It's almost Christmas, and a longer bit of Christmas bilge will follow, p'raps tomorrow. Christmas means Christmas drinkypoos, and that means a bit of effort down at the pub. Within the space of five days, I saw Josh at the Metro, had our work Christmas party at SPQR and thence the Clevo, then went to the ResMed mini-Chistmas partay at the Sackville. A summary:
Stella: quite drinkable in large quantities
James Squire Amber Ale: has a strong, dark taste and is good to kick you off on the road to ruin
Little Creatures: also has a strong taste but I don't like it
Erdinger Weissbier: comes in a huge glass and was flat when I drank it. I asked for a bottle of Pilsner Urquell the next time, but only got the Weissbier. Bugger.
Asahi: Fairly drinkable mild Japanese beer, and a good antidote to the Weissbier.
Cascade Pale Ale: Ditto, except it's Tasmanian.
That brings us up to the present.
Lucy and Pete have arrived from Londres and it's good to see them again. They are appreciating the RealSun(tm) that we get down under. As am I, because it stopped raining last week. Lucy seems to have no jetlag, which is good for her!
I'm still getting used to the Giant Advanced LE, which retails for $AUS8500 by the way. I'm not too fond of the integrated seatpost, as you can't adjust it to within 1mm, only 2.5mm. I need to file some of the spacers down because it's just a tad too high at the moment. Better than too low - I had it 0.5cm lower at Heffron last Tuesday and could barely hold on. The saddle also slipped back because the bolt wasn't lubed at all so you couldn't get it tight enough. Other than that, it's a nice bike - very nervous, climbs brilliantly, accelerates brilliantly, handles OK.
On Saturday we had the Christmas Pudding races and it was the hardest club race I've done for a while. 13 starters, but with Graeme Brown (Panaria -> Rabobank), Robbie Cater, Josh Marden (FRF), Jose Rodriguez (Clarence Street), Dave Treacy, who didn't puncture, Shaun Higgerson, Spurge, and a few more.
I felt just a tad under the weather following the work Christmas do on Friday, and the fact that it was really hot and humid didn't help me at all. So after one effort early on to bridge up to Brownie and Robbie, I had no more sprints in me. Eventually, Brownie got away with Josh, Higgo and Jose, and won the sprint with an amazing throw over Higgo. I ended up 7th, but well out of the cash and puddings.
Sunday was the Johnny Warren ride, and you can read about that towards the end of this page. Nice day on the bike!
Yesterday was the Christmas Trophy Race, and we had about 50-60 starters. It was 20 laps, and despite the quality of the field, the pace wasn't really on except in certain sections (main straight/back straight occasionally). We only averaged 42 and I avoided crashing on the tennis court corner where I crashed in the Joe Sunde earlier this year. Ironically, towards the end of the race, I got in a break with Matt Fleming (who crashed in front of me in Jan), Mr Cater and Ben Isaaksen. We got away with 3 to go and hung out there until the St George train mowed us down with 600m left and we were goooooooone. However, I preferred to do that rather than finish anonymously in the bunch this time.
Tuesday, December 20, 2005
Sunday, December 11, 2005
Canberra redux
Miraculously, things did improve in Canberra over the weekend after Friday's rain. Not for everyone, mind you, because someone in Curtin was felled by a tree, which just goes to show how dangerous trees are.
Saturday dawned cold and windy, so I headed out to Cotter Reserve to cover the MTB race. Peter Hatton won it by a bloody long way and after waiting for the women's winner Rosemary Barnes to get in, I went back to the luxurious Saville Park Suits and filed my hard hitting race reportage. I'd decided by then that I was going to ride the 50 km handicap instead of the 70 km scratch race, and this proved to be a wise choice.
The handicap was from Old Parliament House out to Coppins Crossing, then to the top of Uriarra Crossing before turning around and coming home. Going out was into a block headwind, and our scratch bunch of nine had to catch some 145 riders in front of us. B grade ('chopping block') had a minute's start, and they'd extended that out to 1'30 by the time we left the 5 km neutral zone. We all had lead cars pacing us through there so we wouldn't go too fast, but I think we got a slow lead car...
