All Clear

The doctor (GP) gave me the OK to start riding and building up the distances (very slowly) so away we go. Starting at 10 kms each day monitoring the knee for swelling and pain. But I wont be pushing it in case it plays up before we take off for Sri Lanka in January. It is going to be hard with the three of us pulling in different directions with our own expectations but we should make it through unscathed. Well here's hoping anyway.

First Outing

I went for a one legged 10kms this arvo lucky no troubles or pain. Not quite one leg the op leg was used to reset the good leg pedal to the power stroke position and it was all flat... so all is right with the world.

All but the pain now

Today was the day of the OP so it has been a really hungry, waiting and napping day.

The Dr said it went well, the tear was cut out and so full recovery should be about 6 weeks away ie will have two weeks of holiday at 100% fitness -- I hope!

Anyway the local is probably still working as 4 hours after it still doesn't hurt any more than usual. Tomorrow we will see as I am going to work!

Stage 3

Good news of Sorts! There is a tear in the cartlidge the MRI shows it clearly and therefore the pain has a real source not an imaginery woosey one. Now to get the op in the next two weeks. Hope I then have enough recovery time befor we leave for Sri Lanka on January 7th But heh it seems that it will be a better trip than waiting to have the operation. Really six of one set of thoughts and half a dozen of another set of thoughts.

Stage-2

Well the $500 MRI is complete. They really pump us through, 30 minutes plus one after the other. and they run it 7 days a week I was there at 8:45AM today, a Sunday. As an experience I was surprised at the noise which made it hard to catch the few ZZZZzzzz i managed! 

Now to await the Surgeon's phone call some time next week....

Medical Intervention

Well I decided to finally pull my finger out and get the knee checked out!

Ok the Specialsts' prelim diagnosis is a Medial Cartilage Meniscus Injury, of the left knee with the X-Rays normal and showing no signs of arthritus phew!, but the proposed MRI will decide the actual treatment if any. Also the Coversyl has been fairly successful, 146/92 but the Local Quack has upped the dose to 5 mgs to try to get the BP below 140/90.  Strange thing I dont remember any impact so it must of happened when I was asleep???

I have noticed that I am now a lot less tired and don't often get a Nanna Nap in the arvo after work. And the little cough spasm is totally handlable as a side effect.

Wait and see if it starts to get worse....

Life Slips on...

well lots has happened and continues to happen. The father-in-law, Ken, passed away a couple of weeks ago. Now at least without pain. This probably pushed me to get to see a Doctor. About my knee and my obvious high blood pressure problems. Both things I have been avoiding admitting needed any treatment. To no-ones surprise I am now a daily dose of meds man and have gone to get the manditory knee x-rays before my appointment with the orthopedic surgion at John Flynns in a cuppla weeks time.

And on the bike... well the showers and Southerlies have continued and persisted producing one of the strangest Springs ever. The tank is always full the bushfire season has been non existent it just goes on and on.... Finished the commuter challenge and have watched the changes to Sextons Hill freeway by-pass occur at a much closer perspective than the cagers as they (and me on those dr days) fume up the hill in the traffic jam.

As if that was a traffic jam. But when there are no cars effecting anybodys progress, by any mode of transport, except for this 2km it is a noticible change in conditions. More updates when I get around to It LOL

Debris, Snakes

Todays windy commute was nasally punctuated by a few, 3, sharp pungent aromas. Road kill snakes. Spring is really rushing in headlong in the Tweed.

Shame that the traffic flits past unconcerned and unenlightented to the death and destruction being mete out just outside their exteral shells.

Commute to Continue

Well now that the DER is again financial. I will be looking forward to the commute to continue throughout the Spring and Summer . It may not last even now but that will be unforseen. Even though it is rather boring work, it is busy so the day day goes quickly. That all leads to the bit of time between riding seems short.

I am also looking forward to the end of these blasted South Easters and the return of the afternoon Sea Breeze to send me on my way each afternoon I'm on the bike.

Mur'bah Commute

Meeting tomorrow so I rang the DET office location and was told "no worries" about secure bicycle parking. They will let me use their undercover lockup. cool. Now I just need to secure the Netbook for the trip over Reserve Creek and it is all go. I think I will ride the Cypress rather than the Shogun as the route is hilly rather than the usual flat to undulating Tweed route.

