Category Archives: Not Racing

Get yourself a memento

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Nick O’Donnell was at Bowl-o-cross, as you certainly were as well.

And he took some photos, as is his wont. The gallery is on the Photostore on Roadie.net.au (anyone else slightly amused that some of Nick’s best work on Roadie shows off-road cycling?).

I like this one.

EB and AD dicing in the 'Barefoot' category at Bowl-o-cross. More fun than a barrel full of monkeys. Nicholas O'Donnell photo.

EB and AD dicing in the ‘Barefoot’ category at Bowl-o-cross. More fun than a barrel full of monkeys. Nicholas O’Donnell photo.

Get over there and find one you like, to have and hold and keep forever. To remind you of the day that cyclocross in Queensland went to the next level.

Monday madness: Convicts, bowls, bunnyhops and massive mountains

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It was a big weekend in sport!

  • Pushies Galore Bowlocross went into social media meltdown when Robbie McEwen, and a mate of his, Mark Skroblin, turned up. And raced. How freaking cool is that!

It's a good day when you get to meet your hero.

It’s a good day when you get to meet your hero.

  • Brad Norman turned up dressed as He Man. Michael McMahon wore an increasingly skimpy white dress. I was in whites, befitting our location (Holland Park Bowls Club), and sporting a 2000 Sydney Olympic tie. We had a relay race featuring helmet covers as the relay ‘batons’. The fabric covers had animal designs such as panda, frog, chicken, fox, penguin etc. My team were pussycats.
  • I raced against AB and Emma in the ‘Barefoot’ class, which turned out to be great fun, and also meant I could do the live commentary for the main races in which Robbie McEwen was racing. Good call! In our second race, Emma was miked up for live commentary as well, and that was heaps of fun. Until she binned it on some loose gravel and scratched a hole in the Spesh-Lululemon knicks! Tragedy!

There were two step-ups, followed by a steep bank. Robbie and his mate Mark rode them all day. Nobody else could!

There were two step-ups, followed by a steep bank. Robbie and his mate Mark rode them all day. Nobody else could!

Technically speaking this is a mono-hop, not a bunnyhop. Technically speaking, HOLY SHIT HE CAN RIDE.

Technically speaking this is a mono-hop, not a bunnyhop. Technically speaking, HOLY SHIT HE CAN RIDE.

  • Not only did Robbie and Mark ride that bank, and mono-hop like madmen. They also finished each race with a wheelie of at least 30 metres. In the last race, Robbie popped the front wheel into the air, and then proceeded to take both hands off the bars, while still pedalling along. O. M. G.
  • I don’t know how you could top the fun factor at Pushies Galore’s events. Nice work Gavin & Richard!

A guy selling coffee was encouraging the riders with a megaphone. It was that sort of day!

The guy selling coffee was encouraging the riders through his megaphone. It was that sort of day!

  • In faraway Sydney, Imogen smashed it to third place in the Convict 100, one of the major marathons on the NSW scene. And has earnt herself a trip to race in the Transalp mtb stage race in Europe, apparently. I suspect/hope more details will be forthcoming!

Imogen (third) and Naomi (second) chat after the Convict 100. Well, in this pic anyway, Imo's chatting, and Naomi is listening! (Pic from MarathonMTB.com)

Imogen (third) and Naomi (second) chat after the Convict 100. Well, in this pic anyway, Imo’s chatting, and Naomi is listening! (Pic from MarathonMTB.com)

Other people’s views of Bowl-o-cross:

Excitable man

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On the radio, you can’t see me waving my hands around when I talk.

This Great South East segment went to air on Sunday March 31, but I’ve only just got hold of a copy. Critique/heckle me in the comments.

My favourite moment: the fake laughs from both Emmas right at the end after I’ve made a terrible Dad joke about testing positive for caffeine.

Post Bike Week post

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You know that there’s no week that I enjoy more than Bike Week. For someone who loves bikes and may possibly be slightly ADHD, a different bike event (or several different events) every day for 9 days, is pretty close to heaven.

To be right in the middle of it the whole time is great fun. By the end of it, I’m tired and punch-drunk, but still having a great time. I was fortunate this year that my role for the Big Day (Sunday 24 March, when we had the Coot-tha Challenge and the Great Brisbane Bike Ride, and the Family Fun Ride) was to help manage the start line, and then be the MC for the finish site at South Bank. Easy & cruisy.

