Riding home from Dad's (Baxter) to home (Vermont) I thought I'd try Eastlink before it's full of cars.  Got on it at Seaford, and a security guard found me somewhere about 5k short of Wellington Rd, where the conversation went like this :

me: "G'day!  What a beauty of a bike path"

sg: "yeah!  But, can you get off at the next exit, you're not really supposed to be on it"

me: "No worries"

and that was it, he followed me as far as the next exit, but it was a freeway intersection, and after I'd ridden up the off ramp he drove away, so I turned back and rode back to Eastlink and carried on north until I got to Wellington Road.  At that point I decided to call my mini critical mass to a halt and I rode back the rest of the way on normal roads.

Eastlink will make a great bike path once petrol hits $10/l and everyone's on a bike, and Transurban are suing the state for having the gall to not make petrol free so they can slug drivers with tolls.  Evil ..

Anyway, here's some photos for your amusement.

Today a hardy few riders and volunteers showed up for the third atempt at the Blackburn christmas h'cap.

At least the ducks had a good day!

The BoM radar for the afternoon shows :

So it's not really a suprise! Aparently on Wednesday the Blackburn velodrome was flooded up to the blue line.  And DISC, last night (Friday) was closed, it seems the roof leaks, and wet concrete is one thing, but wet boards?

To put it in perspective, we need rain more than bike races.  Rain is good. We managed to squeese in two races, a all-grades 3 lap h'cap, won by Dale Reith, second place .. Dino! (helped by a lap and a half leadout by yours trully) and then after a break for rain, another 3 lap F-D grade h'cap was run and completed, and the A-C grade was called after one lap when rain started again in earnest with 35kn crosswinds. Time for the BBQ (thanks Bev!).

I managed to swing a couple of media passes to Revolution No.2 last night courtesy of a few photo sales and asking the right people the right questions, and I now have a swag more closeup racing photos and fan shots (Kerrie Meares, you are wonderful!).  It very challenging conditions for photography at Vodafone, I like to get in close with at most a 70mm lens rather than shoot from a long way out with a long lens, and running my camera at 1600asa in the dark makes for a very unforgiving depth of field with any sort of reasonable shutter speed. My camera, even at 1600asa, gets quite grainy so 3200asa isn't a good choice, and I don't like using flash, it flattens things out too much.  So I got a lot of miss-hits and blurry photos, but I did get a couple that may be worth selling, so that's good. 

The racing was very good, I'm still somewhat bemused at the inclusion of the derney race, it's kinda pointless, which isn't to say it's easy (far from it!) but that it's really a bunch of motorpaced ITTs going on at the same time.  The only way to make it interesting from a tactical perspective is to see what Graham Brown did, when his derney was too slow (!) he jumped from it to Alan Davis' derney, and then proceeded to leapfrog from derney to derney trying to make places. I'm not sure that's legal in that race, it's certainly a novel tactic and one that ultimately brought Browney unstuck as the effort took its toll and he DNF'd, but he earned the admiration of the very full crowd.  Stuart O'Grady won that particular event, some were heard to say that he had the advantage of having the biggest derney and biggest derney rider to draft, it may have helped somewhat, but the result was a popular one and the crowd was thrilled.

The night was marred by a nasty almost all-in crash in the junior mens scratch race, one rider hooked up close to the front going for a gap as another came down into it, and they wiped out almost the entire rest of the field on the back straight.  One unfortunate lad even went over the railing and almost into the crowd.  Very luckily no-one was badly hurt but a lot of bikes were broken and the field for the rest of the junior mens racing was quite sparse.

Anna and Kerrie Meares predictably dominated the womens sprinting, they're a class above the other women that were there, that doesn't mean the racing was boring, it was fantastic seeing them when they really jumped hard and just how fast they are.  Like watching Lance Armstrong win a Tour, but in about 30 seconds, not three weeks.  A great exhibition and superb to watch.

Rochelle Gilmore had a pretty quiet night, she's one of the stars of women's track enduro but she didn't feature much, it's off-season for a lot of European pros and maybe this is just a bad time of year for her?

