Radio, podcasting, story-telling. Nothing that I can find to link to, but if you can find a way to listen to ABC Digital on Sunday afternoon at 1.30pm (2.30pm if you’re in summer time, I can only wish), it might be about cycling.
Almost everyone I know pays me out for liking the Indigo Girls. That’s OK, because of course I am undeterred. In a self-induced bad mood yesterday afternoon/evening, it was Emily Saliers who lifted me out of it, and launched me instead into a tiny bit of retro-reflectivity.
By which I mean looking back at 2011. Although the word’s correct meaning is useful in cycling terms as well.
So where has briztreadley.com taken me this year? Has it been just another year, history repeating itself, same-old, same-old? Or has this blog been reincarnated, as Emily would prefer?
Well, both off-road and on-road there’s been a bit of a surge in the frequency and quantity of posts. I can’t judge the quality myself.
I’ve posted 92 times in 2011, about once every four days. And it seems that I’m still slightly more of a roadie than a mountain-biker. Roadie was the top category, with 34 posts, compared to 24 for mountain biking. Cyclocross makes a bit of a surge, with 12 posts. C’mon ‘cross! Hoping for even more growth in that category next year.
My favourite category for posts (OK, its actually the default): Whatever. Dude.
How good is this: Super Mario power-ups painted on the bikeway. Nice work, nerd graffitist.
But at the end of the year, I’m pretty happy with what I’ve posted here, and how it looks, and the conversations it has helped start. It’s a blog about people (friends, really) and cycling.
So, dearest reader, my earnest wish for you is that you have a little bit of time to yourself over Christmas.
And that in the other times, that you get out on your treadley, day-time or night-time, on-road or off-road. And I hope you give me a call before you head out, cos I would love to ride with you. See you at the trailhead/meeting place.
And a final Indigo Girls bonus for today. See if you can listen to this without smiling. I can’t.
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.
Still struggling with getting over a cold which went all chesty (like lots of other folks), and a stiff-sore sore-stiff left shoulder. And even though I had a blast at the Night Rider + Poker Cat, perhaps getting up for the Donuts ride the next morning, and then going for a river ride on the way home that afternoon was a bit much.
And in this imperfect world, it’s good to see CityCycle slowly gaining traction. The helmets that are going missing are a tiny price to pay, in my opinion. But I did say to the CityCycle folks that the helmets that are with the bikes should have massive CityCycle branding on them. That way if they are nicked, the thief is riding around advertising CityCycle. Win-win!
Update: I may or may not be saying some of the above on Nine, Seven or Ten news tonight. Depends on how slow a news day it really was.
I’m really enjoying the Behind The Barriers videos that follow the adventures of cyclocross racer Jeremy Powers, also known as J-Pow. The only way to improve them would be the occasional fight scene …
The whole Behind The Barriers series (we’re up to Season 2, number six at present) can be found here.
We organised for the 2011 South Bank kit to have a cap, but it turned out to be a bit too large for me. Bummer.
I bought some pants recently, and a cap came along for free. Nice.
A website that I read regularly has caps as merch. Better than getting a jersey, I would say. And now you can get a Richard Sachs, without waiting for years. That’s got to be worth at least $20 of those American dollars. Plus postage. So maybe $40 then.
But here’s the cap that’s top of my wishlist. Susan makes the coolest stuff, including both caps and capes. Of course I want a Brisbane one. A cap. As far capes go, I think we’re back in the “Don’t Think I Could Pull That Off” department.
And Susan does custom stuff too. First five people in the comments to say that they would wear a briztreadley.com cap (or to hit ‘Like’ on Facebook) will get a super-special discount in the unlikely event that I get myself organised into the whole merchandising thing. (I’ve been waiting for months to buy a helmetsarehot.net t-shirt. It’s the only thing I want for Christmas.)
Some folks even wear their cycling caps while cycling. For under-helmet-wear I favour a Buff in winter and a CoolCap in summer.
The cap is apré velo.
UPDATE: Looks like AnnaB, Ernesto & Floody are the recipients of the super-special on some imaginary merchandise. Well done!
