I'm back in sunny Adelaide again, and it's January. It's also 35 each day. Ish. Went for a ride up into the hills and didn't beat my record up Norton Summit. Not bloody surprised as it was so damn hot.
Now I am drinking Coopers after the opening stage of the Tour Down Under. I am steering clear of Jacob's Creek this year.
The end.
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
Quo?
As promised, some pics of Christmas and Nina's birthday party thrown in for good measure. The latter was during my weekend frenzy of BBQs, which was mixed in between a fair bit of work. It was a tough weekend.
Saturday: work, rode up to Wyong for Nina's birthday, a fun time was had by all, including Nina. Ant, dad, Pete, Nina, Astrid all had gos on my bike. Well, Nina and Astrid's dolls did. The swing collapsed, much to Lucy's chagrin. We had nice cake and whatnot. End with more work.
Sunday: Work, short ride, Dave's BBQ at chateau Langles in Marsfield. Nearly met the vendors of our flat, but they left before I was introduced. Maybe a good thing. I had to cut the BBQ short so I could get to a BBQ at our place. Cousin Jus, Nick and Zoe (I have many cousins) came over, along with Uncle Jeff, Michael (also a cousin) and Mary, plus us five. We had two huge Atlantic salmon, courtesy of Cousin Dave (bro of Cousin Jus and son of Uncle Jeff), as he works on a fish farm in Tassie. We cooked the salmon on our brand spankin' new BBQ and it was good.
Two BBQs in one day. I was hammered. More work.
On Monday we settled on our flat at last, so we officially own the thing. Well, the bank does. Woo hoo! We celebrated with a coffee at the local cafe in Wilson St, which I've been meaning to check out ever since I saw it. Then took a stroll around the block up King St to check out the amenities: Thai, Vietnamese, African, Italian, Chinese, Lebanese restaurants + various cafes all within half a km. Also cinema, hardware shop, church, bakery, funeral parlour, clothes, newsagent, train station, 7-11, and more cafes. This place has got everything, trust me.
Was gunna race on Tuesday but we had a meeting, so I couldn't :-( Next week is TDU so I may race Saturday, but otherwise maybe when I return from Adelaide. The Giant is faring well. Broke a few climbing records on it.
I can also relate to the "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" South Park episode, after I joined a site called Where Are You Now? recently. It's a "global community" site with about 3 million members, and it's a good way to meet different people if you're travelling around. So I put up my profile and I keep getting all these instant messages when I log on (unlike Cartman, fortunately not from older men). Not even spam, which I'm quite surprised at. It's pretty funny, given the amount of time that I can't spend chatting online. But it could be handy.
I'll be back in Belg on the 21st of Feb or thereabouts.
And now for the photos:
Ant, Piers and Alec discuss matters of import at Xmas
© Jeff Jones
Lucy gets crankin' on the presents
© Jeff Jones
The Christmas table...
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina at Christmas
© Jeff Jones
Getting stuck into it
© Jeff Jones
Failing to light the brandy
© Jeff Jones
The table at Nina's birthday in Wyong
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina gets ready to blow out three candles
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina at her birthday
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Ant on my Giant
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina and Cousin-in-law Nik check out my Giant
© Jeff Jones
Lucy and Pete gambol on the swing, watched by Astrid (no cousin of mine)
© Jeff Jones
The obligatory Wyong group shot on the step
© Jeff Jones
Saturday: work, rode up to Wyong for Nina's birthday, a fun time was had by all, including Nina. Ant, dad, Pete, Nina, Astrid all had gos on my bike. Well, Nina and Astrid's dolls did. The swing collapsed, much to Lucy's chagrin. We had nice cake and whatnot. End with more work.
Sunday: Work, short ride, Dave's BBQ at chateau Langles in Marsfield. Nearly met the vendors of our flat, but they left before I was introduced. Maybe a good thing. I had to cut the BBQ short so I could get to a BBQ at our place. Cousin Jus, Nick and Zoe (I have many cousins) came over, along with Uncle Jeff, Michael (also a cousin) and Mary, plus us five. We had two huge Atlantic salmon, courtesy of Cousin Dave (bro of Cousin Jus and son of Uncle Jeff), as he works on a fish farm in Tassie. We cooked the salmon on our brand spankin' new BBQ and it was good.
Two BBQs in one day. I was hammered. More work.
On Monday we settled on our flat at last, so we officially own the thing. Well, the bank does. Woo hoo! We celebrated with a coffee at the local cafe in Wilson St, which I've been meaning to check out ever since I saw it. Then took a stroll around the block up King St to check out the amenities: Thai, Vietnamese, African, Italian, Chinese, Lebanese restaurants + various cafes all within half a km. Also cinema, hardware shop, church, bakery, funeral parlour, clothes, newsagent, train station, 7-11, and more cafes. This place has got everything, trust me.
Was gunna race on Tuesday but we had a meeting, so I couldn't :-( Next week is TDU so I may race Saturday, but otherwise maybe when I return from Adelaide. The Giant is faring well. Broke a few climbing records on it.
I can also relate to the "Cartman Joins NAMBLA" South Park episode, after I joined a site called Where Are You Now? recently. It's a "global community" site with about 3 million members, and it's a good way to meet different people if you're travelling around. So I put up my profile and I keep getting all these instant messages when I log on (unlike Cartman, fortunately not from older men). Not even spam, which I'm quite surprised at. It's pretty funny, given the amount of time that I can't spend chatting online. But it could be handy.
I'll be back in Belg on the 21st of Feb or thereabouts.
And now for the photos:
Ant, Piers and Alec discuss matters of import at Xmas© Jeff Jones
Lucy gets crankin' on the presents© Jeff Jones
The Christmas table...© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina at Christmas© Jeff Jones
Getting stuck into it© Jeff Jones
Failing to light the brandy© Jeff Jones
The table at Nina's birthday in Wyong© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina gets ready to blow out three candles© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina at her birthday© Jeff Jones
Cousin Ant on my Giant© Jeff Jones
Cousin Nina and Cousin-in-law Nik check out my Giant© Jeff Jones
Lucy and Pete gambol on the swing, watched by Astrid (no cousin of mine)© Jeff Jones
The obligatory Wyong group shot on the step© Jeff Jones
Sunday, January 01, 2006
I lied about the Christmas blog
Mainly because I haven't got the digital photos developed so I can post them here. My memory is fading, but I guess a fair bit has happened in the last week and a bit. So, with a great deal of further ado, I should wish the blog reading public a Happy New Year before someone else does. They've probably done that already so I'm buggered.
I'm also buggered because it was 45 degrees here in sunny Sydney today. It was the hottest New Year's Day ever, and 2005 was the hottest December ever and I think the hottest year ever. It must be all those polluting trees...
I, er, got up too late to go for a ride, so I started the New Year with zero kilometres. We (Lucy, Pete and I) started our NYE celebrations on the rooftop of Nick Riemer's flat in Kings Cross. Nick wasn't there, but Cousin Ant was, so we didn't have to break the lock. The roof afforded a great view of the dual fireworks over the harbour, and an even better one of the party on the adjacent rooftop, which we didn't get invited to.
Not to worry, because Lucy's friend Louise had a do on at hers and Anton's place in Chippo, so we saw in the New Year then, courtesy of Channel 9, Richard Wilkins, and Steinlager, which is a Kiwi beer. That shocked me, but then I also learned that Kylie has breast cancer and that Martina Hingis was making a comeback. We ended up fairly relaxed.
We also played SingStation.
Scroll back to Friday, December 23, where we celebrated Lucy's 30th birthday at the Australian Youth Hotel, which is one of several pubs managed by her friend Karen. We were in the Nude Bar, which was full of paintings of nudes. Surprisingly, our moderately sized group was the only one there. Normally it's packed. A good night was had by all and I stuck to safe beer.
Christmas Eve was another warm one - 38 or so - so I limited myself to a two hour ride in Centennial Park without suncream. Amazingly, I didn't get burned. That can't be good for you.
Christmas was about 30, so 100 km was possible, followed by much eating and Christmas cheering and cleaning up. We had about 15 people over at our joint and they were appreciative of our new pond and garden in the shape of a fish feature. I did receive many good presents, most of which were readable, some were edible, and one was an Einstein action figure given to me by my uncle. How cool is that?!?
From Boxing Day until the 30th I went up to Nelson Bay and visited Jim and Joan, which was great as always. We only had 10 of us there, so it wasn't quite as crowded and there was less cleaning up to do. It was very humid so I limited the riding a bit, but managed Lily Pily Hill once (900m, well over 10 percent grade). Swimming too - some half decent surf at One Mile Beach enabled me to catch a few waves and generally have fun.
I was gunna go up to Bluey's Beach on the way back to see Janelle and Tom, but the way was stopped by an inkblot. Actually it was more serious than that: a four car pileup near Buledelah had traffic banked up for kilometres. I waited an hour before the police told us to go back and go round another way. But by then it was too late so I headed back to Sydney, sans aircon, on a very hot day.
That more or less brings us up to the present, which is not actually the present because I've already written this.
Movies: Good Night, and Good Luck, with George Clooney and David Strathairn. About a TV journalist speaking out against McCarthy in the 1950s. Very good, topical, and I could relate to it too. Four and a half stars, or nine, depending on how you want to measure it.
Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Loved the books as a kid, and this wasn't a bad movie version. It had extra humour, which was good because the kids were a bit painful at times. The white witch was a bit insipid, I thought. But seeing a snow covered landscape when it was 41 outside was nice. Three and a half stars or seven.
I'm also buggered because it was 45 degrees here in sunny Sydney today. It was the hottest New Year's Day ever, and 2005 was the hottest December ever and I think the hottest year ever. It must be all those polluting trees...
I, er, got up too late to go for a ride, so I started the New Year with zero kilometres. We (Lucy, Pete and I) started our NYE celebrations on the rooftop of Nick Riemer's flat in Kings Cross. Nick wasn't there, but Cousin Ant was, so we didn't have to break the lock. The roof afforded a great view of the dual fireworks over the harbour, and an even better one of the party on the adjacent rooftop, which we didn't get invited to.
Not to worry, because Lucy's friend Louise had a do on at hers and Anton's place in Chippo, so we saw in the New Year then, courtesy of Channel 9, Richard Wilkins, and Steinlager, which is a Kiwi beer. That shocked me, but then I also learned that Kylie has breast cancer and that Martina Hingis was making a comeback. We ended up fairly relaxed.
