Ups and Downs and All arounds

Coming soon....

Alpine Cycling Club

Their new webpage is up and running, check it out here or at the link on the left

In the Media

http://www.theage.com.au/national/education/students-fear--for-campus-life-after-fees-defeat-20090819-eqmv.html


http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/victorian-womens-criterium-champs-marred-by-crash

tour to tour

Well at the moment, im on a train, it seems to be a regular occurance for writing. Last week I rode the Tour of Gippsland, next week it's the Tour of Geelong, currently its a transition of food and sleep.

Tour of Gippsland marked my return to real racing since Feb when I broke my wrists, and as we all knew it was going to be a slaughter fest. Stage one went well, although it hurt, big crosswinds, fresh riders and an uphill finish that no one knew where it was. Still I finished in the front group about 30th, out of trouble. Heaps of crashes was the theme of the morning, Peter Aquilina rode into a motorbike and put a guy into a coma, (he now wants to sue the organisers, sorry pete, if you sit at the back and the 140 people in front make it through no problems, then you have issues). Stage two was a little different, it had 2 laps of a difficult town circuit then a nasty climb followed by a big decent and some rollers, into churchill i think? After surviving the town circuit on the front, it was time to tempo the climbs, I didnt want to box myself on the first day of a 5 day tour so I never recover, I got to the top and I was out of the convoy, out of the rolling road closure, and about to decend on a tricky, slimey, wet decent. Awesome, Apart from almost getting killed by a few cars, well about 8, I managed to catch and pass a number of groups, eventually finishing with 3 others about 8 minutes off the leaders, not bad for 40km solo.

Day two was a little different, the crit hurt and the road race was lonely, I lost a big chunk of time, after a massive hunger flat, and a tip for young players, a bag of lollies and sculling some energy drinks only cause extreme nausea not improved wellbeing, but hey i was desperate.

The third day was a turning point, I was feeling good finally, even launched some attacks in the crit, i knew nothing would come of them, but sometimes its good just to know you can try. That afternoon was to licola, it was to be the last big hills stage of the tour, so it was about conservation and efficency. So the eaarly break it was, about 30km in I was in a group of 15 about 2 minutes up the road, unfortunately this group was always doomed, but it placed me far enough up the road, so that when the hitters came past us attacking we would loose much time, at the base of the big climb we were about 500m off the lead group of about 30, and we switched off the pace and survived, the next group behind us was about 19 minutes down on the lead, 12 minutes behind us.

Fouth day was where the tour I thought relaxed, although, when you look at the results, alot of people still got shelled and there were still crashes, Johnny got taken out by a dude who decided to bunnyhop a roundabout mid peleton in the neutral, Luke and I pulled over and got him back in, just as the neutral car pulled off and it was game on. The crash and a back injury from the crit put johnny in a bit of difficulty (with at least 80 others) on the first major climb, but we paced him up and back on, the next climb you could physically see his back jolt, followed by a "Ah...wait, hey I feel good!", by this point luke was up in the break, which ended up being the winning move to get him 3rd, we were just holding position in the pelo and making sure deon and johnny were out of trouble.

Reece who had been DSQ a few days early (due to some stupid commersaires and poor race organisation) was riding the course before we raced it everyday and calling through conditions. When we got this news on the Radio, Johny thought he'd pass it on to David Pell.

"Hey Pelly, we just had a call through, the last 5km is in to a really strong head wind"

"No, Fucking Shit"

He went on to pay the toll for his awesome effort in the crit and finished behind the pack.

The last day was relaxed, well until the racing began, the bad thing about the last day of any race is everyone thinks they have something to prove, and that is always a recipe for carnage, and two of the most spectacular crashes of the tour occured, one to good mate Jono Lovelock, who at one point I think was sliding along the pavement faster than the bunch, luckily just skin off and bruises, all due to some hero trying to pick a gap up the gutter.

After the tour I felt fresher than when I started, I woke up the next day feeling like I should be racing.

A lazy week then followed....

Until friday when on a coffee ride with Pip a phone call was received as a call to arms, from Johnny. The Kings Men ( melbourne riding/racing group/team) were sending a team to the northern combine to try to dominate it. Now its fair to say that Johnny isnt the biggest fan of them, and he was mounting a resistance, Myself, Johnny, Chuggy and Dylan (dennis) both from praties were it. I think it was made a bit personal when Reece (from Prime Estate) informed johnny that he was riding for the kings men not Prime estate in this race.

