Archive for February, 2008
An Open Invitation.
Calling out to the Cycling Blogging community.
Primal
Q: Do you ride a bike (bicycle that is) either Road or Mountain Bike?
Q: Do you ride a bike (bicycle that is) either Road or Mountain Bike?
Prospective Invitee
A: Yes
Primal
Q: Are you of sound body and mind (you need to be sane and a blogger)
Q: Are you of sound body and mind (you need to be sane and a blogger)
Prospective Invitee
A: Yes
A: Yes
Primal
Q: Are you heading to Australia?
Q: Are you heading to Australia?
Prospective Invitee
A: Yes
A: Yes
Let me just add to the blogging world of cycling enthusiasts, if you have answered yes and are heading out this way with your bike, look me up, hint: head over to the contact page.
Travel tips:
Now it gets bloody warm in Oz. Best time to ride is… Mmmmmm, arhh look if it’s not raining like it has been most of this month then you pretty much good to go 12 months of the year. Up in Queensland the winters are mild, sure the sun gets up a bit late… 6am’ish at the worst, Best months would be April, May (Autumn, leave don’t fall off the trees round here)and August, September (Spring). Reasons for this are as mentions above… Summer can be humid and warm (Not always but when the heat hits she gets hot), winter is a touch cold at day break but then it’s prefect riding weather. No snow round my neck of the woods.
Now it gets bloody warm in Oz. Best time to ride is… Mmmmmm, arhh look if it’s not raining like it has been most of this month then you pretty much good to go 12 months of the year. Up in Queensland the winters are mild, sure the sun gets up a bit late… 6am’ish at the worst, Best months would be April, May (Autumn, leave don’t fall off the trees round here)and August, September (Spring). Reasons for this are as mentions above… Summer can be humid and warm (Not always but when the heat hits she gets hot), winter is a touch cold at day break but then it’s prefect riding weather. No snow round my neck of the woods.
There are NO Kangaroo’s in the city… they are around if you head out to the right location (secret locations that can and will be divulged at a cost, basically I’m a sucker for a GU in a time of need).
The Offer:
The offers out there, I’m looking to head to Colorodo one day to hit the mountains and loose myself from normal society on my bike, timeframe will be after 2010 at this stage. Planning is everything!
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The offers out there, I’m looking to head to Colorodo one day to hit the mountains and loose myself from normal society on my bike, timeframe will be after 2010 at this stage. Planning is everything!
It’s Getting Hot in Here.
Global warming, is it a concern to you? Well today the predicted westerly winds finally hit town, straight off the deserts they came. The predicted 36 C was soon eclipsed as the mercury hit an official 40.2 C (104.4 F) in the city at around 3pm.
Was it hot, oh yes! The thing about Australia is the heat in summer. I’ve been reading a number of US based bike blogs and all the bloggers are working away indoors or jugged up with all the winter kit to hit the road. We live in different worlds.
Well yesterday was a warm one without a doubt, driving home just after 12pm I thought to myself, “What’s up with the air-con today?” The vehicle has just hit its two year mark, the air-con unit can’t need a re-gas at this early stage. Looked down to the dash and the external temperature was sitting on 42.5 C (108.5F). As soon as I stopped at the next set of lights I could see a blog coming on and whipped out the mobile and snapped off the stats as proof.
At 12:19pm it was 42.5 C (note I was not moving at the time this pic was taken)
In a way global warming will increase the uptake of “bums on bikes” as more and more take up the challenge to reduce their carbon foot print on the planet. I personally own a car, as most do. As mentioned above it two years old and only gets used on weekends to cruise around and catch up with mates or head over to the “Temple of Worship”. I take the train to work to avoid traffic and outrageous parking fees in the city. Thus improving my carbon footprint by using public transport.
I do believe the following statement by “Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum” has hit the nail on the head:
"My grandfather rode a camel, my father rode a camel, I drive a Mercedes, my son drives a Land Rover, his son will drive a Land Rover, but his son will ride a camel."
To put a cycling spin on it I think it should read:
- “My grandfather rode a bicycle, my father drives a BMW, I drive a VW, my son will drive and green vehicle, his son will ride a bicycle.”
This is a huge positive approach for cyclists, in a decades or too once the oil reserves have been bled dry by the need for progress we will return to bicycles, think of it a world with no cars, buses or trucks to ruin the club bunch ride. A true Cycling Nirvana.
The future of traffic for cyclists
Cycling Coaching what is it?
What makes a coach?
Now this can be controversial but it something I’ve been looking into for a while. The reason for this is I’ve seen a number of coaches around the traps, and they all seem to be doing the same things. It’s a simple formula one would think to coach one or more people to achieve a goal.
Although it’s the achieving of the goals that, the run of the mill coaches miss the ball on. For the past few weeks I’ve been searching for what makes a coach?
To me a coach is an individual that would listen and learn not only from his clients and their need or requirements but also from his or her own achievements and years of training that will bring something more to the table than just the extensive theoretical knowledge required to coach.
As I’m no expert in the field I decided to start a personal quest to answer just this question. Disappointed in continuously hearing friends talk about their training regimes and thinking to myself, “How will that help?” or “Where is the training plan?”. Having a coach that has a group of athletes all doing the same workout is not coaching in my book.
From my investigation the following is what I would be looking for in a coach if I were seeking to achieve a goal I had in my sight. A professional coach weather paid for services or volunteering their services to a club needs to follow a few key areas.
- Understanding the individuals needs and goals
- Producing each individual with a separate training program
- Providing analysis into the training taking place
- Re-accessing the program on a monthly bases to tailor the program to the data being produced for analysis.
- Sports Psychology
- Recovery Training
- Nutritional advise and analyses.
This of course is just scratching the surface the coaching ideal. The disappointing thing I find is that there are every few known or recommended cycling coached in Australia. A useful resource I’m looking into at this stage is www.TrainingPeaks.com which looks to be promising and a starting point.
But what about Training you ask!
So I hear you ask, “where are the training Stats?” well to be honest, after the trip to Melbourne the return on the Aluminium Tube where I was a caged rat breathing in recycled compressed air supplied by none other than a Boeing jet engine. I have come down with a thing, “A thing you might question?” Well at this stage a touch of the flu, hence I’ve pulled up stumps on all training until things return to normal, as this stage I’m tipping Friday will be time to launch back into it.
I must admit a few days off the bike and the legs are looking forward to getting back on the bike. Heading into the office up the multitude of stairs I have to take, I’m feeling bloody good.
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Cadel watch Part 5
Cadel Evans is up and running for the year. He has taken out the 2nd stage in the Vuelta a Andalucía tough day in the saddle after torrential rain and bad weather throughout both the first two days in the race. Looks like Cadel is happy with his pre-season training and managed to pay back his team mates who worked for him in today’s stage.
Cadel now sits in 3rd 2.23mins behind Clément Lhotellerie (Fra) from team Skil-Shimano and Pablo Garcia (Spa) of team Caisse d’Epargne. With only 3 stages left in the five day event it’ll be interesting to see how the race pans out for Cadel.
On the U.S front the AMGEN’S 2008 TOUR OF CALIFORNIA
TOC Is looking good for team CSC now that they have Juan Jose Haedo (CSC) took today’s stage. I have to give the Tour of California’s website a huge wrap, it’s great to be able to watch the videos streams of the days stages. Cancellara is still in the lead, Looks like Karl Menzies had a tough day in the office and finish off the lead group.
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