Jock, do you know of any group rides on the coast?

Climbo, do they need volunteers for saturdays club champs?

Went for a quick ride on Saturday in an attempt to keep the jetlag at bay...

Roundabout cycles junction...generally a bit dodgy making a right turn but a car decided to pull the full 360 so i snuck on the back thinking no-one is about to cut up the car... wrong... ended up leaning on the side of a car while the young girl refused to ackowlege me banging on her window as she was using her mobile phone..!!!

Coming back up the hill from Terrigal McDs to Erina I've got my head down putting in a bit of an effort.. (i know i wasnt far out in the road cause I was focussing on riding right on the inside white line) when a wing mirror misses me by about <1mm. Lucky me the car gets stopped at the lights... needless to say, the girl driving nearly S%&^t her pants when i pulled up along side and asked what the F&*K she was doing...

god it's good to be home

Yeah, but did you get 2 black eyes from puking so hard you burst blood vessels? Or maybe that's only from bad prawns in Chinese food. Welcome back.

I had a dopey fem come with me through a single lane round-a-bout today. $#!+ herself when when I yelled "HAAAAAY" v/loudly through her open passenger window.

Hope it bloody stops, I'm going there in a few weeks (brag brag)

I'm thinking seriously of up-dating my old TT/commuter. I don't do many TT's but I'd like to have a sub 9kg bike for the ones I do. It will be used for my daily 10k commute so I don't need anything too exotic but I'm thinking of maybe a nice older frame and doing a build, either that or go the hog and buy a Cevelo P2K.
Anyone care to comment on a suitable frame/build?

i'm sure they wouldn't say no. Wal or Damon would be glad to have you there.

... just make sure you turn up on SUNDAY as well, coz that's when it's on.

As for group rides on the coast... well, ummm, not really. Ppl like me who commute to work don't have time to wait for you lazy plicks to wake up in the morning. And everyone else is full of apathy.

Here's what I know (it ain't much):

The coffee run

A bunch of geriatric triathletes leave St Huberts Is roundabout at 7:00am Sun and do a loop of the bay, stopping for a very leisurely coffee ar terrigal halfway around.

There are a few bunches of roadies and/or triathletes who run up and down Wilfred Barrett Drive for a boring time.

I've asked at various bike shops and none of them seems to give a toss.

Might be better to ask that Q on topica

the other thing is, the Club races every weekend so not many people have the time to have training rides when there is so much racing on.

The thing I thought about doing was maybe joining the coffee run for the first 20kms to Woy Woy or so, then branching off for a faster training ride back over through Empire Bay to Avoca and over to Terrigal and back or something like that. Make that ride 2 rides so that those who want to go faster can do so after a warm-up with the whole bunch.

Sounds like a cool idea. There's another coffee run from the north side that meets up with the normal coffee run at Terrigal occaisionally. If we take your route we could hook up with them at (say) Bateau Bay and spin back to Terrigal.

I'd be up for something like that, the coffee run is too slow and too short.

does the coffee run go on saturdays during summer, since racing switches to sunday morning ?

Your not wrong there. Nice if a recovery ride is on your program but useless otherwise. I used to use it for a chat, but I've noticed the same guys stick together to gab amongst themselves week after week. I'm not the greatest conversationalist out there, so if I end up next to a snot-nosed junior it's a pretty quiet (and boring) ride!

Coffee run does go to Saturdays during crit season, and at some point it will start 1/2 hour earlier (when daylight savings starts?) which is good too.

CADEL 1:39 down on Jan in the ITT last night. Sitting 5th on GC

Yep sign me up for that too.
Jock I'm about to start commuting 1 day a week to North Ryde or Rhodes... might need to catch up with you for hints/tips???

Commuting by bike, train, car, combo?

chopper.

Thought I'd try the offshore racing powerboat, quick transfer to chopper & abseil into the office?

Failing that, I thought I'd give up the car 1 day a week and cycle there train home

Just scored a bit of a new project and can WFH 3 days a week

OK then...

First up you'll need to invest in an alarm clock and some decent lights. It'll take you about 3 hrs to get there. Sun doesn't give you enuf light down the bottom of Mooney Creek until after 6am ATM. By end of September you'll be able to discard the lights if you start out at 5:00am.

You have three climbs of ~4km: Kariong (with heavy traffic), Mooney, and Pie in the Sky. Kariong is tough because you're never warmed up enough + shrapnel fills the bike lane. Mooney is gentle but slow pavement. And Pie in the Sky is a tempo climb with no real change in gradient.

After the top of Kariong you generally don't see a car until Cowan/Berowra: very peaceful.

Now you have two options: it's 7:00am and Bobbin Head is calling you. Do you go to her and add another 4km climb? Or do you ride like a maniac down the Pacific Hwy with the cranky cagers? Either way its a lot of fun.

Dunno what Mona Vale Rd to Ryde/Rhodes is like but I'm not keen to try and tame it. So that part of the journey is up to you. You could go down to Chatswood on the Pacific Hwy then climb up through Lane Cove National Park (Another 3km climb! )

Anyway, sound like you'll have heaps of fun. Enjoy

OK,
Lights - Check
Alarm clock - Check

So you leave around 5, get in for 8. The back roads through turramurra look good but some serious hills/undulations after the trek to get there.

Whats the story for the trip home? Do you need a train ticket for the bike? I'm guessing you end up cycling back to the station and sleeping in the train doorways cuddling your bike dressed in fluro lycra getting strange looks from the coasties?

If i buy a ticket, does my bike get a seat?

Sorry jock, no rule book, but i did by Graeme Obrees biography back home, well, worth a read!
Got some other cyclin books if you're interested...

Yes, you'll have tired little pegs by the time you get to werk.

Here's the crapola from cityrail on how you can be a good citizen AND travel by train with a bike:

"Travelling with bikes and other wheels
Bicycles are permitted on trains free of charge on the weekend and in off-peak periods. However, if part or all of your journey is made between 6am - 9am or between 3.30pm to 7.30pm on weekdays you must purchase a child ticket for the bicycle as well as a ticket for yourself.

Customers with bicycles are asked not to block doorways or gangways when travelling on trains, particularly Intercity services. Thank you.

This applies to both standard and folding bicyles as well as those that have had wheels or other parts removed.

Riding bicycles, skateboards, scooters or roller blades on CityRail stations and trains is prohibited.

Manual wheelchairs and battery powered wheelchairs and scooters used by passengers with a disability are permitted on stations and trains. See Accessing CityRail for more information.

Bicycles are permitted to travel on Sydney Ferries if there is room in the bicycle racks - first in, first carried."

The coasties that give you wierd looks are no problem, its the armchair champions that rabbit on and on about past experiences riding their dragsters that give me the pip.

Forget the bike: you'll be lucky to get a seat. Oh yeah, and those hook things that they put up to carry bikes can chew your wheels rim out real fast if the heatshrink cover is worn or missing. Stick you glove or folded sheet of newspaper in there to avert disaster.

Dun worry about the rulebook. I downloaded it this morning. Threw mine out a week ago in a cleaning frenzy. Duh!

Climbo, did ya check the Falcon out?

yep, the serial number on mine was something totally different, #23487 or something far off from that other one. Looks exactly like that one you linked though, just in red.

Does the ride feel like wearing trousers or a dress?

I think I might give up my occassional trolling - people might take me seriously