We also played SingStation.
Scroll back to Friday, December 23, where we celebrated Lucy's 30th birthday at the Australian Youth Hotel, which is one of several pubs managed by her friend Karen. We were in the Nude Bar, which was full of paintings of nudes. Surprisingly, our moderately sized group was the only one there. Normally it's packed. A good night was had by all and I stuck to safe beer.
Christmas Eve was another warm one - 38 or so - so I limited myself to a two hour ride in Centennial Park without suncream. Amazingly, I didn't get burned. That can't be good for you.
Christmas was about 30, so 100 km was possible, followed by much eating and Christmas cheering and cleaning up. We had about 15 people over at our joint and they were appreciative of our new pond and garden in the shape of a fish feature. I did receive many good presents, most of which were readable, some were edible, and one was an Einstein action figure given to me by my uncle. How cool is that?!?
From Boxing Day until the 30th I went up to Nelson Bay and visited Jim and Joan, which was great as always. We only had 10 of us there, so it wasn't quite as crowded and there was less cleaning up to do. It was very humid so I limited the riding a bit, but managed Lily Pily Hill once (900m, well over 10 percent grade). Swimming too - some half decent surf at One Mile Beach enabled me to catch a few waves and generally have fun.
I was gunna go up to Bluey's Beach on the way back to see Janelle and Tom, but the way was stopped by an inkblot. Actually it was more serious than that: a four car pileup near Buledelah had traffic banked up for kilometres. I waited an hour before the police told us to go back and go round another way. But by then it was too late so I headed back to Sydney, sans aircon, on a very hot day.
That more or less brings us up to the present, which is not actually the present because I've already written this.
Movies: Good Night, and Good Luck, with George Clooney and David Strathairn. About a TV journalist speaking out against McCarthy in the 1950s. Very good, topical, and I could relate to it too. Four and a half stars, or nine, depending on how you want to measure it.
Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Loved the books as a kid, and this wasn't a bad movie version. It had extra humour, which was good because the kids were a bit painful at times. The white witch was a bit insipid, I thought. But seeing a snow covered landscape when it was 41 outside was nice. Three and a half stars or seven.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
There's a time for beer
It's almost Christmas, and a longer bit of Christmas bilge will follow, p'raps tomorrow. Christmas means Christmas drinkypoos, and that means a bit of effort down at the pub. Within the space of five days, I saw Josh at the Metro, had our work Christmas party at SPQR and thence the Clevo, then went to the ResMed mini-Chistmas partay at the Sackville. A summary:
Stella: quite drinkable in large quantities
James Squire Amber Ale: has a strong, dark taste and is good to kick you off on the road to ruin
Little Creatures: also has a strong taste but I don't like it
Erdinger Weissbier: comes in a huge glass and was flat when I drank it. I asked for a bottle of Pilsner Urquell the next time, but only got the Weissbier. Bugger.
Asahi: Fairly drinkable mild Japanese beer, and a good antidote to the Weissbier.
Cascade Pale Ale: Ditto, except it's Tasmanian.
That brings us up to the present.
Lucy and Pete have arrived from Londres and it's good to see them again. They are appreciating the RealSun(tm) that we get down under. As am I, because it stopped raining last week. Lucy seems to have no jetlag, which is good for her!
I'm still getting used to the Giant Advanced LE, which retails for $AUS8500 by the way. I'm not too fond of the integrated seatpost, as you can't adjust it to within 1mm, only 2.5mm. I need to file some of the spacers down because it's just a tad too high at the moment. Better than too low - I had it 0.5cm lower at Heffron last Tuesday and could barely hold on. The saddle also slipped back because the bolt wasn't lubed at all so you couldn't get it tight enough. Other than that, it's a nice bike - very nervous, climbs brilliantly, accelerates brilliantly, handles OK.
On Saturday we had the Christmas Pudding races and it was the hardest club race I've done for a while. 13 starters, but with Graeme Brown (Panaria -> Rabobank), Robbie Cater, Josh Marden (FRF), Jose Rodriguez (Clarence Street), Dave Treacy, who didn't puncture, Shaun Higgerson, Spurge, and a few more.
I felt just a tad under the weather following the work Christmas do on Friday, and the fact that it was really hot and humid didn't help me at all. So after one effort early on to bridge up to Brownie and Robbie, I had no more sprints in me. Eventually, Brownie got away with Josh, Higgo and Jose, and won the sprint with an amazing throw over Higgo. I ended up 7th, but well out of the cash and puddings.
Sunday was the Johnny Warren ride, and you can read about that towards the end of this page. Nice day on the bike!
Yesterday was the Christmas Trophy Race, and we had about 50-60 starters. It was 20 laps, and despite the quality of the field, the pace wasn't really on except in certain sections (main straight/back straight occasionally). We only averaged 42 and I avoided crashing on the tennis court corner where I crashed in the Joe Sunde earlier this year. Ironically, towards the end of the race, I got in a break with Matt Fleming (who crashed in front of me in Jan), Mr Cater and Ben Isaaksen. We got away with 3 to go and hung out there until the St George train mowed us down with 600m left and we were goooooooone. However, I preferred to do that rather than finish anonymously in the bunch this time.
Stella: quite drinkable in large quantities
James Squire Amber Ale: has a strong, dark taste and is good to kick you off on the road to ruin
Little Creatures: also has a strong taste but I don't like it
Erdinger Weissbier: comes in a huge glass and was flat when I drank it. I asked for a bottle of Pilsner Urquell the next time, but only got the Weissbier. Bugger.
Asahi: Fairly drinkable mild Japanese beer, and a good antidote to the Weissbier.
Cascade Pale Ale: Ditto, except it's Tasmanian.
That brings us up to the present.
Lucy and Pete have arrived from Londres and it's good to see them again. They are appreciating the RealSun(tm) that we get down under. As am I, because it stopped raining last week. Lucy seems to have no jetlag, which is good for her!
I'm still getting used to the Giant Advanced LE, which retails for $AUS8500 by the way. I'm not too fond of the integrated seatpost, as you can't adjust it to within 1mm, only 2.5mm. I need to file some of the spacers down because it's just a tad too high at the moment. Better than too low - I had it 0.5cm lower at Heffron last Tuesday and could barely hold on. The saddle also slipped back because the bolt wasn't lubed at all so you couldn't get it tight enough. Other than that, it's a nice bike - very nervous, climbs brilliantly, accelerates brilliantly, handles OK.
On Saturday we had the Christmas Pudding races and it was the hardest club race I've done for a while. 13 starters, but with Graeme Brown (Panaria -> Rabobank), Robbie Cater, Josh Marden (FRF), Jose Rodriguez (Clarence Street), Dave Treacy, who didn't puncture, Shaun Higgerson, Spurge, and a few more.
I felt just a tad under the weather following the work Christmas do on Friday, and the fact that it was really hot and humid didn't help me at all. So after one effort early on to bridge up to Brownie and Robbie, I had no more sprints in me. Eventually, Brownie got away with Josh, Higgo and Jose, and won the sprint with an amazing throw over Higgo. I ended up 7th, but well out of the cash and puddings.
Sunday was the Johnny Warren ride, and you can read about that towards the end of this page. Nice day on the bike!
Yesterday was the Christmas Trophy Race, and we had about 50-60 starters. It was 20 laps, and despite the quality of the field, the pace wasn't really on except in certain sections (main straight/back straight occasionally). We only averaged 42 and I avoided crashing on the tennis court corner where I crashed in the Joe Sunde earlier this year. Ironically, towards the end of the race, I got in a break with Matt Fleming (who crashed in front of me in Jan), Mr Cater and Ben Isaaksen. We got away with 3 to go and hung out there until the St George train mowed us down with 600m left and we were goooooooone. However, I preferred to do that rather than finish anonymously in the bunch this time.
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Canberra redux
Miraculously, things did improve in Canberra over the weekend after Friday's rain. Not for everyone, mind you, because someone in Curtin was felled by a tree, which just goes to show how dangerous trees are.
Saturday dawned cold and windy, so I headed out to Cotter Reserve to cover the MTB race. Peter Hatton won it by a bloody long way and after waiting for the women's winner Rosemary Barnes to get in, I went back to the luxurious Saville Park Suits and filed my hard hitting race reportage. I'd decided by then that I was going to ride the 50 km handicap instead of the 70 km scratch race, and this proved to be a wise choice.
The handicap was from Old Parliament House out to Coppins Crossing, then to the top of Uriarra Crossing before turning around and coming home. Going out was into a block headwind, and our scratch bunch of nine had to catch some 145 riders in front of us. B grade ('chopping block') had a minute's start, and they'd extended that out to 1'30 by the time we left the 5 km neutral zone. We all had lead cars pacing us through there so we wouldn't go too fast, but I think we got a slow lead car...
We lost one guy after about 1 km, then another soon after. We climbed out of Coppins Crossing and lost a couple more, then Marcus Hayman decided to attack to make sure that we left them behind. I found out after that there was a bit of in-fighting between him and the other three guys in the bunch, which really helped our cooperation. We got Mr Hayman back at the top of the hill and then it was pretty much him, me, and John Forrest swapping off, with Neil Skipper coming through fairly often and Mick Payne very occasionally.
Surprisingly, we still caught 120 riders, and none of them managed to sit on when we got the speed wound up coming home. Alas, B and C grade were just out of reach, with B finishing 20 seconds ahead and C grade about a minute. Nevertheless, we still could sprint for fastest time, and I managed to pip Marcus for third place, $50 and a medal. Woo hoo!
In the scratch race that was run concurrently (via Coppins, Mt McDonald, and Uriarra), FRF-Caravello pretty much destroyed everyone and took 1-2 with Troy Glennan and Pete McDonald. I fail to see how Mr Glennan was honouring his contract with MG X-Power/Bigpond (he's signed for FRF for next season), as he wasn't even wearing their kit, but that's between him and his former team manager. Pete Hatton backed up pretty well from the MTB race to get about fourth. He's fit.