Saturday, was amazingly cold, we got out of the car at woodend and it was 3 degrees. A grade had about 40 riders in it and we were out to engineer it to our favour. By the end of the first lap (of 4 25km laps) I had got myself in a break with Reece, Wade Wallace (O2 networks), Stuart Payne and a rider from Degani. I drove it abit at the start to see if would stick, then waited for the boys to jump accross, Chuggy came first and I sheltered him so he could recover, then we could see Johnny coming so we sat up dropped back and drove it back on. This was a near perfect situation for us. Then Reece and Johnny attacked and hovered about 100metres off the front, the others sort of chased but not. Chuggy and I then got the jump and bridged up, and the 4 off us worked well, Then we could see dylan coming up so we sat up, he brought Stuart and Wade up too. About 8km later reece attacked again, this time we left him with about a 50m advantage, then it was time to act, I played the dummy block for Johnny and Chuggy as they bridged and sat on the chasers of Stuart and Wade, Dylan had burried himself to bring the gap back to a jumpable distance. Wade then Forced the Pace and blew stuart out the back, with my guys still just ahead I wasnt doing a turn in a hurry. Until he sat up and looked the other way and I went bang, I Time Trialed slowly making ground on the leaders, But i knew the last 5km was into a block headwind, so i needed to make it on by then or it wasnt going to happen and I didnt, i was about 200m off at the turn, I looked back and I could see a lone rider behind me, so I soft pedalled to recover, Stuart caught me with about 3.5km to go, as expected he tried to get me to do a turn, he was afraid that Wade was going to catch him, and rightly so, that guy has amazing calves!! No matter, with 2 guys up the road I was happy to just sit back, roll over the line and not contest, until he attacked me on the climb, so I hit him at the same time with about 5 times the acceleration, and rolled over the line for 4th.

A good day, 1st, 2nd and 4th, some weird cycling products and $70 each.

To sum it up Chuggys victory speech said it all
"Thanks to Johnny and Rob for letting me win today"

Good effort!

until next time

DT

All happening

Time to break radio silence

Its Wednesday and to me wednesday is a nothing day, it is the day in the middle of space and time, where you make the transition between reminising about the last and looking forward too the weekend. So I thought in my infinate boredom to use this in the form of an Email.

Last weekend was a weekend of mixed results, Saturday involved some average road surfaces, covered in empty beer bottles, really big trucks, alot of gutter time and the wind.

Jonathon Lacey brought comment to this with the below quote;

"Now those who have read the CSV report on saturday would of noticed they have come up with a new definition of the word "moderate". "Tivers clocked two hours, 20 minutes, 31 seconds in moderately windy conditions." And al-Qa'ida is a moderate Islamic organization. Or were we in different races?"

This sums it up pretty well, it was above the realm of moderate wind.

Unfortunately I dont have a full picture of what happened on the road, because lets face it, after two puntures and a random offering me a lend of a set of 909's I was in the Sag wagon, or in this case Sag Coachliner. I think the driver was given a couple of bags of lollies to hand out to riders as they got on bored, although I witnessed quite the opposite, the driver demolished at least 3 bags while I was there.

Alas Alack

Sunday was a Different Story

Lets Face it....I was still fresh......and I was pissed off.

To the point I was out there at 9am for a 12pm TT start. The boss is back. I rode parts of the course, checked conditions, i was hungry, hungry like someone who lives in a third world country who hasnt tasted food before, but that doesnt stop them from wanting it.

After my installation ride I could confirm that conditions were shit.

TT suit up

After numerous taughting from other clubs and compeditors during the week I was amped. St Kilda in my mind possed the biggest threat, containing 3 Prime Estate Riders and a Former Exceptional Triathlete. Not often you get to race directly against your teammates, its showdown time.

Not to mention riders like Aussie World ITT Rep Tom Leaper, Miles Watson, Melb-Brat winner Brett Tivers etc. It was going to be an epic day.

Research is great for amping up, I knew all the winning times in the last 5 years, and had an Idea of the conditions for all of them. Only once had teams gone under 1 hour 30 minutes and that was in perfect conditions, netherless I was driven to break it, breaking it would give us the win. In a race like this its important to be even, not to blow up early or leave to much in the tank. So Sub 45mins was burnt into my brain for that first lap, do that and we'll have a chance.

