Your Tongue Makes a Nice Snack?

Well the holidays are over, sorta, for me anyways!  Although I'm not too sure when they started either!  The big drive to Melbourne starts tomorrow.  The actual drive starts tuesday, but I'm gonna head down to Goldie a day early to hang and ride with Mr. Butterfield.  Hopefully the weather cleans up so that there is atleast one good thing about trying to hang in with Euro Legs!  Although I have a feeling rain and pain are on the forecast!   I bailed on today's ride.  The afternoon might clear up so I might knock back 80-100.  We'll see.  Thunderstorms and riding my sexy bike dont go well together.  She doesn't like it.  She told me so.  

My Christmas day ride was pretty awesome.  We rode to RedCliffe (place with knarly thunderstorm pictures).  about 100kms.  Very little traffic and sunny skies!  It was pretty awesome.  We were pretty sure people were talking about us as we rode by them.  Either saying: " Wow how lucky they are to have no kids to do what ever they want this morning" or "Look at those ass hole cyclists, ditching their wives and kids to go 10 speeding".  SUCKAS!

We even found a bakery to knock back christmas snacks and coffee!  We had a false positive earlier on the ride, a cafe right on the beach who was setting up for a function.  I screamed in excitement and pulled an immediate u-ey only to find out he wasn't going to be able to satisfy our coffee and confectionary sugar needs.  The bakery that was open wasn't the greatest, but hey.  Beggars can't be choosers and she was probably the only open merchant within a 500km radius!

The week had about 350-400km on plan, but my lazyness and the shiatty weather knocked her back to 170!  Less than half!  Oh well!  We are planning to do the Melbourne drive in a single shot so its an extra day in Melbourne to do nothing but ride mi bicicletta.  Should be able to bang out 5-600kms depending on the NYE hangover.

Keeping my weight down is becoming a struggle.  Last night before bed I opened the cupboards and fridge dozens of times just to make sure some snacks weren't hiding from me.  I had 1 last piece of bread.  You know the part you usually throw away?!  Yeah, lathered in about 2-3 servings of Nutella and a huge class of full cream milk!  I still woke up at 4 for my ride hungry as hell.  My tongue seriously hurts.  I bit it good a few days ago and Im pretty sure I was chewing on it last night.

Anywho, time to head to work again and pack the car just incase Ty hammers my legs into the ground and I'm incapacitated for the drive day.  Imagine that! CRAMP! Sorry Mr. POPO officer.  I had a cramp, I know I doing 180 with 6 bikes on the roof but I couldn't pull the foot off the accelerator!

Happy New Year folks!

My Trans'!

My Honda CBF 250!  Been riding this baby around when I haven't been on the road bike.  Only exception is that we have a modified roller on the back for moto pacing!  The bike has a lot of power for pacing but its fuel injected which makes it much smoother.

Anywho! The Cricket is starting to bore me a little.  I'm gonna go for a cruise.  Might check some sales downtown.

Longest work day ever!

I know last year I was pulling crazy work hours between the catering and the occasional snow plowing but today was brutal!  Christmas eve in maggie land beat that pretty good.  Got to work a little early at about 830 and got working on bikes immediately.  Dozens of full builds later, its now 1045 at night and thankfully I don't have to drive to Quebec city!

Driving the girls and Marcel down to the airport at 330 and then riding at 6 for 150k or so.  Gotta fix some guy's derailleur at 2 in the afternoon as well!  He's not happy with something and we just tuned it.  Gear tune on christmas day?! NOW THATS F'ING SERVICE!

I'm absolutely beat.  I'm feeling my lack of sleep from a few days ago.  Supposed to go to a BBQ tomorrow but I reckon' that tomorrows ride is going to shatter me.  I wish I had spike and the James Bond Marathon right about now!  

Prob lay naked on the couch with my christmas hat on.  I wrapped my self a Super Record 11 rear derailleur at work today to put under the christmas tree but I left it at work!  Maybe Pere Noel will swing by!  Or maybe I'll grab it at 3 so that it's there on my 2nd wake up of the day!

Anywho, over and out!  I need some rest!  Back at it in 4 hours!

These holidays are more stressful than working days!

Merry Christmas!

One day closer to christmas and Toowong, the suburb we are staying in is slowly emptying out.  There are dozens of people every morning at 430 with massive duffle bags and suitcases just outside one of the weirdly placed bus stops.  Obviously, the airport bus!

I had a horrible sleep last night.  Weird considering it was a super cool night.  slept about 45 mins but called it quits at 430 and went riding with the group.  Not the best considering the ride consisted of paceline work around the 'corso'.  I felt like a bag of hammers but it got me out of the house.

Today we have to build the new fleet of bikes for the girls.  Colnago CLX with 7900 and Dura Ace 1350 wheels.  5 bikes, 2 guys.  Super easy right.  We also have 2 complete services (service down to the frame) and a shop to run as the boss started his holidays back at the christmas party!  Today is gonna suck but it'll bring me 1 day closer to getting out of town to Melbourne!

