Bloke on a Bike in the Tropics

Where Were you Warnie????

2012-01-21T17:18:00.001+10:00

Earlier this week, former Australian Test cricketer Shane Warne created a bit of controversy when he took to the Twittersphere after an incident involving a cyclist in Melbourne.

Here's a couple of pics of S. Warne in the era SWBMLH (Shane Warne Before Meeting Liz Hurley)
Photos from au.sports.yahoo.com and brent-goodman.blogspot.com

And in the SWAMLH era. (From heraldsun.com.au)

According to Warne's tweets and subsequent story in the media, the cyclist had held onto his car for a free ride and then when traffic was stopped at an intersection, the cyclist made his way past Warne's stopped car and then thumped the car with his fist as he went by. He (Warne) was so incensed by this behaviour that he filed a police report and then took to Twitter.
The media jumped (as did Warne's Twitter followers) to the defence of this "larrikin" of a sporting hero. Everything from, "You have no right to be on the roads" to "We'll see how some of these cyclists might like to have someone throw a shoulder charge at them". There was also a resurgence in calls for mandatory bicycle registration as a means of reeling in the "out of control" cyclists on the streets of the nation. (As if that has done a lot to reign in the motorists who are wont to flout the laws)
Then the cyclist decided it was time for his side of the story to be brought into the light. He said it was important that people had both sides of the story- so he contacted cycling blogger Wade Wallace at CyclingTips (this link will take you to the article).
The Reader's Digest version is that the cyclist had weaved past Warne's car which was stopped in the middle of an intersection- against a red light. (I thought it was poor form to enter a blocked intersection but then again, what do I know- I've never played cricket- maybe the road rules are different if you're a former test cricketer). The cyclist made his way past the car when Warne yelled at him- the cyclist responded in kind, Warne had a further exchange and then moved his car forward into the cyclist's bike causing damage to the bike which rendered it unrideable and forcing the rider to carry his bike out of traffic. He subsequently carried his bike to the nearest police station and filed a report.
It is interesting to note that independent witnesses have come forth to corroborate his (the cyclist's) version of events and as far as I am aware, none have come forward to support Shane Warne. The cyclist has indicated that really all he wants is to have is bike repaired but in light of the media coverage and furore, thought it best to at least give the public an opportunity to hear both sides.
But we all know Shane was acting in humanity's best interests and as a revered sporting figure (dare I say hero? I suppose to some he is) was trying to smooth the rough and stormy waters that so often extend across the gulf between motorists and cyclists. I'm not saying that all cyclists are without blame- I see my share of pinheads on two wheels almost everytime I go for a ride- running red lights, failing to indicate turns, riding more than two abreast....all the usual stuff. But I also see motorists doing the same things (other than more than two abreast)- more often than cyclists- and in vehicles which can sometimes be in excess of 20 tonnes.
So where were you Warnie on my ride yesterday morning when the bloke in the sedan failed to give way at a T intersection until he was actually in the lane of oncoming traffic? I had to come to a complete stop to avoid being another statistic....
Where were you Warnie on my ride yesterday morning when a large commercial vehicle with a 30 foot sea container on the back ran a red light at approximately 70 km/hr when we had a green light? I could see he wasn't even considering touching the brakes from about 200 metres from the intersection.
Where were you Warnie on my ride yesterday morning when yet another bloke with his personalised plates (JORDYN) failed to give way at another T intersection forcing me, again, to come to a complete stop?
So Shane, if you're out there, can you send out a few tweets to some of your idolising, vehicle-piloting, adoring fans to keep an eye out for me and my friends? We're pretty fragile you know....unlike a Mercedes sedan.....

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

By the Numbers....

2012-01-01T13:59:00.000+10:00

A happy New Year to all who happen to come by my little missive page. We didn't actually see out 2011- I packed it in around 10:30. We heard the early celebratory fireworks in the distance but the midnight display was lost on me. I was well and truly into Dreamworld by then.

We had done our usual Saturday morning coffee ride and then in the afternoon, teamed up with our son and some of our friends to take in the Tin Tin movie. It was a lot of fun and very true to the books. I think Messrs Spielberg and Jackson have quite a franchise before them should they choose to do all of the books.

Then late in the afternoon, Dee and I did a stage of the "Couch to 5K (C25K)" program. For Dee it was the end of her first week and for me, it was the first session so I really haven't missed out on much. I figure that the inclusion of a few running km's per week will help in my training program and make me a stronger cyclist.

Then some barbecued chicken with pasta and salad, a few glasses of vino, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo (one of our New Year's Eve traditions) and a Bollywood movie (which isn't one of our NYE traditions and which I didn't see through to the end- but my guess is the hero got his woman in the tradition of the genre).

Then this morning it was up and on the road for a leisurely ride into the city and a coffee and back home.

Time to start the 2012 mileage (or kilometres for those of us who are metrically inclined) spreadsheet. If anybody would like a user-friendly spreadsheet, I recommend one created by Mark D. Pankin. It is available free of charge at this site.

For 2011, the total was 11157.5 with December being the biggest month at 1353.1km. February was the lowest with only 4 rides for a total of 135.4. That was mainly due to the cyclone which struck early in the month and the ensuing road closures and hazards from fallen debris.

Here's hoping 2012 is a safe and happy year for all.

Please ride safely

Cheers

BoaB

'Bout Time!!!

2011-12-22T18:43:00.000+10:00

"So, long time no read. You been overseas or something?"

"Vicariously, I suppose. We can all go anywhere, any time we choose through the magic of the web."

"So- where did you go?"

"Nowhere basically. But I have put an absolute shedload of k's on the bike since last I posted."

"And, so, to what do we owe the honour of this post?"

"It's Christmas- that time when we all need to over-indulge for 24+ hours and then catharticise for the previous 358 days of the year. And so the Christmas season has descended upon us.......prepare for the onslaught."

Last night, we hosted the annual Christmas light/bike ride/alcohol intake/pig-out.....We had about 2 dozen participants (kids included) who took part in our ride. I think we covered about 8km and I have to say that the lights were every bit as impressive as last year but the number of displays were down on previous rides.

Pre-ride preparations included nibblies and a few "bubbly" appertifs and lots of laughs. As darkness settled, we headed off (on bikes of course) with lights aglow. Fellow road users were most accommodating of the two-wheelers as we made our way to common locations.

As we cycled around the various suburbs, it struck me that we were accorded lots of room and friendly waves- none of the angst so apparent betwixt road users at other times of the day/week/year. Maybe I need to enlist a couple of kids to ride with me in the early morning (and wear a bunch of battery operated Christmas lights all the time). Here we were, cycling at about 8-9 km/hour without issue.

Try and do that during daylight hours. What brought this home was watching several mowers moving from one suburb to another via a road bridge- a two lane, non-shouldered, no bike lane bridge. Now these things move along okay (certainly not as fast as most cyclists I ride with) and motorists are content (notice I did not say happy) to fall in behind these guys and "go with the flow".

I can guarantee that if it was cyclists ahead of the vehicles, there would be angst, horns sounded and letters and/or texts to the local paper about the "lycra clowns" or "Lance wannabe's".

Go figure eh!!!!

The next few days will be society's gift to cyclists in our area. Warm mornings with very, very few motorists on the roads. If you have the chance- get out there and enjoy it!!!

Merry Christmas to all

Ride safe

BoaB

On This Day.....

2011-11-14T17:29:00.001+10:00

14 November- a quick search of the famous search engine application that rhymes with Dougall lists some well-known identities with birthdays falling on the fourteenth day of the eleventh month:

William III (1650)
Claude Monet (1840)
Boutros Boutros-Ghali (1922) a name so nice he used it twice
P.J. O'Rourke (1947)
Next King of England and the Commonwealth (maybe) (1948)
Mozart -Johann Georg Leopold, not Amadeus (1719)

And some musical events of note:

Leonard Bernstein made his debut with the New York Philharmonic (1943)
Black Magic Woman by Santana was released (1970)
The band Queen was formed (1971)

And a few historical events:

Hungarian uprising crushed by the USSR (1956)
Apollo XII blasted off for the moon (1969)
Blue Ribbon Sports became Nike (1972)
BoaB and Dee wed (1981) Okay so that one didn't actually come up in the search results.

And on that note, the historical and romantic significance of which cannot be surpassed, I give you this link of one of my favourite songs which pretty much sums up the way I feel today, our 30th anniversary, and every day.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Some Rides Just Give Me the Sh*ts.....

2011-11-01T21:01:00.001+10:00

I should have posted this on the weekend but, well, sh*t happens and things get pushed aside.

We did our regular Saturday coffee ride and things were really quite controlled. Before we headed off, one of the group suggested (rather strongly I might add), that perhaps the group should split in two- those who feel the "need for speed" and those looking for a leisurely, social ride (I'm not talking "dawdle" here but just a nice steady pace of 28-30km/hr).

The "fast" group headed off first, leaving about a dozen and a half of us to make our way at a more sedate pace (or so we thought). Turns out the fast group had a bit of a think about their behaviour and sort of reigned things in. Anyhow, we all got together for a cup of java as per usual and eventually made our way home for the rest of the weekend.

Saturday afternoon rolls around and I thought I needed a few more kilometres (as you do). So, off I went with a circuit in mind and I had probably done about 75% of it when I had a flat- rear tire of course. It was midday- full sun, windy and probably not the best time of day to be cycling.

I found a bit of shade and proceeded to make repairs. I was using a patched tube and upon inspection, it turned out that the patch had failed. "No worries", I think. Just peel off the old patch and replace it with a "You beaut'" glueless patch.

2 minutes and I have pumped it up and I'm ready to go. I think I made it about 200 metres when I had that sinking feeling that it just wasn't right. Sure enough, it was flat again- guess you didn't do such a great job anyhow did you????

No messing around- just change the tube and get going will you? So I did and when I attempted to disconnect the pump, the Presta valve snapped off and all of my efforts were gone in one quick little "pffft".

So now I have to look at resurrecting the previously patched tube to make it home. So I put some air in it to see if I can find the leak- nothing, rien, nichts, nada, zilch, zip, SFA. (Turns out I hadn't screwed the Presta valve closed on the first go-round and again, all of my work disappeared like a puff of wind) .

Okay, third tube change completed and I'm on my way- sort of. I couldn't clip in with my left shoe- seems while I was concentrating on getting the tube replaced/repaired/pumped up/etc I managed to stand on a lump of semi-dessicated dogturd which was now firmly packed into the cleat of my shoe.

Okay- find a branch/twig/anything to dig this shit out so I can get home. "Gawd"- if it didn't smell so bad you could probably use this stuff as a cyclone-rated building material. It was packed in there pretty well. Took about 5 minutes to wash the remainder out of the cleat when I got home. What can I say????

If Only.......

2011-10-22T20:54:00.002+10:00

- Despots, tyrants and dictators had been made obsolete 3000 years ago....

- The only "drones" were those found in beehives....

- World food production was directed where it is needed, not just where it is wanted.....

- Clean, safe water was available for everyone....

- There was no need for "armed intervention"....

- People could believe that "the other side of politics" isn't out to get them....

- "The other side of politics" trusted the other side of politics....

- Some people would learn to read....

- Some people would learn to comprehend what they read....

- The angst suffered between road users could be made to disappear....

- Everyone could experience the joy that comes from making the pedals go round....

Even making the pedals go round can sometimes bring pain and suffering. Our Saturday group rides have been getting a bit unruly of late. What started out some years ago as a social coffee ride of about a dozen riders has grown (blossomed/swelled/transmogrified/transitioned) into a free-for-all of up to 60 riders.

I had been, until recently, sending out a weekly email to the group with a bit of local cycling news and what was on for the weekend- pretty mundane stuff in the scheme of things but if I didn't send it, inevitably, there would be a text or email- "Is there a ride on Saturday?"

Anyhow, I gave it away- despite my efforts to impart a bit of cycling etiquette to some of the newcomers, they just didn't want to hear it. Erratic behaviour, failure to point out hazards, leaving riders with mechanicals or flats on their own, no consideration for other road users- the list goes on.

After last week's ride when a few "new riders" (new only in the sense of new to our ride- apparently they have been riding for years- you would think they would know better) showed up and displayed their "skills" for all to see, I decided that if those same riders fronted this morning, I would ride off the back and leave them to their own.

Needless to say, Dee and I rode as a group of two this morning. We did manage to catch up to the group after about 20km- they were all standing around waiting for the ambulance to cart off one of the group who was looking decidedly "the worse for wear" after touching wheels with the rider in front of him. A broken collarbone, some road rash, a smashed helmet and some spilled "claret" took a bit of the edge off some of the group. He will be experiencing some pain and suffering for a few days at least.

My weekday rides for the past 18 months have been on my own. I ride as hard as I like for as long as I like- without having to rely on someone else to come through on the front or worrying that I'm going too soft or too hard for those riding with me. I insert intervals where I like and make the ride "mine". Ideally, I head out about 2 to 3 minutes ahead of the two main group rides and work to stay ahead. Sometimes I stay away, other times- well, let's just say I have bad luck at the traffic lights.

Then about two months ago, several riders approached me and asked if they could ride with me. They were tired of the behaviours of the group ride and were looking for a safer option. After a couple of weeks of listening to their requests, I agreed- but these were the rules- this is how I ride- basically, if you don't like it, don't bother coming along.

I have sent one bloke packing- seems he is allergic to fresh air and didn't want to come to the front. That's not the biggest issue- I have been riding solo and if I give an elbow flick, there just isn't anyone to come through and take a pull. As the Velominati would say, "Have a dose of Rule V". My issue comes from dragging his butt along for 20km and then when the group which he wanted to get away from comes by, he jumps in with them. I guess I'm just not high-profile enough....

The bunch that he jumped with make a turn and head through the port area of town- things tend to heat up a bit as far as pace goes so he avoids that part of the ride. We caught up to him in town, at which point I called the court to order, read the charge, provided the evidence, asked for evidence in defence, determined the verdict and issued the sentence in less time than it took for the traffic lights to change.

As for the rest, I have advised them that they're going to have to lift their game. I record all of my rides and over the last couple of weeks the average speed has dropped by a couple of km/hr and the intensity is dropping as well. If things don't turn north this week, well, I just may be back to riding with my group of one. And if anyone misbehaves, I know who to speak with..... I guess I am my own little dictator.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

September- Where Does the Year Go?????

2011-09-04T20:44:00.001+10:00

The first weekend of September- here in the tropics, it's the first week of spring- a new beginning. Time to cast off the cold (cool by anyone else's measure) weather gear and luxuriate under the clear blue skies which so soon will fade to a washed out blue in the tropical summer. In the land of my birth, it's Labour Day weekend- that last gasp of summer holidays before the return to school.

Today (Sunday) is also Fathers' Day in Australia and Dee and I spent the day on the hop as it were. Not that we usually have a slothful Sunday- just that we usually spend the day puttering in the yard and garden. Today veered a bit from the normal course we steer.

No early morning ride and coffee. My legs were strident in their refusal, "It's not fair- you made us do something different....and we don't like it!!!" That "something" was a run. On Friday I thought I should start working a bit of running into my exercise regime. Nothing too strenuous, just a couple of km's to start out- at a pace which most runners would probably consider to be just "slightly above shuffle".

And I felt good- even the "morning after" I felt good- 55+ km ride with a few good hitouts thrown into the mix. I felt good....until this morning. Sometime during the night, I'm sure a troop of Gimli and his fellow dwarvish warriors descended and made merry with their axes and hammers upon the flesh of my legs. I could hardly walk this morning let alone pedal a bike.

After a Fathers' Day breakfast of French toast with strawberries and maple syrup, we made a trip to the local beachfront promenade, The Strand. This year is the biennial art display "Ephemera". And so we walked the Strand and took in the artworks that make up this year's Ephemera. (It made my legs "happier" and my soul)

The giant Crayons

Toadstool Garden

Bagu Aboriginal art installation

Japanese "raked sand" garden

Glass turtles making for the sea

And a bike- there are always bikes...

Flying fish....

Dee and "3D" chalk work....

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Well That Was a First.....

2011-08-14T20:32:00.000+10:00

Not a first in the sense of being first amongst a group of like-minded individuals to pass a specific point marking the end of a defined distance in the shortest possible time- but rather as a participant in an inaugural event. Charters Towers is a gold mining/beef production/boarding school town located about 125 km south-west of Townsville.

Each year the town has a bit of a festival (The Gold Fever Festival) centred around the gold mining industry. It is a lifestyle festival which incorporates the history of mining and current operations as well as sporting activities like a Fun Run and this year, a three stage cycling race.

Gold Fever LeTour included an individual time trial (18km) and a criterium on a 1.3km circuit on Saturday and then a road race back to Townsville with the distance varying from 103km to 121km depending on the grade.

Our local club has had a memorial race (The Bob Campbell Memorial) which has been run on this weekend for many years. This year, that race was incorporated into the Gold Fever LeTour schedule with considerable support from the Charters Towers Regional Council, Townsville City Council, Xstrata Great Western Games and many financial sponsors.

For a first time event, the support was fantastic-more than 80 licensed riders registered for the weekend's racing. There were additional riders who took part in the time trial only and as part of the festival, a "Come and Try Day" was held for unlicensed riders on the criterium circuit.

I had never taken part in a stage event and wanted to be part of the weekend so I registered and headed off Saturday morning for the TT and crit. I have done a TT before- but never one which included so many, what shall we call them- undulations perhaps??

Okay- just over half an hour of self-inflicted misery and it was all over. But it wasn't bad for for someone with a keen aversion to hills- had me in sixth in our grade (almost commuter grade). Then a bit of a break and off to the crit circuit- 25 minutes plus 3 laps of a 1.3km circuit with a couple of testing corners and a downhill finish into a headwind.

About 10 of us got away after 7 or 8 laps and managed to stay away for the rest of the crit- I didn't manage to pick up either of the sprint prizes on the intermediate laps and I didn't get lapped and was able to hang on for a top ten in the general classification after two stages.

Then it was in the car and back to town- Dee was coming back from her trip to Nova Scotia. Gawd, the last four weeks have been lonely.

So with my support crew back in town, it was up and at 'em at 4:15 this morning. We headed back to "The Towers" for a 6:30am race start. About 8C and foggy was how it all began and 103 km (2 hours and 45 minutes) later, it was all over. And despite the great hand-off of the water bottle, I didn't manage to squeeze it like I intended (sorry Dee) and it hit the deck. Fortunately I still had about half a bottle on board which was enough to see me through. Overall the race was less painful than I had feared but that last "little" hill before the finishing straight was my nemesis. Despite leading the group on to the hill, I felt the cramps coming on in my thighs and had to back off in order to keep moving. I was not alone as the sprint leader of our category fell to more severe cramps and fell well behind me.

I think I finished in about 9th in today's stage and it was enough to take me to 5th place overall in GC and plant the seeds for next year's race. The dates have been set and the planning has begun. Here's hoping this is the start of a great event on the race calendar.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Now, how did I do that?

2011-07-31T16:22:00.000+10:00

About a week ago, I woke with a sore back- lower back- sort of, just above the waist. Have no idea what I did- there hasn't been any heavy lifting, twisting or turning. No games of football, soccer or hockey- I just don't know.

I did some gardening and some painting, but nothing any different to the normal chores around the house and yard

It seems to be at its worst early in the morning although some mornings there isn't a single twinge. And I have had lots of suggested cures: You need your spine re-aligned, you need acupuncture, you need to stretch on the balance ball before your feet hit the floor in the morning, you need to stretch your hip flexors......needless to say, I haven't taken on board all of the suggestions.

I have tried some stretches and some ball exercises and while I definitely feel better, I can't say unequivocally that one or the other is responsible for the improvement. This morning I got up for an 80+km ride and as I started to get ready, there was the twinge.

