Beating the heat

Tomorrow is going to be a hot one, an earlier start might be in order.
7.30am in the usual spot.
Let us know if you can make it.
Steve.

Alpine Classic

The weekend that so many have had in the back of thier minds is finally here.
as folk from all over the place head to Bright for the Alpine Classic, good luck and have a great ride.
Steve.

Yeeeeeeehhh, No.

With only a week to go before the Alpine classic Mt Macedon was the logical choice to hone the climbing skills before the big weekend in Bright, but we're made of softer stuff than that, we headed for home at Newham and were sipping iced coffee by 10 am, total: 32k's. Almost broke the door down at the club rooms (Mad Gallery) as we banged on it at opening time.
Steve.

Circa 1972-the Wonder years

Update, I rang the Polar guys on Wednesday, and the new strap arrived today(Friday) not only is there service department very obliging but they dispatch their stuff by rocket. They are like the Ay Up lights of the things that don't work properly world (I reckon Ay Up lights are awesome)..after 1 Coopers pale ale my heart rate is 68 bpm.

Right, the rain has stopped and there will be no where for you fair weather bikies to hide. Ride planned for Sunday morning from Lancfield at 8 am. The cool guy on the purple dragster will be there, socks, short shorts and all.

Steve.

H/R 64 bpm.

Heart of glass

I wish my bike computer was a gerbil, that way I could tell the nice people at Polar what it could be better used for.

I bought it about a year and a half ago and have had trouble with the heart rate monitor from soon after I bought it.

A reading if 220 within seconds of getting on the bike to zero when I would be flogging myself up a hill, then getting stuck on the same rate no matter how hard or easy I was riding.

The problem is in the strap which you wrap around your chest. Polar have even acknowledged this by re designing it, I am up to my third one.

The computer itself works fine, apart from the fact that you need to be Steve Austin to read the function titles, but when the veins are popping out of your forehead it's nice to know what heart rate you had to pull to cause the freak show.

Now here's the hard part, on the two occasions that I had to contact Polar's service department they have been extremely helpful and sympathetic and agreed to replace it immediately. You just can't stay angry when a nice young bloke gets on the phone and says "yep, no problem sir, we will send a new strap today and good luck with your training" boy, could the people at Vic roads learn a thing or two from these guys.

And now for something completely different...As I'm still on holidays I got out for a quiet ride at lunchtime today, I was intent on just going for an easy one and headed out from home toward Lancefield. The sky was heavy and I knew it would rain but it was warm and the rain was actually the draw card for me to head out for a spin. It started raining within minutes of me getting on the bike and rained for most of the ride. When I was a kid I loved riding my bike and playing in the rain, today I got to do both at the same time.

It was not just a shower but a full on downpour and I was soaked through in seconds, magic.

I know it's a cruel irony when you consider what's happening in QLD and Northern NSW, please don't take it as me being insensitive.

Steve.

Colenso or bust

I just made it into the ute this morning before the heavens opened again and the thunder and lightning crashed through the hills. 25mm of rain fell last night and as I got to the front gate I was guessing there would be very few keen enough to head out for a ride this morning. I would gladly have turned around and crept back into bed and caught up on the hours of sleep I'd missed out on, thanks to our petrified dogs as the scrambled for places in and around our room to hide from the storm.
As I got closer to Lancefield the torrent eased and once over the divide the roads were dry. Trivess, John, Andy and Janine were the only Lairs eager to head out today and were ready to roll, we headed to Woodend, down 3 Chain Rd. We went at an above average speed for a Lairs ride, the cracking pace soon came to an end as we turned into the head wind at Carlsruhe.
We called into the Cafe Colenso in Woodend to charge ourselves for the trip home and had a nice breeze push us back to Lancefield for more coffee, whether we needed it or not.
Steve.

Holidays

I'm still on holidays so decided to do this (Tooborac - Daylesford and back) ride on Thursday.
I set off from home at 7.30am on a stunning morning and the weather warmed all day reaching the low 30's by the early afternoon.
I had a head wind for the 25k into Lancefield, but nothing too much to deal with, a quick stop to top up my bidons at the servo then the 23k leg to Woodend where I was to meet up with Joseph outside the Holgate brewery, I had the trusty peanut butter and honey sandwich while he got organized and longed for just a tiny pint to wash it down with but that would have ended it all there and then.
Riding the 24k of undulations between Woodend and Trentham were a case of me trying to hang on to Joe as he cruised, he wasn't even trying. I thought my life would become a little easier when his front derailleur started playing up and forced him to ride on the small ring, but no such luck, he just picked up the cadence and off he went. This section of road is beautiful farming land and a bit of bush thrown in as a few of you will recall from last year's Oppy.
I stuffed down a muesli bar in Trentham and took off for the next 23k leg to Daylesford using the promise of lunch as motivation.
It was great to get to Daylesford for a yummy meal at Muffy's cafe, where we had stopped before on another ride, no trouble getting our bottles filled as the owner was a really nice bloke.
Joe took the chance to fix his derailleur with my tools, as in typical style he wasn't carrying any.
The ride home was more down than up but that didn't make it much easier to stay with the boy wonder.
We were back in Woodend at around 2.30-3 pm and after a quick cake and a drink at the bakery it was time to say "see ya" to Joe and grind the last 50 ish k's home on my own.
Not that I don't know how strong Joe is on a bike but he does it so easily and it's a pleasure to watch such an efficient and smooth pedalling style. He could have dropped me at any time but never even allowed a gap to form between us, too nice for that.
The day was a real slog for me but still a great ride at a bit under 200k's.
There is a ride planned for 8am Sunday morning, from the usual place, see you there.
Steve.

2011

The start of a new calendar year to some also means the looking back on the previous years cycling and setting new goals for the one ahead. On the whole the last twelve months on the bike have been great for me, another "Oppy " with a bunch of you Guys, and my first go at the "Murray to Moyne" both of which I enjoyed immensely, Mallee Routes again and all the other rides we've done as Lairs.
I enjoyed keeping track of Andy, Glo and Peter as they rode across Italy and loved watching some of the newer and younger Lairs go from strength to strength over longer and steeper rides.
I've said it to all of you before but again this years high lite was the Oppy, the format of the ride is fantastic, as is the aspect of riding through the night with little or no sleep seeing only what is in the beam of your light, but most importantly riding it with a bunch of mates is the pinnacle of my cycling year. It was made extra special this year by seeing all of Andy and Glo's family making up various lairs teams. It's also a real buzz having Lairs doing their first of hopefully many and seeing the enjoyment they get out of it.

The low point had to be THE BIG CRASH from a couple of weekends ago.

My knee....Seems to be under control at the moment, thanks mostly to some good advice, a Physio who understands cyclists knees and more set up adjustments. The hardest part in managing it has been the battle between knowing it needs to be rested (properly) and desperation to be out riding.

I'm still planning the next twelve months but have the bones worked out, come for a ride tomorrow and you can find out what some of them are or if you are not that desperate for conversation have a fun ride on what looks to be a great day with the rest of the crew.

8am in the usual place, hope to see a heap of you.

Thanks to all of you for being part of another great Lairs year.

Steve.