I had a friend in the Melbourne Cup on Wheels, big Stu Vaughan (the V-Train), the current masters world champion pursuiter and general track gentleman (until he kicks, and then everyone's in a world of hurt!) was off 170 metres with a reasonable group for the major race of the night, his quartet stayed clear of the big group of backmarkers for almost long enough, but then with a lap and a bit to go they were caught and no-one had an answer to Leigh Howard's sprint (not even Browney, despite some ... assertive ... riding near the front with 100m to go, would you like any mint sauce with your chops, Graham?) and Leigh was a deserving winner of his second MCOW.

There was loads of match sprinting and a couple of kerins, and the Jayco/VIS boys did well in them, Ryan Bailey seemed a bit off but still managed to win the sprints in his usual 'monkey humping a tennisball' style. It looks awful, but it's very effective. I felt a bit sorry for Shane Kelly, he's a great champion and still has a lot of speed, but he wasn't quite there and it must have been frustrating sometimes to have the kids blow past him.  I hope he'll be at the Bendigo Madison again this coming March, watching him race is a joy, he's one of the best and a great ambassador for the sport.  He's not far off masters and I hope that he's one of those people that races for the love of racing, and that he'll keep on for a long time yet.

All my photos are here.

I managed an almost-decent 50km on Friday on the roady without too much discomfort, so I figured I should have a bit more of a fair dinkum go on Saturday at the Blackburn races.  The Besse Pool wheelrace (h'cap) was the feature race of the day, and I'm no handicap racer, nowhere to hide, just 6 laps flat out, urgh. I don't like 'em much, but it's a feature race on the BBN calender so I'd better have a go.  The races for the day was scratch, h'cap and progressive points, before the all-in.

I managed to finish the scratch race and although I was off the back with a lap and a bit to go, felt ok and didn't need to pull out - good!  I saw Dino lead Mick Thomas out for a win, so they rode well together.  The wheelrace was split into 3 divisions (A&B, C&D and E&F) and I was off 180m with Dino.  Knowing that my endurance for h'caps is junk at the best of times, and after three weeks of next to no riding, it's not going to have improved, I figured I'd just do a longish turn for Dino and then see how he went.  Job done, did about 1.5 laps on the front before peeling off, Dino just missed out of qualifying for the final, but I don't think either of us were too concerned about that!  Emily won her heat but spent too many pennies qualifying and didn't have quite the same dominance in her E & F grade final.

Rob M rode well, learning quite a bit as he went along (and learning not to do all the work!) taking a couple of really good results from the C grade races.  Tom Leaper kept Stevie Martin honest but neither of them could contain a rampant Barry 'The Wizard' Woods in A grade.  Bazz was on fire. No sign of Jamie Goodard, which was a shame, maybe he was up doing the Scott People's race?  Tom was still trashed from his ride the week before at the Tour of Bright but rode with courage.

Last up was the progressive points, and my plan was 'win the first lap, then finish'.  Done .. 1 point.  The last one of these, that would have got me 2nd place(!), but not this time, no-one escaped to mop up the lot, so I got 5th I think ... anyway, it was fun.  We finished off with the usual All In, and I was paired up with Katherine from F grade, who rode well and we only got lapped once (Who put Mick Thomas with Will?!).  Well done Katherine, you'll get stronger and stronger.

Then we threw the big armchair (Trek Fuel EX8) on the roof and drove up to Bonnie Doon. Junkfood for dinner en-route.  Got up, and felt ok, and then did a lap of the Hurt Hill Loop.  I think I set a PB up it, 21:45, then the rest of the rolling climb was quite slow (trashed legs from the climb), but the descent down Maintongoon Road was a delight (once I dropped the saddle 1cm anyway ...).  On the old 4700 hardtail the last few k's of the descent is a "I wish this was over" experience, it's rocky and rough road, but the big dualie just rode down it like it didn't care.  I made plenty of errors, bad lines through corners etc .. it just didn't give a stuff what I did, it was going to get down quickly and upright the whole way.  Wow. It's so much fun to ride and incredibly forgiving (and .. comfortable! I felt like I could ride it again, if I didn't have to go back up Sonn Berg Dve again to get there, that is ...)