Sunday was not as easy. A 'hotdog' style criterium (two witches hat turns at each end of a 1 km road) and it was windy as buggery. It was a points score race, with 2 and 1 points for crossing the line 1st and 2nd each lap. There were also six FRF-Caravello and four Canberra guys in the bunch of 17, so you can guess what happened. I couldn't get around the corners at all well, and eventually pulled the pin with 3 laps to go after Rob McLachlan had us in the gutter for many laps. And we were the third group.
Then I paid a visit to my former piano teacher Colin Forbes and his wife Pat, who I haven't seen for eight years, probably because they live in Holt, which is a bloody long way out of Canberra. It was great to catch up with them and I have now completed the circle, because I saw the Forbes gels this year in Londres.
Drove home from Canberra fairly late and there were a lot of trucks on the road. Had nightmares of being blown off the road when I got to sleep.
Monday: Went back to work, paid the deposit on the flat (yay), got my new computer up and running.
Tuesday: Continued to get my new computer up and running. By the end of the day, it was getting there. My old computer sort of died, so it was good timing. I rolled down to Heffron for 15 laps at 45+ - nearly a minute quicker than last week. Again. But I did a few more turns this time, so that's something. We only caught C grade with 1 km to go and that means mega chaos = I don't bother sprinting, even if I could.
Wednesday: I heard that our loan has been approved, and we might even settle before Christmas. Woo hoo!
Thursday: Work. It's 40 degrees in Sydney.
Friday: Took possession of a new test bike, a Giant Advanced LE. Very carbon, very light (7.2 kg with pedals), very swish. The seatpost is part of the frame so you have to cut it off just right. I also got some new shoes to try out, so a double whammy there! Nice.
Ozzie Government rushed through 1354 pieces of fairly unpopular legislation this week. Why? Because they could. That's the problem when the senate is controlled by one party - no amount of debate helps. Democracy has been put on hold until the next election, or the one after, depending on whether we can get an Opposition.
Saturday: Set up the bike, took it for a spin at Heffron. There was big money up ($150 for first) and only six bloody starters in A grade!?! It's a bit silly, as you can now win more on a Saturday than you can on a Tuesday, which is much, much harder.
Lap 1: Pete McDonald goes off the front and we see him again.
Lap 2: Dave Treacy chases him and almost catches him when he punctures, according to the Jones/Treacy exclusion principle, which states that if either of us are at a race, then one of us will puncture. 9 times out of 10, it holds true, even in Belgium.
Laps 3-18: We drop people one by one until Dave and I are left chasing Pete, who wins by about a third of a lap. I feel OK, despite saddle being a bit high. Dave leads out into the headwind at 200m to go and I come around him very easily to get second and $90. He did 120 km of motorpacing in the morning, but I maintain that had nothing to do with it. I actually won a two man sprint.
Sunday: Work. I return to present tense writing, which is bad style. The rain returns for a bit and I get wet in Centennial Park for a couple of hours. Then I rev the Laser up to go to Bonnell's Bay, for the construction of Aunty Margaret's Water Feature. It is a great occasion, with 20 persons gathered in Margaret's house in Pelican Avenue. Apart from Margaret and I, there were: Jeff the elder, Jim and Joan, Ron, Kate, Lillian and friend Meg, Priscilla and Greg and children Rachel and Stella, Penelope and Kevin and children Alix and Michael, along with French and German exchange students, one of which was called Sabine and who liked kangaroo (or perhaps that was the other one), and Rocket the dog.
Much food is consumed, including steak, sausages, kangaroo, fish, potato salad, tuna/pasta salad, Ian Parmenter salad, fruit salad, bread, ice cream, bikkies, Christmas cake, and a Paddlepop. Collapse of stout party. There is consternation when we discover that all the water has vanished form the water feature, cause unknown. It doesn't appear to be a leak, so we fill it up and it stays full.
Robert Allenby won the golf. I am back to past tense.
Saturday dawned cold and windy, so I headed out to Cotter Reserve to cover the MTB race. Peter Hatton won it by a bloody long way and after waiting for the women's winner Rosemary Barnes to get in, I went back to the luxurious Saville Park Suits and filed my hard hitting race reportage. I'd decided by then that I was going to ride the 50 km handicap instead of the 70 km scratch race, and this proved to be a wise choice.
The handicap was from Old Parliament House out to Coppins Crossing, then to the top of Uriarra Crossing before turning around and coming home. Going out was into a block headwind, and our scratch bunch of nine had to catch some 145 riders in front of us. B grade ('chopping block') had a minute's start, and they'd extended that out to 1'30 by the time we left the 5 km neutral zone. We all had lead cars pacing us through there so we wouldn't go too fast, but I think we got a slow lead car...
We lost one guy after about 1 km, then another soon after. We climbed out of Coppins Crossing and lost a couple more, then Marcus Hayman decided to attack to make sure that we left them behind. I found out after that there was a bit of in-fighting between him and the other three guys in the bunch, which really helped our cooperation. We got Mr Hayman back at the top of the hill and then it was pretty much him, me, and John Forrest swapping off, with Neil Skipper coming through fairly often and Mick Payne very occasionally.
Surprisingly, we still caught 120 riders, and none of them managed to sit on when we got the speed wound up coming home. Alas, B and C grade were just out of reach, with B finishing 20 seconds ahead and C grade about a minute. Nevertheless, we still could sprint for fastest time, and I managed to pip Marcus for third place, $50 and a medal. Woo hoo!
In the scratch race that was run concurrently (via Coppins, Mt McDonald, and Uriarra), FRF-Caravello pretty much destroyed everyone and took 1-2 with Troy Glennan and Pete McDonald. I fail to see how Mr Glennan was honouring his contract with MG X-Power/Bigpond (he's signed for FRF for next season), as he wasn't even wearing their kit, but that's between him and his former team manager. Pete Hatton backed up pretty well from the MTB race to get about fourth. He's fit.
Sunday was not as easy. A 'hotdog' style criterium (two witches hat turns at each end of a 1 km road) and it was windy as buggery. It was a points score race, with 2 and 1 points for crossing the line 1st and 2nd each lap. There were also six FRF-Caravello and four Canberra guys in the bunch of 17, so you can guess what happened. I couldn't get around the corners at all well, and eventually pulled the pin with 3 laps to go after Rob McLachlan had us in the gutter for many laps. And we were the third group.
Then I paid a visit to my former piano teacher Colin Forbes and his wife Pat, who I haven't seen for eight years, probably because they live in Holt, which is a bloody long way out of Canberra. It was great to catch up with them and I have now completed the circle, because I saw the Forbes gels this year in Londres.
Drove home from Canberra fairly late and there were a lot of trucks on the road. Had nightmares of being blown off the road when I got to sleep.
Monday: Went back to work, paid the deposit on the flat (yay), got my new computer up and running.
Tuesday: Continued to get my new computer up and running. By the end of the day, it was getting there. My old computer sort of died, so it was good timing. I rolled down to Heffron for 15 laps at 45+ - nearly a minute quicker than last week. Again. But I did a few more turns this time, so that's something. We only caught C grade with 1 km to go and that means mega chaos = I don't bother sprinting, even if I could.
Wednesday: I heard that our loan has been approved, and we might even settle before Christmas. Woo hoo!
Thursday: Work. It's 40 degrees in Sydney.
Friday: Took possession of a new test bike, a Giant Advanced LE. Very carbon, very light (7.2 kg with pedals), very swish. The seatpost is part of the frame so you have to cut it off just right. I also got some new shoes to try out, so a double whammy there! Nice.
Ozzie Government rushed through 1354 pieces of fairly unpopular legislation this week. Why? Because they could. That's the problem when the senate is controlled by one party - no amount of debate helps. Democracy has been put on hold until the next election, or the one after, depending on whether we can get an Opposition.
Saturday: Set up the bike, took it for a spin at Heffron. There was big money up ($150 for first) and only six bloody starters in A grade!?! It's a bit silly, as you can now win more on a Saturday than you can on a Tuesday, which is much, much harder.
Lap 1: Pete McDonald goes off the front and we see him again.
Lap 2: Dave Treacy chases him and almost catches him when he punctures, according to the Jones/Treacy exclusion principle, which states that if either of us are at a race, then one of us will puncture. 9 times out of 10, it holds true, even in Belgium.
Laps 3-18: We drop people one by one until Dave and I are left chasing Pete, who wins by about a third of a lap. I feel OK, despite saddle being a bit high. Dave leads out into the headwind at 200m to go and I come around him very easily to get second and $90. He did 120 km of motorpacing in the morning, but I maintain that had nothing to do with it. I actually won a two man sprint.
Sunday: Work. I return to present tense writing, which is bad style. The rain returns for a bit and I get wet in Centennial Park for a couple of hours. Then I rev the Laser up to go to Bonnell's Bay, for the construction of Aunty Margaret's Water Feature. It is a great occasion, with 20 persons gathered in Margaret's house in Pelican Avenue. Apart from Margaret and I, there were: Jeff the elder, Jim and Joan, Ron, Kate, Lillian and friend Meg, Priscilla and Greg and children Rachel and Stella, Penelope and Kevin and children Alix and Michael, along with French and German exchange students, one of which was called Sabine and who liked kangaroo (or perhaps that was the other one), and Rocket the dog.
Much food is consumed, including steak, sausages, kangaroo, fish, potato salad, tuna/pasta salad, Ian Parmenter salad, fruit salad, bread, ice cream, bikkies, Christmas cake, and a Paddlepop. Collapse of stout party. There is consternation when we discover that all the water has vanished form the water feature, cause unknown. It doesn't appear to be a leak, so we fill it up and it stays full.
Robert Allenby won the golf. I am back to past tense.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Rain stops play
I'm here in the nation's glorious and unsullied capital, Canberra. If all had gone according to plan, I would have just finished a criterium in the city centre. But all did not go according to plan, as at approx. 4:30 pm, Parliament House Time, the heavens opened and our glorious capital was battered and drenched in a thunderstorm. It was still raining heavily at 6pm, so the organisers decided to call it off. Hmm. This would never happen in Belgium! Admittedly, there would have been a few crashes...
So I'm holed up in room 209 of the Saville Park Suites on Northbourne Ave, and very nice it is. Well it's better than getting wet. I'm also updating the blog because the alternative - watching "The World's Biggest Loser" or whatever it's called - sends a chill through my soul.
