If you’d like to start the new year with a 75km trek that starts with the usual Roe Hwy route out to Welshpool Rd., up the hill to Canning Rd then left to Kalamunda, down to Mundaring Weir and up the other side to Great Eastern Hwy, then cross over and ride the “back streets” along the old railway line through to Chidlow and the Lake, then come and join us. It’s a great ride! You can then stay there at the lake and rendezvous with your own families (you will have a great day and given the forecast temp of 39C a lakeside retreat maybe tempting), or turn around and head back for the 150km. There’s a pretty good cafe for good coffee, food, ice-creams etc. If you would like to join in for the ride and/or day, give me or Paddles a call. Paddles and I will head off from the Shell Service Station cnr South St and Nth Lake Rd at 6am this Thursday. I’m not good at estimating when/where the best rendevous points could be along the ride for those of you who would like to meet up along the way - I’ll leave it to you with Google map expertise to work it out! Hope to see you for a spin.
Archive for the 'Ride proposal' Category
StayOkay, Maastricht
Back in Perth, long after the completion of the Tour, I thought it would be a good time to mention some of the highlights of my recent overseas sojurn. The main reason for my trip was to attend the International Mathematica Symposium in Maastricht and to catch up with an old friend and colleague from the Technical University of Eindhoven. Actually, the real reason for my trip was to get out of Perth in Winter as I hate cold weather. However, it turned out that Maastricht was not the solution as it was not that warm there.
Maastricht
Nevertheless, Maastricht is a really nice city in which to spend a week, and our hostel accommodation at StayOkay was suprisingly pleasant and affordable, especially as we had a room overlooking the canal and the deck where each day we had breakfast.
Somewhat to the consternation of Karen, I’d brought my road bike with me — O’Dirty conspired here in that I’d borrowed his bike bag. But after 5 days in Maastricht I had not actually had the time to unpack my bike, which was starting to become embarrasing. Actually, the real reason I had not gone riding was that I should confess to general laziness. This was compounded by the fact that Duvel cost less than €3, and you can buy a 6-pack of Leffe Blonde for under €6, making it difficult to think about riding each evening after the conference sessions had ended and the drinking had started.
On the last day of the conference it was imperative that I assembled the bike and went for a ride. Not just any ride; I felt that I needed to ride across a significant part of Europe — three countries at least — before dinner — and I could not start until after 6pm. After checking that the bike was ok I asked reception for a suggestion on which way to ride. They said head South. The next thing I knew I’d ridden from Holland to Belguim, crossed the border, and joined a small group of cyclists. Not wanting to get lost, and to get back so that I still had time for beer and pizza, I turned around at Lixhe and rode back to Holland. While this may sound impressive if you have not been to Europe it is, of course, pissweak; the ride map is at Bikely and you will see that the total distance is about 25 km. But a ride is a ride, and I enjoyed it…
Tour Excitement
After Maastricht we spent a pleasant week in Aix en Provence — I did an easy 25-30km ride each day — and then onto Arreau, where the excitement about the forthcoming TdF was starting to build. Arreau is at 700m altitude, so the ride up Col d’Aspin, which tops out at 1490m, is a good challlenge. I did it twice in around 48 minutes each time. Most of the ride was less than 7% grade, except for the last 5km, which was between 8 and 9%.
Barcelona ride
We spent our last week in Barcelona, which cannot be described as a cyclists paradise. However, we were staying in the Hostafrancs district which is not too far from Parc Montjuïc (home of the Barcelona Olympics). In Montjuïc there are some medium hills and quiter roads, so I rode through the park each day. The view over the harbour is, as you can see, not that scenic.
The Mutual Community TDU ride has been announced. It is a 145km slog from Burnside Village to Angaston. There are no maps as far as I can tell as yet with the route on, but looking on Google Maps logistics look much easier this year with the start being in Adelaide. It will just require a bus to get us back from Angaston. Depending on the dates I am tempted to give the Alpine Challenge a nudge next year as well. I need to do the 200 once. Bif is lucky as he has already ticked that box.
Food for thought…
No it’s not a ship that has sunk. This is a concept I had much in the same vein as that stupid idea of riding up to Kalamunda on Single Speeds. You would think the memory of that day’s pain is still fresh in the legs.
My idea is we race a Cyclo Sportif ride on Single Speeds. Currently Babel and I have road-going SS machines. Bif’s track bike would be quickly converted for such an attempt if he is willing. That still leaves us 2 short. I have been trying to persuade TechnoBoy to pay a visit from Melbourne, so if that could be coincided with a Cyclo Sportif ride we will have 4.
Isn’t it time some of you other strong young athletes realized the benefit of some single-speed training and signed up for this madness… oh, and a new bike.
Paddles suggested a hills ride this Sunday, which is good, as I had planned to suggest the same. Basically, doing a hills ride in between Cyclo Sportif rides will keep our hill training in top form.
Time: How about a 7am start at the IBM rollerdoor?
Route: I am thinking of resurrecting one of Bif’s interesting routes. Ride out the normal route to the base of Kalamunda Rd. But instead of going up Kalamunda we will ride along the base of the hills through Forrestfield. On toward the Tonkin near Kelmscott and up Canning Mills Rd. Then Canning Rd to Kalamunda for a sausage roll and a coffee. Home the normal route, via the Roe Highway.
Any takers?
O’Dirty
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