Tuesday 3 December. Taupo ( and Akas) rides.

Welcome back.

Got in to Wgtn a little after 1.00am Friday 29th. My brother Mike was there to pick me up , bless him. Home to Raumati Beach , cup of tea , condense 5 or 6 hours of bullshit into 90 minutes , asleep by 2.45, up at 8.00am , time to push the go button.

Big hello to Mickey boys family, bike assembled, some tasks to attend to, on the road to Taupo. 

Taupos very scenic. People come from all over the world to fish for trout in the lake.

The lake we ride around - view from my uncles house .

 The day of the ride Saturday the 30th, was a little windy. 

I struggled early, losing my group. Losing your group means losing a lot of time if you can't get yourself into following bunches.  I wound up doing 80k or more by myself and going half an hour to forty mins slower than I had hoped . I handled the main hills ok but struggled with the sheer number of inclines and the wind, which along with the road vibration also all combined to spell trouble for my lower back.I stopped counting at 16 anti inflamms and Ibuprofens.

Brend, my brother Mike, Todd, Mikey P and Abdi all did 4.26 or thereabouts which was a fabulous time.The winner did 3.46.

Abdis missus Verity did 5.25 on six weeks training which was pretty spectacular.

As is often the case following events like this the aftermatch was lots of fun as everyone is in pretty good spirits.

Back to Wgtn via my uncles for breakfast on Sunday. Mum and my nz based sister there also so very pleasant morning.

Golf On the Monday with a couple of Mikes mates - $10 the front nine, $10 the back nine and $10 the match. There is no more fun than 18 holes of good natured niggle if you have an appetite for a little niggle.

The match went to the 18th which equates to the setting on the banterometer up at maximum. 

Bit of controversy on the 17th only heightened the fun. A couple at the Waterfront Bar on the way home with the sun setting over the ocean. Dreadful day.

Up at 7 this morning and on our bikes up the Akatarawas (the Akas). It's a hill range Mickey and the boys train on. It's just on a 7k climb in all.Hard work but huge fun.

We did 25.50 for the timed 6.1 k section from where they start their clocks  - they've done 19 minutes! They're not easy blokes to warm to!

All the nz boys have had a fantastic seasons and improved drastically on the bike - as has Brend. 

Having had a couple of bottles of pop the night before we needed a wholesome breakfast so stopped for a pie and hwfw on the way home .

Here's a couple of pictures from the top of the Akas.

I'm standing 30 m from the road to get this snap with the water in the background and couldn't persuade anyone else to join me in the picture .

They stayed exactly where they were. Mickey, Abdi and Dave.

Mickey boy and yours truly.

That's it from the current series. 

I have a fairly ambitious project I'm contemplating for the first quarter of 2014.  It's a change in direction. If it proceeds the plan at this stage is to post once a week for the 13 week period 1 Jan to 31 March.

I'll outline the plan last week in December.

Happy Xmas 

26 and 27 Movember.

Some short hill intervals within our 45 k ride on Tuesday and more (longer) intervals today.

We saw some dolphins in the river very close to the shore yesterday which would have made for a nice photo (and a bit of a break from pictures of my Garmin ) but by the time I grabbed my iPhone - 

 they had ducked under again. 

Took my Tarmac in to get serviced yesterday at the shop where Brend gets his done. These guys are seriously knowledgeable and just seem to genuinely love bikes. 

If it's possible for a bike to glow with good health that's what it's doing . I'm not sure if it's more in danger of being stolen or shagged.

Big days work today, then late today disassemble and pack the bike - then out the door v early tomorrow. 

Joey is so distraught that I'm heading off for a few days that she's off to Rockpool today for lunch, a trailer load of pop and a knees up. Good times. Doesn't even need to wait til I'm gone to miss me. Touching.

Right, back to the coal face...

Sunday 24 Nov. 100klms

On the road a little before 5.30 this morning. Little mosquito Brend and I did the first few k with Dave@58 who was out for a 110k ride followed by a 5 k run of the bike. Only a couple of weeks til his first ironman in busselton and he's looking the business. 

I'm going to shoot down there and heckle/support him.

Put the poor hydration choice from Friday night behind me and Brend and I did 2 sets of 10 minutes of 15 seconds on and off within our 40k ride. Out and back - averaged 34kph out and 37 kph back - for a blended 35.5

After the 40 k  and with his weekends riding almost done (after nearly 5 hours up in the hills yesterday ) Brend dropped me back at the bike shop in South Perth @ 7.00am and I went with the Sunday 7.00 am group from there. 

There were only 5 in the group. We averaged 30.2kph for that 60k

That's the last of the bit if the program I've been following. 

There's a couple of rides left but nothing too taxing. Brends posting numbers he hasn't seen for a while so he's fizzing. Thank Christ we are traveling separately. My brothers also going to smash the ride leaving the old third wheel here to get the beers in afterwards. 

Whilst I'm undoubtedly riding better now than at any time previously I'm not sure how much that improvement will translate  on a 160k hilly course at 103 or 104 kegs. I'm pretty relaxed about this ride which isn't always the case and already looking fowward to getting back and starting the next block of the program.

I'm thinking doing a 40k time trial program would be quite cool. Lose a few kilos and try and smash the living day lights out of it.