I made it to Canberra at 4pm, Saville Park Suites Time, and had to make a Decision. Well, I'd come all this way so after calling the media person, I drove approx. 1 km to the start/finish of the crit, where it was raining heavily. After consulting the oracle at the race, who had examined the auspices (the BOM site), I learned that it was all orf for this evening. However, there will be a consolation criterium run on Sunday. That'll give me something to do then, before dropping in on Colin and Pat in the arvo and then heading back to Sydney.
Somewhat desolate, I found a food court in some mall in central Canberra (how I hate malls). I partook of a Dai Ho Combination Laksa, followed by a caramel slice and a caramelatte at Gloria Jean's (how I hate Gloria Jean's, but it was that or Macca's or Hungry Jack's for anything resembling dessert).
What an evening.
Here are some pics, including those of sculpture by the sea
Rain stopped play in Canberra on Friday. Wimps!
©: Jeff Jones
The fountain of youth is in Canberra, our nation's glorious capital.
©: Jeff Jones
Hugh Kimber wants to race!
©: Jeff Jones
Check out this food court in Canberra. It's great.
©: Jeff Jones
Our landscaper Mick Purdy's People's Choice winning sculpture.
©: Jeff Jones
Cool, eh? You could own this for $27,000, if it wasn't already sold.
©: Jeff Jones
The Dali-esque sculpture from Mongolia.
©: Jeff Jones
More Dali from Mongolia.
©: Jeff Jones
Sculpture by the sea. How about one of these on your patio.
©: Jeff Jones
This wave won a prize, I think.
©: Jeff Jones
Crushed aluminium cans qualify as a sculpture.
©: Jeff Jones
Look at the sculptures, Ma.
©: Jeff Jones
Bondi. I don't think this won a prize.
©: Jeff Jones
So I'm holed up in room 209 of the Saville Park Suites on Northbourne Ave, and very nice it is. Well it's better than getting wet. I'm also updating the blog because the alternative - watching "The World's Biggest Loser" or whatever it's called - sends a chill through my soul.
What I did today
Much mucking around. I planned to leave Sydney at 10am, Petersham Central Time, but things conspired against me, and it wasn't until midday, Stanmore Cycles Time, that I finally set off. Driving the (t)rusty Laser lent to me by Simone, Steve and Charlie the dog, I ended up on the M5, but decided to visit a service station in Hurstville after I heard an alarming sound when I turned on the aircon. I checked everything with the dude at the servo, and he assured me that everything was OK and the car was in tip-top condition. I drove the rest of the way with the aircon off, sweltering slightly.I made it to Canberra at 4pm, Saville Park Suites Time, and had to make a Decision. Well, I'd come all this way so after calling the media person, I drove approx. 1 km to the start/finish of the crit, where it was raining heavily. After consulting the oracle at the race, who had examined the auspices (the BOM site), I learned that it was all orf for this evening. However, there will be a consolation criterium run on Sunday. That'll give me something to do then, before dropping in on Colin and Pat in the arvo and then heading back to Sydney.
Somewhat desolate, I found a food court in some mall in central Canberra (how I hate malls). I partook of a Dai Ho Combination Laksa, followed by a caramel slice and a caramelatte at Gloria Jean's (how I hate Gloria Jean's, but it was that or Macca's or Hungry Jack's for anything resembling dessert).
What an evening.
Here are some pics, including those of sculpture by the sea
Rain stopped play in Canberra on Friday. Wimps!©: Jeff Jones
The fountain of youth is in Canberra, our nation's glorious capital.©: Jeff Jones
Hugh Kimber wants to race!©: Jeff Jones
Check out this food court in Canberra. It's great.©: Jeff Jones
Our landscaper Mick Purdy's People's Choice winning sculpture.©: Jeff Jones
Cool, eh? You could own this for $27,000, if it wasn't already sold.©: Jeff Jones
The Dali-esque sculpture from Mongolia.©: Jeff Jones
More Dali from Mongolia.©: Jeff Jones
Sculpture by the sea. How about one of these on your patio.©: Jeff Jones
This wave won a prize, I think.©: Jeff Jones
Crushed aluminium cans qualify as a sculpture.©: Jeff Jones
Look at the sculptures, Ma.©: Jeff Jones
Bondi. I don't think this won a prize.©: Jeff Jones
Monday, November 28, 2005
Closer
As of today, Australian time, Jones & Jones are one step closer to owning the property concern in Newtown. I managed to get the planets, bank, solicitors, and agents aligned and we exchanged the contracts. There's a five day cooling off period (requested by me) so we can bail if the premises collapse in a pool of rubble on Saturday. But I have been led to believe that it won't. So by next Monday, we should be well and truly locked in Eddie.
It's been raining just a tad recently, and my planned big training week has been scuttled by the forces of nature. It's just not as fun riding in the rain in Sydney as it is in Belgium. Too many cars. So I've been limited to about 60-70 km a day for the past few days, with no racing. The bee-sting swelling has disappeared though, and strangely I didn't have any side effects from the prednisone. It did work.
The CA Awards were a slightly more memorable occasion than last year, namely due to the fact that I stuck to beer and beer alone. I swear they watered it down though, because I'd normally expect to feel some light headedness after 11 glasses. Maybe I'm just used to the real Belgian stuff.
Steve and Simone's wedding went off on Saturday, and the heavens lifted especially for the occasion. Everything was in Steve's garden in West Pymble, and it was the most chaotic wedding ceremony I've ever seen. Things got signed so I'm sure it's legally binding. 100-odd people there, the bbq was good, and I found out from Dave that The Property is actually being sold by a friend of his! He said no-one turned up to the auction four weeks ago!! That's pretty funny. But both Dave and Steve have stayed there, and reckon that it's a goer.
Finally, I just finished reading The Corporation by Joel Bakan. It's an interesting read, examining big, publicly traded companies and their ethics. Basically, because a corporation is legally required to maximise profits for its shareholders, it is sometimes forced to act in an amoral and often illegal manner. Think clothing sweatshops, for example. But the costs of breaking the law are outweighed by the benefits in doing so, so it continues. From a normal human point of view, this is a bad thing, but the corporation is so dominant and powerful at the moment that we have little choice but to accept it, even if we did know what was going on all the time. The continuing deregulation and privatisation merely adds to a corporation's power, and that has as a consequence a more inhuman society and a more selfish population, which I reckon is a bad thing.
The book details many examples, and Bakan reiterates his point several times per chapter. It's a little belaboured, the back and forth switching between two sides of the argument is confusing at times, and the logical conclusions predicted are often unrealistic, but overall it's still a good read, informative, and not written by a radical. At the end, Bakan proposes a whole lotta solutions, with the main one being that governments have to reclaim their power to regulate corporations, because now with all the money being poured into government coffers by the corporations, democracy is thrown out the window. Donations to political parties at election time are a good example.
I am kind of glad that I work for a privately owned (and ethical) company.
It's been raining just a tad recently, and my planned big training week has been scuttled by the forces of nature. It's just not as fun riding in the rain in Sydney as it is in Belgium. Too many cars. So I've been limited to about 60-70 km a day for the past few days, with no racing. The bee-sting swelling has disappeared though, and strangely I didn't have any side effects from the prednisone. It did work.
The CA Awards were a slightly more memorable occasion than last year, namely due to the fact that I stuck to beer and beer alone. I swear they watered it down though, because I'd normally expect to feel some light headedness after 11 glasses. Maybe I'm just used to the real Belgian stuff.
Steve and Simone's wedding went off on Saturday, and the heavens lifted especially for the occasion. Everything was in Steve's garden in West Pymble, and it was the most chaotic wedding ceremony I've ever seen. Things got signed so I'm sure it's legally binding. 100-odd people there, the bbq was good, and I found out from Dave that The Property is actually being sold by a friend of his! He said no-one turned up to the auction four weeks ago!! That's pretty funny. But both Dave and Steve have stayed there, and reckon that it's a goer.
Finally, I just finished reading The Corporation by Joel Bakan. It's an interesting read, examining big, publicly traded companies and their ethics. Basically, because a corporation is legally required to maximise profits for its shareholders, it is sometimes forced to act in an amoral and often illegal manner. Think clothing sweatshops, for example. But the costs of breaking the law are outweighed by the benefits in doing so, so it continues. From a normal human point of view, this is a bad thing, but the corporation is so dominant and powerful at the moment that we have little choice but to accept it, even if we did know what was going on all the time. The continuing deregulation and privatisation merely adds to a corporation's power, and that has as a consequence a more inhuman society and a more selfish population, which I reckon is a bad thing.
The book details many examples, and Bakan reiterates his point several times per chapter. It's a little belaboured, the back and forth switching between two sides of the argument is confusing at times, and the logical conclusions predicted are often unrealistic, but overall it's still a good read, informative, and not written by a radical. At the end, Bakan proposes a whole lotta solutions, with the main one being that governments have to reclaim their power to regulate corporations, because now with all the money being poured into government coffers by the corporations, democracy is thrown out the window. Donations to political parties at election time are a good example.
I am kind of glad that I work for a privately owned (and ethical) company.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Property tycoons
So Lucy and I are about to become property tycoons, after I made an offer on this place in Wilson St, Newtown. No, we won't get it that cheap, but I reckon it was a damn good price because it's in one of the desirable inner city spots in Sydney, and it's also quite a nice 2 bedroom unit. Speaking of desirable places, there's always this one. You probably have to be Sydneysider to get this - a tunnel subsided a few weeks ago and this flat was practically on top of it!
Back to the tycoons. The offer was accepted on Wednesday, so the next step is to exchange contracts and pay a deposit. I have left the matter in the hands of my solicitors, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel. Sorry, I always think of the Marx Bros (and Dickens, for that matter) when legal stuff involving property is concerned.
Once the deposit is paid, there's a 42 day settlement period, then we've got to cough up the rest of the cash. No worries. There's a tenant in there at the moment too, and he can stay until one of us (likely me) moves in there later next year. Get someone else to buy your property for you, that's the ticket. Our country's negative gearing laws help in that regard.
So far, it's taken about 3 weeks from when I started physically looking for places, helped by Lucy's able assistance from afar and Domain.com.au. It's not as hard as I thought it would be, but I wish I'd listened to sagely advice and applied for the loan very early in the piece.
