sjh - mountain biking linux geek spice

[mtb] Racing? Who's racing its speed wilderness tourism!

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 17:12:00

I mentioned some of my friends doing XPD in Tasmania back in 2006. For some reason I did not make mention here last year of XPD 3 in the Whitsundays that some of my friends were also racing in.

Right now, xpd 4 is on and teams are closing in on the half way point. They started at around 2pm on Wednesday and have been going pretty much non stop since. The weather is pretty cold and wet down in the Victorian alps at the moment and there are blizzards forecast in the higher region the ~ 210 KM bike leg will be passing through.

Danielle, Dave, Randall, Heather, Libby, Chris, Nathan, Bleeksie, Danealle, Keith, Matt, Wayne and Sean all appear to still be out there having a lot of hardship^Wfun. Good to see Tangerine and Blackheart/Salomon are in the top 3 after 2 days of racing.

I have to thank the bio for Jerome from the Securify team for the quote I used in the title of this post. I think it sums up one of the joys of XPD well. Speed Wilderness Tourism is a lot of fun.

[mtb] That was better

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 10:26:00

Unlike last week when I had many punctures on the highway, this morning I got home with none. I bought a new pump and two new tyres for the road bike last week, the new tyres are Specialized Armadillo's which are rumoured to be the most puncture resistant road tyres available. I did not bother with Kevlar rim strips as they slide around, are hard to put in place and may even cut into tubes.

The other nice thing was I made it home in 2h40m from Goulburn today, which gives me hope that once I get a bit more speed and fitness back on the bike I can reliably do the ride in under 2h30m even with a bit of wind around. (admittedly the conditions were almost perfect this morning, cool, overcast, not much wind). I look forward to seeing how I go on Wednesday.

[mtb] Comedy of punctures

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 12:24:00

After work yesterday I again headed out to ride to Goulburn with the plan to ride back early this morning. I was still feeling a bit rough and coughing, I don't think from a cold, I suspect more from just pushing myself pretty hard at the Gravity 12 Hour race, I tend to forget, although it does not feel that hard at the time, doing an enduro event in a team does take its toll on my body. So I felt I was riding a little bit slower than I wanted to, however I was on track to get out there in just under 3 hours. I had to get to a dinner celebration and was cutting it close time wise anyway.

As I passed Collector my saddle bag snapped off again, I stopped to put the bag in my camelback pack and noticed my front tyre had a slow leak and was almost flat. I stopped longer to pump it up again and got back to riding. Around 12 KM later I noticed the front was almost flat again, now I was only 20 KM from Goulburn, however due to the stops and likely needing to stop more for more pumping I was running late for dinner and decided to call and ask to be picked up at the Federal Hwy turn off toward Canberra as I could get there pretty quickly. That arranged and fine I rode on, 2 minutes later my rear tyre got a puncture and went flat instantly. I stopped, changed the tube, extracted the wire that caused the puncture, pumped up and rode on.

I arrived at the place I would be picked up and while waiting changed my front tube as well and started patching the tubes that were flat (I carry two tubes and a patch kit on my road bike). With one tube fixed and starting the second tube I was picked up, threw everything in the car and got to Goulburn. It was only when we got there I realised I had left my pump lying on the verge off the side of the highway. Eep, fortunately I had pumped up both my tyres and fixed one tube. I hoped I would be able to pick up the pump from the verge in the morning, not get a flat in the first 12 KM of riding and make it home.

Getting to sleep fairly late after the rather fun dinner went very late I decided I would have to leave later than planned as only five and a half hours sleep would not help me in riding home. I got on the bike riding back by 7:35am, planning to make it home by 10:30am and to work by 10:45am. When I got to where I left the pump, I did find it, however a truck or something had been a long way onto the verge over night and flattened and shattered the pump. Oh fantastic, well I did not have any flats last week so I could hope I would make it home without any more.

Luck was not with me, within 2 KM my rear tyre went completely flat with another puncture. I was able to make it to a rest area and started asking some people stopped there if it was possible to get a lift to Canberra. I was incredibly lucky that one man there in a ute on the way to a work site in Canberra offered me a ride home. I ended up arriving around 9am and actually got to work at a reasonable sort of time.

I have always known flats are a little more likely on the Federal Highway than other places due to the amount of small stuff coming off cars and trucks that are on the road much more than on smaller roads. This time all three flats were caused by small (1 to 2 cm lengths) bits of steel wire most likely from the steel belting in car and truck tyres. I also knew my back tyre was more vulnerable due to being close to worn out and in need of replacement. Last week I was lucky to do the ride with no flats.

I will replace the back tyre and I think try putting Kevlar belts inside my road tyres under the tread so small bits of wire or glass are less likely to be able to get to the tube and buy a new pump of course. I am in debt and thankful to the person who gave me a lift to Canberra this morning and lucky to have been able to get a lift in such a way. I hope positive Karma goes out to him in some way soon for this generous gesture to me.

Lets hope my next trip remains puncture free.

[mtb/gear] My map board

Tue, 11 Nov 2008 13:39:00

Just as an assist so I can google my memory easier, I often need to remember what brand my map board is, rather than have to search through email or similar from when I purchased it a few years ago I should just have a link here telling me I have a Windchill Map Board. I really like these boards (I have two in the garage at home) as they sit a bit higher than Miry and also the screws to attach them are not so fiddly and short (so I am not afraid of them coming out and being lost to such an extent). They are a little heavy, however they are well constructed and have good support. I had to get one of them fixed in 2007 and the replacement part was cheap and sent up to Canberra quickly. Thanks Windchill for a good, functional, well priced product.

[mtb/events] Gravity again

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:48:00

I was once more able to go down to Victoria this weekend and compete in the Gravity 12 Hour mtb race with Sam and Ben. I think we are all pretty happy with our race. Of the 195 teams there racing on the day we came 29th overall. The mixed threes category was again pretty hot, the overall winning team also won mixed threes. Interestingly the rest of the top places in this category were all on the same number of laps as us (19, compared with the 22 laps of the winners), though the team in front of us finished their 19 laps 10 minutes in front of us.

I keep going on about not having much speed at the moment, and it is kind of true that I was going at a pace further below anaerobic than I probably would with more bike time in my legs, I was still remarkably fast. With pretty much an identical loop to last year I managed to do most of my laps only 2 or 3 minutes slower than the same laps last year. Also interestingly my lap times got a bit faster as the day progressed, first lap above 38, second two below 37 minutes, fourth and fifth around 37 to 37:30 then the final lap (only half in gathering darkness) was only a minute slower at 38:30. My cycling base is standing me in good stead and now I just have to build up again and get some speed back. The build up of good endurance will be helped by riding to Goulburn and back a bit. The race speed I am not sure I will get around to working on as I never seem to any other time.

