Had a spin on the road bike this arvo. Only a couple of k's but enough to know that I'm pretty well ready for riding again.

Wrist is ok on the top bar and on the drops, I can even sprint in the drops, but the hoods (my most common riding position) puts a lot of weight through the heel of my hand. This is still uncomfortable, particularly as my wrist brace has a metal insert that runs into the palm of the hand. I have good strength for changing gears and braking. I have had a spin without the brace and it is more comfortable to grip the hood but I feel vulnerable to damage from vibration or a fall.

So I am good for a ride. Now to convince the powers that be. I'm back to my specialist on the 17th, hoping for a conditional ok then.

Grafton to Inverell 2013

Did not happen.

A massive weather event did, and a bike ride was the last thing that was going to occur in Northern NSW this weekend. Wisely the organisers of the event made use of weather watching technology and advice from relevant authorities and kept the registered riders up to date during the days prior to the event.

So when word came through on Friday morning that the ride was cancelled, it was no surprise. But it still gave me a strange feeling. I had planned and prepared, trained and shown uncharacteristic discipline in getting myself into physical shape capable of completing the ride. I felt ready in mind and body. 4 months of training, 18kg of weight loss. I could still be lighter, fitter, but I'd done what I'd set out to do, and now the culmination was taken from me. No doubt the other riders felt the same.

So.... as a riding friend put it, we made lemonade out of lemons. (Thanks Susie). Andrew Demack had done precise logistics planning for the event, with accommodation, transport and support all organised. Within 5 hours of the event being cancelled there was a new format, with loop rides from Noosa. 7 of the 8 GTI riders were still available, and the support vehicle would no longer be required. Which was a shame as the company of those good men would be missed.

We headed north from Brisbane to the hot and clear land of the eternal roundabout which is Noosaville. And food was eaten, bikes were ridden, more food was eaten and there was an abundance of craic.

Headding down for dinner, Noosaville

Andrew's Odyssey for the first day took us to Gympie and back via some little used country roads, some of which were dirt. We had more flats than Manhattan. This gave us plenty of opportunity to catch a breath (there were plenty of hills) and have a laugh. It took us most of the day to complete the 140km, and there were certainly some stiff bodies that made their way down to dinner on the river that evening. I found the ride very doable and was pleased to find myself mid-pack for most of the ride. My goal for GTI was to finish with the Southbank Bunch Group, and it seems I would have been capable of this.

Off we go, adventure calls

For Sunday's ride there was some threat of bad weather, but the 80km loop out to Belli Creek district (towards Kenilworth) remained fairly dry and the bunch enjoyed some great views from the numerous ridges that were ridden. A lazy morning tea was enjoyed at Eumundi and fish and chips on the Noosa River was a splendid way to finish up the time away.

Thanks to all the bunch for a really enjoyable weekend. Particularly to Andrew for his work in sorting accommodation and finances, planning rides, and then navigating them. Thanks also to the well-wishers who were cheering us on from the electronic sidelines.

Tonight as I try to reflect on what has happened, I have a mixture of feelings. I most strongly feel blessed to be part of the community that is the Soutbank Bunch. I feel content that we made the absolute best of unfortunate weather timing. And I feel uncertain of how I can keep my personal development of fitness and health going in the right direction. It seems I will soon have a lengthy period off the bike following surgery to my right wrist. In recent times I have seen some colleagues deal with this in noble fashion and I take inspiration from them.

When does registration for 2014 GTI open?

 

GTI Preparation

Why I am hopeful that I can finish the GTI with the SBB in 2013

I don't really care abut statistics but...

I have done marginally more km's but a fair few more hills. I am still a slug on hills but have found that I am finishing the longer rides quite strongly. The SSB team have also trained well and started from a higher fitness base than me, so it is still a pretty big task to stay with them. But I feel like I have really done all I could training wise this time, so I will have to just give it my best shot.