Paul, I spoke with my boss about a group.  175 are currently not available in Magpie Land.  We had 1 of 5 groups a few weeks ago, and it was the first to be sold.  As soon as they are again we will get new pricing and I will let you know if you are still interested.  As for the tech.  I wouldn't trust the knobs that work at Shimano Australia.  From my experience with the stuff 7800 cassettes work with 7900 but I am unsure about the brakes.  I'd say no problem but its an expensive mistake!

Anywho, I'm gonna bang out a power nap.

Merry christmas everyone and a happy new year.

2009 MB Cycles/Coaching Mr March

The Nebo challenge was huge fun.  About 90 hit the hill at different with different time gaps to try to be named king/queen of the hill.  My group started off with 6 of us.  Julian, my regular riding partner went over the first 3 'bergs' with a strong tempo.  I let him go because he was hurting hard last thursday when we rode it while I was very comfortable.  I never caught him!   He caught 2 rabbits and worked hard to beat them.  He ended up putting 2 minutes on me.  Him and all of his 95 kilos!  Just as a reference point, I was 78 saturday morning!  I still rode a strong 45.30 and in my defence, I am not quite familiar with the hill yet!  I only got caught by 1 person, a strong up and coming junior with about 2 kms to go.  As we passed me just before the final descent he shouted, "THEY'RE COMING!!!!!!" as if the big bad aliens from Mars were on their way!  The big boys were closing in but a final adrenaline kick kept them at bay! All that magpie training!  The pro from the US banged out a 37.11, a course record.

Work was pretty laid back, spent most of the day clearing out the shop for the christmas party. 

I was pretty beat and wouldn't have wanted/been able to do much more!

The christmas party was awesome.  Had a ridiculous amount of booze and great food!  There were also some fun awards.  The release of a MB Calendar.  I ended up being Mr March!  I wasn't listening to what was going on, just heard my name after a little speech.  I heard things like begging for a job, and foreign invasion (there are 'heaps' of North Americans here at the moment).  I got to wear a little tiara all night!  The rest of the night ended up with going downtown but me and only me getting refused entry at ALL the bars because I was too intoxicated!  I still have no idea how the bouncer could tell.    I was pretty sideways, but so were all the others I was with.  Oh well.

Doing some construction work today for a friend.  Waiting for a bin to get delivered before I go slave in the heat at mid day!  I'm pretty sure I'm working too much for a guy who should be on 'holidays' but otherwise I just end up drinking coffee and doing nothing!

Nebo Challenge

Tomorrow is the semi annual Mt. Nebo Challenge.  It's set up as a handicap race which keeps it interesting for all of our clients.  There are 70 odd entries and there is a 35 minute handicap between first and last over 18kms.  

Should be fun, picked up some race wheels for the event.  More of a publicity/advertising thing for the boss than any actual advantage but I am not complaining.  Set of Zipp 404 tubs.  They were fast on the way home!  The last guy, a strong US pro, reckons (my new Ozzie language) he can bang out 36 minutes if he is feeling good.  I rode it with a friend of mine thursday and rode 52 minute cruising.  I'll be happy going 45 minutes.  If the weather is good the sub 40 guys might catch me early giving me a chance to tempo the hill so who knows!

Its gonna be an awesome day.  Christmas Party tomorrow night with over 150 rsvps.  No ride sunday but my kms will be over 300 after tomorrow.  A good week in my books.

Talk soon!

Kangaroo Sightings - 1.5

Cronulla ended up rocking.  The girls raced AWESOME.  Gina got it all prep'ed, wrapped and handed it to Kirsty on a silver platter.  The team controlled the whole race from the gun and got the win they deserved.  I got on National TV a buncha times.  Yeah, I'm pretty cool.  I was in the pits and my good looks just draw tv time.  What can I say!

We had some 'Champers' at lunch and got going back to Brissie by 330.  11 hours later, we were back home.  We took the more straight forward route home that didn't include the winding roads.  A little longer in distance but the highway roads were much more relaxing to drive.

Yeah, back home, back at work tomorrow.  It's hot as tits out so I'm gonna go hang out in the mall!

Bike Mechanish - Job Explained

Got here in Cronulla early evening yesturday. The driving was only 800km but our wonderful Garmin took us through some CRAZY roads! The street signs said to continue on HWY 15, Mr. Garmin was saying Hook Left. Hooked left we did! Ondulating, Winding farmer roads at 110 km/h with 8bikes on the roof and a Minivan full of shiat! It was pretty sick. Woulda been a different story on a 1000cc Yamaha! We somehow made it to the Pacific Hwy after flirting with death most of the day with about $100,000 worth of gear strapped to the car! Oh yeah, it was also PISSING rain the whole time, which also made the flirting more intense!

Went for a ride to the course this morning after picking up the girls. Cronulla is a rad little beach suburb. Awesome surf, babes everywhere and coffee! Good morning!

Cleaned the bikes this afternoon after realizing the Bike stand I brought down was broken and useless! OOPS! Boss shows up tonight and hopefully we wont have a legitemate excuse to use the stand tomorrow! I knew I shoulda checked it out before! Also his fault for putting it with all the travel gear!

Anywho, race is tomorrow. We dragged a piss load of gear down for a 35 minute Crit. Thats their National Champs! I'm not complaining but my boss must really love his girls and their racing! He's spending a ton of money this weekend!

