After reading the weather forecast for last weekend, I was eagerly looking forward to testing out my new Canari jacket. Thus, I was slightly disappointed to find that, at 9:00am on Saturday morning, it wasn't even raining, even though the roads were wet. In fact, there were patches of blue sky everywhere and it looked like a nice day. Damnation!
Nevertheless, I suited up with an undershirt and short sleeved woollen jersey underneath the jacket, along with various other paraphernalia, and bravely sallied forth, puncturing almost immediately. It wasn't a bad day, even though it was wet on the roads and 2 degrees, but when I turned around after 45 km I could see a large gray cloud that was unavoidable. Pretty soon it began to rain, then by the time I came to the foot of the mighty Col de la Cafe Trap Op (3 km at 2.7%), it was sleeting very nicely. Due to the 60 km/h winds, it was sleeting horizontally as well. I had to look up sleet when I got home just to confirm that it was indeed frozen pellets of rain - sort of halfway between rain and hail. And it bloody stings!
My legs started to feel like someone had replaced them with an ice prosthetic, my hands were pretty much history despite wearing a short and a long pair of gloves, but my torso wasn't too bad thanks to the Canari (tm). I noticed that it was both rain and sleet repellent.
Fortunately the sun came out after a bit and I could enjoy a frozen ride into the icy north wind on the way home. At some points I was down to 23.7 km/h and not enjoying being out there any longer than I had to. Of course, the wind brought with it more sleet and with 10 km to go I was doing 23.7 km/h *and* getting stung to death by icy pellets, forcing me to take shelter momentarily next to a tree. The jacket was keeping me toasty warm though.
The sun had come out by the time I got home, but I still had some difficulty getting my keys a) out of my saddle bag b) into the door lock and c) turning them (that was the hardest part).
Sunday was somewhat better, even though it snowed overnight and in the morning. I had to wait until midday to get out and ride through the slush, which was fun in a cold sort of a way. The sun was out for most of the ride, and that makes a huge difference when the temperature is hovering around zero. So it was almost pleasant compared to Saturday (that wouldn't be hard).
This week, the weather is predicted to be "variable cloudiness with risk of snow showers, or cloudy but dry" which I reckon is a bit of a cop out. I love talking about the weather. Favourite site at the moment: www.meteo.be
Tuesday, February 22, 2005
Friday, February 18, 2005
Problems have solutions
As I continue to annoy the neighbours with my GIGANTIC subwoofer/speaker sound entertainment system, I am pondering the world's problems. To whit: the weather, which is my favourite problem. Since I got here on Tuesday, it has barely snuck above zero degrees celsius, to use the modern system. That has meant some very cold hands and feet and pretty much everywhere else, should I opt to go for a ride in the morning. I have been doing so, suffering the consequences...but I think I'm starting to get used to the cold or my brain has frozen solid. Not sure which.
Due to jet lag, I've been hitting the sack at about 9pm each night, which has actually worked out ok. I've been waking up at a stupidly early hour (5:30 today), meaning that I can get a couple of hours of news writing done when my head is actually clear. Then go for a ride at about 9-ish and finish it off when I get back, still well within our 2pm deadline. Of course, this will all collapse when I inevitably start working late, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Now, what to do with those spare afternoon hours? Sleep, buy food, watch snow fall outside, write bilge etc. Where is the sun, I ask?
Turning back to the weather, it looks quite promising for the next few days, with maximums of up to 4 degrees, along with "variable precipitation, sleet, wintery showers, snow showers and thundery showers". That sounds like my type of weather, and I'm sure I'll have the sunnies on, sitting out on the front steps in my shorts and thongs, working on that tan. It's gunna be great.
The good thing with my new found SOUND is that I haven't had to resort to watching TV in the evenings. This, I believe is a good thing. I don't know what the Belgian equivalent of Outback Jack is but so far I've been able to spare the brain cells for something more useful (like this) by not watching it.
Someone has drunk all the beer while I've been away and there are only three bottles left!! That will have to be rectified.
A bientot.
Due to jet lag, I've been hitting the sack at about 9pm each night, which has actually worked out ok. I've been waking up at a stupidly early hour (5:30 today), meaning that I can get a couple of hours of news writing done when my head is actually clear. Then go for a ride at about 9-ish and finish it off when I get back, still well within our 2pm deadline. Of course, this will all collapse when I inevitably start working late, but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.
Now, what to do with those spare afternoon hours? Sleep, buy food, watch snow fall outside, write bilge etc. Where is the sun, I ask?
Turning back to the weather, it looks quite promising for the next few days, with maximums of up to 4 degrees, along with "variable precipitation, sleet, wintery showers, snow showers and thundery showers". That sounds like my type of weather, and I'm sure I'll have the sunnies on, sitting out on the front steps in my shorts and thongs, working on that tan. It's gunna be great.
The good thing with my new found SOUND is that I haven't had to resort to watching TV in the evenings. This, I believe is a good thing. I don't know what the Belgian equivalent of Outback Jack is but so far I've been able to spare the brain cells for something more useful (like this) by not watching it.
Someone has drunk all the beer while I've been away and there are only three bottles left!! That will have to be rectified.
A bientot.
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
Real time flight
I've been researching the facts, and will report that I'm writing this in real time and it's 2:35am at KL International Airport, which indicates that I am approximately a third of the way towards my final destination of Koningin Astridlaan, Gent, België. All facts, all the time. I'll have to write this in sorta reverse chrono order because that's a) the way I feel at the moment and b) easier to remember. I haven't fractured anything, by the way, and did start riding again last week.
Thus far it has been a good flight, and it promises to continue en route to Vienna, ah Vienna. Reason being is that the plane is nowhere near booked out and in my row of 10, there are only four people! So I can stretch a bit, which is nice. On the other hand, the very grumpy lady at the check-in counter in Sydney frowned at my 5 kg overweight baggage and charged me and extra $150 for the privilege of taking my very valuable backpack and bike bag (sans bike). I wasn't very gruntled about that, especially as there were no people in the queue and the flight was nowhere near booked out (she woulda known that too). She then asked to see my cabin baggage and frowned again because, in addition to my laptop and stuff, I had this rather hefty subwoofer + speaker system that John got me today. I was in two minds about taking this with me, but I want my computer to be a fully sick slum-clearing ghetto-blaster. About bloody time, 'cos I don't have a proper stereo at my place.
Even though you're only allowed one piece of cabin baggage at 8 kg, the nice lady said that she would overlook my subwoofer, which I reckon was fair enough in the circumstances. Anyway, the extra seats aren't too bad so I shouldn't complain.
Working backwards, Sunday night was the famous Cyclingnews 10th Anniversary Party, which in true Cyclingnews style was full on and very efficient, in that most of us were in and out in about four hours. It was a seafood BBQ at GK's place and we had about 20 people all up, including nearly all the CN and IDM hangers on in Sydney, plus a few of Gerard's friends who have lived through the process. He has only been doing it for five and a bit years, but the site has effectively been going since February '95. Pity the founder, Bill Mitchell, couldn't make it. He was recovering from aholiday business trip in the Caribbean.
Also on Sunday, I managed to see Josh and Anita and clan, which has recently been Enhanced with the addition of Samantha. Very cute and very quiet, unlike Daniel who is full of go juice. So it was a jolly nice afternoon with them and I wasn't totally wasted like last time. And wait, there's more...The weekend before we all saw Justine and Nick's inaugural production, who goes by the name of Zoe. Also very cute and quiet at five weeks old, so that's all good.
There were many other last minute catchups this week, and I'll certainly miss everyone in Australia over the next nine months or so. It has been a most excellent three and a bit months with much merriment and whatnot. And there will be more in Belgium with my new subwoofer system. I should have a visitation from Lucy in London sometime in March, so that'll be fun.
As for the hip bone/thigh bone connection. Thank you (plural) for your concern, but once I got the x-rays back the doc said it was all fine, even though I doubted his capacities. He seriously looked worse off than me! Once I started riding again, the pain gradually went away although riding my titanium machine after the luscious carbon fibre job was a bit jarring.
Film review: A Very Long Engagement. French. 132 minutes (a very long film). Also a very well made film, even though you have to be concentrating fairly hard to pick up all the nuances. We (especially Stu and I) were somewhat distracted at the Moonlight Cinema because it started raining at various intervals. All very atmospheric, especially with the WWI mud. Brief plot: Mathilde a.k.a. Amelie a.k.a. Audrey Tautou is looking for her fiancee, believed killed in the middle of WWI, by either the French or the Germans. Four others were also thought to be killed at the same time, but weren't. With the help of a couple of private detectives, Mathilde tracks 'em down. Well, the ones who were alive. Includes fiancee, who doesn't remember her. The end.
I am being summonsed by Austrian Airlines.
Postscript: I made it, everything intact and more or less on time. It's cold here and the subwoofer totally rocks!!
Thus far it has been a good flight, and it promises to continue en route to Vienna, ah Vienna. Reason being is that the plane is nowhere near booked out and in my row of 10, there are only four people! So I can stretch a bit, which is nice. On the other hand, the very grumpy lady at the check-in counter in Sydney frowned at my 5 kg overweight baggage and charged me and extra $150 for the privilege of taking my very valuable backpack and bike bag (sans bike). I wasn't very gruntled about that, especially as there were no people in the queue and the flight was nowhere near booked out (she woulda known that too). She then asked to see my cabin baggage and frowned again because, in addition to my laptop and stuff, I had this rather hefty subwoofer + speaker system that John got me today. I was in two minds about taking this with me, but I want my computer to be a fully sick slum-clearing ghetto-blaster. About bloody time, 'cos I don't have a proper stereo at my place.
Even though you're only allowed one piece of cabin baggage at 8 kg, the nice lady said that she would overlook my subwoofer, which I reckon was fair enough in the circumstances. Anyway, the extra seats aren't too bad so I shouldn't complain.
Working backwards, Sunday night was the famous Cyclingnews 10th Anniversary Party, which in true Cyclingnews style was full on and very efficient, in that most of us were in and out in about four hours. It was a seafood BBQ at GK's place and we had about 20 people all up, including nearly all the CN and IDM hangers on in Sydney, plus a few of Gerard's friends who have lived through the process. He has only been doing it for five and a bit years, but the site has effectively been going since February '95. Pity the founder, Bill Mitchell, couldn't make it. He was recovering from a
Also on Sunday, I managed to see Josh and Anita and clan, which has recently been Enhanced with the addition of Samantha. Very cute and very quiet, unlike Daniel who is full of go juice. So it was a jolly nice afternoon with them and I wasn't totally wasted like last time. And wait, there's more...The weekend before we all saw Justine and Nick's inaugural production, who goes by the name of Zoe. Also very cute and quiet at five weeks old, so that's all good.
There were many other last minute catchups this week, and I'll certainly miss everyone in Australia over the next nine months or so. It has been a most excellent three and a bit months with much merriment and whatnot. And there will be more in Belgium with my new subwoofer system. I should have a visitation from Lucy in London sometime in March, so that'll be fun.
As for the hip bone/thigh bone connection. Thank you (plural) for your concern, but once I got the x-rays back the doc said it was all fine, even though I doubted his capacities. He seriously looked worse off than me! Once I started riding again, the pain gradually went away although riding my titanium machine after the luscious carbon fibre job was a bit jarring.
