It's raining out there... Get on the trainer!

I don't mind being caught in the rain when riding, especially if it's a warm day. It can be refreshing and brings memories of my youth, when riding in the rain was more fun than in dry weather. What I find impossible to do is to get out on the bike when it is raining already.

Luckily, we have trainers (wind trainers for some) and rollers for rainy days like yesterday. And to make it easier to use them, we have an old bike (Sandra's first racing bike) permanently set up in the garage.

At 6 PM, with 2.5 hours low intensity session scheduled for the day, I had little hope of completing my program for the week unless I jumped on the trainer. So, with a magazine in hand, a water bottle, radio and the mobile, I headed to the garage determined to do at least 2 hours. I had to be realistic about it!

A couple of phone calls, a text message, Triple J, a couple of articles in the magazine, a few pedalling exercises and I managed to reach 2:00:00... And I was out of there. Soaked in sweat and happy to have done it, I could now have a shower, a light dinner and go to bed to start my recovery from the training week that just ended.

Trainers are great!

Week Five
Time: 15 h 36 min
Dist.: 405 Km

Base Training & Mt Mee Road

Here we are, well into the month of February. For me, it's Week 5 of a race season ending with the Tour of Bright next December. I did start my training with a couple of weeks on the wind trainer and have been on the road now for three weeks after getting a gradual return to normal activities statement from the neurosurgeon, clocking around 1100 kms.

It has been really good to be back on the road and able to do some slow kilometers. So far it is going well, apart from the expected loss of fitness and some shoulder and neck issues. The legs feel good.

The training is going well, also. I have taken another approach designing my program this year and I am hoping to peak for two or three events. It is going to be a very tough and long year so I won't be racing until the end of March. The CA calendar shows a large number of events and as I will be racing in the Masters A category again, it is going to be a lot harder again.

I have been lucky to do two rides on Mt Mee Road, one with Sandra and a couple of friends and one by myself, the later been a really, really easy ride. Just what I need at this stage.


Mt Mee Road

We are all guilty for wrongly calling this ride, The Mt Mee Ride as we don't get to the top of Mt Mee. We do ride on Mt Mee Road but most of us stop at Ocean View. The difference? Another 11 kms and 115 m ascending to the top of Mt Mee and the township.

Starting in the township of Dayboro, 45-50 kms from Brisbane, the route is popular for all visitors of the SE. It is a gentle climb on good surface and low traffic. The gradient is perfect for riding on small ring or on the big ring when strength work is needed.

Beautiful properties along the way, including a small vineyard and a B&B.

For a steeper ride (averaging 6.7%), turn right into Ocean View Road.

Near the half-way mark, the view of rolling hills is stunning... if you need to stop for a breather...

And from there, it just keeps going up...

Townsend Road is the end of the 8 km plus climb, with an average of 4.3 %. Fastest times are in between 20 and 23 minutes.

Gallantly, an old Queenslander rests at the top...

A beautiful portion of the SE corner...

On Townsend Road, a small challenge for those with some energy left...

The descent is fast and fun...

A picturesque return to Dayboro...

The local bakery...

The back of the information centre... 

Distance: 8 km
Gradient: 4.3 %
Bikely map

Last Sunday, the Adelaide Hills and the TDU

Last Sunday was marked with a great ride with the QSM riders. We had planned to meet in town and then head to Adelaide Hills. That meant a climb, rolling hills, fast descents, a second climb, another great descent and a fast pace ride back to the city. Perfect thing to do before coffee(s) and the start of the last race of the TDU!

I am not sure how many kilometres we rode or the average speed, I know it was a great ride with some good and interesting people who love cycling, in any form. And in a very beautiful part of the country, a bit of a cycling paradise, really!

The usual coffee and chat before heading off to the start of the race. Adelaide offers so many options that it would take weeks to find the best coffee around. We settled for an Italian cafe on Hutt St and didn't leave disappointed...

After leaving the group, I rode to the race where I met a few friends. Some playing the tourist type and some working.

Others, just rode past as if going to another club race.