Joey , Harry and I popped out for a bit of brunch with Jo's Mum this morning at Fez in Mt Lawley. Two hot weak flat whites - life's good. 

My bikes getting serviced on Tuesday. Before I realized my back was rooted immediately after the ironman I saw a Specialized Triathlon bike that I thought Joey would want me to buy. It wasn't cheap. Given I had two bikes I asked the guy at the bike shop to order it , I'd pay it off and take it home when the time was right. Joeys just under average size but

quite  often punches above her weight when it comes to making sense. Long story short I eventually paid the bike off but there was never a right time to get the bike home. I sold it at a loss rather than trying to make sense of that purchase. 

Sometimes you just have to take one for the family.

The little man (Harry) cranked out another 3ks mid Sunday afternoon. 

Saturday 23 November.

Went to the Jarman Mckenna 10 th birthday and Xmas combined show last night at the Town Hall. Knew I had a big ride scheduled for this morning so I took it very easy on the pop....until I didn't.

Stopped making sense around. 8.30 by my reckoning. 

Met my neighbour Dave@58 who's doing the Busso ironman for a coffee at lunchtime today then ladled out a modest 50 k just really seeking to avoid a heart attack.

Averaged a little under 30kph.

Here's a picture of my neighbours chickens

There's just something a little warming about chickens less than 2 k from the CBD as the crow flies 

Talk tomorrow

Friday 22 November

Recovery week this week.Easy 30k Tuesday and snap for Thursday.

Bit harder this morning. Up to Kings Park and 8 x 90 second hill intervals. That type of session is never easy,particularly when you are a reasonably substantial sort of a rooster.

Speaking of which Brend now officially has an eating disorder ( bulimia) having now ducked under the 90 kilo mark . He's almost 1.9m so that a very sorry state of affairs indeed. He's gone from big Brend and big horse, Spartacus type of carry on back through medium Brend and Slimmy etc and back further still now to baby sparrow infant chicken wing Brend. 

I'm en route to his place now taking a food parcel around as he has a hard blokes 4.5 hour slugfest tomorrow and I'm a little worried about him. 

I have the same ride tomorrow and are heading out to a Xmas show (after I drop Brends food parcel off) so I'm actually a little conflicted myself. Hope for the best I guess.

Woo hoo

Weekend rides 16 and 17 November.

Group ride Saturday morning. Historically I've been riding with the 3's/ 4's. Yesterday I went with the 2's but there were some of the guys from the 1's in there as well. It went pretty quick and I wound up getting dropped after 30 or 35k. I'm hopeful that if it's "just" the 2's I'll go closer to staying with them for the whole ride. The average speed was still over 36 kph if not 37 kph by the time I was spat out 

Took 15 to 20 minutes to "recover" enough to start riding at a reasonable pace again. Was a good lesson in riding within yourself ( I didn't) and was virtually powerless during that 15 to 20 mins.

Scheduled for 4 hours but only did 3. 

Sunday Brend and I did 4 x 10 minute intervals up Welshpool road hill as part of a 3 hour ride. Again scheduled for 4 but we were both toast for different reasons. It's a steady climb and known to anyone who cycles in Perth. Up past the BP station is just on 2.5 k. Not fast but steady. I could see from strava a lot of people go up there a lot faster than me so might look at trying to improve up there on an "all in" one off climb after we get back from Taupo.

In the most exciting bit of cycling news in our house this weekend Harry did a 3 k unassisted ride. He hasn't been super keen on riding and is a little more The IT Crowd than Fox Sports 

We had to incentivize ( bribe) him ...but hey...

Thursday 14 November 2013.

Lots of fun this morning.

We smashed it.

Total ride a little over 50 k

Warm up, 5 sets of 10 minutes followed by 5 minutes recovery.

In the 10 minutes you do 20 x 15 seconds on and 15 seconds off. I was in the high 30's for most and really struggled getting many over 40kph.Don't get me wrong its vicious - but not life threatening - more a 1m reef shark than a white pointer. 

The Garmin below shows the last two 10 minute sets - out and back - in to the very light winds. 

I stopped the clock for the five minute recovery break between last two sets. 

Brend and I bigged ourselves up plenty on the ride home but both of our tunes changed during the day. I've been toast since about 1.00 pm.

and in exiting today's post... coffee = life

That's Joeys average sized fingers about to latch on to her weak, skinny cappuccino. 

Projected through,

Five burning hoops

To wild and shocked applause.

To wild and shocked applause.

Ophelia

Natalie Merchant

How do people come up with these lyrics. ? I think if we were to expand our business that's the direction we 'd go. Commercial Claims Preparers/ Songwriters. 

Wednesday Nov 13

A little under 40 k this morgan. The ride was centered around a 30 minute set after a bit of a warm up. It's 90% of threshold (th) for 90 seconds ( what you can sustain/ride at without blowing up) then 120% of th for the last 30 seconds - so 15 x 2 minute intervals to bring up the 30 mins.

So you are doing 15 x 30 second all out sprints but you don't get to really recover as such, you get to go at 90% of th for 90 seconds as your recovery.

Half of the battle is deciphering exactly what the program is asking you to do and at what intensity.

