Channel Challenge 110km

This blog seems to get hits from all round the world, so the chances are some readers might be a bit far away to take part in next weekend's Channel Challenge 110km Audax. My condolences. A rainy weekend at home means I'm busy putting the word out and finalising the details for what promises to be a superb ride.

If you're in Huonville and have nothing else planned next Sunday, here's the details:

The ride traverses some of southern Tasmania's most scenic waterfront roads with four major climbs as it passes from Huonville through Cygnet over to Kettering and back around the Channel. A moderate/hard ride with 1500m of ascending. There is also a 50km option for riders seeking a shorter day in the saddle.

The ride starts from the Huon Jet Boat Base at 8am - turn left just before the Huon River bridge if you're coming from the north. Plenty of parking, toilets and a 24-hour service station nearby. Be there by 7.30am to register. Entry is $10, $5 for Audax Australia members. The ride is unsupported and has a time limit of seven hours. Riders will need to to be self sufficient and of reasonable fitness.

Maps here and here, entries here, enquiries here.

Numbers ate my brain

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows it consists of a lot of thinking out loud. I've been keeping track of the amount of money I spend on fuel lately, more out of interest than anything. All it has done is scare me. I drive a small car and average 8.1 litres per 100km on the hilly drive in the direction of work. Depending on the amount of time I have most days I ride the last 10km. Even though fuel prices seem to be going down for the moment, having a clearer idea of how much my car is costing has me wondering how much getting rid of it would save.

Having a look at the 2008 RACT running cost figures which best match my car, I'm spending about 12.5c per kilometre on fuel, about 0.7c per kilometre on tyres and about 5c per kilometer on servicing and repairs. So that's 18.2 cents per kilometre. On average, I ride around 100km a week I would have otherwise driven, saving me $18.20. I suspect I spend a bit more than that on bike bits!

At the moment, my car is costing me the above costs, plus the fixed costs: about another $24 a week in rego, insurance, licence and RACT membership. I drive an average of 25,000km a year, so all-up the car I own outright is costing me $5,792, a year, around $110 a week or 23 cents per kilometre.

Now, I'm going to need a new car in a couple of years - an expense I now don't want to even think about. If the RACT figures are right, even a cheap car will depreciate by at least $60 a week over five years, will cost $1,250 a year to keep road legal and insured, around $5,000 to fuel and another $5,000 in loan repayments: $14,272 dollars a year. And people say my bike habit is keeping me poor! The rough cost of a new car is going to be about 60 cents per kilometre.

It's got me thinking: maybe I won't t buy a new car and ride instead. Or delay the purchase by a year. At 20km/h I'd be saving about 12 dollars an hour.

5,023km so far this year.

First they came for the people without spare light brackets...

The Audax-Oz e-mail list is an enjoyable exchange of views from like-minded people and unusually for the internet has a very high signal to noise ratio. The posts are generally either informative or witty or both. I have a fairly busy life like many people and it's the only e-mail list I subscribe to but every so often the it throws up a debate which generates a level of passion I just can't understand or feel for any topic really.

It's never the life and death things but almost always something any sane person would consider trivial. For some reason the rules surrounding night riding drive some people lose all sense of perspective. Keep in mind that a large proportion or Audax riders seldom, if ever, ride at night.

Some time ago, the list was aflame with a debate about whether the club should adopt a rule requiring reflective anklets on night rides. Within a few exchanges came this:

"I'd suggest you pull your bottom lip over your head and swallow."

Right on brother! The most recent heated discussion on a new rule which means riders must carry a spare light bracket for each of the two spare lights which are already required. Someone asked for an explaination. What followed was an exchange of more than 78 e-mails by my rough count.

"This comment is just rude and offensive and has no place in a forum such
as this."

Ah yes, once again the reaction has been shrill, the emotions insane. For some people this new rule is nothing more than the cold hand of creeping fascism.

"It's not a democracy if we all leave the club and only the power mongers remain."

It's not like the change was sprung on members. It was decided by the club's elected committee, publicised in the magazine sent to all members months ago and passed when it attracted not a single comment. Those sneaks!