Raced at Sutho last Friday and managed to break even by winning the first prime. It's a matter of attacking just at the time when you think they are going to blow the whistle. Maybe I'm psychic. Actually, I'm probably not, because I chose the wrong side to sprint from in the finale - the surge came on the right and I was on the left. 8th. And a free PowerBar, so I finished ahead for the night.
Tuesday at Heffron was interesting, because we had the whole of the Korean track team there. They were better than expected, because Heffron is usually a specialist track. If you haven't raced there much, you'll often have trouble in a Tuesday night handicap. We ended up with a huge A grade bunch - maybe 25 to 30. I played it safe and sat on, although I did have the urge to do some work. Whenever I tried to move up, there was a Korean or three in the way. We averaged 43.5 and caught B and C on the last lap, so it was a bit chaotic...
On Wednesday I got stung by a bee while riding through the National Park. The bugger hit me in the forehead when I was doing about 60 km/h and by the time I'd stopped, it had well and truly stung me. I made it home OK, but during the afternoon, my face swelled up like a balloon (think Jon Vaughters in the Tour de France that year) and on Thursday morning I could barely open and close my eyes! I went to the doc, and he gave me some prednisone, which has reduced the swelling a bit. He warned me that if I was a professional cyclist, I'd have to declare it, but I'm not, and I can't see myself being tested in the next [arbitrary time period].
Tomorrow, there's the CA Awards, so I hope I'm unswollen by then. I won't be drinking much wine though. Then on Saturday there's Steve and Simone's wedding chez Lane Cove. Coolness! They have been some of the major forces at work in our garden recently, and it has been completely remodeled in the shape of a fish. And this week we found out that sculptor Mick Purdy won the People's Choice Award at Sculpture By The Sea. Good on him. I voted at least three times for him. Damn, I should have voted for Lucy too. Anyway, he did some nice work in our garden too!
Back to the tycoons. The offer was accepted on Wednesday, so the next step is to exchange contracts and pay a deposit. I have left the matter in the hands of my solicitors, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel. Sorry, I always think of the Marx Bros (and Dickens, for that matter) when legal stuff involving property is concerned.
Once the deposit is paid, there's a 42 day settlement period, then we've got to cough up the rest of the cash. No worries. There's a tenant in there at the moment too, and he can stay until one of us (likely me) moves in there later next year. Get someone else to buy your property for you, that's the ticket. Our country's negative gearing laws help in that regard.
So far, it's taken about 3 weeks from when I started physically looking for places, helped by Lucy's able assistance from afar and Domain.com.au. It's not as hard as I thought it would be, but I wish I'd listened to sagely advice and applied for the loan very early in the piece.
Raced at Sutho last Friday and managed to break even by winning the first prime. It's a matter of attacking just at the time when you think they are going to blow the whistle. Maybe I'm psychic. Actually, I'm probably not, because I chose the wrong side to sprint from in the finale - the surge came on the right and I was on the left. 8th. And a free PowerBar, so I finished ahead for the night.
Tuesday at Heffron was interesting, because we had the whole of the Korean track team there. They were better than expected, because Heffron is usually a specialist track. If you haven't raced there much, you'll often have trouble in a Tuesday night handicap. We ended up with a huge A grade bunch - maybe 25 to 30. I played it safe and sat on, although I did have the urge to do some work. Whenever I tried to move up, there was a Korean or three in the way. We averaged 43.5 and caught B and C on the last lap, so it was a bit chaotic...
On Wednesday I got stung by a bee while riding through the National Park. The bugger hit me in the forehead when I was doing about 60 km/h and by the time I'd stopped, it had well and truly stung me. I made it home OK, but during the afternoon, my face swelled up like a balloon (think Jon Vaughters in the Tour de France that year) and on Thursday morning I could barely open and close my eyes! I went to the doc, and he gave me some prednisone, which has reduced the swelling a bit. He warned me that if I was a professional cyclist, I'd have to declare it, but I'm not, and I can't see myself being tested in the next [arbitrary time period].
Tomorrow, there's the CA Awards, so I hope I'm unswollen by then. I won't be drinking much wine though. Then on Saturday there's Steve and Simone's wedding chez Lane Cove. Coolness! They have been some of the major forces at work in our garden recently, and it has been completely remodeled in the shape of a fish. And this week we found out that sculptor Mick Purdy won the People's Choice Award at Sculpture By The Sea. Good on him. I voted at least three times for him. Damn, I should have voted for Lucy too. Anyway, he did some nice work in our garden too!
Friday, November 18, 2005
Multifarious bilge
As I wait for my speedy dialup connection to upload these pics from Londoninium, I will put finger to keyboard and write spew forth some bilge.
I'll start with London, seeing as that was a while ago already. It was another lightning early week trip to see Luce and the gang, meaning that I left on Monday afternoon at 3-ish, got the Eurostar to Waterloo, tube to Angel, walked to the pub where I met Luce, Pete, and Caz, with Mandy following suit at the Indian restaurant a while later. There were some drinks consumed but no olive pip throwing. Mandy was a bit knackered after starting rehearsals on a Mozart piece that was two hours and forty minutes long...and that was the shortened version! Too many notes.
Tuesday dawned cool and grey but Luce and I were somewhat more organised than last time (and she has a new bike) so we cycled along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Check it. Therein, we saw the new installation, which is a bloody great construction of plastic blocks blocks blocks taking up a fair chunk of the Tate's big hall, which is very big. Then we saw some more art (not bad at all) and had a coffee on the top floor.
Tuesday night was dinner at Cousin Polly's place, complete with baby Eva and cats. My memory for animal names is not so good, but it was a good dinner and great to finally catch up with Polly again after about seven years of living within about 3 hours of her. This is the first year I've managed to get enough time off during the season to go and visit though - one day is not sufficient.
That was a very potted summary of another fun time in London, but it'll have to do. Pics are here:
Setting out from Sabine Road
© Jeff Jones
A glorious day in London, complete with Millenium Bridge
© Jeff Jones
Lucy on her new steed that actually fits
© Jeff Jones
The large Tate Modern
© Jeff Jones
The installation of plastic boxes. Cool, innit?
© Jeff Jones
Chinatown in London is pretty small
© Jeff Jones
Bustling Chinatown
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Polly in Balham, Gateway to the South. Note pic of Battersea power station.
© Jeff Jones
Me and Cousin Polly
© Jeff Jones
Last Saturday I semi-cleaned up at Heffron, netting a massive payout of $65 for coming second. That's not bad for a club race - about the same as fourth in the Zwijnaarde kermis last year. The reason was that Il Presidente decided to run the race as a three grade handicap, and there were about 40 C graders, 20 B graders and just 6 A graders. It was 16 laps (for A) and we had to catch and then lap C grade. Tricky, but with Josh Marden, Spurge and I driving the groupette, we managed to get C grade the first time after less than four laps. A couple of laps later, the other three A graders had diminished off the back and I made the executive decision to continue with just Josh and Spurge.
It turned out OK as we caught B grade with four to go and C grade a lap later. There was some confusion for a lap or so as everyone was yelling 'hold your line', including a B grader who tried to pass me on the inside of the corner after the start/finish. There wasn't room, but I let him through and then attacked fairly hard. Josh and Spurge caught me with two to go and brought another five with them. Josh asked Spurge 'Is this it?' and Spurge replied in the affirmative, however Josh interpreted it to mean that this was the last lap, instead of 'yes, we have caught everyone'. So on the straight coming up to the bell lap, Josh wound it up and I was wondering what the hell he was doing as I was trying to close the 10m gap off the back. He crossed the line and then was downcast when they rang the bell.
I was a bit stuffed but I went again, fairly ineffectually, but it split the group up a bit more. Then the only remaining C grader countered and Spurge chased him down with me on his wheel. We caught him at 1 km to go and I went again, with Spurge easily taking my wheel. I was resigned to second place (didn't even try to sprint) but there is no shame in that. And we did split the money anyway.
Moving along...
The rest of Saturday and a bit of Sunday was spent going to Sculpture by the Sea at Tamarama/Bondi. It's a pretty fine exhibition and extremely popular. There were over 80 sculptures there, some of which were very big, including one by one of our garden landscapers Mick Purdy. It was four faces made out of sandstone and was easily one of the best there. I think he sold it for $27,000. Dad's going to enter in it next year, he reckons...
Monday was dinner at Cousin Sophie's place, complete with Husband Nik, Toddler Nina, Cousin Anty and Soph's three month-old pregnancy (yay). Again, it was most excellent to catch up with them all and we had some fine wine and even a roast dinner!
Although Nina is not even three, she remembers me making faces at here through the window at Wyong earlier this year, which shows she has a much better memory than moi. She is also on the way to becoming a very clean and tidy person, unlike the majority of the family. Anty is working for the public service in NSW regional water management (correct me if I'm wrong, Ant) as an interim occupation before going to study law at Oxford. He reckons he's going to float himself on the futures market to fund his degree, which we thought was a sound idea. You never know when you will need to have a stake in a high court judge.
On Tuesday, the weather was somewhat inclement: a massive southerly change brought in quite a bit of rain and I was the only one fool enough to turn up to Heffron. I knew there wouldn't be racing on, but I wanted to go there to reclaim my mobile phone, which I'd left there on Saturday. No dice. Got it back on Thursday. I did a few laps and didn't get blown off.
The weather was similar on Wednesday so I went through the Royal (via Artillery Hill for the first time in ages) and then did the Otford Wall. The latter is one seriously steep hill - it's nearly 2 km long - and I needed the 39x25 just to grind up it at 10 km/h in bits. Coming home was fun with that tailwind though.
Wednesday and Thursday evening consisted of pub meetings and one sausage sandwich for dinner (spread over two nights) along with much beer. Caught up with Josh (Saunders, not Marden) last night over a number of Hoegaardens and that was good. We discussed Fort Street's 20 year reunion (in 2008) and a 'where are they now', among other things. Where am I now? Am I the only one of our extremely successful year to end up as a journo? Maybe I'll find out in 2008.
I'll start with London, seeing as that was a while ago already. It was another lightning early week trip to see Luce and the gang, meaning that I left on Monday afternoon at 3-ish, got the Eurostar to Waterloo, tube to Angel, walked to the pub where I met Luce, Pete, and Caz, with Mandy following suit at the Indian restaurant a while later. There were some drinks consumed but no olive pip throwing. Mandy was a bit knackered after starting rehearsals on a Mozart piece that was two hours and forty minutes long...and that was the shortened version! Too many notes.