For the First time since I broke my wrists I was on fire, its hard to describe, sometimes you just have those on days, where nothing can stop you. This also has its down side, perphaps I started a bit fast, I set the tempo for the first km or so to get everyone settled, though I didnt have a speedo, and every said wow you guys started fast!

With Damo onboard I knew we had a good engine for the tailwind, but his engine would be comprimised into the head wind, so I pulled the mega turns in to the headwind, once again a couple of times a little to hard, and with Rhys pulled the mega turns through the crosswind.

And this was the way it went, yelling encouragement, yelling instructions and chewing bartape for 64km. In the final stretch we forced the issue, I was in the 53t x 11t and spinning, hit the final corner full pace and sprinted to the line. I looked at my watch, wow, 1:26, holy crap, we might of won this.

We rolled back to the car were all our family and friends were and in the meantime they'd announced it.

Awesome

State Champion yes....

Get Angry and Stuff Happens

How things have changed form wise in the past 3 weeks....

Unfortunately through all this I was unable to get my new TT bike ready in time


Its going to be awesome, just need some spacers for the seat mast and a chain.

Thats all for now,

Tour time

DT

And the Road starts going up....

Well my usual winter training stint at Bright has begun, and wow how good is the weather. Coming from a couple of weeks solid in Ballarat it feels like summer, even if its minus 3 at 1500 metres, at least the suns out!

Tales from Day One:

With beth on the back end of the flu and Cal on a recovery day the day started with a light trundle out one of my favourite winerys, Boytons Feathertop.

It has one of the Best views going around, and it kind of makes you want to sit there all day. Above is the view from our table. But we had to leave and it was time to get serious, we came back into town over the Man Maker (tip road), it's a half dirt - half sealed road that runs up the backside of Mount Porepunkah reaching 25% at times.

It was then time to drop Beth and Cal off and hit some serious climbing, and what a day for it.



This is the road up to falls and If you look carefully you can see bogong hiding at the end of the valley,

And back over the gap to bright, a quick photo and time to put some warm gear on, and back to bright we go.

The next day saw an epic ride, First up to Hotham then over to Mt Beauty and back to bright. Another sensational day on the bike too. Although there was a trade off, the higher we got the colder it got, at least it was still sunny!


Beth joined Cal and I for the Hotham Section, doesnt she look like shes having fun. Better outline what she was wearing to earn the michelin man award for the day

- 2x PE Thermal Winter Jerseys
- 1x PE Short Sleeve
- 1x Windvest
- Arm Warmers
- Undershirt

At least she was toastie on the descent.


As For me, I cracked out old faithful. the Vredstien Cannondale Winter Jacket.Unfortunately you cant ride every road during winter, By memory I think cam attempted to ride this road last year and he hasnt been able to clip his feet back in since due to the amount of ice that encompassed his cleats. Made for an interesting descent anyway.

What else is news
- I have 8 overdue library books, and i mean really overdue
- Aaron Smith is now the President of Alpine CC taking the mantle from Rosco "GPS" Walker, congrats
- Hair is almost at Doctor Who length, although unfortunately there is about to be a new doctor and my dreams are shattered
- I need to shave

Whats coming up for the rest of the month
- Melb-Brat
- Club TTT Championships
- BBN TT series race 2
- Tour of Gippsland
- No Sleep due to "Le Tour" training (if you watch it in your knicks its considered chamois time, hence training)

Good times

DT

Bringing my A game

First week of holidays down, and a solid week of training involving dirt roads, 70kph winds and torrential rain.

Lets work backwards

Today I raced out at Little River, I was originally intending to go out to Eildon with Jono Lovelock for the 100km road race blackburn, but instead I voted to minimise the commute and head to the 80km race held by footscray cc. Needless to say we got there with only minutes to spare, kit on, roll away. Charles had a race in D grade, and has definately made an improvement over last year. Footscray has a very strong club, they dont have many riders that regularly compete at opens which means they have all these superstrong dudes, that are there every week, which means for awesome racing. I went into the race with the basic training instructions if the race isn't hard make it hard and that I did. Wind were gusting at about 45-60kph constistantly, and the way the 15 or so kilometres per loop worked out meant it had about 12km of strong crosswinds.