Film review: A Very Long Engagement. French. 132 minutes (a very long film). Also a very well made film, even though you have to be concentrating fairly hard to pick up all the nuances. We (especially Stu and I) were somewhat distracted at the Moonlight Cinema because it started raining at various intervals. All very atmospheric, especially with the WWI mud. Brief plot: Mathilde a.k.a. Amelie a.k.a. Audrey Tautou is looking for her fiancee, believed killed in the middle of WWI, by either the French or the Germans. Four others were also thought to be killed at the same time, but weren't. With the help of a couple of private detectives, Mathilde tracks 'em down. Well, the ones who were alive. Includes fiancee, who doesn't remember her. The end.
I am being summonsed by Austrian Airlines.
Postscript: I made it, everything intact and more or less on time. It's cold here and the subwoofer totally rocks!!
Saturday, February 05, 2005
Update IV, psalm 53
Today is Friday and I have the day off. It's my second one in five weeks so I can't complain. Appointments for the day include getting my wheel trued, physiotherapist (eindelijk!) and the Moonlight Cinema. That'll do nicely, as you don't want to push things. I hope the physio fixes me, or at least tells me what's wrong, because my adductor (inner thigh) muscles are still very sore after me crash.
News flash: It is now Saturday and I'm still alive, but I don't have the day off. Alas. Physio's report was a bit worrying, but inconclusive. After poking and prodding me for a while, he sent me up to get referred for an x-ray, which I didn't get to until today. I was referred by a doddering 105 year-old doctor at Edgecliff Medical Centre, who at least (I assumed) had some experience. I don't get the results until Monday, but I hope it's neither a) a pelvic fracture b) a dislocated hip/pelvis or c) a separated pelvis. The latter would be really bad.
The good thing was that after 20-30 minutes of deep and quite painful massage, I can actually walk OK again and the pain has significantly diminished. I could probably throw my leg over my bike now without the accompanying agony, but I'll wait until Monday for the yay/nay diagnosis of a fracture, as it's not a good idea at all to ride with a fractured pelvis.
I did manage to walk up to Centennial Park so it can't have been that bad. Saw Ocean's 12 with Kate M. and a few of her friends and it was quite good (I haven't seen Ocean's 11). George Clooney, Brad Pittttt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts and a cast of thousands and directed by Stevie Soderbergh. Lots of twists, funny bits and in-jokes and, incredibly for a movie about grand robbery, no violence.
I will not be as flattering about the appalling finale to the TV reality show Outback Jack, starring Jack and a host of American bimbos. It's without doubt the worse piece of television I have ever watched, and mum and I sat through the last episode which was an hour and a bloody half long, because of some masochistic bent.
The story goes that a whole gaggle of bimbos landed in the great Aussie outback (west, I think) and met Jack, who is a supposedly a rugged Aussie dude with half a beard. Jack was one of the most boringest farts you could ever imagine, and rarely lifted his voice above a monotone. Over the weeks, he had to whittle down the alleged talent until he finds his perfect match. So there are all these completely contrived "romantic" scenarios, with romantic cameraman, soundman and lighting present, where Jack works out who is the best babe.
When we tuned in on that fateful Thursday, there were just three left, and he flicked one of them (Mel?), probably because in her last one-on-one with him, she white-anted one of the other remaining contestants (Marissa), who deserved it anyway. When it came down to it, he flicked Marissa too and ended up with the southern belle Natalie, and they sailed off into the sunset together, leaving the rejected and crushed Marissa on the beach. I give it 3 months.
Mum and I agreed that not only was it reinforcing bad male and female stereotypes, it was also repetitively boring and extremely contrived. Actually I think Marissa had the right idea because she seemed to be acting more than being her "true self" (which could be one and the same) and really just wanted the money or whatever they ended up with.
Last but by no means least, congrats and well wishes to Josh and Anita for producing their second Child last Monday. It's all good.
P.S. I can now play Chopin's prelude number 4 in E minor from memory! Phwoar. It's been ages since I've memorised a piece like that. Funnily enough, I can still play the Funeral March from memory :-)
News flash: It is now Saturday and I'm still alive, but I don't have the day off. Alas. Physio's report was a bit worrying, but inconclusive. After poking and prodding me for a while, he sent me up to get referred for an x-ray, which I didn't get to until today. I was referred by a doddering 105 year-old doctor at Edgecliff Medical Centre, who at least (I assumed) had some experience. I don't get the results until Monday, but I hope it's neither a) a pelvic fracture b) a dislocated hip/pelvis or c) a separated pelvis. The latter would be really bad.
The good thing was that after 20-30 minutes of deep and quite painful massage, I can actually walk OK again and the pain has significantly diminished. I could probably throw my leg over my bike now without the accompanying agony, but I'll wait until Monday for the yay/nay diagnosis of a fracture, as it's not a good idea at all to ride with a fractured pelvis.
I did manage to walk up to Centennial Park so it can't have been that bad. Saw Ocean's 12 with Kate M. and a few of her friends and it was quite good (I haven't seen Ocean's 11). George Clooney, Brad Pittttt, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Julia Roberts and a cast of thousands and directed by Stevie Soderbergh. Lots of twists, funny bits and in-jokes and, incredibly for a movie about grand robbery, no violence.
I will not be as flattering about the appalling finale to the TV reality show Outback Jack, starring Jack and a host of American bimbos. It's without doubt the worse piece of television I have ever watched, and mum and I sat through the last episode which was an hour and a bloody half long, because of some masochistic bent.
The story goes that a whole gaggle of bimbos landed in the great Aussie outback (west, I think) and met Jack, who is a supposedly a rugged Aussie dude with half a beard. Jack was one of the most boringest farts you could ever imagine, and rarely lifted his voice above a monotone. Over the weeks, he had to whittle down the alleged talent until he finds his perfect match. So there are all these completely contrived "romantic" scenarios, with romantic cameraman, soundman and lighting present, where Jack works out who is the best babe.
When we tuned in on that fateful Thursday, there were just three left, and he flicked one of them (Mel?), probably because in her last one-on-one with him, she white-anted one of the other remaining contestants (Marissa), who deserved it anyway. When it came down to it, he flicked Marissa too and ended up with the southern belle Natalie, and they sailed off into the sunset together, leaving the rejected and crushed Marissa on the beach. I give it 3 months.
Mum and I agreed that not only was it reinforcing bad male and female stereotypes, it was also repetitively boring and extremely contrived. Actually I think Marissa had the right idea because she seemed to be acting more than being her "true self" (which could be one and the same) and really just wanted the money or whatever they ended up with.
Last but by no means least, congrats and well wishes to Josh and Anita for producing their second Child last Monday. It's all good.
P.S. I can now play Chopin's prelude number 4 in E minor from memory! Phwoar. It's been ages since I've memorised a piece like that. Funnily enough, I can still play the Funeral March from memory :-)
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Onya Safin
I'll probably be hauled up in front of the UnAustralian Commission for saying this, but I was going for Marat Safin (really) in Sunday's tennis fixture. On Saturday night at the James Squire, Paul and I had opted to back the Russian, while Kate and Kristy said that were gunning for Llleyton. Thus, the scene was set at the North Annandale Hotel on Sunday, where a capacity crowd had gathered to watch the much anticipated showdown. There were even a few other Safin supporters!
Mark you, this is the first time I've actually gone to a pub to specifically watch a tennis match, but it was worth it. Almost like being in Melbourne itself. [Note how the court had 'Melbourne' printed all over it in large letters. The other three grand slams don't do that. Must be a complex of some sort.]
Despite not being a big tennis fan, the match itself was quite good I thought. Safin was hopeless in the first set 'cos he was hitting the ball a) too hard or b) into the net or c) both. So Llleyton won that one. He got it together a bit in the second set but it looked like things were going Llleyton's way in the third until the big bloke really fired. From 1-4 down to 6-1 up then another couple of games in the fourth set...L.H. didn't have a chance. End of game. Not exactly nail biting but it was still quality.
Hmm, from last Thursday through Sunday it's been: (the) Clock, Trinity Bar, James Squire and North Annandale Hotel. There is a pattern, I know there is. And on Monday we, that is Ma, Pa and Ik, had dinner with my Aunty E.E. at a nice café in the shadows of the Harbour Br. She has a rather nice apartment in the vicinity, despite claiming that she is indigent. Hmm, I don't know what that makes me then!
I saw Elektra too, which was my first movie for ages. It's based on a Marvel comic. which I read back in school and thought was tres cool, so 20(?) years later... It's about a female assassin who has Greek parentage. Unfortunately, the parentage was deaded when she was young, so she has Issues. Nothing that a couple of throwing knives can't fix, eh what?
I might even ride again on Thursday or Friday, but just steady for a month or so. There's definitely no rush, and I probably haven't lost much condition in the last three weeks, despite various excesses and not really training much. I know from last year that it will come back quite quickly.
Return date for Belgium is set at February 14th, getting into sunny and warm Brussels on February 15. I hope it's not snowing too much!
Mark you, this is the first time I've actually gone to a pub to specifically watch a tennis match, but it was worth it. Almost like being in Melbourne itself. [Note how the court had 'Melbourne' printed all over it in large letters. The other three grand slams don't do that. Must be a complex of some sort.]
Despite not being a big tennis fan, the match itself was quite good I thought. Safin was hopeless in the first set 'cos he was hitting the ball a) too hard or b) into the net or c) both. So Llleyton won that one. He got it together a bit in the second set but it looked like things were going Llleyton's way in the third until the big bloke really fired. From 1-4 down to 6-1 up then another couple of games in the fourth set...L.H. didn't have a chance. End of game. Not exactly nail biting but it was still quality.
Hmm, from last Thursday through Sunday it's been: (the) Clock, Trinity Bar, James Squire and North Annandale Hotel. There is a pattern, I know there is. And on Monday we, that is Ma, Pa and Ik, had dinner with my Aunty E.E. at a nice café in the shadows of the Harbour Br. She has a rather nice apartment in the vicinity, despite claiming that she is indigent. Hmm, I don't know what that makes me then!
I saw Elektra too, which was my first movie for ages. It's based on a Marvel comic. which I read back in school and thought was tres cool, so 20(?) years later... It's about a female assassin who has Greek parentage. Unfortunately, the parentage was deaded when she was young, so she has Issues. Nothing that a couple of throwing knives can't fix, eh what?
Time wounds all heels
It's nearly a week since my crash and I'm getting there, slowly. Hips were stiff and sore for ages until I started stretching a couple of days ago, and now I seem to be on the right track. I'll have to get some physio though, just in case I've put myself out of alignment. That's quite easy to do, as I have found out previously.I might even ride again on Thursday or Friday, but just steady for a month or so. There's definitely no rush, and I probably haven't lost much condition in the last three weeks, despite various excesses and not really training much. I know from last year that it will come back quite quickly.
Return date for Belgium is set at February 14th, getting into sunny and warm Brussels on February 15. I hope it's not snowing too much!
Saturday, January 29, 2005
Falling down
It had to happen sooner or later: I would crash while racing me velocipede. The auspices have generally not been in my favour this week, and I managed to lose a bit of bark at the Joe Sunde Memorial at Heffron on Australia Day. But first, let me backtrack a little...