Edit: the meeting went a bit longer than advertised and I didn't leave until after 4:30PM through the thick hot smoky air filling the Tweed Valley. Rode Reserve Creek Rd. as planned but needed to ride the last 3 kms in late twilight. Made it home with another 23 km on the commuter computer.

Joined the throng

Just a test posting to see if posting will do my tweet for me. Commuted home against the wind today. I thought it would be a nice Nor'Easter but it didn't really get that far round just an annoying crosswind. And the smoke from local fires on Watty Bishop Clotiers Creek made for a difficult to breath ride towards the end...

Last Day of Winter

Tomorrow is the official last day of winter. The days have been starting to be really nice but now the dry strong spring winds will be getting up and then the fires start. This week, being the last before permit season, has been bad and the next few days will be much worse. Riding will start to need the increase in winds usual for this time of year and the sunscreen will need to be packed on long rides. That is if i get to do any :( bloody old age.

I have been lucky this year no bombardments. Even though there are a family of 6 magpies in the yard! Keep your friends close and your enemies even closer.

Double Cudgera without pain

This arvo, Peter and Rick wanted to ride up Cudgera Creek Road. But they decided to drive to the Reserve Creek Intersection so they could get in a Norm watching the footy on TV after. I rode down Kanes against the moderate SE and arrived at the spot but no-one was there. So I rode off slowly towards Wabba on my own. As it turned out made it to the top and did a U-Turn and enjoted the descent. As i hit the bitumen the other two turned up riding their bikes. Still feeling fresh I choose to ride back up. They raced and I cruised no worries again. The fish oil and glucosamine seem to be doing the job, to the point of feeling more pains in my good knee than the bad one.

Any way turned again at the top and raced down meeting a car near the bottom and just avoiding the ditch on the side of the road. Still feeling pretty good I decided to say no thanks to the the ride in the combi home and chose to instead to take advantage of the Sou'Easterly and do a push along the freeway to Clothiers Creek, not droping below 30kms/hr on the Cypress hybrid. But the turn down Watty Bishop put an end to the speed. So decided to enjoy a dawdle home to finish with a 20km/hr average over the ride. Not bad when you include the 5 km of climbing on gravel and the Kanes Road undulations.

Anyway 40kms all up and one of the longest rides I have been able to go on without pain for a very long time.

I must be bored

This week i decided to "register... for the 2010 Bicycle Commuter Challenge!" with Bicycle NSW, not sure why at all. Got all the crap provided including an e_logbook in the form of an excel spreadsheet, which looks to have been created by a high school student. It required inclusion of few functions to actually make it at least a little automated.  FGS the sum() fn has got to be the most basic spreadsheet function and yet the sheet required the user to actually manually sum a column. For an organisation that is funded and where employees are paid and are not volunteers  it is a little amaturish. This may seem a bit contrite and petty but hey It's just an opinion

woops

Just read this Amazing insight ...

"Death happens outside the car. Safety resides within. What happens outside is an abstraction from the reality of this modern mobile living room on wheels. Outside has become the virtual reality of a video game. Somehow, if something goes wrong, the game will reset and they can pick up a new life; take on new ammunition and an extra dose of health"

Sun-day

Rode with Mark and Peter up to the top of cudgera creek rd on Sunday arvo. It was ok the knee was ok until right on the last short rise over th turf farm hill.. but it was at times a quick ride. We returned alomg the freeway untill the Round Mt overpass and then scrambled up the real steep rocks under the overpass. glad it wasn't wet it would of been really slippery. Anyway it was good to stop thinking about the bloody election. Cudgera Creek was also not much different to the way it presented a couple of weeks ago when I rode it. Smooth with little loose gravel -- having been only re graded and rolled last month. A couple of the corners were starting to show corrigations but they were avoidable in nearly all situations.

Also rode a rough track through the Cudgera Reserve throught to creek street and around back to Round Mountain Rd on Saturday when I rode down to Bogangar Public School to cast my vote.

Have bought a new bike computer from Caba Cycles to replace the rubbish Aldi one on the Shogun commuter. I bought it for $18 last year and as it needed new batteries at $15 it didn't seem worth it as it was only really working as  a speedo with a pretty erratic accuracy the odometer was way out with it recording 99km/hr often when it picked up interference. Not that I expect much better results with the echo only costing $70.