Went back to the house, bacon & eggs for lunch, ducked in to Mansfield and got some more trees, came back, planted them, then it was time to start building the MTB crit track through Trev's Paddock.  I started with the jump.  I made it a bit big to start with, and when Vanders finally arrived to test it, he baulked at it and we had to make a smaller one next to it, we then had heaps of fun jumping the little jump for around an hour or so, getting timing and confidence, before at the end, we both had the balls to jump the big jump.  I did a terrible jump, landed front-wheel first, but the big EX8 just said 'heh .. you stuffed it up, but I'm not getting my paint scratched .. we're not going to fall over' and sure enough .. no worries.  I'm beginning to really enjoy riding it.  It caters for my MTB gumbieness very well indeed.

Dinner (chilli chicken wings!), then a few beers, and vanders and I decided one more ride .. down to the Bonnie Doon Maroondah Hwy bridge where there's some scoops to play in - we rode out at night with lights along the 4wd tracks along the lake, did the scoops a few times then rode back.  Along the way back the EX8 (hereafter known as my saviour) hit a cunningly concealed 45 degree rut and before I knew it I was 1m left of where I started, but .. still upright!  This bike just won't fall down! It carries on with arrogant aplom over everything my clueless handling could throw at it.

So for the w'end, 3 races and 3 MTB rides (including a PB up Hurt Hill) .. today (Monday) is a well-earned recovery day!

Rob Crowe, Barcelona Olympian.  Campaigner for the shared respect TAC rider good behaviour program. Shining example of how to do it right.

Watch these two videos

These were taken at a recent St Kilda CC linked training camp, descending Mt Hotham (a climb we at aboc know well!).  Rob, if you're going to ride all over the wrong side of the road, at least have the sense not to video it and post it on youtube.

There's a couple of things that are keeping me a bit frustrated at the moment.  The obvious one is the rib injury - as Dino can empathise, it's bloody annoying.  Around now I was expecting to hit some form and start to be more of an influential rider in the B grade races at BBN track, but that's racing, and I just have to deal with it. I've been getting around a little on the new '08 Trek Fuel EX8 which is a delightful dualie, and makes riding with rib injuries possible for sustained times, but it's no substitute for getting low and flaying my legs in sprint training. C'est la Vie ... In the overall scheme of things it's really a minor thing.  I managed to at least start all three races at Blackburn on Saturday and even actually finished the Keirin (w00t! 8 laps!) despite not being able to hold the wheel at least I ended up on the same lap.

So that's ok, under the circumstances.  I needed to be getting some more real miles in to shed some of these excess kilos, but it'll come once I'm healed. I won't be walking up CRB hill next time at Hotham in February. That was a real wakeup call.

I'm disappointed in the turnup for the Trek Summer Sprint Series.  There's a bunch of reasons (Stu Vaughan was out riding his fixie to Albury(!) for example and teh Llama was at Bright doing some enduro thing) but still having only 7 riders was really not what I was hoping for. We were hoping to get a few good A graders (Eddie Wilson, Stu Vaughan, Barry Woods etc) and while Jeremy Mclay showed up we had no-one to push him and I think for him it would have been a bit of a flat afternoon.  All of us who've worked a lot to make it happen want to see more people actually racing the program.  There's a lot of people who're racing lower grades who would also have a great time, if only they'd just have a go.  All the feedback we get from riders actually doing it is overwhelmingly positive.  Just, they don't bring their friends. 

It's a small racing field and it has to be (30 riders max) so we're really sensitive when numbers are down, and if you're thinking of coming, we really need you to, and to bring your friends.  We've asked all the clubs to put links to it on their websites, and CSV told us they'd link it too, but they didn't, which isn't helping, and I know I need to get out to DISC on Tuesdays and Thursdays more and promote it with flyers and so on.  We've got a great team running the races, event photographers taking good shots, commentary (where we actually know the rider's names!), food, drinks, music and well organised races.  We get results and photos up within 6 hours of the end of the races. We're not competing with any of the other clubs with this, it's a niche and one that no other club is filling, it's timed to avoid clashing with all the local crits and even with some other club's training, Brunswick at DISC, for example, I'm sure more of the Brunswick people would love the racing, and their training finishes at 10am ... plenty of time ... and anyway, this is once a month, not every week.

So, please, if you want to have a go at this, it's great fun and we treat our competitors with respect and want to make the series a success, but we can't do it without RIDERS!  Come and have a go.  If you're unsure, contact me and I'll make time to get you sorted on track bikes and get you doing some practice match sprints (free!) - you can't ask for more than that.