After the International Journo Junket, we launched into the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in a big way. Normally a week of Adelaide is all I have to put up with each year, but after the Aussie Nats, this made it into two weeks. I'm actually starting to like bits of Adelaide now. Mainly the bits that aren't in Adelaide itself, e.g. the hills. I managed to find several climbs out of the city, some up to 9 km long which isn't too bad. There was one called Corkscrew Road (which is accessible off Gorge Road, to the north of the city) and it goes up 210m in 2.4 km. The first kilometre is fairly steady, then it gets savagely steep. I would have preferred something smaller than a 40x21, but anyway...
That was all fun, and I could generally get out for an hour or so each day during the TDU. It was all good. The rest of the week was bloody busy but. Live coverage, updating two sites, plus the normal stuff...I'm glad it's only once a year.
The post-race piss-up on the final night ended poorly. After swearing I'd stick to beer (now where have I heard that?), I eventually cracked because they'd obviously watered down the beer and it was crap. So I started on the Jacob's Creek Unlimited Release January 2005 Rosé...It was worse, but it did at least have some alcohol in it. Suffice it to say, after a bottle and a bit, I was the worse for wear. Two hours sleep, then back on the job to do news and get on the plane back to Sydney on Monday. The rest of Monday passed into oblivion.
I did one more turn and then moseyed down to the back for a bit of a breather with 6 to go. Unfortunately, while I was there Matt from Clarence St. decided to pedal round the tennis court corner, and that's one you never pedal around at Heffron. So he came down in the middle of the corner, then Matt Lucas went over him on the left, and fortunately ended up in the grass. I was right behind with nowhere to go, so I slammed on the brakes and my rear tyre fortuitously exploded, dumping me rather hard on the concrete. Sigh.
Sorry Ma and Pa, who happened to be on the same corner that I crashed on (yes, I was watching the road). And sorry Kate and Kristy, who formed the other half of my cheer squad. I'll probably get a bad luck karma conscience thingo about this now.
I haven't crashed in a race for probably over 10 years, as I can usually avoid them. In fact, my last crash of any note was in 1997, when I fell off at West Head. I guess I was lucky this time as the St. Johns ambo's were there to patch me up and I didn't have to go to hospital - just a fair bit of skin off my hip and elbow, and bits and pieces off other areas and general stiffness in the hips. The bike - thankfully - is OK despite needing a new tyre and handlebar tape. The other two Matts are also OK, which is good.
So I'm hobbling around and taking Neurofen for a few days now, calling this the "off-season" (which it was going to be anyway). The "Sunde" was a guest appearance only. I am looking forward to getting these bandages off.
After the International Journo Junket, we launched into the Jacob's Creek Tour Down Under in a big way. Normally a week of Adelaide is all I have to put up with each year, but after the Aussie Nats, this made it into two weeks. I'm actually starting to like bits of Adelaide now. Mainly the bits that aren't in Adelaide itself, e.g. the hills. I managed to find several climbs out of the city, some up to 9 km long which isn't too bad. There was one called Corkscrew Road (which is accessible off Gorge Road, to the north of the city) and it goes up 210m in 2.4 km. The first kilometre is fairly steady, then it gets savagely steep. I would have preferred something smaller than a 40x21, but anyway...
That was all fun, and I could generally get out for an hour or so each day during the TDU. It was all good. The rest of the week was bloody busy but. Live coverage, updating two sites, plus the normal stuff...I'm glad it's only once a year.
The post-race piss-up on the final night ended poorly. After swearing I'd stick to beer (now where have I heard that?), I eventually cracked because they'd obviously watered down the beer and it was crap. So I started on the Jacob's Creek Unlimited Release January 2005 Rosé...It was worse, but it did at least have some alcohol in it. Suffice it to say, after a bottle and a bit, I was the worse for wear. Two hours sleep, then back on the job to do news and get on the plane back to Sydney on Monday. The rest of Monday passed into oblivion.
The Sunde
I was in two minds about racing again, but after doing 50 km on Tuesday I decided to roll up for the Joe Sunde Memorial on Australia Day. It was a good field, but not as hard as a Tuesday race, so I hung around the back and gradually moved up. A break of three went early and won, and Our Gallant Randwick Botany Lads decided to chase after 30 mins. We looked good for about two laps and pulled back about 10 seconds before it all fell apart and Easts got in the way anyway.I did one more turn and then moseyed down to the back for a bit of a breather with 6 to go. Unfortunately, while I was there Matt from Clarence St. decided to pedal round the tennis court corner, and that's one you never pedal around at Heffron. So he came down in the middle of the corner, then Matt Lucas went over him on the left, and fortunately ended up in the grass. I was right behind with nowhere to go, so I slammed on the brakes and my rear tyre fortuitously exploded, dumping me rather hard on the concrete. Sigh.
Sorry Ma and Pa, who happened to be on the same corner that I crashed on (yes, I was watching the road). And sorry Kate and Kristy, who formed the other half of my cheer squad. I'll probably get a bad luck karma conscience thingo about this now.
I haven't crashed in a race for probably over 10 years, as I can usually avoid them. In fact, my last crash of any note was in 1997, when I fell off at West Head. I guess I was lucky this time as the St. Johns ambo's were there to patch me up and I didn't have to go to hospital - just a fair bit of skin off my hip and elbow, and bits and pieces off other areas and general stiffness in the hips. The bike - thankfully - is OK despite needing a new tyre and handlebar tape. The other two Matts are also OK, which is good.
So I'm hobbling around and taking Neurofen for a few days now, calling this the "off-season" (which it was going to be anyway). The "Sunde" was a guest appearance only. I am looking forward to getting these bandages off.
Sunday, January 16, 2005
The International Journo Junket
South Australia definitely got more interesting for me today after I got an invite to the International Journo's Junket, proudly sponsored by Jacob's Creek Fine Australian Table Wines. In true Harry Hardnose style, most of the hard core journo crew bundled into a minibus at 11:30 bound for Tanunda, home of Jacob's Creek.
First we went up to this funny little vineyard perched on the side of a very steep hill with our bus fishtailing it all the way up on the dirt road. Once there, we were treated to a rather spiffing entree of Thai prawns and smoked salmon with marscapone and asparagus. And some nice dry 2002 Riesling from that same vineyard. Forgotten the name. It had "stein" in it and it wasn't Wolfenstein. Must be the wine.
We were also introduced to our hosts and hostesses, called Bruce, and the lovely Carmen and Danielle. And probably Michael or Steve. Must be the wine. They explained a lot about the wine and the vineyard while we were scoffing Thai prawns and smoked salmon.
After this, we were driven down to the Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre, which is located - incredibly - near Jacob's Creek. After meinhost Steve/Michael introduced us to the wines we were to drink with lunch, I realised why we had four glasses - one for each flavour of wine. Cool, huh? Lunch was rather good, especially as I was sitting next to Carmen. She is about to open a spa and massage centre in Rundle Street Adelaide, and I think she has already found a few clients i.e. Wives of Cycling Journos.
Wines alluded to earlier: 2002 limited release Chardonnay, which tasted exactly like the Riesling; 1997 Shiraz, which was bloody good; and 2004 Shiraz Rose, which was also good with the raspberry and marscapone dessert. Mains: rare beef, lamb, fish, spatchcock and vege bits, all with their own bottled factory sauces.
After that we were pretty well sloshed, but we were each given a momento of (or perhaps for) our trip: a limited release 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon. That certainly eased our dry throats in the thirsty minibus trip back home. Next time I'll bring a corkscrew. Nah, just kidding - I'll cellar it in the fridge for two weeks before cracking it open.
It must have been all those hard training rides with Phil Liggett. We rode back from Echunga (about 40 km) each day after the Aussie road titles. We also got lost each day - well, we didn't end up going the way we intended. Phil was constantly complaining that his Colnago was too short and that's why he was so slow. But the rides were good and quite peaceful.
As for the road races themselves, the women's race was a bit negative at the start, and when it got going no-one could really establish a break for long. I felt sorry for Oenone, who had to chase everything, but full marks to the Queenslanders who used their strength to clean up in the end.
The men's race was excellent. I was afraid that they'd pootle around for a few laps before getting going, but no, it was on from lap 1. They averaged 45 km/h for the first few laps and that was savage for that course. I walked around it (and got sunburned) and there was very little flat. Full marks also to McEwen, who was climbing as well as anyone there and was the strongest guy on the day. The last 50 km was interesting with four being chased by six at about 15-20 seconds. Amazing that the gap couldn't be closed. But McLachlan, Evans and Crake are all pretty strong and I think they wanted to stay away and at least have a shot at the title. McLachlan is a horse.
Nick (editor of Bicycling Australia) and I hard at work at the top of the
hill in the Aussie road championships.
©Mark Gunter
First we went up to this funny little vineyard perched on the side of a very steep hill with our bus fishtailing it all the way up on the dirt road. Once there, we were treated to a rather spiffing entree of Thai prawns and smoked salmon with marscapone and asparagus. And some nice dry 2002 Riesling from that same vineyard. Forgotten the name. It had "stein" in it and it wasn't Wolfenstein. Must be the wine.
We were also introduced to our hosts and hostesses, called Bruce, and the lovely Carmen and Danielle. And probably Michael or Steve. Must be the wine. They explained a lot about the wine and the vineyard while we were scoffing Thai prawns and smoked salmon.
After this, we were driven down to the Jacob's Creek Visitor Centre, which is located - incredibly - near Jacob's Creek. After meinhost Steve/Michael introduced us to the wines we were to drink with lunch, I realised why we had four glasses - one for each flavour of wine. Cool, huh? Lunch was rather good, especially as I was sitting next to Carmen. She is about to open a spa and massage centre in Rundle Street Adelaide, and I think she has already found a few clients i.e. Wives of Cycling Journos.
Wines alluded to earlier: 2002 limited release Chardonnay, which tasted exactly like the Riesling; 1997 Shiraz, which was bloody good; and 2004 Shiraz Rose, which was also good with the raspberry and marscapone dessert. Mains: rare beef, lamb, fish, spatchcock and vege bits, all with their own bottled factory sauces.
After that we were pretty well sloshed, but we were each given a momento of (or perhaps for) our trip: a limited release 1999 Cabernet Sauvignon. That certainly eased our dry throats in the thirsty minibus trip back home. Next time I'll bring a corkscrew. Nah, just kidding - I'll cellar it in the fridge for two weeks before cracking it open.
Beat the record!
I had an hour spare between finishing off news this morning and the Junket, so, despite feeling very ordinary, I headed up to the hills to try and beat my Norton Summit record. This time, helped by a bit of a tailwind, I did it and managed 13'35, which is the fourth best time up there on the cycle2max website (I'm not going to beat Brett Aitken's 12'39...).It must have been all those hard training rides with Phil Liggett. We rode back from Echunga (about 40 km) each day after the Aussie road titles. We also got lost each day - well, we didn't end up going the way we intended. Phil was constantly complaining that his Colnago was too short and that's why he was so slow. But the rides were good and quite peaceful.
As for the road races themselves, the women's race was a bit negative at the start, and when it got going no-one could really establish a break for long. I felt sorry for Oenone, who had to chase everything, but full marks to the Queenslanders who used their strength to clean up in the end.