The selection were being made straight away, it reminded me alot of when I drove the car in the motorcade at Tour of colleraine on the third stage. The pace was rocketed over one of the small climbs into the crosswind and what resulted was echelons of 5-10 riders 10 metres apart for as far as the eye could see, it was a day I was glad to be driving the car playing Director Sportief. Anyway back to the race, on the first crosswind section people were going everywhere, one of those things where the road is only so wide and fits only so many riders across and the rest are in the gutter on the limit trying to push up into the rolling turns for protection, Jono Thompson was one of these unlucky dudes, who at the end of the day wasnt enough of a barsted to push in. By the time we hit the second section there were bodys flying everywhere, ofcourse I spend the tailwind section having a nap at the back, and when I looked up the Bunch had split and we were 20 metres off fanned across the road. With a bit of a dodgy move through the dirt I made the bridge to the lead group, which then over the space of the next 20km widdled down to about 7 riders. For the first time since breaking my wrists I was starting to feel a bit like my old self, I looked around at these guys and they were all showing the strain of the wind and the pace, but I was fine, cadence was good, HR was less than 130bpm, I was back! Unfortunately I think the others in this bunch realised the relative ease i was riding with and decided to leave me on the front at the end of the head wind section, usually I would sit up but not today, I attacked into the corner leading onto the crosswind section gapped them through the corner, and then drove it up the gutter, this put alot of people on the limit after a couple of kms driving a rolled off, with Chris Fry (RACE/SRT) and "Butch"(De Grandi) rolling through to keep the pressure on. The rest of the riders tried to swing across on to my wheel, now missing turns in a selection is not something I like, so I sat up and let those to guys go, the others guys just looked at me with that "don't you want to win this look", so I sat on for a couple of seconds waited for the duo to get 50 metres up the road and I attacked my group up the gutter, this time only taking one other with me.

We worked pretty well until the last 10km, when some action started to happen, "Butch" from De Grandi was the first to light it up with a big gutter drive, then Graeme Carlson attacked gaining about 20metres, we sort of looked at each other and had a chat deciding to leave him 20metres off the front until the final straight. Once we reached that straight it was a 6km straight crosswinded drag with a bit of a grind to the base of the You Yangs at the end. "Butch" from De grandi was the first to go, he rocketed off, with Chris Fry his Clubmate from Geelong as I soon found out just looking at us to do something, I got on the front and brought it back to a bridgable distance and looked at the others, Carlo then pointed out that this dude was his clubmate and he wasnt going to chase, so I counter attacked myself, looked back to see no reaction/confussion. I quickly closed the gap to the leader and luckily he was in drive mode.

Now drive mode is that zone of focus you get in when you have one goal, its that finish line you can see 4km ahead and you dont notice anything else, its just zoned all into there.

Luckily for me it wasn't till about 1km to go when he realised I was just sitting on enjoying a good draft, although i was thinking tactically, this guy was big and ripped!! I was trying to recover as much as I could because he looked like he could sprint, so with 1km to go he realised I was there and tried to get me to roll through, Now I'd been on the raw end of this deal before, I'd been on the front in a two man break with dan braunsteins about 10 months ago, so I was ready to religate my draft spot and I new he'd be thinking 1st or 2nd is better than a possible fourth, at the base of the hill he looked at me and I went, he responsed and then sat up as I blasted away.

Last time I raced this course I hunger flated on the last lap in a break and survived to get 2nd by about a metre, so it was good to return with a win. And on a good note the first person to come up and congratulate me at the end was Ben O'Leary, great sign of sportsmanship, Ben and I have abit of a Friendly Rivalry, last year it was always him and I at the pointy end, and that sort of competiveness drives you to train a little harder. So thanks to him for the congratulations.

Anyway My batteries almost flat and I'm almost at ballarat on the train. 4 hours with threshold climbs tomorrow, after a late night watching the tour, might hide on a bunch ride first.

