A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

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ldrcycles
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Fri Nov 16, 2018 7:06 pm

Oh and I had almost all of the above written up last night when the laptop suddenly shut down for no reason and it all went into the aether. Straight to bed after that...
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby singlespeedscott » Sat Nov 17, 2018 6:11 am

You really need to start saving as you go.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Nov 19, 2018 10:59 pm

For the last record ride of the year (Gympie-Maryborough) the plan was to start at 4:30, but a big storm had been through the night before, and I decided it would be safer to pick my way through the debris in daylight. Also I was running late and it made a good excuse :lol:


So off I went at 5am, and the first 10k passed quickly with lovely scenery, a little fog and a beautiful sunrise. There was a heck of a lot of vegetation down on the shoulder, but with very little traffic I was able to go around it without trouble. The first few hills through to Goomboorian were very enjoyable, and from there things flattened out a little through Toolara Forest (the largest pine plantation in the southern hemisphere I'm told). Unfortunately the road surface also went to hell, and the pine forest funnelled the southeasterly into my face, pushing the speed down badly.

With more hills and the Boonooroo Plains to come, I gritted my teeth and steadily spun away at as little as 22kmh on the flat. When I finally reached the Maryborough turn off and had the wind behind me it was glorious, 40+kmh on the flat and 35 up one hill. Nearly 70 down a narrow 9% downhill was good fun too :D

Beyond Poona the wind started to move around, and the instant the wind assistance wasn't there holding any sort of speed on the super coarse chip became jolly difficult. By rights, the turn onto the Boonooroo Plains should have lined me up perfectly with a tailwind, and while it was there some of the way, there was also a solid crosswind from my left at times. The main issue was the surface, easily the roughest bitumen I've ever ridden, and I'm delighted to have managed a 35.7kmh average along there.

After a rather lukewarm sprint over the narrow Mary River bridge and along Kent Street, I pulled up to the beautiful Maryborough Post Office with a time of 3:06:16 for 99.9km.


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Now for the plot twist. As far as I was aware, the record was 3:53:00, set in 1939 by Allan Fisher on his way to breaking the Brisbane-Rockhampton record. Hours of searching on Trove didn't turn up anything quicker, and as far as road records are concerned, if it isn't on Trove, it may as well not exist (so far enquiries to 2 cycling clubs, the Townsville library, and Lismore historical society have come up with nothing). Posting the record on Facebook however, brought some information out of the woodwork.



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Newspaper articles saying "broke the record to such and such" without saying what the time was have been the bane of my research over the last few months, and no more so than now. Geysing's average for the whole ride was about 32.5kmh, and my average for Gympie-Maryborough was 32.2. He had some dirt on that stretch though, and I don't know how long that part of the route was in 1975, so until I can find out what time he made to Gympie, the record is up in the air.

To make things even more complicated, a bike shop owner in Noosa says he sponsored another Brisbane-Maryborough ride by one Michael Brown around 2000. While he was able to confirm there was an observer car (so ticks the box for being an official attempt) he didn't remember what the time was.


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So while it looks likely that I haven't actually got the record, if my ride serves to get proper recognition for whoever DOES have it, then that's a damn good result too. I would have liked it to happen without spending 3 hours on roads that decrease my likelihood of fathering any more children but so be it :lol:

This morning I was looking forward to giving the "new" (2006) Diamondback Criterium a run now that I've fitted carbon forks and better bars, so spun up to the top of the Kin Kin range and pulled over to take a photo.


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Unfortunately it was quite windy, and a well timed gust toppled the bike just right to do this-


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Oh well, at least I was close to home.
"I must be rather keen on cycling"- Sir Hubert Opperman.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Dec 09, 2018 1:23 pm

Just a quick update before heading out to a family get together. I'm flat out getting things in order before the bub arrives, Mrs LDR is due on the 19th but she may be induced next thursday as there is some concern about how big said bub is getting. I was 11 or 12lbs when I was born so it's not unexpected.

I STILL haven't got a conclusion on the Gympie-Maryborough ride, but it inspired a very strong triathlete from Hervey Bay to have a crack at the Maryborough-Bundaberg record, which he managed at a 37kmh average :shock:

https://roadrecordaus.weebly.com/news/m ... y-35-hours


I've only been on the bike twice in the last fortnight, and my fitness is disappearing ridiculously quickly. Until the new bub gets here I'm not going outside a half hour radius from home though.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby foo on patrol » Sun Dec 09, 2018 7:48 pm

ldrcycles wrote:Just a quick update before heading out to a family get together. I'm flat out getting things in order before the bub arrives, Mrs LDR is due on the 19th but she may be induced next thursday as there is some concern about how big said bub is getting. I was 11 or 12lbs when I was born so it's not unexpected.