The men's race was excellent. I was afraid that they'd pootle around for a few laps before getting going, but no, it was on from lap 1. They averaged 45 km/h for the first few laps and that was savage for that course. I walked around it (and got sunburned) and there was very little flat. Full marks also to McEwen, who was climbing as well as anyone there and was the strongest guy on the day. The last 50 km was interesting with four being chased by six at about 15-20 seconds. Amazing that the gap couldn't be closed. But McLachlan, Evans and Crake are all pretty strong and I think they wanted to stay away and at least have a shot at the title. McLachlan is a horse.
Nick (editor of Bicycling Australia) and I hard at work at the top of the
hill in the Aussie road championships.
©Mark Gunter
Thursday, January 13, 2005
Adelaide, glorious Adelaide
Jeez I'm bored. I'm in sunny Adelaide for the Aussie titles and it's boring. Yesterday were the time trials, and all the defending champions won so it was boring. Today was a rest day, so it was even more boring. There are bits of Adelaide that are nice but there are even more bits that are boring. Like here. At least the bushfires have gone - they were not good for all concerned. They have superceded the tsunami on the news so they must be interesting.
In other interesting news, I saw that Mark Thatcher is likely to plead guilty to organising a coup in Equatorial Guinea (which failed, by the way). But he probably won't be put away for it. Quelle shame. Was it 1982 when he got lost in the Sahara Desert during the Paris-Dakar rally? "I say slow down chappie, I spy a bedouin." [Mark is actually in Scotland]..."We're havin' a coupla bevies jimmy en ye're payin'!" (readers of Steve Bell's IF will get this joke).
While I'm on the subject of England, what about [Prince] Harry The Nazi?!? Fancy dress? Oh dear. Who brung him up?
I did do something interesting on the rest day, and that was to try to beat my record up Norton Summit. It's a 5.6 km climb at 5 percent, and flatter at the bottom and the top. I managed 13'50, which was four seconds slower than I did last year (on a lighter bike, dammit!) so I was annoyed. I'll try again on Sunday or something. Grr.
If all goes according to plan tomorrow, I should be able to cruise back from Echunga to Adelaide with none other than Phil Liggett, who has managed to organise a bike from the local bike shop. Dunno who's coming with us - maybe Graham Watson, who has allegedly started riding again. Phil's actually pretty fit, and does a regular morning group ride starting 6:15am during the TDU (next week). Oh well, that cuts me out :-)
Phil also showed us all some pics of his recent trip in South Africa, where he stayed on a bit of land with a lot of wild beasts. He got a good shot of an elephant charging his car - a la the policeman who tried to photograph Laurent Jalabert a few years back in Le Tour...with somewhat disastrous consequences. I think Phil managed to get away from the elephant in time.
You see, everything is boring compared to that! Being in Adelaide doesn't help.
I'll do a book review of A Clockwork Orange sometime, as I just finished reading it.
In other interesting news, I saw that Mark Thatcher is likely to plead guilty to organising a coup in Equatorial Guinea (which failed, by the way). But he probably won't be put away for it. Quelle shame. Was it 1982 when he got lost in the Sahara Desert during the Paris-Dakar rally? "I say slow down chappie, I spy a bedouin." [Mark is actually in Scotland]..."We're havin' a coupla bevies jimmy en ye're payin'!" (readers of Steve Bell's IF will get this joke).
While I'm on the subject of England, what about [Prince] Harry The Nazi?!? Fancy dress? Oh dear. Who brung him up?
I did do something interesting on the rest day, and that was to try to beat my record up Norton Summit. It's a 5.6 km climb at 5 percent, and flatter at the bottom and the top. I managed 13'50, which was four seconds slower than I did last year (on a lighter bike, dammit!) so I was annoyed. I'll try again on Sunday or something. Grr.
If all goes according to plan tomorrow, I should be able to cruise back from Echunga to Adelaide with none other than Phil Liggett, who has managed to organise a bike from the local bike shop. Dunno who's coming with us - maybe Graham Watson, who has allegedly started riding again. Phil's actually pretty fit, and does a regular morning group ride starting 6:15am during the TDU (next week). Oh well, that cuts me out :-)
Phil also showed us all some pics of his recent trip in South Africa, where he stayed on a bit of land with a lot of wild beasts. He got a good shot of an elephant charging his car - a la the policeman who tried to photograph Laurent Jalabert a few years back in Le Tour...with somewhat disastrous consequences. I think Phil managed to get away from the elephant in time.
You see, everything is boring compared to that! Being in Adelaide doesn't help.
I'll do a book review of A Clockwork Orange sometime, as I just finished reading it.
Racing liftout golden guide
Me last two races were satisfactory: 5th last Tuesday at Heffron and 5th again on Friday at Sutho, which at 43.5 km/h was by far the quickest race I've done down there. There were a whole lot of good riders so I just sat on the back and had a couple of go's late in the race, to no avail. Matt White took five others with him off the front with three laps to go and I thought that was it. But Troy Glennan did a few big turns and we caught them 3/4 of the way up the last hill. I forgot my own tactic of sitting on Jeff Hopkins' wheel and paid for it, as he won the sprint and I started too far back to be of any use.Friday, December 31, 2004
Goodbye 2005
As noted last week, it's that time of year again (Or not in a few hours). Due to non-relativistic time differences across the globe, the New Year is celebrated at different times depending on where you are. If you lived in New Zealand and had a fast aeroplane, you could probably celebrate it twice, which means that you would have to drink twice as much and in all likelihood get twice the hangover.
I opted out of doing that this year, so I decided to have my New Years Eve celebratory drinks on December 30 at Kristy's rather impromptu bbq, which was in part brought on by the fact that Greg Boorer and Margie Hemsley were passing through town. Definitely a fun evening and I have added two new words to my lexicon, courtesy of Greg: Tidy and Complete Package.
After draining the last drop from the Grand Marnier bottle, we called it a night, or to be more accurate, an early morning. I'm certain that they put stuff in Grand Marnier that makes your head spin, round and round, up and down. It was still doing it 6 hours later when I arose, bright as a brand new pin to greet the dawn and start work. It was approximately at this time when I decided that I wasn't going to drink tonight (being NYE).
Translating Portuguese with a spinning head is never easy, but fortunately I had a trick up my sleeve courtesy of a Christmas present from Uncle Ron and Aunt Kate: a book called Superfoods: Fourteen foods that will change your life. For some reason, neither beer, potatoes, or chocolate are mentioned in this tome but I'll overlook that glaring lacuna.
To save you reading the book, the 14 Superfoods are: Beans, Soy, Blueberries, Spinach, Broccoli, Tea (not herbal), Oats, Tomatoes, Oranges, Turkey, Pumpkin, Walnuts, Salmon and Yoghurt. There are a number ofallegorical similar foods in each Superfood group, e.g. cherries, strawberries, red grapes, cranberries, raspberries, blackberries and currants in the blueberry group. But blueberries are the tops in terms of the size of their nutritious punch. They even contain a couple of compounds (one is salicylic acid) that are anti-inflammatories!
Although it's obviously aimed at Americans with rubbish diets, I did find the book interesting reading. These foods are singled out because of their role in reducing diseases like cancers, stroke, arteriosclerosis, death etc. They're better than other "health foods" in this regard. Hell, even apples don't get a mention.
So I decided to eat a healthy breakfast this morning, having concocted the ideal Superfood brekky in my head: porrige (oats) with LSA mix (Linseed/sunflower/almonds - all good Omega 3 sources, like walnuts), blueberries and strawberries, soy milk and yoghurt, and a couple of cups of tea. That's six Superfoods in one meal, and it's actually almost identical to my standard breakfast anyway.
I must say that it had a remarkable effect on me. I went from feeling like I had been eating pure salmonella out of the can to feeling human again after having ingested brekky. Much better than a Berocca any day.
I still have to work on the rest of my diet, as for lunch I had two cheese and tomato sandwiches, an apple, a power bar, some chocolate and some muesli bars (jeez I was hungry). For arvo tea I had a cheese and tomato sandwich, a muesli bar, an apple and a cuppa tea. For dinner I had two toasted cheese and tomato sanwiches, a bowl of ice cream - with extra nuts - some muesli bars and a cup of milo - with LSA added.
OK you have to take these things a step at a time. No point going cold turkey...
We only had 10 starters, including the 9 foot tall Troy Glennan (FRF) and Dave Treacy (who has just joined Randwick/FRF). I went with the first attack and that ended up sort of being the winning break. We had three for a while and I was the strongest, which was nice. But then Troy and Dave bridged up, we lost one, and I suddenly became the weakest, which was not nice.
Troy eventually just rode away and we were quite happy to see him go. Dave stopped working because he was in theory a teammate (and I guess I was too) but it was academic. For some reason I ended up doing the last lap in front, even having a little dig up the hill when the other two started playing cat and mouse. But they came back, I led out, and of course finished last.
I had planned a ride home with Dave and Troy's brother but my tyre went flat just as we were leaving. I put one tube in and it was a dud, then another one in that almost worked, but then suddenly it died (the patch wasn't good enough). The auspices were not in my favour and it was getting dark so Dave's partner Mel kindly gave me a lift home. It was actually a bit of a relief to spend NYE fixing tubes and eating toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches.
I also bought my plane ticket back to Belgium today. Leaving Sydney on Feb. 14 and getting in a day later, I hope.
er, Happy New Year and all that. I'm getting auld. That makes approx. 50,000 words of bilge since I started this in May. What dribble.
I opted out of doing that this year, so I decided to have my New Years Eve celebratory drinks on December 30 at Kristy's rather impromptu bbq, which was in part brought on by the fact that Greg Boorer and Margie Hemsley were passing through town. Definitely a fun evening and I have added two new words to my lexicon, courtesy of Greg: Tidy and Complete Package.
After draining the last drop from the Grand Marnier bottle, we called it a night, or to be more accurate, an early morning. I'm certain that they put stuff in Grand Marnier that makes your head spin, round and round, up and down. It was still doing it 6 hours later when I arose, bright as a brand new pin to greet the dawn and start work. It was approximately at this time when I decided that I wasn't going to drink tonight (being NYE).
Translating Portuguese with a spinning head is never easy, but fortunately I had a trick up my sleeve courtesy of a Christmas present from Uncle Ron and Aunt Kate: a book called Superfoods: Fourteen foods that will change your life. For some reason, neither beer, potatoes, or chocolate are mentioned in this tome but I'll overlook that glaring lacuna.
To save you reading the book, the 14 Superfoods are: Beans, Soy, Blueberries, Spinach, Broccoli, Tea (not herbal), Oats, Tomatoes, Oranges, Turkey, Pumpkin, Walnuts, Salmon and Yoghurt. There are a number of
Although it's obviously aimed at Americans with rubbish diets, I did find the book interesting reading. These foods are singled out because of their role in reducing diseases like cancers, stroke, arteriosclerosis, death etc. They're better than other "health foods" in this regard. Hell, even apples don't get a mention.
So I decided to eat a healthy breakfast this morning, having concocted the ideal Superfood brekky in my head: porrige (oats) with LSA mix (Linseed/sunflower/almonds - all good Omega 3 sources, like walnuts), blueberries and strawberries, soy milk and yoghurt, and a couple of cups of tea. That's six Superfoods in one meal, and it's actually almost identical to my standard breakfast anyway.
I must say that it had a remarkable effect on me. I went from feeling like I had been eating pure salmonella out of the can to feeling human again after having ingested brekky. Much better than a Berocca any day.