Previous years are 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and a mention of 2007 here.

[mtb] This week in exercise

Fri, 07 Nov 2008 11:10:00

After getting home on Tuesday I did not head out for any more exercise that day. On Wednesday I still felt a bit tired so did not road ride in the morning. I did however go to the paddle time trial that evening. Cracked 54 minutes with only around 100m of drafting so was fairly pleased with that. Due to being at a CORC Committee meeting until after 11pm and then having to return my boat to its shed I did not head out to ride or anything on Thursday morning. Went for another paddle, this time a fairly easy 8km with a friend in Matilda last night.

This morning I headed out on the Friday morning mtb ride as normal and we all had fun. Tonight I will drive down to Rosewhite in Victoria to compete in the Gravity 12 hour for the 6th year running. Should be a fun race there tomorrow with Sam and Ben. I have not done any running since before my recent cold and should try to get out for some next week if I can. At the moment I am mostly hoping the race is not particularly wet this weekend.

[mtb] A few road kilometres

Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:47:00

So I will likely be going to Goulburn a bit over the coming months. I thought the best way to get there and back is of course on a road bike. A 90 KM ride each way is a good hit out for the legs, who knows I may start to get some modicum of bike fitness and speed back if I do this.

I rode out there after work yesterday, leaving home at 4:45pm I arrived around 7:40pm. I ran out of water, only carrying two full 750ml bottles. I wasted some time trying to find rest stops on the way out with potable water, however they all say not safe for drinking now days. I decided to live by Crash's quote, "Dehydration is now, gastroenteritis is later" and ended up filling up from a rest stop anyway. The ride there was remarkably nice, a head wind along Lake George but a side wind in many other places during the ride.

This morning, due to today being a public holiday in Canberra (and Victoria), I was able to take it easy coming back. I had a coffee this morning at the bike shop/cafe/greengrocer Greengrocer on Clifford which as a truly fantastic place (both in concept and in real life) then started my ride home. Annoyingly I had a head wind the entire ride home, also due to my lack of riding this year I did start to suffer pretty badly by the time I reached the climb out of Lake George. In the end the ride home took me around 3h20m so a bit longer than the ride out.

Hopefully this bit of riding will help me out at the Gravity 12 hour race this weekend in Victoria, especially as Sam has a new bike, so she will be on fire with fast laps and Ben has been doing some pretty hard exercise recently so has some fitness on him. It will be interesting to see how this same ride feels when I try it next week. Due to the highway being a bit boring and noisy I had my rockbox enabled Ipod playing the whole ride and stayed as far onto the verge as I could most of the time.

[mtb] Some more paddling

Wed, 29 Oct 2008 20:42:00

So I am definitely not doing the Hawkesbury classic this weekend, as I had not paddled more than 10 KM in one hit between March 30 and last Sunday (the paddle I did on Sunday was a cruisy 18 KM in Matilda with Danielle) I am simply not prepared to do 100 KM in one go this weekend. Instead I will go to Stonefest and Cirque du Soleil this weekend, pretty much going completely the other way from an all night exercise fest.

However I have finally been paddling a bit more, on the weekend I did the 18 KM paddle I mentioned, and as day light saving happened the BGCC time trials have been on again. So far I have managed to rock up to two of them. One two weeks ago and another tonight. Surprisingly when I consider the fact I had not paddled at pace since March and I have not paddled much, and that tonight I am still suffering from the effects of a cold I have had for a week and a half now. I managed to do somewhere in the 54 minute range both times for the 9.6 KM time trial.

I am fairly happy with this as I was expecting to be a lot closer to 60 minutes again now, I guess I have the technique improving now days and doing the time trial more over summer will simply help me refine both technique and paddle fitness.

[mtb] A little bit of exercise

Wed, 01 Oct 2008 16:35:00

On Sunday I once again had the opportunity to compete in the Sri Chinmoy Googong Multisport Challenge. Somehow, even though I have hardly done any exercise (read training) in 6 months, I fell out of the boat in the paddle leg (and took almost 10 minutes to get back in due to the waves washing into my boat coming from the other side of the dam with the wind) and set a pace that felt like cruising in all the legs on Sunday I was only around 2 minutes slower for the entire race than last year. I have no idea how I managed that, but hey what does it matter, the race was a lot of fun and everyone there seemed to have fun.

Due to not sleeping well on Sunday night and probably being a bit tired from the race I did no exercise on Monday and simply went to stretching class. Last night I went for my first real night ride, at night on the mtb, in quite a while with Sam. She was trying out a potential new bike, I took out the single speed and gave the ayups a good hit out. Night riding is fun I need to do more of it. This morning I went with the medium bunch in the road ride, however sat on the front most of the ride so got some work out, I still need to pick my cycling up again. I am looking forward to starting to do some more serious KM on the bike again in the coming months.

Exercise wise I am beginning to doubt I will be able to compete in the Hawkesbury Classic this year. After last year I have a fairly good idea about what preparation I need to do for the race. I have hardly sat in the boat for more than 50 minutes at a time paddling this year, I definitely have not done a few 30 KM paddles or other good preparation. I also do not feel as confident as I would like in my black boat at the moment to go for an overnight exhausting paddle in it. As the event is on November 1st and 2nd I do not have much time to decide so really have to come to terms with the event and how I want to approach it, or simply skip it until next year.

I am heading up to Myall Lakes this long weekend to have a weekend of kayak camping in Matilda, however I am not classing this as paddle training for Hawkesbury.

[mtb/gear] Fairly unobservant

Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:26:00

When I broke my collar bone in April, the road bike (well cyclocross bike) I was riding that day suffered some damage also. The front wheel was scalloped and broken in many places. The Saddle was broken and there was a nasty case of road rash on the STI shifters, everything else appeared fine however.

When I first started riding the road bike again, around 5 weeks after the accident, I thought at the time the right pedal was somehow rotating strangely or off in some way. However I put it down to getting back on the road bike with my collar bone in a state and ignored it. I also obviously got used to the sensation while ignoring it.

A few weeks ago I was doing some commutes on the cross bike with chunky tyres and was using 2 bottles in the cages often. Watching my legs rotate I noticed the right leg was hitting the frame and bottle a bit and yet the left leg was a huge distance out from the frame and anything else. Intrigued I then analysed my riding on some of my other bikes, I happily found the other bikes did not show off this trait also thus I was fairly sure my entire body had not somehow become unbalanced toward one side on the bike.