I STILL haven't got a conclusion on the Gympie-Maryborough ride, but it inspired a very strong triathlete from Hervey Bay to have a crack at the Maryborough-Bundaberg record, which he managed at a 37kmh average :shock:

https://roadrecordaus.weebly.com/news/m ... y-35-hours


I've only been on the bike twice in the last fortnight, and my fitness is disappearing ridiculously quickly. Until the new bub gets here I'm not going outside a half hour radius from home though.
So ya mother hates you. :shock: :lol:

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Dec 10, 2018 7:30 pm

The first of many, MANY reasons haha!
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Fri Dec 21, 2018 11:18 pm

Very happy to report that the baby didn't turn out as big as we had feared, but still very healthy at 8lb 9oz, born on Monday night.
After a naming debate with Mrs LDR that makes solving the Korean and Middle East problems look like a walk in the park, we finally agreed on Hamilton Charles Greyson Davis. So far he's been great, he's got a good set of lungs but as long as we keep the food up to him he doesn't use them and just makes contented little chirping noises :D Legs are a bit spindly just now but I can see potential in his quads :lol:

Winnie was stunned into silence when she first saw him (not quite what she was expecting maybe :lol: ) but now she's got used to him she's a fantastic big sister, and really helpful with grabbing stuff when our hands are full.


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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby 10speedsemiracer » Sat Dec 22, 2018 12:33 am

Congrats on the arrival..
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ironhanglider » Sun Dec 23, 2018 11:49 pm

Congratulations. Choosing names is tough one. My first suggestions of Maddison and Keirin were soundly rejected. :D

Cheers,

Cameron

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby foo on patrol » Mon Dec 24, 2018 8:10 am

ironhanglider wrote:Congratulations. Choosing names is tough one. My first suggestions of Maddison and Keirin were soundly rejected. :D

Cheers,

Cameron
:shock: :lol: :lol: :lol: . Some people have no respect for good names. Hope you got them in as second names. :mrgreen:

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby find_bruce » Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:28 am

I'm not familiar with Hamilton Charles Greyson - what road records did he hold ? :mrgreen:

Glad to hear all is well

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby singlespeedscott » Mon Dec 24, 2018 6:48 pm

Congrats mate.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Mon Dec 24, 2018 9:50 pm

ironhanglider wrote:Congratulations. Choosing names is tough one. My first suggestions of Maddison and Keirin were soundly rejected. :D

Cheers,

Cameron

:lol: :lol: I did actually go over the records list to see if there were some names I was keen on but no. Picking boys names sucks, I went through a list of 1,000 and came up with only 2 I thought were ok. Stef's main contribution was "not Henry" :roll:

Hamilton just happened to pop up on a much shorter list, and the link with Hamilton Hume was a big tick in my book.
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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Fri Dec 28, 2018 11:24 pm

OK it's that time of year again, look back at the goals and see what happened to them!

ldrcycles wrote: And now that I've finally managed to write them down, it's time to list my goals for the year (and a bit beyond).

1. Get to 75kg (started at 96, currently 91.5)
2. 20,000km for the year (should be well within reach)
3. Finally complete an Everesting of Bellthorpe (4th time lucky?)
4. Regain Mt Wolvi and Kilkivan-Kingaroy Rail Trail KOMs
5. Ride my first sub 1hr 40km TT
6. Break the following records-
Kingaroy-Brisbane (8hr 45m, Les Cecil 1939)
Stanthorpe-Brisbane (8h 35m, Opperman 1938. Note, via Toowoomba, which means a 34.4kmh average for 296km!)
Toowoomba-Brisbane (4hr 4m 14s, R. King 1935)
Brisbane-Rockhampton (42h 6m, Alan Fisher 1939. Les Cecil tried and failed to beat that time in 1940)
Innisfail-Cairns is on the list when we take a family holiday up north during winter, at 88kms it should be a good one to start with. That record is 2h 39m 45s by G Ivankovich, sometime around 1950.

Then with all those ticked off, I should be in a pretty good position for the big one-

7. Win National TT Championship.

1. Not even close! But that's not a bad thing. Reaching 75kg wasn't really a goal in and of itself, more that if I was as fit as I wanted, I expected to be about that weight. As it turned out, keeping a few more kgs on board allowed me to avoid the constant Daycare Ebola bouts that plagued me in 2017. I think the lightest I got was about 85kgs.