I'm a regular reader of Mike Goldie's blog over on the CCCC website.  He often has interesting things to say and is a worthwhile read.  One of his recent posts talks about comparing cyclists, and he goes on to declare that a certain cyclist is a great champion.  This got me thinking and I posted to his blog, expressing, briefly my thoughts on it, which he disagreed with, not suprisingly!  This is healthy, if everyone agreed, we'd all be redundant and the world would be a very boring place indeed.

So what does it mean to be a great champion? Success on the track or road (or MTB, BMX etc of course) is a given, for whatever definition of success you choose to use.  I think it also encompasses a greater aspect of the rider.  They have to have, I think, done it the 'right way'.  Ie: played by the rules.  This is the difference between a rider like, for example, Jan Ullrich, Bjarn Riis or Richard Virenque, and one like Eddy Merckx or Lance Armstrong or Shane Kelly (or Cadel Evans, Robbie McEwen, Ryan Bailey, Anna Meares, John Nicholson, Stuart O'Grady etc).

What's the difference?  Merckx, Armstrong, Evans, Kelly etc have never been caught cheating.  I'm careful with my choice of words here, we can never know if any of these riders have actually cheated (used banned substances, ie: deliberatly and knowingly broke the rules, I'm not talking about racing infractions which can just happen, I'm talking deliberate cheating) but we DO know that Ullrich, Virenque, Pate etc did.  They got caught (or they confessed just before they got caught). Holding them up as great champions does the sport a dis-service, I believe and implies support for the bad side of our sport.  Successful, talented and gifted cyclists, yes, but great champions?  No.  To be a true champion, you have to do it by the rules as they stand at the time. You have to have never cheated the sport. Doping is not something that these riders did by accident.  They knowingly and deliberatly cheated.

It's been over a week, I don't really count Saturday's abortive attempt, but I got back on the roady last night and managed a (soft!) 30 min 150watt session without much pain, and today I rode to work.  Not 100% by any stretch, but at least I can get on a roady and hold position without too much pain.

I managed to ride to work too, but the ride home was pretty umcomfortable.  Seated pedaling is ok, standing (take off from lights etc), not so much ...

Apart from the much deeper abrasions on my left elbow and knee which are still oozing and gooey, I took off the mefix from my other bits of roadrash this morning and have fresh new skin.  Mefix works a charm.  I expect the deeper abrasions will take another few days at least, they were deep grazes, concrete has some considerable grinding power! I think it's safe to say that the roadrash guide works.

Round 3 of the TSSS is this Sunday.  Liz Randall's hour attempt is tonight.  Work's crazy (got to get most of the old Vivitec websites moved to my server by the end of this week!).  The Fuel EX8 should arrive at the shop this week too. Got to also fix Vander's MTB after it fell off his roof on the w'end. Busy times!

In hindsight, trying to race the Blackburn races yesterday was ambitious at best.  I did feel ok in the morning, could breathe reasonably well and I got my first good night's sleep in a week.  Aggregate points on offer ... and a desire not to let an injury beat me conspired to motivate me to have a go.  I'd also just (finally!) fitted the new cranks to the T1 and wanted to give them a try.  I've gone from 165mm to 170mm cranks (my road cranks are 172.5mm) and I figured keeping them close would be of some benefit.

I slapped the T1 on the tow bike and rode to the velodrome, felt ok on the 7.2FX, and arrived feeling fine.  Even a little strong, which was odd, after a week of absolutely no riding at all and a lot of work and an injury.  I paid my entry, said hi to the crew (Dino, Rob, Nath, Mick, Will, Emily et al) and did a bit of a warmup. I was in some doubt as to whether I'd be able to hold myself up in the drops, it's quite an aggresive position, but I felt ok.  Rolled around, this isn't too bad.  I might be able to race.  Did one effort laying off the back of the motorbike ... not so strong ... did one out of the saddle kick, and nuh ... instant pain.  Ok, I'll start each race, get my points and go home. 

Scratch race - watched A grade contend with The V-Train, and Bazz "The Wizard" did a great job of organising his leadout to take a close win over The Master, Jamie and the V-Train. Our turn in B, and I warn Dino not to follow my wheel.  I held on for the first 5 laps, did a 2 lap turn to keep a tempo going, then when a kick happened, I simply had nothing and it hurt too much to push.  DNF.