I decided to forego the long ride- it would be rather unfortunate to get to the furthest point from home on an out-and-back trek and start really experiencing some pain (other than the self-inflicted type from mashing on the pedals). Instead, I just did a 50km loop around the city. And the further I went, and the more I warmed up, the better my back felt.

So I guess I'll just have to ride more- what a shame.......

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

How Good was That Ride???

2011-07-24T21:01:00.004+10:00

Like 99.998% of all cycling fans in Australia, I was glued to the coverage of the ITT from Grenoble last night. The hopes of a cycling nation were resting on the somewhat slight shoulders of Cadel Evans and his not-so-slight quads and hammies.

With a deficit of 57 seconds to Andy Schleck, Cadel entered the penultimate stage which was being held on the same course as the TT stage of the Criterium Dauphine in June of this year- a race which Cadel rode as a precursor to the Tour.

Watching the intermediate times come up on the screen quickly allayed any fears that Evans would yet again fall short. Before the half way point, Cadel had erased the deficit and was quickly establishing a strong account with time being the deposits.

It was clear before Evans even crossed the finish line that he would be wearing the yellow onto the Avenue des Champs-Élysées on Sunday and become the first Australian to wear the golden fleece as the victor of the Le Grand Boucle.

Dragging my weary butt off to bed at 2:30 this morning, I didn't foresee getting in an early morning ride and turned off my alarm (and I have been suffering from a very sore lower back for a couple of days- cause unknown but as of Sunday evening is definitely on the mend).

Today was also the big event on the local MTB scene- the Paluma Push. "The Push" is a cross country race/ride which raises funds for the local rural fire brigade in the rainforest community of Paluma- located about 60 km from Townsville. There are two categories- a recreational class which covers 40 km and a competitive class which covers an extra 20 km.

A number of our friends have taken part in this race in every edition of the race and still finish with a smile on their face. I drove up to Paluma to cheer them on at the finish line- having done this race a couple of times myself, any encouragement over those last 300 metres helps you to forget about the cramps, the lactic build up, the bumps and scrapes and is well received.

I took the camera in the hopes of getting some pics- and I did get some pictures- just not pictures of what I thought I was aiming at. I find the digital display very hard to see in bright sunlight and as a result I ended up with shots of riders and backgrounds- sometimes minus the rider. Oh well...

Steve Butler and Ash O'Neill (Steve didn't even get lost this year and had a PB)

Steve Breen's back (at least he's in the picture)

Steve Donaldson (post Timor L'Este secret training)

Bill and Julie (minus Julie)

All in all- good fun. Now it's almost time to watch Cadel make his way in to Paris and lay claim to the Maillot Jaune and a place in this country's sporting history.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Racing Cancelled- Let's go into Rescue Mode...

2011-07-17T20:55:00.000+10:00

This morning's (Sunday) race was supposed to be a criterium to be run in place of a road race which scheduled for a circuit which is still showing the ill effects of this year's wet season. Unfortunately, the crit was cancelled. This is a bit of a disappointment as this was to be the last crit before the 3 stage race next month.

So in light of the cancellation, I decided to do a bit of work in the garden while Dee made her final preparations for her trip to Canada. The garden beds needed to be edged and weeded so I got stuck into it. I then noticed a stump- the remnants of a wattle that came down in the cyclone in February. Better get rid of that too while I'm at it so I got the mattock to cut the roots and dig out the stump.

I took one swipe and cut one of the six roots that were keeping it anchored in the ground. As I moved on to the next one- I heard a plaintiff, little mewling cry. Turning to my right, I saw a little pinkish figure sprawled on the sugar cane mulch. It was a very young possum- still mostly hairless with eyes looking to be just recently opened.

I looked in the surrounding trees but there was no sign of Mum Possum. Not sure if this little one was the smaller of twins and was rejected or fell from her mum's pouch but she definitely wasn't going to make it on her own- not with a nesting pair of sea eagles next door who happen to have a couple of young chicks constantly demanding a feed.

I grabbed a tea towel and scooped her up and asked Dee to ring the Wildlife Carers. We are very fortunate to have a wonderful local volunteer group who look after injured and abandoned native creatures. They advised Dee that their Animal rescue Centre was open today and could we bring the possum around. We took the little possum to the carers who immediately placed her in a fluffy pouch and said they would immediately start her on a rehydration formula to be followed by a "milk" formula.

The carer advised that the possum should do quite well- she had a very strong cry and was squirming strongly- very reassuring words.

And for Dee- enjoy the trip back to Nova Scotia. Eat lots of seafood and ride lots of km's.

You know- sometimes it's not about the bike.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Winter Racing and Busted Glass......

2011-07-03T17:15:00.000+10:00

After a warmish week (I didn't even have to wear the arm-warmers and leg warmers and full-fingered gloves on a couple of days), the thermometer is having a hard time making its way to moderate and the forecast is for it to be progressively cooler right through next week.

This morning's (Sunday) race saw the club head off to a crit circuit which we haven't used for 9 or 10 years. It's in a smallish light industrial park and with nice wide corners is well suited to some of the newer riders. The only downfall was the glass. Despite the best efforts of the sweepers, some of those lovely little diamondesque daggers were just laying in wait for us.

I think there were about 5 flats in all. I managed to have two- one just before the start and one about 3/4 of the way through the race. A couple of the A graders each had one and a bloke in C grade had an absolute corker. Unfortunately his was not caused by glass but rather he was the author of his own misfortune. Pedalling through one of the corners on a far too sharp angle, he contacted the kerb (curb for NA readers) with his left pedal. That contact threw the rear of the bike sharply to the right- much to the concern of his fellow racers. He did manage to counter balance and bring the bike back under control, but it would seem that the force with which the rear jumped and hit the road was enough to roll the tyre (tire- another concession to the Canadians) off the wheel, exposing the tube which let go like a gunshot.

Needless to say, he and I sat out the remainder of the race. I put my hand up but there just didn't seem to be any team cars or mechanics anywhere to hand me a new wheel- I guess they must have all been watching reruns of the first stage of the TdF.

Given that one of our broadcasters here in Aus is showing every stage of the tour, live, I suspect there will be more than a few sleep-deprived people showing up for work over the next three weeks. The last 10 kilometres of last night's stage provided enough action to pique everyone's interest. Will tonight's team time trial provide anything like that??? Highly unlikely- but you just never know.....

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Winter Doldrums..

2011-06-12T19:40:00.000+10:00

The weather has been somewhat coolish of late. Well- pretty f#$*ing cold by tropical standards if you want to get down to brass tacks about it. Morning lows around 7-8C and daytime highs of less than 20C; however, we are bereft of the usual brilliant clear, sunny skies that accompany the low temps. Cloud and rain have been the side dishes to our entree and they have been underdone and poorly served.

Yesterday (Saturday) was particularly uncomfortable. Just after midnight- a howling southwesterly change went through and the temps dropped and down came the rain. I rode anyway with a somewhat diminished group and shivered my way through an end of ride coffee- what a wimp!!!!

This afternoon was a (semi) return to the tropical winter weather we love. The skies cleared and the warmth of the sun on your back was pure bliss. The 30+km ride to the dam was cathartic but alas the euphoria was short-lived. As the sun edged westward this afternoon, things cooled off very quickly and I sit here hoping I don't need to fully "rug up" for a ride in the morning.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Doo Wah, Doo Wah- Do a Duathlon.....

2011-05-22T21:26:00.001+10:00

Well- a first for me today. Not first as in a first place finish but first as in first time experience. I took part in a duathlon today. Much like a triathlon but with one leg absent from the schedule of events- notably the aquatic stage. Which is probably just as well as I swim like a stone.....

The race consisted of a 5km run followed by a 20km ride and then a 2.5km run. I should also mention that my running is certainly not going to get me an invitation to the 2012 Olympics in London- so I outsourced the running- it's an allowable option under the Team entries so "Why not?"

It was good fun- Dee and I headed out to the race venue bright and early- a nice 17km ride after which we proceeded to stand around for the next hour and a half cooling off as we waited for things to get underway.

It was interesting taking part in yet another type of race involving cycling. I thought that drafting was not permitted in these races but I had a bloke stuck on my wheel like a leech for probably the better part of 10km. Live and learn I guess. I made him take the front 4km from the finish and then took a bit of a flyer about 750 metres from the finish. (And I made every effort not to draft- I tried to stay at least a metre to the side the whole time).

It was different from road racing in that there was no surging, no attacking. And different again from a time trial in that there was always someone immediately in view to aim for.

So, at the end of it all- I think I need to consider running. We'll just leave the swimming alone for now.......

And for the record, our team finished second (if that's any consolation). And yes there were more than 2 teams..........

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

A Different Sport

2011-05-07T20:02:00.001+10:00

I started this post last week but given the work load as a referee during the tournament, I didn't get a chance to come back and finish the post:

I'm not on the bike this week- I am in Penrith at the Australian National Broomball Championships. I'm not playing but performing as a referee over the four days of the tournament.

So what is broomball? It's a lot like ice hockey but the players wear special soft-soled shoes which provide a considerable amount of grip.

The broom has a plastic-head on a wood or metal shaft.

The ball is made of quite-flexible plastic and is inflated to keep its shape and handling characteristics- it's about the size of a large grapefruit. The ball tends to get harder/freeze as the game progresses due to being in contact with the ice. If the ball gets too hard, we replace it during the game to prevent the ball from splitting when players take a shot (and it hurts considerably more when you get hit by a frozen ball).

Teams play five per side on the ice plus a goalkeeper- generally two defenders and three forwards.

I used to play broomball and referee as well but have done neither since 2007. Earlier this year I was asked by the Referee-in-Chief of Broomball Australia if I could help them out- travel and accomodation paid. And so here I am in Penrith--- freezing. Not really freezing but it is a considerable temperature adjustment from Townsville (28-30C and sunny) to Penrith (12-24C and wet/overcast- and the ice rink has a multiplier effect I'm sure).

So from Thursday through Sunday I spent the majority of my waking hours at the ice rink either refereeing or on stand-by in case one of the other refs was injured/sick/hungover/etc/etc and couldn't perform their role.

My last tally showed I actually ref'd 20 games and was on standby for another 14. Now, I do cycle quite a bit and for a bloke who's 50+ I'm not in bad shape. But running on ice uses a few different muscles and by Friday night, I could hardly hobble back to the room. Thankfully Saturday provided a break until 5:00pm although we did go through until almost 1:30 Sunday morning and then were back at the rink for 6:30 on Sunday morning.

All up it was good fun and if it helps advance a lesser known sport- so much the better. I even got asked if I was interested in going to Ottawa, Canada for the 2012 World Championships; both as a player and as an official.

Tomorrow (Sunday- Mother's Day) is our Team Time Trial out at Cungulla. Just loaded up on red beans and rice and looking forward to a bit of fun in the morning.

Images of the broomball equipment are from the D-Gel website: http://www.d-gel.com/english/english.htm

Cheers-ride safe

BoaB

A Crit, Some Grit and a Snit.....

2011-04-11T11:54:00.001+10:00

I thought I was well prepared for yesterday's crit:
Got the bikes ready on Saturday afternoon and packed the car with all of the gear so I could head out bright and early yesterday morning.
I packed the small esky/cooler with water/soft drinks/powerade for sale at the race venue (nothing like a nice cold drink at the end of the race, right?)
Made up the drink bottles for Dee and I and put them in the fridge.

Sunday morning I was out of bed by about 4:00- had a bite to eat, read the online news and a few blogs and then got my kit on. I grabbed the drinks from the fridge and put them in the carry bag. I gave Dee hers since she was riding to the venue while I was going to stop and pick up ice for the drinks in the cooler.

Right- stop at the servo down the road and grab a bag of ice and off to the V8 track for the crit. Arrive- get set up, put on shoes, gloves and helmet- grab drink bottles and......NO drink bottles. They were sitting comfortably back in the kitchen by the sink.

By the last few laps, I was enjoying the crit even less than usual. No water makes BoaB an unhappy rider.

So I hung around after our race for the A and B graders' race, then lugged everything back to the car and went home where we spent most of the afternoon in the garden. After a trip to a local nursery, Dee planted some tomatoes and eggplant, mulched the veggie beds and I went off and got some woodchip mulch for some of the larger beds in the backyard.

We were waiting for the start of Paris-Roubaix. Online broadcast started around 8:30 last night with live TV coverage starting at 10:30. The online coverage was ordinary to say the least- the video was very sporadic and would freeze for long periods while the audio would continue without a hitch. We ended up running two laptops with a video stream from a Belgian channel on one and audio from the Cycling TV mob on the other.

Not the best but at least we got to see quite a bit of the race before they entered the Forest d'Arenberg. When we switched to the TV coverage, it was considerably better and the amount of dust and grit in the air became more apparent. The dry, warm conditions meant the dust in the cobble sections was kicked up in great clouds by the motorcycles preceding/accompanying/annoying the riders.

Many of the riders looked like they had spent time in a mine by the end of the race- caked in dust and grime with pale masks where their sunglasses afforded some protection. Some with teeth caked in grit, others using the "farmer's hankie" to blow dust cake out of their noses and others summoning forth a bit of saliva to be spat out with some of the offending dirt.

We managed to stay awake for the whole of the race and it made for interesting watching as Cancellara showed some emotion at facing the all-too-real prospect of having to chase down the lead group all on his own. The other riders in his group were not about to come to the front to help him out- particularly Hushovd with his team mate Van Summeren off the front. Cancellara spoke his mind during the race both to his fellow riders and their team cars to voice his displeasure in their race tactics. I guess his victory earlier and performance in Ronde van Vlaandern had him as a marked man. Bit unfortunate Leopard Trek couldn't summon forth some support for him.

I did find it interesting that Hushovd decided not to go (or perhaps couldn't go) with Cancellara over the last few km's. After hanging off his wheel like a lamprey for a good part of the race, when Cancellara rode away in chase of his spot on the podium, Thor must have resigned himself to not wanting a Garvelo one-two finish.

Only 364 days to go....

Club Racing- It's Fun????

2011-03-28T20:34:00.000+10:00

Yesterday (Sunday) was a club race meet. A hill climb TT (let's just say I wasn't last OK?) and then a 25k road race (for us plebes in "D" Grade) and 40km for the remaining grades. The "D" graders had a bit of fun- we're those who are new to the sport, not-quite-so-serious, and/or coming back from illness/retirement/deathbed, or just want to have a social hit-out. In case you're having a hard time doing the calcs- I ride in D Grade. I like the social aspect of D grade and if/when my fitness level gets to a degree where I can outride the other D grade riders, it will be time to move to C.

Club racing should be fun- it helps keep the spirit and camaraderie alive. And that's important in small clubs...

Yesterday I witnessed what was possibly the most unsportsmanlike race I have seen in our club. Earlier in the year (I'm talking this calendar year) a group of riders decided to form a team within the club- which is fine I guess for external events, stage races, etc... however, yesterday they decided to use their team numbers/strategies/whatevers in the club road race in C grade.

It became a race of 8 riders (Team X) vs 2 riders (non-Team X). A couple of Team X riders were sent off the front as a break and every time the remaining riders tried to get something going in the way of a chase, the remaining Team X would get on the front of the chase and slow it down. The remaining two riders never had a chance and there was no way that Team X would consider moving up to B grade because they would get whipped.

I just never realized there was so much prestige in winning by "swarming" in a club race.

I heard the leader of the team "apologising" to the other riders but it turned out to just be lip-service as that was "the race plan" they had set down beforehand. Makes me want to spew......

On the other hand- the countryside was lush and green, all of the streams were running and lots of waterfalls along the range. I know- at the speed I did the TT up the range, I had lots of time to take in the scenery.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

We Bought a new TV and it Made My Legs Sore.....

2011-03-21T12:04:00.000+10:00

I'm in recovery mode today. There was no race yesterday (Sunday)- in fact, we didn't ride at all but it feels like I did about 80km and then ran around "en pointe" for a couple of hours.

You see we bought a new tv and that meant I had to paint the ceiling. "Such logical progression" I hear some of you say. Well, Dee has done a pretty good job of telling the story of how we got to this point- I think I'll hobble off and finish painting the windows.

Cheers
BoaB

Did I Mention the Rain?

2011-03-12T14:13:00.002+10:00

It's Saturday, the tenth of March. We're less than a fortnight into the month and already we have had more than 355mm of rain- that's about 14 inches in the Imperial measure and as I type, it is teeming down again. If it weren't for the palm trees, one could almost be forgiven for thinking it was blizzard/whiteout conditions- and the fact that it's about 25C outside as well. Not many blizzards at those temps.

The opportunities for a dry ride have been few and far between so when it wasn't bucketing at 5:15 this morning I decided to head out. It didn't rain for the majority of the 50 km circuit but it may as well have. The roads were still heavily puddled and it wasn't long before I could feel the water seeping between my toes and draining out through the bottom of my shoes.

It was better than yesterday though- I had probably only gone about 800 metres when the skies opened and so started a less than satisfactory ride. As I have said before, if it starts raining while I'm on the road, I'll stick it out- and that was my intention yesterday.

After about 4km with visibility seriously hampered (I need to wear my glasses when cycling and the rain on them was compounding the optical issues), I hit something on the road- nothing big, just very sharp- with the resulting tube failure sounding like a .22 shot. There was a bloke walking his dog along the sidewalk (which in that section of town have awnings from most of the businesses) who just about jumped out of his skin.

So I pulled off to the side of the road to hone my tyre repair/tube changing skills just a bit further. I was fortunate enough to be able to step under an awning to make my repairs as the intensity of the rain increased, seemingly every 30 seconds or so.

A quick once-over of the tyre revealed that the offending material had either been blown back out when the tube let go or was still somewhere on the road. There was however, a large gash right through the full depth of the carcass and any tube put in was doomed to fail.

They say if you throw enough money at a problem, it will disappear. For this problem I folded a five dollar note (we have that plasticy/mylar money here in Oz) and put it inside the tyre- over the cut. Popped in the new tube and pumped it up- ready to hit the road. The cut was big enough that the note was visible so I decided to not tempt fate and continue the ride, but to turn around and go home.

The rain had eased somewhat while I got the tyre fixed up but I probably hadn't gone more than 1/2km when down it came again. I did manage to make it home without further incident but it really took the edge off the day.

Racing for Sunday has already been cancelled due to a military exercise in the area where the race was scheduled. Apparently there will be a large number of vehicles on the road and we don't have the luxury of road closures for our races. The MTB event that was scheduled for tomorrow has also been canned- this time on account of the rain. It was scheduled to be a TT hill climb on a fairly new track but the club just doesn't want to risk too much damage to an overly sodden trail.

So with a bit of luck and the weather permitting, I'll just have to find another ride for tomorrow.

And I guess I shouldn't feel bad about the rain- a small town to the north of us, Tully, has had 2085mm since the first of this year- that's 2.085 metres of rain- most of that having fallen since they were hit by a category 5 cyclone early last month.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

...to What the....?

2011-03-01T20:55:00.000+10:00

I slept in this morning.....it was bucketing down for a good portion of the night- at least every time I struggled to some level of consciousness and looked at my watch it was raining. I think the last time I looked was around 3:15- too early to get up and head out at the best of times- let alone when the rain is doing its best imitation of a monsoonal downpour- hang on!- this is a monsoonal downpour.

I rolled over in the hopes of another hour+ of shut-eye. I certainly got the + out of it. 5:15 and I was out of bed like a shot- dressed, mixed a drink bottle and headed out the gate. Felt pretty sluggish for the first 10km or so and was just getting a good cadence going when the "A" graders went past.

I managed to stay ahead of the second major group until about 3km from home. They did catch me as one of those inevitabilities, and as we left the traffic lights at one of the major intersections, I recall looking at the bike computer and thinking. "Hmm- 38km/hr. That's not bad considering you've been off the bike for basically a month."