And I have bought a set of lights from Cell online and they should turn up soon so I will be able to restart night rides again soon.

pre election federals

Well riding to work may become a used to do exercise after this weekend. Having a job that is one of the political footballs at the moment will see my continued employment being decided by the voters of Australia. So continued commuting all depends on the election outcome.  I'm no stanger to this. I was a trainer during the 90's in the Labor LEAP program running in the local area. Labor lost that election to the Howard slashers waking up on the following Monday to no job. Now I will be facing a very similar fate if Abbott the mad monk gets in. I will see next week...

Still here, Just...

Boring update. Still riding not as often as my mind wants but my knees are very thankful. Gettimg in 3x30 kms rides a week. Mostly on the commuter riding home from work. But still getting on the simple mtb and even managed a quiet cruise to the top of Cudgera Creek Road, all without my knees more than twitching. I was surprised with the clean and smoth surface of the road, although the wheel tracks of the Rollers were still visible on the edges of the gravel road...

Lucky I brought a Towel

Mark, Rob, Adrian and me. Up early, 6:00am, to Mebbin 2010 Mud Marathon in Marks work van. Road to get to Cutter Camp was wet and slippery, with newly laid roadbase and slimy mud.  That was nothing, I say again nothing, like what was to be experienced later. The others had pre-booked entry I was left to make a late entry, and stand in a queue for 30 mins while they parked the van. I chose the 25km loop, lucky me. The other distances were all reduced, the 75 to 55 and the 45 to 35 due to the really wet and now boggy conditions.

The start was delayed and staggered with a loop of 3km covered by all riders the 25k'ers last to ride the loop. Mark and Rod started on the 45k loop and the 25k’ers had to wait 25mins for them all to get back (3k!) before we could start out, some turned the wrong way Adrian and Rob amongst them. Many riders decided that the mud on that very first stage was enough and pulled the pin (organisers suggested if you couldnt do the loop in 15 minutes you should maybe consider stopping). After a couple of hundred riders had traversed the same stretch of gravel track twice the surface was at least 50 mill thick layer of soft sticky mud, and we would all have to ride part of this section again to ride to the finish. It wasn't a pleasant thing to look forward to. (but more on that later when the home stretch ride was comparatively easy!)

The ride continued back through Cutters Camp and then the ride falsly seemed to improve, ha! that was all to change by the time the first descent off a maintained gravel road was complete. Everyone rode many of the same tracks with minor variations. At the 6km's point of the 25km loop it became apparent that there was to be a lot of push bike walking in amongst the pushbike riding. The uphills were really, really greasy in some locations you could barely make any headway even when you locked both brakes and stepped forward and tried to pull the 35 kilogram mud cacked bike after you. After the first downhill and a couple of crashes, one where the front wheel slid into a position at right angles to the direction of travel stopping dead with me flying into the mud, lucky I've been practicing a bit lately. Lost the computer on that flip and wouldn't know how far it was to go until I again made it to the start loop.

Some stretches were a greasy sticky orange mud, others grey and sticky and yet the worst(??) was the red sticky clay. It continually built up in thick multiple layers onto the surface of the tyre. Any excess found a way of squeezing and clinging to the sidewalls of the wheels. The worst effected bikes seemed to be the rear suspension models with the extra parts making ideal places to encrust more mud. All along the route riders from both sexes were, at the start using sticks to trying to remove the build-up especially when the wheels started to lockup. Later it was fingers and hands!  Many tried to ride the less steep hills and were mildly successful, although often they would spin to a halt and tumble only to be overtaken by a walker who they had passed on the way up while they cleaned the build-up from the frame.

The rest of the ride was much the same as the first half. Except the single track section was probable the most enjoyable, the number of riders pulling out or something else meant the track was not as chewed up but still as slippery and as it was downhill you, meaning I, could actually ride (??) the bike over it. It was fairly exciting even where I managed to hit a drop or log and slide into a shrub off the track, numerous times. I even managed to only crash and fall into the mud once on the way down.

This ride was not a speed record unless you could say that 4 hours (I think, but will see when the finishers get posted) is the record for slowest time ever for completing 25 kilometres. An experience none the less.