We lost one guy after about 1 km, then another soon after. We climbed out of Coppins Crossing and lost a couple more, then Marcus Hayman decided to attack to make sure that we left them behind. I found out after that there was a bit of in-fighting between him and the other three guys in the bunch, which really helped our cooperation. We got Mr Hayman back at the top of the hill and then it was pretty much him, me, and John Forrest swapping off, with Neil Skipper coming through fairly often and Mick Payne very occasionally.
Surprisingly, we still caught 120 riders, and none of them managed to sit on when we got the speed wound up coming home. Alas, B and C grade were just out of reach, with B finishing 20 seconds ahead and C grade about a minute. Nevertheless, we still could sprint for fastest time, and I managed to pip Marcus for third place, $50 and a medal. Woo hoo!
In the scratch race that was run concurrently (via Coppins, Mt McDonald, and Uriarra), FRF-Caravello pretty much destroyed everyone and took 1-2 with Troy Glennan and Pete McDonald. I fail to see how Mr Glennan was honouring his contract with MG X-Power/Bigpond (he's signed for FRF for next season), as he wasn't even wearing their kit, but that's between him and his former team manager. Pete Hatton backed up pretty well from the MTB race to get about fourth. He's fit.
Sunday was not as easy. A 'hotdog' style criterium (two witches hat turns at each end of a 1 km road) and it was windy as buggery. It was a points score race, with 2 and 1 points for crossing the line 1st and 2nd each lap. There were also six FRF-Caravello and four Canberra guys in the bunch of 17, so you can guess what happened. I couldn't get around the corners at all well, and eventually pulled the pin with 3 laps to go after Rob McLachlan had us in the gutter for many laps. And we were the third group.
Then I paid a visit to my former piano teacher Colin Forbes and his wife Pat, who I haven't seen for eight years, probably because they live in Holt, which is a bloody long way out of Canberra. It was great to catch up with them and I have now completed the circle, because I saw the Forbes gels this year in Londres.
Drove home from Canberra fairly late and there were a lot of trucks on the road. Had nightmares of being blown off the road when I got to sleep.
Monday: Went back to work, paid the deposit on the flat (yay), got my new computer up and running.
Tuesday: Continued to get my new computer up and running. By the end of the day, it was getting there. My old computer sort of died, so it was good timing. I rolled down to Heffron for 15 laps at 45+ - nearly a minute quicker than last week. Again. But I did a few more turns this time, so that's something. We only caught C grade with 1 km to go and that means mega chaos = I don't bother sprinting, even if I could.
Wednesday: I heard that our loan has been approved, and we might even settle before Christmas. Woo hoo!
Thursday: Work. It's 40 degrees in Sydney.
Friday: Took possession of a new test bike, a Giant Advanced LE. Very carbon, very light (7.2 kg with pedals), very swish. The seatpost is part of the frame so you have to cut it off just right. I also got some new shoes to try out, so a double whammy there! Nice.
Ozzie Government rushed through 1354 pieces of fairly unpopular legislation this week. Why? Because they could. That's the problem when the senate is controlled by one party - no amount of debate helps. Democracy has been put on hold until the next election, or the one after, depending on whether we can get an Opposition.
Saturday: Set up the bike, took it for a spin at Heffron. There was big money up ($150 for first) and only six bloody starters in A grade!?! It's a bit silly, as you can now win more on a Saturday than you can on a Tuesday, which is much, much harder.
Lap 1: Pete McDonald goes off the front and we see him again.
Lap 2: Dave Treacy chases him and almost catches him when he punctures, according to the Jones/Treacy exclusion principle, which states that if either of us are at a race, then one of us will puncture. 9 times out of 10, it holds true, even in Belgium.
Laps 3-18: We drop people one by one until Dave and I are left chasing Pete, who wins by about a third of a lap. I feel OK, despite saddle being a bit high. Dave leads out into the headwind at 200m to go and I come around him very easily to get second and $90. He did 120 km of motorpacing in the morning, but I maintain that had nothing to do with it. I actually won a two man sprint.