Then as I turned at the intersection into our neighbourhood, as a last check for the distance on the day, I realised my computer was gone. I did a drive-by along the route later in the day and there was no sign of it. It has been picked up, swept up or smashed into so many pieces by vehicles as to be no longer recognisable as anything I have ever had attached to my bike.

Cheers- ride safe (and make a reasonable guess at your speed and distance)

BoaB

From Feast to Famine....

2011-02-28T18:03:00.000+10:00

The year started pretty well..1031 km in January. Feeling good- lots of energy- no problem getting up at 4:00am and putting in 50+km. Then came February. Tropical Cyclone Yasi imposed himself/herself/itself on North Queensland on 3 February and the ensuing upheaval has caused my cycling regime to do an about-face and head back to square one.

I just totalled up my km's and I have a grand total of 135.4 from 4 rides- pretty impressive eh? And to add insult to injury (or vice versa) I have developed some kind of skin condition that has left me with a "lovely, inflamed, speckled patina" on my arms, upper thighs and torso. When it really fires up it feels like lots (10's, 100's- who knows?) of little electric shocks and sometimes it's very itchy- like "get me a pair of barbed-wire-mittens" itchy.

"When does it fire up?" I hear you ask. Well maybe that wasn't you asking but just the dog asking for another Eukanuba biscuit. It fires up when I start to sweat and get a bit warm- not hard to do in the tropics when you go for a ride at 5:00am and it's 27C and 90% humidity.

So the good Dr has advised that I refrain from cycling until this condition settles down. I have tried a course of steroid cream, broad spectrum anti-fungal ointment, non-soap shower gel/slime, various over-the-counter dermatitis and seborrhoea treatments, isopropyl alcohol wipedowns with varying degrees of success ranging from SFA to short term relief (we're talking hours here, not days).

This Sunday is the first time trial of the year- any chance I'll be ready?? Definitely not but I'm going to ride anyway- itchy or not. Might bring new meaning to the term "scratch race"

March is going to be better.....

Cheers- ride safe (and stop scratching!!!!!)

We're Getting There...........

2011-02-13T20:23:00.000+10:00

It has been a fortnight since I've been on the bike. Cyclone Yasi has been an interruption to life in North Queensland. For some, the interruption has certainly been much more serious than for others. For those living in the outer areas of impact, things are pretty much back to normal. The closer to the path of the eye one gets, the higher the level of devastation.

Townsville is still recovering with water and sewer restored to most areas and electricity supply back on for probably 95%+ of residents. Those living on acreage properties on the fringes of the city are being restored systematically after the backbone high voltage supply is repaired.

Further North. some of the smaller beach communities have been pretty much wiped from the maps and will require major infrastructure rebuilds.

I am hopeful that I can drag my weary butt out for a ride tomorrow- the streets are starting to return to some semblance of normalcy. There is still a lot of vegetation matter lining the roads to be collected- everything from piles of branches to tree trunks and roots several metres in diameter. It does make for a bit of a challenge when approaching intersections and driveways....

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Time to Draw a Breath...

2011-02-06T20:19:00.001+10:00

106 and 135- that's not my blood pressure- those were the wind speeds (sustained and gusts) we had early Thursday morning as Yasi came to shore about 180 km north of here. Wind speeds in the areas hardest hit were thought to be near 290km/hr. The destruction was widespread and there has, to this point, been the loss of one life- a young bloke who suffered carbon monoxide poisoning when he ran a generator in an enclosed room as he sheltered from the storm.

Dee and I returned home from our son's place where we sat out the storm around mid-afternoon on Thursday. I had returned earlier to scope the damage and see if we could safely come back. The house had no structural damage although it looked like we had been in the firing line of the discharge chute of a giant leaf shredder.

All walls which face to the east were plastered with bits of shredded leaves and bark. The TV antenna seems to have taken a glancing blow from a falling trunk of a scheffelara.

There were many branches down, about 80% of our bananas have been flattened and our lemon myrtle and kaffir lime trees were showing the signs of a bad bout of weather. The lemon myrtle would normally be in this frame just in front of the bananas.

The myrtle has been resigned to the pile of green waste mounting on the footpath due to the fact that the trunk was shattered about a foot off the ground. The kaffir may be salvageable- I have pruned it severely, stood it more or less upright and now await its regeneration.

Our large melaleuca (paperbark) dropped a couple of very large branches and was stripped of a lot of its soft, spongy bark. Those branches landed on our fence and amazingly I have only found 1 damaged paling- although the gate seems to be a bit off true now and may require some attention.

The poinciana probably dropped the most branches and is now destined for removal.

The scheffelara (umbrella tree) is also heading for removal after losing one of its several trunks. Given the amount of tree damage in and around Townsville, there may be quite a waiting list for good quality tree loppers.

We're now on Day 4 without electricity. There has been extensive damage to the transmission network and the distribution infrastructure up and down the coast. Crews have been brought in from all around the state to assist in the restoration process. Our neighbours across the back are fed from a different zone substation than us and had their power restored this morning. We have run three long extension leads to their house to give us enough power to run a small fridge and a couple of laptops. Maybe tomorrow....

When will the roads be safe enough for a ride???? Good question......

Cheers- ride safely
BoaB

We Can Survive This....

2011-02-02T11:05:00.001+10:00

I didn't ride yesterday- I didn't ride today either. Two differing reasons- same root cause. There is a major weather event on our doorstep. Yesterday I could not summon the enthusiasm to head out the door after seeing the prediction on the path of Yasi- I just felt sick. This morning we were packing up the last things to take with us as we evacuated to our son's unit in the city. I had already brought the bikes in yesterday and stored them in the secure storage area.
This is not going to be pretty- as a matter of fact, it may be downright ugly and deadly.

Image from www.goes.noaa.gov
This is Yasi- just off the Queensland coast this morning. A category 5 cyclone with winds estimated to be near 295 km/hr. The size of the system means it will impact a large area of the coast for up to 24 hours. It is also estimated that we could get a metre of rain- yes that is correct, 1000mm, 39 inches. There is also the threat of a storm surge as the storm approaches. The estimate for the surge is to be 2.9 metres above a 4.1metre high tide.

I better get a move on. The rain has started and the wind is really whipping already. We'll see you on the other side of this storm.

Update- 16:55 02/02/2011

Just waiting for the next update from the Bureau of Meteorology- due at 17:00. The winds have picked up to 55km/hr with gusts to 80km/hr. As evidenced by this update, we still have power and internet access and looking at the satellite and radar images, it looks that perhaps the eye has swung a bit more to the west. Maybe it's just very wishful thinking on my part.

Cheers- stay safe
BoaB v

01-2011 Almost Gone....

2011-01-28T20:39:00.000+10:00

Friday 28 January 2011- four weeks into the new decade and the eastern quarter of this country may be thinking, "When is this going to end?"

Massive flooding in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria (and I'm not forgetting the people in the Gascoyne Region of WA either) has been an ongoing event since just around Christmas.

Now it would seem it may be our turn in the northern part of Queensland. We have had a couple of major rain events and lucked out on a couple of others as the systems skittered past without a major deluge. Anthony (the cyclone, not Cleopatra's consort) seems to be heading our way (again).

The system headed away from us toward Vanuatu or Noumea last week as a cyclone and dissipated to a tropical low pressure system as it travelled eastward. Today; however, Anthony did an about-face and has started to make for our shores.

Upgraded to a Category1 cyclone and forecast to intensify to a "2" or possibly "3" before landfall, I guess it's time to ensure all of the cyclone preparations are in order:

Cyclone kit prepared- check
Tarps and ropes ready- check
Car fuelled up- check
Mobile phones charged- check
Important documents in waterproof container- check
Gutters and downpipes cleared- check (Thanks Graeme)

Just need to fill some large containers with water, move some furniture off the deck and we should be "right as rain" as they say.

The worrying thing about all of this is that there is another system brewing out near Fiji which is predicted to follow hot on the heels of Anthony. A much larger, more intense system which should be on our doorstep next Thursday- category 4 or 5. Current modelling shows it coming to land just to the south of us. Here's hoping the modelling is wrong and it heads for the Galapagos.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

A New Year's Revolution

2011-01-04T10:07:00.001+10:00

Happy New Year to all

I hope you saw out 2010 in your favourite way on the weekend. Dee and I had a quiet evening at home with a few glasses of bubbly, a feed of prawns and a favourite from the old country, oatmeal brown bread. I don't think I have had that particular type of bread for probably 15 or 18 years. And nothing beats fresh home-made bread just out of the oven. I know, I know- I shouldn't eat so much bread but sometimes you just have to reward yourself.

I suppose I could have made a New Year's resolution to cut down on this, that or the other- but I've never been one much for New Year resolutions. And I reckon that the amount of cycling we do allows us to eat just about whatever we want (within reason of course- I mean, I don't think I would eat a bucket of fried chicken anytime).

So instead I have my New Year's Revolution- wherein I will make every effort to turn as many revolutions of my pedals as often as circumstances allow. And if the weather cooperates, I'm hoping that will be quite often.

And thanks Terry for the botany/Latin lesson. I took my name BoaB from the "Bloke on a Bike" component of my blog title with the realisation that there are boab trees in Australia. On this morning's ride, Terry gave me the Latin name for the boab- Adansonia gregorii. Named after one of Australia's early explorers, Augustus Gregory. (Link from the Australian Dictionary of Biography)

Cheers-ride safe
BoaB

And I Enjoyed Every One of Them....

2010-12-31T18:05:00.002+10:00

The calendar has been taken down and a new one from Guide Dogs Queensland put up in its stead. The weather this morning was less than cooperative- so the early ride just didn't happen. We had pondered packing the bikes into the car and driving to a more rural location for a bit of a hit out but a check of the RACQ's (That would be the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland) website showed that the roads were cut and not open to any traffic.

So we headed into the city and walked Castle Hill. With the temp around 29-30C and humidity at almost 80%, it made for a sauna-ish climb. We took the road as we have had a considerable amount of rain and we were uncertain as to the condition of the track. We even managed to score a bit of a cooling shower after reaching the top. It was nice to watch it rolling in from the coast and putting a soft grey diaphanous curtain between us and the city vista.

And so the end of the "Noughties" is upon us. A few glasses of bubbly, fresh homemade oatmeal brown bread, prawns sauteed in butter and simmered in a bit of cream with a green salad- why would I want to be out amongst the throngs in the rain watching fireworks?

Besides- we are intending to ride in the morning- gotta start the new decade off right.

The numbers for 2010:

Total Number of Rides: 233
Total Kilometres: 9475.9 (Yes, I enjoyed every one of them)

Happy New Year to all

Cheers- Ride Safe
BoaB

A Christmas Ride

2010-12-25T18:36:00.000+10:00

"Merry Christmas to all and to all, on your bikes!!"

Didn't manage to have our early morning ride today. When I got up at 4:30, there was an eerie stillness. The rain had bucketed down a couple of times overnight and the wind whipped up, but now, all was calm.

I fired up the Weatherzone website for a look at the local radar and it was apparent that this was "the calm before the storm." Cyclone Tasha formed about 250km north of us at 1:00am this morning and was making a spirited charge for he coast. Given our location on the southern side of this system, the result was some serious downpours. To steal and amend a phrase from Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi", "No ride for you!"

The bucketing continued in waves until just after 1:30 this afternoon. After a prolonged respite from the monsoonal downpour- about 3:00, Dee said, "It has stopped raining. Let's go for a ride to the dam."

Not having ridden yesterday, we were both a bit antsy and headed out. The ride out was pretty good- a bit more traffic than we anticipated- but you get that sometimes eh?

After making the turn and heading through the acreage blocks along the back way, I could see a shower approaching. See the bright yellow and orange "V" shaped band of rain? It smacked us dead on.

It certainly made for an interesting experience. I have ridden in rain, and I have ridden in windy conditions- but cycling through driving rain with wind gusts to 55+ km/hr was totally new. Wouldn't have missed it for the world.
There are still bands of rain coming in from the north which will result in some heavy showers overnight, but with a bit of luck we may just be able to get a ride in tomorrow morning.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Splashing Through the Flow....

2010-12-22T17:26:00.000+10:00

We're on a bit of a weather watch as we head toward the Christmas holidays. As if it hasn't been wet enough for the past couple of months, the prediction ** now is for a low pressure system to approach the coast on the weekend with the possibility of up to 500mm (yes that's almost 20 inches) between Cardwell and Mackay. Guess where Townsville is?- If you said between Cardwell and Mackay, give yourself three "'Atta boy!"s and a pat on the back.
I have to say at this point I am thankful that this does not look like becoming a full blown cyclone as the Bureau of Meteorology says there should not be strong winds associated with the system- just rain.

**Prediction courtesy of ABC News and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Usually our little social/cycling/coffee-swilling entourage rides on Christmas morning- it is absolutely the best day to be on the road. There is minimal traffic- motorised or otherwise and it is a wonderful feeling.

So- what do we do on Saturday? I am hoping the usual circuit will be on- although our regular cafe won't be open until Boxing Day. We may have to find somewhere else for our caffeine fix... Unless there is an absolute torrential downpour happening- I will ride. It might not be on my road bike- but I will ride.

So have a great Christmas- enjoy the festive season and the company of family and friends.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

No, I don't think I'll ride this morning,,,,

2010-12-19T17:37:00.001+10:00

And just as well- we had about 75mm of rain in a couple of hours and the roads were fairly awash- cut in many places and probably not the best place to be- on a bike- after all of the Saturday night Christmas parties....

We had our own little get together last night. I would say we had about 25 in total counting all the kids as well. A few pre-ride nibblies and ride-preparation hydration treatments "chez nous" as we awaited the arrival of dusk and then it was on the bikes and off into the night.

We started doing a bit of a tour of the Christmas lights in our and a couple of surrounding neighbourhoods last year and it was so much fun that we just had to do it again. And with the availability of battery powered LED Christmas lights, the challenge was on to see who could be the most visible for the ride.

Off we went, with lights blinking and flashing and dazzling- we even had our own Christmas carols (a CD of Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra and Rosemary Clooney (although it said BC, FS and Nat King Cole) playing on an mp3 player with portable speakers. I think we covered just on 9 km and saw a pretty good assortment of displays- nothing like any of these though. Sit back and enjoy....

Drivers were beyond polite to us as we made our way through the streets and the homeowners were very pleased and, I think, even more so, surprised to have 25 cyclists rack up in front of their homes on a Saturday night to look at their lights. They expect a stream of vehicles in our car-centric society, but a bunch of cyclists is something completely different. And believe me, we were "something different".

Liz (above) did the ride in that Santa-esque bikini top as a dare- albeit with Dee's "Yellow Vest of Righteousness" as a modicum of coverage.

After the ride, it was off to Macca's house where we had a post-ride feed of salads, various breads, a curry, a crockpot chicken dish and my red beans and rice- washed down with several varieties of bubbly, sauvignon-blancs, assorted beers and topped off with a cheesecake and chocolate cake. And there wasn't much left over either =8^(

The planning has started for next year.......

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Mobile Posting

2010-12-09T08:26:00.003+10:00

Okay- first go round posting remotely via the BlackBerry. Had a pretty good ride this morning and the weather was a little more comfortable as well. The temp was about 25C when I headed out and the humidity had eased back to around 70%. Just over 53km on the day with a max speed of just over 52km\hour and an average of just under 30- we hit almost every red light possible I think.
I can't seem to find how to insert my pictures via the B'Berry so I think I might have to edit this from the laptop at home.

Okay I had to succumb and upload the photos to the laptop- I'll figure it out yet.....

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

The former Queen's Hotel on The Strand. Not sure what it's used for now- it was a television station up until a few years ago.

The Anzac Memorial Fountain and Park

Looking back over Wickham Terrace toward Flinders Street

Old Customs House on The Strand

Try again tomorrow.....

2010-12-07T20:16:00.000+10:00

I have been set a task......not a Herculean task, but a task nonetheless. One which I have never undertaken before. I am to take a photo on a morning ride and blog about said photo from the cafe- on my mobile telecommunication device- a.k.a. Blackberry. So I decided I better find out just what the optics are like- no sense taking a picture of a bee sipping nectar if you can't even tell that there's a flower in the picture.

As proof, I submit Exhibit A. Close inspection will show that sitting on the leaf of a gardenia grandiflora is a lovely dragonfly with a reddish-gold spot on each of the upper wings. Yeah, I guess you're right- needs a bit more work. Stay tuned....

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

That's What Friends are For....

2010-11-20T20:11:00.001+10:00

The weather held for our coffee ride this morning. The forecast had been somewhere between catastrophic and abysmal with predictions of heavy rain and possible flash flooding along the tropical coast. The sound of rain on the roof and gutters starting to run around 2:30 this morning had me thinking that the ride just might not happen.

When I got up at 4:30, the skies had cleared (I actually saw stars) and things looked promising. A quick check of the weather radar showed that the system had cleared the coast (albeit temporarily) and we were the hole in the doughnut as it were- clouds to the north, south and east but we were free and clear.

Off we went on our regular circuit- crossing the river to pick up some other members of the group and heading to our main gathering point. I was a bit surprised at the number who turned up given the weather and alternate rides scheduled for today.

We completed the main portion of the ride with a bit of a 10km blast out along the shore to Pallarenda and back and it felt good to have a bit of a "lung-buster". 38-40km/hr and getting up to 45km/hr in spots made for a good bit of a break.

On to coffee at Juliette's and we welcomed back the owner Gary who had been overseas for a few weeks- New York in particular where he participated in and completed the NYC Marathon. Dee and I did a bit of work (actually Dee did most of the work) before he came back to Australia and created a poster with pictures of Gary in various stages of the marathon, crossing the line and with his medal for completing the event. When I delivered the poster to the cafe on Thursday, some of his staff didn't even know that he had gone to NYC to take part in the marathon and were gobsmacked that their boss had completed a marathon.

Gary was effusive in his thanks and humbled that we would do something like this. But these are momentous occasions- often things from a "bucket list", and all too often we don't stop to celebrate or even appreciate the accomplishments of those around us.

That's what friends are for.......

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

29'er- and we're not talking bikes here either....

2010-11-14T19:17:00.000+10:00

It's been twenty-nine years today for Dee and I and it doesn't seem like it's been nine, let alone twenty-nine. We had a quiet morning- no early ride. The rain overnight had only just ended and neither of us really felt the need to head out on wet roads and deal with the grit and toad guts that inevitably spray off your tyres and onto you and your bike and the person following your wheel......Yuck!!!

So we had a couple cups of coffee and read the online news, caught up on blogs and then I made some jalapeno/cheese/bacon cornbread for breakfast. Not a bad nosh and I can't believe there's still some left over for tomorrow.

The rain held off so it was out into the yard for some serious weeding and garden bed edging. The rain over the last week or so has left the ground very soft and just right for removing those deep-rooted weeds in the garden (and lawn). The backs of my legs are complaining that I don't do this often enough and were sending out little messages of "hurt" as I was bending over to tie my shoes this afternoon to head out and collect our mangoes.

Some good friends have a mango orchard just south of the city and had brought trays of mangoes in for a bunch of us who had expressed a desire for some of these lovely fruit. We had a mango tree in the backyard at one time but it ceased to produce much fruit and what fruit there was, formed toward the top of the tree and was pretty much inaccessible unless you are a flying fox so we had it removed a few years ago.

There are two varieties in the tray, Kensington Pride- also known as Bowen or Bowen Specials and the R2E2 which is a variety produced for the export market. They are "ginormous" as per the photo. The mango in my right hand is a Bowen and the other is the R2E2. It must weigh at least 1.5 kg. You will also note to my left is a collection of ripening pawpaw (or papaya for the North Americans) of varying sizes. The majority of these are from a tree in the backyard but the largest fruit immediately to my left is from our neighbour.