Statistical Comparison of GTI Preparation, 2009 vs 2013 (data for 15 weeks prior to event)
	2009	2013
Age	47	51
Mass	94	90
Km's in 15 weeks prior	2658	3245
Hill Rides
Mt Gravatt loops	3	7
Kenmore Hills Ride	0	7
Nebo	1	0
Cootha	1	1
Maleny	1	0
Tamborine	1	3
Mt Mee	1	1
O'Reilly's	0	2
Thighburner	1	1
Total Hill Rides	9	22
best avg for 3 laps Mt G	10:28	9:21

12 Month Review

On this blog a year ago I wrote:  Plenty of people have been writing about the uselessness of resolutions. Here is why I probably need to find some lifestyle change in 2012. (a graph was  included at this point, same as below but not including 2012 data). If I can keep the km going up, the mass will come down.

As can be seen from the new chart there has been a modest increase in the number of k’s, but a significant move in mass.

To drop 10kg in a year means that I must have found some lifestyle change. And I did. But I don’t think this chart tells the real story. I’ll zoom in on the last year, on a monthly basis. It looks like this:

 

I think this more accurately shows what has happened. Since the end of July I have not consumed alcohol. I was tired of feeling overweight and underpowered, and knew that I had to change something to make a difference. (Teachers say that the definition of insanity is to keep doing the same thing and expect a different answer). Everyone is different and there are different triggers to starting renewal in life, but for me, at this time, this is what worked.

 

For fitness and weight loss there is an obvious reciprocal benefit, weight loss = feeling like and being able to exercise more. For a time there is a compounding effect and it is a fun wave to ride. Motivation is high as benefits are tangible. People notice the change and I feel like I have more self-respect. Part of the compounding effect is that achieving small goals gives motivation to set larger ones. As cycling is my exercise of choice (more to do with who I do it with than what it is) I decided to put my name down for the Grafton to Inverell Cycle Sportif this coming February. It is a long hard ride. I did it once before and although I had trained for it, I found it a real killer and I could not keep up with my group. My goal is to complete the ride with the bunch in 2013. As the monthly graph above shows, I am clocking up some k’s looking for fitness and strength. At 93kg I am still a slow climber. I’m not sure if this is just physics, a mental problem, or that I need to wait longer for the benefits of my increased efforts to kick in (yes, it is probably all three).

The Grafton to Inverell ride is in late February, about 6 weeks away. Some time ago I set the goal of riding it at 85kg. Still heavy for a person my height but realistic in terms of what I believe I am capable of. I do not want to do the ride at 90kg+.

There will be readers of this who know how I can achieve this goal. There are obvious changes to the balance of products that I eat that would help, but this must be embedded in the ecosystem of our household and my ingrained attitude towards eating. For now, what I am doing is working and for the next 6 weeks I will be maintaining current habits.

I don’t believe in resolutions but occasionally we need a revolution. I seem to be having one now. It is difficult to conjure and sometimes it requires the perfect storm of events in our life to set us on the path. This may sound fatalistic but it’s not meant to.  Specific outcomes are achieved only by having a realistic goal, having a strategy to get there, and finding the determination to implement that strategy. Support of my wife and friends has been vital to me in this. So thanks!

I’m not there, I don’t know if I’ll ever get there, but I’m enjoying this ride. Life is about the journey, isn’t it?

Healthy Pizza?

Tonight I was on duty for cooking, and pizza was on the menu. I have been trying to watch my food intake in order to lose some weight, so I wondered if I could significantly reduce the joules of a homemade pizza and still have it taste good and fill me up.

I figured that the easy way to reduce the energy would be to have a very thin base and cut down on the cheese. To keep up the flavour I included some reduced fat hot salami. See the table below for its energy effect. To make it filling I used more mushroom, capsicum and onion than might normally be seen on an Italian style pizza.

Ingredients and kilojoules   Mass (grams) kJ Base 150 1120 Sauce 25 65 Mushroom 40 40 Capsicum 63 63 Ham 24 200 Mozzarella 50 650 Hot Salami 20 200 Red Onion 20 80 Total 392 2418

I made the base with flour, water, yeast, a tad of salt and sugar, milk and a little olive oil. I made enough for 3 pizzas, 150 grams for mine, and 2 lots of 300 grams for the family pizzas. With some research I totalled up 1120kJ for my 150 gram base.

