Whitlesea Return

Today I travelled to whitlesea and back
It got me thinking
A. Why is it called Whitlesea ?Its nowhere near the ocean
B. It got me seriously thinking about my previous rides out there
My main thought was about the 1st tine I did this ride.
On my 10 yr old Hybrid with trigger shifts and fat tyres
and how much I stuggled. How I nearly died going up the epping hill (now part of my daily commute I do semi-comfortably),How I nearly colapsed on my arrival home. In fact now I think about it I never actually went to whittlesea on my Hybrid, I went to Mernda and back which is 20km shorter (round trip)
But nearly a year on the bike and a couple of upgrades later I did (by my standards) exceptionally well. 50km trip Ave.speed 29.7km/phr total time 1:40:23
My other trips out there were on my Shogun and I never hit these times So Im defenitely showing improvement
Also the clothes are fitting me better so with the loss of Kg's and increased leg muscle I hope to better this time in the near future
Cheers to all
O'

The new toy

My Birthday has come surprisingly early this year
I had a merida 901 on laybuy at Rays in Preston when I say the Merida s3 come up at a very resonable price. Even 120 bucks cheaper than the other one and a better ride with better gearing.
This week I have put down some serious Kms (Approx 250km) and am loving the new Machine
I even passed 4 people going up a hill on a group ride and left them far behind
I felt like a hero in my own lunch box
Now once I get my Supergrover jersy the transformation will be complete
Cheers
O'

Hit and run

LAst week some Asshole run in to Renee as she was riding her bike
She had just taken of from an intersection and an impatient driver shunted her forward
and then scrapped down the side of her
She is 100% fine
An independant witness came forward and the mater is in the hands of the police
I cant say to much untill then
Cheers to all
O'

SMIDSY

Today I copped the SMIDSY defence
"sorry mate, didnt see ya"
As my high powered light pierces the dakness on a major 2 lane each way road
Old man in his ute full of tools pulls out in front of me
"WTF"
I lay in to the anchors and stop just before hitting his door
Naturaly focus on stopping not unclipping so over I go
He then provides a barrage of Im sorrys and "shit are you all right"
I was to shocked to even let him know how I felt
so I got of the road and gathered my thoughts and continued my trip
Only noticed on the ride home a bit of a buckle in the back wheel GRRRRRR
adding more lights to front of bike tonight

A First

Today has been a day of firsts

I did something unbelevable today, so unbeleveable you wont ...well believe it
I ave started a new job and dont have the work approved jumper
so in order to stay warm I did it , the unthinkable , the un Australian, the despicable yet nessacary
I wore my Bonds Blue singlet under my polo shirt.
Yes I know , the wife beater, the symbol of being a true Aussie was hidden as if in shame
Well let me tell you I was warm , Its like I discovered a new use for this symbol of Aussie pride.
All I needed was a hanky tied around my head and I would have looked like Tacos dad tiling the back yard cause it had to much greenery on it. (funny if you know Tacos dad..or even Taco)
But untill I get my new jumper the singlet is here to stay

Birthday goal

Ive always been a bit up and down with my wieght
but a few years ago when my wife got pregnant I found myself at 116kg-118kg
Being the fantastic guy I am I also devoured the Icecream Sundaes
chips, biscuits,brownies and all the fast food we could lay our hands on.
i just didnt notice it creep up
Then one day I joined the gym
3 months of bloody hard work going nearly every day and pushing myself
got me down to 106kg
a bit of dietry help (wich only lasted 2 weeks) saw me at 104kg
I found I couldnt continue the diet and exercise I felt lethargic and had terrible headaches
Due to work I was to relocate to country Vic
when this fell through I had already let my gym membership lapse and decided to get back on the bike
Now with my Birthday looming and a failing promise to my self Ive got get of my ass and drop the extra KGS
so as of tommorow (ha.. famaous last words) its on
Im planning on doing extra on the bike and eating healthier

Above is the before shot, the during is in the previous post, and hopefully soon is the After
Wish me luck

Renees first big ride

Well I finally conned Renee in to comming on a group ride with me
I promised to hang back and ride at her pace if she got dropped.
We crawled out of bed and loaded up the car, drove to the meeting point
at the old hotel on beaconsfield parade.
After unloading and assembling we said a cheerful (albiet bleary eyed) G'day to Saqueeza Bro
Then everyone started rolling in
After a bit of a chat and a wait for Percrime (a missing key held him back)
we were off
Renee sat at the back of the pack with myself ,Kathy Lisa and Nick
we were moving at 25-30kmph and after about 10km the group started to peel away
Renee and I maintained our pace through blackrock and up tp mordiallic
We then regrouped and had a bit more of a chat to a few different people
I saw Gregga who I am envious of cause he has my new bike
(well the next model up from the one I have on laybuy)
I asked renee wether or not she wanted to continue as the return would make it approx.45km
She wanted to keep going wich was a surprise to me but a welcome one
The group headed off again through the road works over the train tracks and towards Frankston
After a stop at the lights and a pedal malfunction Squeeza was itching to increase the pace
so she surged forward and lead the pack onwards
Renee and I continued at our pace with frankston our destanation
We stopped at the information center and kicked our heels up for 10min before returning homeward
As we were about to head of we saw Gregga heading home but was too late to call out to him
We were reaching mordiallic when Renees lack of breakfast really played havoc with her
so we pushed on to black rock and found a cafe for a sandwich and a slice of cake
We then found some extra energy and cruised on back to the start point.
we saw Percrime and lisa rocket past us and we pulled up to the finish not long after they did.
Renee and I were able to chat to everyone else as the rest rolled in
Overall a very enjoyable ride and a good intro for Renee