Particularly nasty weather

So they say. Heffron was called off today because of the wind! Unbelievable. I did about 25 laps with Shaun Ballesty and Dale Rockell occasionally on my wheel, and it wasn't actually that bad. I've certainly raced at Heffron in conditions as windy as that before. The real reason was that Helen didn't want to stand out in the wind. Dang.

Club championships tomorrow out at Eastern Creek International Raceway Be There. 7am start. Christ that's early. <Does some calculations involving simple physics and whereis.com.au> Need to get up well before 5am. Christ that's early.

The good thing is that I get back early so I can have a pre-midday kip. They're always handy. In fact, I've implemented a harsh new sleep regime. It involves going to bed at a certain hour and getting up approximately 8 hrs later. The getting up time generally depends on the going to bed time and beer. So far it's worked, and I can still get up between 5:30-7:00am without resorting to the alarm. It also means I don't feel sleepy in the arvo pärt.

Racing: only done two since the last update. Last Saturday was the Snow Wilson Memorial, and it was OK. I felt good but spent most of the race blocking for our Gallant Randwick Lads who had made the five (then four) man break. Unfortunately our surviving Gallant Randwick Lad only got fourth in a four man sprint, missing out on the fabulous $500 prize, which is close to (puts finger to lips)...1 million dollars in the new post-election monetary speak. I got 6th, thus just missing out on the $50 for fifth.

The other race was last Tuesday, which was significantly faster than the previous Tuesday owing to the fact that we were Organised. Somewhat annoyingly and despite going 2 minutes quicker(!) we didn't even get close to B grade this time. The buggers held us off by a good minute I reckon so we were left to fight it out for the scraps of first A grader. I had a go with just over 1.5 km to go, but this time my attempt ended in failure as Computer took it upon himself to chase me down and led the Others back up. So I got caught at the top of the straight. Of course, Computer blew himself up in the process and Steve Fitzpatrick (not his teammate) won the sprint. Somehow I still got sixth despite not actually sprinting. There weren't too many of us left at that stage, but.

Social Round

This week has been a real Social Whirlwind as I make the most of my limited time in the Antipodes. To quote Eeyore: "I have my friends. Somebody only spoke to me yesterday. And was it last week or the week before that Rabbit bumped into me and said 'Bother!' The Social Round. Always something going on."

Last Sunday we had our first official Cyclingnews.com ride to the 'Gong, which was actually only a ride to Stanwell Tops because the coast road has collapsed. Oops. Expected reopening in 2006. So four of us (me, Gerard, Kristy, Kate M. and Kate's friend Leslie who was really only with us in spirit) dressed in our official Cyclingnews jerseys, saddled our velocipedes and sallied bravely forth or bravely sallied forth bound for Stanwell Tops. All of us made it there and back again without blowing up, which impressed me no end as the Other Three had only been riding 1 x per week. We even made it back to St. Peters for a total of 110 km.

On Wednesday I caught up with Josh at the Belgian beer cafe/bar/former school assembly hall at the back of Grosvenor Place in town. It was actually quite good, despite being a tad expensive. Belgian beer costs about 10 bucks a pop here, or about 6 euros. It's about half that if you buy it from a bottle shop - but even that is roughly three to four times the price it is in Belgium!

Fortunately, after four beers and a largish bowl of frieten met mayonnaise I was pretty much annihilated so it didn't turn into a really expensive night. First time I've had a De Koninck and a Gulden Draak too. Not sure if they really go together but it didn't really make a lotta difference. No comment on getting home.

Thursday wasn't a social event but it did rain. Lots. It started about 6:30pm when I was just gettin' ready to tool off home so I decided to wait. But instead of easing up like it would in België, it got harder and harder, and by 7:30 I had to call dad to come and get me in the van because Clevland Street was under about a foot of water! Dried up by Friday.

Friday evening was somewhat lower key as I was a bit beered out from Wednesday. So the Four Horsepeople of the Knapp Apocalypse (me, Gerard, Kate M. and another of her friends) trundled up to The Trinity for beer and food. Tried a Kilkenny this time, which is sort of a lower key version of Guinness and not a patch on any Belgian beer. Sorry, I'm turning into a beer snob now but what do you expect when you live in a country that practically invented the stuff?

It was Saturday today and it was windy. See above.

The End.