The mangoes still have a way to go before they will be ripe enough to eat but we just came across a new mango cheesecake recipe today....can't wait to try it.

So a few glasses of bubbly and a lovely meal of Thai fish (which we cycled out and purchased this afternoon- the fish that is) on turmeric rice made for a delicious close on the day. I look forward to the next 29/39/49.......

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

It's Alive!!!

2010-11-10T17:47:00.001+10:00

I steeled myself for combat this morning. The rain had done enough to thwart me from heading out at the usual 5:00am so I settled back, had a cup of coffee, read all of my favourite cycling blogs and caught up on the news and waited for 8:00 to roll around. That's the magic hour at which the "Insert certain mobile telephone company name here" Billing Services area is available to handle enquiries.

I thought I was in with a chance being so early in the business day- I just might not have to spend an inordinate amount of time on hold listening to the same 8 songs on a repetitive cycle- oh and all of the inane interjections from Miss Bubbles on how they're working to answer my call as soon as possible.

Sorry- but like Maxwell Smart, it would seem that I "missed it by that much." Another hour plus on hold. I decided to look at their website to see if I could find another means of contact and there I noticed that South Australia and New South Wales were experiencing system issues.

As a result there would have been a greater number of users ringing to find out why they didn't have web access (or whatever) on their mobiles.

So I tried a different stream, to no avail and decided at that point to do some chores around the house- like install a new smoke detector- the old one had decided it didn't like being installed in our house- that it would much rather live at the rubbish tip. It voiced its displeasure at being stuck to the ceiling on a rather frequent basis. No amount of cleaning or fresh batteries would changes its disposition so we accommodated it and sent it on its merry way to the landfill.

Of course the new one has a smaller mounting base which resulted in the need for the electric drill, extension leads and in due course will see yours truly filling the hole in the ceiling from the previous mount and painting said patched area.

Anyhow, after this I called the Customer Service Centre again and almost suffered a myocardial infarction (that would be a heart attack) when I actually spoke with a real, living, breathing human in less than 60 seconds. After almost 4 hours in the last 2 days, I could hardly believe it.

Yes my phone had been connected and the SIM card had been activated- yesterday according to their records. "Have you turned the phone off and back on?"

I had done that so many times since last Thursday I thought I might wear the switch out but "No"- I had not touched the phone since yesterday when I tossed it back in its box and was waiting to ship it back other than to check it this morning when I got up and it still said "SIM not provisioned" and I put it back in the box. So I turned it off and then when I turned it back on, there was my little signal strength symbol beaming in the corner with the provider's network displaying on the screen.

And for all of the inconvenience, discomfort and waiting on hold, they have graciously cut my first month's payment by 50%- a total of $14.50.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Well now there's a few hours of my life I won't get back......

2010-11-09T19:51:00.000+10:00

The mobile phone saga....will it ever end?

Good ride this morning- 54km with about 32km in the group at speed- headed out at 35-37km/hr and came back around 41-43. Pretty good effort and the group was pretty well behaved from what I could see.

Coffee and the ride home- a shower and a bit of breakfast and then it was time to look at the monster in the room.........the Crackberry still said, "SIM not provisioned" despite all of the advice from Melbourne/Hobart/Mumbai/ wherever in the world the support for "Modaphone" is located that I would have service by this morning. "So", says I to myself and any of the geckos on the wall in the lounge room at the time, "time to ring and see what's happening in the world of mobile telecommunications." (Or at least BoaB's world of telecomm.)

I had contacted the Customer Service Centre yesterday to try and explain the situation and advised that if I had not been connected by 8:00am this morning, I would be rescinding my contract on the grounds of failure by the provider to deliver the agreed product.

I spent almost 2.5 hours on hold and still did not speak with a human. In that time I could have cycled another 80 k or so and not been nearly so frustrated. As a matter of fact, it probably would have done me a world of good.

Looks like tomorrow may start off with a call to the telecommunications ombudsman....or at least after I get back from my ride. It's stressful enough doing this sort of crap, but I think it is much less stressful than if I didn't go for a ride.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Sunday Ride...

2010-11-07T12:00:00.001+10:00

Headed out the door at 5:20 this morning for a group ride to Woodstock. Round trip (including into the city for coffee post-ride) should be about 90km. This was my first group ride, at speed and more than 35km, for probably 18 months.

The pace was reasonably steady heading out, a bit of surging from 30- 37km/hr but not too bad. Upon reaching Woodstock, a group immediately turned and headed for home while the remainder took a few minutes to refuel, rehydrate and I'm sure a few other re's.

The return leg is a bit of a free-for-all and given my absence from the pack scene and suspect endurance, I decided to turn and head back early- the only problem was I missed the first group which turned and could see them about 300 metres up the road as I swung around. So I had my own little individual sufferfest for about 20km of the return journey.

A group of about 7 or 8 caught up and overtook me after about 15km. Given that they were doing about 50km/hr when they went by, I didn't like my chances of hanging on so I just let the opportunity pass. Besides, I had been pushing a bigger gear than I probably should have for a bit too long and was feeling some discomfort around the hip. So I backed off a bit and spun for another 5 km until the next group caught up.

This time I was feeling considerably better and decided to have a crack at hanging on. I managed to hang with them all the way back into the city- even had a couple rolls through on the front and was holding pace at 44-46 km/hr. Must have been the muesli bar I ate on the way back in.

My much-deserved coffee was great and after an easy ride back home, I now feel ready for a nap......I may have to have a rest day tomorrow.

p.s. local rider Ruth Corset was last night named as Cycling Queensland's Cyclist of the Year for 2010.

p.p.s. Still no phone service (I know you're surprised)

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Life in the Modern World....(sigh)....Phone Dramas Pt II

2010-11-06T17:34:00.002+10:00

When last we looked, the author was speculating on what might befall him today as he tried to get his new mobile phone to connect with the network.

Arising at 4:30, he checked the phone only to confirm what he had been dreading- "SIM not provisioned". Turn it back off and leave it on the kitchen bench- definitely too early to go back to the store and deal with it so we went for our regular Saturday ride and coffee(s). And a beautiful morning it was too.....clear skies, light breezes, relatively light traffic and good company. The ride out to Pallarenda and back along the Strand was great- if my new phone was working, I would have taken a picture and posted it for you.

A couple of coffees and some friendly conversation with our cycling mates and it was time to head home and the answer is "No". If you had been playing Jeopardy with Alex Trebec, your response would be, "Alex, the question is, Is BoaB's new phone working?"

So, off I go to the dealer, which up until now I have not named. Let's just say the name is one word of three syllables, the first two rhyme with moda and the last rhymes with phone- actually it is phone but spelled in a different manner. The young sales assistant with whom I have been dealing looked somewhat crestfallen when I walked in. She was dealing with another customer but as soon as she saw me, she knew I wasn't there for a social visit.

One of the other employees came to assist me and started the enquiry process with their internal phone contact to the customer service/operations centre. After a few minutes of waiting on hold (it even happens within their own company) he asked if I wanted to wait in the food court area in the shopping mall. I advised I would just wait patiently at the counter- by the main service area, where other customers could see and perhaps vicariously experience my frustration- while he attempted to resolve my issue. And if anybody asked, I was going to be more than happy to share my experience with their service.

My best estimate would be 40 minutes. In that time, the young bloke assisting me didn't really accomplish much and ended up passing the phone back to the original sales assistant- let's call her Lauren- if for no other reason than that is her name.

Lauren speaks with someone somewhere who can't do anything to assist and may as well have been trying to get a request through NASA to get the Hubble telescope to take a picture of Uranus which is where I was considering asking them to put the phone. I could tell by the exasperated look that this was not going to be good news- funny that...

The "Incident" as it shall now be called, has been escalated yet again from Level 1 (which I think is a group of simians with keyboards) to Level 2- which I guess is a good thing- not the simian keyboardists but the fact it has been escalated to Level 2. Now I guessed that this was not necessarily a desirable outcome as I was advised that the Level 2 support group doesn't work weekends and my phone will definitely be connected by Monday (or Tuesday).

I don't think I said anything for a few moments, at which point I must have looked like I was going to set fire to the phone and the contract paperwork because Lauren asked, "Do you want to cancel your contract? Because if you do, I would understand but I am unable to do that. You need to contact our customer service centre and stay on hold until both batteries in your cordless phones are dead and you still haven't spoken to a real human." She didn't actually say the italicised thingy but gave me all of the information on what I needed to say to the robovoice to get in touch with the right people.

And I think what convinced her that I was serious was when I mentioned the telecommunications ombudsman and service levels for connections of service within reasonable timeframes upon entering into a contract.

So I came home and rang the number and said all of the right things to Robovoice who advised she was connecting me to the correct area only to find out that they work the same shift as the Level 2 group and nobody would be available to answer my questions until Monday morning.

Anyhow, tomorrow morning there is another nice 90km ride. Too bad I won't be able to take any pictures for you.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

It wasn't so bad after all, nor was the next day....

2010-11-05T20:02:00.003+10:00

The forecast from the last post looked pretty grim (that seems a bit strong- how about inclement?) and so it was with a bit of trepidation that I hauled my butt ot of bed on Thursday morning and fired up the laptop to see what weather was in store for the ride.

There were a few spicks and specks on the radar but nothing of any significance, so I got kitted up and headed out. I probably hadn't gone 300 metres when the first rain fell but it was thankfully short-lived. There must have been a fair number who made their decisions based on the downpour we were having on Wednesday night as numbers were well down.

Never mind- any ride is a good ride (well almost any ride).

Today (Friday) dawned clear and very cool and humid (remember we are talking the tropics here, so anything below 20C is cool). There had been a few light showers overnight but that had all cleared by the time I got up at 4:30. So a nice 30km ride into the city and a coffee before another 15km back home made for a great start to the day.

That's just about where the goodness of the day ended. Yesterday I signed up for a new mobile phone contract. Nice new BlackBerry (or as Bluenoser calls them- "Crackberry) Curve 9300 with lots of bells and whistles, web and email capability, yaddah, yaddah, yaddah......when I walked away from the dealer with my new phone, I was assured that my SIM card would be activated within a couple of hours.

"No worries", says I- "that will be fine." When I still did not have any access as of 7:00pm last night, I became, shall we say, concerned. Checked when I got up for this morning's ride- nada, rien, nichts, zilch, zip.... So I'm at the dealer's door at 9:00am when they open with a few queries, as it were. A check on the computer says the request to activate the SIM failed- "good work Sherlock!!" but no explanation why.

"We'll just resend this and it will all be good." I think most of you can probably write the rest of the script here. It is now 8:00pm and still nothing. I think tomorrow's chapter could be very interesting.....but whatever transpires, it will have to happen after tomorrow morning's ride...

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Hmmmm- this looks like it could be damp...

2010-11-03T18:10:00.000+10:00

Like the lyrics from Supertramp- "It's Raining Again", this snapshot of the local radar tells the story:

In the middle of the picture is a red dot- that dot is the radar location on Mt Stuart- about 8 km as the crow flies, due south of our place. This weather has been building in all day with just some light drizzle from late morning and then getting a little heavier as the day progressed. Judging from what is feeding in from the Coral Sea, we might have this overnight and well into tomorrow as well.

It might also have a bit of an impact on my ride tomorrow morning. As I have said before, I don't mind getting caught out in the rain but I have a hard time pushing myself out the gate into the rain...(See Rule V at Velominati). That's not to say I won't- I mean it's not like there's any risk of it turning to freezing rain or snow.

One of the other things that becomes noticeable as the seasonal rains arrive is the sudden appearance of the "hairy-backed, knuckle-dragging bogan". As soon as there is a bit of rain on the roads, out they come in great numbers, revving their engines and spinning their tyres on a road surface with considerably less grip than in dry times. I'm not sure if they are of the same species as the rest of humanity but they seem to use these displays of petrol-derived power as either a mating call (like frog in a drainpipe) or a challenge to others who might invade their turf (like a Maori performing a haka).

And they never completely disappear like other migratory animals. You can find signs of their presence all year round in the form of "Bogan Dust". Also known as broken glass, this is found in great amounts along the city's roads- with particular attention apparently given to the designated bike lanes and is found in the greatest amounts on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Quelle surprise!!

Anyhow, I will make an attempt to get out there in the morning- rain or not.

Ride safe

BoaB

The Race That Stops a Nation

2010-11-02T15:02:00.004+10:00

It never ceases to amaze me- the first Tuesday in November is Melbourne Cup Day and while it is a holiday in Victoria, the whole of Australia comes to a halt for the running of "The Cup". There is a plethora of betting advice available from all and sundry- form guides and trainers' records, colours of the jockeys' silks, weather forecasts, track conditions, on and on it goes. And I guess that's all part of what makes this an event that everyone feels they're involved in.

Businesses hold lavish Cup lunches with prizes for best dressed and worst tie- funnily enough at our office, men never won the first and women never even got a look in for the second. Sweepstakes are run with all of the newspapers printing sweepstakes forms in today's editions. A good number of turf clubs around the nation will hold local meetings in conjunction with the cup with big screens displaying all of the action from Flemington.

I think this is our 16th cup and in true annual tradition, I trundled off to the TAB to place my annual bet. I think aside from the Melbourne Cup, I may have placed about 3 bets at the local track and my winning percentage from those is 0.0%, nada, zilch, nichts, rien.

The Cup has always been good to me. Of the 16 Cups, I have missed placing bets at the TAB on 2 occasions- once in 2002 when I could not get away from work to place my bet and the while I was in Canada in 2004. Turned out in '02 I won two office sweeps and a bet with one of the employees who decided to run his own little book on the day.

In the years in which I have placed a bet, it would probably be running at about 80% in my favour. And with that, I present my ticket for the 2010 Melbourne Cup:

A straight $5.00 on the nose for Americain. I think it pays out at 12:1- so my 5 bucks gets me $60. I will never get rich, but gee, I love the Melbourne Cup.

I have also included a new blog link to Ruth Corset's Olympic journey. Ruth is a local racer, mother of two great girls, Australia's 2009 Women's Road Racer of the Year, rider with Team Tibco, Commonwealth Games rider and amongst other accomplishments in the last 12 months, a podium finish in the Tour Feminin en Limousin 2010. Oh, and I forgot to mention she is coached by her husband Jason- what a great team!!!!!

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Yes it does...

2010-10-31T11:00:00.002+10:00

An update- since I have been a bit of a slacker on the blogging front- thanks for the prod Bluenoser.

The day I finished up at work, I received a call from one of the managers in the section of the business responsible for the training of staff. Bear in mind that I worked in that section in 2006/07 delivering training in one of our specialised (not the bike brand) customer management applications and there are over 2500 employees with access/user permissions and new employees/users coming into the organisation on a regular basis. There has not been anyone filling that role permanently since I left.

The call was almost a plea- "Could I come back and deliver the training? We have nobody qualified- and the only people who have been doing any training will not be released by their business unit to train anyone else." Talk about "silo mentality".......

So how do we get around the restrictions that are in place for employees who take a redundancy? Normally you may not come back as an employee or a self-employed consultant/contractor for a period of up to two years. Easily done says the manager- "just come back through a labour-hire firm. Here is the contract manager's name and number- we'll call him and let him know you are coming in to register."

This was on Friday. On Monday morning as I am getting in the car to head to said firm to register, I get a call. It is the labour hire firm. "Ahh yes we had a call from Ms X that you might be coming in to see us. Is that still your intention?" "Yes- I am on my way. See you in ten minutes."

So I sat down and filled in forms and provided them with an hourly rate and daily rate for my services. They add their percentage on top and bill the company accordingly for hours worked and pay me directly. No invoicing required on my part- no dealing with Accounts Payable.

I set my rate at what I thought might be a bit high but after discussing it with some of my former fellow-employees, they said I should be pretty well on the mark. The company didn't even blink and have started the other necessary paperwork to bring me back in as a non-employee and to set up the training sessions. I would expect it will be a couple more weeks before training activity starts in earnest. Venues need to be booked, attendees confirmed, travel and accommodation arrangements made, etc....

I should add that in between registering and submitting my rates and getting notification that things were moving ahead, I had a call from another former manager who, like me, had taken a redundancy and is now working for an independent electrical contracting company as their new regional manager. He needs a work planner/scheduler/estimator- would I be interested? Paul and I had worked on a project together in 2006 and he was always straight and fair with everyone on the project. So I agreed to meet with him and his local manager the next day.

The Readers' Digest version is that the job was mine if I wanted and they would match my previous salary. "Let me have a think about it." The end result is that I turned down that offer and have decided to go with the training delivery. In retrospect, I think some of the most satisfying time has been training and assisting people in their roles and that coloured my view heavily in making my decision.

In the meantime, I have lots of things to keep me busy around the house and lots of km's to put beneath the wheels of my bike.....

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Does it get better????,,

2010-10-27T19:48:00.001+10:00

A new beginning:

Almost a fortnight ago I accepted a redundancy and joined the ranks of the unemployed. I had grown jaded and disaffected in my role. Moving from secondment to secondment and seeing the focus of various business units moving away from our core business focus to new, enlightened "targets on the horizon for the next 10 years". Finally I decided I had had enough.....

After making the decision to part ways with the company with which I have spent the longest, continuous employment in my life- it was like the world had been lifted from Atlas' shoulders. It had been fully 18 months since I have had the fully restful sleep that I (and vicariously Dee and Rusty) have enjoyed for the past two weeks.

Morning rides have not been constrained by the requirement to be at my desk by 7:15 such that I can now complete a circuit, and have a "well-earned caffeine fix" with the other cyclists in town. Tuesday just-past, I even sat in on a group ride- something I have not done, aside from weekend social rides, in almost two years.

And I surprised myself. When you ride on your own for considerable periods, it becomes difficult to gauge your performance vis-a-vis other cyclists. So Tuesday I headed out with a group of about 30- took a couple of good pulls on the front and managed to hold pace at about 37 km/hr. Coffee afterwards was most enjoyable but we'll just have to see if I can back it up again on Thursday.

It also provides the opportunity for a ride at different times of the day. Monday was a ride to the dam at 10:30 in the morning- a chance to have a bit of a lung busting ride mid-morning. It was really enjoyable and a memory I'll not soon set aside.

So I'll keep riding early in the mornings and catching up on chores (Dee does have a list- of sorts) around the house and luxuriating in this brief interlude in employment. And you know what?? Painting really is a restful thing to do............

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

A weekend well spent....

2010-10-17T19:04:00.000+10:00

Yesterday was a bit of a sufferfest on the bike....the heavy rain on Friday night cleared when a cold front went through just after midnight. How do I know when it went through, I hear you ask. Well, maybe that's not you asking, it's just crickets in the backyard.

The door to the TV room had been left open (and the windows) and I neglected to use the little hook and eye that keeps the door from slamming shut when the breeze picks up. So...........at about 12:30am, we were brought out of fairly deep sleep by the slamming of the door as the wind kicked around to the SSW at about 35km/hr.

And there it stayed for most of Saturday (or at least all of Saturday's ride) with a few gusts to around 55km. And although we cover most points of the compass on our ride, it seemed like we had a cross or headwind from about 320 of the 360 degrees available.

Oh and Dee probably made the right choice when she forewent (is that actually the past tense of forego?) yesterday's ride.

The rest of the day was spent in the yard edging garden beds and pulling out weeds (Owww!! my legs hurt from bending so much), cutting down the last of the bananas (of which there were none salvageable as the flying foxes has chewed through the protective bag on the stalk- D'oh!!!), harvesting more pawpaw, mowing the lawn, trying to keep the mint under control (and I'm talking culinary mint- not the one that makes coin) and picking up palm fronds.

