Sandmans Cycling Blog

[sandman]

Hey Russ et al...

Yeah snowies should be good in Feb for sure, bit difficult to do anything out here that resembles a good climb but its all i've got. Rode up to the high point marker this morning, alarm set for 5:30am, crawled out at 6, no idea what time I got rolling. Darn felt just stiff as anything, the run up the hill was pretty good but coming down the wind kicked up and it was bloody feral...going down the hill was way harder than going up....

Think I've got to have a good think as to what I'm going to do cycling wise this year, the ride to work while its exercise is worse than watching paint dry. I don't mind the club stuff but their racing doesn't overly interest me and I haven't developed much of an interest in mountain biking since I've been here. Now maybe if I had a 29er.....

Sandman

[ruscook]

Hey Russ et al...
Yeah snowies should be good in Feb for sure, bit difficult to do anything out here that resembles a good climb but its all i've got.

That might give us mere mortals some hope then

Rode up to the high point marker this morning, alarm set for 5:30am, crawled out at 6, no idea what time I got rolling. Darn felt just stiff as anything, the run up the hill was pretty good but coming down the wind kicked up and it was bloody feral...going down the hill was way harder than going up....

Think I've got to have a good think as to what I'm going to do cycling wise this year, the ride to work while its exercise is worse than watching paint dry. I don't mind the club stuff but their racing doesn't overly interest me and I haven't developed much of an interest in mountain biking since I've been here. Now maybe if I had a 29er.....

Funny I have no interest in mountain biking. Considering I'm crap at descents and very slow on ascents you'd think I'd prefer something to road riding. Something about it, makes me like it though.

You missed a good Lifecycles ride this morning. No shop crew but a couple of racers. Was a terrible pace for half the ride as too many wooses didn't want a turn at the front. But the sprint went the whole 10km from Castlereagh back to the Plaza and then there was the Lappo hill climb. Beat the rain and with the sprint and then climb to Blaxland it felt like I'd done some decent work.

killer, jeff, todd, where were you guys - we needed some hurt up front???

[sandman]

Back on the bike for the first time today in over 3 weeks...need to get some soft of fitness happening in time for the Kosciousko ride...

[Spiza]

...need to get some soft of fitness happening

Typo or were your fingers typing your subconscious thoughts?

[mikesbytes]

[sandman]

I am SO soft All I can say for the ride home today was "HOT"...That was almost the hardest ride I've ever done, I just about passed out on the lounge when i got home....this is clearly wrong

Sandman

[Kev365428]

You're a brave man fro riding in that sort of heat.
Way to easy to bring on some serious health issue in my opinion.

Hey, don't worry about the snowy ride, Sandy's gonna whip all our butts until we enjoy it.

Kev.

[sandman]

I dunno what I'd enjoy more, Sandy giving me an ass whipping or riding in 45c heat.....must admit the ticker was rock solid and no headaches so I kept the water up. Though the one side effect, cramp city this evening when doing the "shoe shuffle" around the house. I'm going back for more tomorrow though it may storm in the arvo, possibly a "soft opportunity" to catch the bus

Sandman

[mikesbytes]

What's causing the cramps

[sandman]

Whats causing the cramp, softness Suspect electrolytes, I should mix up the gatorade drinks and load up 30 mins before I ride...

Had 4 hours sleep last night, felt "soft" this morning, didnt take the charge with the first pull which sucked, I like the first part of the ride.. Rolled upfront for a while at good speed, the 6 of us made the ride in 36 mins which was pretty good. Way home the ride was way better, we had solid wind for 1/2 the ride, one section for 2km was ferocious, took the front and hammered, legs felt great. Think I've found a small bit of form, just need to uncover the rest, 18 days to go !

Sandman

[mikesbytes]

With the heat you ride in, there would be significant loss of salts and minerals

[sandman]

Suspect your very right Mike, darn salts. Must be something to do with no beach in Alice

Ride in today was not so hot, only 3 of us.. Billy decided to do his "training thing" so Doug and I took turns out to work. Good pace out, not the fastest but more consistent than before....

Heard today the critt season starts tomorrow, might get my ass over there next week and see what its all about

Sandman

[mikesbytes]

Was having a flick thru the Alice Springs Cycling Club, didn't see your name

[sandman]

Well blah blah been posting in the NSW forrum section again.....must be missing Sydney but then again all this crappy rain they are getting, I wonder.

So after the "Tour de Jindy", Monday it buckets down in Alice and floods the place, lots of river crossings are closed and the Todd is flowing again, twice now I've seen it. They say if you see it 3 times your a local, going to close my eyes next time

Tuesday it was ride the motorbike in, overcast

Wed, slow ride as we had a MTB guy in bobbing up and down all the way in The ride home, Billy must have taken a dose of steroids, out the front gate and he's off. Doug and I were chatting and I just see Billy starting to ride off, put a chase on for a few KM, sitting on 45, I caught him but a tad buggered, we swapped out a fair bit until the airport turn off and then it was jsut grind home. Nice solid burn in the legs.