Later I heard Rob blew a sidewall and dnf, Mark was worried about the time and Rob’s wife waiting for him at the finish and so took the short way home therefore dnf. Adrian also dnf he had to get to work and ran out of time to complete, on his brand new Avanti shop provided loaner. Also heard that 7 rear derailleur’s broke from the mud and debris build-up. Also chains snapped and others got punctures that on the course could not be repaired successfully.

An experience where I could hear a lot of frustrated anger, swearing  at machinery and fellow riders. The riding through Mooball along Wabba Rd in some way prepared us for the conditions where to stay upright I needed to ride the grass debris verges, where there were any, and avoid being sucked into the sloppy wheel ruts of previous riders and hope the derailleur’s handled the debris.

I washed the bike in the creek near the van after finishing, getting some of the masses of mud off, then I lay in water cloths and all and managed to get the surface layer off me as well. I was not alone numerous riders did the same, boys, girls, women and men.

Lucky I brought a towel.

 

EDIT: Results....50-59 male

 

	2.38.24	Tim Harrison
	3.14.40	Frank Seidl
	3.24.20	Peter Young
	3.58.15	Louis St Laurent
	4.12.10	David Arrowsmith
	5.21.11	Michael Byrom
	DNF	Kevin Whitmore

To tree or not to tree

Just a quick post on th's mornings commute. Last night I was chatting to Mark about his rides on the weekend with his new shoes ‘n pedals . Had a few laughs over the few slow tumbles and the one lost it going downhill along a deep cow track. Kama was out to get me this morning. I took off tired from the get go and the sunnies were annoyingly dirty but left them on, which would add to my problems later.

The ride went uneventfully through the still air of the morning, mist  lingering in the small valleys along the route. Pleasant enough!

After 7 km’s I began the noisy section along the freeway bike lane. Passing the Eviron overpass bridge nothing was out of the ordinary, mind doing it’s wandering and being brought into focus as the next B-Double flew past.

Then the tree jumped out from the edge of the verge. No but nearly. Last week I saw the tree laying low and fully extending out across the north bound bike path and mentioned it to my daughter, so I should of been expecting it. But I had begun to tilt my head low to allow me to see through the clean section of the sunnies to avoid debris, big mistake travelling at 35 km/hr as it didn’t let me see far ahead.

At the very instant of seeing the tree and the knowing there was no way to stop before hitting it, I began to hear a truck coming up fast behind  me. This cut off the only escape route. I was thinking quick enough to not want to bounce under 24 wheels of a semi travelling at 110 km/hr.

So that left the only option ” hit the tree head on”, which I did, still clipped in. So I tested the somersault skills I have been honing on my gravel road riding. Although I have never tried one at this speed it wasn’t totally successful. Both the bike and myself ended up on sprawled out on the other side of the foliage.

More bark of me than the tree. Lucky it was still green and I hit it near the top zone, still far enough away from the truck and end to be both 600 mm high and more around. I scrambled to my feet and move the various parts all moved normally. Painful back, hip and elbow. Checked the elbow nice road grind there no blood. Next checked the bike front and rear wheels still round and true. Derailleur’s still functional. Only sign of damage the right shifter moved a bit and the new bar tape grazed, so it’s still rideable!

What to do next? Make a call? No! Ride the rest of the way? Give it a go! What about the f!@$&#$g tree? Move it off the bike lane? Yes! Moving the tree got the self aggression out and calmed me down to ride “normally “ the rest of the commute.

I didn’t get the time, during the rest of the ride, to dwell on my crash. About 2 kilometres up the road a Lindsay’s Bro’s B-Double did a scare the bike rider by deliberately drifting into the bike lane by about 600mm, close after my earlier experience.  Ah another ride in paradise!

Just after the Chinderah interchange the commuter rider from last week caught me and cruised past with a gid’ay. Didn’t struggle over Sextons Hill but was a little concerned with the Machinery Drive intersection. But it was an unwarranted concern.

A bit of an uncomfortable day at work but that was all and rode the return with relative ease, except I took the bike path up the rise of Sextons just in case I lost it! Another two minor incidents stood out. Getting squezzed into the gutter by a non indicating lane changing delivery van and another Lindsay’s Bro’s B-Double moved into the bike lane again. They must employ  a lot of disillusioned dropkick ute drivers.

Not so small...