We do a lot of our intervals around Shelley where there is very little traffic and a flat 6k or so . It's next to the water and a lovely place to ride your bike. 

It was out , back and out again to chew up the 30 mins which meant heading into the southerly twice. Because it wasn't hard enough already!

Averaged 33.1k which was ok as I probably wouldn't have gone over 30k doing that sort of intervals ride even six weeks ago.

Yesterday was pretty tough and today was pretty tough. Tomorrow is borderline ridiculous. We are doing 100 x 15 second intervals ( 15 seconds on 15 off ) x 20 then 5 mins rest x 5 sets where u try and get your bike up over 40 kph or so for each "on" 15 seconds and hold it - with Brend a bit quicker. We did 60 last Thursday and that nearly finished us off. 

It will be interesting ( to us at least) to see how we fare tomorrow. To make matters worse Brend sailed thru this morning with significant pbs so he's going to be in an absolute feeding frenzy tomorrow. 

I on the other hand are going to go to bed at about 4.30 pm this afternoon to give myself a chance to just get through it. 

At what stage does a habit become an addiction? Second biggest commodity in the world behind oil.

Talk soon

Nov 12th. Hill repeats ( and Sarah's birthday)

In amongst this mornings ride were 9 x 90 second sprints up the hill in Kings Park. Me , Brend and Rich.

The hill kicks up a few percent at the 60 to 70 second mark.

We went at 5.30am , it's 3.45 now and I still feel a bit sick. The program calls for you to stand up for the last 15 seconds... sure...will do. I couldn't have sat back down any quicker if someone had shot me.

I think you almost need to do that session once just to learn how to do it. I felt quite out of sorts trying to get the pacing right and was just dying in the last 20 to 25 seconds. 

I've bartered Joeys breakfast time walking slot for tomorrow morning so me and Brend can get out again tomorrow morning. It all starts to ease up a little next week with the ride the week after. 

Speaking of nutrition.,.

That's from Halo. End of my street for any regular readers. The shorthand on the cap stands for very hot weak flat white. In a lot of places you'd have more chance of stumbling across the Colonels eleven secret herbs and spices recipe than getting a drinkable vhwfw.

Work to do...

Nov 10. Twenty minute time trial.

We did a little over 50k this morning.

It included a five minute time trial  followed by  fifteen minutes at endurance pace, then a twenty minute time trial by yourself - as fast as you can go. 

Easterly cross wind , not hindering but not helping much either.

The longest interval we've done previously was ten minutes so I wasn't sure exactly what to expect or exactly how hard to go out. The ten minute ones are hard enough themselves.

This one , you crank it up and you are already looking at your clock after 3 minutes, starting to panic!.

The problem is once you are at 10 minutes on whatever speed you are averaging you don't want to lose any of that average speed you've worked so hard to achieve so you have no choice but to smash yourself for the second ten minutes after u r already in some discomfort.

It's mucus across your face hard.

I averaged 37.8kph. Brends gone a fair bit quicker but he's working from a powermeter for average power versus avg speed so not sure of his exact number.

 The rule of thumb is that whatever you can do by yourself for twenty minutes is what you can theoretically hold (or close too) for an hour in a race. Time will tell how accurate that is.

That's at least one of the base rides in the bank to get a gauge on where we currently are.

Tomorrow's a rest day  for riding so I'll do the last uk post . 

Joeys mentioned today that she nodded off reading yesterday's post with the inference I guess that the training posts are only going to be of limited interest to anyone who is willing to read absolutely anything about sport. 

I think she's suggesting that if cycling or sport isn't your thing you might want to unsubscribe  for the next few weeks at least and just visit manually if and when the subject matter offers a little more.

On a related but unrelated topic how do France manage to cause the mighty All Blacks so much trouble. They had won two games this year before last night and  I think they lost to Italy and /or Scotland yet got within a try of a draw with the black machine. They're taking years off my life. 

Later.

.

November 9 Group ride.

 We did about 85k this morning. Brend Rich and I did 20k or so before I turned on the Garmin ( below ) at the start of the Group ride. 

The program we are following called for 1.5 hours including a 10 minute interval. 

Rich is doing a 150k event next weekend so is on his own program.

Brend stuck to the plan. 

Rich and I just followed the group like sheep. 

We averaged 33.5 kph for the first 60 k or so (to the end of Shelley ) before winding down to Hoopla cafe. Average had bled away a little to 32.8 by time I turned off clock at cafe.

Joey,the H man and I just had a recovery coffee and spinach and egg on toast @ Halo at the end of our street but I'm still a little cooked myself from the ride.

Brend and I have a 20 minute threshold "test" as part of our ride tomorrow. It's effectively a time trial but it establishes your base. 

Next week is the most intensive in the program, intervals Tues Wed and Thurs followed by two four houries on Sat and Sun with the last hour of both those weekend rides "all in". 

Right, couple of tasks to attend to....

The UK wash up - kind of.

In my last post I mentioned there were a few trip photos left over. I'm going to insert them in the final trip blog, attach a couple of words and that's the UK in the rear view mirror.

Before i get to that however, on the 30th of  November I'm doing a ride in Taupo in NZ. It's almost 160 k and quite hilly.Tailor made for big blokes .