Next we had a 6 lap h'cap, I started, asked not to be pushed, and simply rode up the bank and out.  Ribs getting worse.  Getting over the fence, painful!

Last, a motorpace.  I think I got on for one lap, but again, too much pain.  Pull out, grovel over the fence and get a lift home with Lucie.  I didn't have the will to do the all-in, for which I'm very sorry - normally I'm a stalwart of it (it's a great way to finish the day and encourage a sense of community amongst the club riders) but it was just too hard. I left the tow bike and the T1 at the clubrooms and will pick them up this week.

It was a good day's racing for the club - 11 A grade riders, 5 (or 6, if you count me, which is iffy at best!) in B, 8 or so in C, lots in D and the kids grades were full too, a very healthy field and some really good, close racing.  Nath showed off his new wheels, Emily's coping with her move from F to E grade well (be patient, Em, you'll get there), Dino rode well but got cruelly dealt with in the motorpace, Rob made a few tactical errors but learnt a lot, and young Will Thomas rode very well indeed in C grade.

The plan was to go up to Bonnie Doon after racing, but I was too sore to sit in a car for 2 hours, so we got takeaway and stayed home and got a bottle of champers to watch the election, celebrated the demise of the evil man and the Greedy Party at long last. Hopefully Rudd will deliver some real action on climate change and not take us to war because Uncle Sam says so.

I'm going to try and get in to DISC tomorrow night to cheer on Liz Randall as she tries to set a new world time for the hour for her age.  Might warm up with watching The Flying Scotsman, which I now have a copy of, and set up a roady on a trainer so I can do some medium intensity stuff off the road while my ribs heal.

How many of you take petrol for granted?  I'm guessing most. We all grew up with limitless petrol, but the reality is far from that, and just like global warming, a change is coming. This gentleman in the LBS today was over in Melb from Perth for a conference.

The conference was for this mob, The ASPO.  Amongst other things, he mentioned that there'll be petrol rationing in 5 years in Australia.  I thought it would be earlier than that, and he said that that was a conservative estimate.  Did Little Johnny or Rudd mention this? Hell no ... can't go putting reality in front of the mortgage belt voters.

Crunch time is coming.  On your bikes ...

It's only taken 3 months ... but my new Truvativ Omnium track cranks have finally arrived.  Just in time for me to not be able to use them this w'end (injuries .. doh!).

I might fit them, and at the BBN track races this Saturday, start each race and pull out (the things we do for aggregate points ....).  I doubt I'll be able to ride much, but I can start each race.

Offtopic, I voted yesterday at the local AEC office.  It's always good to get that out of the way before the election. Last minute desperate political ads? Meh ... I've already voted ...

On the injury front, my skin is healing well under the Mefix, ribs are taking a while (it's only been 4 days I guess) - it feels like I've torn something soft, there's no pain except when I have to move or use the muscles on my left side.  Then, a very sharp pain.  If it was a break or bruising it would ache all the time as well.  A couple of weeks, I hope, and all will be well. 

The Fuel EX8 has been delayed - Trek are now quoting the 27th of Nov.  Just in time to be able to ride it, maybe ...

My housemate and fellow aboc'er, Vanders, writes today :

After a morning tootle to The Basin to be the startline holder for the Dougherty Tour 1:20 stage with Bev, and then an express lap of the Death Valley stage on the motorbike, it was off to the BBN velodrone for some sprint training.  Dino, Emily and Mason Austen were the riders to come along, and it was Mason's first time on a velodrome (Mason, we have found your calling!).  After a few rolling turns and warmups, it was time for flying 200's.  A bit windy, so no times of any note, everyone did 2 unscathed, and everyone improved some aspect of their ride each time.