I still have to work on the rest of my diet, as for lunch I had two cheese and tomato sandwiches, an apple, a power bar, some chocolate and some muesli bars (jeez I was hungry). For arvo tea I had a cheese and tomato sandwich, a muesli bar, an apple and a cuppa tea. For dinner I had two toasted cheese and tomato sanwiches, a bowl of ice cream - with extra nuts - some muesli bars and a cup of milo - with LSA added.
OK you have to take these things a step at a time. No point going cold turkey...
NYE crit racing
I saw that they were racing at Sutherland on NYE so I thought it might be a good head clearer. It was nice and quite remarkable to ride 30 km out there from work along the Princes Highway at peak hour in almost no traffic.We only had 10 starters, including the 9 foot tall Troy Glennan (FRF) and Dave Treacy (who has just joined Randwick/FRF). I went with the first attack and that ended up sort of being the winning break. We had three for a while and I was the strongest, which was nice. But then Troy and Dave bridged up, we lost one, and I suddenly became the weakest, which was not nice.
Troy eventually just rode away and we were quite happy to see him go. Dave stopped working because he was in theory a teammate (and I guess I was too) but it was academic. For some reason I ended up doing the last lap in front, even having a little dig up the hill when the other two started playing cat and mouse. But they came back, I led out, and of course finished last.
I had planned a ride home with Dave and Troy's brother but my tyre went flat just as we were leaving. I put one tube in and it was a dud, then another one in that almost worked, but then suddenly it died (the patch wasn't good enough). The auspices were not in my favour and it was getting dark so Dave's partner Mel kindly gave me a lift home. It was actually a bit of a relief to spend NYE fixing tubes and eating toasted cheese and tomato sandwiches.
I also bought my plane ticket back to Belgium today. Leaving Sydney on Feb. 14 and getting in a day later, I hope.
er, Happy New Year and all that. I'm getting auld. That makes approx. 50,000 words of bilge since I started this in May. What dribble.
Friday, December 24, 2004
Jeff's Christmas Blog
Dear all,
I am not a habitual Bible quoter (or reader for that matter), but this passage from Corinthians sprang into my mind the other day between Waterfall and Sutherland, and wouldn't leave. So it's going to make it into me Christmas update. Sorry for any offence - just don't take any; that's my motto.
51: Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians, chapter 15)
Yes folks, it's Christmas again, and that means it's that time of year. This can be done in reverse as well at no extra charge. As a bonus, I'll throw in a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to youse all for just $4.89, and that, believe me, is a bargain if ever there was one. Please send money to Jeff's Bilgespot, c/- The Steaming North, Australia. I'm not actually in The Steaming North as such, but it feels like it. For those with a geographical bent, I'm at my grandparents' place in Nelson Bay, approx. 200 km north of Sydney, and it's very steamy.
Thank you to all who have sent me Christmas cards and presents this year, but for those of you who didn't bother...don't think you are being removed from my email list that easily! Oh no, it's much harder than that. On a comparative scale, it's far easier to stop receiving offers for free Rolex watches and Viagra than it is to get off this spam list. I know where you are and I will track you down if you try.
Alas, this marks the end of my holiday period and that means that it's the beginning of my working period. I'm back on the job on Monday and will be going down to cover the Aussie Championships and Tour Down Under between January 11-24(ish). Jeez, that's nearly two weeks. I'd better make it my off-season. And in a cunning move to a) avoid even more Belgian winter and b) avoid getting deathly ill, I've delayed my return date to Belgium by a few weeks, until February 15 or thereabouts. Luckily I paid an extra month's rent on my place in Gent.
Speaking of holidays, an account of my holiday can also be mailed to you free of charge, save for the account itself which runs into several hundreds of dollars. This is on account of various activity nights over the past three weeks, and accounts of those can be read in the other updates on me Bilgespot. I have shown, conclusively I think, that lots of beer makes you dehydrated. I'm going to publish that as a Fact Worth Knowing, especially when you are in The Steaming North.
Anyway, it's been great to catch up with everyone over the past weeks, and I hope to do some more catching up before Departure.
Oh well, Pat Naughton and I watched the sprint unfold from the back and saw some interesting shortcut tactics going on coming into the straight. Mr Fitzpatrick, S., guilty as charged, Your Honour. But José won it anyway so it was all to nought.
All up it's been a moderately successful summer for me here, with fewer placings but one win - so that's enough to keep me happy until next year. My sprint has completely gone to pot so I must be getting old, or not smoking enough.
For those of you who missed it at the beginning, and I don't blame you in the slightest if you skipped to the end to find out what happened, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and don't forget to hydrate properly.
I am not a habitual Bible quoter (or reader for that matter), but this passage from Corinthians sprang into my mind the other day between Waterfall and Sutherland, and wouldn't leave. So it's going to make it into me Christmas update. Sorry for any offence - just don't take any; that's my motto.
51: Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52: In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the Last Trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians, chapter 15)
Yes folks, it's Christmas again, and that means it's that time of year. This can be done in reverse as well at no extra charge. As a bonus, I'll throw in a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to youse all for just $4.89, and that, believe me, is a bargain if ever there was one. Please send money to Jeff's Bilgespot, c/- The Steaming North, Australia. I'm not actually in The Steaming North as such, but it feels like it. For those with a geographical bent, I'm at my grandparents' place in Nelson Bay, approx. 200 km north of Sydney, and it's very steamy.
Thank you to all who have sent me Christmas cards and presents this year, but for those of you who didn't bother...don't think you are being removed from my email list that easily! Oh no, it's much harder than that. On a comparative scale, it's far easier to stop receiving offers for free Rolex watches and Viagra than it is to get off this spam list. I know where you are and I will track you down if you try.
Alas, this marks the end of my holiday period and that means that it's the beginning of my working period. I'm back on the job on Monday and will be going down to cover the Aussie Championships and Tour Down Under between January 11-24(ish). Jeez, that's nearly two weeks. I'd better make it my off-season. And in a cunning move to a) avoid even more Belgian winter and b) avoid getting deathly ill, I've delayed my return date to Belgium by a few weeks, until February 15 or thereabouts. Luckily I paid an extra month's rent on my place in Gent.
Speaking of holidays, an account of my holiday can also be mailed to you free of charge, save for the account itself which runs into several hundreds of dollars. This is on account of various activity nights over the past three weeks, and accounts of those can be read in the other updates on me Bilgespot. I have shown, conclusively I think, that lots of beer makes you dehydrated. I'm going to publish that as a Fact Worth Knowing, especially when you are in The Steaming North.
Anyway, it's been great to catch up with everyone over the past weeks, and I hope to do some more catching up before Departure.
Trophy Race reportage
There's not a great deal to report from the Easts Trophy Race, as it wasn't terribly exciting. Started with a bunch of 58 A and B graders, finished with a bunch of 25 A graders and a few disgruntled B graders who were chasing. There were too many teams interested in a bunch sprint so that's how it ended up. My plan was to try to assist one of the other Gallant Randwick Botany lads in the last few laps but several mishaps at critical points in the last three laps put paid to that. I managed to drop my chain (very rare on this bike), nearly hit Spongee Jenkins when he dug a pedal for the nth time, and nearly crashed into Katie Brown, who was warming down in stealth mode after coming third in C grade.Oh well, Pat Naughton and I watched the sprint unfold from the back and saw some interesting shortcut tactics going on coming into the straight. Mr Fitzpatrick, S., guilty as charged, Your Honour. But José won it anyway so it was all to nought.
All up it's been a moderately successful summer for me here, with fewer placings but one win - so that's enough to keep me happy until next year. My sprint has completely gone to pot so I must be getting old, or not smoking enough.
Movies
The movie report will be even shorter than the race report because I haven't seen any movies at all in the last two months. I think most of my movie watching time has been taken up by recovery sleeps, and that's probably a good thing. But be warned, this section will be back, filled with more dross than ever before.The Last Trump
Well, I've just typed over half a milli-simian, which is approximately ten times the output of a single monkey that has been employed to randomly write out the complete works of Bill Shakespeare. Basically, that amounts to a whole lot of drivel, and there's more where that came from. Mark my words.For those of you who missed it at the beginning, and I don't blame you in the slightest if you skipped to the end to find out what happened, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and don't forget to hydrate properly.
Sunday, December 19, 2004
To the Club
I am reminded of a song by Spankox entitled, "To the Club". It goes something like:
Monday night, to the club
Tuesday night, to the club
Wednesday night, what a headache, but I went...to the club
Thursday night, to the club
Friday night didn't wanna go, but my friend Michelle called me on the phone and so I went...to the club!
etc.
Yes, there have been more outings this week, including another and more "in depth" visit to the Belgian Beer Café on Wednesday, and a rather late (or early, depending on how you look at it) excursion to a nightclub on Friday. Belgian beer is good stuff, but I was reminded on Thursday that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Thus, Friday evening after racing was spent drinking lite beer, which is a bit of a waste of money. You may as well alternate between a glass of real beer and one of water, because lite beer just doesn't quite have the flavour/alcohol/social ambience of the so-called real stuff.
Despite not hitting the turps too hard, getting to bed at 4am on Friday night was not really conducive to the Optimum Recovery from Racing PlanTM, especially as I had to get up at approximately in the vicinity of that hour on Sunday morning to race at West Head. It's all in the name of Fun and Fitness and is slightly better than banging your head against a wall.
I've been brushing up on a bit of Barry McKenzie too - classy stuff. Also, ma and I murdered Schubert's Fantasia in F minor duet on Saturday night. There should be a law against playing the piano when slightly pissed (we had one of mum's friends around for dinner). Maybe the Philosophers Song is appropriate at this juncture.
Last Tuesday at Heffron was our quickest yet, and I actually had good legs which was lucky, 'cos the FDJ-NSWIS boyz came down along with a few other hitters. We were lapping between 2'38 and 2'40 (a bit over 45 clicks an hour, utilising the metric system) and caught B grade with about four to go and C grade with just over one to go. The last lap and sprint was somewhat hairy, as they always are, but I managed to navigate my way through a bit of traffic to finish in the top 10 and well out of the money. But the sensations were good, as they say.
Just for a change I pedaled down to Sutherland for a Friday evening crit, and that was an enjoyably painful affair, with the emphasis on the painful side of things. At least it was only 24 km, so the pain was not too long lasting. Feeling suicidal, I attacked after about 10 mins and had a small gap when they blew the whistle for the first prime. My eyes lit up with the prospect of winning money, and I went flat out for the next lap to secure the princely sum of 10 bucks, which cancelled out my race entry money. Whoopee!
I hung out there for a few more laps until the hill started to take its toll and I was swallowed. The next two laps were rather painful but I just managed to hang on. At about 3.5 to go, a couple of guys attacked and - still feeling suicidal and not wanting to miss the fun - I got onto them at the bottom of the hill. It was a bit of a mistake as I couldn't even do one turn, and I was a little relieved when a couple of others bridged up. I hung on and finished fourth (they only paid top 3) and was a little annoyed that I was feeling so bad that I couldn't do any work. Thus, I vowed to drink lite beer that evening...