This did however mean something was obviously wrong with the cyclocross bike. Today I finally bothered taking it in to the bike shop and they measured some stuff, at first they were also flummoxed, until someone thought to measure the distance of the cranks from the frame. It turns out I bent my right crank inwards by 11mm in the crash, it was not hitting the frame and is not obvious unless you know to look at it for it being bent in compared with the other crank.

So I sort of suspected all along something was wrong, however made myself ignore it and get used to it. I am probably fairly lucky I have not been doing much riding this year so I have not changed my pedalling or muscle action or anything to accommodate the problem with the bike. Now I really do have to seriously consider buying a new groupset for this bike with a triple on it in order to enable it to climb in mountainous country more easily.

[mtb/events] Another Angry Doctor Done

Mon, 08 Sep 2008 16:49:00

Last year I headed down to Mogo on the south coast to race in the Netti 100 KM Enduro known as the Angry Doctor. Tom and Alina of AROC Sport run this event and do a damn fine job of it. I headed back to ride again this year, with even less riding in my legs than last year I was in cruise mode to a much greater extent than last year.

Thanks to Dave and Helen for letting us stay with them down there again this year. Thanks to Tom and Alina for putting on another fantastic 100 KM race. This year the first 50 KM was a lot more interesting and I thought somewhat more fun than last year. However due to access issues, land clearing and some other issues the second 50 KM had less single track and some other changes, though it was still good it was not quite as much fun as last year.

A bonus from the weekend was I again had Matilda my Pink Mirage Double Kayak with me and we headed out for a little paddle in the inlet just north of Mossy Pt on Saturday afternoon and we found a dolphin playing around in the water between Mossy Pt and Tomakin. Lots of fun, chasing the dolphin, watching it swim under Matilda, and moving all around us for a while.

The Angry Doctor itself was good fun, I knew I would be on cruise mode as I had not ridden my bike much since March (Broken collar bone and sick through a lot of winter), I think the last time I did more than 70 KM in one go, even on a road bike was back in February or March. So I headed out for the first 50 KM taking it easy, not pushing the pace. Stopped to help one person with a mechanical, stopped for food and drink for a bit at the Aid station, chatted away with people near me on the course had fun in general. By the time I got to the end of the first 50 back in Mogo I realised I was actually going faster than expected as I arrived spot on 3 hours back into Mogo.

So I hung around the half way point chatting away for a while and hanging out, then with cruise mode engaged even more I headed out to do the last 50. I stopped a few times to eat and watch people ride past, I kept on being far more cheerful and laid back than people around me probably wanted to hear and stopped for a while at the aid station too. Eventually I rolled back into Mogo in around 6h 56m with no soreness anywhere and having had a really enjoyable and fun cruise around a really fun and interesting course in a lovely part of the country.

[mtb] Broken Forerunner 305

Fri, 05 Sep 2008 11:33:00

When I broke my collar bone in April I was wearing my Garmin Forerunner 305. It got a crack in the case at the time. It kept working fine however, well except that water could get inside. This tended to be a problem when paddling as bit of water would get in. However the problem would be worse if the watch was submerged. The watch was submerged for a bit earlier this week and got a lot of water inside.

Strangely it still worked for the rest of that session and the data was downloaded to the computer. However when I went to turn it on the following morning for a ride it no longer worked, I have discovered that it seems to be unable to hold onto a charge and does not seem to get a satellite lock. It will turn on when plugged in to the computer, however after trying to get a lock for a few minutes when away from a computer it will then turn off and not turn on again until I plug it into a computer.

Unfortunately I bought this in the US and will now have to try sending it back to Garmin in the US rather than deal with someone local. When I bought it the price difference to buy in the US compared to buying locally was over $200. If I was buying one today I would buy it locally as the price is now better in Australia than it is to buy in the US and get it shipped over. This is all due to a huge price drop in Australia about a month ago on all Garmin stuff.

It is kind of strange after becoming so used to having speed, distance and HR data for all my sports to no longer have it on my wrist for my last few sessions (paddles and rides).

[mtb/gear] Oooohhh Shiny!

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 16:06:00

The Ayups wrapped up (fullsize)

All the kit from above (fullsize)

So I am sort of making bad jokes in the title of this post, however I do like my new light setup for riding/running/etc. As previously mentioned I was able to borrow some AYUP lights from my friend Danielle. Her adventure racing team has AYUP sponsorship this year and has been able to loan sets of ayups out to people around Canberra for them to try out. I was lucky enough to use a set for a few weeks.

Running with them is fantastic as you have a lot of light coming out, and due to the multiple angles can have one light pointed near your feet and one light pointed ahead if you need on rough terrain. On the bikes the system is really light and provides far more useable nice light than 20 or 30 W of halogen lights ever seemed to. Also definitely more than my luxeon based Silva L1, though one would kind of expect that with 2 Cree LEDs per light in the AYUP kit.

Anyway I felt the need to get a set, so $650 later I am now the owner of the 2008 Enduro kit, this gives me extra batteries, mounts, and a running head band. I also ordered another mount so I can have three of my bikes ready for them. I think anyone who knows what colour most of my race gear is can guess what colour I chose for the lights without looking at the photos on the left, good to see the shade will match my mountain bike and double kayak so well.

With the 4 3 hour batteries and 2 6 hour batteries I can keep both lights lit for 12 hours non stop, or if on foot and only wanting one light a full 24 hours without recharging. All my use of the loaned set has given me a huge appreciation of having these light weight and bright lights. I look forward to lots of fun out there using this set I now have bought.

Oh and I hear that from time to time when AYUP are out of stock of parts the wait can be horrendous. I was very lucky, I made my order for the lights on Tuesday and they were in my office by Friday. Rock on for quick service.

[mtb] Caffeine and glycogen storage, maybe the roadies have it right

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:32:00

There is an article in the Canberra Times today referring to a Melbourne study on some endurance cyclists measuring glycogen storage in muscles when caffeine is consumed immediately after a ride until exhaustion session.

The professor in charge of the study at RMIT is John Hawley, a google search turned up the article in question. It is quite a common practice among cyclists to head to a coffee shop after a ride, though most of us do not consume 6 cups of coffee and a loaf of bread, we do consume some food and coffee at these gatherings fairly often.

Good to see we can even claim the post ride coffee is part of our important training schedule and recovery plan.