"I am also upset at the lack of consultation & explanation on the change."

Let's be clear what exactly is at stake: the old rule required riders to have a front light and a rear light fitted to the bike and a spare of each.

"These useless nitpicking objections to independent light mounts are, at least embarrassing, and at worst, destructive."

The new rule means you need to have a front light and a rear light fitted to the bike, a spare or each and a spare mount for each. Too onerous?

If you don't like the rules or can't be bothered being part of the club's democratic policy making join a different club or a group for minimalists."

An extra 30 grams or so has caused a storm of protest from the rule weary. And so it comes to this:

"If you want to have your will imposed on the membership without contest, then maybe it is you who should leave the club and join one more suitable to your ambitions, say the Nazi party..."

We have a winner. One minute we're talking about light brackets, the next we're calling each other Nazis. You have to love the internet. I'm one of those people who think there's too many rules in life, but I really hope I pick my fights better than this. Mind you, that club for minimalists sounds like fun.

"Moreton Bay is full of White Pointers."

Now I'm just being selective.

5,007km so far this year.

I'm not made of sugar.

We have had a couple of rainy days this week and even though we've enjoyed only light spring showers, I've saw hardly anyone else riding on my commute to or from work on Thursday and Friday. Admittedly Friday afternoon was mildly wet, but the morning was lovely and sunny and on Thursday it didn't rain at all, though rain was forecast and there were darkish clouds overhead. Instead of the usual 20 or 30 cheery souls out and about I saw maybe two. Perhaps the resolve of the summer hordes who appear after daylight savings begins has flagged a little.

It's funny how a little rain scares so many cyclists off, because a one or two hour ride in the rain is generally a very pleasant experience as long as you keep moving and stay warm. Once you're wet you're not getting any wetter. The traffic slows down a little and high-pressure tyres make a lovely noise on wet pavement. Yes, you have to relube your chain and wipe the bike down afterwards but that small additional effort is well worth it in my opinion.

I reckon I get rained on about three or for times a year when I'm out on the bike. On days when the forecast is truly horrible I tend to pass, but in Tasmania if you wait for the weather to be prefect you'll wait a long time to get a ride in. Getting wet on the way to work is more of an inconvenience that getting wet on the way home, because you have to put wet clothes on again to ride at the end of the day.

Speaking of weather, it's the BikeTas Big Ride tomorrow - 100km around the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. It's blowing a gale out there at the moment, and while the forecast is for fine conditions, I'm going regardless.

4,876km so far this year.

Doing what he loved.

A sad story, but still somewhat amazing an 83-year-old man was still throwing a leg over the bike on a ride that's 56km at its shortest. I hope I've got another 43 years of riding half-centuries left in me.

83-year-old man dies in bike crash

An 83-year-old man has died after crashing his bicycle during the Sydney to Wollongong charity bike ride. Police said the man fell off his bike after his pedal clipped a traffic barrier on Lawrence Hargrave Drive, Thirroul about 12pm yesterday. The Terrigal man suffered major head injuries, including multiple skull and facial fractures. An off-duty paramedic and ambulance officers treated him at the scene. He was taken to Wollongong Hospital, but died shortly before midnight with his family at his bedside.

4,772km so far this year.

The bike that ebay bought.

October wasn't a good month for me on the bike (or on the blog). I barely made the 400km mark for the month and my (revised) goal of 6000km for the year isn't looking flash. Without regular Audax riding like I had in Victoria, I have commute every day to keep my miles up. Fortunately I quite enjoy this.

I've been thinking about a new road bike for a while. I've put nearly 20,000km on the Surly and it's a fine bike, but it does have some annoying features - like the cantilever brakes which I grew sick of and a very long wheelbase. I was looking for something a tad lighter too, although it's a fool who thinks a new bike will make him a better rider.