I was able to roll the base out enough to almost cover my standard sized dish. Leggo’s pizza sauce was used. As can be seen from the table, of the toppings the ham and the salami were the next highest energy source after the cheese. I guess what I take from this is that a lot of vegetables can be used without significantly increasing the energy but I need to go easy with the meats. I think that 50gms of Mozzarella cheese is about as low as you can go and still call it a pizza. I was surprised that the Mozzarella had a lower energy count than the “light” tasty cheese that I was considering as an alternative.

I did not use olive oil or seasoning, figuring that there would be enough of these flavours provided by the processed meat. On removing the pizza from the oven I found it to be still reasonably “moist”, the moistness being provided by the vegetables rather than oily products that I more typically use as toppings. (Extra cheese, pepperoni, olive oil.) I found the eating to be very satisfying. There was plenty of flavour; it was reasonably filling and contained less than 600 calories. It did an excellent job as my main meal for the day.

 

 

A day spent mucking around with bikes

isn't always wasted.

I've had this idea for a while. The older mountain bike doesn't get much use, and I've wanted to turn it into some kind of any day any ride bike, if that makes sense...

I want to ride it to the shops or on an adventure like this. Or round the river, or up a very big hill.




The old Norco at 10am.

I think the suspension forks are a waste of time and energy for road riding, so changing them out to rigid forks was the main focus. The bike will be needed next week to tow Stuart around at Caloundra (I'm not sure why his tag along even has a chain, I've never seen him pedal!) so I needed to attach a bracket to the seat post. And the bike needs a new seat, it seems to have picked up the oldest and most uncomfortable seat that circulates the Lanham bike shed.




The aluminium frame is built like a brick out-house.

I have a pair of 26x1.25 road tyres that should make the bike roll along quite well.

So. The forks. A quick online search and ringing a few bike shops left me thinking this could get expensive, and so I gave Bicycle Revolution a call. "Ya, youse should comes on in, I tink you find sumptink out-der-bach" I went in, to be told by another cheery fellow that they didn't have what I wanted, but I could look around anyway. And as luck would have it I found one set of forks that was suitable. So I bought them, and the frame they were attached to, and the stem which looked a better length and angle than my original, all for $50. Sweet.




Frankenstein in the making.

The forks were off a cruiser style bike, with a very long head tube. I cut the forks down to size and fiddled around for ages getting the headset right. I wacked on a new seat and reassembled the rest of the bike.

I had a few ideas about inverting the (almost flat) handlebars to give me a more racer style seating position, but this didn't really work. I also intended to cut the handle bars down a bit, but decided not to do this yet. Once cut cannot be uncut. I was aware that the suspension forks made the frame higher than  the rigid forks and as the rebuild continued I started to worry that the pedals might be getting too close to the ground for cornering.

A quick lap of the block, no suspension to be seen.

A test ride proved that this wasn't really an issue, and if I am really worried about it in the future I guess I can look into shorter cranks. The bike is quiet and smooth to ride. At 19" the frame is large for a MTB, but feels very compact on the road. I found it very controllable.



The finished (for now) product. Anybody want to paint my bike?

So after clocking up a few klicks on it tonight it gets a run around the river for a W50 tomorrow! Should be an adventure.

Footnote: The bike survived the river ride, it seemed a little down on power and developed an annoying ticlunk about 3/4 way through the ride, so a bit of fine tuning is required. But it does have a very comfortable set up.

New shoes?

I fell off my mountain bike a few times on the weekend. Each time it was a combination of clumsiness, exhaustion, and not being able to get my foot out of my cleat. The first two excuses cannot be fixed with money, so I immediately had an excuse to get some new shoes.

I found another set of shoes when I got home so I tried them out, they were also quite difficult to clip in and out of the pedals. So I adjusted the spring tension on the pedals. Fixed. What causes pedals that haven't been adjusted in 5 years to become tighter?

No new shoes for Brucie. A good wash of the old pair has revealed no serious wear and tear, their only crime appears to be a lack of style. A good match for their wearer. I bought these shoes from Riders in about 2004, and I used them for road riding for a few years before they were lent out to a nephew who was doing a bit of riding. Eventually they returned to the fold and they became my MTB footwear.

More riding could fix exhaustion, the clipping out problem is solved. Is there a cure for gumbiness?