Category Archives: Site News
You try the best you can, the best you can is good enough
As promised.
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.
Fitter, happier
Oh yeah, just briefly ...
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.
Oof! Zap! J-Pow!
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.
Capped for your safety
The cycling cap is simultaneously the dorkiest piece of sporting equipment ever, and (sometimes) the absolute coolest.
I can’t really pull it off myself. But I know some people who can.
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!
Land of the Riding Sons
Oh yeah, just briefly ...
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).
Slow down, you move too fast
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.
Mucking about with bikes
It’s all about ebb and flow. A couple of weekends ago was the Wilson HTM Brisbane to the Gold Coast Cycle Challenge, which is a big day for me (and all the BQ crew, obviously).
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.
On a rainy Saturday in Pittsworth
Oh yeah, just briefly ...
As spotted by some young people last rainy Saturday. A roundabout in Pittsworth.
These people are good fun to ride with. Even spend a weekend with. More about this later!
What’s blue and doesn’t fit?
OK, let’s take for granted that there are various levels of interest in cycling. Some people are right into every tiny technical detail of both the machine and how you ride, some people go for the occasional ride on the weekend.
All cyclists, right?
If we take the general population of cyclists, I am obviously towards the nerdy, obsessive end of the spectrum. And I know, even from my limited experiences of competitive cycling, that there are no short-cuts to getting fast. Improving fitness and technique both take much effort and practice.
But if you can find the most efficient position for you on the bike, the one that means you’re not wasting energy because of positional or pedalling inefficiency, then that must be the closest thing to a “free” improvement.
It was with that thought in mind that I went along to Epic Cycles recently for a Specialized BG Fit. And the question that was rattling around in my head during the BG Fit process … Isn’t this a bit too cycling-obsessive? A bit too nerdy for the average cyclist?
The process of a BG (Body Geometry) Fit is very thorough, one might almost say painstaking. It includes:
- pre-fit interview, to ascertain your goals in cycling, pretty much finding out what you want to get out of the bike fit
- pre-fit measurement of your current bike setup
- exceedingly thorough measurement of all aspects of you, including how (not) flexible you are in various body joints. This goes to the extent of measuring the angles you can reach in flexing your hip, whether you can put your ankles behind your ears, that sort of thing. Ankles behind ears is a slight exaggeration, but there were lots of different things measured that I didn’t expect … especially to do with feet. And of course you sit on the famous Specialized arse-o-meter to get the right width saddle.
Once all the measuring is done, its onto your bike (on a stationary trainer), and into the actual fitting process. Your correct saddle height is ascertained, and the cleat position on your bike shoes is looked at.
A truly specialised piece of equipment comes into play at this point, the totally adjustable stem, which with the saddle height properly adjusted, can now go through quite a range of reach and height adjustability of the handlebars, the final key to finding the right position.
And this is where the expertise of the Specialized BG Fit technical guru expert person (SBGFTGEP), or as we will call her in this case, ‘Emma’, really comes to the fore.
The SBGFTGEP spends quite a long time watching you pedal on the stationary bike, and making small adjustments from time to time. Maybe she was entranced by my graceful pedalling action, maybe she was just trying to ensure that I worked up a bit of a sweat, but eventually we reached a position that both the SBGFTGEP and I were happy with.
I was surprised to find that the new position of my handlebars was closer to me, but lower down. ‘Emma’ explained that my old position had been slightly too stretched out, but that by coming closer to the bars, we could make better use of the flexibility I do have to get a little bit lower.
The BG Fit took near enough to three hours from start to finish, although it should be noted that my particular SBGFTGEP was using me as a Bike Fit Test Dummy, wisely ensuring that recent training from Specialized Australia was reinforced by practice, before being unleashed on paying customers.
And there is no doubting both the solid science behind the process, and the thoroughness of the assessment. Amongst the things I will change as a result of this will be:
- The footbeds of my cycling shoes
- A new stem, with both a different reach and different angle
- Quite probably a new saddle
So, depending on how much I spend on a saddle, that could be $300-ish. And that’s without taking into account the cost of the BG Fit itself. At Epic Cycles, I understand a BG Fit will cost you $350.
So is it for super-athletes and bike-obsessives only? I don’t think so. Many people I know ride bicycles that they have paid upwards of $5000 for. In that context, $350 to get more efficient on your bike is pretty cheap.
My thanks to my SBGFTGEP, who explained every step of the process, and who answered all my questions patiently, waited while I finished my sandwich, didn’t protest too much when I took the camera out, and despite prodding me many many times in hip, knee, thigh etc during the measuring process, left no visible marks.
There will be follow-up on this post, cos the process isn’t quite over yet.