My 2009 Cycling Year in Review

January
Two rides, both with serious climbs, started off the year. Murchison Gap (100k) and the Mt Wallace 150 were both ridden in mild conditions. Late in the month I rode my first true Audax 2.2.5 200k event which was held under extremely hot and trying conditions

Relaxing during a training ride @ Lismore, Vic.

February
The month started with a good ride in the ABBA 300 and also included a fast 100k at Maryborough.
 March
This month provided two of the years highlights,  a succesful Southern 600k at Heywood and the Fleche Opperman. This year teaming with Peter Donnan, Hans Dusink, Leigh Paterson and Frank Preyer.

Not One Moore - Oppy Team 2009
From Left: Leigh, Peter, Hans, George, Frank

 The Merrimu Meander 120k also  ensured I got my share of hill training.

Car Park finish for Mal's Merrimu Meander

April
My third Great Ocean Road 200k and a 100k at Malmsbury lead on to a 400k titled "You would have to be Crazy" at Lancefield. I really struggled on this ride which included rain, severe winds and cold. Peter Donnan pulled me through on this one which gave me my first Super Series for the Audax year.

Great Ocean Road finish

May
Two 200k rides for the month. Wheels on Fire at Drouin and Blackgate Saunter at Grovedale were both a bit of a struggle in cool to cold conditions.
June
Back to back 200k rides at the Queen Royal Tour at Creswick started the month. Day one was very wet and very cold, day two was very windy. A foggy start for the Wandong Winter Wander 200k rounded out the month.
July
Only one 200k ride in July, Gales East of the Prom at Foster provided a  wet ride down to Tidal River and a very scenic ride through the hills at the back of Fish Creek.
August
Three 200k rides in this month. The most memorable was Ballarat Bertie for the extremely high winds throughout the day. The King Parrot Creek ride took me through the Kinglake area devasted by bushfires 6 months earlier.
September
Spring into Seymour 200k lead on to a strong solo 300k ride in the Wild Wild West from Werribee. Mallee Routes 200k was a tale of two halves brought about by very high winds.
October
A tough hilly 200k to Noojee and a challenging Greendale Jaunt 200 Permanent laid the foundation for my highlight of the year for me. The Gran Tourissimo Series provided me with a second Super Series for the year, earnt in the space of 9 days. A bit of illness on the 400, a beautiful ride over Mt Hotham on the 200, a tailwind 300 and a hot and sleepless 600 made this series something to remember.

Setting off from Winchelsea 400k down 200k to go - Gran Tourissimo Quarto

November
A humid, wet and windy Indigo Classic 200 and a wet and windy Bellarine 100 startd the new Audax season.
December
The longer distance bug started biting so a 400k at Maryborough and a 300k Eildon Endurance finished off the year.

Total distance ridden in 2009 = 16, 444km

Weekend Ride

I have been enjoying  having a regular ride with Carol over the past few weeks. She has really been enjoying getting out on the road in our local area. On todays ride she clocked up 40 kilometres with me. We rode from home to Shelford, along the Leigh Valley and on to Inverleigh. A caffeine stop at the local shop before heading back through the Inverleigh Flora and Fauna Reserve to Teesdale. The photograph below is of Carol descending the hill into Shelford. I use this hill regularly for training on, its around 8% for a bit under a km.

Eildon Endurance

A change of mind saw me ride the Eildon Enduance 300k out of Shepparton on Saturday in lieu of doing the 100k Bah Humbug out of Wandong. I thought I would take advantage of the mild temperatures (mid 20's) that were forecast and get in another longer ride before the summer heat sets in. I find the really hot days take a toll on my riding performance and much perefer it cooler.  The 6am start from the Victoria Lake Caravan Park saw a dozen or so riders who were doing either the 300 or 400k option for this ride.

Prior to Eildon Endurance start

The course for the 300k ride is basically Shepparton, Violet Town, Euroa, Merton, Yarck, Alexandra, Eildon, Alexandra, Yarck, Terip Terip, Euroa, Shepparton. The 400K adds Euroa and back. The day although not hot was quite windy and combine that with the two crossings of the Strathbogie Ranges with some pretting serious climbs along with a few reasonable passes to negotiate near Alexandra meant it was a   reasonably challenging ride. I rode with Rodney, Ben and Kev  for a fair bit of the first half and a bit of the second half.