Big Brend from WA is heading over with yours truly. Nearly 10% of big Brend has disappeared . He was nigh on  a hungy when we started and is currently a svelte 91. Reasonably pleased with himself it has to be said.

My brother Mike (who still lives in NZ) is also doing it with a couple of his mates

The weekend just gone Mickey boy just annihalated K2 - a hilly 200k ride - advertised as the toughest ride in the Southern Hemisphere!

Excellent , him and Brend peaking and me milling about out the back - where glory is in very short supply .

Which brings me neatly to my point. 

Whilst it's far too late to have a real run at this particular ride I'm going to follow a program for the final couple of weeks and blog about it. The thrust is really just a very average cyclist trying to get a little better. 

If I look on strava ( like Facebook for cyclists) it doesn't make for pretty reading. Since 2009 when I first started riding until a month or so ago I've never really got above around 600th to 700th  (and quite often worse)  of the 1800 odd who are on strava and do most of the cycle segments around Perth.

If I'm honest I'm probably not entirely happy there.  My thought is that I might chart exactly where I sit, set a goal or two and "nike" it. 

Brend's big on intervals. Up until a matter of weeks ago I'd done zero intervals on my bike. Ironman training through 2011 without a program or a coach was just cranking out lots of ks and trying to average 30kph or a smidge over. I have just discovered cycling intervals through Brend and have found out that intervals can change your life. I've gone up a few hundred spots on strava and are hopeful of picking off a couple more stragglers.

It makes sense in hindsight but when you train at 30kph as soon as someone puts it up to 35 or 36 during a group ride you are uncomfortable within seconds never mind minutes.

Anyway, I followed some average cyclists blog for a little while in 2009 and quite enjoyed it. 

I can't promise anything new, insightful or particularly revealing but i am going to blog about the next two or three weeks until we've done the Taupo ride , see if it's fun to do - or a bit of a chore - seek to make it mildly interesting ( I need to give some thought to photos as they are fun to work from in a blog but there are only so many training and sunrise photos people can cope with) and we can go from there.

Portugal.

Sarah and iains Portugal place - from the road.

From the front

From the house looking to the ocean ( through the trees) 

Very cool house with a whole floor below ground that's a gym and games room .

Portugal is becoming a big surfing hub, not to mention a big cycling fraternity . It's was warmish whilst we were there but we all grabbed wet suits and went boogie boarding. There were groups of 12 to 20 people learning to surf , mid week and out of season. 

Couple of pictures of the kids. Tell u what - surely this is a better alternative to the iPad.

That bank (above) was quite steep in sections . The kids stood on the edge and the bank would collapse and they'd sand surf down to the water . We all had a go - I've actually played a lot worse games in my time . 

Here's the flat whites Sar's organized virtually out of thin air. Would it reflect poorly on me if I said it bought us closer together?

You may recall from an earlier picture I mentioned Harry's nearly taller than Joey.

I spoke to my mother in nz yesterday and she was asking about the trip and photos etc. I directed her to this site which she was following when we were in Cambodia. She's having problems with her computer. I'm not saying her 386 is a little long in the tooth but it is insured for fire, theft and Viking raids. 

 

There was a few days and activities in London after we got back from Portugal that have snaps which may warrant one more European vacation post to follow. 

Try this - it's nice

Before I sign off for the evening some of you are probably wondering how Brends going on his bike ? He's signed up for the Taupo ride on the 30 th November. It's a fairly hilly 160k and the 7th biggest organized ride in the world annually with between 12,000 and 13,000 folk doing it.

 Brend took that bit of long slow stuff he did with me as a base, catapulted himself into some interval training and is absolutely SMASHING it right now. He's down to 93.0 kegs in his cycling themed pj's which translates into under 93 kegs in the nuddy. Still big for a hilly ride but I suspect he's going to turn some heads in NZ.

My brother Michael is going to do it as well. He and his cycling mates are also doing K2 the weekend after next which is a hilly 200 k ride. Jesus , Mary and Joseph.!

Anyway, I've sidetracked myself. C u shortly.

London

Back in London to Sarah and Iain’s. 

 

Joey and I lived in Wimbledon in 1992 and 1993 .We had a great time and made some friends we have kept in touch with as best as we are capable of. We caught up in Wimbledon on this trip.

Matt Bell. (Belly) was in the firsts when we left in. '1993 and had a game for them last year . Unbelievable.! Other than a couple of grey hairs at the temples he hasn't changed much at all.

Ben to the left and Belly , not to the left.

Speaking of unchanged – Ben’s missus Caroline (Caz) recently did a half marathon pb  and picked up the "time has stood still award" , narrowly edging Belly out. That's her in the middle below.

Debsy and Andy and Rob and Lisa Tudor ( see Wentworth post) came out to stay with us in Perth in 1994/5.

We had one of the greatest day ever in the surf at Yallingup. 

Most of the girls including Debs below.

Ben, see photo sbove with Belly, and I used to play 18 actual holes of golf then fire up the Sega mega drive for a full 72 hole tournament fuelled by a mid strength or two and a couple of kilo’s of onion bhaji’s. Bens mum used to also get in the industrial  sized packets of some round chip things in various flavours that we found were surprisingly  good for us. He was nigh on unbeatable and I eventually gave up after two and a half years. Looking back we probably could have given a little more to our careers in those days.

