3rd Annual Tour de Stupidity

Boxing Day 2008 - the 3rd Annual Tour de Stupidity
In late 2006, the much awaited bicycle lane of the new M7 motorway was opened. With it being so close to BTi, Dave and Mike, they insisted on riding it on Boxing Day. From start to finish, it is a little over 114km when you include the M2 motorway. In 2006, Boxing Day was a sweltering day, 36C, hot northly winds, and unknown to the boys, there were no waterstops along the way, and little shelter. Between the 3 riders they had a bidon each, and a handful of snakes to get them through. I even think one bidon had a leak just to add to the adversity. By the finish of the ride, the Tour de Stupidity had been born.

In 2008, 5 riders made the Tour. BTi, Dave, GK, John (a work colleague of Dave), and myself. We set out at the reasonable hour of 7:30am with overcast skies but quite warm and humid. No real cracking pace was set, knowing what lay ahead. As we went over the top of the Elizabeth Drive "peak" Dave and I setup a mini paceline, dropping the others. In an effort to get more speed into my legs, Dave and I kept swapping turns on the front, much to my demise in the final sprint at the turn-around. I was on the front with 200m to go, and knew full well Dave would blast on past at the end, I had a little in reserve for the prime, but not enough to kick when needed.


On the return run, I felt really good on the climb over Elizabeth Drive, and then kept it going on the downhill glide to the M4 interchange where I waited for the boys to catchup. From there, some were starting to feel the pinch. The sun was now shining brightly and the temperature started to top the 30C mark, added to the slight headwind on the return run. From the start of the M2, I was starting to feel the heat, and rather than ride at the slower tempo of the others, I rode on at my own pace. After 4 hours exactly (for me anyway), the 114km was covered. No break-neck speed, but a good outing for all.
At the finish, the cold drinks flowed all round. Dave the drain put away 2x 750mL (apologies Dr Langles - ed) milk bottles quicker than I've seen done before, and the shade of the service station was most welcome. And so ends another Tour de Stupidity. What weather will the 2009 Edition bring??

So, 2008 is rapidly coming to a close. And with that, the time for racing is almost upon me. The last 3½ months have been really productive trainingwise. Since September I've ridden 1650km on the road, 1000km on the indoor trainer (weather hasn't been great), and shed just over 5kg. While modest for most riders, it has been a hard slog at times both mentally and physically, but consistency has been the key. The weather wasn't great, but I'm thankful my neighbours put up with the indoor trainer. I'm really looking forward to getting back into racing.


The new toys before their inaugural ride on 23 Dec 08. Had plenty of problems getting the tyres on - broke 3 tyre levers in the process. Left them for a week stretching before I even dared hit the road. But they are quick!

Guess who's back??
Have a guess who snuck back home and competed in the Randwick Botany Bike Bug 500??

Yep, our favourite Cycling Journo, Jonesy! He did it pretty easy, even admitting as much after the race.

New Toys

Well, after a really busy year, and deciding 2009 is going to be my year of racing (note, only about 10% chance at best I'll get to Italy with the boys in 2009), I went out and bought myself a set of racing wheels. It wasn't that hard a decision with all the saved money from working plenty of long hours and therefore very little time for spending anything. After the world "financial crisis", the price of everything took off in Australia as the Aussie dollar took a major dive, so I bought these from the UK as they were the cheapest by far. Cunning plan I thought. After buying them on the 19th November, they arrived in Oz on the 25th November, and sat there. Oops, caught in Customs. Waited until the 28th to receive my Customs notice, filled out the forms to register myself as an importer, and paid the GST, they were released on the 3rd December. Friday 5th of December, they were finally delivered, still $300 under the best price I could buy them here after all the fees, GST, shipping and purchase. Enough said.

Anyway, Saturday was supposed to be a 3 Valleys ride with Dave, BTi and Knappster starting at about 7:30am. I wasn't going to have time to get these new wheels built up overnight (I needed rim tape and tyres etc), so was looking forward to giving them a test ride either late Saturday or on Sunday. So what happened next?

I missed Saturday purely due to fatigue, sleeping in and a migraine. All of which had been building for a few days/weeks. Late in the afternoon I forced myself out and got the gear for the new wheels, and did a lazy 40km in the Park hoping to clear my head, and to back up my 50km ride to work on Friday while my car was still being serviced. I felt guilty missing the ride with the guys. Then BTi called me Saturday night saying he wasn't riding Sunday because he has a fractured eye socket, and bruised shoulder - caused on Cervelo corner (see http://langles.blogspot.com/2008/12/grazed-anatomy.html for details). But not to be outdone, Knappster had earlier come-a-cropper courtesy of another misfortune after only 300m! Gerard smashed a brand new helmet and ended his ride there a little worse for wear, and BTi crashed his new month old Titanium bike - luckily without and serious damage to it, but an ambulance ride to hospital for himself! Anyway, seems both BTi and Knappster are in good spirits and should be back in action shortly.

I am so thankful that I slept through my alarm and had a migraine, otherwise this comedy of crashes could have been far worse. And more so if we had decided to ride Sunday as per normal when these new toys could have been out on the maiden journey! We could have had the trifecta! But 2 out of 3 aint bad....

Saturday night, and the migraine really kicked in. So much so I couldn't even look at the wheels to get them setup. And Sunday was no better, when I missed my planned long ride for the week and didn't see daylight at all. All-in-all, a very eventful weekend for some, and not so for others.

So here we are, Tuesday evening and the wheels have just been taken out of the boxes. Really looking forward to giving them a spin this weekend - weather and mates permitting.

Lisa's Farewell

Well the day is rapidly approaching where Lisa will go and join the cheeky Hamster in the USofA. Tonight we had (another) farewell catchup, this time at an Italian restuarant in the Rocks. A very pleasant evening was had by all. In the absence of Hamster who is already located in downtown Harrisburg, someone had to handle the photography, and hence documentation of the evening. It was my dubious honour to fulfil this role. I hope I did it admirably and justice. Hope you enjoy the photos.


A good night was had by all.

Cheers to absent friends!

"Beer. My one and only true friend. My love for you will never die!"

Michelle and Lisa try to settle the "Who is taller?" argument. The answer is neither - the bollard in the background is just pips them both.