If you actually come to my site rather than reading the RSS feed, you’ll notice that I have a new theme on here.
I actually won this theme from “From The Couch” which also forced me to sign up on Twitter (you should see the details on the right). It’s a limited edition theme in which only 40 (actually I think it ended up being 43) were given away. I’m not using all the features of it (yet) but I like it. I think it looks pretty spiffy!
One thing I do still need to do though is get a proper logo to chuck in the corner at the top. Not 100% sure what I’m going to do with it, but might have a bit of a play around with something at lunchtime.
On another note:- I’ve got another new best time in to work. I’ve got it down below 43 minutes now (42:49 to be exact). I’ve got a feeling that this may stick until I get SPD’s for my bike (coming when Mr Rudd gives me our “economic stimulus package”).
A quick update. I broke my top speed on the way home. It’s now 51km/h. I think that one will be sticking for a while. 30km/h tailwind downhill ftw 
So I got my bike serviced on Tuesday and rode it in today. Gee, what a huge difference. It’s better than new. The main reason for that is that I misread the information on the tires, I thought it said max of 40psi (so I was running at 35psi, which is the max my little hand pump can do), but in reality it said 40psi minimum. They’re now at 70psi.
I got some mudguards put on too as last wet morning I rode in, I ended up with a very wet (and brown) backside. Also, my bike is now legal… it has a bell on it, w00t 
With this, I almost did a personal best time (current PB is 46:22) at 47 mins exactly. Would have been a personal best by quite a long way if it wasn’t for the headwind through Spotswood/Yarraville and the slow people walking through Flinders St Station (normally I’m pushing the bike at 6km/h through there, this morning it was 4km/h). Almost a new top speed too at 42.3km/h. Had to slow down for some turning cars *shakes fist*.
I’m also riding home in the afternoon now too. Difficulty is around about as hard as it was riding in when I first started.
Ok, so I’m riding into work now and have a fancy new bike computer so I can get all the fancy stats (Speed, Distance, Cadence, Time, etc).
So my current stats on this are:-
Unfortunately I don’t have average cadence, but when I’m doing around 25km/h my cadence is around 70, so about average for an amature bike rider.
Even though I’ve only done the ride 3 times now, my trip time is improving significantly. First ride took pretty much an hour exactly, next ride was 50 mins, so I’m definately getting fitter (which I guess is the point).
Hardest part of the journey is along Footscray Rd. There are two bridges, first one isn’t too bad, but the second one is a killer for me. One of the two areas that I could significantly improve my time. The other being the ride through Yarraville/Seddon.
So, I’m officially an idiot (not that there was any doubt before). I figured I was up to riding the full distance into the city, so last Sunday I jumped on the pushie and figured I’d give it a bash.
A bit of pre-planning was in order so I printed out a couple of maps for the confusing sections of the ride (right now you can probably see where this is going).
So, I’m happily riding along, get to Seddon, see someone on a racer and figured “oh, they must be riding into the city as well”. Forgetting that this was the bit of the ride where about 5 bike tracks merge, I thought I’d follow them in, totally ignoring the maps I had printed.
Turns out they weren’t riding in to the city.
My path was meant to drop me off at the docklands. I didn’t realise I had taken the wrong path until I ended up at Maribyrnong Rd in Ascot Vale about 10km from where the paths split.
It’s times like these that I’m glad my phone has a GPS.
I worked out a way into the city (may not have been the shortest way in, but I generally knew where I was going).
It’s pretty much a slight uphill from there until Flemmington Rd (and part of), so I chucked it down a couple of gears and took it easy in.
Basically, what was meant to be a 16km journey ended up being 25km (according to Google maps). Surprising thing was I did it fairly easily.
Hardest part of the journey was the 3km ride home from the train station (bringing the total distance to 28km) since my legs had cooled down.
I picked up Rock Band on Friday. Finally after over a year waiting and a sequel already released in the US, it’s out downunder and boy is fun! Now, I’m probably a bit crazy buying it now with Wrath of the Lich King coming out on Friday (w00t a day off work) but whatever
I’ve finished the drums on easy, but I still need a lot of practice. Drumming is really hard. Come Monday I had drummers wrist (yes, I’ve already heard the jokes).
Ok, time for a bike update. I’ve been a little slack the last week, only having ridden twice, but one of those was a 14km ride to Altona and back. Fitness wise I was fine, but my legs suffered quite a bit. Hopefully I’ll be riding all the way into work soon. Fingers crossed.
So I got my bike yesterday, it’s pretty sweet. Reminds me how unfit I currently am though. I’m only riding 6km’s (only done it twice so far) at the moment (takes around 15mins), but I’m quite puffed at the end of it. Quite a bit less than the 15km’s I need to be able to do to ride to work, but I’ll get there eventually.
So as for specs, well, it’s XL in size, gunmetal grey in colour, disc brakes, suspension on the front forks and under the seat, the gears you just twist the inside of the grips on the handlebars, 24speeds (I think, if they’re all accessible from each other – 3 on the peddles and 8 on the back). All in all it’s a pretty smooth ride.
I spent quite a bit on accessories (a bit more than I was expecting to), but at least now I have everything that I should need (helmet, gloves, pump/repair kit, lock, lights, water bottle), the only other thing I can imagine I may need is a rear mudguard for when it’s wet (brown stripe up my back if I don’t get one).
The guy that sold it to me was really nice, didn’t seem to try to rip me off either, which is good. Spent about an hour and a half at the store chatting to him while he built it.
Anyway, that’s pretty much it for the bike, I’ll probably keep updating this on my fitness levels though. Hopefully it won’t take me too long to get fit enough to ride all the way in.
My bike
Well. Hello. I figured I’d start a blog. Not because I really have anything interesting to say, but mainly just for the sake of it. I guess as boredem relief. Great thing is that there’s a lovely iPhone app that will let me write this on the train.
I guess the biggest thing for me at the moment is that I’m buying a bike (pushie, not motor). I figure I should work on my fitness a bit, so with a bit of luck, I’ll be riding in to work (about 15km). Found a nice hybrid bike on Sunday and put a deposit on it. Fingers crossed I’ll get it tomorrow. Photo’s will be forthcoming.
In other news, the end of the snow season was on the weekend. Unfortunately I didn’t get up as much as I would have liked, especially with the bumper season they had this year. Only 4 days on the snow (over 3 trips up), but all was not lost, I made some real progression this year! Believe it or not, after 4 (or is it 5?) years of snowboarding, I can finally jump, and land sucessfully! I must thank Richard for giving me the confidence to try and keep trying to do this. Hopefully I don’t forget it all by next season. I must get back to NZ next year.
So I guess that’s it for my first post. I’m sure not many people will actually read this post though (not even expecting many visitors in general) but hell, it’s a nice outlet to have.
