This is great:
We survived the Kona 24hr. Report will probably follow. ๐
C grade had 50 riders this week. I’d been off the bike for two weeks with work committments and on trying E3 efforts at the ‘drome on Saturday I felt that I would be spat out the back quickly because my legs were so stuffed from under-use. I just didn’t seem to be able to force my legs up to the required speed.
The first part of the race felt quite easy even though post-race comments seemed to indicate otherwise. Perhaps it was the two week “rest” I’d had? Ha!
I’d had an easy night beforehand with only a single drink (it was hard but I managed.. the hangover from the night before helped curtail my drinking) and an early bedtime of 2.30am ๐
As usual, I wasted energy at the back of the field for a while before moving up. Again I was surprised that I could actually stay up near the front. There appeared to be less breakaway attempts than usual – it was like everyone was having an easy day? The usual crazies chopped and changed their lines mid-corner and mid-straight causing some carnage but I managed to hold it together to secure my best place so far.. 5th.
Maybe if I didn’t do those couple of small turns out the front I would’ve had the juice needed to push through a couple more guys and enter the “money zone”? (Maybe if I took
more care of my body.. and.. blah blah blah.. )
Victory WILL be mine!! Soon.. soon my pretties…
Oh, I checked the stats this morning and the average wasn’t any slower than usual, contrary to my feeling on the day. 40.4kph for 57min. It must’ve been my
brain helping me out me out with some extra dopamine.
I think my HR was lower too so I’m either getting fitter (ahahahaha!) or I was simply better rested.
hippy slept in and took today off after spending WAY too much time at work…
So now he’s undone the sleep in by staying up too late.. but there’s only POETS day left so it should go quickly.
I can’t give you a cool commute story.. but I can tell you that I had my first ride on the track (for the season) tonight. I waited for the novice session to finish and jumped on.
I have issues with Miche’s rear cog – I couldn’t get the Miche cog off the Miche cog-mount. So I had to run 49/18 rather than my usual 49/16 which is already a quite small training gear… Gotta see if there’s some tool available to get this stupid thing off. Position on the bike sucks too after all the road riding I’ve been doing.. but that’s probably TOB* and flexability related. Strange noises are WAY more unnerving when you have no brakes!
I also want to get another set of SPD-SLs because I don’t trust my SPDs for high-power track starts. Now that all the crap at work is done there’ll be more HOB**.
I hope Max is feeling better after his crash..
* Time On Bike
**Hippy On Bike

So I’ve been crapping on for ages about getting a new road bike. I’m still not ready to throw away the Pug yet (with super secret Plan X still progressing) so I went half way and bought a frame. It will probably sit in storage for ages due to the aforementioned Plan X but when it does come out it will likely find itself mated with a Campag groupset. This way, I can jump onto either side of the argument about ‘which is the best groupset’. ๐
Cervelo Super Prodigy Specs:
http://www.cervelo.com/bikes/SPG.html
Full Size Frame image:
http://www.cervelo.com/images/2004/2004-SPRT-full.jpg
For $1999aud RRP I get the STEEL frame, Columbus Muscle carbon fork and the Cane Creek headset and the Cervelo carbon seatpost.
“A steel bike that performs like no other. New lightweight Ultra Foco custom-designed Thermacrom tubeset steel frame design optimized for stiffness-to-weight. Complete Nickel-plated frame for corrostion & abrasion resistance. Exposed Nickel chainstays & seatstays. Includes Cervelo Wolf full carbon fork & carbon seatpost.”
“In 2004 the SuperProdigy bikes will be available in both black/nickel and in Team CSC colors (red/nickel) as used by the team in the Spring classics. The frameset will only be available in Team CSC colors. But supply is limited.”
Yes, this is the last one my LBS could get. It’s the same as the image above – in team colours. It’s damn light. I’d be worried but the Pug lasted quite well under my fat arse so I figure it should be okay. It looks TRICK and will make a great training bike. Cervelo don’t make steel frames any more so it should end up pretty rare – I might even take care of this one ๐
While I sat in an air-conditioned office..
on a weekend doing stupid overtime, some of the others from Aboc were up in the mountains on Climbing Camp:
http://www.aboc.com.au/images/galleries/20041113_climbing_camp/index.html
It SNOWED! We are nearly in summer in Australia and it frickin’ snowed! I’m not sure if I was lucky to be stuck in the office or not now ๐
In honour of..
the fucked up all-nighter we (“the hardcore”) just pulled at work.. here’s a metaphorical two-fingered salute to Microsoft (a.k.a. The Bringer of Pain):
http://www.lanwar.com/forumsh/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14830
“Kill me.. kill me now.. “
I’m not dead. I’m flat out at work. I will post something cool when I have some more time.
Meanwhile, here’s a discussion on the UCI’s 6.8kg weight limit
Some arsehole in the back of a white shitbox (plates noted for later use ๐ ) driving down Burke Rd. thought it’d be fun to scream shit into my ear. Normally traffic is moving quickly by, but this guy was close and not going so fast so I copped the full brunt. I was probably in another world too. Suffice to say shit4brains scared the crap out of me. Adrenalin flowing I chased the car. The pathetic piece of shit wouldn’t wind his window down so I could tear off his fucking head – and I think I could’ve ripped it straight off his shoulders with the mood I was in..
All I could do was unload a bunch of language at his window. I thought about smashing the window, but it was a rear passenger and I had enough sense not to, 1) criminal damage charges and 2) it wasn’t the driver and probable owner of the car who yelled.
On a happier note, or is that a stranger note? someone appeared to take a photo of me as they drove by last night…
Maybe they are going to submit it to the Guinness Book for ‘World’s Biggest Arse’ category?
That’s someone filming and someone photographing cyclists (me) in the same week!? WTF is with that??
Riding north along Burke Rd, just about to hit Cantebury Rd. and I notice an old guy in front of the shops.
Out of the corner of my eye he seems to take a ‘Ministry of Silly Walks’ step and then jerks back the other way and topples over! “Shit! This geezer’s just had a heart attack!” I think to myself.
I jump off the Pug and hobble back along the footpath (selfishly cringing as I think of the brand-spanking-new carbon soles on my road shoes getting scratched).
Someone else had also seen the incident and was already there helping the old man to his feet. “Phew! at least it wasn’t a fatal heart attack!”.
The old guy is looking dazed and confused (kinda like I do most days, but in a worse way). We talked to him for a while trying to find out where he lived, if he was okay to get home, etc. We were encouraging him to go to the nearby pharmacy and sit down but he didn’t seem to want to do that.
I stood with the old man while the other guy went to the pharmacy and chatted to the staff. While he was doing that I encouraged old dude to walk down towards them. He seemed to be getting better but had banged up his shoulder and was bleeding from a cut hand.
The other guy rendering assistance said he had a car. I stood with the old man (who said he was 80) until he returned with a Volvo. We got the poor guy into the car and Volvo man said he would drive him home or call the cops/ambo should the need arise.
I left the scene thinking “job well done”, until I had flashes of tomorrow’s headlines “Camberwell pensioner-slasher steals Volvo to round up victims”. Hopefully that’s just my paranoia and general distrust of society kicking in..
Also saw a smashed up, black, late-model WRX with what looked to be the mid-life-crisis driver standing nearby with the cops. Oops!
A young dude ‘barked’ at me out of a cab-minibus window and it made me think of nasty things to say, mainly about his mum and her source of income.. until I saw the cab again and waved at it. The dude waved back and I laughed, deciding not to utilise the cutting insults..
I often go mental on rainy rides…