Tuesday dawned cool and grey but Luce and I were somewhat more organised than last time (and she has a new bike) so we cycled along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Check it. Therein, we saw the new installation, which is a bloody great construction of plastic blocks blocks blocks taking up a fair chunk of the Tate's big hall, which is very big. Then we saw some more art (not bad at all) and had a coffee on the top floor.
Tuesday night was dinner at Cousin Polly's place, complete with baby Eva and cats. My memory for animal names is not so good, but it was a good dinner and great to finally catch up with Polly again after about seven years of living within about 3 hours of her. This is the first year I've managed to get enough time off during the season to go and visit though - one day is not sufficient.
That was a very potted summary of another fun time in London, but it'll have to do. Pics are here:
Setting out from Sabine Road© Jeff Jones
A glorious day in London, complete with Millenium Bridge© Jeff Jones
Lucy on her new steed that actually fits© Jeff Jones
The large Tate Modern© Jeff Jones
The installation of plastic boxes. Cool, innit?© Jeff Jones
Chinatown in London is pretty small© Jeff Jones
Bustling Chinatown© Jeff Jones
Cousin Polly in Balham, Gateway to the South. Note pic of Battersea power station.© Jeff Jones
Me and Cousin Polly© Jeff Jones
The Oz report
Since last I updated, things have been busy, as usual. I'm on holidays for a couple more weeks (yay) and am making the best use of my time. House buying is coming along, but I need to get the cash together before making an offer on somewhere. The inner city/inner west is reasonably affordable with Lucy and I pooling our resources, so that will be good. By the end of next week, I hope things will be somewhat further advanced.Last Saturday I semi-cleaned up at Heffron, netting a massive payout of $65 for coming second. That's not bad for a club race - about the same as fourth in the Zwijnaarde kermis last year. The reason was that Il Presidente decided to run the race as a three grade handicap, and there were about 40 C graders, 20 B graders and just 6 A graders. It was 16 laps (for A) and we had to catch and then lap C grade. Tricky, but with Josh Marden, Spurge and I driving the groupette, we managed to get C grade the first time after less than four laps. A couple of laps later, the other three A graders had diminished off the back and I made the executive decision to continue with just Josh and Spurge.
It turned out OK as we caught B grade with four to go and C grade a lap later. There was some confusion for a lap or so as everyone was yelling 'hold your line', including a B grader who tried to pass me on the inside of the corner after the start/finish. There wasn't room, but I let him through and then attacked fairly hard. Josh and Spurge caught me with two to go and brought another five with them. Josh asked Spurge 'Is this it?' and Spurge replied in the affirmative, however Josh interpreted it to mean that this was the last lap, instead of 'yes, we have caught everyone'. So on the straight coming up to the bell lap, Josh wound it up and I was wondering what the hell he was doing as I was trying to close the 10m gap off the back. He crossed the line and then was downcast when they rang the bell.
I was a bit stuffed but I went again, fairly ineffectually, but it split the group up a bit more. Then the only remaining C grader countered and Spurge chased him down with me on his wheel. We caught him at 1 km to go and I went again, with Spurge easily taking my wheel. I was resigned to second place (didn't even try to sprint) but there is no shame in that. And we did split the money anyway.
Moving along...
The rest of Saturday and a bit of Sunday was spent going to Sculpture by the Sea at Tamarama/Bondi. It's a pretty fine exhibition and extremely popular. There were over 80 sculptures there, some of which were very big, including one by one of our garden landscapers Mick Purdy. It was four faces made out of sandstone and was easily one of the best there. I think he sold it for $27,000. Dad's going to enter in it next year, he reckons...
Monday was dinner at Cousin Sophie's place, complete with Husband Nik, Toddler Nina, Cousin Anty and Soph's three month-old pregnancy (yay). Again, it was most excellent to catch up with them all and we had some fine wine and even a roast dinner!
Although Nina is not even three, she remembers me making faces at here through the window at Wyong earlier this year, which shows she has a much better memory than moi. She is also on the way to becoming a very clean and tidy person, unlike the majority of the family. Anty is working for the public service in NSW regional water management (correct me if I'm wrong, Ant) as an interim occupation before going to study law at Oxford. He reckons he's going to float himself on the futures market to fund his degree, which we thought was a sound idea. You never know when you will need to have a stake in a high court judge.
On Tuesday, the weather was somewhat inclement: a massive southerly change brought in quite a bit of rain and I was the only one fool enough to turn up to Heffron. I knew there wouldn't be racing on, but I wanted to go there to reclaim my mobile phone, which I'd left there on Saturday. No dice. Got it back on Thursday. I did a few laps and didn't get blown off.
The weather was similar on Wednesday so I went through the Royal (via Artillery Hill for the first time in ages) and then did the Otford Wall. The latter is one seriously steep hill - it's nearly 2 km long - and I needed the 39x25 just to grind up it at 10 km/h in bits. Coming home was fun with that tailwind though.
Wednesday and Thursday evening consisted of pub meetings and one sausage sandwich for dinner (spread over two nights) along with much beer. Caught up with Josh (Saunders, not Marden) last night over a number of Hoegaardens and that was good. We discussed Fort Street's 20 year reunion (in 2008) and a 'where are they now', among other things. Where am I now? Am I the only one of our extremely successful year to end up as a journo? Maybe I'll find out in 2008.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
On holidays (nearly)
After two weeks of semi-intense work in the Surry Hills Office, I have earned myself a bit of time off. Three weeks, to be precise. That should be nice, as I have reached that "battery empty, need recharge" phase of the season. It won't be a relaxing period, as I have to sort out this house buying, but hey, it'll be something different!
Step 1) Get cash
Step 2) Acquire house
Easy!
I've been racing four (4) times at Heffron. Got 6th and 10th in the "Snowy Wilson", 6th A on the first Tuesday nighter, 5th on a crappy Saturday race, and dropped in the last Tuesday nighter after four (4) laps. I had bad legs for a week before that, so I wasn't really surprised. But I've replaced my flexy carbon seatpost with a more solid titanium one, and I already feel better. I'll start racing at Sutho next week.
Step 1) Get cash
Step 2) Acquire house
Easy!
I've been racing four (4) times at Heffron. Got 6th and 10th in the "Snowy Wilson", 6th A on the first Tuesday nighter, 5th on a crappy Saturday race, and dropped in the last Tuesday nighter after four (4) laps. I had bad legs for a week before that, so I wasn't really surprised. But I've replaced my flexy carbon seatpost with a more solid titanium one, and I already feel better. I'll start racing at Sutho next week.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Terra Australis
The fact that I'm writing this means that I made it across the pond on the plane and am safely housed near a phone line in Ma and Pa's house. I'm bloody knackered too, as I got about 8 hrs sleep in two days. I finished cleaning my place (and it was very clean, apart from the odd mark on the wall...) at 1am on Monday night, went to sleep about 1:30, got up at 4:30 to make the 5:15 train. I was seriously considering having the Duvel I'd left in the cupboard for breakfast...but I didn't.
I didn't get charged for excess baggage!! So I stocked up on duty free - some Hoegaarden with the right glasses and lots of chocolate. I was peckish but I didn't do the "Yak Goes Home" trick and eat all of the chocolate on the plane. Sorely tempted.
I misread the intinerary so I thought we were cutting it a bit fine getting into Vienna at 9:30 when my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur left at 9:25. Fortunately, I was wrong. It was 10:55. I was also wrong about the arrival time in Sydney, because I thought it was 20:10 when in fact it was 15:10. The total flight time was 20:10. I think I needed more sleep.
I got on the plane at Vienna and I was Out of Order because I had a low row number but I hadn't been called. So I was sitting down in my comfy chair when I overheard a couple commenting on how "ignorant" all these people were who shouldn't have been in these rows yet. I resented that. I wasn't being ignorant, I knew damn well what I was doing. I wanted to get into my seat to stash all the duty free in the overhead lockers!!!
Things took a turn for the worse when a man of Middle Eastern descent was ushered into the seat across the aisle next to me by a very large and very menacing Austrian cop with a gun. The man looked very upset, and I would be too if I had a thug of a policeman coming back every five minutes to give me the evil eye. I don't know what he had done, but he was pretty quiet on the way to Kuala Lumpur and he didn't hijack us. I think the Austrian cop with the gun was far more dangerous.
I watched all the movies (Kingdom of Heaven, Garfield, Monster-in-Law, Hitchhiker's Guide, Herbie Fully Loaded, The Longest Yard) and chatted to the Swedish bloke next to me for a bit. He was going to Oz for a six month holiday which sounded pretty good to me.
I stepped off the plane into glorious 31 degree temperatures and real sun. It was good to be back. Alas, Ma has whooping cough and is very poorly. It's not a disease you want to get. She's better than she was last week though.
Eyes closing.
I didn't get charged for excess baggage!! So I stocked up on duty free - some Hoegaarden with the right glasses and lots of chocolate. I was peckish but I didn't do the "Yak Goes Home" trick and eat all of the chocolate on the plane. Sorely tempted.
I misread the intinerary so I thought we were cutting it a bit fine getting into Vienna at 9:30 when my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur left at 9:25. Fortunately, I was wrong. It was 10:55. I was also wrong about the arrival time in Sydney, because I thought it was 20:10 when in fact it was 15:10. The total flight time was 20:10. I think I needed more sleep.
I got on the plane at Vienna and I was Out of Order because I had a low row number but I hadn't been called. So I was sitting down in my comfy chair when I overheard a couple commenting on how "ignorant" all these people were who shouldn't have been in these rows yet. I resented that. I wasn't being ignorant, I knew damn well what I was doing. I wanted to get into my seat to stash all the duty free in the overhead lockers!!!
Things took a turn for the worse when a man of Middle Eastern descent was ushered into the seat across the aisle next to me by a very large and very menacing Austrian cop with a gun. The man looked very upset, and I would be too if I had a thug of a policeman coming back every five minutes to give me the evil eye. I don't know what he had done, but he was pretty quiet on the way to Kuala Lumpur and he didn't hijack us. I think the Austrian cop with the gun was far more dangerous.
I watched all the movies (Kingdom of Heaven, Garfield, Monster-in-Law, Hitchhiker's Guide, Herbie Fully Loaded, The Longest Yard) and chatted to the Swedish bloke next to me for a bit. He was going to Oz for a six month holiday which sounded pretty good to me.
