I'm up in Port Douglas at the moment lolling around in the heat and humidity and loving it. Luckily or unluckily whichever way you look at it I flew with Virgin whilst my riding buddies from Melbourne all came on Quantas. Looks like they might be staying for a while. We came up to participate in a recreational event which raises money for a charity called White Lion with the event being run by an amazing woman called Lesley Stephens who survived a horrific sky diving accident and is an inspiration to all.
I'll put up a few photos of the ride as my internet keeps dropping out and I've already lost the first draft of the story I wrote.

Yesterday Wangaratta Cycling club's race was a 60 km road race from Glenrowan to Winton,Lurg, Greta and back to Glenrowan. We had a good bunch of maybe 14 riders give or take a couple I'm not sure. It was to be a handicap race but we had quite a few riders from out of town so it was difficult to give handicaps. It was decided the race would be a sealed handicap, meaning everyone started together and the results including handicaps calculated after the finish.It was quite entertaining watching Anne checking everyone's legs out to gauge their possible ability. I thought I should have got a good mark seeing as I reckon my legs were the skinniest but somehow that was not to be. We had a pretty hard race with the guys from the Alpine Cycling club pushing the pace and working hard. I forget the results but I'll put up a couple of the photos of us all standing around at the end wondering what was going on. As an afterthought I just looked at the ride file from my cycling computer and the race average speed was 38 kmh so it was a decent pace.

I've just added an image gallery of photos I took yesterday as the Keith Esson memorial race passed through the Wangaratta area. The race is put on by the Shepparton Cycling Club and there was a strong field including some locals having a good hit our on a pretty warm day. The best result for the local riders was James Boal who finished 3rd in A grade and looked to be flying up Taminick Gap. To view the image gallery click here.

I have a custom steel framed bike built by Ewen Gellie that has S&S couplings fitted into the frame so it can be pulled apart to fit in a special travel case. After my last bike fit my position is now much lower in the front so rather than put a -17 degree stem on my bike I asked Ewen to cut nearly 20 mm of the head tube of the frame. I was also hoping this might mean the bike fits into the travel case without removing the fork which I currently have to do. Unfortunately it still didn't fit after the modification,I reckon I need another 10mm off which we don't have. It was worth a try and I still have room to slam the stem if I want.   

I've put up a few photos from Sunday's stage of the Jaco Herald Sun Tour here

From what I hear it was a tough day's racing yesterday. Strong winds to contend with and it look's like Saturday's TT was just what Bernie Grealy needed as a warm up before taking out the Hume Vet's Hcp held at Benalla. 
Race Distance: 66 km
Weather: Cool to Mild, Very Strong Westerly Winds
Total Riders: 23 entries (DNS 2 : DNF 1)

1 - Bernie grealy (22) 2.01.31 (32.59 kph)
2 - Graham Davison (22)
3 - Chris Wilkins (22)
4 - Graeme Neilsen (28)
5 - Peter Gottschling (12.30)
6 - John Myles (12.30)
7 - Mick Carmellotti (12.30)
8 - Peter Brown (17)
9 - Colin Stokes (17)
10 - Mathew Grealy (scr/4)
Fastest Time: Mathew Grealy (scr/4) 1.46.13 (37.28 kph) 

Yesterday WCC held an individual time trial starting at Glenrowan heading down the old Hume Highway towards Winton before returning via the same route. The distance was 20.6km and conditions were warm with a South Westerly wind meaning a cross head wind on the way out and a cross tail wind coming home. A couple of rolling hills including the rise up into Glenrowan made for a tough course. A field of 9 turned up to start and below is the results. Apparently most had been out on a pretty torrid bunch ride that morning but still managed impressive rides. For me it was the second ITT on my new TT bike and I managed to go a little faster than the first time so I'm happy with that. Thanks to Anne,Dave and John for running the event.
I'm in Melb. for the last stage of the Jayco Herald Sun tour so I hope to have a few photos of that to post in the next day or so.  
1. Tully Lyster 28.43         Average 43.0 k/hr

2. Rhys Lyster 29.09        Average 42.4 k/hr

3. Jame Boal 29.38          Average 41.7 k/hr

4. Allan Thrum 30.39        Average 40.3 k/hr

5. Tony Reekman 32.51  Average 37.6 k/hr

6. Laurie Lyster 33.26      Average 36.9 k/hr

7. Gavin Frawley 33.44    Average 36.6 k/hr

8. Jake Morgan 33.51      Average 36.5 k/hr

9. Bernie Grealy 34.49     Average 35.5 k/hr

I've just been going through my photos on the computer and realised just how many get taken, looked at a couple of times and then left basically taking up hard drive space. With that thought in mind I've just added 111 images to a new gallery of riders suffering up Mt Hotham in last year's Tour of Bright. I've entered the race this year and I'm not sure if looking at them was such a great idea. 

There was a time where if you rode a Cannondale you were in the minority. Well, not anymore,at least if you are in the Wangaratta area. Cannondales dominated the peloton during the Wangaratta Cycling Club handicap held at Elderado on Saturday afternoon.


Also  this morning's Mt Buffalo Challenge 3 out of 4 bikes were Cannondales and we could of had 4 out of 4 if Laurie had ridden his Supersix instead of his faithful Litespeed. If you look at the Mt Buffalo Challenge post I've updated the times.

Saturday's race was held at break neck speed and I found myself in the B grade group. The hammer was down from the start as we had the likes of Tully Lyster and Ashley Baines (making a rare appearance at club level)and others chasing us down.
The whole race came together during the second lap of the course and then it was pretty much a case of trying to hang on to the wheel in front until the finish. As the pace lifted to another level on the undulating rises heading back to Elderado I redlined and was dropped finishing a few minutes off the pace. Congratulations go to Gavin Frawley (on a Cannondale) for getting the win in the sprint (it must of been the way we looked after him in our bunch) and Tully Lyster (on a brand new Cannondale which was only put together a few minutes before he had to leave for the race) for again clocking the fastest time.


Everyone who rides and races should read this article on the CyclingTips website about how to do rolling turns. I know it helped me to improve this area of my riding as well as talking to other experienced riders about the subject.

After a bike fit I am given a diagram of my bike with all the relevant important measurements. The image below is an example of one of my bikes with all the relevant details. 

Now my main concern is I have another bike that I need to set up the same. This needs to be done with precision as I don't want spend good money and time going to the trouble of getting a bike fit and then making mistakes myself when transferring the settings across to my other bike. If you can get your hands on "Bicycling Australia" September-October 2011 magazine there is an article by Steve Hogg about how to do this accurately.  

I don't need all the info from the drawing. I'm really only interested in Seat height, Seat Set Back, Seat Nose to handlebar distance, Seat to handlebar drop. There are also a couple of other important things that are not included in the above diagram, Seat angle relative to horizontal and handlebar angle, these are written on a separate form I'm given at the time of the "fit" 
I found an App for my Iphone that turns it into a digital spirit level that is excellent for this and saved me money by not having to purchase a digital level.

Over the past couple of years my position has changed quite a bit. When you add in things like new shoes and pedal system changes performing this procedure accurately is very important. Now I have to get the handlebars on my second bike much lower than previous "fits", this has probably come about by the fact my body is becoming more used to riding and from increased functionality by doing regular stretching, some strength exercises including abdominal muscles. Luckily it's a steel frame and has a little extra Head tube length that can be cut down. The alternative is a -17 degree stem. But this bike has to fit in a S&S travel case and currently I have to take the fork out to make it fit. I'm hoping with the modification to the head tube I'll be able to pack it without fork removal.