More Soon

DT

check out the race report for today 4/7
http://tinyurl.com/l44sra

Join my Tdf league - Tour de Pharmacy and the password is awesome

Tour de Pharmacy :
Pos.	Team	Manager	Mn.	Pts.
Last Updated: 02/07/2009 02:41:19
http://fantasytdf.sbs.com.au/
0	echelon		0	0
99999	Team Fallafel		0	0
0	Ratboys		0	0
0	Telucia Mondo-GroverSport		0	0
0	Hakuna Matata		0	0
0	Rossdog Racing		0	0
0	Spencer Cycling		0	0
0	team souvlaki		0	0

Rolling Rolling Rolling

Here's whats been happening

Been doing some club racing with some good results, still undercooked, but the form is coming back on schedule. Last week was what I called and everyone in ballarat thinks, the longs hill world championships. It is the hill in ballarat that everyone tells everyone else they've been riding or doing repeats of, this anyway brings me to my quote of the week, if not the year, from the ballarat-sebas forum to Jonathon Lacey

"That makes Rob Doyle & Beth Canny world champions! If they have children (no pressure ...), they will be (i) blonde, and (ii) fast - perhaps to rival the scary Keating-Keirl super-cyclist breeding program that's going on in Creswick. These programs work! Look at Taylor Phinney. Hopefully he will marry one of the many starlets and lingerie models allegedly at his disposal, not a world champ cyclist, or it's all over for the next 30 years."

In fact im still laughing....

This weekend has a 20km Time Trial on the cards, this usually wouldn't be a problem being a Time Trial Specialist, but unfortunately im a Time Trial Specialist who has done any specialised Time Trial training since Feb, so it should be a cause for pain. Hopefully get some good photos, might take my phone and play on twitter. Hopefully Rhys and I can mount a bit of a local resistance, against jono and co, although cuthberts road is unrewarding even when you spend 6 weeks praying to the dead road/dead fox/wind gods, nothing ever goes right.

Another big word has influenced my life as of wednesday, Holidays, yes yes and yes, really excited to go out riding, skiing, riding, sleeping, looking up random things on wikipedia then editing them.

anyway, some photos






I was a lion

Dont buy normal knicks or I'll do this to you
Sometimes the road less travelled is less travelled for a reason
Bike Hubs new advertising campagain
Great Ocean Road

Word up

DT

4 out of 5

I have even surprised myself, in the last 5 days I have ridden 4 of them with witnesses. But what does 4 rides actually mean? This is what my return to "training" can be broken done too....

- 390km
- 4 hot chocolates
- 7 Mochacinos
- 3 pies
- 2 sausage rolls
- 3 nutragrain bars
- 3 Apple and Cinnamon Twist Bars
- A toasted focciacia
- A ham and cheese toastie
- A long neck peroni
- And Angry Cold Girlfriend who just wanted a short ride

Outstanding.

Luckily most of this time was spent in lorne, and the food was supplied by Grandma Shiels Bakery under the cumberland.

I have some photos to throw up in the next fews days.

Clanky, you can be my wingman anytime......

I chose that line over "thanks a negative ghostrider the pattern is full"

Still not convinced it was the right choice.....

The Go Go

I'm on a train... how exciting... There's a guy coughing.... could be swine flu.

Alots been happening over the last month or so, maybe to much to write in a "constructive piece of prose". It's almost at the stage where I wish I could put a power point presentation on here.

Dot points it is,

Racing
- Phillip Island was fun, the Extra laps Cyclesport gave us were quite enjoyable. I sat up on the last Lap realising i was 120th wheel. A bunch of others sat up and i thought I'll just roll in with them, they pulled into the pit, and I looked like a loner
- Club racing has been good, great guys, not to serious, about the only real riding I've been doing.

Bike/Sponsors/Random
- Last week I ended my sponsorship with YouandI-Ride.com/Bianchi
- The Ridley is Reborn
-This week I've signed on with Prime Estate Buyers Agents, same team as Beth, maybe she's checking up on me?
- Started writing up a Private Sponsorship proposal to help cover some of the expenses for Beth and I for the rest of the year
- Decided no matter how much I try I still don't like Anchovies, I think I used to, but I cant be sure.
- Dancing in the super market is not appropriate, no matter how catchy the song is
- Prime Estate kit is white, will it survive a ballarat winter?
- Moved house, I know live on top of a hill, this has it pros and cons

Cons
- I now have to ride up hill at the end of each ride
- I have a 60kph decent to "warm up" on at 6am when i meet phil

Pros
- The air is fresher?


