Hi all.

I live in Portland, Victoria, Australia down the bottom and a bit to the left of Melbourne (4 hours drive by car.) Bikes are Lightning P-38, MR Swiftet trike and a Birdy folder.

Portland has a large deepwater port and an ALCOA aluminium smelter and recently a wind farm blade factory.

Population is around 10,000 and as far as I know, I'm the only 'bent owner.

There's a strong contingent of bike riders. The main social ride starts at 9 am at the intersection of Parkers and Bridgewater roads every Sunday (unless it's gale force winds and raining) and a typical ride would be around 40 kms at an average of 22 to 27 kph. The faster riders stop at certain points for the slower ones to catch up...unless an impromptu race develops.... A stronger bunch of DFs leave at 8 am. We all meet back at "Port of Call" for brunch between 10:30 and 11.

The road surfaces are fairly rough but traffic is very light. Australian weather is kind to bike riders - even down here on the coast. We never get snow and rarely have temperatures above 35C or below 8 C.

I'm loving the Tour coverage. Great scenery and I wish Lance good fortune. Vinekurov and Rasmussen may test him though.

I LOVE my P-38 and I try to better my best runs but my philosophy is that it doesn't matter how fast you ride, or what you ride as long as you get out on your bike at least a couple of times a week. We reckon 3 times a week to hold fitness and 4 times a week to improve fitness. I started riding to recover from bi-lateral pneumonia and pleurisy.

Paul W