But although the Big Rides day is the climax of the week, I find the smaller events to be more fun and more personal and more interesting. My favourites this year were the ones that I was heavily involved in: Cyclocross, of course, and MTB Film Night. I was also heavily invested in the success of the Women’s MTB ride, which I couldn’t go to, not being a woman, and being busy with putting signs out on that day anyway (in case I was tempted to cross-dress or have gender realignment so I could attend).

What I like about this pic is that everyone is smiling, except Besty who has her back to the camera. Nice.

What I like about this pic is that everyone is smiling, except Besty who has her back to the camera. Nice.

I’ve given cyclocross plenty of blog-time already.

MTB Film Night was a triumph in my book. The event was Emma’s idea, and at least 80-90% of what happened was all her vision as well. We turned Epic Cycles into a relaxed and funky movie cinema for the night, with big screen and pizza and beer. About 70 people had a great evening, and during the film itself Emma and Imo and I mostly hung out outside and chatted and relaxed.

It came at the end of the day when we had Ride to Work Day at Brisbane Square, so it turned out to be one of those days where you start work at 5 am and finish at 10.30pm. You don’t want to do that too often. It turns you into a zombie.

Epic in cinema mode. A great night!

Epic in cinema mode. A great night!

So a few days after Bike Week, the zombie aspect is wearing off and I’m starting to feel like I could eat up a few more interesting bike rides soon. Some family circumstances are conspiring to keep me from that just at the moment, but down the track I’m hopeful of reporting on some mtb events, and more CX racing of course, and the occasional dirt-road Audax. Watch this space.

An event that seems to need no additional plugging

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Dozens of women are expected to tackle a mountain in Bike Week’s inaugural Women’s Mountain Bike Ride at Daisy Hill this month.

Event organiser Rebecca Harwood said Daisy Hill Conservation Park provided a network of tracks to suit riders of all skill levels.

So it’s in the Albert & Logan News today, but it is already pretty damn near full. And AB and Emma and Imo and some of their friends will be there to make sure that all the new riders who turn up will have some experienced mtb-riding women to mentor them.

Basically, this is the Bike Week event that runs itself AND gets a fantastic outcome for more women cycling. WIN WIN WIN WIN!

And it’s free.

Here are your clues: It’s great, it’s a bike ride, and it’s in Brisbane

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A whole lotta people ready to ride their bikes. This was the Great Brisbane Bike Ride in 2006, the first year I worked for BQ on the event.

A whole lotta people ready to ride their bikes. This was the Great Brisbane Bike Ride in 2006, the first year I worked for BQ on the event.

So the Great Brisbane Bike Ride has a long history … I think it might go back to the late 1980s. The first one I recall being part of was called the Brisbane River Ride, and it was in 1987, and it was in aid of the Wilderness Society.

Back then, the Bicycle Institute of Queensland used to hold meetings at a centre for green concerns at Bennetts Road, Morningside. That little shop now houses a photography studio.

I don’t know why I’m mining the long history of the GBBR. Maybe because it’s not the big sexy event anymore, now that we have the BDO Brisbane Coot-Tha Challenge.

But there’s still a place for the GBBR. For young and old, for new riders and regular joes and josephines. I like that is has played its part in inculturating the river loop into Brisbane cycling.

And this year’s edition, is on Sunday 24 March. It’s going to be a beautiful day, I can feel it in my bones. Enter here.

Never washing spiders down the plughole

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Bright colours & Citycycle bikes are sure-fire hits at 10-speed dating.

Bright colours & Citycycle bikes are sure-fire hits at 10-speed dating.

Single? Are you a bike rider? You might get more matches on OK Computer, but what you really need is another cyclist. Someone who understands why you wake up at 5 am, even without the alarm. Someone who understands the equation N+1. Someone who sympathises when some bitch/bastard steals your Strava ratings. Someone who can match their socks & gloves with their handlebar tape.

And that, my friend, is why we have 10-speed dating as an event in Bike Week.

It’s on Monday 18 March. (I know you already memorised the program so you could ask me intelligent questions when you interview me on the radio. I’m telling all the others.)

OK, perhaps it’s a bit hetero-normative. Maybe sometime down the track we will expand our minds/horizons. But for this year, it’s boys meeting girls, and girls meeting boys.