I kicked around a huge range of options, from buying a new bike like one of the flash new Malvern Star carbon racers, to refurbishing an old steel frame, to buying something like a Richey Breakaway online. The collapse of the Aussie dollar made the latter too expensive, and while I was keen on the old steel frame idea, it was going to involve a fair bit of hassle for an uncertain result. And carbon? Well I just don't think I'm gentle enough for a carbon frame and I worry how well it would travel in a bike box in the guts of a plane. Another case in point: a week ago Mrs Surly Dave drove my car under a bottle shop awning with the steel bike on top. Luckily it survived with a couple of scratches, I'm scared to think what would have happened to a carbon bike.

Getting a new bike meant cleaning out the shed. After selling a while heap of vintage Campagnolo racing gear on ebay, I was ready to go shopping. I settled on a Bianchi Via Nirone frame in mid-life crisis red from a local bike shop. It's nothing flash, but it's designed to be comfortable for long rides as well as sporty for commutes and even racing if I feel like it. After a few rides ironing out the fit, I'm glad to say it rides like a dream and is a worthy successor to the much-loved Surly Cross Check.

4,867km so far this year.

Not enough time.

There's nothing in the world quite as enjoyable as cycle touring. It's just one of the most relaxing ways of seeing the world. For some reason my touring bike has been hanging in the shed for months, unnoticed and unridden. A bit of tinkering and it's ready to ride once more. I couldn't resist putting the panniers and rack bags and handlebar bag back on and taking it for a little spin.

The Surly Long Haul Trucker is a wonderful touring bike. Mine is the 26" wheel version and it's just lovely to ride. It becomes more stable the more youy load it up. We're planning a weekend tour in the next few weeks, so I'm ready now - although possibly with slightly more carrying capacity than I'll need on an overnight trip to Bruny Island.

This is the bike I rode the Mallee Routes on a couple of years ago. The ride is on again this weekend as it traditionally is on the AFL Grand Final weekend. Wish I was there!

The hard way to the Airwalk

Eating breakfast on Saturday I could see the hills that mark the edge of the World Heritage Area north-west of here still had a good covering of snow on top. Despite the windy season being well and truly upon us it's still a good time to be outdoors. And there are miles and miles of dirt roads and tracks in the bush near home, so this weekend was high time to get out and explore some of it.

Keith, from up the road, is a keen and accomplished cyclist who knows the hills and trails of the Huon as well as anyone. He suggested a relatively straightforward mountain bike ride from Judbury down to the Tahune Airwalk and back - a round tip of about 80 or so kilometres mainly along forestry roads along either side of the Huon River. It's pretty rugged country, lots of hills and not too many people. We set off about 8.30 on Saturday morning.

The weather was cool and overcast as we rolled past the few scattered houses and inched up the hill behind Russell River. Keith showed his local knowledge by picking tracks to cut the distance or to provide a more interesting ride. He pointed out the site of Denny King's old Sunset Ranch. We copped a bit of rain, but it wasn't enough to bother putting a jacket on. We made the visitors centre at the Airwalk about 11am. There weren't too many people about on what was becoming a cool and windy day. We took a table and tucked into a very fine lunch.

The weather turned a little on the way back, though sheltered from the worst of the wind by the rugged hills, the temperature dropped and intermittent rain meant rain jackets and long pants were needed. On one long uphill section we were pelted by hail, which meant the puncture gods knew exactly what moment to put a sharp pointy rock in the path of my front wheel. A quick stop and we were on our way once more.

From the top of this climb we had a long and very enjoyable descent down towards the bridge near the Ta Ann veneer mill. By my reckoning, the temperature had dropped to well under the five degree minimum that had been forecast but if you keep pedalling you stay warm enough. The final climb over the hill after the Denison River was a killer, and I had to walk the steeper sections. Keith was waiting on the other side for the exhilarating 70km/h descent down back across the Russell River and the final spin into Judbury.

I really enjoy riding on the road, but this was a ride to equal any I've been on and had some other benefits besides. We saw some magnificent countryside and in what turned out to be a 90km ride we saw just three cars. And the even better thing is there's lots more trails to explore. Yet another joy of living in such a magnificent part of the world.

4,220km so far this year.

