So, Hitchoheyoh, you must do all those gazillions miles before work at 4am, right?

How the flip do ya do that?

I'm going out Beach Road Bullying, :D who's gunna be out there?

Well, at least you'd be swimming hard... or flapping your wings to pass another jetstar flight :D

So, Hitchoheyoh, you must do all those gazillions miles before work at 4am, right?

How the flip do ya do that?


G'day 531,

before work, after work...sometimes when i'm s'posed to be at work, weekends etc. The 'miles' have cut down abit on the program now, (down from 600+ pw)as 'warnie' gets closer the 'intensity' of the miles has gone up....but the actual miles has gone down.....in 2 weeks i get into 'peak'....then I do bugger all, (300km) till 'warnie'...I'll be glad when it's all over...have no social life, sex life or any other sort of life at the moment...but i've come this far...Oct 9 will be the result of a 6 mth program, so i can't pull out with only a month to go.....Big Ed will know what I'm talking about

cheers,

Hitchy

G'day

Yeah im an aussie, i live in adelaide. But i ain't no roadie, im a MTBer through and through. Ive also got an Aussie MTB website: http://mtbworld.mybesthost.com

Hmmm, what's an "Adelaide"? :D Just kiddin'. Feel free to hang plenty of sh1t on us :)

Pretty funny, hey?.......yeah, I'm only improvising, wait 'til you here my written stuff.

too right mate....plenty of km's put away in the bank, big withdrawal planned on Oct 9.


Hell Ride weather for tomorrow? Local hail, snow on the surrounding hills???
Squint and it will look just like Het Volk.......:D

Hitchy, you're married with 2 kids aren't you? If so, what makes you think this will change after Warnie?

LOL....well the no sex life doesn't change...but at least after 'warnie' I'll be able to look at the pictures of the kids in my wallet & say more than "I remember them"....LOL....seriously though, the training & that has put a strain on the whole family...I'm not sure that I would do it again, (although having gained this level of 'fitness' I won't need such a long base miles again)...but ya gotta do things once...After Oct 9 I get to cross another thing off the "Things I wanna do in my life", list...then i'm gunna get drunk!...do 'round the bay the following weekend & then step off the bike totally for a couple of weeks.....

cheers,

hitchy

What??? You'll have white-hot, post-Warnie form!!! That's time to inflict it on the poor souls at Glenvale Rd....

G'day Ed,

No 'hell ride' tomorrow...doing the 'tour of midlands'...170km out & back from ballan, up thru trentham & dalesford etc...should be just 'peachy' weather for that too!.....who ever thinks up these races...talk about your het volk's!...you ever do this one Ed?...it's a killer, out & back across the great divide!...at the 140 km mark theres a 5km climb at 7.5%....just what exhausted fat blokes like me need!,

cheers,

Hitchy

Yep. Done it. One year it hailed and blew so much, a bloke got pushed sideways across the road into someone else and they both hit the deck.

It'll be about 6 degrees in Daylesford tomorrow......you'll need to crack open the jar of "Belgian Pete's X-Tra Hot Leg Goop-now with 100% real fur seal blubber."

booties-check
super roubaix knee warmers-check
thermal u/shirt-check
super-roubiax arms-check
Assos winter gloves-check
gilet-check


you're in for a tough day mate....

...what!!... knee warmers???....but i was planning to work on my tan tomorrow!....someone convince me hypothermia is good for me!

hitchy

I have to ask...WHY? Why would you put yourself through this hell? Are we seeing an insight into Hitchy's mind! :)

Try descending Falls Ck with bread-bags as makeshift gloves coz the weather turned on the way up and there was no way I was turing around before the top.

I was so cold, the thought of going over the edge didn't bother me at all.....those ferns and bushes looked really warm.

g'day wattsy,

we 'do' bright & surrounds every cup weekend & Aust. day weekend, (ya up for the 'Alpine classic'?), as well as the 'Tour of Bright' in december. One year, stage 1, it was 38 deg, stage 3 the following day is the 'Buffalo ascent'...it started snowing halfway up....5km from the top you couldn't see the road anymore....they nuetralised the stage...which was a bloody great help then, cos we had to find our own way back down the mountain in the snow....fun... not!...i think you should come do the 'Alpine classic' with us...family weekend away......suffer city on the Sunday...200km with 4000m of climbing & it's ALWAYS 35deg +....but the beer tastes good after!!!...last year for the last 5km up buffalo i was hallucinating that I could see the condensation running down the outside of a frosty 'crownie'!....a hard earned thirst!

cheers,

hitchy

Buffalo is a tough climb...training camp there one year I had crook guts (a la T-Mobile at the Vuelta....lol)
and had to scurry over the edge into the shrubs for an emergency "evacuation". Lucky there was some "arse-grass" near to hand.....made it back out onto the road before the girls came past, too!

I think Tour of Bright in '95 the stage to Hotham was cancelled coz of snow....replaced by the Porepunkah kermis. Ed = very happy about that.

Alpine Classic? never done it in an official capacity, but ridden the route often enough. Long day.

So, Hitchy, just to get a little reality in to the urban myth about Ray Appleby... your post last week about him unnerved me a bit because I knew the last time I saw him...

I caught up with Ray today in his shop, shoe-buying and asking about track hubs for my fixte. Stunningly marvellous what they can do with artificial appendages these days. The skin was nicely textured and tanned to match the real stuff on the thigh, and it even had a huge scar running down the shin...

Oh wait... that was his real leg... like the one next to it.

Actually, Ray does still have both the legs he was born with, but the left one is a little bit knackered... to the point where he does wear a brace that looks like it might be carbon fibre. He limps a bit, but he's gritty as all hell. He did the Mt Wellington Challenge back in March, a 19km time trial from Longley to the pinnacle. He struggled a little bit, but finished, then crashed coming down while trying to pass a car !!!

Ray has had a couple of big accidents that have affect the leg. The first one diced it up pretty well,. but it didn't really stop him from competing at a high level in vets. Then more recently (about a year ago, I think) a driver ran him off the road, knackering the leg almost entirely.

He still gets out a fair bit. He left the shop this morning on a great looking Vetta.

G'day,

obviously Ray & ronnie were having a lend of me then!.....in hindsight, i probably shoulda picked up on that given the circumstances of the conversation!, (post race, many beers drunk!)...old bastards!...lol...yeah that 'cast' thing added weight to the story.....certainly had me sucked in!....we had a long conversation about the 'weight' merits of CF legs...lol...wait till I see Ronnie again!,

cheers,

Hitchy

Correct!! 10th of Sep is start of suntan weather :)

G'day,

bloody muso's...what have you been smokin'?...you seen the forecast for tomorrow?...rain, hail snow down to 800 mts....& they are the good points!.....12deg metro...means about.....(dunno to scared to consider it!) at ballarat tomorrow. I swear, if the temp at the start line is less than 5 deg.....i'll be watching 'em go from inside the Soobie....cos our much loved muso will crawl outta bed about 1pm......

cheers,

Hitchy

Nothing to do with temperature, and if you're at higher altitude you'll get an even BETTER tan. So, every time the sun pops out, you should quickly whip off the arm and leg warmers, and make sure your booties aren't too high. :)

You gunna wear your SBR gear?

......is that before or after I get Wattsy's doona & balaclava off?

Seriously, you've got a sponsor, haven't ya?

Yep...Hitchy...proudly sponsored by the "adventure travel Company"...03 96968400....call 'em about tours to the TDF etc.....tell 'em Hitchy sent ya (& they'll probably charge ya another 10%)

unfortunately, they won't get much 'bang for their buck' tomorrow...I'll have about 5 layers over the jersey!