[mtb/gear] Serious carrying capacity

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 13:06:00

On my 4 current working bikes I tend not to have a pannier rack mounted. Largely because I use the road bike and main mtb as race/training bikes and the fixie road bike has no rack screws and would not be suited to carrying panniers. The single speed however has rack mounts, and though it seems silly having a rack on my single speed mtb I have not bothered putting together the components and frame I have mostly ready for a touring bike yet. However I decided I wanted to use my panniers a bit once more for my shopping and other stuff.

Until I can get the last few parts and time to build the touring bike up the single speed seemed the obvious choice. Usually when I do my shopping I just take along a 35 litre backpack or similar and hope I can fit everything. I just mounted my pannier rack, both my panniers and a rack top bag onto my single speed, there is some fairly serious carrying capacity on that bike now. (see the photo)

Sure the capacity of this bike even with a ruck sack on my back is dwarfed by a bob trailer style arrangement and is made to seem puny when compared to the Dutch Cargo Bicycles such as those sold by a friend of mine in Victoria (follow the link). However I have yet to purchase either, although the Cargo Bicycles are sort of tempting, possibly due to how rare they are on Australian roads. Still the carrying capacity of two panniers and a rack top bag should enable me to carry a bit more home easily from the markets and shops (meaning I can do both in one trip and not do two trips)

Time now to ride to some shops and buy some items I need, than past uni to visit the co-op bookshop to buy a birthday preswent for Sam and Ben's daughter Max who is celebrating turning 6, also need to grab a projector from work to use at a dinner for BGCC tonight for a paddling slideshow on in the background.

Serious load carrying capacity with 2 panniers and a rack top bag (Full Size)

[mtb] Almost the silent serenity of falling snow

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 10:52:00

Yesterday afternoon I was sitting in my warm office looking out at the grey over cast skies with rain threatening to fall and wondering if I really wanted to go kayaking that evening. However as I had arranged to do the session I headed over to the boat shed to hop on the water anyway, the rain that fell on me as I rode over did not improve the outlook, however the lake appeared glassy and still which helped.

Once we actually got onto the water and paddling it was actually a beautiful evening for kayaking, glassy smooth water, warm due to being overcast and a lovely night to be in the middle of the lake paddling around. Near the end of the session some light rain started to fall and I heard the most amazing sound. I could hear the soft patter of rain falling on the lake water, a really quiet clinky sort of noise with silence all around me otherwise. I encouraged the 4 others out kayaking with me to shut up and listen for a second as it was really lovely moment. It reminded me of being out in the snow with windless heavy snow falling down around you, mostly silent and closed off from the world and yet the movement and feel of the falling snow covering up the old snow.

We were pretty lucky to finish paddling then as the rain just started to get heavier at that point. After putting boats away I rode back to Danielle's place to borrow a set of AYUP lights from her for a few weeks to try them out. I have been thinking of upgrading lights for a while, after using vistas and my Silva L1 for so long. The AYUP kit is pretty damn impressive. I put the lights on my mtb handle bars and good helmet last night ready for the mtb ride this morning.

Of course when I rolled up to ANU for the ride this morning it was raining and guaranteed to be muddy, however 3 other people rocked up to go mountain biking, so we headed out and had a bit of fun riding in the rain. The lights really do a great job, I had no problem seeing the track or where I was going and did not need to concentrate any where near as much (I have only been using my Silva L1 to ride with for a while now). I will try the lights on the road bike next week a bit in the mornings, however from this one use of the borrowed lights I am fairly sure I will buy myself a set. Thanks to AYUP and Danielle for the loaner set. I also have a running head band to try with them so I can see how they go on the Tuesday night run next week.

[mtb] Geoquest 2008 - Support crew role for me

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 22:57:00

So I did not compete in geoquest this year, and thus do not have an almost 10,000 word story about how it went. I was there though as support for Danielle's team 4TC. So I took photos (what you mean I should stop standing around taking photos and actually help the team, pish what a silly notion...)

Photos from the experience are at the normal sort of place. Geoquest 2008 - Supporting 4TC with a fair few Tangerine photos in there also.

[mtb/gear] Lake Safety

Wed, 11 Jun 2008 18:47:00

A lot of my paddling through winter is done on Lake Burley Griffin at night here in Canberra. My AR friends and I want to be safe and visible out on the water for obvious reasons. However there is a rule the water police sometimes enforce that you should not use red flashing (or red constant on) lights to on your body or boat. This is somewhat annoying as flashing LED safety lights for cycling are very cheap and easily available. Many of us resort to using flashing white with our head torches, or simply ignore the rule and wear a few flashing red lights anyway.

Julie sensibly has some proper suction cap attached safety lights she bought for this purpose, last year I used flashing orange road safety beacons sold by jaycar, however these were not easy to mount, not water resistant (and thus obviously not water proof) and seemed a bit cheap. Last year on Dans Data I saw a review for battery powered glow sticks known as Krill lights. Although they do not come in pink at the time I decided they would be really good safety lights for my boats while out paddling.

Today as I am getting back into night paddling again at last I finally received a pair of krill sticks. I got a 180 degree AA stick to put in front of me and face forward so as not to leave the glow in my field of vision directly and a 360 degree stick to sit at the back of the boat. I can tie them on at each end and sit them upright on velcro so they should stay in place reasonably well and still be quick to swap to another boat or remove.

The photos below probably shows fairly well the difference and the nice blue glow.

Blue Glow from Krill Lights (Full Size)

[mtb] A good AR transition tip

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 16:24:00

This weekend I was up at Geoquest, however rather than competing I was a support crew for Danielle's team 4TC who came 5th in the race this year almost an hour behind Dave and Julie's team Tangerine in 4th place. Results are on the Leaderboard and I took photos I will probably upload in a while.

Anyway one thing that I thought benefited me a lot being a support crew was being able to watch and analyse the transitions of other people and teams and see ways to do it well. On 4TC Liam was extremely fast and motivated through transitions. He also kept very careful track of the time spent in transitions, one tip I took away that I think would be important to use myself is to have some audible alarm going off during transitions at some time interval so you are aware of how much time is slipping away from you not moving in a transition.

Liam would get his watch to beep every two minutes or something so even when busy getting their shit together the team would all be able to hear how much time was passing. This I think would really help show you the need to get moving and get out of transitions fast. Especially if you could tell your watch to use a different beep (maybe louder or more annoying) as the minutes pass.

There are a few other things I noticed about effective use of time and support crew resources that I think would be worth writing down so I do not forget them.