This is good. An artist (Thomas Yang) in Singapore who makes prints (& some t-shirts) on a cycling theme, and does 100 copies of each piece.
If a cycling blog was ever looking for prizes to give away for a competition that they might theoretically run, that they might potentially use 100 copies as a source for such prizes.
AND on the subject of ‘this is good’, Pearson Cycles in the UK have a new range of frames for 2012. You should go to their site and check them out. Not because the designs are outstanding or different, but because the product names are hilarious. The touring frame is called “I May Be Some Time”, the road-race frame is “Mine Goes to Eleven” & so on. Super stuff.
Update: Have now had email contact from Thomas, who seems like a very nice man. Another reason to buy his stuff! (I like the ‘Recycle’ print).
I like to ride fast, sometimes. But more and more, I am enjoying riding my bike slow.
In the road bunch, usually I’m happy to go as hard as the bunch wants to go. But there is a regular exception. And that is whenever the bunch goes onto a bike path.
For me, the maximum speed on a bike path is 25 km/h. Especially one where there is potential for interaction with pedestrians.
I say there is an important principle in play in this situation. When we are on the road, cyclists (rightly) expect motorists to treat them as though we are all in this together, and as though our lives are as important as anybody else’s.
Cyclists therefore should understand the pedestrian’s perspective, when we venture onto shared off-road paths. In both situations, the more vulnerable user of the space deserves special consideration from the more dangerous user of that same space.
Buzzing past pedestrians and joggers at 35-40 km/h shows a lack of respect and empathy.
And the two places where I ride, that I think this is a real issue? The Bicentennial Bikeway (Coro Drive bikeway), and the Ted Smout Bridge (Redcliffe to Brighton).
Here’s a song to help us all chill out.
Whack that into your iPod before you start riding. Might make a difference.
But even though the B2GC is a massive day, with 7500 riders and lots of stress, it also marks the end of the high pressure event season. And therefore a massive sigh of relief.
Only a few days later, it was off to Melbourne with some South Bank friends for the 2011 Around the Bay in a Day. With the craziness of event season at BQ, I must admit that the training for Around The Bay was nearly non-existent. I was pinning my hopes on the idea that my residual fitness would be enough to keep me safely around the middle of the bunch, and that having just done a BG Fit that I would be comfortable on the bike.
Both held true, and it might sound like boasting, but Around The Bay was the easiest 200km ride I’ve ever done. The South bank group was 12 riders strong, which meant plenty of shelter in the bunch. And I was in the sweet spot of not being under stress by the pace at any stage.
The SBB crew do the Melbourne-Sorrento-Melbourne version of the ride. So, no waiting for the ferry, down and back on the “nice” side of the bay. We experienced some Melbourne-style weather on the day, with some lovely sunshine, and some occasional spits of rain, and one quick shower. But the challenge of the event was mostly in keeping the group intact, and a small amount of cross-wind on the way back. We did a solid 8-hour ride, averaging 25 km/h.
The big ride was only one part of a very enjoyable long weekend in Melbourne. I drew on the expertise of my friend whose Mastermind Special Subject would be the cafes, bars and restaurants of inner-city Melbourne. And so we visited places such as Wabi Sabi Japanese restaurant, and Cafe de Clieu. And Pellegrini’s. And Hill of Content book shop. And I saw Melbourne Heart vs Perth Glory, and the Bike Expo. So it was a wonderful weekend, lots of laughs. I really enjoyed how walkable Melbourne’s city heart is. And noticed the growth in cycling culture in the city as well.
So, back in Brisbane, I have been happy to take it relatively easy for a while. The Enigma needed a little bit of a tune-up after the rigours of travel. And I managed to bust something in the front shifter of my Frezoni during the week as well. So on Saturday I went for a spin round Daisy Hill on the mountain bike with Bruce, instead of the South Bank bunch ride.
And yesterday I spent a couple of hours mucking round with the project bike. Won’t be long before its ready to ride. It will be the perfect machine for the Great Victorian Bike Ride.
