End of year fun at the Lavington Velodrome.
December 2011: and time for the annual senior race on junior bikes (clockwise, to spice it up), as well as snail race (winner is the last to cross the line).
Lavington velodrome
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Category Archives: Cycling
Cycling habits
I have particular habits when cycling, I have noticed. Here are three. Are they yours? Or are they odd?
Counting
I find myself counting pedal strokes. Sometimes by whole revolution, sometimes by half revolution. Usually to 20, then starting again. Almost always when suffering a tough bit of road (like this).
Leaf attack
If I see a fallen leaf on the road, I try to run it over with both front and back wheel. The double-crunch of a dead leaf is especially satisfying.
Pick the spot
When I hear a vehicle approaching me from behind, I try to pick the spot at which it will pass me – without looking! I explain it to myself as a safety exercise. Perhaps. It still seems a bit weird to me.
Those are my admissions. How much did you laugh/cringe? What are your equivalent secrets?
Quick review, Cadel Evans, Close to Flying
Cadel Evans: Close to Flying by Cadel Evans
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed this (four stars), but might not recommend it to you to read (two or three stars). I’m writing a quick review to try and explain why. Maybe it’s to try and understand why!
I like cycling. I ride. I follow the professional sport. In many ways, much broad content of Close to Flying is not so new to me. But what I enjoyed was more of the back story to Cadel’s life, including the earlier mountain-biking years. I could almost have seen him competing at the Sydney Olympics – except that I chose to attend the women’s cross-country MTB rather than the men’s.
Yet, despite personal enjoyment, there are all sorts of problems in the book.
One, which may sound unfair, is that it’s quite out of date now that Evans has won the 2011 Tour de France. The whole tone is of a rider who has come second twice, perhaps missing his best opportunity. Of course, (you might object) what other tone could there be for a book written while the career continues? And that is precisely my point: it’s written mid-career, as seems to be happening for more and more sportspeople. If you take the risk to write early, you have to accept the risk of being dated very quickly.
The content is a touch ponderous and repetitive. OK, I get it that Evans was born in a remote part of the Northern Territory – but the book gives far too many versions of ‘look how far he’s come from Bamyili’. You told us. Move on!
The target audience is hard to discern. At times, very simple cycling ideas are explained. At other times very cycling-specific references are thrown in unexplained. On the same page as cycling cleats receive a paragraph of detail, there’s a throw-away comment about ‘the Festina affair’ – which is not explained until a later chapter.
Along this same line, and as a cycling follower, I could spot gross oversimplifications. The internal team dynamics of Cadel’s pre-BMC teams, and the Australian world championship team in 2009, have had plenty of press comment. Cadel is said to have contributed to this awkwardness. So, is it true? Were the reports malicious? What was going on? It’s unsatisfying to read the equivalent of a brush-off, that the Australian world’s team was simply ‘united’, while suspecting a deeper story.
Most notable to me, though, is the extensive use of first-person quotations from key figures in the book: Cadel, his wife, parents and trainers. I reckon the explanation is that it allows people ‘their own voice’. When it works, it’s brilliant – Chiara’s account of the final of the world championships on 2009 is outstanding. It usually does not work. Just because someone central to the story spoke does not mean their content is relevant, or their words well-crafted. Much of the quotations feels like filler. Do we need to know the names of restaurants people ate at?
So here is a strange review. Quite a panning, because I don’t rate it as a good book. But quite a high rating because the subject and many details are fascinating to me, as a cycling fan.
Lavington Panthers – gala dinner
This will be a great night, as well as a great benefit to the club. If you’re interested, you can come too! It’s on 8 October 2011, at Albury’s Entertainment Centre.
There will be auctions and the usual fund-raising. I’ve seen the Anna Mears-signed world champion skin suit, and I know there are other goodies too.
Booking details are on the image (you can click to open a larger version).
Anticlockwise Hume weir
Forgive me for experiementing. I’ve tweaked my blog, to have a separate cycling page. It seemed to be a topic that was a little different from most of the other posts I write.
So here’s today’s ride. Not too long, less than 50km. A couple of steep pinches – especially past the trout farm. I recommend getting off the Riverina Highway rather than ride it all the way into Albury: it’s pretty uneven, has more traffic, and not as good a ride a going via Thurgoona.
Perfect driving
To Mr Driver of Hurst Earthmoving (I think that was the company) – thank you.
