4 on Tuesday, if I can find my way across to the route (Lorient-Mur de-Bretagne) from where I spend the first 2 nights in Rennes.

After that I join my tour and we stay in Hede, just north of Rennes, for the next 2 nights and ride to the end of Stage 5 at Cap Frehel, then the start of Stage 6 the next day in Dinan. I've holidayed in this beautiful part of Brittany before and am really looking forward to riding the roads rather than driving around with a family in tow....just don't tell them that ;)

I'm just looking at the map of the Pyrennes stages - Argeles-Gazost (or nearby) would be a great place for this years tour. It's close to the finish for stage 12, en route for stage13 and within striking distance for the start of Stage 14. In 1986 we stayed several days at Arras-en-Lavendan which is just 3 kms up the road and it was great there. I saw peletons of weekend cyclists up and down the road to the Col du Soulor, and they all seemed to stop for pastis at our inn on the way back !!

Looking at the maps now if I could choose I would follow the tour from Stage 8 next Saturday, through the Pyrennes until at least Montpellier, then maybe into the Alps. For combining riding with following the tour I reckon the middle week looks the best.

I spent the whole day packing and copying documents etc - I'm glad I didn't have to pack a bike !! Now I'm just looking forward to getting on the plane and having a relaxing journey.

Haven't had a ride since Wednesday so it will be a week between rides when I roll out with the Topbike team from our hotel in Hede to the stage 5 finish in Cap Frehel. I have 48 hours on the ground after flying to iron out the wrinkles and get ready to go, so should all be good. A friend told me that during the Tour even casual cyclists on the road get cheered by the enthusiastic locals - that would be a change and a real buzz !

Took a key to the neighbour today so he can feed the cats for a couple of weeks and, bizarrely, met his plumber, a keen a capable ex-comp cyclist who has recently returned from following the Giro d'Italia close up. We had a good chat for a few minutes there ...

Hopefully I can post a few reports over the next 2 weeks - maybe even some photos, if I can wrangle the camera and the EeePC OK.

2 Days to go ...

Well I've squibbed on the 'final' ride, despite the beautiful day outside. Was only planning a quiet roll of 30-40 kms so no great loss. Despite this I've come pretty close to my goals for the year so far, basically aiming for 7200km or 600km/month.

From http://www.mycyclinglog.com/ here is my progress as of today ..

cyclotaur
7200.00 km between Sat, Jan 1, 2011 and Sat, Dec 31, 2011
[Cycling]
Progress: 49%
3528.00 km at 21.74 km/h
A distance of 3672.00 km remains.
At current average speed, 168.9 hours of ride time required.
An average daily distance of 19.85 km required.
You should have completed a distance of 3570.41 km by today.

My next ride will be from Hede to Cap Frehel in Brittany next Wednesday, about 65kms or so. Yay !!

Nom-nom-nom....

Just reward or slack indulgence? Yummy either way ....
Melbourne Observatory Cafe of course.

Wet and muddy Diamond Creek ride.

I went for a ride out to Diamond Creek with Dan and his mate (?) via the Main Yarra Trail, Eltham and the old aqueduct trail from Eltham-Research Rd. Got a bit wet on the way out and muddy on the lower MYT through Banyule and Bulleen on the way home. The old roadie did OK though, despite the mud and slush.

Glad I wore the booties - look at the mud - which saved me from having a pair of wet, dirty MTB shoes to cope with.

Old cycling poster from France....

Kalorama

First time up the Montrose side of Mt Dandenong. Paused to take in the view at Kalorama.

MTB Wheel

Managed to give this away to Tim (barefoot) from Ballarat via fraggle/RodC ....

Ride over Acheron Way to Marysville

Great ride with Dan and Justin. I rode the old hybrid - next time I ride this way I plan to have a nice new CX bike !

Ride to Melbourne Observatory Cafe 7th March 2011

Yummy !! Reward for the first 25kms... and fuel for the next 25 kms back home !!
Nearly lost the florentine to the pigeons when I went to get a spoon though .....

Sky(High)'s the limit....

Hijacked again !

Ended up at SkyHigh for the first time, and trimmed another 40secs of my 1in20 time. Very cool and clear at the top today, great views to CBD and YouYangs, nice hot choccy.

Followed the demon descender (thanks for the ride UJ1) down to Montrose and home via Mt Dandy and Maroondah Hwy.

Quirky Cycling Image or Panda Portrait?

One of my favourites....

Bike racks in LA

....outside Caltrans offices.....