Then it was time for some practice match sprints.  Drawn first up, Dino vs me.  Dino has the lead.  Dino and I have very similar F200 times today, so it's going to be a tactical race.  No probs.   Dino keeps me under control for the first bit, I'm happy for him to lead me for the first lap, but I know with a bit over one to go I want to make him go early - there's a headwind up the back straight and I want a wheel to suck before coming past at the bottom corner.  So, coming off the bank I jump and start to come around Dino with the intent of making him react and then dropping in on his wheel into the headwind.  Next thing, I'm airborne.  I've pulled a pedal, and must have yanked the bars I think, anyway, a standing maximum acceleration interupted by a cleat disconnecting is no way to stay upright.  Bang, into the ground, head first and then rolling to my left (I can tell, that's where I hurt and I lost the skin!).  Lying in the grass checking for injuries, mostly ok, memory ok (yes, Howard is PM ... but hopefully not for much longer ...), collarbones ok, wrist sore (Tuff Keirin gloves ROCK!) but no skin off my palms despite hitting the ground palms first I think.  Ribs on left side .. not so good.  Not busted, but there's some bruising there, and a fair bit of debarking on my left knee, left elbow and left shoulder.  Bike report - back wheel needs truing and the bars, ground away ... will need new bars.  A little skin off my right knee, but only first layer stuff, no blood or plasma leaking there.  Clothes mostly ok, no tears.  Helmet, smashed to bits.  Apart from being a bit vague (that's normal?) no other concussion evidence.

So I've cleaned up, used some quarts to clean the grit out (yah, that stings .. and when you're treating yourself it's kinda special!), and then wrapped Mefix on the skin abrasions.  Coughing isn't much fun, but compared to Dino's busted ribs and lung puncture, it's nothing. I should HTFU!  No Glenvale for me tomorrow, I was planning on getting down there for my first crit for this summer, but instead I'll stay home, write training programs and feel sorry for myself instead! 

Thanks for the lift home, Dino and Mason, I owe you both a beer! Where's the codeine? .. I hurt!

We've had, in the past, snow, rain, baking heat and constant drizzle, but rarely have we had two days of nearly perfect weather for the camp at the Marouka ski lodge at Mt Hotham.  It wasn't quite perfect, but the brief rainstorm as the full-distance riders climbed the last 10km of the hill was a blessing, it may have been wet, but it wasn't cold and the rain meant less need for water at the crucial last pitches up CRB hill and Diamantina. There was patches of snow on the side of the road and on some of the shaded ridges leftover from a snowstorm a week ago, just enough to remind everyone that we're in the mountains.

We had a great bunch of cyclists at this camp, a diverse bunch, many had never climbed Hotham (or anything else of this scale) but some were old timers who knew The Meg and the soul-crushing kilometer of CRB all too well.  All up 23 brave riders came to stay, including Hari Gopu who drove all the way from Sydney to come to his second camp, and Vanders (Craig van der Valk) who came all the way only to drive down the mountain at 6am on the Saturday and race a 12 hour enduro mountainbike event.  Such was the lure of the famous aboc bolla that he came all the way back for dinner afterwards, albeit after midnight.

So what did we really do?  Everyone was up safely on Friday night and most were in bed and tucked in by midnight, although a few who got away from Melbourne later didn't arrive 'til around 1.  Saturday's briefing was at 8am, and we covered safety, personal responsibility for riding, and pacing up the mountain.  Hotham is climbed in three stages, the first, including a nasty pinch at around 5km past Harrietville called The Meg is 10km long and it winds its way up the first ridgeline at around an average of 6-7%, then the next 10km is a gentle 1-2% for around 10km, before the final crunch, from the toll booth to the top, including CRB hill, where in the past Neil Robinson set the camp speed record (claimed 108km/h in Feb 2007 at CC#6) descending. CRB hill is ~1km at 10%.  The final 10km varies between grinding climbs and short, very sharp drops, before the last grovel up past Diamantina hut and the Razorback walk to Mt Feathertop to the summit.  Then a 2km roll to the lodge, downhill all the way. The key is pacing - go too hard early and the last few kilometers will see you blown to bits, throwing every scrap of excess weight off your bike, body and breathing out to make yourself lighter.  The last 10km has been likened to 10 minutes of having your head held under water, 30 seconds of breathing time, repeated three times. Or, as Richard says, "it's <deleted> hard".

The bunch rolled out at 9am, and rode up(!) to the summit from the lodge, then hooted down to the toll booth for the first regroup. After establishing the fastest speed, 89km/h (Jase Ellis), with no-one able to crack 90km/h due to a light headwind and a sense of self preservation, the bunch then descended to Harrietville.  No incidents on the descent, it was dry, clean and safe.

