Thursday 16 July 2015

It's blog time...

Homies

Finished the TdF ( Strava) Challenge yesterday. Strava is a bit like Facebook for cyclists. Tested the patience of a couple of my little riding buddies during the last week or so - sitting on their wheels - Drew, Dale and Handsome Gaz.
Told the missy but we had to get to brunch so not a huge amount of positive feedback unfortunately. She's pretty good at hiding her admiration the lovely Joanna. I think she thinks Strava is all a bit frivolous. Between Harry and Minecraft and me and Strava I suspect she's been hopeful of some more enlightening conversation at number 74.

She didn't miss the news of the week tho.. Mick Fanning... are you right????
Goodness Gracious.



I've been worried about sharks as long as I can remember. We did the Rottnest swim as a relay six years ago or so and we saw a shark 50m away from the swimmer before me. It wasnt huge and was looking to get away from the boat traffic but I was next swimmer in and despite it looking like it was long gone I literally couldn't control my heart rate.

There will be a new post up over the next few days with news of the fund raising results to date. I'm up in Singapore from Friday to Monday. Several of the riders are based there so will see how there preparations are going. All looking like they are training pretty well and on track.



I mentioned in my last post it's been pretty cool here in the mornings with a couple of the boys turning up with more facial hair than in previous winters. One of the hipsters has passed on this life rule ..
If your Dad hasn't got a beard you've got two Mums.

Talk later in the week

Saturday 11 July 2015

What'd I tell you...

As you all know a post wouldn't be a post from me without my referencing some song. Music is funny isn't it, I read today that in 2010 Sotheby's sold John Lennons handwritten and original lyric sheet for A Day in the Life for $1.2m. It's that song that goes .. I heard the news today oh boy...Surely that couldn't be solely an investment based purchase? That song must have meant something to the buyer when you consider that you could just look the lyrics up online if you weren't certain of the exact words.

Been riding a little bit recently to get ready for Cambodia. It was 1 degree when our group was out on Thursday morning , brrrrr...it's warmer in your fridge.

Given whatever I did in preparation for the ride for the last couple of years simply didn't work when I got over there in the very humid conditions I'm just carrying on with my normal riding this year other than doing a Strava Challenge to up the k's a bit. It's 50% of the Tour de France distance over 23 days and I'm about one third through it. Presumably it's designed to give you an insight into and involve you a little more in the Tour "experience". The irony being that coz u have to do a fair few k's each day you can't physically stay up long enough to watch any live coverage and actually wind up missing most of it.

My brother in law (Iain) is doing the ride this year for the first time. Anyone who has followed my blog from the beginning may remember him from the Wentworth golf pics ( and didn't he look a million bucks) . 

He's taken to riding like a duck to water. Only started riding in late March and is already posting numbers that 2 and 3 year riders would be pretty smug about. It'll be fabulous to have him along and not just that ...he'll add plenty to the "iaintertainment " .. see what I did there...

I've been sharing some of my cycling wisdom with him including  a couple of hard earned cycling credo's to live by including ..."when the market is brisk, the seller does not stop to wash the mud from his turnips"...I suspect he's been finding that calibre of advice very useful with the trip only weeks away. He hasn't said that directly but...

Here's a sentiment that I'll leave you with that also just makes sense. Back in a few days..








Thursday 2 July 2015

Nine and a half weeks.

Not just a movie with Mickey Rourke in it but Monday September 7 2015 (which is nine and a half weeks away) is also the launch date for the 2015 version of the Ride for Nokor Tep in Cambodia.!!
What's up.
It can only be described as high octane despite the fact that nothing whatsoever is occurring.
That's all about to change!!!


I'm sending an email out today to everyone in my contact list today to get the ball rolling.
Boom boom boom , shake the room...


You've got that James Dean, daydream, look in your eye (or eyes?)
And i've got that red lip, classic, thing that you like
Taylor Swift


Now then , down to business...
I had previously thought that one of the great things about having an unstructured blog (unstructured inasfar as subject matter and timetable /regularity is concerned) was precisely that - it's not like a magazine or a newspaper where your editor texts you at 4.55pm. I tell you that as I got some feedback yesterday that some of people reading this shit want a bit of reassurance there will be daily updates for at least the days the ride is on so there's at least five (5) posts i've committed to - Monday 7th til Friday 11th September 2015.


In conjunction with the blog I'm also offering up an advice section this year so if you ride bikes or have been to Cambodia or ride bikes and have been to Cambodia or you are or have been or have thought about becoming a vegetarian feel free to email me with whatever your situation is that needs solving and i'll publicly put forward some helpful hints.  Obviously if they are work related problems you may need to get some input from HR as some "solutions" may qualify as high risk.


As big Grizzy (who most of you know) says, he's a modern man with traditional values so it'll come as no surprise when i say I might drag the big man in (on a consulting basis) if the problem proves  particularly vexing..


Ok, as has been the case in previous years, now that we are live... it's action time.


There have been over 5,000 page views on this blog so  whilst that's obviously not Kardashian level  numbers (and more on them later) there's clearly more than a few people out there with low entertainment thresholds.


Comment on the blog itself or email me on johnquinn@yourclaim.com.au to say hello - the ride has been physically quite demanding in previous years -  the more people who make contact and give me some shit to work with the easier it is to prioritize and spend some time on the blog.


Back soon.