I stepped off the plane into glorious 31 degree temperatures and real sun. It was good to be back. Alas, Ma has whooping cough and is very poorly. It's not a disease you want to get. She's better than she was last week though.
Eyes closing.
Monday, October 24, 2005
It's going home time
It is indeed time, so I'm gunna post these pics for posterity's sake. Next year, I'll be back for at least a couple of months staying at Reinhard's rather more sumptuous apartment. I'll see some of yez in the snow then!
London blog will follow when I get home.
Goodbye Koningin Astridlaan
© Briony Neilson
Archival photo of moi and Christina in August. Note Panos sandwich.
© Briony Neilson
I spotted this Trabant parked out the front! It's not mine, I tell you.
© Jeff Jones
London blog will follow when I get home.
Goodbye Koningin Astridlaan© Briony Neilson
Archival photo of moi and Christina in August. Note Panos sandwich.© Briony Neilson
I spotted this Trabant parked out the front! It's not mine, I tell you.© Jeff Jones
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Countdown
I'm sitting in the very classy antechamber in Brussel-Zuid, waiting for the Eurostar to take me to Londoninium, where much Fun awaits. It's another lightning trip: leaving on Monday arvo, stay for a couple of nights, back on Wednesday. So while I was waiting in line to check in, three English travellers pushed in front of me - not that there was any hurry - and then proceeded to complain about the 'shambles' that Eurostar is. We reached the passport control together and they just beat me because I had a couple of Japanese in front of me. Then we had a half an hour wait before the doors even opened to get onto the platform :-) But that's half an hour of Bilge writing time!
It's been all systems go in the last two weeks, but things are gradually falling into place vis a vis the Move. I have much to do when I get back, but a tenant has been found for my place I think, and I can leave my furniture with him. Yay! I also cleaned about a quarter of another room, which leaves just one and three quarter rooms to go. So much dust, so little time.
I saw Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) in a late late session while the Flemish Film Festival was on. It's a Russian film, dubbed 'the first Russian blockbuster' and it had Flemish/French subtitles so I could at least follow what was going on. Brief plot summary: Light versus Dark, all vampires/shapeshifters and other assorted weirdos on both sides. But there's been a truce for a while, until things start to change. It's set in modern Moscow and there's a boy who has to choose between Light and Dark, and supposedly that will tip the balance in favour of one. But it's not so easy, because Anton, a vampire who chose the Light, tried to murder the kid before he was born (long story), so the kid feels hard done by and chooses the Dark. OK, so I gave away a bit of the plot there, but there's gunna be three movies so it's no big deal, you can wait for the next one.
I liked it because it was Russian and therefore different. The cinematography was great - lots of closeups of stuff, and it was fairly bleak. Surprisingly, not too many people got massacred. The plot was a little weak but at least the usual stereotype of Light = Good and Dark = Evil didn't really exist. The Dark guys weren't that bad and the Light dudes weren't that good. Herendethereview.
I met up with Reinhard for a coupla drinks on Vrijdag avond, and that was entertaining. His shop is going well and he's selling a lot more pies, so good on him for getting the massage across. I'll probably stay with him for a couple of months next year and eat pies. We went to a cafe just opposite his shop, then moved around the corner to a "Trendy" place called Igor a bit later. It was so "Trendy" that the name of the bloody cafe wasn't even on the building. You had to look across the canal where it was strung up in neon lights. Jeez, I thought the place was called "Vedette" but that was the name of the beer that they served. Not bad beer either.
The cafe was a bit weird though. It's only been open a week and it's supposed to be the place to go if you want to be Seen. I wasn't sure about that as I normally go Incognito, but it was worth a look-see. It was a biggish place but there was no advertising on the walls, so it was quite plain. It was all done up in wooden paneling, but some maroon had made everything uneven and asymmetrical in the name of being "Trendy". Even the floor had little ramps everywhere, meaning that once you had imbibed sufficient alcohol, you'd probably trip over and crackabone. The seats, tables, everything were uneven, and so were the bar staff. They were very surly so after one Vedette we called it a night, or an early morning by that stage.
I've been building up the mileage base without going too hard for the last two weeks, and that should knock me into shape for Oz. It's been awesome weather too: 20 and sunny most days, apart from a bit of mist. On Thursday I went to Knokke along the Leopold kanaal, which is a really nice ride. I got good pics of the 'cathedral of trees' that runs along most of the bike path - see below.
On the weekend, I just did the bunch ride both days. Saturday was a little harder, and I think there were four Aussies in the bunch at the start, along with Gab(ke) Reid, who is getting fitter again. We were fairly average on the Trap Op (5'38 on Saturday, 5'30 on Sunday), but that was fine by me. No need to go into the red too much at this point of the proceedings. The sprint on Saturday had to be aborted because we would have run into a number of horses that were milling in the fog about with 150m to go. Sunday was nicer weather and we had a bunch of over 30, which is amazing for this time of year.
Finally, and by no means the most trivial thing of this bilge update, the pure, sweet waters of Gent have been poisoned!!!! Yes, our water supply has been contaminated by some canal water in Dampoort, apparently. No idea how that could happen, but anyway, we have to deal with the consequences. Everyone has been advised to go to London or drink bottled water. I am doing the former because I didn't want to run out of beer.
More later...
A spot of fishing
© Jeff Jones
Closer to Gent
© Jeff Jones
Cathedral of trees
© Jeff Jones
Somewhere between here and Knokke
© Jeff Jones
Pithy caption
© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke
© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke again
© Jeff Jones
On the way home, near Knokke
© Jeff Jones
35 km to go
© Jeff Jones
It's been all systems go in the last two weeks, but things are gradually falling into place vis a vis the Move. I have much to do when I get back, but a tenant has been found for my place I think, and I can leave my furniture with him. Yay! I also cleaned about a quarter of another room, which leaves just one and three quarter rooms to go. So much dust, so little time.
I saw Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) in a late late session while the Flemish Film Festival was on. It's a Russian film, dubbed 'the first Russian blockbuster' and it had Flemish/French subtitles so I could at least follow what was going on. Brief plot summary: Light versus Dark, all vampires/shapeshifters and other assorted weirdos on both sides. But there's been a truce for a while, until things start to change. It's set in modern Moscow and there's a boy who has to choose between Light and Dark, and supposedly that will tip the balance in favour of one. But it's not so easy, because Anton, a vampire who chose the Light, tried to murder the kid before he was born (long story), so the kid feels hard done by and chooses the Dark. OK, so I gave away a bit of the plot there, but there's gunna be three movies so it's no big deal, you can wait for the next one.
I liked it because it was Russian and therefore different. The cinematography was great - lots of closeups of stuff, and it was fairly bleak. Surprisingly, not too many people got massacred. The plot was a little weak but at least the usual stereotype of Light = Good and Dark = Evil didn't really exist. The Dark guys weren't that bad and the Light dudes weren't that good. Herendethereview.
I met up with Reinhard for a coupla drinks on Vrijdag avond, and that was entertaining. His shop is going well and he's selling a lot more pies, so good on him for getting the massage across. I'll probably stay with him for a couple of months next year and eat pies. We went to a cafe just opposite his shop, then moved around the corner to a "Trendy" place called Igor a bit later. It was so "Trendy" that the name of the bloody cafe wasn't even on the building. You had to look across the canal where it was strung up in neon lights. Jeez, I thought the place was called "Vedette" but that was the name of the beer that they served. Not bad beer either.
The cafe was a bit weird though. It's only been open a week and it's supposed to be the place to go if you want to be Seen. I wasn't sure about that as I normally go Incognito, but it was worth a look-see. It was a biggish place but there was no advertising on the walls, so it was quite plain. It was all done up in wooden paneling, but some maroon had made everything uneven and asymmetrical in the name of being "Trendy". Even the floor had little ramps everywhere, meaning that once you had imbibed sufficient alcohol, you'd probably trip over and crackabone. The seats, tables, everything were uneven, and so were the bar staff. They were very surly so after one Vedette we called it a night, or an early morning by that stage.
I've been building up the mileage base without going too hard for the last two weeks, and that should knock me into shape for Oz. It's been awesome weather too: 20 and sunny most days, apart from a bit of mist. On Thursday I went to Knokke along the Leopold kanaal, which is a really nice ride. I got good pics of the 'cathedral of trees' that runs along most of the bike path - see below.
On the weekend, I just did the bunch ride both days. Saturday was a little harder, and I think there were four Aussies in the bunch at the start, along with Gab(ke) Reid, who is getting fitter again. We were fairly average on the Trap Op (5'38 on Saturday, 5'30 on Sunday), but that was fine by me. No need to go into the red too much at this point of the proceedings. The sprint on Saturday had to be aborted because we would have run into a number of horses that were milling in the fog about with 150m to go. Sunday was nicer weather and we had a bunch of over 30, which is amazing for this time of year.
Finally, and by no means the most trivial thing of this bilge update, the pure, sweet waters of Gent have been poisoned!!!! Yes, our water supply has been contaminated by some canal water in Dampoort, apparently. No idea how that could happen, but anyway, we have to deal with the consequences. Everyone has been advised to go to London or drink bottled water. I am doing the former because I didn't want to run out of beer.
More later...
A spot of fishing© Jeff Jones
Closer to Gent© Jeff Jones
Cathedral of trees© Jeff Jones
Somewhere between here and Knokke© Jeff Jones
Pithy caption© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke again© Jeff Jones
On the way home, near Knokke© Jeff Jones
35 km to go© Jeff Jones
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Recovery Ride
As promised, Sunday's rapport:
The effects of approx. three Trappist Dubbels and a couple of shots of Jenever do not wear off that quickly, I found, and I woke up on Sunday morning with a taste of Jenever still in my mouth but with a surprisingly clear head. I also woke up 40 minutes later than planned, and had roughly half an hour to get ready and ride out to the bridge for the Sunday recovery ride. Bolt down a cup of coffee, several muesli bars and a yoghurt (not too many superfoods in there) and I was out the door.
I ended up being early, as we didn't leave for five minutes. Jo of the five Trappists rocked up, as did Rudy, but I didn't spot any of the others from the cafe. I remembered Jo's promise that we were going to attack on the cobbles near the top of one of the hills, so that was my primary motivation for being there. Also, riding is the best way to get rid of a hangover.