Thu, slept in, couldnt be stuffed getting up at 5:10am

Fri, woke up late, left the house late only to find I had a flat when I hit the road (not literally). Swap the tube and off I go, I almost caught the guys even though I was tons late, after eating 1/2 packet of LARGE salt n vinegar chips last night I had to burn that crap off A small breeze this arvo, we're off to Gloria Jeans for coffee later this arvo, good way to finnish the week....

Still smiling from the "Tour de Jindy"

Sandman

[toolonglegs]

Sandman...I will swap you a bit of your heat for some of my cold ...if we meet half way....about 20C it would be perfect!.
First race tomorrow and they are saying snow...Paris Nice may be chilly...I need some Vitiman D .

[sandman]

Sandman...I will swap you a bit of your heat for some of my cold ...if we meet half way....about 20C it would be perfect!.
First race tomorrow and they are saying snow...Paris Nice may be chilly...I need some Vitiman D .

TLL

Great to hear from you, yes if we met 1/2 way I reckon we'd be about right. My Daughter is up near Denmark in Germany and said it snowed again, been a very cold winter, Germans hadn't seen that much snow in years Great on the race, after the "Tour De Jindy" I'm thinking racing again, bumped into the Alice Springs Cycling Prez today and she poked me about Tennant Creek again....not sure, see how we go....

Great on the Vit D, keep the bugs away with that stuff.. Go rip some legs off them mate, you know you want to

Sandman

[sandman]

Ride home today rocked, out the front gate and decide if its going to be a slowie or quickie I was hoping for Aussie Post to actually deliver a parcel from Sydney, according to the tracking its been sitting in Pymble for over a week, sometimes it gets delivered and then all the tracking shows up.... I want my Logitech Squeezebox, I hate Alice Springs Radio, well the only Commercial station we have, it is worse than nails on a chalkboard...Anyway, rant off, thinking I had a card in the mailbox we went a little quicker, we had a small tailwind so we were up at 48 on the flat and the boys dropped off....Billy was tearing legs off on Wednesday so today was my turn.... Tour de Jindy has given me a spark so I pushed on down Hatt road applying moderate amounts of hurt, felt great....

So to cut a long story short, I slowed a bit and Billy made the Gap only to tell me to take off and meet them at Glorias.... Well no card in the letterbox, this totally sucks !!!!! So off to Glorias, would you believe that place closes at 5:00pm.. Christ, what is going on in this place ! On weekends they close at 3:30pm, are these guys outta their minds....not going to get my business in future !

So a good ride today, suspect I'm heading into the office on a Sat and will ride out, should be nice at 7 and not at 5:15...these early mornings are a killer...

Sandman

[sandman]

Awesome ride out today, left home at 11:30am and got back around 1:40pm.....27c, a tad windy but such a great ride....Out to Simpsons Gap, then onto the water tower, back down Ilparpa road and back home. Was around 75km, all good riding, the last 30km was headwind all the way...really enjoyable as it wasnt too hot !

Sandman

[sandman]

Nice ride in this morning, Billy, Duggy and myself.... Duggy decided to do the "Steel is Real" thing and bring his Peugeot in, quite a nice bike, something Eddie Mercx would have slayed folks with in the early years thats for sure. Duggy gave us the heads up that 37km/hr was max today so a nice even tempo on the way in. Watching the sun rise again on Hatt road was priceless, was a tad cooler at say 17 this morning, compression vest made it quite toasty.

We pulled up at the front gate and AFP gave us a talking to, about riding single file over crests and around corners....no corners on Hatt road, one crest and I agree we should make sure we do single file as it has a double center line over it..Appears the disgruntled driver that passed us on the rise had to slow down to the speed limit to get past us, oh dear, blocking personal freeways again.....

left AFP with a simple comment "if its not safe to pass, wait until it is".... thought that was driving lesson 101 ?

Anyway, appears to be more and more complaints as we're riding more regularly and we're increasing in numbers. I'm sure it will come to a head soon, hopefully in a positive way....

Sandman

[Kev365428]

Private road or public road?

Private you might not have a leg to stand on (legally), but if it's a public road, tell 'em to fugoff.

Kev.

[sandman]

Private road or public road?

Private you might not have a leg to stand on (legally), but if it's a public road, tell 'em to fugoff.

Kev.

Private as in you turn into it and says "No through road"... Its gazetted as a road so its definately public....i think its escalating but we have the "important people" onside Will keep ya posted

Sandman

[sandman]

53-13, what an awesome ratio......quads hurt but well worth it

[Kev365428]

I think you need to HTFU and get ya self a 56, 57 or 58 for the front.
If it's a flat as you say, you'll have a blast.

Kev.

[sandman]

I think you need to HTFU and get ya self a 56, 57 or 58 for the front.
If it's a flat as you say, you'll have a blast.

Kev.

Kev the only problem is, the faster you go the more wind you tend to try and push out of the way faster...comes a point when it just aint gunna work When I make it to the 11, then I'll think about a crankset change

Sandman

[Spiza]

Time for a TT bike and a sperm helmet. You know you want one