Today dawned clear and cool (if you consider 17C to be cool) and no wind!!!!! So instead of going for a ride, we headed north to Ingham and the Tyto wetlands for a morning of walking and bird-watching. This was followed by a lovely brunch and coffee at Passion for Pepper. I would love to provide a link but they don't have a website. Suffice to say, we're already planning to head back...soon!!

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Clouds on the Horizon

2010-10-15T18:28:00.001+10:00

It's a bit oppressive at the moment. The wind which has been lashing for most of today has suddenly dropped off and the sounds of insects in the yard is drowning out the rest of the neighbourhood sounds- only the noise from passing vehicles can be heard above the din.

Looking out the front door to the west, the sky is various shades of grey- from a pale foggy type grey to the ominous blue-grey slate of pending rain. A quick look at the weather radar and it doesn't look like there's anyway we can avoid a bit of a "shower"- I reckon 20 minutes at the most before it hits. "Recheck".... make that 20 seconds

I am hopeful that it clears by morning for the regular coffee ride. This morning was a washout- it bucketed down around 1:00am and then again at 4:30 just as I was getting ready to head out. I don't mind getting caught out in the rain but I have a bit of difficulty getting my butt in gear and on the bike when it's coming down and I'm still in the house.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Pasta Night

2010-08-30T18:38:00.000+10:00

Any night can be "Pasta Night" but since I'm on leave this week and planning to get a few good early morning rides in (ones where I can actually go for a coffee instead of peeling off to get ready for work) I thought we should have a bit of pasta.

So I have churned out a batch of tagliatelle (it would have been fettuccine except I used eggs) with the assistance of Dee and in moments we will be cooking up some scallops, silver beet (Swiss chard in the other hemisphere), dill, garlic, basil and lemon which will be stirred through the fresh pasta (with a bit of parmesan and freshly ground black pepper from Silkwood which is a couple of hundred km's north of us). I can hardly wait- should be good for 80 km or so in the morning.

And we'll watch last night's stage of the Vuelta......

Bon appetit!!!

Another one bites the dust.....

2010-08-01T20:39:00.000+10:00

Make it 52- like a deck of cards, sans "jokers". I, and all of the thoroughbreds in Australia, celebrated our birthdays today. Just a quick clarification here as well, I do not consider myself a thoroughbred. Today is the first of August and all racehorses in Australia have the day listed as their birthday whether they were born on the fourth of September, the fourth of July or the Twelfth of Never.

To mark the day, we (that is the collective"we" of Dee and I) had a bit of a sleep in and then a nice roll to The Strand for a coffee at Juliette's . Back home and pancakes with maple syrup for brekkie. For some of us maple syrup and pancakes is a given, but here in Oz it seems to be a major culinary accoutrement.

This was the second foray for Dee on her new bike (well since actually owning it anyhow). Yesterday was less than ideal as far as comfort for Dee on the ride. She had taken the bike for a 50km test ride on Friday and decided it was very comfortable. Back to the LBS and some "fitting" adjustments (seat height, new stem, etc) and the bike was ready to go.

Ride on Saturday was less than ideal- shoulder pain, arm and wrist numbness........not good. Back to the bike shop and reinstalled the original stem. Today was much better but we'll give it a week to see.

Then this afternoon we headed off to the Picnic Bay Surf Life Saving Club for a bit of a get-together/birthday celebration. Lovely setting on the Townsville foreshore facing northerly to Magnetic Island with clear blue skies and a fresh sou'easter breeze. A jazz ensemble provided pleasurable pieces as a group of our cycling friends gathered to raise a glass or three to mine and Mark's (another of our cycling group) birthdays.

So tomorrow morning it is on the plane and off to Brisbane for the week for work- meetings, workshops and all associated activities. I will have to find something to do with that pent up energy when I wake up at 4:00am- my bike will be 1200km away.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Back in a Groove.....

2010-07-10T17:28:00.000+10:00

The guys over at Velominati have a compendium of rules (and a very entertaining blog as well) by which road cyclists should live. The list now extends to 78 rules, but there a select few which stand out- those being rules 1, 5 and 10.

As I have been returning to a reasonable semblance of good health (I haven't had any respiratory issues since I relocated to a different building at work about three weeks ago), I have been able to resume an early morning regime with a bit of vigor. And it is here that I am noticing Rule 10 coming into effect-

RULE 10:

It never gets easier, you just go faster. To put it another way, per Greg Henderson: “Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don’t stop when you’re tired. You stop when the gorilla is tired.”⁴

I haven't changed my regular circuits, but I'm finding that my completion times are dropping rapidly and my average speed is moving up. I have altered my route a bit this week with the V-8 Supercars in town and the associated road closures- but I'm completing the circuits about 6-8 minutes quicker than I was for most of the last year- same number of kilometres and "no it's not any easier"- but it sure is faster. And you know what?- I'm loving it .

And speaking of the V-8's, we're off to watch the big spectacle on Sunday with our son. Went out and bought earplugs today especially for the event- we're about 4km from the track and we can hear the backfiring/compression release from here. Sounds like the army conducting live firing of artillery...

Might just be able to squeeze in a ride in the morning before we head to the track......it will make it much more bearable I'm sure.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Thanks for the holiday 'Liz- How are you as a Striker?

2010-06-14T17:41:00.000+10:00

Monday, 14 June Queen's Birthday Holiday

Thankfully I'm not an avid football (round ball, soccer) fan. The gnashing of teeth and wailing over the Socceroos' 4-nil loss to Germany would be just about enough to make you want to go for a ride and get away from any form of current media- so we did.

After sleeping in and not needing to arise for work (Queen's Birthday holiday- thank you Your Majesty) Dee baked bread, we had multiple cups of coffee and then we pottered in the yard tending to some rather neglected garden beds and shrubs.

A couple of checks on the online news showed that nothing else in the world had transpired other than the Australian soccer team was thrashed by Germany.

That's a bit unfair- we did manage to find out that Heinrich Haussler won a Stage of the Tour de Suisse and eventually tracked down that Jo Kiesanowski (NZL) of Team TIBCO had placed second in the GP in Gatineau Quebec behind Joelle Numainville (CAN).

Just after lunch we headed off to drop off a video and then a spin to the dam. Now I don't want to brag about how good the weather is because- oh never mind. It's "winter" here and at midday in brilliant blue skies it was 26C and about 55% humidity with light winds at 19km/hr. I think that would constitute a beautiful mid-summer day back in the old country.

Brilliant- absolutely brilliant. And after returning home we did a few more garden chores- planting roses, watering, etc and have now made fresh pasta. Just soul destroying I tell ya.........oh bother- my wine glass needs attention.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Sick and tired of being sick.........

2010-05-22T19:28:00.000+10:00

One ride this week- out for the regular Saturday coffee ride this morning. This latest round of respiratory issues has kept me off the bike for most of the last fortnight and left me feeling pretty much like I'm back at "Square One".

More X-rays, more blood tests, more antibiotics- the end result is I don't have pneumonia or whooping cough and while I feel marginally better than I did last week, I'm a long way from declaring myself fit and healthy.

I'm beginning to think there may be something in my workplace contributing to my condition. In April of last year I relocated to a temporary/demountable office with about 40 desks/workspaces. My first bout of what seems to be the same thing (in retrospect) started about a week after the move.

I put it down to a cold/virus brought into the office by one of the other employees who has children in daycare and who doesn't think the business can continue to function in her absence- thus she comes to work and sneezes/coughs/phlegms (not sure if that is a verb but it will do in this instance) for all of us to enjoy.

I've had my flu shots (as I have done since 2003) and yet the bouts of this wretched thing come back almost like clockwork every two months. This latest bout has been the worst and has had me off work more in the last two weeks than at work. For most of the past fortnight, whenever I would try to have a conversation, I would be racked by coughing fits- then the feverish sweats and aches and general malaise. Makes it hard to carry out your job and doesn't really leave you feeling like getting up at 4:00am and heading out for a training ride.

Monday I'll be requesting a relocation to another office to see if it is something in the aircon/carpet which is bringing this on. I've never had allergies before but I'm (read my Doctor here) running out of options as to the cause and it's really starting to piss me off.

In the meantime, I'll watch the Giro and the ToC (good to see a couple of Aussies in the leader's jersey for both events) and maybe have another easy spin and coffee tomorrow.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

One Night- Two Classics

2010-05-16T18:10:00.000+10:00

Saturday night was one for the record books- well at least my personal record book.

Dee and I went to a live presentation of RockWiz with some good friends. For those uninitiated into the realm of RockWiz, allow me to give a quick precis- click on this link....... RockWiz. A fantastic night out with great friends listening to live music and a very entertaining quiz show/performance spectacle.

It was considerably later than usual when we got home- we usually fall into bed by about 9:00pm- and after listening to some great tunes at decibels of a level far and above what we normally subject ourselves to, we needed some time to wind down.

So grab a glass of vino and relax to catch up on some of Stage 7 of the Giro. After Matty Lloyd's solo effort the previous night, we were wondering what the Stage and the strade bianche (The words strade bianche may translate into English as white roads – the gravel gleams brilliantly under the summer sun – but there was no evidence of that today as the deluge turned them into a brown quagmire- from road.cc) would hold. We had been following the text coverage on CyclingNews but managed to find live streaming with English commentary and were absolutely enthralled.

I suspect what we watched will go down as an epic stage of tour stages. The sections of non-sealed road and the rain made for some very demanding riding from the pros and it was Cadel who drove the front runners over the last 10km.

It was a fitting end to the stage that Cunego and Vinokourov were unable to catch Cadel on the uphill finish- it was a massive effort and gave us glimpses of what the grand tours were when the "hard men" of cycling rode these circuits.

What will tonight's stage bring???? I can only hope it is as epic as last night..

Cheers-ride safe
BoaB

And so it begins.....the Grand Tours 2010.

2010-05-09T16:25:00.001+10:00

The Giro kicked off last night in Amsterdam (that would be the Giro d'Italia in Amsterdam- as in Netherlands) with Stage 1 being an individual time trial. The next two stages also take place in the Netherlands before the riders have their first rest day (albeit early in the schedule) and travel to Italy for the remaining stages. Pretty hard to find any climbs in and around Amsterdam that would rival the Dolomites.

And I learned something last night about stages and prologues- a prologue can only be classed as such if it is less than 8.0 kilometres. Where the TT was 8.4 km, it does not qualify as a prologue and is classed as a stage as per the report from Cycling News, "According to the UCI rule 2.6.006.1, “ A prologue may be included in stage races on condition that: 1. it must not exceed 8 km. ...."

So there you go- you learn something everyday. Bradley Wiggins took the honours for Stage 1 and will wear the maglia rosa for tonight's stage. Couple of BMC riders just a couple of seconds back- Brent Bookwalter and Cadel Evans (go you good thing!!) followed by Alexandre Vinokourov.

Should make for some great viewing over the next three weeks. For anybody wanting to catch some blogoscopic commentary on the stages, a few links for you:

Cycling Tips

Cyclocosm

Velominati

and Red Kite Prayer

Cheers- ride safe- enjoy the Giro
BoaB

Take 15 minutes before eating or on an empty stomach..............

2010-04-28T16:39:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Boab's "House of Antibiotics." For what must be about the sixth or seventh time in just over a year, I am back on the antibiotics for a chest/respiratory infection. I just don't get it- anyway I'm off work for the next few days on the advice of the good doctor so it should give me lots of time to catch up on some cycling blogs.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Bright Lights, Big City.....no Bike

2010-04-18T17:49:00.001+10:00

Back home from "The Big Smoke" on Friday night. I like Brisbane- in a funny sort of way and in small doses. It's one of those places that could have its own T-shirt- "I spent a month in Brisbane last week!!" I'm sorry to all of those who live in Brissie and might be offended, but it's just too big for me- too impersonal.

I suspect that not having the bike and being able to have a bit of a hit out in the mornings may have something to do with it. But as I stood on my balcony eating my brekkie and watching the death-defying acts that constitute bike commuting, I thought perhaps Hemingway experienced something along the same lines the first time he visited Pamplona and witnessed the running of the bulls- young brazen men full of testosterone and a sense of invincibility, court, tease and flirt with death through the streets. I guess the one advantage the cyclists have is that their adversaries stop for red lights- Pamplona bulls??- probably not.

Townsville to Charters Towers road race today. 120km and a 300 metre climb with great rollers from the top of the Mingela Range and on to The Towers. Almost 50 riders fronted for the handicapped start and the winner, Will Cullen- off 33 minutes I think- blasted his way to the front about 20 km out and was all alone coming across the line- nobody else in sight. He and Sue Abel, another good friend and very strong rider, were first across the Burdekin Bridge with Sue picking up a couple of preems for being the first to the top of the range and first across the bridge.

Shortly after the bridge, Will pulled away and powered home all on his own. Sue was overtaken by the back markers and eventually finished about 12th overall and first woman across the line.

Dee and I did rider support for three riders at the two feed stations- first time I've done that side of it and will gladly do it again (if I'm not riding). The race in reverse (Charters Towers to Townsville) takes place in August- better start putting the training plan in place =8^)

Congrats to the race organisers and the riders and to the other road users who all seemed very patient and co-operative this year.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Get your compression tights on- it's only Day 2 of a 4-day weekend

2010-04-03T16:56:00.002+10:00

Coffee ride this morning only saw about a dozen and a half of us hit the road. Guess a lot of people headed out of town for the long weekend and that's not necessarily a bad thing. The group is definitely more manageable with those smaller numbers than when it gets up over 35 or more. Other road users seem to be less "inconvenienced" by a smaller group as well.

It was a good workout this morning- even if only for coffee. Pretty healthy cross/headwinds for much of the ride made us all work a bit harder. And when I tried to get a bit of a paceline going, it was definitely a learning experience for the other participants. It probably would have been better if we had discussed it ahead of time but I think they got the idea after a few turns . We did discuss it further at the cafe and I suspect we'll give it another go next week.

I am sitting here with my compression tights on as I type. Being only the second day of a four day weekend, I want to be able to ride Sunday and Monday and thought it best to take some recuperative/preventative measures. Yesterday Dee and I did a dam/Pallarenda ride in the morning and then in the afternoon while Dee was off watching French vignettes and eating baked brie stuffed with dried fruit, I sneaked off and did another turn down along the beach to get me over the 100km for the day.

Sunday and Monday look like similar type rides which I don't want to miss- thus the tights.

No racing for a few weeks- Easter weekend is always a break, next weekend is the North Queensland Games in Cairns- an event held every two years and while I did take part in 2008, I'll be travelling to Brisbane on Sunday for work and so unable to be in the Games this year and the following week is one of the local scene's bigger races- the Townsville to Charters Towers handicap (and I'm not ready for that little epic this year).

Anyhow, enjoy your Easter chocolate (or Chardonnay or Cab Sav) and go for a little extra burn tomorrow (and Monday if you're fortunate enough to have the day off).

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

We're still waiting...

2010-03-21T13:24:00.000+10:00

It's hard to believe a category 3 cyclone crossed the cost just a few hundred km from here. Lots of trees down and some houses had their roofing torn off by the wind and very heavy rain but nothing up this way. It was very quiet overnight- we kept waking up and thinking- "Well, the wind should pick up any minute now." And it never really did.

I got up around 5:45 and there wasn't a breath of wind. There have been a few gusts but nothing over about 40km/hr.

Anyhow, Ului is now just a rain depression heading into the interior of the state bringing some heavy rains with it. Maybe that's it for this cyclone season- here's hoping.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Gettin' ready for a big blow.......

2010-03-20T19:17:00.001+10:00

Well we're hunkered down at 7:00pm while the dinner stews on the stove- and that's only appropriate since it is stew- waiting the arrival of Ului. Ului has been bouncing around the South Pacific and Coral Sea since last Sunday and has decided it's time to "put into port" on the oceanic ventures.

This tempest has probably generated more column inches (or bandwidth) than any storm in recent times. As early as Monday there were predictions that Ului would come ashore and wreak havoc on the east coast of Queensland. Those predictions came primarily from the US Navy's meteorologic service in Pearl Harbour with early predictions of landfall in the southern part of the state.

A local weather presenter took exception to some of the media coverage and vented his spleen over "sensationalist" media coverage and that there was no threat as the system was going to head to the south-east and not be of any consequence- according to the national weather agency (as reported by said weather presenter).

Let's move ahead to today and as we sit here (in a very eerie stillness) we are sitting in a region that has been pre-declared a disaster area- giving authorities the power of forced evacuations.

Will there be any humble pie consumed? I suspect not- but this "non-threatening" weather event may seriously impact my opportunity to get in a Sunday ride.

Cheers- ride safe (and avoid the cyclones)
BoaB

Flora and fauna

2010-03-07T16:36:00.001+10:00

Well the team time trial has been and gone..........we rode quite well but actually did quite poorly overall. We had nominated a time of just over 44 minutes for 20 km. Now that may seem a bit slow but a couple of our team haven't been riding much and were pretty sure they wouldn't be able to maintain much more than 27 or 28 km/hr. Fair enough we say and remove all of our bike computers, watches, GPS, sundials and calendars before the race.
Given that the whole idea was to ride to our nominated time- we failed spectacularly. We were faster by almost 4 and a half minutes which is comforting in the "so you rode pretty well" stakes but absolute SML (Stone Motherless Last) in the "ride to your chosen time" category.
The friends we rode with have been focusing on other health and fitness activities of late and have only ridden about 3 times in the last three weeks. Those rides also tend to be more of a social occasion than a training ride and a real gabfest often takes place and gets interrupted by cycling.
Anyway it was all good fun and the greenery along the road is as lush as I have ever seen it- I guess a couple of months of good steady rain will do that. Lots of birdlife around the wetlands and a few "Joe Blakes" on the road. (For anyone unfamiliar with Aussie rhyming slang- a Joe Blake is a snake). They were of all of the deceased status and looked like they were probably young water pythons.
Looks like it'll be blue skies and sunshine for a few days now- no excuse not to get some good km's in this week.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

It's time!!!!

2010-03-05T17:22:00.000+10:00

As Arsenio Hall used to say as the intro to his show, "Its time....." time I got stuck back into scrawling off a line or ten. What a slacker, eh?? I would like to use Vancouver 2010 as an excuse but that wouldn't be right. I would say my total TV hours for the Olympics would have been less than 10 hours- somehow I just couldn't stay up to watch the nightly broadcasts starting at 9:30. And on a couple of occasions on the weekends when we managed to grab some time in front of the box, we were treated to repeats of Torville and Dean. For crying out loud folks- can we move on? There have been other skaters on the ice since 1984...

We relied on free to air telecasts having gotten rid of our satellite dish some years ago- and like a lot of things these days, it's free for a reason..... I do have it from a good source that the Fox Sports package was excellent so if there is no option for streaming over the net for the next Olympics, that may be an option. As it was, the event I wanted to see the most, the gold medal men's hockey game was on tape-delay here so I headed off to work and found a live blogging of the game. Not quite the same and the refresh button on the browser got a pretty good workout.

And so what has all of this got to do with cycling? Well not much, it's just that even with all of the heavy rain we had during the Olympics which severely reduced my hours on the bike, I still couldn't bring myself to watch the free to air coverage.

Team time trial on Sunday- a club fun one. Mixed grades and genders in teams of three or four- nominate your time and try to ride to it with no watches or bike computers.....prize for the team that comes closest to their nominated time.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

"We choose to do these things not because they are easy, but because" ....

2010-02-14T17:43:00.001+10:00

....we are cyclists. With those few words from JFK resonating through the caverns of my skull, I was at the start line for today's 10km TT (Time Trial for non-cyclists who may be reading). I missed last year's season-starting TT due to illness- the first of several respiratory infections that would act like a fire blanket on my race season.