Sunday's Graham Jones Memorial Tour was a race I'd been looking forward to, because it was a change from the criteriums. We did an undulating 9.6km time trial, followed by a 45 km road race out to West Head and back, twice. I was happy with my TT, finishing in about 14'10 which was 15 secs quicker than two weeks ago. But for some reason, all (or a lot) of the times were out by roughly 30 seconds so I was given 13'45 for fifth place. Quickest was NSW State Champ Klayten Smith, who did 13'19, then David Rae (Easts, complete with shit hot TT bike) on 13'20, then NSW State runner up, Grafton and Tour of Bright winner Pete McDonald on 13'27, then another guy from Bicisport on 13'42, then moi.
With Klayten and Pete there, I knew there was approximately zero chance of me winning unless both of them crashed into each other. Klayten was a bit iffy 'cos his stem had a big crack in it, but we were all hoping that it wouldn't collapse on the way out to West Head.
The road race is always brutal. It starts with a 2 km climb and then goes up and down all the damn way, with climbs of between 500m-1km, dead roads and a nasty finish up a 300m/9% climb. Luckily there was no repeat of last year when the Tour leader attacked on the first climb and destroyed the bunch within two kilometres, with Robbie Cater and I hanging on for dear life. Robbie was actually with us today, but it was his first race back after a few months off so he just did one lap.
Given that David Rae was a TT specialist, it was really up to Pete to try to take the 8 seconds back from Klayten, which meant that he would have to win by 4 seconds as the time bonuses were 15-10-5 seconds for first three. On the first lap, Pete and David kept throwing in these little surges on all of the climbs and I kept yo-yoing off the back. Not good, as the group was still pretty large. But I didn't want to go into the red too much early on, and I was fairly confident I could rejoin on the downhills, which I managed to do each time. The group slowly got smaller and I thought about chucking it in on the way back on lap 1, until I saw David Rae crack. I chased back on and we were down to six riders, then on the finishing climb at the end of the lap, we dropped two of them and were finally down to four.
Lap 2 was a bit better as Pete's surges weren't as savage and Klayten was just keeping an eye on him. The other guy with us had beaten me in the TT by 3 seconds so all I needed to do was try to stay with him and grab the third place time bonus at the end.
Pete and Klayten finally cleared out with about 4 km to go and we really didn't have to chase them, even if we were able. On the finishing climb, the Bicisport dude sprinted hard from the bottom, which I thought was suicide. I was proved right as he expired halfway up so I secured third. Definitely happy with that, considering we had the top two guys in the State titles there.
I had better get some shut-eye. My body clock is just totally wrong.
Monday night, to the club
Tuesday night, to the club
Wednesday night, what a headache, but I went...to the club
Thursday night, to the club
Friday night didn't wanna go, but my friend Michelle called me on the phone and so I went...to the club!
etc.
Yes, there have been more outings this week, including another and more "in depth" visit to the Belgian Beer Café on Wednesday, and a rather late (or early, depending on how you look at it) excursion to a nightclub on Friday. Belgian beer is good stuff, but I was reminded on Thursday that it is possible to have too much of a good thing. Thus, Friday evening after racing was spent drinking lite beer, which is a bit of a waste of money. You may as well alternate between a glass of real beer and one of water, because lite beer just doesn't quite have the flavour/alcohol/social ambience of the so-called real stuff.
Despite not hitting the turps too hard, getting to bed at 4am on Friday night was not really conducive to the Optimum Recovery from Racing PlanTM, especially as I had to get up at approximately in the vicinity of that hour on Sunday morning to race at West Head. It's all in the name of Fun and Fitness and is slightly better than banging your head against a wall.
I've been brushing up on a bit of Barry McKenzie too - classy stuff. Also, ma and I murdered Schubert's Fantasia in F minor duet on Saturday night. There should be a law against playing the piano when slightly pissed (we had one of mum's friends around for dinner). Maybe the Philosophers Song is appropriate at this juncture.
Racing (Greg)
Only one more race to go this year so I've been doing as much as poss in the last few weeks. Five times in the last nine days has been pretty full-on, especially combined with the Optimum Recovery from Racing PlanTM. However, it's been generally OK.Last Tuesday at Heffron was our quickest yet, and I actually had good legs which was lucky, 'cos the FDJ-NSWIS boyz came down along with a few other hitters. We were lapping between 2'38 and 2'40 (a bit over 45 clicks an hour, utilising the metric system) and caught B grade with about four to go and C grade with just over one to go. The last lap and sprint was somewhat hairy, as they always are, but I managed to navigate my way through a bit of traffic to finish in the top 10 and well out of the money. But the sensations were good, as they say.
Just for a change I pedaled down to Sutherland for a Friday evening crit, and that was an enjoyably painful affair, with the emphasis on the painful side of things. At least it was only 24 km, so the pain was not too long lasting. Feeling suicidal, I attacked after about 10 mins and had a small gap when they blew the whistle for the first prime. My eyes lit up with the prospect of winning money, and I went flat out for the next lap to secure the princely sum of 10 bucks, which cancelled out my race entry money. Whoopee!
I hung out there for a few more laps until the hill started to take its toll and I was swallowed. The next two laps were rather painful but I just managed to hang on. At about 3.5 to go, a couple of guys attacked and - still feeling suicidal and not wanting to miss the fun - I got onto them at the bottom of the hill. It was a bit of a mistake as I couldn't even do one turn, and I was a little relieved when a couple of others bridged up. I hung on and finished fourth (they only paid top 3) and was a little annoyed that I was feeling so bad that I couldn't do any work. Thus, I vowed to drink lite beer that evening...
Sunday's Graham Jones Memorial Tour was a race I'd been looking forward to, because it was a change from the criteriums. We did an undulating 9.6km time trial, followed by a 45 km road race out to West Head and back, twice. I was happy with my TT, finishing in about 14'10 which was 15 secs quicker than two weeks ago. But for some reason, all (or a lot) of the times were out by roughly 30 seconds so I was given 13'45 for fifth place. Quickest was NSW State Champ Klayten Smith, who did 13'19, then David Rae (Easts, complete with shit hot TT bike) on 13'20, then NSW State runner up, Grafton and Tour of Bright winner Pete McDonald on 13'27, then another guy from Bicisport on 13'42, then moi.
With Klayten and Pete there, I knew there was approximately zero chance of me winning unless both of them crashed into each other. Klayten was a bit iffy 'cos his stem had a big crack in it, but we were all hoping that it wouldn't collapse on the way out to West Head.
The road race is always brutal. It starts with a 2 km climb and then goes up and down all the damn way, with climbs of between 500m-1km, dead roads and a nasty finish up a 300m/9% climb. Luckily there was no repeat of last year when the Tour leader attacked on the first climb and destroyed the bunch within two kilometres, with Robbie Cater and I hanging on for dear life. Robbie was actually with us today, but it was his first race back after a few months off so he just did one lap.
Given that David Rae was a TT specialist, it was really up to Pete to try to take the 8 seconds back from Klayten, which meant that he would have to win by 4 seconds as the time bonuses were 15-10-5 seconds for first three. On the first lap, Pete and David kept throwing in these little surges on all of the climbs and I kept yo-yoing off the back. Not good, as the group was still pretty large. But I didn't want to go into the red too much early on, and I was fairly confident I could rejoin on the downhills, which I managed to do each time. The group slowly got smaller and I thought about chucking it in on the way back on lap 1, until I saw David Rae crack. I chased back on and we were down to six riders, then on the finishing climb at the end of the lap, we dropped two of them and were finally down to four.
Lap 2 was a bit better as Pete's surges weren't as savage and Klayten was just keeping an eye on him. The other guy with us had beaten me in the TT by 3 seconds so all I needed to do was try to stay with him and grab the third place time bonus at the end.
Pete and Klayten finally cleared out with about 4 km to go and we really didn't have to chase them, even if we were able. On the finishing climb, the Bicisport dude sprinted hard from the bottom, which I thought was suicide. I was proved right as he expired halfway up so I secured third. Definitely happy with that, considering we had the top two guys in the State titles there.
I had better get some shut-eye. My body clock is just totally wrong.
Sunday, December 12, 2004
Sweatin' it out
After the Week that Was, there came the Weekend that Wasn't. It wasn't as bad as I expected it would be; neither was it particularly good. If Josh is correct - and I'm sure he is - then the last Week that Was was at Noosa in Feb. '98.
The 'why am I here?' look on Saturday
© Tony Horneman
On Saturday I lined up at Heffron for the usual 18 lapper, fully expecting to be hammered by Grafton winner Peter "The Machine" McDonald. He did not disappoint, attacking on the first lap and not ceasing until in the end, he had whittled the bunch of 13 down to three. He sprints as well as I do, so he got third.
In the early stages, when we were seven, I made the mistake of sitting up after doing my turn and trying to go to the back of the group. There were two guys who refused to come past me and we were all dropped simultaneously. Rule number one: Never let Peter McDonald get a gap.
So I spent the next 14 laps chasing with another guy, slowly losing ground to The Machine's group of four, which eventually became three. I guess we kept putting time into the rest of A grade so it wasn't all bad. I actually ended up fourth, where I probably still would have finished had I been with the front group. But it's always nice to be in the lead break rather than chasing. It was a good way to work off the excesses of the previous week too, as the photo above indicates.
Sunday's fixture was a bit (but not much) different - a 47km crit up at Beaumont Rd, Mt. Kuring-gai. It's about 40km to get there but the start was at 8:15am, so I didn't have to get up at a completely stupid hour. The course is a hotdog circuit of 3.2 km, with a bit of a hill in the middle and U-turns at each end.
I was impressed with the turnout: we must have had well over 100 riders in four grades, including a good 25-30 in A grade. It was a fairly attacking race too, which was good. It was also extremely easy to sit on, because apart from the two corners there were no other technical difficulties and no wind. I managed to inveigle my way into a few breakaways at various stages, all of which were pulled back.
I thought I'd have a go on the last lap 'cos I knew that a top 3 in a bunch sprint was somewhat improbable. So I went on the downhill just before the last corner with about 2km left and got a bit of a gap. I made it to the top of the hill coming back and attempted to wind up for a last ditch kick for the line, but there was not a lot left. A South African kiddie - Raynold Smith, who rides for Van Hemert Groep and did OK in Belgium this year - flew past me on the run into the line and won easily. Another guy chased him and I should have tried to get his wheel but mentally I had given up the ghost. He was just caught by Nash Kent and Laurie Vignes for second and third. It was rather fun.
I rode home via Bobbin Head with most of the Bicisport peloton and that was also rather fun. Spent most of the rest of the day sleeping and buggering up Bach's Prelude No. 2 in C minor. I've nearly cracked it though...
More galvanising this week, starting with Janelle's very sensibly organised Monday night birthday bash. Must try to get out for a ride.
The 'why am I here?' look on Saturday
© Tony Horneman
On Saturday I lined up at Heffron for the usual 18 lapper, fully expecting to be hammered by Grafton winner Peter "The Machine" McDonald. He did not disappoint, attacking on the first lap and not ceasing until in the end, he had whittled the bunch of 13 down to three. He sprints as well as I do, so he got third.
In the early stages, when we were seven, I made the mistake of sitting up after doing my turn and trying to go to the back of the group. There were two guys who refused to come past me and we were all dropped simultaneously. Rule number one: Never let Peter McDonald get a gap.
So I spent the next 14 laps chasing with another guy, slowly losing ground to The Machine's group of four, which eventually became three. I guess we kept putting time into the rest of A grade so it wasn't all bad. I actually ended up fourth, where I probably still would have finished had I been with the front group. But it's always nice to be in the lead break rather than chasing. It was a good way to work off the excesses of the previous week too, as the photo above indicates.
