[re:]cycling people

Want a simple well designed bike rack. You can’t go past this one, the Stolmen Bike Rack found here on Ikeahcker. As an architect, I have keen eye for design and this one fulfills many of my expectation. In fact the whole idea of Ikeaharker appeals to my sensibilities, to take a off-the-shelf item and extend it beyond it’s initial designed use….. I love it. Here this bike rack is displayed in a space with quite a high ceiling, I not convinced that it would look as good in a space with lower ceilings, but would be still a useful. Great work Ikeahacker, keep it up.

Located in the north western Hills district of greater Sydney, Tour de Hills is an event run by the local Rotory Club to raise money for Early Intervention Program at St Gabriel’s School for Hearing-Impaired Children in Castle Hill and other charities supported by the Club. The name of this event sounds far more daunting then it was, however, you should of course expect some hills. My intention for the this road ride was to prepare for the upcoming Dirtworks Classic, so the more hills ridden between now and then will still probably not be enough.

Arriving at the start was a little daunting as I see all the weight weeny roadies, stumbling around in their skin tight lycra. I turn up with a 16kg mountain bike with more rubber in my front tyre to make four of theirs, thinking quietly to myself, I hope there is some supper steep sections with a 20% grade. I have many gears before I have to walk. After getting over their initial hesitation and meeting my riding buddy, of cause this does help when he turns up on a brand new full carbon road bike weighing in at 7 point something kg and physic to match. Here I am with a ten ton truck and the truckies physic in comparison, my whole rig with, me included, weighing in well over the 100kg mark. Needless say I did do well down the hills, regularly clocking over the 70km/hr, unfortunately this doesn’t last to far up the other side. OK, enough of my insecurities about the initial few minutes. Once we began, everything is much more comfortable, setting a blistering pace off the start, after some time you slowly being to realise that you haven’t encountered any real hills for about the first 20km, not knowing the course, but understanding the principle of a loop, you must go up that you have come down. We pedal on and find that some of the largest obstacles are the condition of the roads themselves. As my buddies teeth are chatter over every single bump, I cruse quietly over not even any chain slap that you become a custom to on the trail.

The fist fifty came and went with relative ease, yes we did encounter a few hills in the later section, but nothing to make me shift from the middle chain ring. Our first brief stop was made at the 50km mark, too this point we had done reasonable time within 2hrs. As we embark on the next loop, slowly the first sign of cracks began to make their presents known. This time around the bike was not travelling at quite the speed of the first lap, there must be a lesson in there somewhere about pacing yourself. Never the less, continuing on and still able to pass the odd lycra clad weeny on the way up the hills………. After doing some kamikaze leap of the previous hill crest. Hay, I never said I would not try and use the weight to my advantage if at all possible. This tactic can only last so long and possibly more a sign of the desperation the skill or endurance. As the km,s wore on and we reached the 80 mark, the legs really begin to fade at this point. Knowing that the only way home from here was up and those hills that I did not think much of first time round suddenly becomes a true obstacle. Continuing on km by km and sucking down the energy gels more frequently I am able grind my way up, thankfully due the occasional some help from the very lowest of gears. With a short flat run, finally we reach the finish line not before time. This second fifty taking another 15-20min longer, this saw our time at 4hr 20min for the 100km. After a good injection of Carbs from the pasta lunch for recovery, it was time to enjoy the feeling of not moving. With a time hot bath the legs slowly, slowly began to recover.

On reflection, Would I do it again? The answer is of cause yes. Would I do it differently? Again yes. The biggest concern after all this is…… this was 100km on road with no sections of 20% grade, with a total climb of 500m. One single hill on the Dirtworks course is 300m climb and I know that there are two of these. Oh what have I really got my self in for with this?

OK, this one is for all the bike geeks out there. This is intriguing for its efficient use of existing technology, most people have a mobile and these day most are Bluetooth enabled. So, all that is required is a sensor and some software for you phone and you have a bicycle computer that can record all the information it gathers. I like it, however, it appears quite clunky in it’s current form, a sensor of 60mm long and if you would like to see all this information as you are riding, well you need to mount you mobile phone on you handle bars. No thanks, I like my simple little bike computer that is far more discrete.