[mtb/gear] Another reason cycling through winter is hard for non cyclists

Sat, 31 May 2008 18:14:00

On Thursday when I arrived at work I happened to give some thought to the clothing I had been wearing to go out cycling that morning with the temperature around 2 degrees Celsius and stay comfortable. People living in Sydney do not have it so hard as people living in Canberra, however Sydney has other problems, such as horrendous traffic and not much cycling friendly infrastructure.

On Thursday morning I was wearing the following items (with original purchase costs) CORC cycling socks ($10) and Ground Effect wind proof fleece socks ($25), Ground Effect tights with wind proof fleece from knees down ($99), knicks (a cheap pair I got at the Mont sale for $49), a poly propylene thermal (Kathmandu sale item for $19), Short Sleeve cycle jersey (Alpine Classic jersey, $70), arm warmers ($20 back in 2002), long sleeve fleecy lined winter top (A Netti top I bought in 2002 for $90 (or so)), Mont wind proof cycle vest (one of my favourite pieces of kit, $80 at the sale), Ground Effect fleece beanie with wind proof material over the ears ($19), helmet (not counting this in the price as all cyclists in Australia wear one in theory and you do not need one as expensive as mine), Ground Effect winter gloves ($39) over poly propylene glove liners ($8 at Kathmandu).

As it gets colder (down to -7 some mornings) I will also have neoprene booties ($80) over my cycling shoes, an extra poly pro thermal, and a full length sleeve Mont (or similar) wind proof jacket ($130) oh and often fleece gloves under the wind proof gloves. However if we simply add up the costs of what I was wearing this Thursday morning it comes to a rather staggering AUD $528. Considering I was riding in the dark that ignores the cost of lighting and also ignores how much I spend on bikes. Sure you can ride slowly not working up much of a sweat or exposing yourself to the wind as much in cheaper gear and be comfortable enough. However to actively enjoy cycling in cold temperatures and be able to do it a lot it helps having all the warm comfortable gear that protects you from the elements.

Of course clothing gets smelly quickly when you sweat in it a lot so I have more than one item of most of that gear to enable me to get out most days a week even in winter and stay active. Fortunately lots of it lasts a long time, however the cost of getting into cycling in winter is somewhat prohibitive when you first start doing it (such as the Bilbys novice program participants who keep going through the following winter).

I guess to counter balance this you can look at how much many people spend on petrol, when you consider I filled my car up with a tank of petrol for AUD $60 last week, it was the first time I had filled my cars petrol tank since March (I filled it in Sydney to get back to Canberra following the kayak race I did up there). I can comfortably get around by bike all through Canberra in winter, get my groceries often by bike, do other things by bike and can avoid using my car a lot.

However the point I guess I am getting at in the title is, most non Cyclists think $500 is about as much as they could conceivably justify spending on a bicycle. If they then find out to cycle through winter they may need to spend almost as much on clothing it is quite likely to put them off.

[mtb/gear] La Muerte, my little black boat

Thu, 29 May 2008 21:30:00

La Muerte - Time Bandit (fullsize)

So I finally got around to naming my Time Bandit Multi Sport Kayak. La Muerte, the Spanish word for death, however as it is a feminine word and I am a fan of Neil Gaiman's Sandman, the goth girl style Death from the series seemed like a good name. I have been told many a time that boats need female names, and though this could be seen as macabre or tempting fate I decided I liked it enough to go ahead and do the naming.

For more photos of La Muerte I have a photo page up now.

[mtb] 2008 Ride of Silence, Canberra, ACT, Australia

Sat, 24 May 2008 17:41:00

Today in Canberra the first local Ride of Silence was held, the aim is

The Ride of Silence is held yearly in cities across the world. For the first time in Canberra, join other cyclists in a silent ride at a slow pace to promote safer roads for all road users. Riders are encouraged to wear armbands: black for everyone, or red for those who have been injured by motorists.
The 2008 Canberra Ride of Silence aims to:

remember those killed or injured whilst cycling on roads.

raise awareness of the need for all road users to respect one another and to use roads in a considerate manner.

promote the importance for cyclists and motorists to obey the road rules.

remind the community that cyclists are ordinary people who have a right to safety on our roads.

Along with a number of Bilbys I went along and rode with everyone else around the short loop. I think on the whole it was a positive experience, everyone riding behaved well, we had a lot of media coverage/exposure that seemed positive (though we need to wait for the articles to be published to be sure), there was a number of MLA's there speaking so it had ACT government notice.

I know a lot of the ride was to promote cross awareness between road user groups and that we should all behave well with each other. One aspect I found strange is that most of the speakers (the MLA people in particular) mentioned they were motor bike riders and that it helped them understand cyclists. Sure I understand that they are also a minority group that most motorists somehow ignore or fail to see, however I found the constant motor biking mentions during the speeches a bit jarring.

I also went along today as the ride has a special interest to me and my family, I have never explicitly mentioned on this diary previously that my father was killed while riding his bicycle to work back in 1985. I was five years old, Jane was three, obviously neither of us have good memories of him (Jane probably has none), all I can really remember are images. Things I know about Dad are mostly imparted upon me by stories other people have told me. Dad was riding to work as a teacher out at a high school in Weston creek, he was running late so rather than ride along the bike paths he was riding on the Tuggeranong parkway, as he was crossing molonglo river (there is less than a 1 foot wide verge on the bridge there) a person in a car behind him was looking in their rear view mirror and swerved into him.

So all of our family has been touched heavily by driver inattention and someone forgetting to stay fully aware while in control of a 2 tonne weapon on the roads. Anything that can help promote awareness of road rules and all road users is a good thing.

The recent crash into a bunch of cyclists in Sydney where a driver deliberately ran into the back of a cycling bunch, then overtook them and slammed his brakes on causing them to run into his car, and subsequently driving away. Is an even worse example than simple inattention, however one of the things that was raised yet again in the radio and newspaper responses to this incident is the dislike so many road users seem to have of cyclists and how little they understand the people who ride bikes.

One complaint you often hear from drivers is that cyclists should get off the roads as they are not paying road use fees and often there is even the claim they are not paying taxes. How this computes in the heads of those people making the complaints is beyond me. In a bunch of cyclists everyone (well those over 18) will pay as much tax as others, and most adults cycling also own cars and choose not to use them if they can ride instead, which means we are paying as much for the roads as anyone else and yet are creating far less wear and pollution.

I hope the ride of silence and other events in moderation can continue to raise awareness of cycling as a mode of transport, exercise or fun in Australia.

