Burn Baby Burn.

Someone turned up the heat to the mega. The last few days I ventured up to Bendigo for some training, track watching and quality oven living where the temperature reached 44 one of the days. For our Fahrenheit friends that's 111 big ones. Needless to say there was plenty of melting tar out on the roads and despite my best sunscreen efforts some melting skin too. Ah well perks of the job.

There is something strangely sadistic about watching guys lay the smack down on fixed geared bikes on CONCRETE velodromes in such heat. I mean I thought i was suffering in my chair..under the shade tent...with a bottle of wat....okay maybe not. There were definitely some hardcore riding out there. The bro did a sterling effort with a coupla wins, including an absolute cracker in a 2000m wheelrace heat, with a suicide attack over three laps lasting only just before the scratch guys powered home.

The original dynamic duo...holy salmon pink socks batman..

As for me it will be time to open the 2008 racing account tmw, hitting up the Bay Crits which will be a hoot....a somewhat painful hoot so stay tuned..

Oh and before I go...Happy Birthday for this girl...

Would You Want To Recieve Gifts From These Guys?

Man i am pretty beat right now. Whether it's the large amount of food still digesting from yesterday's Christmas lunch or the fatigue from a day spent laughing at the many goof ball acts from various family members I'm not too sure. Probably a little bit of both I reckon with a coupla fun days on the bike thrown in too with the bro in town. With the whole crew kickin' it Nong's style it was rather nice not to have to get in a car and travel anywhere for the day...

...think the old lady was pretty happy with that too!

I think that the rest of the day really is best left to my sneaky photo capturing ability..so let the embarrassment roll on!

Hungry anyone??

The bro was a little under the weather on the day suffering from a nasty head cold..as only he can.

Okay so this looks like the standard family grand children photo, except the bro is copping a massive poke in the ribs hence the somewhat uncomfortable smiling expression and much to my amusement. Brothers will be brothers..hey, he'd do the same if he had the chance..dog eat dog out there.

Someone had the wacky idea to bring some karaoke sing star device along...do we see another boy band in the hit predictions of 2008?

Well that's about it folks, and i hope everyone had as much of a fun day as we did. I think it's time for another lie down...lator, cw.

The Unexpected Guest!

I knew it, as soon as I started talking about how good training in the sun has been the weather packs up and turns to crud. Far out we have had some decent rain up here in the da nongs the last few days. No excuses tho', we're not here to lick stamps.

Hit up sassa with a solid crew last weekend and things were looking pretty good out there in parts after some afternoons spent on the shears. Still a fair bit of work out there though and I dare say as soon as the sun pokes out again it will be over grown the mega. Tis a never ending battle I suppose...

Pinned on a race number for the first time since being OS, fronting up to Glenvale yesterday..man how good is racing at that place! We all got schooled hard by a canuck import in the last 10mins who rode of the front on his pat but it was damn fun nonetheless.

Oh yeah check out this fella who decided to wander in the yard the other day and cause a ruckus...pretty schweet.

Well there's not much left to say for today other than Merry Christmas to everyone! Hope you have a great day and thanks for reading..cheers..cw.

You Can't Train On Vegemite.

It's true. Well at least I found out it doesn't work for me anyway. Outta jam it was time to load up the training sambo with and old skool favourite and it left me high, dry and blown with an hour to go yesterday. Lesson learned. So much for the mineral replacement theory...but I sure as hell weren't as bright as bright can be coming up the mtn yesterday.


Been getting some decent kms under in the legs of late which is all happy dayz. Must say its a pretty good gig to get base miles done in the summer time...cause on the flipside of the world CO is already getting plenty of snow according to Denver's number one weather girl. And I thought winters in the Nongs were fairly tough.

Well, the mug of tea is done and it's time to get out on the bike for another day. Oh and stay tuned for some very, hugely, massively exciting news announced in the new year...don't you just love teasers..? Merry Christmas everyone..Lator..cw.