I ended up heading back to my mate Phil's place to watch the race on a big screen and have a couple of Dr Timm's. Fairly civilised, I thought.

So, that was my TDU trip this year. Short and sweet!

Riding with a Pro (2)

My trip to Adelaide was a short one this year. Sandra couldn't make it and I had just the weekend to ride my bike, see friends and watch a bit of racing.

I finished packing the bike Friday night, had a couple of hours trying to sleep and was up at 3:45 am to get on the 5:30 DJ flight. All very exciting as I had not booked a hotel room or rental car for the weekend. True, I have old friends (like family, actually) that I can call but everything had been decided so quickly, I didn't call anyone.

At the airport in Adelaide, a text came through as I was setting up the bike for the weekend of riding - "the key is in the letter box, beer in the fridge, see you on Sunday - Phil". Well, that's all I needed apart from his address...

Thirteen or fifteen minutes of riding and I was in the city of churches, to the letter box with the key (I wasn't thinking about beer) no more than 6 km away, took me forty five. I wasn't doing very well. I was riding in big squares, as one does in Adelaide.

Dropped my bag, filled my bottles and looked for a map at Phil's place. That's all the time I had as the race was about to start and I had to get to Willunga Hill before the peloton.

Ok, nobody has maps these days, they have Garmins, iPhones and GPSs so I just headed to the city again and then south, looking and chasing cyclists who looked in a hurry like me. I did find them and the ride to McLaren Vale was more like a Cat 2 race. I had to ignore the fact that I went there to relax and ride my bike in Z2.

Nearing the township, the atmosphere was fantastic. Thousands of people camped along the way waiting for the peloton to come past. Waiting for anyone to come past as I got a good share of encouragement as I raced trough the township and to the bottom of the hill.

Climbing Willunga Hill was fun. There were thousands of people. Walking, riding, or just sitting around having a good time. Near the top, the crowd made sure every rider felt like a King of the mountain. Really funny!

For me, the highlight was to see Cadel Evans flying past the 800 m mark with no other rider on his wheel. I think everyone on that hill wished his attack would last.

Unfortunately for Cadel, a Spanish duet had other plans and made sure they caught him before the finish.

After a small meal, it was time to head back. This time, I wanted to stick to my low HR Zones even if that meant getting dropped by every bunch. That's what actually happened until I got picked up by a small group travelling on a smooth and constant 30 km/h.

And smooth it was, perhaps the smoothiest bunch I have ever riden with. A quick look and I noticed a green and gold band on one of the rider's jersey. Another look and I noticed the OMEGA PHARMA LOTTO kit and the race number on the Cannyon (#34).

The guy next to me said: "Yeah, some of us went to school with Matt and came here to support him on the race..."

Good on you, guys and yes, I did ride with a pro cyclist in Adelaide. And... I loved it!

Riding with a Pro (1)

I am not one to get out of my way or get too excited to see sport celebrities, or any kind of celebrities. In fact, one of the things that do bother me is seeing news footage of people waiting for celebrities to get out of a car and then scream and faint as they walk the red carpet to enter some "let's promote ourselves a bit more" kind of award night.

Pretty much my thoughts when I learned that more than 6,000 people went for a ride with Lance Armstrong one morning, in Adelaide. Why would we do that? Is it going to make us thinner, better GC riders, or better human beings? Or we will be able to tell our grand children, When I rode my bicycle with Lance...

We couldn't have. A very few would have been lucky just getting a glance of the cycling star that morning. What the event might have done was make Twitter an even more popular modern communication tool, reinforced later in the news, with a well known journalist finishing his segment with "... it is the power of the Twitter!

So, Power and Twitter in the same sentence. Bizarre, I reckon! But let’s face it, how many more people did start an account with Twitter.com after riding with Lance? And how much did Lance Armstrong get paid to organise and show up for the ride that morning?

All for good causes, I imagine.

2010: Great Season Ahead

It is going to be a great season. I can tell.