I didn't know if I was going to make this one either- one of my fellow employees figures the company just cannot function without her and so after catching a bacterial infection that one her kids brought home from pre-school, she decided to share with the rest of us. WTF is with these people? You have sick leave for a reason.....stay home and spare the rest of us your sniffling and sneezing and germs. Wednesday (my second day this week where I could not attend work due to illness) I went to the doc's and got put on antibiotics to try and combat the throat infection. It had got to the point where swallowing was almost unbearable- my tonsils were inflamed and the glands in my neck were very swollen- no fun and no riding.

Saturday morning and I had to stop the medication-my gut was in such a state of discomfort that I put a halt to the pills. I have been eating yogurt and drinking fermented yogurt (it actually tastes much better than I ever dreamed) to try and restore some good bacteria. Seems the antibiotic must have been very enthusiastic.

We did the coffee ride yesterday- a bit over 55km and felt pretty good so decided to give the TT a go this morning.

The morning was "coolish"- if you can call 25C and 96% humidity cool. I guess it's all relative to what we have been experiencing of late. We had a good shower in the early hours of the morning and with the overcast conditions, things didn't heat up as quickly as they usually do. Registration took place at 6:30am and the first starters were off the line at 7:00 on 30 second intervals- with a light shower and the rumble of thunder just offshore.

The start was not done by grade but by registration- first in got number 1 and so on. I was 23 and had 3 A graders immediately behind me. I think the first one overtook me before I was a km down the road....
Anyway- out and back- 10km in 18 minutes and change. Still waiting for the club to post the results on the website but no matter what the "official" time is, it will be ever so much better than last year's result.

Cheer- ride safe
BoaB

It’s Raining Again (Or should I say "Still"?)

2010-01-30T10:33:00.000+10:00

It's 10:15 Saturday morning and I have just tilted the laptop screen toward me to shed a bit of light on the keyboard- believe me, I am not a touch-typist- not quite a hunt and peck either but I'll win no prizes in the keyboard skills competition. It has gone very dark in the house as the next wave of monsoonal showers passes through. I think we're almost a full week into steady (sometimes torrential) rain.

There have been times when I can hardly see the neighbours' house across the backyard as the rain pelts down. Almost reminds me of snowstorms back in the old country- we just don't have to shovel out afterward.

It has put a bit of a halt to my cycling routine this week. Over the last 5 days we have had almost 300mm dumped on us and with a soon-to-be ex-cyclone off to the northwest and dragging lots of moist air toward it, methinks that it could be considerably higher before we see a break. Never mind- sunny days will be back soon enough I'm sure.

I wonder if tomorrow's crit is still on???

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

It was a bit like a treasure hunt....

2010-01-24T16:53:00.000+10:00

It's funny how things disappear. And it's sometimes even funnier, the things you find while looking for those things that have disappeared. Take pictures (or photographs if you prefer)- a friend put up that this was Wedding Week on Facebook and that we should replace our profile pics with a picture from our wedding.

Well the search was on- high, low, indoors and out for our wedding photos. Now we know that the wedding album itself didn't make the trip Down Under when we migrated, but both Dee and I thought we had brought the photos. Alas, we didn't find any of "the" wedding photos but we did come up with a few slightly less-than-professional shots which despite their yellowish tinge and probably champagne-affected focus, show us in our wedding day finery.

This pic is for you Bluenoser- during the search, Dee came across a ziplock bag of photos, some of them from my time on the rigs and one in particular on a rig being transported from Dunkirk, France to Nova Scotia. I can recall the day like it was last week- although it is now more than 25 years ago. It was particularly windy and as I hit the button, there was a very strong gust of wind which resulted in the following.................................................

And the 2010 Tour Down Under has just wrapped up with Andre Greipel of Team HTC taking out the ochre jersey as overall winner in the GC.

Big winds and heavy rains forecast for the next few days as we feel the effects of a couple of ex-cyclones and a very active monsoonal trough. Might seriously cut into the early morning rides.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

First long ride in a while

2010-01-16T20:40:00.000+10:00

Saturday- our usual coffee ride took a backseat this week as we jumped on a group ride out to Woodstock and back (to the cafe of course). Just short of a century but we couldn't be bothered putting in junk km's just to hit triple figures. The ride actually got split into two groups before we headed out- there must have been close to 50 cyclists and to make things more manageable for all involved (motorists included) we divided into a couple of groups- 5 minutes apart.

It was Dee's first group ride out on the highway where there is traffic at 110km/hr and road trains with three trailers hauling ore from mines in the western part of the state. Not for the faint-of-heart. And she did really well- fitness was never going to be an issue- she does an absolute tonne of km's. The concern is with the dynamic of a group at speed and the associated hazards with cycling along the highway.

She blitzed it- after hanging back a bit for the first 10 km or so, she gained confidence in following wheels and played a full role in rolling through and taking a turn on the front. And she managed to avoid hitting any mummified remains of road-kill kangaroos and wallabies along the route.

It was a lovely ride- the area has greened up nicely after the rain around New Year's and there were lots of parrots, lorikeets and finches crossing the road giving us something else to look at besides the tread pattern of the wheel in front.

Sunday beckons- probably do a nice jaunt out to Pallarenda and then coffee as a recovery.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

I think that was a wind training session....

2010-01-10T17:54:00.000+10:00

We did the slug thing this morning and stayed in bed after the 4:30 alarm. Eventually dragged ourselves out and had a coffee and read the morning's news online. We had both cycled every day this week and really, we do need a bit of rest.

So we pottered around the house and yard doing chores- I edged all of the garden beds in the front (and along the driveway pavers) with the shovel to get a nice clean edge (never mind the fact that my weed whacker decided it was no longer desiring to be a contributor to the greenhouse emissions and packed it in a few months back. All of the plastic/rubber components seemed to disintegrate all at once- go figure eh?)

A bit past mid-morning I was getting antsy and so we decided to get in a small ride. There was good cloud cover (of the intermittent variety) which was helping to keep the temperature down to around 29C and the wind was, shall we say, refreshing.

Off we went along the bikeway beside the river and down to the V8 track- or at least a section thereof. This particular section of the V8 circuit is closed off from traffic but easily accessible- the loop is 630m on the inside and 680 if you decide to cycle out wide. I think we did about 10 or 12km on the circuit with a pretty good head/crosswind across the majority of the track.

I just checked the figures from the Bureau of Meteorology and while we were out, the average wind speeds were 20-46 km/hr with gusts to 56.

It gave me a pretty good week for this early in the new year, 287km- I probably should grab myself by the collar and head out the door for 13 more km but it's time to kick back with a glass of vino and wait for the lamb shanks........mmmmmm!!

And congratulations to Townsville rider Ruth Corset who yesterday won the Australian Women's Elite Road Cycling Title in Bunyinong, Victoria and to her coach and husband Jason. Their hard work is paying off with this title and continues Ruth's success after being named the Women's Elite Road Cyclist in December

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

Fingers and Toes...

2010-01-05T20:17:00.001+10:00

I have a full compliment of both- thank you very much....but I would have been hard pressed to use all of my digits counting the cyclists I encountered on this morning's ride. When I dragged my sorry butt out of bed at 04:15, the last shower was just passing through and I suspect that a fair number of the regular riders may have used that as an excuse to spend another hour or so in the sack.

On my regular circuit into the city, I saw two cyclists well ahead of me and one heading in the opposite direction. A loop along the beach front tallied up three more riders (G'day Adrian, Tony Z and Sue) and on the return trip I think I saw another 10 or 12. When compared with a normal Tuesday when there might be 60 to 80 cyclists- it just shows the power of water (when it falls from the sky).

Dee rode this morning (I know everyone is surprised) and got fairly drenched for the second day in a row. Interestingly enough, she commented on how it looks like it might be her year to get wet. Last year it was raining whenever I headed out- so far, this time around the rain stops just before I head out the door. This year (for what it's worth- but there may be a pattern developing) the rain stops just before I head out and then fires up again just as Dee gets to the furthest point of her ride.

That's not to say I end my ride in a "dryer" state- I think my gear still holds about the same amount of moisture as if I had cycled in the rain- it's just that it's self-generated and there's something completely different about that.

Cheers- ride safe
BoaB

We're nearly there..........

2009-12-30T19:10:00.004+10:00

Today is New Year's Eve eve and as the day draws to a close, I sit here with a refreshing beverage waiting for the rain showers sitting off the coast to come ashore. A quick calculation of my mileage/kilometrage (is that a word?) for the year shows I am a mere 290 km short of 10K for '09. I am planning to ride tomorrow- but I gotta tell you now that the chances of me doing that many km's are somewhere between nil and non-existent.

So as a bit of a retrospect for '09 (I originally misspelled it as restropect which I guess would be a revisitation of all of the restaurants I visited during the year and I want you to know right now that it would be a pretty short article) I wanted to capture the things that stood out over the last 12 months.

The year started well, albeit very wet. The yard only flooded a couple of times- once for three days and once for four- just kidding- it wasn't that bad but it did seriously put a dent in the early year riding. Once the monsoonal rains eased, I got back on track (sorry- back on the road) and started making serious inroads in my training.

The first road event of the year was a TT which was run to raise money for the folks down south who had suffered through the bushfires. I was, much to my chagrin, unable to ride due to the lingering effects of the flu- bugger!! But there was a good roll-up and we were able to send a donation off to the Bushfire Appeal.

There was a pattern throughout the road season- ride a race- get sick and recover in three weeks time and then race again and then get sick again. I had four bronchial infections between April and September and to say I was getting a "bit pissed" off would be an understatement.

Almost forgot the ITB. I have been introduced to an element of torture- the ITB roller. Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had no idea what an ITB was. The iliotibial band could have been an alternate or indie music group for all I knew. What I did know was that my left knee was causing me no small amount of pain and after several days I had to see what was happening. Off to the doc's who says, "looks like you have an ITB problem. Here's a referral to a good physio."

Like a good sort, I make an appointment to have some remedial therapy and have my left leg kneaded into submission by a young lady with arms which I am sure were just slightly smaller than "Hulk Hogan's". Thankfully she didn't slam my head into the floor- although she did say that since I was the only client in the building at the time, I could vocally let off a bit of pain relief if I felt so inclined. After some serious manipulation and ultrasound, I was sent on my way with some stretching exercises and an ITB roller.

If you have never used an ITB roller, I suggest you borrow one and give it a go. The feeling you experience once you have finished your session is of immense relief- relief that the session is over!!!

Oh yeah- I forgot to put the "getting hit by car" segment in there. In July a motorist failed to give way at an intersection and hit me despite my best efforts to avoid being struck. I have had "moments" shall we say, during the recovery when I was very apprehensive as I approached intersections and round-abouts, It seemed to have been a well-founded feeling as a cab driver had to come to a full tyre-sliding stop during this morning's ride when he failed to see me. And as evidenced by my writing if this blog entry, it was a good outcome- at least from my point of view.

So I didn't make 12K- not even 10K. But I'm here, I'm healthy, I still have a mad desire to ride and I live in hope..........hope that Dee and I will be able to continue to ride together in good health for many years to come and that all of you have a safe and happy 2010.

I wish all a happy New Year- ride safe, ride often and enjoy.

Cheers
BoaB

"Tis the Season

2009-12-13T17:24:00.003+10:00

The year winds down and the weather heats up- welcome to cycling in the festive season in the tropics. Things are starting to heat up in North Queensland as we lurch toward Christmas.

Temperatures are on the rise and the humidity levels are starting to edge upward as well. It's really noticeable on the morning training rides as everyone is bathed in sweat- the humidity is so high that the sweat can't evaporate and just runs down your arms, legs, back, forehead and into your glasses (for those of us who are visually challenged and for those who aren't but like to keep the road grit and bugs out of our eyes).

You take your jersey off after the ride and when it hits the floor, it's with a sloppy sort of a splat instead of just being a non-auditory event. You can wring the moisture out of the chamois (not that you would really want to). And it seems no matter how many bottles of water you drink over the course of the day, you still feel like one of those apple dolls from the '80's.

We're hiding in the air conditioning today- well not exactly hiding. We're rewarding ourselves after spending the better part of the day working in the yard. We'll ride tomorrow!!

Cheers-ride safe

BoaB

Name That Tune

2009-11-28T14:58:00.011+10:00

I was just over at Bluenoser's blog, 50k Loop, and his most recent offering is on music- cycling music and what you listen to when riding- even if you don't have an iPod or personal portable music player of any description. What songs go through your head as you're putting the km's behind you?

I don't use an iPod when I ride- come to think of it, I don't use one at all since mine was absconded by someone in the household who has just reached over 10k km for the year but I digress-oh and a big congrats Dee!!! Even though I don't use one, there are certain songs which come into my head at certain times while cycling. It never seems to fail that "I am the Walrus" dances- or rather plods its way through my melon when I'm doing hills- but not every hill- only certain ones.

Is it the tempo that matches my mashing of pedals? Is it because I picture myself as having the same hill climbing skills as a walrus? Maybe I climb hills like a "semolina pilchard climbing up the Eiffel Tower....." but I think more likely that I would like to have a little bit of whatever mind-numbing substance the Beatles partook of when writing the lyrics for that song- just to make me forget how much I dislike hills.

Another one that will slip in once in a while is another Beatles' tune- "Lucy in the Sky" and while I know the lyrics say...."the girl with kaleidoscope eyes..." I can only ever hear the Mondegreen, ..."the girl with colitis goes by..." which inevitably leads to a "wtf" moment and total loss of focus on cadence and intensity.

I suppose it could be worse, if it was "Achey, Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Virus, I meant Cyrus, I would probably just pull out into oncoming traffic.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Keeping the wheels turning

2009-11-25T17:59:00.002+10:00

Rain again today on my training ride- two days in a row even... Yesterday morning's rain was a bit of a bucketing and I took it in stride- dripping shoes and all. I managed to ride out of the rain and figured I would finish the circuit albeit a bit dampish.

I was actually almost dry (except for the shoes and socks) at 1 km from home when I felt the first drops- with a little luck I just might beat it. Nope!! No such luck- two red lights made short work of my plans and as I sat at the second set of lights it just teemed down- at least it wasn't cold but it does wash the sweat out of the helmet padding and into your eyes.

This morning didn't look like rain at all when I left and really never did on the ride- just some light drizzle that loosened up the road grime (I did take a different circuit to yesterday wouldn't you know) and to top it off I was wearing a lovely white jersey, compliments of ABC Radio North Queensland, for the first time. The back of it now looks like a reverse skunk.

Here's hoping the soaking it's going through at the moment brings it back to white...

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Incoming!!

2009-11-21T17:37:00.005+10:00

Our friend the Australian Magpie was back today. I hadn't seen him for a few weeks and thought the swooping season had ended or he had met an untimely demise in the front grille of one of the many trucks making its way into or out of the port area. The pic below is courtesy of www.lonebiker.dk and that's the angle that we as cyclists don't get to see.

Usually it is just a flash of a shadow and the snap of the beak at the back of your neck- sometimes once, sometimes in multiple swoops. This morning I thought we were in the clear. I didn't see him in his usual haunt as we approached but then he flew in from across the road to perch on top of a streelight pole and observed as we rode past. No shadow- he's not going to bother us. No sooner had the thought made its way through my wee mind and "Flash-Snap!!"

Maybe he just wanted to make sure we hadn't forgotten whose turf we were on- and it was only one swoop so his attitude must be cooling.

Many of our local riders will be waiting to hear the results of Cycling Australia's 2009 Awards being given out in Melbourne tomorrow night. Local pocket-rocket and cycling phenom, Ruth Corsett, has been nominated as the Female Elite Road Cyclist of the Year. Ruth has had a great year- leading the Australian team and finishing twelfth in the UCI Road Championships in Switzerland and just capped it off last week winning every stage of the Tour de Perth. Good luck Ruth!!

Crit tomorrow (Sunday) but it's debatable if I'll ride. A good friend and cycling mate is turning 65 tomorrow and there's a champagne brunch starting at 10:30. Given the number of corks and empty bottles our group has the capacity to leave behind, I think a nice early morning ride might be the better option.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

More winners than just the Melbourne Cup

2009-11-03T20:28:00.002+10:00

It's "The Race That Stops a Nation". Today was Melbourne Cup Day and all around Oz, millions of once-a-year punters put money on the nag they thought was going to bring it home. The favourites on the day, Viewed and Alcopop, just didn't cut it and at the end of 3200 metres, it was Shocking that strode home to victory by a length.

I didn't back a winner in the race but I'm not disappointed. I had a win today in another way as did many other cyclists who have been following a certain court case in California. Dr Christopher Thomas Thompson was found guilty on all charges after a trial in which he was charged with assault with a deadly weapon, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury and battery with serious bodily injury and mayhem.

Details can be found at VeloNews.

Stay alert- ride safe

Cheers

BoaB

Turn the water on, turn the water off....

2009-10-31T12:53:00.002+10:00

A cool breeze just blew across my feet- it preceded a nice heavy shower. The first decent bit of rain we've had this month. Should I run outside and turn off the sprinkler or leave it on? I think I'll leave it on- looks to be pretty short-lived.

It's probably a good thing we're home from our ride- the first rains seem to turn our poor drivers into absolutely appalling ones.

All of that oil and road grime and dust comes to the surface in a lovely mix that could make half the world slide away. Do the drivers slow down? Nope- business as usual and when one (or more) of them has an accident, invariably the media reports say that rain caused the accident.

There goes one of the pinheads now past the house- thankfully no crash. I really hate the mess these accidents leave behind.

Tomorrow is crit day and I'm hoping that the after-race results are better than last time when I ended up with bronchitis. According to Bluenoser, we just don't know when to stop cycling- not like when we lived in Canada where the snow would definitely put a stop to makin' the wheels go round. We just cycle and cycle and race and cycle and maybe we do stretch ourselves a bit- but we just can't help it.

I think I better go move the sprinkler....

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

A mixed bag.....

2009-10-18T18:22:00.002+10:00

Well, "J, M & J" as they used to say back on the East Coast- That would be Jesus, Mary and Joseph if you're not familiar with phraseology from Cape Breton or Newfoundland.

I think I'm starting to come good after a fortnight's battle with bronchitis. Just about finished the second course of antibiotics and haven't coughed or wheezed all afternoon. That may have something to do with the fact that there has been a major change of air around here in the last couple of days. We have been subjected to dust storms and smoke haze from bush fires for a few weeks now and I'm quite certain that it has been aggravating my infection.

Yesterday, the wind shifted to an onshore breeze and the temperature started to drop and the smoke haze began to clear. Today was very pleasant as I did the chores around the yard.

Alberto, the partner of one of our fellow bloggers, Groover, is on the road to recovery after being hit by a car on Friday. His LOOK bike is a write off and he has few bumps and bruises but will soon be back on the road, "Here's to you and a speedy recovery AMR!!" Having recently gone through a similar episode, I can completely empathise with your situation. I hope your insurance company comes good.

Another friend has been taking part in the World Masters Games in Sydney this past week- Sue just missed the podium in her three events- Individual Time Trial, Crit and Road Race. Sue said in every instance, the winner was a national champ of their respective country, so "Good on ya Sue!!".

Anyhow- that's it for the week (fortnight actually I guess).

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

And the word for today is....bronchitis

2009-10-07T13:42:00.003+10:00

So it was off to the doc's this morning. I was fortunate enough to be able to call and make an appointment at our local clinic for the same day so I trundled my miserable, sneezy, phlegmy butt into the waiting room. I try to be socially responsible and cover my mouth and nose with a tissue whenever I feel a sneeze coming on. And today I went so far as to remove myself to the men's toilet to blow my nose. I don't think anybody wanted to be subjected to that much mucus being expelled in one go.

I returned to my seat just in time to be summoned into the inner sanctum. Dr T was quite surprised to see me seated before him. He's also a member of the local cycling club and was at the crits on Sunday afternoon and was surprised at how quickly things had turned given that I rode a really strong race on Sunday.