Girl Power

Equal Prize Money for Female Cyclists Petition

Watch Your Back..Front and Side

Yesterday's training ride was a disgrace. I have never copped so much abuse out riding my bike ever. Its crazy to think a decent proportion of my success next season largely depends on the abilities others. I can stick to the far left of the road and hold straight but that's it, and the concept of depending on others scares the hell outta me after the display of ignorance and terrible driving skills seen yesterday. In other words its whether I return from training alive and in one piece is something that is to an extent outta my control. All it takes in some asshole's poor skills or frustration from a bad day or being under the influence while behind the wheel. What chance does a bike rider have on a 7kg machine versus someone behind the wheel of a 2 ton vehicle, that ultimately can be used as a weapon. And I've seen it happen.

I am talking about ignorant road users with no respect for others. Ignorant to the road rules and in the fact that riding two abreast is legal and a safer way for us to travel and why we do the majority of the time. Why? Because cars take far riskier passing maneuvers when we are close to the gutter creating more danger for us, squeezing us off the road, into the gutters and in instances I have been hit by side mirrors. Riding two abreast forces the driver to slow down, take notice and wait for a safer passing maneuver, in most cases allowing more room. The current signs up on the 1:20 put us at a dangerous disadvantage. Ignorant drivers take the signage of "cyclists single file" as the legal rule for everywhere and we cope the consequences of riding up there either way. What about another sign - "Drivers pass cyclists with care" or "Watch for cyclists"? We don't have anymore rights than drivers do, nor do they of us. But the consequences are far worse for a cyclist.

For those ignorant pricks like the two wankers yesterday.. I believe dot point ten is what you are looking for..
http://www.bv.com.au/file/file/Road%20rules%20for%20cyclists_1.pdf?phpMyAdmin=DhLMKS7n7oG8nIonGyRgo-K1uw6

I don't want to end up in the hospital tmw. lator, cw.

Seeing Stars.

Far out I think I suffered through the worst amount of pain I have ever known today. Im trying to think of a comparable pain factor, perhaps a gruelling hot Canberra point to point in the Tour de Dirt a few years back, or maybe the famous turrets syndrome road ride on the mates before dates tour 06' that left me one step away from a straight jacket. Hmm still doesn't match up. Today was physio session number two and I got worked. Big time. Lying there sweating in agony as what feels like golf balls in my legs getting broke down at the expense of all other muscle tissue was not an enjoyable experience. Okay I know in the long run it will be the goods but holy smoke I got hammered to the mega.

Luckily I had this little bad boy waiting for me in the mail when I got back - must say it's pretty darn good to get Velonews in regular time rather than be two issues behind from the oz newsagents. All thanks to one thoughtful Colorado girl...thanks babe. Isn't she just the greatest folks?

Goodness In A Can.

Four days in a row of lunch consisting of tuna rolls. Life is good....very good. The sun has been shining and I finally feel like a bike rider again after getting absolutely pummeled on the physio table last week to get me straight again. Who woulda thought that such intense pain would yield some good results. Usually the way it works I suppose... Copped my first decent burn for summer today and marked a very welcome return to bi-colour arms and legs. Lucky my girl is a bike rider and understands the intricacies of spending many an hour in the sun wearing the same fitting clothing leading to a cadbury top deck look that we all aspire to..okay well maybe not.

Check out my scar now..pretty sweet and easily the best one I've had so far. Maybe could have been stitched but I think that would have taken the sweet lumpy section in the middle away...or maybe that's still a piece of gravel? I'll let you ponder that for the day...I'm off to ride my bike (far, far away from bmx tracks)...later, cw.

Go Back...Way Back..

Went and saw "Into The Wild" last night..intense..super intense but very good at the same time. In fact i'm calling it the best I've seen for a very long time...yep. For those of you who haven't heard of it (it's not playing at all mainstream cinemas) it follows the true story of Chris McCandless who turns his back on society for a life of living off the land eventually finding his way to the Alaskan wilderness where he perishes. Hey i didn't kill the ending don't worry, it's not a action movie with a twist at the end or the like, its more a film with a message and reflection on a journey and some pretty different lifestyle choices.


Speaking of wild the rain was off trolley today up here leaving half the roads washed out...damn. Good thing it was planned ergo time today otherwise I'd be coming back with rain drop dints in my helmet it was that hard.



Time to go for these bad boys...if anyone is interested in reducing my garage space and filling theirs with one of these items (or maybe both?) shoot me an line...(email addy in profile)..lators..cw.