Commuting to Work

I now have an orange Rotovelo (RV) to commute to work and back each day.
I will keep the Baron for week and weekend bike rides.

The RV is not new and is taking some time to set up to my liking.
I have been sorting out tyre pressures, steering, lumbar support, boom length and gearing for the riding side of it.
Because of the ease of carrying equipment, I need to sort out the organisation on the inside.
For example: location of tool kit, storage bags, instruments, communication, sound system, batteries. It is going to be fun. It reminds me of when I used to race kayaks, only drier and a lot more internal space.

Stablemate

The Raptor will have a new buddy soon. I hope they get on together.

More news soon when he/she arrives.

Who is it?

Hint: Orange colour and more than two wheels. :)

Wildlife on the Cycle Path

The south freeway cyclepath was teaming with wildlife this morning.
A two metre snake, two bobtailed goanna, three rats and a hawk.
I also saw many cyclists as well. There were many groups, small groups ob TT bikes and many pairs of cyclists working against the 20km/hr headwind.
I met a lovely couple at the food stop who are training for a big event in NZ which attracts 10 000 riders.
My ride was further rewarding as I managed a 25km/h average over 110km.

Pedal Prix Busselton 2016

I journeyed down to Busselton to catch up with the Pedal Prix and what a blast it was.
These machines are awesome. Some are home made and some are production models. The frames seems to all be out of chrome moly and the fairing can be a combination of coreflute, fibreglass, perspex or carbon fibre.

The formula is very well regulated as many school teams from Primary school age to Secondary and then the open and master classes.

The speed of the top teams is very fast. They were, on average completing a 900m lap in under one and a half  minutes. I'll let you do the Math on that.

If you can get to a pedal prix event, then do it. The people who organise and ride these machines are as awesome as the machines themselves.

Upping the average

I think  house maintenance may have a postive impact on my cycling.
After hours of painting and repairing house parts which included some serious mileage walking up and down stairs has quickly built up  my power output on the bike.
You could add exercise regimen to that as well.

Less than a month ago my riding average was around 23 km/h. On the last three rides I achieved an average of between 25 and 28km/h.
The rides were on the same roads na dbike paths that I always ride. The weather was changeabe. On one ride it was dry sunny and windless on the outbound. Inbound was with a headwind, rain and bitter cold (all on the same day). Outboudn was 28km/h. Inbound 25km/h.

Yesterday's ride around the river to Shelley bridge and return was in glorious weather. The wind shifted from southerly to south westerley. So a little wind assistance. The scenery was glorious and I stuck to a high cadence that was comfortable but not too difficult. My average was 26km/h.

I hope this trend continues as I would love to have an average speed in the 30s.
The house mainteneance is all complete too, so I will have to find more time for the set routines on the exercise bike.

Post Delirium

April to August is a long while to give a report on the Delirium. But it has taken a while to feel like talking about it. There were/are many questions about what actually happened.
Some things I did very well and others caused problems.
In summary:
Started too fast for too long - Sitting on a HR in the high 130s.
I got it under control sometime after the first hour.
Ate too little - I was so excited I failed to follow  my plan and start eating straight away. I did not eat enough during the ride. I just could not get the food down and felt nauseas if I forced myself to eat.
Drank too much - or so it seemed as I had a full bladder every 30 to 40 minutes. There must have been an ocean in there!
Maintained the prescribed intake of electrolytes.
Kept to my rest stop plans.
Sat in on some great long drafts to boost distance.
Kept away from the very fast packs.
Used good cornering lines to maintain speed and effort.
Second place in my age group. Beaten by about 15 km.
Missed the presentation but received the second place medal in the post.

At around the 12th hour I went in for a two hour sleep. After an hour I got up to pee and promptly passed out and had an atrial fibrillation (AF) episode.
Ambulanced off to emergency where they treated me as a dehydrated cyclist. Trouble is I still argue my fluids were up and I was not dehydrated - something else was happening.

That was the end of my effort at 285 km. I was very disappointed that I had mismanaged my event so badly. I was very despondent about the whole cycling hobby after that and didn't touch the bike for a month.
I started doing small 20 - 30km rides. I went out to enjoy the view and company. I experimented with a higher cadence in a lower gear. I wore my heart monitor to record HR against physical effort so as to know the reasons an AF episode occurred and why I passed out.