A short break at top of the Strathbogie Ranges

I had areasonably strong ride for the first half but found my performance tapering off significantly in the second half. I finshed the ride before 7 pm. Ride time of 11h 40m , total time around 12h 55m

Highs and lows of the week

Well it didn't start out as  a great week at work. Last Tuesday I was taking a minibus load of new starters within the organisation on a tour of our operations at my workplace. Whilst travelling innocently along the Princes Highway our bus was struck by an out of control vehicle.The oncoming car was spinning as it's rear hit the bus front and centre. It was travelling quite quickly whereas the bus had just negotiated a roundabout and was doing no more than 30kph. I was in the aisle seat of the bus behind the driver and upon impact was thrown forward hitting my head on the dash. I sustained only minor glass cuts to the forehead and a decent knock to my lower leg. Other passengers had minor knocks and most of them were quite shaken as was the bus driver. The driver of the car faired far worse and was in a poor condition when taken to hospital.

The week improved considerably on Thursday as my new car was delivered. Its the same vehicle type as the old one, Ford Territory TS, but this one is a different colour. Among other things it has plenty of space to fit my bike inside.

Carol's New Bike

It's Carol's birthday tomorrow and she has a new bike. She has been riding religously over the past month and is regularly exceeding 20 kilometres a day. Her new bike which she received on Sunday is a Diamondback flat bar road bike and she reckons it goes really well. All I can say is that she had it moving very quickliy tonight. I can see an Audax ride for her coming up in the future.

Jump the Gun - 400k

A 6am start with a forecast of temperatures in the low to mid 20's made this an ideal ride to get a reasonably long ride under the belt. I chose a 400k as I'd had a week that was less than relaxing and also lacking in adequate sleep and thought a 600 would be pushing things a little.
Setting off a bunch of about 6 of us moved away from the remainder of riders. The group held together through Carisbrook as we looped back around to Dunolly for the first control. Things broke up after that and I rode with Martin Chambers who was doing the 100k. Another control at  Avoca and then on back to Maryborough. I said farewell to Martin and pulled in to a cafe for some food at 9:45 with 100k covered. Before I could get in the shop a mountain bike enthusiast got talking to me about everything from GPSs to bike frames. My wife happened along and saved me from a losing too much time in conversation. In for a pastie and cappuchino but I made the mistake while waiting for the order of going back out to my bike briefly only to be consumed again in talk with the same guy. Sorry I said but I better get back to the wife. Phew!
After the break I was off on my way to Newstead via Maldon. Peter Horsley rode with me from around Maldon to the outskirts of Maryborough. Just out of Maldon we had an incident where we were abused by a yobbo who did his best to brake suddenly in front of us then try to drive as close to Peter as he could. Later another driver in a 4wd bomb screeched brakes behind us in an effort to slow down to avoid running into us. Fortunately that was to be the last hillbillies we encountered. Newstead was the next control and after that a push into a firm wind on the way to Campbelltown before turning towards Majorca. Peter was doing 300k and I eased back over the last few k's into Maryborough to complete a bit over 200k by 2:20pm.

  Part way through the 400k at Maryborough

The day to this point had been relatively overcast and the temperature mild reaching about 20 C. A half hour or so break for lunch then on towards the Newbridge control. Stopping at the local pub had its humour as about half a dozen locals well and truly lubricated  argued about the performance of various individuals in the local footy competition. Back to Maryborough to have 300k wiped off by 7:10pm  Another break of about three quarters of an hour including an evening meal and a shower to freshen up had me feeling confident of finishing aroud nidnight. Out to Avoca as the sun set and back to Maryborough. A quick change to put on arm warmers and wind vest then a glorious ride under clear night skies to Dunolly and back. I pulled into the caravan park base at a quarter after 12. I was pleased with the total time as I had spent a considerable amount off the bike during the ride. 25kph average whilst riding was also pleasing. Some pleasant conversation with Simon Watt who was running the ride about all things associated with distance riding rounded out a great day.