 

To everyone who came on that Thursday night that is reading this it was a huge highlight of the  trip.Thx again for coming out and staying out. 

Ben, Broshy, Belly, Sean, Farry and Craig, geez didn’t we solve some problems.

 

At midnight Ben rang one of the curry places we used to go to - who told us they were shutting up and suggested we should do the same. The second place Ben rang actually hung up on him. Surprised me as I was involved in the discussions by then.Fortunately that second place wasn’t too far away and we took from the dial tone that they were more comfortable talking about dining opportunities face to face so we wandered down to talk over old times.

 

2.30 we left there with barely an unsolved problem amongst the entire group.

We are off to Portugal tomorrow where my sister successfully secured two hot weak flat whites from the most unlikely of beachside cafés. See you then.

 

Paris and Disneyland

We caught the Eurostar out of Paddington station. There's been a lot of infrastructure cash thrown at the station itself and its a very impressive facility. 

My sister Sarah and Erin had just been to Paris and the Eiffel tower a fortnight or so before with my other sister Jacinta and her daughter Annie - so they went straight on to Disneyworld. 

Joey, the H man and I jumped off at the tower. It's far busier than I remember but a must visit for Harry. What I didn't know from the last time we were there - pre Harry - was that the tower is still half owned by the state and half owned by the Eiffel family. I'd love to see their year end financials.

Joey and Harry at the top of the tower .He's  picked up that move from watching the WWF and no doubt The Girls of the Playboy Mansion. I've given up trying to get him to change the channel. I've explained they are reruns and there's no new material but it always seems to fall on deaf ears.

On the teacup ride below . I objected obviously , on the basis that that particular ride was arguably too feminine for Harry but it wasn't one of the one in twenty six occasions my suggestion gets acted upon. It's. "iconic" apparently .

This is a shot of Harry and his cousin Erin. I'd just asked him where Dad ranked out of Mum , Dad and his Aunty Sarah.

We'd used the last of our cash getting to Disneyworld so none left over for warm clothes for 8 year olds. That's my cycling vest Harry's wearing. 

Here you 'll see I'm giving the little man some tips on keeping it real.

This picture had to go in as it's probably the last trip we go on where Joeys still taller than Harry.

More than one person at Disneyland asked me when my sister Sarah is going to start growing up. That's ridiculous headgear she's wearing.! .... What's that ?...

Harry, Erin and Mickeys missus. 

Here's a picture of Harry taking a picture of Joey - always thinking , see how clever that is. Joeys generously minding Harry's Rose for him whilst he takes the picture .

Sar's and Erin scampered home from Disneyland but we stayed on in Paris for a bit to soak up some culture whilst the good folk of Paris soaked up the last of our meagre shekels. Joey had a good hard geek at some art stuff whilst the H man and I mainly sat around grizzling and getting regular updates around various departure times. 

By the time Disneyland was done we'd been gone almost a week with not one decent hot weak flat white on record. 

Between the train station and our hotel we came across a cafe and threw caution to the wind. One extra hot weak flat white thank you. Boom, there it was. 

Shut the gate - I'm staying. Before we had even left to get checked in at our hotel my closest friend in the world gave us our loyalty card which already qualified us for a free coffee. Stop it. How happy was I.

The next photo on my iPhone is back in London so that's as good a cue as any to shut this down now and pick it up again tomorrow. Woo hoo. 

The blog that can't die.

Harry, Joey and I got back from overseas  yesterday. We stayed with my sister Sarah , her husband Iain and their daughter Erin (7)  in Newbury , an hour west of London. 

From there we also took the two kids to Disneyland in Paris and also Portugal where Sarah and Iain have a holiday house - inconveniently located all of a couple of hundred meters from the beach. 

For anybody reading wondering how a cycling blog has morphed into a travel blog Sarah and Iain have stationary bikes at both of their houses.

I'm going to make some stuff up about the London activities. Paris and Disneyland and then lastly the Portugal trip. Believe it or not I had trouble getting a decent extra hot weak flat white in all three places. I'm currently doing a swot analysis and business plan for a cafe in London that only sells hot weak flat whites with a view to saving future travelers the heartache and turmoil I've just been through. 

Changing pace slightly, Iain and I played at Wentworth last Friday courtesy of Rob Tudor who's a member there. Pissed down with rain for the entire trip there -and home for that matter - but cleared up for the whole 18 holes! When does that happen.!

Here's the club house

I had a bit of trouble getting a hot weak flat white after  9 holes at the halfway hut but where dont you.? 

Heres Iain showing some textbook form. 

He badgered me for days to say that he absolutely crushed this drive.

Three posts to follow re the three places we went then I'm going to close this blog and get

my neighbour Jack to help me open a twitter account. He and his missus stayed at our house whilst we were away. That might be the subject of a fourth post.

See you tomorrow

That's a wrap.

“Remember how it all began,

The apple and the fall of man”.
Natalie Merchant.

There’s a lot of great songs out there. Every few years a song comes your way that you fall in love with. Not necessarily a new song – just new to you.

