I've been reading an interesting book called "The Big Book of Endurance Racing and Training" by Dr. Philip Maffetone.
I've been enjoying the book and it has made me think differently about quite a few things. One of these being what we fuel our bodies with and then expect to perform well in endurance events. I've just made my first batch of "Phil's Bar-The Ultimate Healthy Snack" Phil says it can be used during competition and pre and post event as well as a healthy snack and even a dessert.It's a complete meal-low glycemic carbohydrates-that include protein and good fats. It contains Almonds,cocoa,shredded coconut,honey,vanilla,salt,water and powdered egg white. I couldn't find powdered egg white yesterday so used whole egg powder instead. I couldn't help but lick the bowl and I think it's going to be a winner. It doesn't need to be cooked you just place it in the fridge to set.

I've been having trouble seeing the computer on the stem of my TT bike and came across a photo of a computer mounted between the aero extensions. I thought that is exactly what I want and I want it now. So into the farm workshop and half an hour later my computer is happily sitting between the aero bars where at least I will be able to see what it is reading. The cost,that's the best bit,zero. Took about half an hour from thinking I'm going to make one of those to completion. The weight is 23 grams so that's pretty good and also the environment benefitted as I recycled a 25mm black plastic stock water trough riser.

I've had a really busy week with my photography editing and getting ready for Saturday's end of year dance performance.
The Rutherglen Academy of Dance held their show at Rutherglen's Memorial hall. I had a stall selling my photos and also took a few shots during the performance.

I had 2 great days taking Photographs for the Rutherglen Academy of Dance on Friday and Saturday. I know recently this blog has had quite a few cycling stories but time to time I like to mix it up a little. The Dance Academy is fantastic,very professional and the costumes and set are first class. Below are a couple of action shots from the Dress Rehearsal.

There is some cycling news with some updated times on The Mt Buffalo Challenge with a change in the leader from last week and a couple of updated times and a reshuffle of the leader board. Also there will be a few more people posting times over the next few days including some women getting involved. Check out the latest here 

Last night I ventured up to Bright with my camera to see if I could get some decent photos of the Time Trial session being held on the Tour of Bright TT course. The Alpine Cycling Club run this every Monday night leading up to the Tour and post the results on their website here. Below are some of the images from last night's event. 

My cycling activities have been a little quiet recently as I try to recover from an injured knee after slipping on a flight of stairs whilst in Port Douglas. The worse seems to be over as yesterday I did a pretty solid 70km and this morning there is only a small amount of muscle soreness around the knee.
There were several cycling activities going on over the weekend. The Kelly Country Classic was held yesterday starting in 
Glenrowan and I have a few images taken at the start finish area. 

The Hume Veterans held their fortnightly race and you can view the results here.


Also the Mt Buffalo Challenge that we're running on this website is really hotting up with a new leader and some excellent times being posted. Check out the leaderboard and latest news. 

I may be going a little crazy making another cycling calendar after giving most of last years version away. But enough interest has been shown to inspire me to make a limited run for 2012. I'm certainly not doing it for any financial gain the truth is I really had fun making them last year and the feedback was great. So below are a few images under consideration for the new calendar.This time around it will be all local events and mainly local riders with the exception of a couple of shots from 2010 Tour of Bright.

Before you can ride off into the sunset, or anywhere else for that matter, on your new bike there is the process of getting it put together. If you buy the bike new form a bike shop then most of this work will be done by the shop. There is nothing like an email or message telling you that your bike has arrived and is awaiting assembly. I usually can't help myself and drive into town for a little new bike therapy. I've got a few pictures of my latest bike which is a 58cm Cannondale Slice Time Trial bike, that I bought from Wes and Kylie at West End Bike Hub in Wangaratta, being assembled ready for pick up.

I reckon it's pretty accurate to say that a Time trial bike takes more time to build than your average road bike due to the aerobar set up and internal cabling and I'm suggesting this build probably took Wes at least half a day or maybe longer as I talked him into taking some of these photos to use in this story. The first ride I had on the bike blew me away and I could not wipe the smile off my face I was so excited about how fast it went compared to my road bike. I would not have believed the difference until I experienced it for myself. But I do remember after doing my first 36km TT a couple of months ago that it may not be quite that much fun after all. There is no doubt about it TT's hurt but they are also addictive and for me every time I get on it I want to go faster. Below is the bike complete with a second hand rear disc from an ex triathlete in Brisbane courtesy of ebay. I'm yet to ride it with the disc but can't wait to see what difference it makes. Also those of you who are observant may notice different aerobars courtesy a bike fit with Steve Hogg. 

On my recent expedition to Port Douglas with my travel bike in it's S&S case it was interesting
to see my friends with their various forms of bike cases. My mate Barry aka Silver Streak has recently
purchased an Evoc travel case/bag for his Cervelo R3 and I took a couple of photos for him and I thought
I'd share them on the blog. 
I'm starting to see the benefit of having my bike packed into the S&S case and thought I would share my observations.
Pros.
Getting around the airport easily and checking luggage including bike during regular check in. No need to visit
the oversize baggage section.
My bike in its small case fits into any car for travelling, the evoc and other require a larger vehicle as they are quite bulky.
The S&S case is very tough and has cross members inside to prevent the case being crushed making damage to the bike unlikely.
Cons.
There is more work in the assembly disassembly, packing process depending on frame size.
Saying this I was only about 15 mins slower than Barry with his bike in the Evoc case when we
packed/unpacked our bikes. 
Needing a special bike with the S&S couplers is probably the biggest hurdle. You can pack any bike
in the other cases.