2. Also nope, just ticked over 8,000km this morning.

3. To be honest I actually forgot all about this one, maybe in 2019?

4. I'm not sure if I rode Mt Wolvi at all this year, and that Kilkivan-Kingaroy record still eludes me despite numerous attempts.

5. I actually completely forgot this one, I did do a lot of training on a 40.5k loop around Noosa and my best time was 1hr5m, so not too bad.

6. OK now we're talking :mrgreen: Well, not the ones listed there :lol: To begin with the police and main roads wanted me to get permits for record attempts, and while that was fixed by talking to my lovely local MP Sandy Bolton, by the time the pen pushers had got out of the way Kingaroy and Toowoomba had been taken off the list. I simply ran out of time to do Stanthorpe, and driving up to Rocky to visit my brother and his family cured me of the desire to attempt that ride! :lol:

Innisfail-Cairns did happen though, beaten by just 1m57s after 87kms in rain and headwinds. That was a week after I did the fastest E2Ex2 (end to end and back) on the South Burnett Rail Trail in July, and of the 7 records on the SBRT I've currently got my name on 6.

Then it was Gladstone-Rockhampton, Brisbane-Toogoolawah, Rockhampton-Yeppoon-Rockhampton, Gympie-Landsborough and Gympie-Brisbane (the longest at 187kms) then Brisbane-Esk, Brisbane-Toogoolawah (again) and Ipswich-Esk and Toogoolawah. 15 records in all, and the slim possibility of a 16th pending more research on past Gympie-Maryborough times.


Then finally, 7. Not a snowball's chance in hell :lol: Yep it became clear by the middle of the year that the level of training required for that simply couldn't be accommodated, not least when Mrs LDR was made redundant (the business she worked for went bust) at 16 weeks pregnant.


So the year didn't turn out quite as I expected, but I could never have imagined the amazing direction it did take. There are so many lifelong memories, from riding past the lights of the Gladstone power station before dawn, pursued by the local TV news crew, to the piercing cold of a winter morning on the South Burnett Rail Trail with singlespeedscott. Riding through the tiny village of Tansey a few days after it had been hit by a tornado, hitting 63kmh through the Brisbane CBD, ringing Mrs LDR from a servo to let her know that I had the day off work and had ridden to Kingaroy :lol:
As I discovered more about road records it became obvious that it sorely needed a lunatic like me to save it from oblivion, so the Road Record Association of Australia came into being in September, and now has a pretty nifty website (if I do say so myself :lol: ) with over 270 records listed so far. So far there's been one attempt by someone besides me (Troy Geltch's stunning Maryborough-Bundaberg ride), and there's 4 or 5 others expressing interest in making attempts.


As for next year? Well my assurance to Mrs LDR that cycling would be put to one side after the birth of baby #2 does appear to be up in smoke, but then I don't think she ever believed me anyway :lol: A change of workplaces is on the cards at some point (purely for more money, as my current employer is great, but there's no scope for upwards advancement in that industry) and that will determine what goes on when. I'll definitely be trying to take Andrew Handyside's Kilkivan-Kingaroy record, lowering my own E2Ex2 time, and having another go at Gympie-Brisbane to get it under 6hr30 (would have been around 6:48 if not for a disastrous wrong turn that blew it out to 7:22). Then there are some really big goals too, but those can wait for the next edition of this saga.


Thanks for reading all, it's been a blast :D
"I must be rather keen on cycling"- Sir Hubert Opperman.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby Imwit » Sat Dec 29, 2018 1:34 pm

It’s been good reading this year. My favourite ‘wannabe racer’ series yet.
Have you got Dan Oakman’s Oppy book? Probably my favourite read of the year and right on topic for you.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby ldrcycles » Sun Dec 30, 2018 9:26 am

Imwit wrote:It’s been good reading this year. My favourite ‘wannabe racer’ series yet.
Have you got Dan Oakman’s Oppy book? Probably my favourite read of the year and right on topic for you.
Not yet, there's quite a few titles I'll need to get my hands on. I'm looking at writing a book myself on the history of road records, and the research involved will be huge (not to mention the significant step up from writing forum posts/sports for the local rag to writing what will be a pretty hefty book).
"I must be rather keen on cycling"- Sir Hubert Opperman.

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Re: A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Part 4- The Comeback!

Postby singlespeedscott » Mon Dec 31, 2018 6:55 pm

A great effort for the year mate. Look foreword to next years instalment.
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