The song I can’t stop playing right at the moment is Long Nights by Eddie Vedder. Download it. EV is great mates with Neil Finn and tours with him etc. Here’s something I heard that made me think differently about Paul McCartney - who I always thought was a complete cock. He was asked what it was like to be the greatest singer/songwriter in history. I don’t know he said – you’d have to ask Neil Finn. That’s a world class response for mine.

McCartneys ex missus Heather Mills is trying to qualify for the next Winter Paralympics in 2014 – she’s currently 45 – how large is she. She sounds like an absolute loon but in some strange fashion I think she’d likely feature in a global 100 hottest women in their 40’s list.

Turning my attention to goings on in West Perth I caught up with Johnny Harris today – he’s done 18 marathons and 2 ironmen. He ranks this ride up there as beyond any of that. Telling.

Johnny left the dinner @ 7.50pm on the Saturday night we finished - as his mouth was so blistered and sore he had to get to a chemist to get a local anaesthetic.! Fordys wife Sharon and Mat both gave me a saline solution to try and get my eyes under control as otherwise I wasn’t going to go to the dinner myself. I saw a picture of JH and myself on that night. We are normally both fairly handsome roosters (well Johnny H is  - think Mark Wahlberg 10 or 15 years on) and I don’t think I’ve seen two blokes looking worse.  

Ok – for anyone who  read the title to this post - this is going to be the last post in the current series.

 I really enjoyed the trip and I really enjoyed rolling this stuff out.

The cycling was a little more difficult than I thought it was going to be –  the satisfaction grimmer , but more of it than I perhaps anticipated also. I’m really quite excited about doing it again next year but also casting about for something in the near term.

Whilst I got through an ironman in December 2011 the training has left me with several hairline fractures in the lower back - so can’t run more than a k or so without losing feeling in my feet. There’s no easy or elegant surgery solution. The challenge is that a lot of endurance events require running  - plus  I was a  better runner than I am a cyclist.

So the plan now is to cast around for another event that fits in with my aging and deteriorating physical skill set. I'm really keen to do something ambitious beyond ambitious.

To the blog itself - I got quite a bit of feedback – really quite supportive and generous. Thx to my neighbour Jack who helped me get started – to say I’m shit with this interwebs stuff would still be bigging myself up. 

If the next event warrants it on a couple of levels I’m going to fire up the blog again. Here is my email address. If you think you may want to follow me  again - email me - I’ll keep a distribution list and give you a notification when the next event kicks off.

johnquinn@yourclaim.com.au

I’m going to leave you  with something from Oscar Wilde;  

For most of us the real life is the life we do not lead.

There’s perhaps a temptation to view that quote in a secret sex pest light but I think it would be selling it's intention short. I’ve thought about that quote on more than one occasion over the years.

The best I’ve arrived at is that we need to give some time to our own script, own it and make it happen.

 

Thanks for your company   

 

 

Cambodia trip - initial warm down blog - Fri 6 September

Well what a wild ride that was both physically and emotionally.

It’s been a while since something has come along and consumed me so entirely before spitting me back out back into my normal life.

None the wiser perhaps but grateful for the experience nonetheless.

I did wonder whether, on the edge of exhaustion, I would gain one insight or another. Not to be I’m afraid. I already knew for example that that there is a bit of a difference between just scratching your arse and actually breaking the skin but hey, this isn’t a medical blog and I’m not technically a doctor. 

What I did recognize was that this is a cause I want to stay involved in and that the hospital needs us. So I’m definitely back next year should the family give me the green light. 

Knowing Fordy he’ll probably try and find a way to make it even more demanding next year. He’s just got this way about him of irritating people (actually he’s very likeable).

I’m not sure if I’ve shared this with you good people previously but Fordy and I flatted together in City Beach in Perth and then East Perth when we were younger. In the City Beach house he had the main bedroom with an en suite at the time I moved in - which of course I wanted. He did point out that he was the sitting tenant and was paying more rent than the rest of us – see what I mean about irritating. I asked him if we could flick for it anyway. I probably asked him maybe 600 or 700 times. Anyway, he stood firm and it wasn’t to be.  

We move to East Perth and fuck me he’s won the toss for the en suite again. It’s like Groundhog day. It’s gone to the best of three – Fordy again – terrific. We’d already had a bit of a history in NZ when he stole my missus (Jenny) off me when we both worked for the AMP. Well I worked – Fordy had his gym commitments. To be fair she was arguably  his missus at the time as they were going out so I guess you could argue I shouldn’t have complained so long or so loudly – in hindsight that scenario had some parallels with the City Beach en suite.

Anyway – he’s a bit of a winner.His and Sharon’s wedding was Joey and my second date

Here’s the plan. I think there’s been about 920 page views. I’m not sure I can fold up my tent until this collection of drivel hits 1000.

I’m going to come up with some absolute fireworks for my next post, stampede through the 1000 visits, secure a book deal – then go from there.

See you all over the weekend.

 

From the desk of the king*.

*It's a nickname I coined for myself. Took about twenty five years to get any traction whatsoever.

 

Wednesday 4 September 2013. And the hits just keep coming...

Just when you thought the old Quinny boys blog couldn’t get any more tired and predictable it goes and rewrites the rules on excitement and innovation…. that’s right, a guest no less…

 The following is from one of the group – Claire, a lawyer in her thirties.