[mtb] My photos from a rogaine yesterday

Sun, 18 May 2008 08:54:00

Yesterday Amanda and I competed in the ACT Champs 8 hour rogaine. Matt was doing the 24 hour (as were other friends such as Dave and Julie, or Mark and Selina). Even with rain or sleet most of the day and bitterly cold temperatures it was a fun day out. I love Tallaganda, though I ride there sometimes, that sometimes is never often and I think it is an underused National Park. Anyway I took some photos and put them up where I usually do.

[mtb/gear] Neat saddle bag feature

Wed, 14 May 2008 11:00:00

Another thing that broke in my big road crash was my saddle bag, it broke in the same place as the last time however as this was in a crash I did not think they would repair it again. So I ordered myself a new one from T7. Road bikes are often about clean lines and minimalism, thus having a hulking great big bag filled with tools, tubes, clothing, white goods, etc is not the norm (unlike on the mountain bike, or worse the contents of mountain biker's camel backs after a few years (I knew I would find that air compressor if I looked everywhere...)).

Thus this is a small saddle bag, as was the one that broke on my road bike. There is a problem with such a small saddle bag, I carry two spare tubes and a multi tool on the road bike for flats and repairs. This should be enough, and it was always one heck of a squeeze to fit it all inside. However there have been occasions when I have had more than 2 flats while out riding by myself. Last time it happened was a work day, well before any bike shops opened and I was out past Tuggeranong, I got my mother to come over from Gunghalin and pick me up that day. After that experience I taped or somehow attached a small patch kit to the bottom of the saddle bag so I could fix more than two flats. This did not stay attached easily and was in harms way a lot.

So after this long winded story I can get to the really neat feature of the new bag, it has a small zip up compartment underneath, in which there is a water proof cover, however as I see no need to carry a water proof saddle bag cover it is the perfect location to stash a small patch kit with glue, patches, sand paper and wet wipes. What a fantastic addition, it does not increase the size of the bag too much so you can still look like a roadie, yet it gets me out of the more than two flats problem in a neat manner. Good design T7.

[mtb/gear] Replacement Helmet

Mon, 12 May 2008 13:39:00

Pink Giro Animas (Full Size)

For years now I have worn a Giro E2 as my primary bike helmet. When I first started wearing it Bell helmets were rare in Australia (previously I found Bell helmets fit well), after trying out a number of helmets (including cheaper Giro models) the E2 was the only one I found that fit well at the time. Since using it I have also come to love the adjustable height visor and generally found it a really good helmet to wear.

When I broke my helmet last month I sent it off to the Australian Giro importer as they have a crash replacement policy, they will sell you a replacement at 40% of RRP. Once you include postage this would have put my new E2 at around AUD $170 to 180. I had already made use of this policy last year so all seemed fine. However the Giro importers rang back to say they would have no E2 helmets in stock until June sometime. So I started to look around online, a number of friends have bought their helmets that way and it was likely to be cheaper. I could have bought a new E2 for around AUD $160 including postage, however I happened to notice the Giro Animas mountain bike helmet model came in a really good pink flames colour. How could I resist getting more pink race gear, even though it will forever clash with anything red. So I ordered this (a model not available in Australia) and it arrived today.

I and I suspect many other customers love the ability to track packages being shipped, Danielle suggested I had too much time on my hands and am obviously a geek when I mentioned I knew my helmet had arrived in Sydney on Friday morning. However I could not help but look once a day or so and see the progress of the shipment until it arrived here. Anyway though I like my lilac spare helmet, this new helmet is far more comfortable, has an adjustable visor and comes with the added bonus that the flamingos I hide amongst do not even have to be painted lilac.

Date  	Time  	Location  	Event Details
May 12, 2008  	06:58:00 AM  	CANBERRA AUSTRALIA  	Out for delivery
May 12, 2008 	05:56:00 AM 	CANBERRA AUSTRALIA 	Arrival Scan
May 12, 2008 	04:11:00 AM 	SYDNEY AUSTRALIA 	Departure Scan
May 9, 2008 	08:55:00 AM 	SYDNEY AUSTRALIA 	Completed customs clearance process
May 9, 2008 	08:39:00 AM 	SYDNEY AUSTRALIA 	Arrival Scan
May 7, 2008 	11:10:00 AM 	JAMAICA NY UNITED STATES 	Departure Scan
May 7, 2008 	06:11:00 AM 	JAMAICA NY UNITED STATES 	Arrival Scan
May 7, 2008 	01:04:00 AM 	WILMINGTON OH UNITED STATES 	In transit
May 7, 2008 	12:56:00 AM 	WILMINGTON OH UNITED STATES 	Arrival Scan
May 7, 2008 	12:01:00 AM 	WILMINGTON OH UNITED STATES 	Departure Scan
May 6, 2008 	10:52:00 PM 	LOUISVILLE KY UNITED STATES 	Departure Scan
May 6, 2008 	08:05:00 PM 	LOUISVILLE KY UNITED STATES 	Departure Scan
May 6, 2008 	03:45:00 PM 	--- 	Shipment picked up from seller's facility

[mtb/gear] Yet Another Cycling Jersey - feeding the addiction

Thu, 08 May 2008 16:33:00

My very own google cycling jersey (Full Size)

Yes I have a Cycle Jersey Addiction (though the number decreased by one when my CORC jersey was cut off me at the hospital. (though I will probably replace it as I like my current CORC clothing, I still have two of the old style jerseys, fortunately the jersey that was damaged was not one of my irreplaceable jerseys (out of print or small print run))

Anyway as can be seen to the left I have acquired another cycle jersey, one that I suspect will be somewhat rare in Canberra, though to some extent this is obviously a corporate looking jersey, I think it is a rather good design and will be rare enough here I will enjoy wearing it. Thanks Mikal.

[mtb] Something different at Stromlo

Tue, 06 May 2008 22:02:00

The ARNuts run this evening was from Matt and Amanda's place over to Stromlo and on to the purpose built running track. Matt, Keith and I ran back early after a lap and a half on the new track and I think the others (Mark, Susie, Heather and Selina) headed up to the summit then back through Duffy. For me this was the first time I had been on the running track.

I have been out at Stromlo helping build the mountain bike trails since CORC started work on them and it has been great to see the mountain biking side of Stromlo Forest Park come together. As for the running track, Keith said he thought it was a bit boring, and considering we all tend to prefer trail runs I can see where he is coming from, however I personally thought it was really good. There are a few different possible short cuts to make the loop shorter for different training purposes. On the whole it was much more interesting than running around an oval, especially if you are running by yourself, oval track sessions are generally only fun in groups in my experience.

Anyway I had fun and the soft surface of the track was much nicer on my shoulder and upper arm muscles than the other surfaces we ran on tonight.