And boys and girls riding along together chatting. Until the siren goes. What could be nicer?

Bike Week’s 10-speed dating is a bit of light-hearted fun that has been going for four or five years now. I doubt whether any lives have been dramatically re-shaped as a result. But as far as I know, it is the ONLY Bike Week event that sells out every year. As I write this, we are at 92% of capacity for women, and 89% for men.

So sign up today, or you’ll be on the waiting list.

And FREE. Always mention FREE.

I’ll be home on a Monday

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But I’m going to post this before noon.

Just a chance for some random updates.

  • Marianne Vos is the world CX champion again. I couldn’t work out out whether I was cheering for Vos or Compton, because they are both amazing. But Vos was too good … Katie had to have a perfect race to compete with her, and she just didn’t.
  • Sven Nys is only 36 and still the best cyclocrosser going around, and he won a very exciting mens race.
  • I raced in the Summer Series races that Brisbane South MTB Club holds at Underwood Park. You get a 40-minute race and it’s over in time to get to church. Results here, but to spoil your searching, I was 15th out of 33 in C grade mens, holding firm to my pack fodder status. Floody won C grade, and Neil was in the top 10, but I did beat Coaster. Aido won A grade mens of course, but AB and Kylie — despite massively upping the fashion stakes by wearing skinsuits — couldn’t topple The Mighty Willett in the A grade womens race.
  • G2I training is going fine (in terms of kilometres ridden), and the team that has assembled looks like a fine group of folks to spend a weekend with. My one objective benchmark for my training progress is Mt Gravatt. I time myself on the climb. At the moment I’m getting slower … I’m about 40 seconds slower than I was before Christmas. Hmmm. Am I worried about this? Not so much. Should I be? Hard to say. Will G2I hurt? Yes, but it does anyway. Will it be fun? Hell yes.
  • And the photo above is nicked from Flyboy’s blog or MTB Dirt or somewhere. After the mammoth effort of building Wallum Froglet last year, the LCTA crew have another trail underway this year. So impressive. And they make such brilliant trails. I’m hopeful of getting along to a couple of trail-building days this year, somewhere after G2I and maybe before Bike Week.

Rachel’s got a roommate

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The new Yeti, snuggled up beside my Cannondale, after a good day out on the trails. The owners were relaxing watching the tennis by this stage.

The new Yeti, snuggled up beside my Cannondale, after a good day out on the trails. The owners were relaxing watching the tennis by this stage.

Just spent a couple of days mucking around on mountain bikes, extending my January break, pushing my own limits a little bit, & enjoying the company of my mtbing mate Em.

Highlights:

  • Hennessey Hill. We did four runs, and each came off once. Emma has a new Yeti SB66 (I haven’t ridden it, but ohmigoodliness it just looks the business, and its owner gives it a glowing review) and of course I’m riding my Cannondale RZ120. So six and five inches of travel on our trail bikes, and Hennessey Hill is a black diamond downhill trail. But we had a ball. We certainly didn’t fly off many of the jumps, and both of our crashes were attributable to rider error rather than excessive speed. Fortunately. It’s worth a look if you like a downhill run on your dually trail bike. I wouldn’t go there with a hardtail myself. The climb back up the bitumen is only five minutes or so, taken very steadily. If you have someone to do shuttles for you (there were two blokes there at the same time as us, one of them had the missus along as shuttle driver) then even better!

Um, yes that's me coming down Hennessey Hill. I didn't give the photographer much of a chance, and neither did I stop to allow her a second attempt. So if it's a crappy pic, and it is, well that's life!

Um, yes that’s me coming down Hennessey Hill. I didn’t give the photographer much of a chance, and neither did I stop to allow her a second attempt. So if it’s a crappy pic, and it is, well that’s life!

  • Parklands. I know I’m a long way behind on all things mountain bike, but this place flat out rocks. Thanks to Oppy for letting me know a good introductory loop, which we followed to the letter. Road Rage, Cancer Tree, Rock n Roll, Lower NZ, and Ho Chi Hoe to finish … all of these are clearly marked on the Sunshine Coast Council map. Cancer Tree was a superb trail: tight and flowy. How do they do that?
  • Kings Beach Caloundra. A perfect place to finish off a couple of days riding with a dip in the briny.