I was out riding Table Top Road. Heaps of cyclists use it, not much shoulder yet not much traffic.
I heard a gentle and friendly toot-toot. Looking around, it’s a truck and dog (a bit like this). Going at a good pace, but still a few hundred meters back. Often when trucks hit the horn they wait until very close and go full volume. The result is, as my dad would say, ‘I’m going straight to heaven – he scared the hell out of me.’
But not today.
I had time to get as close as possible to the left – OK for 100m, but unsafe for the whole ride. I could give a wave of acknowledgement. He overtook and even gave me the truckies’ thankyou! (Indicate left, right, left again.)
Smooth, safe, perfect.
Putting on the squeeze
Today I note a way my local council increased road danger for cyclists.
First, look at this crossing. It’s very good: near a school but the *stop-go* lady is well-respected by all the traffic; usually a 70kph zone but 40kph during school times. There’s a pedestrian island in the middle and good cycle lane at the left.
About 100m away from this there’s a newer pedestrian place – not really a crossing because cars do not have to give way to pedestrians. The centre island is a little wider than the older example. And the left of the road is filled with concrete.
Let me ask you: what do vehicles do when driving past a traffic island? They almost always veer a fraction (or more!) to the left. That can be risky and scary when on a bike. But at this place our council has added to the danger by forcing all riders to veer right, into the lane of traffic. Crazy!
It’s bad enough in the picture above, but it’s worse on the other side of the road. Check out the concrete covering the unbroken white line.
This road gets heaps of cyclists. Now we’re forced into the line of moving traffic, often the traffic is going 70kph. And the orientation of the road guarantees rising/setting sun will blind drivers at some stage almost every day of the year.
Not enough thought!
Keep the traffic island. Get rid of the rest.
*UPDATE*
22 June 2010
The council has improved this crossing! Riding past last week I saw the southern kerb-side section had been removed and the usual road surface put in place. Maybe the north side is next. Good move, and sensible, by the council planners and workers.
Prayer cycle
I’ve heard folk critical of sportsmen and women for mentioning God or prayer in connection to their sport. Notable among them, in my mind, is Peter Fitzsimons. And there’s a good point to be made – sometimes (‘God wants him to score more goals than the other guy? Why?’)
The criticism doesn’t apply universally, though. (Incidentally, isn’t this one of the odd features of current atheist tirades? Pick the weirdest practice or thought, then write off all practice or thought about God.)
I came across a good prayer example here. The pro cyclist is João Correia. I’ve never heard of him! His team is Cervélo TestTeam. I’ve certainly heard of them – and anyone with a spare Cervélo to give away can store it at my place.
This is what João wrote:
I’m one of those riders who, before a race, says a little prayer. I don’t ask for a victory, since it seems to me not only a little trivial, but as if I imagine God for some reason likes me more than the other competitors and wants me to win. Usually I just say, “Please let me finish this race safely and not crash.” My prayer wasn’t answered.
Humble in prayer, remembering what is important, and not thinking prayer is a magical incantation to guarantee an outcome. Good stuff.
Irony
Photos after a major European race:
Team bus #1
Team bus #2
The race is named for the beer sponsor, Amstel Gold. I guess they sponsor so people buy more beer.
Both these buses were stopped for a breath test.
Source: here.
The race report
There’s a big bike race tomorrow. I will read the reports – of course it’s not televised in Australia. (Yes, I will probably watch the last 10-20 minutes when it gets posted to You Tube. Probably with Flemish or Dutch commentary.)
For the sake of budding cycling journalists, here’s the SI format for a race report (X means insert a number, N means insert a name):
At the start of N Race, X riders rolled out from town N.
Attacks in the first X time kept the pace high until a break of X riders formed that the main field was happy to get away.
The maximum gap gained by the break was X minutes, while team N patrolled the front of the peloton as punishment for not getting a man into the escape group.
By X km from the finish it was clear that (the escape was doomed)/(the escape would succeed). Then began the jostling for position in the (peloton)/(breakaway group).
At distance X from the end, rider N gave his all in search of glory. As it became clear, his all was (good enough)/(not good enough).
After crossing the line in victory, N said, ‘I had great legs today, great sensations. This is a result for the team. It’s great preparation for next week’s race N.’
Runner-up N looked disconsolate, but said, ‘He just was stronger than me today.’