One of her friends was signed up to do the ride but had a significant accident. Without knowing anyone else in the group she pushed on with the ride anyway. Given she’s said a few words about the rest of us it wouldn’t be right for me not to shine my torch on her for a few seconds.

She did two long rides in training for this event! She is an absolute machine and did a 100k running event 18 months ago – coming third if you don’t mind  - I’d just got through telling her I’d come 60^th in a school cross country back in the 70’s and it was about that time I knew I was special and was destined for greatness. In the week I met her she didn’t say one boastful thing about herself.

On day one I spoke to her briefly and it was clear (get it?) she didn’t mind a laugh. On day two I was over the other side of the table at dinner with empty seats either side and didn’t know who was going to be sitting next to me – when she walked in and was shown to a seat over the other side.  I’m so unapologetically shallow I physically  can’t sit at a table for a meal where there isn’t some guaranteed entertainment or laughter so I’ve gone Claire, Claire – quick come over this side . She’s given me a look that’s gone why don’t you just fuck right off – and proceeded to stay exactly where she was.

Can I introduce to you a great judge of character, the lovely Claire….  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, Quinny asked me to write a guest post for his blog about our 1100km cycle through Cambodia.  Actually, he didn't - I told him I was going to, he had no choice.

 This was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but an amazing and unforgettable experience.  I first got involved with this through a few mates in Singapore who ended up pulling out before the trip.  I was nervous about going through with it not knowing anyone, but it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and after only 7 days with a group of strangers, they came to feel like family.  A bit has already been said about them on Quinny's and others' blogs, but I'll just add a few lines of my own, in no particular order: 

Fordy (The Chief)

A machine on the bike, biceps like popeye, and always miles ahead of the rest of the field.  Me and Quinny had bets on him throwing the first strop and lo-and-behold, it happened on the 2nd day, followed by many more through the week. But The Chief's short temper when things didn't go smoothly was only proof of his passion for the cause - it was Fordy who kept reminding me why we were all there, which really helped when the going got tough.  He bollocked my one morning for being late and I made damn sure I was one of the first there every morning after that. He's just that kind of bloke who commands respect, who we all looked up to and all wanted to please.  A great captain, leading us all by example, both on the bike and in the bar.

 

Jonesy

I would say Jonesy was The Rock of the group - steady, stable, unflappable and everyone's friend.  It would be impossible for anyone in the world to dislike this guy.  He was also my trail buddy (along with Croc) on my best day's riding when we absolutely blasted it on the off-road tracks.  He supplied me with all the necessities I'd been too disorganised to bring myself (like zinc, sun cream, gels, bars etc) and generally was the cement in the Nokor Tep team wall.  Amazingly fit, he could keep up with the cyclocross speed demons on his mountain bike.  

Crocpilot

The oldest of the group with a very interesting life story.  He may have a peppered past and he did murder a puppy on the ride, but none of that could mask his obvious heart of gold.  It felt like having my dad on tour.  I found out at the end of the trip he has a daughter my age who’s quite similar to me in a number of ways, which maybe explains why he went out of his way to look after me and watch out for me.  He also taught me about my gears.  I rode the whole first 5 days in a single gear, but thanks to Crocpilot, the last 2 days saw me switching gears and adapting cadence like Contador (..or maybe a bit more like fat Bert Grabsch, but you get my drift…).

 

Matty

There’s no one quite like exuberant, enthusiastic, slightly eccentric, lovable Matty with his man toys, mankini bib-shorts and man tights.  None of us ever knew if he was ahead or behind, where he’d pop up from or what he’d do next, but it was always entertaining.  He rode with about 15 pedal strokes to every one of mine (or maybe only 10 to one after Croc taught me about gears).  When I was in trouble with the Chief on the morning I was late, Matty offered to ride 50km with me on our own so the others could set off first.  Luckily we caught the pack before they left Phnom Penh, but it was very sweet of him to do that for me and I won’t forget how he saved all his chocolate gels for me because they were the only ones I liked. 

 

Wild Karen (Crazy)

 

Her real name’s Wild Karen, but for some reason my post-day’s riding sozzled brain remembered that as “Crazy” and that’s what I called her from then on.  I didn’t like her at first cos she kept calling me a cow, until I realized she was just pointing out upcoming hazards on the road.  Her extremely shrill and extremely Welsh voice will haunt us in our dreams for many months to come.  She was Mother Hen, constantly keeping her brood in check.  There were times when we wanted to punch her in the head, but she was an absolutely necessity and there was never a dull moment with her in the group.  She’s amazingly fit and can just keep going and going….and then want to do it all again…and more.

Yarnie

 

Husband of Crazy, pilot, ex-SAS.  He mostly stuck in the peloton with me and Crazy and the rest, but was really only half trying and could probably have given Fordy a fair run for his money if he’d been allowed off the Crazy Wife leash more often.  He was a Nutrition Nazi, but I learnt the hard way when I ignored him and hit a wall one day after failing to consume the 3.752 bananas he’d prescribed for me at the previous stop.  After that, he ordered every meal of mine and I dutifully ate every scrap.  It was very touching to see Bruce Willis secretly filling my water bottle and quietly dishing out other small kindnesses for members of the group throughout the trip.