Other notible events
- Jonathon Lacey should be in A grade
- Ben Clark should be in A grade
- Rob Doyle should win tattslotto so he can buy a boat


Coming up
- The Coast, for some trundling while battle gale force sea breazes, ocean spray, stupid tourists on the great ocean road.
- Maybe some riding?
- More chess titans
- Setting a new Sudoko top time on Beths Phone, (my current is 5mins on hard)
- Disrupting Beth from ever breaking that score
- A new bike.... Teschner SL9 with SRAM Red, have to sell the ridley first though
- Finishing Tony Hawk pro skater before Toby (housemate) does

Thats all for now as the laptop is about to go flat

Word.

Back on track

Finally after a couple of months off I'm starting to get back on track. Even though my current riding trends resemble more of a weather forcast then training.

Weather Situation
A deep low training system east of Ballarat will move and disapate to the southeast across the Tasman Sea today. Another trough may enter the mind from the west this afternoon. On Tuesday a high will build up but yet another cold front will come from the south on Wednesday. With possible scattered sessions tending eastwards towards the end of the week.

Forecast for the rest of Monday - not alot

That said tomorrow sees a reintroduction in SE into in my life, and an early start too. 5am its like earlier than a Catholic mass is, which says to me that not even god gets up that early.

Now I thought I'd leave you with this photo, mainly because i have an essay due in an hour. This is what Phill described as a "really nice tap". It's in ballan, in the middle of a field, and its really shiney. Unfortunately I cant comment on the water quality as all my biddons taste like old cordial/gatorade or just plain old mould.

Ciao Ciao

DT

Team Bikes For Sale

These are the YOUANDIRIDE.COM/Bianchi Demo Bikes from 2008, they're up for sale and are pretty cheap for bikes with not alot of use.

Numbers and Emails below

more from me later

DT

FOR SALE

2008 Bianchi 928 Team Barloworld

Ex-Demo RRP- $11,999

These two bike have been used for Bianchi Demo Days over the last year, they have been expertly maintained by the professional mechanics at Bianchi and Campagnolo before and after every ride. This is same model as raced by such professionals as Baden Cooke, Robbie Hunter and the rest of Barloworld Squad.

The two bikes for sale are in the 53cm and 57cm sizes,For full details on the geometry of these sizes please visit http://bianchi.it/common/products2009/Download/Bianchi_Range2009_Geometries_Road.pdf

The 57cm is equipt with a full Campagnolo Chorus Groupset and finished with a set of Reynolds Stike 66mm Carbon Clinchers (RRP $2999), the 53cm has been built with Campagnolo Chorus Also, but has been finish with a set of Reynolds Assault 46mm Carbon Clinchers (RRP - $2599) We're happy to ship at buyers expense Australia Wide, or pick up/limited delivery is available in Victoria.

Remember these frames are handmade in Italy, and as whole bikes retail for $11,999
Our Price 53cm - $6400ono 57cm - $6700ono. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact us,

Vaughan - 0419 013 815 vaughan@youandiride.com
Rob - robdoyle86@gmail.com or via this blog

Frame928 NANOTECH CARBON T-CUBE

ForkBianchi FF38 FORK FULL CARBON B4P - 1.1/8"

HeadsetFsa Orbit CE Plus

ShiftersCampagnolo Chorus 10spd

Rear DerailleurCampagnolo Chorus 10spd

Front DerailleurCampagnolo Chorus 10spd

CranksetCampagnolo Chorus 10spd

ChainCampagnolo Chorus 10spd

SprocketCampagnolo Chorus 10spd

BrakesCampagnolo Chorus 10spd with Reynolds Carbon Specific PadsWheels53cm - Reynolds Carbon Assault Clinchers (46mm) 57cm - Reynolds Carbon Strikes (66mm)

TireBBB Road Race

StemFsa OS-190LX

HandlebarFsa Omega Compact

GripsBike Ribbon cork

SeatpostBBB Inca Carbon Post

SaddleSelle San Marco Aspide

PedalsN/A

Mountain Life

If you haven't guessed thats a joke, I'm starting to think that there was someone name Mr Mount Helen, because i'm not exactly dieing of altitude sickness.

Anyway, it's been a week since my return to the bicycle, just in time for the early warning signs of ballarat winter.

Example 1 - Ben Clark sporting a mudguard on his Giante, on a somewhat dry morning, maybe the voodoo zulu gods have told him something about the upcoming season.....

Now in relation to my earlier point, as you can see from the picture below mt helen isnt much, to the right of the sign is mt bunninyong, to the left is mount helen.

