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.Groover's blog .

• 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.

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!

Day 55: Bright and a little jealousy didn't kill me

It was another successful trip to Bright. We managed to get there and back without any incidents.

We were close, I must say, as a sleepy truck driver swerved to the right and off the road, just meters in front of us, collecting a few road signs. Then back and across to the left, coming to a stop some twenty meters off the road... This happened in the first thirty minutes of our 3 1/2 h drive. We almost... lets just say, turned around and headed back to the airport.

In Bright, we caught up with Bruce and Mick, good friends from the days we started racing bikes in Cairns and the ones who introduced us to this event. We also met David and Angelo, from 6amers.com, who were in Bright for some training rides. Of the group of six, only two were racing this year, Sandra and Mick.

The Tour of Bright is a fantastic event, this year attracting more than 500 competitors. It is one of those events that, unless you are at the top of your category, you race to improve the times from previous years. There are just too many good riders, who train in those parts of the world and know how to attack those mountains.

Because of the injuries from the accident a few weeks ago, I went down to assist Sandra and not to race. That proved to be very rewarding as she had a great tour, coming home with terrific results and a time 9 minutes faster for the Mt Hotham ascent alone. How good is her coach???

All here!

And talking results here, I looked into the Masters 4/5 ITT results and my 23:03 time in 2006 would put me in 7th place this year, with the winners of both years speeding on the 15 km course at around the same time - 21:50. Something to keep in mind for next year.

Next year!?!? That's right, this event is so remarkable that when you finish it, racing or not racing, you start planning for next year... no matter how bad you went and how much you suffered on the mountains. That's how it is!!

And if you are a cyclist and you were there and didn't get on the bike, you would feel a little jealousy of those hundreds of riders going up and down those climbs. They are just magnificent climbs in a very beautiful part of this continent.

I did.

Sandra's group - Womens C

Concentration before stage one

Mt Hotham climb

Half way up CRB hill

Climb #9: 2.36 km / 5.3%

Bruce

Climb #10: 1.9 km / 9.4%

Riders on their way back

Sandra and Anthony (Ant)

Mick, The Guru

Guru's bicycle

Coffee everywhere

Groover (race report)

AMR

The Big Fifty: to Bright without a bike

This will be my third trip to Bright. The first one without a bike.

We are flying to Melbourne in a few hours. There, we will collect a camper for the 3 1/2 h drive to Bright. We will be staying there for the two nights, will spend one night in Melbourne on our way back and will return to Brisbane on Monday.

It is a quick trip, normaly rushed with building bikes, race registration, grocery shopping, racing, eating and sleeping. Usually, we are too tired to do anything else.

This time, I will be busy before and after the race as I will be taking the role of soigneur for Sandra. I will probably follow the race in the car and experience the race from the side of the road at some point.

I have to say, packing was easy.

Day 48: Thirty Seconds to Mars

It is looking pretty grey out there. So, and after my last post, I decided to do my bit to brighten up things a little.

I won't be writing a long post after a friend sent me a copy of the latest Velo Classic Tours newsletter this morning. With great style, the author gives a lesson on our present communication values and hunger for fast-food like information. More reading needed from my part...

From there, I moved to the web site where I found the full piece on the Italian cycling cuture. Well worth a read..
When the Legend Becomes Fact, Print the Legend.

To finish it off, and really brigthen the day (I hope!), check this video by 30 Seconds to Mars, a band from LA.



30 Seconds To Mars - Kings and Queens
Uploaded by RAKhufu. - Explore more music videos.

Have a nice day, off to the physio now, smiling!