So after all of the questions and examinations (Temp 35.7, BP 112/74, Pulse about 74), it was determined that I have bronchitis and have been put on a course of antibiotics to try and knock it down. "Keep an eye on it, and if it gets any worse, get back in here straight away. We don't want this to turn into pneumonia."

No kidding......

So it's off the bike for the rest of the week- do you think spinning on the trainer counts as well?

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Why can't I just be healthy for more than a month?

2009-10-06T10:35:00.003+10:00

It's a lovely day, blue skies, cooling breeze and temperature around 27C- if I'm not at work I should be off for a bit of a spin on a day like this.

Instead, I'm sitting here in a flu induced fever and sweating buckets. Whatever it is came on like a stealth bomber yesterday. After racing a "D" grade crit on Sunday afternoon (and deciding that it's time to go back up to "C" grade), I feel like I have been put through the wringer. Dee and I came back from the racing late on Sunday afternoon, cooked up some pasta, enjoyed a glass or two of wine and then retired for the evening.

When I woke yesterday, I knew things had started to go downhill. I had planned to do a bit of a recovery ride but my throat was sore, my nose and sinuses were full and the sneezing just didn't want to stop. So I didn't ride- but being the dedicated employee that I am, I toddled off to work for the day. I kept the sneezes to myself and must have gone through half a box of tissues by the end of the day.

I took a couple of cold/flu relief tablets when I got home ("Daytime/Non-Drowsy" it says on the pack). They weren't kidding.... I even took one of the nighttime tablets just before going to bed but it couldn't touch the daytime ones. I think I may have managed an hour in total and probably didn't do Dee any good either in the sleep department. Oh and the aircon decided it was going to make like U2 so we ended up turning it off and opening the windows to be serenaded about every 45 minutes by these guys. There's a link where you can hear their song.

So I'm home, on sick leave drinking many cups of tea and reading cycling blogs. It's not like I have any shortage of sick leave- I think about 730 hours- surely I'll be better before then.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

An Open Letter to Magda Szubanski, Julia Morris, Channel Ten, Jenny Craig and Kellogg's

2009-10-04T10:35:00.005+10:00

Dear all,

It has come to my attention, and that of many thousands of cyclists around the globe, that Magda Szubanski and Julia Morris, seem to have a dislike for a certain demographic of our society- that being road cyclists.

Now I can understand individuals not sharing the enthusiasm that others might have for their chosen physical activity/hobby/pastime/mode of transport- but I can not understand the vehemence with which these two people vented their distaste/dislike/hatred toward road cyclists. Announcing to the world on Channel Ten's "Good News Week" Monday night of this past week that it was okay to "take out cyclists' or "just door them" went well beyond comedic remarks.

Yes, the segment started out poking fun at cyclists and the "tap,tap" sound of the cleats on cycling shoes as riders make their way across the cafe floor- and the lycra outfits that many cyclists choose to wear. Sure- some of them are bright and pretty wild but for those who ride any amount will attest, a good pair of cycling shorts can make a world of difference when you're spending 3 or 4 hours on the saddle. If it had stopped there, most would have written it off as a bit of fun at our expense.

But no. Julia Morris, you who are a commercial figure in advertising for Kelloggs' All Bran cereal, got involved in the segment. You decided to really vent your spleen and in so doing encouraged road users to injure (or worse) cyclists by taking them out. Magda continued and agreed saying to just "door them". I have watched the video replay several times and there was no comedic aspect to those statements- it was a war cry- a rallying call to all and sundry who may have felt inconvenienced on our nation's roads by someone on a bike. And as someone who cycles often and also drives a car, there are certainly a generous number of road users who will gladly respond to the call.

I have had more close calls than I care to reflect upon and in July of this year was struck by a car driven by an individual who failed to give way at a T intersection. I have been verbally abused on the road and had items thrown at me from passing cars. I know of at least two local riders who have had people pull up beside them as they were cycling and grab their bikes. One of the riders was then pushed from his bike at speed and left to lay in the ditch. The resulting injuries left this medical professional unable to perform his role for some period of time. We'll never know if any of the patients he would have seen during that period may have died as a result of his specialized service being unavailable.

To Channel Ten: How does this happen on a show that's not live to air? And from a network which is a partner of the Amy Gillett Foundation. To say this shows irresponsible editorial practice would be a bit of an understatement.

To Kelloggs': You may want to rethink your position with your All Bran spokesperson (or corporate face as indicated on the linked website). The uptake of a healthy diet is but one part of a healthy lifestyle. When I am shopping for cereal or snack bars (and believe me, cyclists go through a good number of snack bars in a year), the chances of my purchasing a product represented by an individual who willfully incites violence against someone are nil. I am sorry but I will exercise my displeasure by opting to not purchase any item from the Kelloggs' line.

To Jenny Craig and oh yes- perhaps the "Fernwood Fitness Centres" may want to consider their position with Ms Morris as well- as it is indicated on her website that she is also the corporate face for your organisation. It would be unseemly to encourage people to enroll in your programs, take up a healthier lifestyle, maybe get out on the roads for some further exercise- only to be "taken out" by some aggravated, no mind neanderthal in 1800 kg of metal and plastic because Julia and Magda said to do so.

I remain a committed cyclist and road user and most importantly I like to think of myself as a human with family and friends- not a target for a raging road-warrior.

Scott

2009-09-07T10:56:00.003+10:00

When I last checked in, I was painting the house. Guess what?......I'm still painting. I am getting some good early morning rides in as well- a little better than 50km each morning. And now that Dee is back from her global adventures, she has been making the early start with me as well.

Yesterday saw the end of our local road racing for the season and we ended it with a "for fun" team time trial. Teams of 3 or more with mixed grades (1x "A" or "B" grade plus 1x "C" grade plus at least 1x "D" grade). There were several social riders who came out as part of different teams to give racing a go in a non-competitive atmosphere. An added feature was that there were no bike computers allowed and no watches so nobody actually knew how they were doing. Oh and each team got to nominate the time they thought they would finish with. The team which finished closest to their nominated time won a bonus prize (a big bag of jelly snakes to share amongst the winners).

The snake winners were off of their nominated time by 20 seconds- not bad over 20km's.

Then yesterday afternoon was the closing barbecue and award presentations. Lots of fun for everyone and lots of thanks given to the volunteers who make the racing scene possible for the riders.

Okay- time to get back to the painting.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

And about time too!!

2009-08-25T20:15:00.002+10:00

I just looked at the date of my last post- over a week ago. Where does the time go?

I have to say that my range of movement in my neck has pretty much returned to normal and I'm thankful for that. Things have been progressing a bit more each day since Saturday and today was "pain free". At least as far as the neck goes......I've been helping a mate paint the house and it has been a few years since I have scrambled up and down ladders/scaffolding/trestles as often as I have over the last four days. Makes for an interesting start to the early morning ride.....I didn't think one's muscles could shrink that much overnight.

And I also know why people pay professional tradespeople (read painters) to do this work. There is a lot of prep work involved- scraping, sanding, filling cracks and holes, more sanding, base coat application, more sanding, first coat, second coat......

Last road race for the season coming up on Sunday- double points on offer. Hope I can keep the muscles stretched after the next four days of painting- and that the painting is mostly done when Dee gets home- I just might save a few niggly bits for her just so she doesn't feel left out.

Cheers-ride safe

BoaB

It's a right pain in the neck...

2009-08-17T19:28:00.003+10:00

Started last Wednesday as near as I can remember- in the morning- just before 4:30- which is when my alarm goes off- (on those mornings when I don't wake up before it). I sat up in bed and turned my head to the left- that's where the bedside table is- that being the resting place for my glasses each night. Well I suppose I should say I tried to turn my head to the left.

As I turned, there was a sharp pain and almost the sensation of hitting a limit switch after turning about 1/8 of the way, "Sorry- that's forbidden territory. If you choose to proceed any further it will be under threat of immediate infliction of more pain."

Maybe I slept in a strange position- didn't seem like it but then again what would I know?- I was asleep. I put up with it Wednesday and Thursday and Friday- made an appointment with the Doc for Monday. If it doesn't clear up by Monday, I want it looked at. Saturday- same, Sunday- same, Monday off to the Doc's. Poke, poke, prod, press.....nothing untoward so it was off to the X-Ray folks for a bit of photography just to make sure there were no lingering skeletal injuries from the car accident last month.

Looks like it's off to the physio now as there is nothing showing. The one thing I can say is that at least I can still ride- as long as I'm outside and only have to do my traffic checks to the right.

Cheers- Ride safe

BoaB

She's t'ick, b'y, she's t'ick.

2009-08-15T17:19:00.006+10:00

It's a funny sensation when we get fog here. Depth of winter- usually coolish mornings and fairly high humidity. It just doesn't seem the right combination from what I grew up with in Nova Scotia- just ask Dee or Bluenoser. And unlike the Canadian East Coast where the fog swirls in from seaward, this is land based fog. When you go down along the beach here, there's not so much as a wisp of that ethereal cloud.

The fog I grew up with reminds me of Carl Sandburg's poem

Fog

The fog comes

on little cat feet

It sits looking

over harbor and city

on silent haunches

and then moves on.

And because it's land based fog, it doesn't have that salty tang when you encounter it. And it just sort of appears- no rolling bank of grey advancing. It's like somebody had a giant aerosol can and decided, "Yep. That looks like a good spot. Let's just do a little bit of water vapour graffiti across this field and over the road."

It's thick- after about 200 metres in the fog on Thursday morning, my glasses had so much water on them I may as well have been looking through that pebbled glass they put in bathroom windows. And it ends almost as abruptly as a slammed door. One moment you can't see 20 metres and the next it's clear as.....Makes me really glad I have good lights front and rear.

Race day tomorrow- should be interesting; the forecast is calling for fog.

Dee and Bluenoser- here's hoping your day on the 50k Loop is crystal clear.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Vertically compliant, laterally stiff......

2009-08-10T17:16:00.006+10:00

Could be....probably is- but it's also really fun to ride. I took delivery of my new bike last week and have had three rides since- just getting accustomed to the feel. And I have to say that even though my last bike and this one share the same name and model, there are more differences than similarities.

The new Tarmac Pro looks beefier through the down tube and bottom bracket area. The close geometry is pretty much the same but there doesn't seem to be as much flex when you jump on it. When you decide to go, it goes and takes you along for the ride.

Last Thursday morning a few of us were out for a bit of a spin- a couple of the group were tapering for one of our big road races on Sunday and just wanted to take it easy. We rode our normal circuit and as we made the turn from Thuringowa Drive onto Ross River Road to head back to the city, we caught a glimpse of some tail lights in the distance- one of the other groups had made their turn already and, well, it was a bit like the matador's cape to the bull.....all of a sudden it was on- Jimmy (who was not racing on Sunday) decided we had to catch them and I would say they had a good 700 metres on us. When Tony and Adrian (who both did race on Sunday) jumped in, I thought it was too good to miss and gave it a shot.

I looked at my bike computer after about 1.5km and we were doing 52km/hr.... does this bike go? You wanna believe it, just wished I had more fuel in the tank.

Saturday's coffee ride was our usual 28-30 km/hr cruise and as I crested the one little hill on the way, I decided to see how the new wheels rolled.....40.5 on a smallish hill that usually won't get me much above 37 on the old Tarmac.

I'm a fair way off being race fit after being knocked off by the car last month but I just might give it a go on Sunday- to see what the new steed can do. If nothing else, it will be another excuse to ride.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Heute ist mein Geburtstag- Today is my Birthday

2009-08-01T18:10:00.003+10:00

I'm celebrating my birthday with a whole bunch of Australians today. I don't know exactly how many and I would guess that in the majority of cases, they're probably not even aware of it. Today (1 August) is the date all racehorses in Australia have as their registered date of birth. As "Snobby", "BSNYC" or more formally, Bike Snob New York City might say, "Meh!"

Now, I don't know how the equine factor is celebrating their date de naissance (maybe they'll get an extra handful of oats in the feedbag tonight), but I'm sitting here with a glass or 8 of Australian chardonnay, watching a lovely North Queensland sunset, and looking forward to a bit of seafood chowder to finish off the day. "You can take the boy out of the Maritimes but you can't take the Maritimes out of the boy."

A gentle roll-out to the cafe this morning, a few chores around the house and yard, and a glass of the vintner's finest (well.........not exactly the finest but it will certainly do for me). Tomorrow is a race day but I'll just be fronting up to help out- no racing until I have the new bike. Later in the day will be a sunset cruise with some friends to celebrate (commiserate, inebriate, abdicate, illucidate, etc) Dee's and my collective 101st birthdays.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

New Stablemate

2009-07-31T17:57:00.003+10:00

It's all good. The new Tarmac Pro is on its way North as I type. Should be here and built up Monday or Tuesday for a fitting and then the inaugural ride.

I hadn't heard from my insurance firm since a fortnight ago when they advised I would hear from them within 10 business days. Monday was day 10 and when I left work I still hadn't had contact so was steeling myself for one of those intolerable sessions with a call centre voice recognition thingy.

When I got home I grabbed the mail and there was an envelope from the insurer- with a check, for the full amount less my excess (or deductible in Canada- at least the part of Canada we're from).

Right!! Off to the LBS and let's get this happening. And so it is. Mike, the owner of the shop, was pretty surprised that his quote had been accepted- said he usually gets pipped by bike shops in the major cities down south. And it got me thinking that I could have taken the money, gone on-line and bought the bike cheaper on eBay or at some nameless e-shop. Probably could have pocketed a fair chunk of change too. But that's not me- Mike does a lot for the cycling community here and he has down a lot for Dee and I when it comes to bikes.

So I'll let the boys at the LBS build it up and fit it to me and all of the other things that come with buying your bike from a person and not from a website- all of the minor adjustments that some of us less-than-mechanically-inclined cyclists have a tendency to turn into complete rebuilds.

And hopefully it will look like this.........

Cheers-ride safe

BoaB

I'm Back.....well sort of...

2009-07-23T19:53:00.003+10:00

Exactly a fortnight after my accident, I hit the road for the first time this morning. A good mate of mine loaned me a Ridley Damocles (thanks Tony) until I get my bike issue straightened out with the insurance people.

I was a bit unsure how I would go and I have to confess that for the first 5 or 6 km I was very leery of any vehicles coming from behind and approaching any intersections. I joined up with one of the regular twice-weekly rides down on the Strand and away we went. Again, I was a bit like a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs- not wanting to get too close just in case something happened.

Another 10 km and I had settled in- the only issue was my level of comfort on the bike. Tony and I are pretty much of a size height-wise but our body structures are completely different. Tony is much longer through the torso and arms and has a long stem so I found the reach a bit much- going into the drops was never an option. I found the Ridley to be a bit heavier and stiffer than my bike- but then again it might just have been loss of fitness and the nerves of being on someone else's bike.

Back out for another ride in the morning. Who knows- I might even throw a hill or two into the mix.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

tick, tock, tick, tock.....

2009-07-19T15:43:00.002+10:00

I'm usually a very patient person. Sometimes it's a virtue- sometimes it's a fault.

In this instance, I'm unsure what it is. I'm still waiting for my insurance company to advise that they are settling my claim for my bike. "Yes", they said, "we have received your quote. We will obtain a quote from another dealer as well before we settle your claim. You should hear back from someone within 10 business days."

I understand how this works and all, but I really hope it doesn't drag on and on- and that I can get my replacement bike from my local dealer. I submitted a letter with my claim detailing the reasons why it would be better to deal with my LBS instead of a dealer in Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.

Yes, one of the Specialized dealers in the major cities can probably come in with a quote of a lesser dollar value. But I think there's a lot more value in what I have lost than just a straight replacement bike in a box.

I don't want my bike to arrive at my front door in a box. It wasn't in a box when I was hit by the car. It was fully assembled and fitted to my physique (after several sessions). I don't have all of the necessary tools and torque wrenches and specs to assemble the bike and I certainly don't want to void the manufacturer's warranty.

Assembly, fitting and service will come at a price for a bike purchased somewhere else. Those are the sort things that, I hope, the insurance mob will take into consideration.

I just want to get back on my bike.................stay tuned.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

It Had to Happen.....

2009-07-09T12:17:00.003+10:00

Today was a blackmark day for me. Headed out at 5:00am for my usual circuit with a couple of small hills thrown in- then off to pick up with one of the regular Tuesday/Thursday groups.

This morning they decided to choose a different route due to some local road closures as there is a big motorsport event in town. Given that a large number of the group riders are unfamiliar with the new route, I decided to play it safe and head out on my own circuit with a couple of minor detours.

It was a lovely morning for a ride- about 20C and just a slight breeeze. The moon was still up and cast good light when it emerged from behind the clouds. I had done about 30 km and was only three km from home and I'm cruising along nicely- there's a "T" intersection to my left with a "Give Way" sign for drivers approaching the intersection. I'm about 1/3 through the intersection when a vehicle approaches and the driver takes a cursory glance to the left and then without a touch of the brakes, drives straight into me. I had yelled a warning and tried to evade the impending crash by swinging to my right and halfway into the adjoining lane but it was too late.

People often say that things like this seem to happen in slow motion and this was the case. I saw the right-front headlight and grey bumper heading for and making impact with my left leg. I was then sliding along the bitumen on my left side while my bike flipped onto its right side and skittered ahead of me. Fortunately there was very little traffic on the road as I ended up in the second lane, almost in the median strip.

I managed to get myself off the road, give a once-over for broken bones and exchange details with the driver. I seem to have come out of it quite fortunately. A fair bit of road rash on the left side and back, a few bits of bark missing on my left leg and a left shoulder that is starting to stiffen as I type. It's off to the doc's for a full evaluation this afternoon.

I made my report to the police this morning and await follow up info from them.

As for the bike, it's at the LBS for an inspection/estimate. I know there is damage to the right shifter, saddle, my aero-bars (which I was not using this morning), rear derailleur and cabling. I will be replacing my helmet and my jersey and knicks. The frame will have a complete inspection and I have asked them to unwrap the bars and inspect them closely as well. I recently saw one of our club riders narrowly avoid a major crash when his handlebars failed in a race. He had an accident a week before but hadn't inspected the bars.

I'm sure the driver will be in for a bit of a shock when the estimate comes through. I'm hoping there is no debate with her coverage.

Cheers- ride safe- please.

BoaB

B-b-b-b-b-buggah, it was cold!!

2009-07-05T15:17:00.004+10:00

I didn't wait for my alarm to go off this morning- I had been awake since about 4:00 visualising what I had done with all of my cold weather gear. I thought I had gathered it all together before retiring last night but couldn't remember if I had my leg warmers (turns out I did).

So I got up at 4:15, turned on the laptop and fired up the internet to see just how chilly things were going to be on the race circuit this morning. The local airport was saying the temp was 10.5C- we're usually a couple of degrees cooler being further from the coast but I wanted to see what it was like at the top of the range.

The closest weather station at that altitude is Mingela- probably 50 km as the crow flies but pretty similar and the lucky number was 3.4C. So I put on my new dhb Merston full-length bib-knicks, a silk base shirt, a matching dhb long-sleeve winter jersey, a wool touque (or beanie for those in the Antipodes) and full finger gloves.

The temp at the start line for the TT up the range was a balmy 5.5. I went back to the car and pulled my armwarmers on under my jersey...I really dislike cold weather- I mean we're 19.5 degrees south of the equator- it shouldn't get that cold. It may have been a motivating factor for me as I think that was the fastest I've ever gone up Herveys Range- I really didn't want to be on the bike, in the cold, for any longer than was absolutely necessary.

This is a shot Dee got of me just as I hit the line at the top of the range.

Then it was off on the road race. There were only three of us in D grade this morning and we headed off about 15 minutes after completing the TT. The sun had made it above the trees and we were sitting at a balmy 4.5C- at least that's what our car told us. Yes- that says 4.5 with a little snowflake beside it just in case we weren't smart enough to come to the conclusion that 4.5 is not warm.

