Indeed we do

It’s quite some way off, but does this sound like a great day out or what:

We Like Bikes is a Brisbane City Council-sponsored event on Sunday May 20, 12-5pm. Held along the Teneriffe bikeway, Brisbane’s bicycle enthusiasts can enjoy live music, performances, workshops, food and beverages and even a “hot rod” bike competition as they cycle along the river. It’s alcohol-free, family friendly and a chance to unite Brisbane’s diverse cycling cultures.

That’s in an email from Ellie Freeman. I look forward to hearing more about this!

I got so city girl on you

IMG_2264

Papergirl Brisbane was both a very cool idea and a lot of fun.

It was also the first event for me in a slightly new role. Not just enthusiast for all things cycling, not just Bicycle Queensland person/advocate, not just blogger/photographer for briztreadley and/or RideQ.

But also co-host of a cycling program on ABC Digital local radio on Sunday afternoon with Phil Smith.

Here’s a rough cut of the piece for next Sunday on the radio. Don’t tell anyone.

I like this little series of pix where Noelia has given two boys some art in the Queen Street mall.

IMG_2288

IMG_2289

IMG_2290

And some of my better pix from the day.

IMG_2264IMG_2269IMG_2270IMG_2272IMG_2281IMG_2282IMG_2283IMG_2285IMG_2287IMG_2288IMG_2289IMG_2290IMG_2293

Only in my mind does this Tegan and Sara song have any connection to Papergirl. And one more call to an external site using a Flash widget to slow my site to a crawl. Click play, though, it’s worth it.

The high cost of not really thinking

Oh yeah, just briefly ...

Here’s what is percolating around my head at the moment:

And here’s a cheesey pop song from my youth.

One word short of a great headline

Specialized are still sponsoring Ned Overend. He’s only been with the company since 1987. How cool is that? Ned has just won the World Masters cyclocross championship. Just seems like an opportunity missed in the headline there.

If it’s not already obvious Ned Overend is an inspiration to me (and many others). Check out this interview from a couple of years ago, which includes this exchange:

Q: What gets you more fired up, dirt or road?

A: A combination of the two, actually. This is what keeps me fresh. I really enjoy cyclo-cross as well. Mountain biking on singletrack is always an amazing experience for me.

Yes. Me too, Ned.

And last year, the toughest hill climb race in the US, Mt Washington. Ned Overend (56 years old) 1st, Tinker Juarez (50 years old) 2nd.

Ned and Tinker racing NORBA, back in the 90s.

Tinker races for Cannondale, maybe for as long as Ned’s been on a Specialized. I know these are commercial arrangements, but I like what it says about both the companies involved and the racers themselves.

Essential equipment or ex-strava-gance?

I have my own ideas about road cycling, and it is true that I am quite often out of step with the mainstream of roadie opinion.

I have never been bothered to shave my legs, for instance.  The arguments in favour of it seem to boil down to two things:

  1. Shaved legs are nicer when you get your legs massaged.
  2. Everyone else does it.

Well there’s nobody lining up to massage my legs, so I just continue on with my legs in their ‘natural’ state.

I have never bought road-type cycling shoes, because it seems to me that if you’re not racing on your road bike, at some stage in every ride you are going to get off and walk, and I much prefer being able to walk around like a normal human person. So I use mountain bike pedals and shoes, on both road and mtb. Have done so since 1991. Will probably do so for the next 20 years as well.

I used to use a bike computer, until a few years ago. But I was never all that diligent at keeping a training log, or writing down my mileage, or recording how I felt on every ride. I do know someone who has an Excel file detailing every ride they’ve done for the last 10 years. Or more.

Lots of people find the record keeping to be helpful, especially if they are training for competition, or for an event. I hear from some people that strava.com is all the rage these days. It lets you compare times with friends over particular courses.

That’s fine for all those folks. It’s just not for me.