[mtb] Hitting the wall like a champion

Sun, 04 May 2008 21:00:00

The other week when the Fat Cyclist was talking about preparing for his upcoming 100 Mile desert ride on a single speed commenters suggested one of the things he was sure to do with that plan was bonk (hit the wall) spectacularly. I had a good ol' laugh at Fatty's response to the suggestion he would bonk in one of the comments.

i intend to bonk in a manner most spectacular. see, if you're slow, people just say you're slow. if you bonk so bad that you're barfing and pale and hallucinating and talking to Elvis in Norwegian, people revere you. that's what i'm shooting for.

Most endurance sports people have experienced something akin to this in the past, heck a recent one I recall happening to Crash was a rather spectacular lack of energy almost causing him to call for a lift home with in 1 KM of his house. I guess I should ask him if Elvis can speak Scandinavian tounges when I talk with him next.

Interestingly Fatty got through his ride easier than ever before it seems.

Considering I put this in my mtb category I guess I should at least mention what I am up to. As I said previously I am running again, this week past I have been using my right hand and arm on the handle bars again while riding, so I picked up my road bike from the shop yesterday and did some riding on it. I can once more ride on the road, I am still a little while away from mountain biking due to the need to be able to move quickly and lift the front of the bike smoothly. Also yesterday Danielle and I headed out in Matilda to see if I was at all able to paddle yet. The good news is I can once more paddle, not fast and it will definitely be a while before I can do so at a competitive pace and not have my muscles tire, however I am once more able to do most of the sports in which I participate. Good news that.

[mtb] Oh so good to exercise again

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:37:00

Tomorrow it will be three weeks since breaking my collar bone. Before that I had a two and a half week break after Jindabyne in which I had only done a kayak race in Sydney and half the road ride leading up to the crash. Thus I have been a bit edgy and sort of climbing the walls wanting to do some exercise. Finally today I decided I had waited long enough and I would be able to run so long as I was careful of my right arm/shoulder and if I ran on a grass track (predictable, soft surface).

So I headed over to the Bilbys track session at Dickson ovals, and oh my god it was wonderful to exercise again, even with the huge shock of getting my heart rate up there for the first time in five weeks. I sure have lost some fitness, previously I could cruise at five minute km pace with my HR sitting around 155, this evening it was sitting at 175 at that pace, then near the end of the session I decided to finish off with a faster lap (around 4 minute pace) (laps were around 600 M with a 50 M warm down (walking for me today) before starting another) and my HR got up to 188, I have never seen it pass 184 since getting the HRM so I sure am down in form.

Time for bed now I think, I have just finished packing and preparing stuff for my trip to Queensland tomorrow afternoon for Matt and Amanda's wedding on the weekend. Back in Canberra late Sunday night after that.

[mtb] Athlete injury stages

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:36:00

One of my friends works as a physio for elite athletes. Thus she often treats athletes with injuries who are all keen to get back into their sport as soon as possible. She has mentioned there are stages her patients go through when injured.

Denial, Depression, Anger and Acceptance. While injured you can apparently float around between all these stages a bit, moving forward and backward as the mood takes you. When I had the stitches in my elbow last year I was still able to do a lot of activities so was not in this situation really. This time of course is different. Maybe I should try to analyse what point in this cycle I am at in any given time.

The acceptance stage is in theory the most useful as you accept the injury and simply ask what to do to get better as soon as possible. Then do exactly that, the idea of doing everything you are personally able to to control recovery, after that try to remain positive and simply hope things will improve quickly.

I will hopefully learn something about myself going through all of this and should remain thankful it was not significantly worse. From what I have been told by those following in the bunch when I crashed, I actually bounced up off the bitumen on impact. Also Glenn did a somersault or two while clipped in before he hit the ground. Considering that my head was scraping along the ground and we both hit hard in that region we are incredibly lucky we did not do damage to spine or other such major systems around our heads and neither of us suffered concussion.

Oh and I have now ordered the pink helmet I mentioned yesterday (though not from Amazon, I bought it from Cambriabike).

[mtb] More of that evidence that road riding is a bit unsafe.

Wed, 02 Apr 2008 17:04:00

So road riding has once more proven far more dangerous than mtb.

This morning coming downhill through deakin on hopetoun cct in the bilbys medium bunch. I was on the front on the left with glen next to me on the right. Riding fairly fast into the bumpy roundabout above the shops I took a very wide line to give glen more space. My wheels lost grip on the bumps and slid into and bounced off the gutter. I left the bike at some point and landed on my right shoulder. My bike bounced into the middle of the road in time for Glen to go over it and get launched over his bars also onto his right shoulder. Tony also came down behind us and did some damage to his fingers.

I have fractured my right collar bone and also had to get three stitches around my right eye brow. I have a sling and have to keep the right arm immobile for a week then will slowly regain movement.

Glen has a level 3 dislocation of his AC joint and is in a fair amount of pain. Drugs are helping him with this. (Ron will know what this is like as it looks similar on his shoulder to Ron's dislocation from the mugga loop a few years back). I am now at home and Glen should be home soon, he is very happy no Surgery will be required. Glen will also need to keep his right arm immobile, for two weeks, then do some extensive physio for awhile.

Thanks to Browny, Tony and the other riders who have helped today. Thanks to Dr Julia and the others at the hospital. Lets hope i get better soon and can get back out there.

Oh also the mtb skills clinic should be able to go ahead this weekend. I think I can find another coach to replace me.

Typing with the left hand only is slow and difficult so I will save you all from reading a longer blurb. Stay safe and ride mountain bikes kids.

[mtb/events] Lifestart Kayak for kids on Sydney Harbour

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:25:00

My first paddles on Sydney Harbour went well on the weekend. Great weather, a cruisy paddle on Saturday and a fun race on Sunday. I put all the photos and a few words online from the event.

Lifestart Kayak For Kids 2008.

[mtb/events] Polaris Challenge 2007

Tue, 25 Mar 2008 12:21:00

Well I mentioned late reports recently, I guess this time I have given up any pretence of ever writing a report for this event. However I did take photos and put comments with them shortly after the event. So I have finally decided to upload the photos from my 2007 Polaris Challenge. I wrote a report with photos for my previous three Polaris events I competed in with Marea (2004 Murramurang/Clyde, 2005 Comboyne, 2006 Delegate).

For some reason I just never felt like writing this one up, maybe it was our lacklustre performance (coming in late on both days), maybe it was my mood toward the event at the time. Then when I still had not written a report by the time I found out the event was never going to happen again, I was not in the mood to write it up. Anyway the photos are interesting (or scarring depending upon how you look at a Rocky Horror themed Polaris and lots of men in stockings).