My internet time is up and we'll be heading to dinner soon.

Talk soon

World Cup Shots

Tough Being Awesome

Went into work today after taking saturday off to hang with the wife unit before she left.  Wasn't sure what to expect as we don't usually pull wrench on mondays.  After doing the few repairs there were to be done, Marcel, my boss, called me into his office to inform me that I would be traveling to Cronulla.  Driving the workshop down to the National Criterium Championships.  HELLS YEAH!   Do I have to??!  Ok.... If I must!

The rest of the day consisted of me preparing the 6 sets of Zipps and getting 2 Pinarello's ready for our two guest riders.  Gina Grain, Canadian National champ, and some other chick who normally rides for Webcor.

I also sat through another awesome wind training session!

And inbetween doing all that, I was generally being Mr. Amazing to all the clients.  They all love the fact that I am from somewhere else!

So yeah!  Off to Cronulla, which is 30 minutes from Sydney.  Might get a chance to call Robbie McEwen a short little shit! or something of the sort!

Anywho, my week started off awesome.  Hows the snow?!

Canada 2 - Ozz -1

It's HOT has tits right now.  Summer has hit with all its fury.  The current readings off of my Ipod read 29 feels like 40 with humidity.  I'm sucking back my favoritre Miller Chills as fast as I can.  I just made some pesto and I'm trying all sorts of things to make it cooler.  Next step is to strip my Pepper Mint plant from the patio and add that to it.  I'll let you know!

Anywho, Linds leaves for Canada tomorrow morning.  I'm off to Redcliff and Nudgee Beach on a 130km loop.  The plan is to bang out about 40km of pace lining, but last time we did that it turned out to be a shiat show race shelling anyone who wasn't prepared to go into serious hurt mode.  I did my part by pacing 'important' clients to the stop off point!  No. 1 Domestic baby!

Anywho, I hope it isn't snowing too bad.  But then again, you can shelter your self from the cold, but this heat is EVERYWHERE!  But my tan lines are still kicking ass!  Got tanning lights set up in the velodrome yet!? MUAHAHA!

Country Comparisons

I've been here for over 3 months now and I figured I'd do a little comparison between countries.  Honestly I'm just bored and trying to find something to do before my 9pm bed time.  Riding in the morning, need my beauty sleep!

Storms

Canada - City shutting blizzards

Australia - City Destroying Thunderstorms

Advantage Canada - What can I say?  I love shoveling and being 'that guy' with the clean driveway mid snow storm!

Holiday fruit

Canada - Cranberries I guess.

Australia - Cherries

Advantage Australia - Who doesn't like cherries???  Snacking on some right now suckas!

Riding

Canada - Indoor over half the year

Australia - packs of thousands every weekend

Deuce - it's a good switch up and getting fat playing video games is pretty awesome!

Tied score for now

Canada - 1 Australia - 1

Official Start of Summer

Well this is it folks.  Summer has begun in Ozz.  How's that Slop in Canada right about now?!  Man I don't miss riding to work in slush just to drink a cold starbucks!  Its about a million degrees here today with no letting up in sight.  Im sweating sitting here bloggin' and lets say I'm not wearing too much.

Yesturday's 2 hundo was a monster.  Not only were the km's mega but so were the hills!  Unfortunately for me our group of about 20 mostly consisted of 'elite' guys.  The pace was fast and the tempo up the 'easy' climbs was tough.  The first easy climb of the day was Beerumbum or something like that.  about 5km 4%.  I was 3rd wheel and people were talking all around me as I tried to stay focused on the wheel ahead of me.  Heart rate was maxed at 198 whilst other chit chated but I had to look tough, we were only 80km's in and had to look like I was good for 120 more!  From there we made our way to Woodford where we made our 2nd pit stop for the day.  The fear of Mt Mee was beginning to set in.  Because we were approaching from woodford, it would mean we would attack the backside of the hill.  The Dark Side!

She started off at an easy 8-10%  at the 120km mark for about a km before cresting.  Kind of like a tease, making me think, bah, this isn't that bad, what are these softies talking about?  Not that this is the easiest climb I've done, but I could bang this baby out no problemo!

After another tough roller, a sign pops out.  WARNING! CRASH AREA!  And then another one Mt Mee Tourist Drive 3.87km 15.67%.  WHOA NOW!  I look down at my cycling computer and the sign isn't lying.  The hill lingering between 14-16 and then 17-18 in the switchbacks.  I had to switch screens as to not get too depressed!  It was a big hard hill, but like the others, I found a good tempo and made it to the top.  The boys kept a good tempo through the rest of the Mt Mee Range which brought us to a good decent all the way to Dayboro.  If you look at the map, there are actually HUGE rolling hills between Mt Mee and Dayboro.  The steep climb is only the first part!

Mt Samson wasn't as bad as I thought.  Long but easy climbing.  Total Ascent for the day was 1900 meters and 200.4km.  Actually had to go around the block once to make sure I broke 200km!  Not like last time, 199.3.

Anywho, time to go sprawl naked on the bed to try and keep cool.  Man it's hot!

Later!