Gently Around the Channel

I'm getting ready to run a few 100km Audax rides over the summer.
Having ridden a few dozen rides organized by others I think it's fair
to say I've never really appreciated the amount of work involved. The
last few weeks have given me a good hint.

One of the good things about the process has been thinking about what
makes a good ride. Another benefit has been riding the courses, which
I'm slowly working my way through so I can check the distances and put
together the cue sheets.

Bicycle Tim and Keith joined me on Saturday for the run through of the
"Channel Challenge". Although what I thought was 108km turned out to
be closer to 120km it turned out to be a delightful traverse of some
of Southern Tasmania's best coastal scenery and had some brilliant
climbs as well.

The route went from Ranelagh to Cygnet, across to Kettering and back
via the coast road. I was confident it would be a winner because I've
never had a bad ride around the Channel.

Though my climbing clearly leaves a lot to be desired, Tim and Keith
kindly waited for me at the top of each major ascent and we enjoyed a
great lunch at Fleurty's cafe and cake at Cygnet's Red Velvet Lounge.
Although the wind was very blowy and I wasn't feeling that strong, I
hope the people who eventually take part in this event have as good a
time as I did Saturday. Wonderful scenery, great food and terrific
company, stuff of the most memorable rides.

The endless cycle resumes.

Yes, I've been slack, but I've had a lot on. This snippet from the tail end of the obituary of Ian Hibell, long distance cyclist. The Economist said it best.

— A cyclist can travel 1,037km (644 miles) on the energy equivalent of one litre of petrol.
— Regular cycling can make you as fit as someone who is ten years younger.
— A cyclist consumes 1/50th of the oxygen of a car making the same journey.
— A twice daily half-hour commute will, over a year, consume the energy equivalent of 24lb of fat.
— In 1949, 34 per cent of all mechanised journeys were made by bicycle. Fifty years later that figure had fallen to 2 per cent.
— The rate of serious heart disease for civil servants who cycle 20 miles or more a week is 50 per cent lower than for their sedentary colleagues.

4,130km so far this year.

Bolder on a folder.

I bought myself another bike. The Flying Pigeon was great but I went shopping and saw this six-speed for the equivalent of $A250 and thought it was a buy too good to resist. I sold the Mighty Pigeon to a mate for about what I paid for it.

It's a Dahon folding bike. I've not had a folder before and I'm very impressed. It's a Chinese-market only model and some of the running gear is a bit average, but it goes like a rocket, goes round corners like a greased rat and is very comfortable to ride. Hopefully it will go in the bag without too much of a struggle.

The picture to the left is taken inside the Olympic precinct yesterday. A couple of us managed to find a checkpoint which somehow allowed us into the heart of the Games. There was nobody else about and for about 20 minutes we had the place to ourselves as we zoomed down empty road past deserted venues. In 11 days time these will be packed with athletes, officials and spectators. We didn't see anyone much apart from security staff until passing out through the gate near the Main Press Centre, where I work.

I put a bike computer on the bike today. Now all I need is a bell and I'm set. Off to the Summer Palace in the morning. I reckon it's about 30km each way, which should be fun in the 35 degree heat.

3,298km so far this year.

Yet another bike.

If you're ever lost in Beijing, I highly recommend you follow this bloke. He looked like he knew you select the bike and the store mechanic where he was going, which happily was the rough direction of my hotel.

I bought a cheap bike at the supermarket today . Getting to the supermarket involved a somewhat lengthy cab ride across Beijing - which cost a total of $3 Australian. Inside, as a good proportion of the city's 15 million shoppers play dogem trolleys tightens a few bolts while you go and find the cashier and go through the no language in common paying pantomime. You then collect the bike and wheel it through the supermarket crowds in search of an exit. Lots of fun.

As you can see from the photo below it's a pretty stunning machine. For $80 I'm pretty happy with it. One gear, 26 inch tyres, reasonably comfortable saddle. Hopefully it will last the duration of my stay.