Roughly half of the bunch decided to climb up from Harrietville, the rest took on the extra 50km return trip to Bright (one HAF rider bagged Mt Buffalo as well, solo!).  Most of us were together, with the traditional sprints at Smoko, Freeburg and Bright won by your author, your author and then Robin Brown, very closely followed by Bec Domage.  It's fair to say that by Bright, your author was a marked man and no games or dummy sprints would work anymore.  Lunch at Bright, where as luck would have it there was a hotrod convention.  Main street Bright was choked solid with (mostly well behaved) hot rods doing laps and causing a jam worthy of Punt Road on a Friday afternoon.  A quick bite, some decided to go directly back to Harrietville for lunch rather than stay at Bright, the rest of us had the usual carbo-feast at the Bright bakery before riding back up the valley to Harrietville.

I can't write much about other's rides back up, as after the sprints had taken their toll I was doomed to be the lantern rouge, kept company by Jase Ellis, as we played tortoise and hare for 30km from Harrietville to the top (Jase being the hare) and 'Liv Ellis kept us company with drinks and a seeming never ending supply of salt tablets for Jase (who must have some bizzare salt addiction!). Thankyou 'Liv!

Back at the lodge and the war stories were told, Nick telling of his first exposure to hail on a bike, Richard making it up in fine form, Bev completing the climb under her own steam for the first time etc.  Dinner was prepared, the usual aboc spag boll that riders who come to our spin class know so well.  Thankyou to Bev and Claire for the garlic bread with teeth and chopping the veggies etc.  The troops heartily fed and then a presentation, Robin winning the 'race to bright' and a superman cape, Bec taking the QOM, Brett the KOM (and HAF award, for riding to Mt Buffalo and back!), Bev the 'special achievement', Merv the Dummy for bringing a 47 tooth 'small' chainring(!) and almost making it up the hill on that crazy big gear!  A movie, desert (fruitcake and custard) and then everyone was asleep.  Except Vanders.  Vanders' story is here.  He rode the 12 hour in a team of two, then drove back up the hill, arriving at ~1am.  HAF!

Sunday saw most up at 6ish, a quick briefing at 7 and then most riders decided to drop down to Dinner Plain for breakfast, some choosing to go all the way down to Cobungra Station (go Claire, go Hari!).  Merv and Karen came back telling stories of a great breakfast at a pub in Dinner Plain, so Richard, Vanders and I decided lunch cooked by someone else (and the cleaning!) was the order.  A missile-like descent to Dinner Plain saw Vanders pip your author at the sign by half a wheel after an 80km/h downhill leadout and sprint.  Doh! A good lunch was shared with the local flies before we ambled the 10km back up to Marouka.

In the afternoon, everyone pitched in to clean up, a very special thankyou to Bev and Rob Monteath who did the work of 5 each to see the lodge spotless and meaning I had little to do save for emptying the fridges and turning everything off.

I'd like to thank everyone that came, it was one of the most successful camps we've run so far, according to the (anonymous!) feedback forms 90% of the people that came said "don't change a thing", with one wag suggesting leveling the hill.  Where was Dino when we needed his stoic grace?  Hopefully next time Shane 'The Llama' will be able to make it up as well to give everyone a spanking up the hill, and Byron as well. We missed you. We missed Neil too.  Next time ...

It's hard to believe (in a very good way!).  Last year, it took 4 months for my renewed licence (Cycling Australia ACF) to arrive.  This year, I paid on the first day I could online (Nov 1st) and it arrived today.  Huh?  2 weeks?!  Tops!  Thankyou CA for getting on top of your (licencing) game.

This isn't a proper roundup, but just a -very- quick report on the camp. 

Perfect weather, mostly.  We got a hailstorm and some rain, which those of us who went to Bright caught on the ride up, but while some thought this was bad, it did cool down the road and mean less water was needed.

Special mention to Bev and Karen, Bev got up Hotham under her own steam for the first time and Karen, who'd never climbed a big hill, got up on her first attempt.  Rob Monteath had a ball too.  Bec Domage was the QOM, and Robin won the final sprint into Bright and got the superman cape to prove it.  Jase Ellis got the top speed for the weekend, not quite 90km/h into a light headwind on the descent to Harrietville and KoM went to Brett Imberger who also rode to (and up!) Buffalo.  That's HAF!