Hot Mooball

Mark, Rob and myself decided to sweat it out... no that's not how it started.

OK

So we decided to go through the Mooball forest today, the usual root for me and as Rob was coming over Clothiers Hill Mark and he met at the bottom of the quarry hill to ride over to Reserve creek etc to Cudgera Creek. The start of the 1000 plus meters of ascending today over ~50kms through to Cooridilla Road(?). On the Wabba Road section another victim was claimed, Rob managed to get snake eye flats front and rear, changed the rear and tried to use a slow leaker on the front. This gaves us another 3 or 4 breaks until he finally used my spare, the freebie one from Minyon Falls ride. And in the shaded forest every thing was cool, literally. As usual I managed to find a way to do a sumasault, no damage.  Mark wasn't able to escape totally unscathed he developed a slow leak on our way through the cane fields between Reserve Creek Rd and Clothiers. He managed to scrape home with just a few stops for air.

By the time we were out of the forest and well down Smarts Rd the temperature had climbed to 38  °C and stayed that way all the way to over Clothiers hill past Duranbah Rd and onto Mark's. Mark and I both finished  3 litres of water as we got to his place and were still dehydrated. Rob only took 2 bottles and was well wasted, lucky he finished before the return over the hill. By this time my knees were a worry and I elected to get the lift offered by mark in his work van.

So a good ride but hell hot! We only manage 12.5k/hr avg speed.

Summer winding down

I've had the shogun commuter returned via Jeff on his way home today. I've had to work back until after 1800 the last 3 nights and wanted to get at least one commute in this week. So tomorrows the day. Meant to be mild easterly in the morning and a hot tail wind for the ride home.

Each arvo this week the family including the dogs have been getting a short 4km Skateboard, ride and run to the end of the road. The only one of us to take it easy was little legged Jessie sitting in the front basket after a distance of 500 meters not bad for a 13.5 year old tubby little dog. The temps have been a pleasant 28°C and slightly cloudy to match with a weak southerly.  

The excessive heat finally starting to show signs of releasing it's grip has shown in the number of cyclists appearing on the Tweed coast cycleways. shame that most of who see fit to disregard the mandatory NSW helmet law. The police if they cared to would have a field day. I have not heard of anyone being prosecuted once, twice etc

Oddball Crash

Doubled the Shogun down to Caba Cycles this arvo. Riding the MTB and holding onto the head tube to pull it along steering basically when required... until! On the bike pathe between Round Mt Rd and the skate park there is a sharp round a tree zig-zag. This is where the Shogun zagged when it should of zigged. the pedal's locked together riping the head tube out of my hand and completely losing it on the MTB.

A crash in the peleton but there was only one rider. Picked myself and both bikes up. a quick inspection showed only damagwe was a bit of bark off me and some bar tape scrapped off the the shogun... and added expense to the degrease repack and head tube bearing replacement I was taking it to the LBS to get.

Towards the end of the 5kms the left hand was getting a little worn out. The shogun was continually bucking over small , (or large), joins in the concrete paving. A few times I had to lift the Shoguns front wheel off the ground to keep some control. Then managed with luck to rebalance the Shogun and was able to put it down  again.

Anyway job done.

The Wet begins...

I think it's finally here and after 2 weeks is not getting old yet. Even  with the humidity climbing into the 90's at least the rain reaches the ground now! Ridiong so far has been quite easy through the isollated heavy downpours, continuous constant rain is yet to begin but that season is not far off. We can expect the rest of the wet to continue through to the end of April (i hope). A lot of trees and smaller plants in the region have been under extreme stress for a long time. Those that just hung in there through the extended dry will make it through the comming wet (50-50 chance?), too dry--> too wet = death.

Aside: managed a cute 25.4 km/hr average over the 56km commute yesterday without any noticable change to the left knee.

Riding with knee braces is extremely hot in this weather it's like riding with leggings on but they really do seem to help me get past the 20km point without over working the knee joints and so reduce the post ride pain. It is annoying to ride with so many self-imposed restrictions, sometimes you just want to apply the power for a burst of speed and exileration at others you feel like just spinning at a high cadence but the little voice stops it cold, whispering "Remember the post ride pain will stop you getting out on the bike again for a few days or longer, it's your choice!" 

So far it works most of the time...