Back in a Groove.....

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?

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.........

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

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.

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..............

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

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