Personally, I was (am!) in the worst climbing form of my life at the moment (since I started racing, anyway ...) and groveled up from Harrietville to the top in 3:00:57, including walking part of CRB hill.  Still, that's my 13th time up Hotham I think and not quite my slowest.  Too much sprint training and pizza makes Carl a dreadful climber!

Good feedback from everyone who went, some asked for a possible change in venue (stay in Bright, for example) but that would make it more expensive, I'm a member at Marouka which is why we can do it so cheaply ($70 for two nights *and* dinner!).   To anyone who asked to watch American Flyers, send me an email and I'll arrange for you to borrow my copy.  Next time we'll try and get a copy of Breaking Away, which is actually a good film about bikes, unlike that Costner crap! We'll also need to get a new DVD player, the one up there has carked it.

Since Vanders & I have started doing the 1:20 on Monday mornings (3 weeks ago now) I've gone from a 24:30, to a 24:02, to a 23:27 up it.  Ok, those times are still way off anything that I used to be able to do when I was fit (pb is around 18:50 from memory), but it is a healthy improvement. Vanders stood me up this morning, soft!  Some lame excuse about being up all night working on an assignment (we know what you were really working on, Vanders!).

After a disapointing Sunday's washout at the TSSS, this weekend is aboc Climbing Camp No. 7.  The weather forecast from this distance is good! It's going to be a hectic few weeks as I set up my new hosting server, and move all of my old work sites over to it, I have until Dec 1 to get it all moved.  Busy Times!

It might seem odd that I've lost my main client (and as such, will be eating boiled rice for a while 'til I find a new one!) and am still collecting bike stuff, but the job at CS I get paid in bike bits, not cash.  So what's on the way?  The Truvativ Omnium cranks should arrive this week (at last!), after months of waiting, Monza Imports now have them, so I will have them on the T1 Real Soon Now.  Just in time maybe for this weekend's BBN track races?  If it doesn't rain ...

What else?  I've got a 17.5" 2008 Trek Fuel EX 8 on the way.  Well, kinda ... it's a demo model for the shop, but I'm paying for it and it'll essentially be mine.  We'll have it at the shop as a demonstrator, so you can come to the shop and borrow it, but please don't break it!  Trek Aust say it should arrive in Oz around the 20th of Nov, so hopefully we'll have it together in time for our next trip up to Bonnie Doon to do Hurt Hill on the 25th of November.  Hopefully ... If anyone from TBA is reading, can this be sent out ASAP!  Thankyou!  This adds to the aboc stable at Cycle Science, my T1000 road tandem lives there too, and is able to be used as a demonstrator and I'll hire it to you, if you want a ride!  Next on the list is a Project One '08 Madone 5.2, but that'll be a while unless I get a good IT client quickly.  Lucky I don't own a car ...

The weather for the w'end looks a bit dodgey, but the BoM is, I think, forecasting rain out of hope not any real expectation of real rain.  Showers for Sat & Sun .. we'll see .. The regular BBN racing can get washed out, but not my TSSS! aboc has donated $300 to the BBN track race prize pool for rounds that happen on the same weekend as TSSS rounds, but Nicko hasn't put anything up on the BBN website about it despite my regular nagging him to do so.  If they don't know, they won't go ...  I'm not very happy about this, but I guess it's normal BBN/Nicko inertia.  I'll call him today and fire a rocket up his arse I think.  That money came out of my pocket (and my pocket isn't very deep!) to help promote the BBN track races and I want to see it used well. so far, it's been wasted.  Who knows there's a bigger prize pool this w'end?  No-one ...

The climbing camp is drawing close too, the accom is all paid for and I have a freezer full of mince beef, it's about time I sent out an email to the people coming with a reminder etc.

And finally, if you know anyone looking for IT support, part time UNIX sysadmin stuff or Internet hosting, please let me know.  aboc doesn't pay for much except aboc's running costs, and I have 4 weeks to find a new client or five or I'm in deep poop! the job at Vivitec winds up on the 1st of December.  Help!

My day job (one of 4, but the main one, the one that pays my rent) is at a web hosting company, where the owner has had chronic fatigue for the last 18 months, and the writing has been on the wall for some time.  Today it got real, the business is closing down, and I have one month more before I have to find a new major client.

So I need a new IT support contract.  This isn't the place for me to post a CV though, but over the next few weeks things might get a bit strained (time wise) as I look for more work.

Thankyou all for your patience, in advance.