Introductions - Hello from Australia

G'Day Mates,

I'm a 43 year old male and live in a smallish town in Australia that lies on Australia's longest river(The Murray). The town is quite close to Baden Cooks hometown and is surrounded by forests where I currently ride with my two sons who are 8 and 9 on our mountain bikes. The forests are very picturesque but full of bindi thorns that rip our tubes to pieces.
I'm becoming very adept at changing wheels and fixing punctures.
I think I'd give the Tour de France mechanics a run for their money. All I can say is thank god for "Slime".

We quite often go for a quick swim in the Murray during our rides that normally go for around 10 kms.

My two sons are getting to the point where thay can now outride me on their little 20 inch MTBs.

This has got me thinking its about time I got out my road bike (Pinarello Gavia) and start doing some serious distances to regain the balance of power between the kids and myself.

The only problem is its been about 4 years since I rode this bike in anger and I'm concerned about the pain . I end up getting really sore hands after only 5 km's which I think is a result of the 30 kgs in weight I've gained over these 4 years. If I could overcome this problem I'll be back into it. Has anyone got any tips to overcome this problem.

I look foward to being a part of this forum and making many "cyber" friends that can inspire me to "tame" the Pinarello.

Welcome. As to the sore hands, raise the bars to put more weight on your bum, and use double tape and good gloves.

welcome! that little jump in the river during your ride sounds lovely! I'd do the same here (in North Carolina, USA), but I think folks wouldn't like me running through their back yards...not much public access to our river on my ride. Cheers! Liz

Given what the South Australians have been saying about Murray usage, I'm surprised there is any water in it at all.
Welcome to the forums

Its always good to welcome another Aussie to the forums :) Enjoy!

G'Day Aggressor,

I love Tassie , Have you been riding around the Lake St Claire region. I'v been on a few trips around Tassie (by car). Its a sensational part of the world. Devanports not bad either.

PS I like your Devil

Lake St Clair, not as yet. I'm planning on doing that very soon actually. When were you last down this way?

I like the devil too ;)

I was inspecting a map of Tassie last night but before that I was there about a year after the Port Aurthur massacre. I can't remember the exact year.

It was a very sad and eirie feeling walking around the ruins.

I was in Port Arthur on that very day, luckily inside a friends house.. very scary stuff.