So one day about three years ago I just stopped using a bike computer. And this is a bit odd, because I am a gadget kind of person. I love my iPhone, the best gadget there has ever been.

But even though Garmin keeps putting out brilliant bike computers, and even ones that are affordable, yet I have resisted the temptation without much difficulty. I even have access to an older Garmin bike computer … I just never use it.

I reckon that if I’m riding with the bunch, and I haven’t been dropped, then I’m going fast enough.

And if I’m riding on my own, then what does it matter whether I’m going 25 km/h or 35 km/h or 15 km/h? Either I’m riding hard or I’m taking it easy, but knowing the actual speed makes very little difference to me.

I can see the point on long rides of knowing how far you’ve ridden, especially if you’ve mapped out a route with stops planned at particular locations. Only 8 km till the bakery, that sort of thing. But that’s not enough reason for me to bother with a bike computer.

So there really remains only one performance metric, one measuring tool, that I ever use. A stopwatch. On Mt Gravatt.

And this morning I even forgot to do that.

When I am at ‘racing weight’ and in good form, the Mt Gravatt climb takes me about 7 mins 30.

If my form is just OK, then about a minute slower: 8 mins 30.

This morning, Les told me, our laps of Mt Gravatt were above 9 minutes, the last one closer to 10.

Just shows me how much improvement I have in me! Somehow I don’t think I will get there before G2I, but that’s OK too. There’s a whole year ahead, and it’s always good to have room for improvement!

KHR-some

I have no positive track record with New Year’s resolutions, and therefore refuse to make them. Either that or I HAVE made resolutions, but I’m keeping them to myself.

But I do set myself goals. And they are usually bike events. Along with a few of my South Bank bunch friends, I will be riding the 2012 Grafton-Inverell Cyclosportif, on February 18th. Done it before, reckon I can do it again.

So this morning was my first hard road ride in a while. The Kenmore Hills Ride (KHR). 800 metres of vertical ascent crammed into about 45km. It covers just about every steep hill in Kenmore and Brookfield.

And although I was off the back a few times, and some of the others had to wait for me, I was pretty pleased with how I went this morning. There’s enough encouragement in how I went and how I feel now to think that I can probably improve my fitness some between now and G2I. And if I can eat better I may even lose a couple of kilos doing it.


The KHR. 

P.S. The origins of the KHR are a bit blurry. I’ve always attributed it to Bob Christiansen, but this morning Legs Hewett was telling me that he thinks Lawrie Cranley deserves the ‘credit’ for designing the route. All I know is: Les has done more KHRs than anyone I know. And every single one of them hurts.

 

You try the best you can, the best you can is good enough

As promised.

cleveland_tracks

I really do have the best job. This morning’s invite was from Redlands Council to join in with the group of Council staff and local mountain bikers looking at the concept plans for the Cleveland Track Park. That is what’s happening in the pic above … we’ve jumped off the bikes for a second to look at a creek crossing, and there’s discussion about the best route for the trail on the far side of the water.

Cleveland Track Park will be in bushland that is right in the middle of suburban Cleveland and Alexandra Hills. The trails are not especially technical, but the setting is so very sweet … wallabies on the side of the track, lush Australian bush, even though we’ve had a pretty dry year.

And what gave me a boost was the massive enthusiasm of the Cleveland folks to make this happen and improve access to the bushland for all users: walkers, cyclists, old young.

And if the very best I could manage this morning was to lever myself out of bed at 4.45 am to get ready and down to Cleveland in time for a 6 am ride start, then fortunately that was good enough.

Can I do it again tomorrow morning for a South Bank ride? I’m optimistic.

The big fish eat the little ones, the big fish eat the little ones, not my problem, give me some.

It wears me out …

Oh yeah, just briefly ...

As some people know, I’m on a Radiohead kick at the moment. After my feeble attempts at riding with the bunch this morning, this one’s appropriate.

Hoping to get to ‘Optimistic’ later in the week.