Locally, we have a great calendar for 2010. I am really looking forward to start training and racing and with a bit of luck, I will be getting on the bike to start clocking the kilometres in a couple of weeks. The racing will have to wait a little longer.

Planned for 2010 are also some hours in the gym and some cross-training. Everything tells me that I will need to get stronger to race in Masters A again. Team Racing has become the norm for club and open events so the races should be harder around here.

Being relatively new to gym work, I don't want to over-do it. That's when my cross-training will come into place and I will hit the surf again. Now, that's going to be an experience after two or three years without catching a wave.

In Professional cycling, the calendar looks pretty much the same. For us, in Australia, the most exciting race will be the Worlds in Victoria with Cadel Evans defending the rainbow jersey. My favourite for 2010 has to be the TdF. Not just the fact that there will be a lot mountain climbs this year but there will be more than a handful of riders that could take the Yellow jersey in Paris. Not that they all think that way...

That's what some of them are saying:



Alberto Contador

"In 2009 I won, but this year I'm going to take it relatively easy"
"I admit (Armstrong) pushed me to the limit in all areas, psychologically and physically... But it helped me a lot to mature and I hope to exploit that experience next year."



Andy Schleck

"My career goal is to win the Tour… For the moment there is someone stronger than me. I'd prefer not to have to face Contador. With him we've crossed a great talent; perhaps he is even stronger than Lance Armstrong."



Alessandro Valverde

"You have to be realistic - it won't be easy to beat Alberto Contador… Nevertheless, in a 21-day race nothing is impossible."



Cadel Evans

"I've had a focus on the Tour [de France] in recent years but I think I am able to race two grand tours at a high level."
"(Lance) is going to be bigger and more dangerous than in 2009. I think we'll see Armstrong at another level in 2010..."



Carlos Sastre

"...it is a spectacular Tour for climbers apart from those stages with pavé at the beginning of the Tour, with sections of Liège and Paris-Roubaix."



Ivan Basso

"I had form, but I was never able to be calm. With a year of racing, however, I am calm and secure..."
"More than the pavé in the first week, I am worried about Contador, who will be just as strong..."



Lance Armstrong

"Every muscle in my body that is focused on one goal: the Tour in 2010.”
"(Alberto) will be very hard to beat. Like Andy Schleck. He is a very good rider, perhaps the best we ever saw."


So Cheers!!! to a great racing season.

Day Seventy-six: Pain is only transient

A few weeks ago, I posted this photograph and didn't write anything about it. A friend had sent me a link for the climb and there I found the extraordinary image.

I have now, and just by chance, found a couple of posts by Dave Moulton, where he writes about the rider, Fiorenzo Magni ,  and the moment when the photograph was taken.

A little more research and I found that Fiorenzo has won three Giro trophies and The Tour of Flanders also three times. A bit more about this great Italian rider here.

The climb is the San Luca in Bologna. This is a very tough climb and the stage for Simon Gerrans amazing and, in contrary to the Italian's effort in 1956, almost effortless looking win in this year's Giro d'Italia. Undoubtedly, a great moment for Australian Cycling in 2009.

Enjoy!

Day Seventy-Three: Caetano Veloso and 2010

It has been a while and I can only confirm that I am still hanging out for a good, long ride. Very likely to happen in the New Year as I wait for some form of clearance from the specialist.

Apart from a neck soreness that doesn't go away, I feel that everything else is healing nicely. The next step might be lots of visits to the physio and gym work to get back some strentgh on my left arm.

Training should start in February with some real base kilometers this time, and no racing.

The focus will be on road races in the second half of the year with three events set as A Races. Before and in between those events, I will be working with a Masters A Team, getting designated riders to the line. Looking forward to that new role.

• QLD Road Race Championships in August
• Grafton to Inverell in October
• Tour of Bright in December

For now, I am enjoying the festive season (too much in form of food and drinks, I am afraid) and Sandra's parents visit. See Groover's blog .

Let me finish this post and the year with a beautiful song and a singer who has had an enormous influence on the music and lives of many in Brazil and other Latin countries.

To all, a very Happy New Year, and safe riding!