Sunday's fixture was a bit (but not much) different - a 47km crit up at Beaumont Rd, Mt. Kuring-gai. It's about 40km to get there but the start was at 8:15am, so I didn't have to get up at a completely stupid hour. The course is a hotdog circuit of 3.2 km, with a bit of a hill in the middle and U-turns at each end.
I was impressed with the turnout: we must have had well over 100 riders in four grades, including a good 25-30 in A grade. It was a fairly attacking race too, which was good. It was also extremely easy to sit on, because apart from the two corners there were no other technical difficulties and no wind. I managed to inveigle my way into a few breakaways at various stages, all of which were pulled back.
I thought I'd have a go on the last lap 'cos I knew that a top 3 in a bunch sprint was somewhat improbable. So I went on the downhill just before the last corner with about 2km left and got a bit of a gap. I made it to the top of the hill coming back and attempted to wind up for a last ditch kick for the line, but there was not a lot left. A South African kiddie - Raynold Smith, who rides for Van Hemert Groep and did OK in Belgium this year - flew past me on the run into the line and won easily. Another guy chased him and I should have tried to get his wheel but mentally I had given up the ghost. He was just caught by Nash Kent and Laurie Vignes for second and third. It was rather fun.
I rode home via Bobbin Head with most of the Bicisport peloton and that was also rather fun. Spent most of the rest of the day sleeping and buggering up Bach's Prelude No. 2 in C minor. I've nearly cracked it though...
More galvanising this week, starting with Janelle's very sensibly organised Monday night birthday bash. Must try to get out for a ride.
Friday, December 10, 2004
The Week that Was
Squally pocker dum. Oog. Walter the Wallabee has been spending the day week drinking beer with his pals Isembard the Iguana and Roger the Rabbit. This time, there was no inkblot to prevent them and Walter imbibed much amber ale. In the absence of real Belgian beer, I have Walter has opted for Becks, Hahn, Little Creatures Pale Ale, Redback, and - at a stretch - Tooheys Extra Dry. But no wine.
So far it's been all good. I feel like I've been drinking beer since Tuesday, December 7, and apart from a few breaks to ride my bike, it's not too far from the truth. Tuesday was fun - we came dead last at the Recognition PR Trivia Night at NSW Leagues Club and we were actually trying. Even if I had been there for the first two rounds and got questions such as "Who wrote the Nutcracker Suite?" correct (Hint: it wasn't bloody John Pachelbel, it was Mike Tchaikovsky) we still would have been shafted. Apart from getting our wooden spoons and Kit-kats for coming last, the highlight of the night was probably when each table was given a bag of straws, paper, blu-tack, scissors and elastic bands and asked to build the tallest free-standing tower possible. We started by joining straws together and that probably wasn't the best plan. We eventually built a foundation from rolled up pieces of paper and propped up our superstructure against the table.
It goes without saying that we lost the tower building competition quite miserably.
Thursday: repeat, except the ride was only 75 km and I still had a hangover. Evening. Pub. Paul M., Dave, Kristy, Kate M. Missed dessert and got home late. Worked on the hangover again. Hangover coming along nicely.
Friday: repeat, except the ride was only 40 km, I still had a hangover and I had to go to the dentist. I needed two injections to make my mouth numb enough for the Friendly Dentist to go in hard with the drill. It was only one filling, but I've been putting it off for the whole year. Tricky. I couldn't talk properly for about five hours afterwards, and even drinking out of a glass felt strange. Thus, I had to drink straight from the bottle for the office Christmas Party. That was at Tanman's rather fine apartment in Randwick overlooking Coogee Beach and a whole lotta other bits of the Eastern Slurbs.
Crikey it has been a tough week, despite being on holidays. I would have to backtrack to Noosa (199?) to find an equivalent week. I'll have to dry out over the weekend and race a couple of times, provided the weather eases up. It's pouring here at the moment, as it has done all afternoon.
In the meantime, I've been brushing up on my Bach and Chopin, and can now play that bloody Nocturne Op. Post. in C# minor without buggering it up halfway. I'm so proud. I've also sorted a couple of Bach Preludes, but I'm still nutting out Number II in C minor. Bit tricky, but I'm getting there. It's been fun playing the piano again!
So far it's been all good. I feel like I've been drinking beer since Tuesday, December 7, and apart from a few breaks to ride my bike, it's not too far from the truth. Tuesday was fun - we came dead last at the Recognition PR Trivia Night at NSW Leagues Club and we were actually trying. Even if I had been there for the first two rounds and got questions such as "Who wrote the Nutcracker Suite?" correct (Hint: it wasn't bloody John Pachelbel, it was Mike Tchaikovsky) we still would have been shafted. Apart from getting our wooden spoons and Kit-kats for coming last, the highlight of the night was probably when each table was given a bag of straws, paper, blu-tack, scissors and elastic bands and asked to build the tallest free-standing tower possible. We started by joining straws together and that probably wasn't the best plan. We eventually built a foundation from rolled up pieces of paper and propped up our superstructure against the table.
It goes without saying that we lost the tower building competition quite miserably.
And so it continues...
Forget the hair of the dog. I find the best hangover cure to be a four and a half hour ride in 30 degree heat. So on Wednesday I set out north, bound for Berowra Waters and Galston Gorge, two climbs I haven't done for yonks. It was a fun ride, and Berowra is still a tough little climb, averaging about 7 percent for 3 km. Galston is much more fun because of all the hairpins, and it's only 5 percent for 3 km. By the time I got back it was mid-afternoon so I had to rehydrate in time to go to the pub with Steve later.Thursday: repeat, except the ride was only 75 km and I still had a hangover. Evening. Pub. Paul M., Dave, Kristy, Kate M. Missed dessert and got home late. Worked on the hangover again. Hangover coming along nicely.
Friday: repeat, except the ride was only 40 km, I still had a hangover and I had to go to the dentist. I needed two injections to make my mouth numb enough for the Friendly Dentist to go in hard with the drill. It was only one filling, but I've been putting it off for the whole year. Tricky. I couldn't talk properly for about five hours afterwards, and even drinking out of a glass felt strange. Thus, I had to drink straight from the bottle for the office Christmas Party. That was at Tanman's rather fine apartment in Randwick overlooking Coogee Beach and a whole lotta other bits of the Eastern Slurbs.
Crikey it has been a tough week, despite being on holidays. I would have to backtrack to Noosa (199?) to find an equivalent week. I'll have to dry out over the weekend and race a couple of times, provided the weather eases up. It's pouring here at the moment, as it has done all afternoon.
In the meantime, I've been brushing up on my Bach and Chopin, and can now play that bloody Nocturne Op. Post. in C# minor without buggering it up halfway. I'm so proud. I've also sorted a couple of Bach Preludes, but I'm still nutting out Number II in C minor. Bit tricky, but I'm getting there. It's been fun playing the piano again!
Monday, December 06, 2004
Hits from the Blog
Huzzah, 'tis the holidays (for me anyway). That means I can be a sloth for the next three weeks before work resumes at Xmas time. Oh wot larx. My social colander is already filling up with important macaroni, and it's now five-sevenths full for the next week. In non-food layman's terms, this means that I am going out for five days out of the next seven, which is probably a post-university record. It also looks like quite a lot of alcoholic beverages, so I will have to pace myself like I did at the Australian Cyclist of the Year Awards.
Strangely enough, on the Sunday morning following the Awards, I woke up feeling very, very ill. It was strange because I should have felt worse on Saturday morning, but didn't, so I have retrospectively attributed this to food poisoning of some sort. I could barely eat breakfast but still rode out to Parramatta in 38 degree heat for the Teams Race. Dearie me, what was I thinking? Two punctures later, I got to Parramatta Park in the midst of all the 5000 people finishing the Cycle Sydney, and proceeded to not look forward to the race. Luckily for me, the worthy burgers at NSWCF Inc. Pty. Ltd. cancelled the race because the local Sarge hadn't actually approved it. I did think there would be a problem racing on the circuit when there were hordes of people still trickling in (some literally) from the Cycle Sydney. But what would I know?
I did make it to Josh's place a bit earlier and collapsed on the floor for the duration of the afternoon, being rehydrated by Josh and Anita and occasionally trodden on by Daniel, who is a fine child of two and more than a half. Anita is expecting another in January and good luck to her, I say. Fortunately Josh gave me a lift home because I was in no condition to move very far. All I could eat all day were some cheese and crackers and a chocolate biscuit. Even drinking made me feel ill.
Monday was pretty much the same, so definitely no riding. Once I got into work I was a little better and I could eat solids again. I really have no idea what was wrong, but I felt as if someone had flattened me.
Tuesday and Wednesday were marginally better, despite it being 40 degrees in Sydney(!) Jeez Louise. I managed to ride but had a tendency to blow up after about an hour.
It took until Friday to feel back to normal again. This was fortunate because we had an important Family pre-Xmas engagement over at Kiribati. Most of the Jones brigade were there: Alec, Libby, Antony (who's orf to China this week for a five week look-see at the Forbidden City and Great Wall), Alana, Sophie, Nik, Nina (child of Sophie and Nik, also very fine), Cathy (not a Jones but mother of Christina, of Sam and Christina fame, neither of whom were there), and Edith. All of the elder Joneses are pretty deaf so we spent the evening shouting at each other, drinking champers and eating Dolmathakia.
I felt well enough to race on Saturday so I did, and managed my first third place this summer season. It was one of those ridiculously strong Nor' easterly days which reduced us to a grovel on the back straight. I was using my 53x21 on the second 'pimple', to give you an idea of it. There were about 15 starters but after a few laps, Spurge decided that he'd had enough and attacked a few times. After five laps we had a break of five (Spurge, Pat Naughton, George Pappas just back from the Himalayas, and Nick Rathbourne) and that was it. I had a coupla attacks in the closing laps but I knew they would be pointless and they were.
The sprint was interesting: Spurge and I started at the same time, but Spurge managed to drop the chain off the big ring (he jumped in the 53x11!) and almost irreversibly injured himself. So that put him out of contention and Pat and Nick easily passed me to take first and second. My sprint needs some work 'cos it's nowhere near as good as last year yet.
Sunday, being my first official day of hols, saw me get up at a ridiculous hour (4:45am) and trundle north to Terrey Hills for what I thought was going to be a one day tour. I was almost late but they'd decided not to have the tour and just run a 9.6 km TT instead. Normally there is a really tough 44 km road race out to West Head and back twice afterwards. I would have preferred that to the TT, but anyway...
The TT course is reasonably tough. It undulates downhill for the outward leg but there is a nasty little hill right at the turnaround. Coming back is a grovel - it's more uphill than down and it's bloody hard to keep your momentum. I had a good ride going out in about 6'55 (4.8 km) but struggled a bit coming home. I've now realised my left shoe/orthotic is not at all correctly positioned and my foot was sliding all over the place, which was not good at all. I finished up with 14'24, which was 7 seconds slower than I did last year on what should have been a faster bike. But the winning time was 14'22 so I was second, which ain't too bad I suppoge.
We did get a bunch together to cruise down to Akuna Bay, which I haven't done for many many years, and then out to West Head/Church Point to satisfy our masochistic tendencies. That was good as it was a tres nice day and we still got our ride in.