Moving house require somewhat of a team effort to change gears, due to space resrictions.

My room saturday night...

My room monday morning....

The Cannys got a new car, beth thinks its prime estate inspired, what do you think?

Now this is a funny story, a recurring saga, see - http://doyletime.blogspot.com/2008/12/tomorrow-when-war-began.html
For the beginings

Cam McKenzie dropped around again, and his car died again. Well not die, almost catch on fire as his engine block turns to magma is probably a better description. We soon worked out why this happening, as the car affectionately known as "Lake Eyre" had a leak in one of its radiator hoses. To the point that you could water plants 5 metres away from under the bonet. as demonstrated below. I have a video of the leak which i'll endevour to put up eventually.

Well thats me for now, day off the bike today, 4 hours tomorrow, wednesday and thursday. I really need to get fit...

DT

Rat attack

I was thinking yeah! i'll write a blog, i'll put heaps of cool stuff in it. Then as soon as I opened this window, I was like what am I writing about, what did I write about last time.

Maybe it's due to my poor blogging recently, the once of twice a week blog has been outcast with a monthly/quarter yearly one. Hopefully times will change that.

The last week has been pretty weird even for me, 5 days ago and 9 hours ago i was being scheduled for surgery on my right scaphoid, 5 days and 8 hours ago I was being sent home being told I have nothing to worry about..... Thanks. More on that below.

I've also made the return to Ballarat, and wow it's cold, I'd forgotten, maybe its because i've been in a controlled climate mini ecosystem for the last 6 weeks, but wow, I've only been this cold before twice in my life, the first time I was hiking and left my sleeping bag behind and as a result slept in my pack, the second time was at the finish of last years melb-ballarat, when they made me stand on a corner, they didnt really make me, but i'd still like to thank everyone for lending me jumpers and thermal high-vis gear.

Enough of that, i'm back to head back to uni after a lengthen summer "break", yes that was a pun. Unfortunately, they've ultra high tech computer thingy wont let me log on or do anything, after many discussions with "My IT@UB" and student services, i've decided that I dont like them. I'm also moving house, to mount helen. Although a house in mt helen, doesnt sound right, how can a house been inside a mountain? shouldnt it be ontop? I know its named mt helen, like a hot chocolate is called a hot chocolate even if it's luke warm. But still theres a part of me that wants it to be like the pied piper of hamlen or that jules vern film where the guy time travels, it was quite possible called the time machine. All I really remember from it is that at the end he moves the machine to a different spot in his house so he can apear in the mountain where his hot futuristic girlfriend is, or maybe the cannibals were in the mountain. Then again it could of been in the past too. I think you get the idea.

Any way here's some photos, as you've guessed they're not in chronological order, usually I argue that chronological is stupid, but the truth is I try to do it everytime, I just don't possess the skills required to pull it off.

First ride in Bike kit in 2 months, this was taken long before the ride, sitting on the bed, being a tool.
Sherbert lent beth some radcore (radical combined with hardcore, spread it) sunnies, if "that dude who's name doesnt appear in my head no matter how long I stare at the wall for" rode bikes this would be the eyewear of choice. You know, had a movie made about him not so long ago.
First non bike gear ride, getting dark, no lights, it's fair to say I didnt pick up to many safety pointers after my tumble. Next time i'll do extra reading.
Dead skin, the new frontier in fake tan. Luckly the chopstick I kept shoving down there over the 6 weeks cleared most of it, but still, it stank, i was ready to cut my arm off by the time i got home.

There's a story behind this window, It's rather long so ill miss some stuff. Tour of Southern Gramps, we stayed in a haunted homestead at warrock, near casterton. This window, it's said that the original owner lived in, well more so the whole building which was the old mechanical workshop. So the story goes, a couple of years ago (estimation, it could of been the 80's or 90's) there was a wedding out at this place, after the ceremony the happy couple (estimation, they might not of been happy) had some wedding photos taken around the property, one set had this window in it, and in one of the set of 5 or 6 there was an old man in the bottom pane, this isnt the first time it had happened. Unfortunately the old man wasnt up to the technology of camera phones at midnight, so this is all we got.

As for the rest of the week it's moving house and making a gradule return to training, weather permitting of course

DT

2 months, 89 episodes...

38 people have looked at this page since monday. Deep down I feel sorry for them all, as I haven't updated it since monday, monday febuary the 9th. So I'll give you a light update.