Beijing has wide cycleways at the side of every road. Cyclists seem to be able to ride in either direction on either side of the road, which sounds chaotic but works ok as nobody goes too fast. Cars and buses sound their horn to give you warning they're approaching and give you time to get out of the way. Intersections are a little chaotic but I either walk or wait for someone who looks like a local - which is pretty much everyone at present.

Chinese bike aficionados will note my mighty steed is from the venerable Flying Pigeon stable. Foolishly I declined a basket, something I regretted almost as soon as I got out of the store. I'll tyr to pick one up in the next few days. It will be a handy place to put a camera.

Bicycles of Beijing

I'm in Beijing for the next five weeks for work. After arriving late last night, a few of the people in my group were able to do a nice stroll through part of town today for a look around. While there are a lot of cars, there are also bikes of every type everywhere. Cargo bikes are particularly popular and there was lots of electric assisted bikes which glide along silently and at a fair clip along the generous cycleways.

Beijing is very flat, so I'm looking forward to buying myself a bike in the next day or so to get around and see the sights in the next few days before it gets too busy.

Yet more sensible advice.

I'm pretty much learning everything I need to lean about cycling these days from the New York Times. It's going to put a lot of bloggers out of business if this keeps up. I did mention a while two specific stories a couple of posts ago, but the regular blog The Climb rates as one of the most hilarious things I've read for a long time. It's full of good advice, like this from the comments section:

Be sure to reattach your brakes after any repair or maintenance. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s found him(her)self hurtling down a hill looking for an escape route after this mistake.
— Posted by Robert Bott

Natural selection at work folks.

2,987km so far this year.

Radio Man

In the 1971 film Duel, a motorist is stalked by a truck driver on a remote and lonely road. The modern version plays out on Hobart roads some mornings. I call him Radio Man. I've never seen his face. I've never seen his bike. Yet one or two mornings a week we ride to work together.

This morning, he materialised behind me again, his presence betrayed by his squeaky unoiled chain making squeaky unoiled chain noises, and the staticky radio attached to his handlebars just audible enough to jolt me out of whatever musings are happily diverting me from the everyday. I could see from his shadow he was right on my wheel. Without ever having seen him, except one or twice out the corner of my eye, I'm guessing he's on a mountain bike or a hybrid. He must be reasonably strong because he sticks with me just fine up the hills.

I was battling both a killer headwind and a killer hangover this morning. Radio Man stuck on my wheel like a piece of chewy. He catches up but never passes, and he never says a word or rolls through for his turn in the wind. Speeding up might shake him for a minute, but he always catches back up when I slow down again. Eventually I lost him by sprinting through an orange light in Sandy Bay. It occurs to me Radio Man doesn't know how annoying he is.

Maybe I should tell him. Tomorrow for sure.

Happy photo from Flickr.

2,883km so far this year.

Don't believe everything you read. Except here.

Some great cycling-related articles in the New York Times lately, this one about long distance cycling is very interesting, this one about racing is instructive if you're into going faster. Still, as the correction below shows, if you're learning to ride a bike based on what you read in the paper, (rather than say, this blog) you're going to crash a lot more.

Correction: June 20, 2008
An article on Thursday about training advice from an Olympic cyclist misstated a technique for negotiating downhill curves. The rider’s inside pedal should be up, not down.

Yeah, I can see how that's going to make a bit of a difference.

2,822km so far this year.

Riding the ice bike.

Cold morning this morning in Hobart. I probably shouldn't have left the bike outside. There was a heavy frost in the clear conditions overnight, the whole hilltop where we live was cloaked in white and the bike was covered too. Pretty, but not much good.

Some people might take it as a sign, but the ice thawed and I had was a nice ride in. It was a bit crisp, but the sun was shining and I soon warmed up. The numbers of commuters have dropped right off as mid-winter approaches, it's just the diehards now. It's easy to overestimate how cold it gets on a Hobart winter's day. With the right clothes, it's a nice ride in even when it's two or three degrees like this morning.