[mtb/events] My 2007 Triple Triathlon report

Thu, 20 Mar 2008 16:49:00

Wow, last year I did not publish my triple tri report until Feb sometime, this year it did not happen until March. I had better be careful with this lagging report habit, November is not that far away.

Anyway Bruce, Larissa and I competed in mixed threes last year and continued the stream of not coming first, who cares though because it is an excellent event. We had a heap of fun and were surprised at finishing well considering I did some running and Bruce some riding to see if we could go slower.

The report is in the normal sort of place, 2007 Sri Chinmoy Triple Triathlon, To The Teeth.

[mtb/events] 2008 Sri Chinmoy Jindabyne Multisport Classic

Tue, 18 Mar 2008 16:59:00

With a really nasty cold, a bruised hip and not much swim time in the last 6 years I went and tried to finish the Jindabyne Multi Sport race solo on Sunday. The previous two years I had competed in a team doing all the mtb legs. As I have been saying to just about everyone, if on a given day you are so sick you would stay home from work, don't go out and race swimming, kayaking, running and mountain biking for 11 hours non stop, it really is a silly way to try to rid yourself of a cold. Even if it is a really beautiful course and a spectacular event, don't try this at home kids.

Anyway if you want to read about it I put my 2008 Jindabyne Sri Chinmoy Multisport Classic report online in the normal sort of place.

[mtb] Cotton wool pre race

Thu, 13 Mar 2008 12:43:00

Last year, the morning I fell into the fountain, Dave Baldwin had a nasty crash, resulting in a broken thumb and a fractured hip. This crash was two days before the triple triathlon, Dave was unable to compete (he had entered as a solo, would have been his 7th triple tri as a solo or something).

Fortunately I have not been injured to that extent, however on Tuesday night at the ARNuts trail run I felt my left hip get painful, my hip flexor muscles were in a bit of pain. I think this was due to the steep hills we had been climbing and descending, and I had modified my running style a bit compared to how I normally run in order to try and keep my HR lower. I stretched my hip carefully, and all the surrounding muscles at stretching class yesterday. By the time I was heading out for a mtb ride this morning it felt pretty much better (though still a little sore to run).

Then I made a silly mistake on the mtb this morning, deciding to change directions onto a different track too late and missing a corner, my wheels slid out and I fell sideways landing on my left hip. Ouch, the already sore area is now in more pain. I think if I am careful, rest it and do not stress it I should be alright by Sunday. The reason I need to be able to run by Sunday is I am doing the Jindabyne Multisport Race as a solo entrant. Maybe we should wrap ourselves in cotton wool before important events, or I guess as my stretching instructor suggested, maybe have a rest day once in a while.

[mtb] Oh no I seem to be changing too

Sun, 02 Mar 2008 20:43:00

So one of my favourite Julie stories pointing out how us lesser mortals do not compare is about the time she accidentally ran 50KM rather than 30KM in a training run. Yesterday morning I did a 23 KM paddle in Matilda (Mirage double) with Danielle, then coached a mtb skills clinic in the afternoon. However today (Sunday) I had been intending to do at least a full Jindabyne training session of swim/paddle/run/bike in a row. However I was feeling tired, really average and a bit sick this morning when out on the lake doing paddle support for the triathlon I just did not feel up to much more than sleeping when I got home.

So I have been laying on the bed a lot today, however I realised I had left my Mont Duo Jacket at the sailing club in Yarralumla this morning. So rather than driving over there, or even riding as I normally would, I head out for a leisurely (5:45 to 6:00 minute km pace) run around the lake, 20KM on foot simply to pick up my jacket and at least get some training in today. I pegged my HR around 145 and dawdled along. The scary bit it I enjoyed the experience. I fear I have changed a bit.

[mtb] Another paddle pb

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 13:19:00

Though I did not mention it here, two weeks ago I once again got a new paddling pb with 51:50 or so over the 9.5KM course we use on Wednesday evening for the time trials. I guess I had been rabbiting on about these a lot so thought I would give it a miss. However last night I did it again, this time I got under 50:30, I did not press stop on my GPS for a bit after crossing the line so am unsure exactly what time it was, the GPS stopped recording with 50:29 on the watch.

I did not wear my PFD and attached camel back from which I can drink while paddling so I stopped at the bottom of the course (probably about the time my HR spiked right back down to 130 BPM) do blow my nose and have a drink from a bottle. Thus once again I can see it would be possible to go faster. I am happy to see my goal of cracking 50 minutes by the end of the season appears to be on track.

[mtb] Paddling up north on the weekend.

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 15:08:00

My sister and I drove north to Macksville (near Coffs Harbour) on the weekend to visit our Grandma. I took my Time Bandit with me so I could do some paddling while I was there. Last year in Geoquest I missed out on the Bellingen River paddle, as it is a popular spot for paddling and there are guided paddling tours and such there I was keen to have a go on it.

Seeing how I had the boat with me I thought it would be good to paddle from the Pacific Highway bridge over Warrell Creek out to Nambucca Heads. This creek/river was used in Geoquest in 2006, though as I was in the half I did not get to paddle in it then either.

I forgot to wear my HRM/GPS on Saturday paddling in the Bellingen river, when I started I decided to paddle upriver for 40 minutes to an hour and then turn around and start coming back down. I found this was probably not the smartest thing to do as the river was flowing fairly fast and whenever it narrowed there were easy grade 1 rapids, which though lots of fun to paddle downriver through were somewhat challenging to paddle up.

Instead I probably should have put in at Thora and paddled all the way out to the coast from there, which would have given me fun grade 1 rapids fairly often down to Bellingen then the lovely river paddle from there on. On Sunday I remembered the HRM/GPS so you can see the map or detailed data if you wish.

This paddle on Warrell Creek was a lot prettier than most of the paddling on Bellingen river I thought, on the whole a very pleasant few hours. The photos from both days can be seen on the page I put online for paddling Bellingen River and Warrell Creek.

[mtb] Dollars per second?

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 20:45:00

So tonight I took the new toy out for the first time trial since getting it. What do you know I got another pb tonight. The time keepers said it was 52:38, I did not stop my watch immediately upon finishing so have a few more seconds on the HRM. Still good to see the speed happening, now I just have to work on cracking 50 minutes before the end of the season.

One of the people at the club asked me if I had worked out the dollars per second as I had purchased this new toy. I do not think I want to work that out just yet, maybe with a few more minutes knocked off it will not be so bad.