Since Feb 9th I have.....

Raced the Oceania Championships (9th TT)

Had a haircut to look more cool, like Doctor Who

Watched the first 4 seasons of How I met your mother, in order

Watched every movie made in the 80's and was release in the late 90's on DVD. There's more than you think.

Watched Beth Race, Win and Start riding for her new Team.

Developed mad skills in adapted living, or mad skilz

Marshelled on a "Corner" for a BSCC race, when I say corner, i'm lieing, i was a straight piece of road.

Laughed hard when Matt Smith got Suspended at Bendigo.

Found some Christmas/Birthday Presents that I hadnt unwrapped

And Fractured my capitate, triquetrium, scaphoid and 3rd Metacarpal across 2 hands


Ok, so you cant see much, and realistically, there may not actually be anything on it, i was just the easeist to scan.

And to make this lighter, I thought I put some pictures in, because they're worth 1000 words. Unfortunately not to University Lecturers, but im hoping to find a journal with the theory printed so I may reference it for next time.




The White Kit, beth here sitting 2nd wheel in the last Prime Estate-Neo Metro Race, where she got the Bunch Sprint for 3rd.
Solo Victory........


There's a place in Melboure, a biblical place, a spiritual place, a place where they serve pizza by the metre and wine by the litre......

This photo pretty much sums up most days, a long walk/jog in the morning, couch time in the arvo, and another adventure that evening, although Uni has caught up and given me stuff to do which is now beginning to suck the life out of me.

How I've missed it

DT

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It's almost that time again......

2 Days is all thats left until the Oceania's time trial, luckily I like time trialling and can be somewhat good at them. What's even better about this concept is that my sponsor Bianchi shares this same sentiment.

This is my new weapon for Time Trial onslaughts, capped of with some "Uber" Reynolds wheels it will be quite the machine.

A few people have seen me cutting laps of the lake, allen key and spanner in hand trying to set the positions. A few people have also mistaken me for a triathlete and spat on me.

The good thing about Time Trials is they are predictable, they always hurt, they always feel they go on for to long, and there is always a photo of you looking torn on the internet or in the paper the next day. Luckly it means preperation is always the same, eat, ride a little, eat, and sleep. After this it's just the road race on the Sunday and then Break time! although my breaktime may involve a certain Track Open at Ararat and a certain Prime Estate Crit in melbourne. It'll be like shifting from working 9-5 everyday to just working casually on the weekends.

2 days till DoyleTime, I'm excited

DT

The week that was...

Well still without my laptop, I had to start using other peoples when they weren't watching. But to keep it brief and to not get caught, a photo tour is on the cards, and as we all know I'm not one for anything chronological.

Prime Estate Buyers Agents Race 1 at SKCC, it rained a whole bunch of C graders crashed, i went solo just incase the same happened in A, then they cancelled the race.

My arm warmers that are leg warmers, incase you didnt believe me. Beth also made the trip to melbourne without her cycling shoes, and had to wear a pair of mums runners around, unfortunately she wouldnt let me put old skool toe straps on her bike so she didnt race.

Vic park velodrome, or as it is now, big banked circle with lots of rocks and stuff. Would of been a very cool location when it was functional, beth and I tried walking madison slings, i almost stacked.
Possibly the reason I dont do to many other sports, blisters! or blister in this case, that over the space of an indoor soccer game removed most of the sole of my foot. It was worth it.
Yes we went to lawn bowls in Bright, yes we dominated the Vegie Hamper Raffle.
It's a hard life this lawn bowls business, i struggled, and coming from a professional uni student that says something.
When we drove to Bright this tree got hit by lightning and errupted in flames, 4 days later it was still smoldering, kinda like lake wendouree.
The trackie, a lot of people have asked me what I've been riding in my brief return to the track and here it is, the hillman circa 1954, outdoes BT blades left right and centre.
Hot Day and the train blow up, so a trainstation sleep is in order, also known as a "plat nap"
On the way to 47 degrees and how else do these pinncles of fitness celebrate the coffee stop of the bunch ride, but with a breakfast beer. I'm not sure these guys made it home safely.

For now its just Oceania Road Titles to go, and they're this week. I was going to do diamonds, but i've since learnt that the boy cant win diamonds so I'm rethinking the trip alltogether.

DT