The past two months has seen a rather haphazard approach to my training for the Dirtworks. It began strong with more off road training. In resent weeks, however, the wet weather has played havoc with the training routine, not to mention the bike. Wet sand dose not do kind things to you drive train or brakes, nor large rocks to your chain rings It is a sure sign of problems when for every hour you spend on a trail your spending two repairing the bike for the next trip. After doing this for a couple of weeks I have decided that many hours in the saddle has as much value in an endurance race as technical finesse. Shear fitness will make the whole ride much more enjoyable in the long run… right (well that’s what I am hoping). So now the bike fixed the road tyres on and signed-up for Tour de Hills. Little or on knowledge of the course, I trust that I have done enough training on my rides to work during the week. The a 70km round trip twice a week becomes valuable training time that I have been missing on the weekends lately, until this week. Plagued with punchers, I am yet to get to the bottom of and brakes still not quite right after the 1.5hr off road session, destroying brand new pads and I now have to stop kidding myself that the rotors are fine….. They are stuffed and only days out from the Tour de Hills. This is a 20, 30, 50 or 100km road ride, yes of cause I had to choose the 100 didn’t I. Well if I can’t do 100 on road without any problems, how can I expect to do it at the dirtworks?

The commitment has been made, 4th May 2008, myself and a small group of keen riders from work are going to attempt the Dirtworks 100km Classic. This is a 100km off-road MTB race (if you choose to race) around St Albans about 1.5hr north of Sydney just on the other side of the Hawkesbury river. I remember reading a review of this about 2 years ago, not long after getting my MTB and thinking you must be kidding, a 100km off-road, scary steep hills, why would you do it to yourself? Well mot much has changed, I am just now one of the crazies going put them selves through the pain of it all. I have begun training…. To a point. I have now got the knobblies back on the bike after having the slicks on there for many months, in the lead up to the Sydney to Gong ride.

On the weekend I had a rude shock as to how out of form I am ridding the bush. Besides being the sweeper guy to clear all the single track of spider webs, I seemed never to be prepared for the next rise or dip, which saw me scrambling up a few hills in the walking (climbing) gear. A word of warning for everyone who thinks this is the safest gear on the bike, you can still fall and do damage. Ouch. Well, didn’t need that skin anyway. After doing battle at the foot of the mountain with the mud caking on the bike and clogging every moving part, I did manage to get higher enough to turn around and get some speed up, however this only brought its own issues as the mud began to fling back in my face. So I guess what I am saying here is I have much work to do before 4th May. Lucky there is still some time left to do it.

Tomorrow, as you probably know, is national ride to work day here in
Australia. For myself this is my weekly ride to work, with a free
breakfast courtesy of one of the major sponsors Lend Lease. I would
encourage all readers of this blog to join in. It was this event last
year that encouraged the group of seven or so people i now ride
regularly with. It has been an excellent way to meet cyclists in my
area and also leads to other social rides. Give it a in and then let
us all know how it went.

For those who don’t know, The Gong Ride is a 90 km charity ride from Sydney to Wollongong to raise money for MS Australia. A walk in the park for the serious roadies out there, however this is not me. Having rediscovered cycling only 2 years ago my focus has been off road, which I find pure joy in. However, I have registered for this one. Despite the great pressures of completing my final year of University studies whilst working, I have been talked into the joining the large continent of riders from our office, 30% of the staff have agree to this. It has provoked at least two people to go out and buy a bike for this event. How could I possibly refuse as one of the regular cyclists in the office. Did I mention that this was only five days out from a major submission of my university work…… why did I agree to this? I am still asking the question, but the momentum created is so great, I can not wait to have completed my studies to really push this enthusiasm further, beyond this the Gong ride.

This is a charity ride and I have agreed to also raise a minimum of $250 for MS Australia, please follow this link and lend a hand. Stay tuned for pics of the event.

Welcome to [re]cycling people. Hopefully over time this website will develop along with the riders into a well oiled machine that runs like clock work. This site is aimed at sharing information that we may find of interest in our travels Please post feed back as to what you would like to see on the [re]cycling people.