Good road race- I did manage to outsprint Damian from about 350 metres but I think on the combined times with the TT, he probably got me. Next weekend is a 40km TT and if the weather is this cold, it ain't gonna be fun!!!

Cheers

BoaB

A Sunday Ride with a Sprint

2009-06-29T08:25:00.002+10:00

Yesterday was race day and we ended up having a very sociable Sunday ride with a sprint at the end- a race which sounds like the one described in Bluenoser's musings. Mind you it wasn't a 142km social- only about a 25km road race. We headed out at a relatively modest pace with one of the club's newer members on the front and he just didn't want to relinquish the lead- turns out he was wanting to better his TT time over 20km........... and the fact that he didn't really understand race tactics.

Anyway we had a few good laughs on the ride and then with about 5km to go, a few of us broke and decided to make a bit of a race of it anyway. Paul was first to go and then myself and a couple of others decided to go after him- we kind of figured he'd do himself as he went too early. We were right, about 1/3 of the way through the finishing circuit we caught him and then it was another bit of a dawdle around the back to "the hill". Not much of a hill but it can make or break your race.

It was quite funny because the last time we raced this circuit, Paul and I had done most of the work and then another bloke who only took the front a couple of times for about 500 metres on each time occasion ended up blitzing us on the finish. And so it was the three of us again heading up the hill but this time the hill really wasn't all that bad. Maybe it was the fact that we'd had an easy ride or that I have started doing some hill work again (as I have said before, I seriously dislike doing hills but.....) but it was almost enjoyable going up.

Anyay, Paul and I left the rest of them behind and headed for home with Paul falling victim to his earlier break away. With about 250 to go, he said he had nothing left so another one falls my way.

And thanks to Dee for driving the support vehicle. Our race scene cannot function without volunteers.

Next week is a TT up the range and then a scratch race from the top. If I have another good result, I'll be moving back up to C Grade.

And good luck to one of our club racers, Ruth Corsett, a member of the Jazz Apple team out of New Zealand. She's on her way back to North America for some more racing in just over a week's time. It's always great to see Ruth back riding with her club- she's really an inspiration for all of the riders and offers lots of encouragement to our juniors.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Where did that fortnight go?

2009-06-20T16:53:00.002+10:00

Can't believe it. It's been almost two weeks since I last blogged. Where does the time go?

It's like the last 280+ hours have been sucked into a vacuum and never existed.

I suspect work has had something to do with it....I'm an SME (Subject Matter Expert) in our asset and management works system. A system that was implemented more than two and a half years ago at great expense and with considerable disruption to many employees.

It was going to make the business more efficient, more robust...a shining beacon for all other corporations considering a similar strategy to hone in on and emulate.

And you know what? After 30 months, we've got people who may as well have been stuffed in a hessian sack and left on one of the outer-most islands of the Galapagos. Routine functionalities like opening a work order and adding details to close it off so maintenance records can be maintained have disappeared. Users enter the number, hit search and nothing happens...nada, rien, nichts, zip, zero, zilch. And nobody can explain why...our IT people are at a loss.

And here's the rub- I (and about two dozen of my colleagues) am being asked to resign my position with my current employer and accept a position with the IT group (a joint venture between my current employer and another utility company). I'm an end-user... and yet I have the IT people (and my direct supervisor) calling me and asking "what's wrong with the system?"

Is this really the work group/business I want to align myself with? Methinks not.

The cycling has been pretty good over the last couple of weeks. The cough from the respiratory infection lingers and seems to get worse in the low humidity- but I can still ride. The weather has been kind as well. Brilliantly blue skies and temps around 27C during the day- although when I'm heading off at 5:00am, it's a different story.

Last weekend, Dee and I did a century on Saturday in absolutely stunning conditions, and then on Sunday went off to help out at the local club's time trial. We manned the turnaround point at 10 km- and dragged a few obstacles off the road. Nobody wants to hit a dead kanagroo or wallaby while concentrating on keeping their cadence and breathing right on a 20km TT.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is a crit- will I ride? I may- but probably D grade. And it will help me think of something other than work. If I don't- well, they always need volunteers.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Survival

2009-06-08T16:08:00.003+10:00

I have survived the weekend- 4 races in three days with this morning's 40 km road race being the worst (read most difficult) of the lot. It was a handicap race and we were 2 minutes off "Go". There were 4 of us and as we headed off down the road, I had a bad feeling- not ominous or foreboding- just not comfortable on the bike.

The wind was straight in our face, gusting to 35 or so and I managed to hang on for about 14 km but the respiratory infection of three weeks ago and subsequent lack of good training did me in. As it turned out, the winner was from the group ahead of us and the remainder of my grouping all picked up places (and money!!!) "D'oh!!"

Anyway it was all good fun and I did manage to lend a hand to some of my fellow cyclists. A couple of other blokes had managed to bridge to me after the turn and were looking for a break. I said I'd do what I could and gave them the better part of a km @ 40+ so they were able to refresh and go. They were effusive in their thanks when I crossed the line

While I didn't finish "stone motherless last" as my good mate Mr S Donaldson would say, I did finish by myself and in a world of hurt. Ahh racing is such fun. I can't wait for the Charters Towers to Townsville race in August- 125 km of the same road we raced today.

Training starts on Wednesday (I am taking tomorrow as a day off the bike) and if I can stay healthy, I'm going to give it a shot....

Cheers- Ride safe

BoaB

p.s. Totals for the year:

June 209 km

2009 4284 km

Back on the bike

2009-05-30T16:23:00.002+10:00

I've been a bit slack posting lately. Seems my last one was almost a fortnight ago when I was home from work with a respiratory infection. Well after 10 days of antibiotics and severals days off work, I've eased myself back into a training regime. Probably too late though- the North Queensland Road Titles take place on the weekend of 6,7, 8 of June.

I have nominated for all 4 races: 20km time trial and crit on Saturday, a 60km road race on Sunday and then another 40km road race on Monday (Queen's Birthday holiday here). We'll see what happens after the TT on Saturday.

Tomorrow is a TT being put on by our local cycling club and it is going up one of our local hills (Castle Hill). I dislike hills at the best of times and have been able to use my recent illness as the "perfect" excuse for not doing tomorrow's TT. That and the fact that I have already said I would assist in the marshalling for the race.......like so many other clubs, our volunteer support base is pretty small and in order to keep the races going it often falls to the same people time after time.

Cheers, ride safe

BoaB

I haven't been this sick since....yesterday!!

2009-05-13T09:52:00.003+10:00

Jeez I hate being sick. For three days now I have been stuck at home- caught between moments of sweating discomfort and chills so bad that I run for the polar fleece jacket. Throw in the added bonus of a respiratory infection and a cough that sounds like a bull elephant seal- well, I don't know why everyone wouldn't want this. Oh yeah and everytime I cough, it feels like my head is going to explode.

It was off to the doc's yesterday for a checkover. "Yes you have a respiratory infection- here's a prescription for some antibiotics. Email me on Thursday if you don't feel better and we'll send you for x-rays and some swabs. Oh yeah- the swabs are the ones where they stick the collector down through your nasal passage- just so you're aware."

I was hoping that my body would react to the prospect of an NICD (that would be Nasally Introduced Collection Device) by throwing off whatever it is with the same speed at which it took it on. Dee and I did a 20 km time trial on Sunday and I felt pretty good. A little tickle in my throat a couple of times but I put that down to perhaps an inhaled bug or not getting enough fluid into me on the ride.

Monday morning and I am in serious discomfort- I was going to call in sick but couldn't get more than a couple of words out without breaking into a coughing fit so I texted my supervisor to let him know I wouldn't be in. And according to the doc I'm not to go back for the rest of the week- that also extends to cycling.

The upside is that I have been able to get in some reading and catch up on a few of my favourite blogs. And Dee has been taking very good care of me- lots of cups of tea with lemon and honey and Fisherman's Friend throat lozenges to try and keep the cough at bay.

Time to grab the fleece again- it's 26C and I'm shivering like it's just about to snow.

Cheers

BoaB

Twice in one day

2009-05-04T15:26:00.006+10:00

Yes that's right- I have cycled twice today and now I'm blogging for the second time.

A couple of weeks ago we went on our first camping excursion with our new VW camper. I had meant to write about it sooner but with the demise of one of our dogs and a general feeling of malaise, I just didn't feel like blogging.

On Good Friday we headed north to Mission Beach in the Wet Tropics region of North Queensland for an overnighter with some of our cycling mates. It was also the inaugural camping expedition with our VW Caddy Life Camper.

Now we have had a couple of VW campers previously. One in Australia in 1991 was a 1973 VW Kombi with a pop-top and gas cooker and 3-way fridge. The other was a factory outfitted Wesphalia purchased in Germany by a member of the Canadian Armed Forces while stationed there. We bought it in 1993 and it looked like it had just rolled off the showroom floor.

Jump ahead a few years and the new generation of camper appears.

It comes with a bed, table and chairs, more storage than you can poke a stick at and a tent which attaches to the rear hatch. I did a dry-run of erecting the tent in the driveway a couple of weeks before we left and by the time I finished, I was in such a lather of sweat I was just about ready to give it away.

We got to Mission Beach, found our campsite and proceeded to make camp and voila....

Well except that the guy ropes haven't been pegged in yet but you get the idea. The bed was quite firm (we'll be getting a foam overlay) and the air circulation was good (while it wasn't raining and the sun/moon roof was open. We'll be getting a 12V fan.) It is great to drive and has a tonne of potential.

I'm sure after a few trips we'll have it all ironed out

Cheers

BoaB

The Land of the Long Weekend

2009-05-04T10:36:00.005+10:00

It's Monday and Dee and I have just come home from a nice little 50+ km ride. It's Labour Day in Queensland and since we have the day off, what better way to spend it than on the bike.

We did our regular coffee circuit and then threw in an extra bit out to one of our beachside suburbs. It was great going out with a 25-30 km wind at our backs but the journey back was a bit of a slog. Minimal traffic and those motorists who were out were all patient and relaxed- everyday should be like that.

Other than that, just another wonderful day in Paradise.

14:55 04 May 09-

In fact it was such a great day we headed out again just around noon for another spin- this time out to Ross River Dam- another of our favourite circuits where we follow basically follow the Ross River upstream to the dam and then return via some rural housing estates where most properties are on blocks of 2+ acres giving us a total of 102.3km for the day.

Dee has some pics on her blog although I'm afraid we missed getting a shot of the kangaroo in the road as we were in the country estate.

Pretty good start to the week- should be looking at 300+ by the time Sunday afternoon rolls around.

And it's not every day we get to do a century so excuse us while we have a celebratory glass of bubbles.

Cheers

Ride safe

BoaB

A good mate is sick

2009-04-20T09:28:00.005+10:00

I drove a support vehicle for the local cycling club on Sunday. It was a 120km road race from Townsville to Charters Towers with just under 50 riders. I ended up doing the support alone as Dee was taking one of our dogs to the Vets. Stanley is one of two dogs in the house- a fox terrier, and an absolute charmer.

Always quick to greet us at the end of a day- no matter how rotten work may have been- he makes us forget all of the bad things we may have had to endure. His only request, "throw the ball for me. Endlessly, if you don't mind." Oh, and his very vocal demands to be fed just as we're trying to prepare our evening meal.

Early yesterday morning he was very uncomfortable and making a lot of groaning sounds. Dee decided to stay home and keep an eye on him. His condition quickly deteriorated and Dee rang a good friend to take her and Stanley to the Vet.

The early prognosis was not good- his liver had failed and he was in considerable pain. Dee left him with the vet and came home to await the news. Last night was a wretched time- both of us absolutely miserable with grief. This morning we were at the vets as soon as they opened for what could well be a last visit with our mate. He was quite bright-eyed and very happy to see us and even though he was on a drip with pain killing medication, we could still see he was in discomfort although certainly not as pronounced as yesterday.

Around 10:30 this morning the senior vet called- they had received the results of further blood tests. There was definitely indication of damage to the liver but whether it was infection, injury or tumour could not be determined. We have agreed to a soft tissue ultrasound to see if a determination of the damage (extent and type) can be made.

The vet advised that the liver has a large capacity for regeneration so we're hoping that it's the lesser of the evils. If not, we will not prolong his suffering but we live in hope.

I hope I have better news to write of next time.

Update 20/04/09 17:00

The news from the vet was unfortunately very bad. Stanley had multiple tumours in his liver and severe thickening of the stomach wall which was indicative of the location of the primary tumour. At 4:45pm today, Stanley passed away peacefully with Dee and I at his side.

Good-bye Mate. I hope you get to chase tennis balls forever.

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Gesundheit!!

2009-04-05T15:36:00.003+10:00

I didn't make it to the race this morning. After being off work sick on Thursday and Friday and then helping our son get settled into his new digs yesterday and then a bit of a dinner with some of our cycling friends- I just didn't have it in me. I do feel considerably better than last week but Dee reckoned I still sounded pretty bad. At least the sneezing and phlegmy feeling-head have stopped.

I was awake in plenty of time but that would be mainly because I only slept about 2 hours all night. I made an error in judgement when I accepted the offer of a coffee from a friend yesterday afternoon. Don't get me wrong- I drink coffee, absolutely love a good cup- when I was working in the offshore, it would be nothing to have 10 or 12 cups per day.

Now my system says, "Yes you can have a coffee or two or three even. But don't try to have one after 1:00 in the afternoon- at least if you want to be able to sleep!!" So when the ristretto was offered at around 4:30, the alarm sounded but no one responded.

I even said to Viv, Al the Barrista's wife, " I probably shouldn't do this. I won't get to sleep." Truer words have not oft been spoken. I remember looking at my watch and seeing 01:30 and thinking "it doesn't look good for racing." Then I looked again at 04:00 and thought "enough is enough. I'll get up and let Dee have some peace and quiet instead of a caffeine-addled thrasher in the bed beside her."

It did allow me to have a good early start on the yard chores- lots of palm fronds and bloom stems (inflorescences if anyone really wants to know) carted away and chopped into the garden rubbish bag. Garden beds edged, weeds pulled, lawn mowed and watering of the garden is taking place as I write/blog.

Dee and I may be offline for a few days as we get our internet service straightened out. Our son had been providing the net service- sort of as rent. Now that we want to switch it back to our name, we have to wait until the current service (his) is disconnected before we can do anything.

"C'est la vie, c'est la guerre!"

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

Blah!!

2009-04-02T16:45:00.003+10:00

Well I'm glad I got my flu shot last week- I'd hate to think how sick I'd have been without it. I know it's not fair to compare apples and oranges- I had a flu shot and I now have a lovely head cold. My nose alternates between feeling like it has been packed full of Crisco shortening and being the "source" for Nickolodeon slime. Those source moments are usually announced by a strong tickle at the back of my throat and nose and then a wonkin' great sneeze.

If I'm fortunate enough to get a kleenex in situ before the sneeze it's not so bad- if I don't and have to use my hand- well, you get the picture I think. This could seriously cramp my race plans for Sunday- or it really could work to my advantage. If I sneeze and hack a few times before the race as everyone is warming up, then I can jump to the front real quickly, nobody will dare get close to me for fear of a "spray".

Or they might jump from the start hoping to get clear so they don't have to ride in my slip"pery" stream as it were.

Oh and the results from last week's race were not as favourable as I had thought (and Dee concurred). I ended up with 11th but I'm still not certain just how that worked. Perhaps someone can explain this from a commissaire's point of view.

We started the race with 15 riders. After about 7 laps I was dropped from the lead group but stayed ahead of the chasing group. The lead group did lap me on the second last lap but the chasing group must have been lapped as well because none of them overtook me from the point I was dropped.

Now, there were 6 riders in the lead group and 5 riders in the following group- two riders have withdrawn due to a mechanical failure of one bloke's handlebars and poor conditioning I think would best categorise the other- myself and another rider who I have lapped. I was never caught by the following group of 5 but yet I ended up finishing below 4 of them. "HELP!!"

Anyway, such is the lot of the weekend racer.

Cheers, ride safe

BoaB

"And all that Jazz"

2009-03-29T18:31:00.002+10:00

Just waiting for the"official" results from today's crit to be posted. I decided to go back up to "C" after last week's initial race for the year. I was feeling pretty demoralized after getting dropped from the lead group today after about 20 minutes but stuck it out based on my philosophy of, "unless you have a mechanical or a stack- you're going to finish this race."

I continued on for the 25 minutes plus 3 in a "zone". No one passed me and I actually managed to lap another rider who really gives me the "yertz" during the week on group rides. I thnk I managed about 7th from 15. Sometimes revenge is the sweeter than any victory!!

Back in the yard again today- tackling the bougainvillea. I don't know how many times I managed to stick one of those bl**dy thorns in a _____________ (select appropriate body part- and keep it clean!) Finger, thumb, heel, arch, toe, arm......all felt the wrath of a shrub/tryffid being pruned into submission. It had the last say- as I was chopping the larger pieces down to fit in the wheelie bin, I stepped on a branch and drove a thorn into my heel (this is through a pair of "Crocs"- not barefoot as seems to be the norm here in North Queensland)

As they say, "It's all good!!" Next week is a 4 km TT and then a 40 km road race. Crikey- I hope it's handicap and not scratch.

Cheers- ride safe.......but please ride!!

BoaB

Cycling/Gardening- what should I do?

2009-03-28T17:37:00.002+10:00

Once upon a time, Dee and I used to be avid gardeners- especially since coming to the tropics where things grow all year round. It was a regular weekend to spend at least 8 hours doing chores- pruning, mulching, weeding, mowing- all the things to keep a garden healthy and growing.

Then we discovered cycling and became "gardeners who like to cycle". This continued while our cycling involvement increased and we became "cyclists with a garden". Lately however, we've been "cyclists" and the yard and gardens have suffered from a bit of neglect. The garden beds need edging and mulching, everything needs to be fertilised after the heavy monsoonal rains this year and the new round metal garden beds need to be filled with gardening mix and planted

Today we set out to make amends. We spent about 4 hours pruning (I'm sure I could hear winces of pain as I lopped great juicy ginger plants and brunfelsia, allamanda and phyllodendron and a few hibiscus too). Tomorrow I tackle the bougainvillea- they are very showy but the thorns must be dipped in curare or something 'cause when you stick one in your hand, it hurts like hell- worse than any thorn from a rose. Add to that the fact that I have to work from a ladder to trim them and you can see another element of challenge.

But the bougainvilleas will have to wait until after tomorrow's crit. I'm going to race.........

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB

"C" Grade next week

2009-03-22T11:59:00.003+10:00

I had a successful return to racing today, albeit in "D" Grade. Having been unable to train for the last few weeks until the Dr gave me the go-ahead on Monday, I just wanted to get one race under my wheels for the season before going back into "C" Grade. It was a 20km road race along one of my favourite stretches of road- nice rollers and beautiful bushland.

The group was quite small- I think we started with 6 riders (C Grade had 20 I think)- and for the 2nd half there were 4 of us. There was one fairly young bloke who really didn't want a turn at the front until the last 600 metres. The other three had done our fair share of the work and I had taken the last stint on the front pulling the group up the last hill when he decided it was time to hit out and head for home.

I just managed to catch his wheel and then it was on- the two Pauls got dropped and with about 60 metres remaining, I managed to edge ahead of him- taking the line by about 3 metres. I felt quite strong but I know I have a lot of work ahead of me when I move back up to "C".

Dee didn't race today as she drove one of the race support vehicles- we always need volunteers and especially when it's a road race- and her assistance was greatly appreciated. She did manage to get in a good 30+ km ride down the Range. Hopefully she'll give the crit a go next week.

And it's good to see one of my fav bloggers back online- good on ya Bluenoser!!

Cheers- ride safe

BoaB