I did a BikeTas ride on the weekend, a lovely 60km circuit from Cygnet around the Channel. A good turnout too, around a dozen riders. We tackled the monstrous hill up to Woodbridge Saddle and revelled in the water views and touching 70km/h on the way down the other side. After a coffee break near Woodbridge where some of the stragglers caught up, four of us formed a little peleton of chatty tourists for a gentle 40km back to Cygnet. What a great ride and lovely to meet a few more people who so obviously love their riding. Thanks to Tim for the organising.

2,756km so far this year.

Inside running.

This looks interesting: Hobart is getting an "indoor cycling performance centre". I've never heard of such a thing before. From the website, it sounds like something that is to cycling what treadmills are to running. I have a sneaking feeling that it's going to attract a fair cross section of the lycra brigade, people who I usually try to avoid. Road racers generally haven't cottoned onto the fact most other cyclists are laughing at how much they fancy themselves.

The whole concept of an indoor cycling performance centre has a certain novelty value, and virtual reality racing sounds a little interesting, I wonder how long it will last. Despite their reputation, Hobart winters are pretty mild and nothing beats a proper ride on a proper road. Even for soft buggers with no hair on their legs.

2,623km so far this year.

Top man backs bikes.

Tasmanian Premier David Bartlett has encouraged all Tasmanians to ride a bike. It's not a bad idea. Mr Bartlett - a keen mountain biker - has just bought himself a shiny new road bike, and was snapped sneaking out for a ride on his first day as premier last week. His carbon-fibre Trek is so new the reflectors are still on it. Mr Bartlett spruiked the benefits of cycling at his first press conference:

QUESTION: What sort of things should we be doing in Tasmania then to get people a bit healthier?

BARTLETT: Ah well, I was out riding my bike at lunch yesterday, and I encourage everybody else to do the same.

Hard to imagine our old Premier Paul Lennon advocating any exercise more strenuous than an afternoon at the races.

Anyway, Bicycle Victoria has Mr Bartlett in their sights. This e-mail went round to their Tasmanian members:

``As you know you have a new Premier and he is a bike rider! This is a great opportunity for bike riding in Tasmania. Unlike other States, the Tasmanian Government does not consistently invest in bicycle infrastructure such as bike lanes and bike paths so far. We think Bartlett's Premiership could change this policy.

``Please send him a short positive note of congratulations and let him know about the sort of bike riding you do and what would help you. Encourage him to commit State funds. Please keep it positive. You can see our letter on the web page where we have posted the link to his email.

"Please also send a couple of lines to the Council supporting the Plan. The link for that is on the page.''

It will be interesting to see whether having a keen cyclist in the top job makes any difference to the level of investment in cycling facilities.

Pathletes and the great race

I love these blokes. Egos on wheels. Lance Armstrong on a commuter bike. They always want to race. Most days I couldn't be bothered, but I'm working on my speed this week. I wasn't really concentrating on the rider ahead of me, who I was slowly catching up to. I was about 100m back when he caught sight of me and turned on the speed.

Now I'm a pretty friendly bloke so otherwise I would most likely have caught him up and had a chat and made a friend. But he sped up. I could have passed him but he would have picked it up again. Instead, and this is much more fun, I sat about ten metres off his back wheel, just close enough that he could see the beam of my light on the road ahead. He'd clearly misjudged me: I'm fatter than most fast blokes, but faster than most fat blokes.

The beauty of this commuter racing technique is it commits the pathlete to holding their inflated pace indefinitely. And this bloke was good. Through Sandy Bay we rocketed. He slackened a bit up the hill to Taroona, so I got a nice breather. He picked it up again as the gradient backed off and again on the flat and I stuck with him like shit on a blanket. We passed another rider who jumped into our little bunch.

Then, about a block before the side street I park my car in, then he blew up. Spectacularly. He started coasting, dropped down a bunch of gears and it was over. How sweet, how very sweet, to roll on by, say goodnight and turn left - showing him just how close he'd been.

As an added bonus, today was a PB for my short commute, 48min33sec for a ride I've never done under 52 minutes before and an average speed of 25.6km.h - fast for me.

2,446km so far this year.