 

Jill

While Crazy was mum on the bike, Jill (support team) and was my mum off the bike.  She has a huge personality and a face you just want to look at -  I couldn’t wait to get to each pit stop just to see her there.  How she managed it all I don’t know – shopping, cooking, driving from one stop to the next, persuading locals to let us set up camp in their front yards, cleaning up, dishing out medicine, organizing massages etc.  An all-round amazing woman.

 

Frank

 A man of few words, but when he did come out with something, it was often a gem.  Like when he said he didn’t need a Garmin as he had Quinny’s butt crack (clearly visible through his threadbare white bike shorts) to point him in the right direction. Frank takes the prize for Most Improved on the bike over the course of the week.  I liked riding with him because no cars could get past his elbows  - he had 129” inch handlebars to go with his flash new 29” wheels.

 

Kain

 I was immediately grateful to Kain for helping me reduce the overall ratio of sweaty old men.  Son of Jill and Frank, he looks like a member of the cast of Glee but behaves more like an elderly statesman.  I needed his mum more than he did, and he was kind enough to share her with all of us.  A very impressive and mature young man.

 

Johnny Harriss

 

A man who knew exactly what pace he should go and what he needed to do and not do.  No messing around with Johnny.  Tenacious to the extreme and an inspiration to us all.

Quinny

 

Most of you already know the Quinmeister, but for those who don't, he's about 6 foot 7" and was an All Black in a previous life (though you wouldn't know from his pink bandana and silk green travel purse).  A very funny bloke - the sort who describing himself getting less funny only makes himself 10 times funnier.  He kept us laughing constantly.  But that's not all, there's a lot more to him.  Quinny was suffering from a dodgy gut all week, but soldiered on ignoring his own troubles and helping everyone else.  While I vomited Lake Geneva and let everyone know about it, he spewed the Atlantic Ocean and kept quiet.  What a trooper.  I got through the last 20km of my worst day by drafting in a massive Quinny-shaped slip stream while swearing at the locals and putting curses on their grandmothers.  I did wonder why Quinny kept calling me "one-er" (as in "two-er", "three-er"), till I realised he was actually calling me "winner", which I thought was very sweet.  He started translating from Kiwi into English for me by the end of the week.  An all round top top bloke.

So that’s the team, an amazing bunch of people.  Such an intense and arduous experience made us bond like family.  These people have seen me at my absolute weakest, looking my worst, completely emotionally and physically spent… 

I can’t really describe the extreme up-and-downs involved.  7 days in a row of average 160km over rough terrain is as mentally challenging as it is physically and I had to keep breaking it down into small sections.  There were times when I felt shocking and the tears were welling up in my eyes – in that state, it takes only the most minor adversity to throw you over the edge (like having to ride a few kms further than you thought even when you’ve already done 160 odd kms, or having smudges on your sunglasses, or having to ride over speed strips on the road which I came to hate more than Ian Brady).  But the highs were utterly exhilarating – whether it was the scenery (which no description can do justice), hearing the locals crack up seeing a whole load of old fat white people pedaling kms and kms for no apparent reason, having kids run alongside us for as long as they could keep up, that first cold beer at the end of a very long day.  It’s amazing how much better all good things seem after that much physical exertion – beer tasted like the finest champagne, the fossilized anorexic deep-fried frogs we had for dinner one night were like gourmet beef tenderloin, even the featherless scraggy lizard chickens hit the spot, just lying down or removing my socks was the biggest luxury imaginable.  It did occur to me whether the others in the team were all actually boring nobs, but I’ve seen/spoken to them again since the end of the trip and they are actually the brilliant bunch of people they seemed at the time.

 Riding those distances gives you a lot of time to think. I thought a lot about the people I love and how lucky I am to have them in my life.  I also invented a whole load of stuff to make a cyclist’s life easier.  I reckon Quinny’s onto a “one-er” with his mini travelling ukele idea (see 16^th Aug post).   Quinn, you should source a prototype from China and I’ll sort out your legal contracts.  Only concern is whether anyone can actually play these things. Your target market might only be midgets. But that's ok, they have Little People conventions in the US and I don't see why a giant can't start a business for midgets. You never know, they might start making really useful stuff for you in return, like supersize shot glasses or something. It's a win-win situation...

 

On a more serious note, the reason we all did this (as you know) was to help build a hospital for the women of Cambodia.  I can’t thank those of you who have donated enough and it’s a pity you can’t see for yourselves (as we did) how much that money is helping.  I feel like I’ve had a bit of a tough year, but to be amongst those people who have next to nothing, puts everything in perspective.  The personal stories I heard from Janne, the founder of the Tabitha Foundation, brought tears to my eyes.  I can’t wait to go back as a volunteer house-builder and would encourage anyone else who’s interested (or who’s even vaguely interested in becoming interested) to get involved…

So, I came back to Singapore with aching quads, a sore butt, sunburnt lips and “cyclists’ palsy”, but a very warm heart.  I remember thinking if I had to rotate my legs one more time in my life I’d rather end it, but now I can’t wait for next year’s ride – bring it on!

 

 

 

Gourmet Beef Tenderloin