Im currently riding around 150 km a week and enjoying cruising around. I have not had an AF episode for two months. On a longer ride I do not have to pee every 30 minutes. Its more like every hour to 90 minutes. I have not taken my electrolytes for two months either. Are all these things related?

Perth Recumbent Riders

My good cycling buddy Glen created this group and we have had a number of rides in the past two months. You can view all the action on Facebook if you search for Perth  Recumbent Riders.
If you live in the region of Perth, and ride a recumbent, then join in on the next ride. It would be great to catch up. The group is for bikes and trikes although trikes out numbered bikes at the very first ride.
Two wheels good. Three wheels trikey!

Little Covet Garden

A cold winter's ride started last Saturday morning under blue sky and a steady northerly breeze.
I decided to go check out the new "Fairyville" in Little Covet Garden in Maida Vale.

The ride out down the Freeway, Roe Highway, Hawtin Road, was relaxing. I was hiking along at a good pace and really enjoyed having the cycleway to myself (Calculated average of 28km/h, which is brilliant for me!). Along Hawtin road I did not have one incident with other road users. This was my first ride on roads since April and was wary but relaxed by the courteousness of drivers. At slow points or narrowing of the road cars would not squeeze but rather wait until I cleared the control. I gave a friendly thank you wave as they passed.

Fairyville at Little Covet Garden is delightful with colourful building fronts. There is a town square and of course many fairies going about their daily business. You can book your own tour of the garden and fairyville at anytime of the year. The garden tours are extremely popular.

Two minutes after leaving the rain started and the wind whipped up to a strong headwind.
The rain jacket was doing a good job, however the rain was being driven sideways by the wind.
Each raindrop felt like a tiny needle stabbed into my face.
Not to be outdone I lifted my scarf to shield my face. This immediatley brought relief.
I was breathing fine until the scarf was completely soaked and would be sucked into my mouth at each breath. So it was back to stinging needle stabs.

Back home after an hour and a half, a hot shower fixed all numbness out of  my face and other parts.
I tell everyone I had a good ride and was only caught in one shower of rain...that pelted me and lasted for 90  minutes. No matter, I still enjoyed the ride.

Delirium 24 hour cycle race

After months of training I am as ready as I will ever be for the 24 hour event.

The bike is working well, I have all my spares packed, food, water, pit crew is primed ready for the start on Saturday.

I am quite excited and really looking forward to the challenge. I do hope the rain gods stay away for this one.

There are more than 70 solo riders and more than 31 teams so the 2 km circuit will be full of riders.

I am hoping to be able to draft a group going at about the same pace.

Other than that I am not in a hurry and will be plodding along 'tortoise' style to the end.

If I can crack 500km I will be ecstatic.

The ride is also a fundraiser for the institute of respiratory health, so if you feel inclined to give me added motivation you can donate here:

https://www.mycause.com.au/page/123515/cycle-to-breathe

The progressive results are also posted at: metarace.com.au

Cheers

Deliriously Back in the Saddle

After a very long hiatus I am back to regular cycling.
Actually I have been at it since the start of the new year - a resolution I have been able to keep.

I am not quite light enough for the Baron, so the commuter bike has been pressed into
daily service.

The biggest change I noticed was the much greater volume of cyclists everywhere. Before, I might pass or get passed by a few cyclists. Now there are hundreds of them passing me!
Perhaps I am not as fast as I used  to be. :)

What hasn't changed is my enjoyment of the ride. I have really missed getting out, riding with mates and enjoying the scenery.

Recently I had a "Nike" (Just do it!) moment and registered to ride in the Delirium 24 hour bike race in Busselton. Is something wrong to think cycling for 24 hours will be fun?
The training at the moment is fun and gives my cycling a targeted purpose.

I watched part of it in the pouring rain last year and thought it was a super well run event and would be fun to be in a team.
Rhe race has been moved to Busselton and the course is mostly newly laid asphalt and very, very flat.
It is a rectangular 2km lap. So the ride is in a great location on an excellent circuit.
I hope I don't get too dizzy and I have way too much fun!

If anyone has got any tips or hints on how I might survive this madness please tell me via the comments.

Cheers