We had a modest sized group and were very orderly as we rode down the Schelde, but I believe there were some comments made when a police van passed us going in the wrong direction. It immediately turned around, sirens blaring, and about half of the group was stopped to get an earbashing from a very angry cop. Apparently we weren't riding two abreast (what do you think happens when the front two guys pull off after doing their turn?) but the thing that actually annoyed him were the snide remarks. It wasn't me guv'nor, honest. I was off the back.
Mr Officer, who claimed to be a former bike rider, wasn't going to book us because none of us would have had any ID. We are such an anarchistic lot. I mean, it's a slippery slope from riding four abreast to international (wieler)terrorism, and this goodly officer clearly wanted to nip it in the bud. He deserves a medal for his crime fighting vigilance.
About 500m later, we turned off the Schelde anyway, and continued our very sedate pace on the Sunday parcours. There was no inkling of an attack on the cobbles, and we did the Trap Op in about the slowest time ever, due to a) a minor crash at the bottom, involving our own cycling cop (I think he's a cop), and b) some communing with nature. But at the top, Philip Vereecke had lifted the tempo a bit and we started to roll over at 40 clicks.
After the Edelare descent, we were given a tip off from one of the others who had taken a shortcut that the cops were just around the corner. So we all got onto the bike path just in time to see the cop van. Hah! We're law abiding citizens, we are. Then, to be even more sneaky, we decided to go straight ahead and take the bridge at Eine instead of the earlier one, and we gave the p'lice the slip again! It was wielerterrorism at its best.
Just before Eine, Jo and I were on the front, not going hard but riding tempo, and we looked back and saw we had a couple of hundred metres. That was all the incentive we needed and we kept going fairly hard back along the Schelde, encountering no more cops. The Others didn't bother chasing and we were about five minutes ahead at the end. Thus, Saturday's promise had more or less been fulfilled!
It was a great way to get rid of the alcohol, and for some reason it was my best day on or off the bike for about four weeks! Mr Vereecke's girlfriend told me that it was probably all the vitamin B in the Trappists, and who am I to argue? That stuff really works. Jo and I opted not to go for any recovery drinks though.
In other news, it's been beautiful weather here for the last two days: sunny and 20++!#. That has been pleasant.
I am in the throes of moving stuff, which means I haven't started yet. Better clean the bathroom. I believe that a new tenant has already been found, which only took a week. Anyone got a garage I can rent for three months?
(Note on comments: I've turned on an anti-spam thingy so you have to type the secret word in to post a comment. Don't ask me what the secret word is, but it's not theodolite. Blogger will tell you.)
The effects of approx. three Trappist Dubbels and a couple of shots of Jenever do not wear off that quickly, I found, and I woke up on Sunday morning with a taste of Jenever still in my mouth but with a surprisingly clear head. I also woke up 40 minutes later than planned, and had roughly half an hour to get ready and ride out to the bridge for the Sunday recovery ride. Bolt down a cup of coffee, several muesli bars and a yoghurt (not too many superfoods in there) and I was out the door.
I ended up being early, as we didn't leave for five minutes. Jo of the five Trappists rocked up, as did Rudy, but I didn't spot any of the others from the cafe. I remembered Jo's promise that we were going to attack on the cobbles near the top of one of the hills, so that was my primary motivation for being there. Also, riding is the best way to get rid of a hangover.
We had a modest sized group and were very orderly as we rode down the Schelde, but I believe there were some comments made when a police van passed us going in the wrong direction. It immediately turned around, sirens blaring, and about half of the group was stopped to get an earbashing from a very angry cop. Apparently we weren't riding two abreast (what do you think happens when the front two guys pull off after doing their turn?) but the thing that actually annoyed him were the snide remarks. It wasn't me guv'nor, honest. I was off the back.
Mr Officer, who claimed to be a former bike rider, wasn't going to book us because none of us would have had any ID. We are such an anarchistic lot. I mean, it's a slippery slope from riding four abreast to international (wieler)terrorism, and this goodly officer clearly wanted to nip it in the bud. He deserves a medal for his crime fighting vigilance.
About 500m later, we turned off the Schelde anyway, and continued our very sedate pace on the Sunday parcours. There was no inkling of an attack on the cobbles, and we did the Trap Op in about the slowest time ever, due to a) a minor crash at the bottom, involving our own cycling cop (I think he's a cop), and b) some communing with nature. But at the top, Philip Vereecke had lifted the tempo a bit and we started to roll over at 40 clicks.
After the Edelare descent, we were given a tip off from one of the others who had taken a shortcut that the cops were just around the corner. So we all got onto the bike path just in time to see the cop van. Hah! We're law abiding citizens, we are. Then, to be even more sneaky, we decided to go straight ahead and take the bridge at Eine instead of the earlier one, and we gave the p'lice the slip again! It was wielerterrorism at its best.
Just before Eine, Jo and I were on the front, not going hard but riding tempo, and we looked back and saw we had a couple of hundred metres. That was all the incentive we needed and we kept going fairly hard back along the Schelde, encountering no more cops. The Others didn't bother chasing and we were about five minutes ahead at the end. Thus, Saturday's promise had more or less been fulfilled!
It was a great way to get rid of the alcohol, and for some reason it was my best day on or off the bike for about four weeks! Mr Vereecke's girlfriend told me that it was probably all the vitamin B in the Trappists, and who am I to argue? That stuff really works. Jo and I opted not to go for any recovery drinks though.
In other news, it's been beautiful weather here for the last two days: sunny and 20++!#. That has been pleasant.
I am in the throes of moving stuff, which means I haven't started yet. Better clean the bathroom. I believe that a new tenant has already been found, which only took a week. Anyone got a garage I can rent for three months?
(Note on comments: I've turned on an anti-spam thingy so you have to type the secret word in to post a comment. Don't ask me what the secret word is, but it's not theodolite. Blogger will tell you.)
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Afscheidswedstrijd
Although it's two weeks until I go, Guido is going on hols next week so we had to have our depature drinks today (and tomorrow if anyone can still feel their heads). Good ol' Westmalle Trappist plus a couple of Jenevers for the road and...ooooohhh dear.
We did the usual Saturday loop in the fog that's been hanging around for three solid days, and even though riding through humid air is meant to be quicker, I felt like I was riding through Victoria Park swimming puel. We did the Trap Op in 5'45 (about a minute slower than best) and I was even off the back at the top! Felt a bit better coming back and Marc and another guy gave me a perfect leadout for the sprint, but Jo hadn't read the script properly and came around me easily. Sorry guys! Not to worry, I'll get my speed back.
Then we had some drinks, and it was good to see Philippe B again, on the bike for the first time after his accident nearly 6 weeks ago. As mentioned above, we started with Westmalle, and I stuck to the dark stuff, which is only 7 percent, while the others went to the tripel (9.5 percent) and then Guido got stuck into the Jenever (something like 40 percent).
One beer is enough to annihiliate me after a hard ride, and I was only a bit of the way through the second beer when somehow I knocked it all over the table, the floor, the guy next to me, and me. Oops. I felt better when Jo did exactly the same thing with his fourth or fifth. Then it was clearly time to drink Jenever.
I think we all made it home, although the guy I was riding with kept disappearing off the side of the road. He already did that when he was sober so it wasn't a big drama Sleep was necessary, then I watched Kindergarten Cop by accident and my headache came back.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, I did Henk's Tweede Fietstocht, which was a nice loop down south towards the southern parts of Belgium. I need to look at it on a map. He'd already taken the Others on the ride a few weeks ago, so it was just us two. No punctures this time, but I was fairly hammered after doing that plus another 70 km in the morning. But afterwards we had a great pasta meal at Henk and Ilse's, so that made it definitely worthwhile!
Then the fog set in. On both Thursday and Friday, the fog was thick all day and all night. It didn't lift once, not until Saturday. I even got lost riding around Zwalm on the backroads. I thought I was going in one direction but it was the opposite. I think I need more sleep.
Things are progressing slowly as far as moving out goes, but next week I'll have to get my A into G. I'm leaving in just over two weeks but in a week I'm paying a final visit to Rabbit's friends and relations in Londoninium on Monday->Wednesday. Woo hoo!
We did the usual Saturday loop in the fog that's been hanging around for three solid days, and even though riding through humid air is meant to be quicker, I felt like I was riding through Victoria Park swimming puel. We did the Trap Op in 5'45 (about a minute slower than best) and I was even off the back at the top! Felt a bit better coming back and Marc and another guy gave me a perfect leadout for the sprint, but Jo hadn't read the script properly and came around me easily. Sorry guys! Not to worry, I'll get my speed back.
Then we had some drinks, and it was good to see Philippe B again, on the bike for the first time after his accident nearly 6 weeks ago. As mentioned above, we started with Westmalle, and I stuck to the dark stuff, which is only 7 percent, while the others went to the tripel (9.5 percent) and then Guido got stuck into the Jenever (something like 40 percent).
One beer is enough to annihiliate me after a hard ride, and I was only a bit of the way through the second beer when somehow I knocked it all over the table, the floor, the guy next to me, and me. Oops. I felt better when Jo did exactly the same thing with his fourth or fifth. Then it was clearly time to drink Jenever.
I think we all made it home, although the guy I was riding with kept disappearing off the side of the road. He already did that when he was sober so it wasn't a big drama Sleep was necessary, then I watched Kindergarten Cop by accident and my headache came back.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, I did Henk's Tweede Fietstocht, which was a nice loop down south towards the southern parts of Belgium. I need to look at it on a map. He'd already taken the Others on the ride a few weeks ago, so it was just us two. No punctures this time, but I was fairly hammered after doing that plus another 70 km in the morning. But afterwards we had a great pasta meal at Henk and Ilse's, so that made it definitely worthwhile!
Then the fog set in. On both Thursday and Friday, the fog was thick all day and all night. It didn't lift once, not until Saturday. I even got lost riding around Zwalm on the backroads. I thought I was going in one direction but it was the opposite. I think I need more sleep.
Things are progressing slowly as far as moving out goes, but next week I'll have to get my A into G. I'm leaving in just over two weeks but in a week I'm paying a final visit to Rabbit's friends and relations in Londoninium on Monday->Wednesday. Woo hoo!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