On Sunday evening there was a Main side of the family gathering chez nous so we caught up with Jeff and Linda and Justine and Nick. Justine is also very pregnant with the Child expected sometime around Xmas, so good luck to her I say. We had much wine and Greek foodage, and no-one got food poisoning, which was a plus.
Ma said she's never seen anyone inside the shop. It's tragic really.
I'd better get back tomurdering perfecting this Chopin Nocturne. Luckily it's a posthumous one.
Strangely enough, on the Sunday morning following the Awards, I woke up feeling very, very ill. It was strange because I should have felt worse on Saturday morning, but didn't, so I have retrospectively attributed this to food poisoning of some sort. I could barely eat breakfast but still rode out to Parramatta in 38 degree heat for the Teams Race. Dearie me, what was I thinking? Two punctures later, I got to Parramatta Park in the midst of all the 5000 people finishing the Cycle Sydney, and proceeded to not look forward to the race. Luckily for me, the worthy burgers at NSWCF Inc. Pty. Ltd. cancelled the race because the local Sarge hadn't actually approved it. I did think there would be a problem racing on the circuit when there were hordes of people still trickling in (some literally) from the Cycle Sydney. But what would I know?
I did make it to Josh's place a bit earlier and collapsed on the floor for the duration of the afternoon, being rehydrated by Josh and Anita and occasionally trodden on by Daniel, who is a fine child of two and more than a half. Anita is expecting another in January and good luck to her, I say. Fortunately Josh gave me a lift home because I was in no condition to move very far. All I could eat all day were some cheese and crackers and a chocolate biscuit. Even drinking made me feel ill.
Monday was pretty much the same, so definitely no riding. Once I got into work I was a little better and I could eat solids again. I really have no idea what was wrong, but I felt as if someone had flattened me.
Tuesday and Wednesday were marginally better, despite it being 40 degrees in Sydney(!) Jeez Louise. I managed to ride but had a tendency to blow up after about an hour.
It took until Friday to feel back to normal again. This was fortunate because we had an important Family pre-Xmas engagement over at Kiribati. Most of the Jones brigade were there: Alec, Libby, Antony (who's orf to China this week for a five week look-see at the Forbidden City and Great Wall), Alana, Sophie, Nik, Nina (child of Sophie and Nik, also very fine), Cathy (not a Jones but mother of Christina, of Sam and Christina fame, neither of whom were there), and Edith. All of the elder Joneses are pretty deaf so we spent the evening shouting at each other, drinking champers and eating Dolmathakia.
I felt well enough to race on Saturday so I did, and managed my first third place this summer season. It was one of those ridiculously strong Nor' easterly days which reduced us to a grovel on the back straight. I was using my 53x21 on the second 'pimple', to give you an idea of it. There were about 15 starters but after a few laps, Spurge decided that he'd had enough and attacked a few times. After five laps we had a break of five (Spurge, Pat Naughton, George Pappas just back from the Himalayas, and Nick Rathbourne) and that was it. I had a coupla attacks in the closing laps but I knew they would be pointless and they were.
The sprint was interesting: Spurge and I started at the same time, but Spurge managed to drop the chain off the big ring (he jumped in the 53x11!) and almost irreversibly injured himself. So that put him out of contention and Pat and Nick easily passed me to take first and second. My sprint needs some work 'cos it's nowhere near as good as last year yet.
Sunday, being my first official day of hols, saw me get up at a ridiculous hour (4:45am) and trundle north to Terrey Hills for what I thought was going to be a one day tour. I was almost late but they'd decided not to have the tour and just run a 9.6 km TT instead. Normally there is a really tough 44 km road race out to West Head and back twice afterwards. I would have preferred that to the TT, but anyway...
The TT course is reasonably tough. It undulates downhill for the outward leg but there is a nasty little hill right at the turnaround. Coming back is a grovel - it's more uphill than down and it's bloody hard to keep your momentum. I had a good ride going out in about 6'55 (4.8 km) but struggled a bit coming home. I've now realised my left shoe/orthotic is not at all correctly positioned and my foot was sliding all over the place, which was not good at all. I finished up with 14'24, which was 7 seconds slower than I did last year on what should have been a faster bike. But the winning time was 14'22 so I was second, which ain't too bad I suppoge.
We did get a bunch together to cruise down to Akuna Bay, which I haven't done for many many years, and then out to West Head/Church Point to satisfy our masochistic tendencies. That was good as it was a tres nice day and we still got our ride in.
On Sunday evening there was a Main side of the family gathering chez nous so we caught up with Jeff and Linda and Justine and Nick. Justine is also very pregnant with the Child expected sometime around Xmas, so good luck to her I say. We had much wine and Greek foodage, and no-one got food poisoning, which was a plus.
Luxury pet beds
Possibly the saddest thing I have seen this year is the Luxury Pet Bed shop on Parramatta Road, just before the turn-off to Crystal Street. Ma pointed it out to me the other night after we'd feasted at the Sushi Bar Rashai. Even though it's on a major road, it's in a pretty dead area for a shop and I can't imagine there'd be a lot of passing trade. But perhaps it wouldn't matter, because when you look through the window and see all these miniature beds for cats/dogs/other domesticated animals, you ask yourself "Who on earth would buy such a thing?". The beds are like real beds, with little iron bedheads, mattresses, pillows, and I'm sure you could get mini-doonas as well...Ma said she's never seen anyone inside the shop. It's tragic really.
I'd better get back to
Saturday, November 27, 2004
The Aussie Aussie awards
Last night, being vrijdag, marked the annual galah Aussie cyclist of the Year awards, which were held this year at Darling Harbour Convention Centre, just a tad more interesting than the centre of the Dunc Gray Velodrome. It was truly a galah occasion, and it was like a who's who of Australian cycling, as we regularly remarked to each other.
The presenters were nearly all cyclists, and this was perhaps not the most inspired choice. After hearing Michael Ford and Ryan Bayley present a few awards, it became clear that good athletes don't necessarily make good public speakers. At our table, Mark Renshaw summed it up nicely, "We can't read, we can't write, but we can win bike races."
Nevertheless, there are quite a few articulate riders out there, such as Brad McGee, Stuey, Matt "You Can't Handle The Truth" White, Sara Carrigan, Oenone pronounced Eh-noh-nee Wood and Lindy Hou. And the suitably gormless Ryan Bayley's comment after he won the Aussie Cyclist of the Year was quite pithy: "Screw everyone who doubted us." Onya Ryan - tell it like it is!
Anthony Tan, Les Clarke, me, Kate Marley, John Stevenson and Gerard Knapp
©Lesleigh Russell
We managed to scrape up six of the eight Sydney-based Cyclingnews crew to occupy most of a table. Not bad going I reckon. Ash Hutchinson, the aforementioned Renshaw, John Stevenson's wife Lesleigh and Kate Marley's beau Nathan Rennie (top Aussie downhiller) rounded out the ten, and a good time was had by all. There was much grog consumed. I vowed early on in the evening to stick with beer, but the beer seemed to dry up and someone had advertently left an opened bottle of red wine in front of me. I looked on the label but couldn't see a year on it, so at least I could be assured that it wasn't past its use-by date. It's amazing how much wine you can drink with a shot glass.
Food-wise, it was a bit thin on the ground if you know what I mean. Three courses, all very small and round. We had smoked salmon with tiny round sliced potatoes, then round beef on a round potato cake, then a round sponge/chocolatey dessert type situation. Applying a bit of basic geometry to the meal, I believe that someone miscalculated the serving sizes. Especially for a bunch of cyclists. If they'd doubled the radius, the volume would have quadrupled and that might just have been enough. Oh well, at least there was round beer and round wine in round glasses.
I conclude that filling up the round holes in one's stomach with alcohol leads to a certain sensation whereby the room goes round and round. Especially when you close your eyes. And in the morning, it's more like, "Don't make any sudden movements or you're for it..." Round and round.
But tomorrow is the famous Teams Race out at Parramatta Park, a major appointment for the Gallant Randwick Botany Lads who effectively have two teams of six in the 80 rider field. Not bad! My team consists of Jerzy Sowa, Pat Naughton, Shaun Higgerson, Chris Jenkins and Mark Robertson (and me). The goal is: DESTROY!! Or at least win some money. Hence, I want to be a bit fresher for it.
All going well, I should be dropping in to see the Josh/Anita/Daniel/? clan for afternoon tea and bikkies, 'cos they also live at Parramatta.
The presenters were nearly all cyclists, and this was perhaps not the most inspired choice. After hearing Michael Ford and Ryan Bayley present a few awards, it became clear that good athletes don't necessarily make good public speakers. At our table, Mark Renshaw summed it up nicely, "We can't read, we can't write, but we can win bike races."
Nevertheless, there are quite a few articulate riders out there, such as Brad McGee, Stuey, Matt "You Can't Handle The Truth" White, Sara Carrigan, Oenone pronounced Eh-noh-nee Wood and Lindy Hou. And the suitably gormless Ryan Bayley's comment after he won the Aussie Cyclist of the Year was quite pithy: "Screw everyone who doubted us." Onya Ryan - tell it like it is!
Anthony Tan, Les Clarke, me, Kate Marley, John Stevenson and Gerard Knapp
©Lesleigh Russell
We managed to scrape up six of the eight Sydney-based Cyclingnews crew to occupy most of a table. Not bad going I reckon. Ash Hutchinson, the aforementioned Renshaw, John Stevenson's wife Lesleigh and Kate Marley's beau Nathan Rennie (top Aussie downhiller) rounded out the ten, and a good time was had by all. There was much grog consumed. I vowed early on in the evening to stick with beer, but the beer seemed to dry up and someone had advertently left an opened bottle of red wine in front of me. I looked on the label but couldn't see a year on it, so at least I could be assured that it wasn't past its use-by date. It's amazing how much wine you can drink with a shot glass.
Food-wise, it was a bit thin on the ground if you know what I mean. Three courses, all very small and round. We had smoked salmon with tiny round sliced potatoes, then round beef on a round potato cake, then a round sponge/chocolatey dessert type situation. Applying a bit of basic geometry to the meal, I believe that someone miscalculated the serving sizes. Especially for a bunch of cyclists. If they'd doubled the radius, the volume would have quadrupled and that might just have been enough. Oh well, at least there was round beer and round wine in round glasses.
I conclude that filling up the round holes in one's stomach with alcohol leads to a certain sensation whereby the room goes round and round. Especially when you close your eyes. And in the morning, it's more like, "Don't make any sudden movements or you're for it..." Round and round.
Parramatta Teams Race
The above wasn't the reason that I didn't race today at Heffron. Actually once I did get out to Centennial Park for a couple of hours, I felt really good for the first time this week. Nice day for it too.But tomorrow is the famous Teams Race out at Parramatta Park, a major appointment for the Gallant Randwick Botany Lads who effectively have two teams of six in the 80 rider field. Not bad! My team consists of Jerzy Sowa, Pat Naughton, Shaun Higgerson, Chris Jenkins and Mark Robertson (and me). The goal is: DESTROY!! Or at least win some money. Hence, I want to be a bit fresher for it.
All going well, I should be dropping in to see the Josh/Anita/Daniel/? clan for afternoon tea and bikkies, 'cos they also live at Parramatta.
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