Sunday: Work. I return to present tense writing, which is bad style. The rain returns for a bit and I get wet in Centennial Park for a couple of hours. Then I rev the Laser up to go to Bonnell's Bay, for the construction of Aunty Margaret's Water Feature. It is a great occasion, with 20 persons gathered in Margaret's house in Pelican Avenue. Apart from Margaret and I, there were: Jeff the elder, Jim and Joan, Ron, Kate, Lillian and friend Meg, Priscilla and Greg and children Rachel and Stella, Penelope and Kevin and children Alix and Michael, along with French and German exchange students, one of which was called Sabine and who liked kangaroo (or perhaps that was the other one), and Rocket the dog.
Much food is consumed, including steak, sausages, kangaroo, fish, potato salad, tuna/pasta salad, Ian Parmenter salad, fruit salad, bread, ice cream, bikkies, Christmas cake, and a Paddlepop. Collapse of stout party. There is consternation when we discover that all the water has vanished form the water feature, cause unknown. It doesn't appear to be a leak, so we fill it up and it stays full.
Robert Allenby won the golf. I am back to past tense.
Saturday dawned cold and windy, so I headed out to Cotter Reserve to cover the MTB race. Peter Hatton won it by a bloody long way and after waiting for the women's winner Rosemary Barnes to get in, I went back to the luxurious Saville Park Suits and filed my hard hitting race reportage. I'd decided by then that I was going to ride the 50 km handicap instead of the 70 km scratch race, and this proved to be a wise choice.
The handicap was from Old Parliament House out to Coppins Crossing, then to the top of Uriarra Crossing before turning around and coming home. Going out was into a block headwind, and our scratch bunch of nine had to catch some 145 riders in front of us. B grade ('chopping block') had a minute's start, and they'd extended that out to 1'30 by the time we left the 5 km neutral zone. We all had lead cars pacing us through there so we wouldn't go too fast, but I think we got a slow lead car...
We lost one guy after about 1 km, then another soon after. We climbed out of Coppins Crossing and lost a couple more, then Marcus Hayman decided to attack to make sure that we left them behind. I found out after that there was a bit of in-fighting between him and the other three guys in the bunch, which really helped our cooperation. We got Mr Hayman back at the top of the hill and then it was pretty much him, me, and John Forrest swapping off, with Neil Skipper coming through fairly often and Mick Payne very occasionally.
Surprisingly, we still caught 120 riders, and none of them managed to sit on when we got the speed wound up coming home. Alas, B and C grade were just out of reach, with B finishing 20 seconds ahead and C grade about a minute. Nevertheless, we still could sprint for fastest time, and I managed to pip Marcus for third place, $50 and a medal. Woo hoo!
In the scratch race that was run concurrently (via Coppins, Mt McDonald, and Uriarra), FRF-Caravello pretty much destroyed everyone and took 1-2 with Troy Glennan and Pete McDonald. I fail to see how Mr Glennan was honouring his contract with MG X-Power/Bigpond (he's signed for FRF for next season), as he wasn't even wearing their kit, but that's between him and his former team manager. Pete Hatton backed up pretty well from the MTB race to get about fourth. He's fit.
Sunday was not as easy. A 'hotdog' style criterium (two witches hat turns at each end of a 1 km road) and it was windy as buggery. It was a points score race, with 2 and 1 points for crossing the line 1st and 2nd each lap. There were also six FRF-Caravello and four Canberra guys in the bunch of 17, so you can guess what happened. I couldn't get around the corners at all well, and eventually pulled the pin with 3 laps to go after Rob McLachlan had us in the gutter for many laps. And we were the third group.
Then I paid a visit to my former piano teacher Colin Forbes and his wife Pat, who I haven't seen for eight years, probably because they live in Holt, which is a bloody long way out of Canberra. It was great to catch up with them and I have now completed the circle, because I saw the Forbes gels this year in Londres.
Drove home from Canberra fairly late and there were a lot of trucks on the road. Had nightmares of being blown off the road when I got to sleep.
Monday: Went back to work, paid the deposit on the flat (yay), got my new computer up and running.
Tuesday: Continued to get my new computer up and running. By the end of the day, it was getting there. My old computer sort of died, so it was good timing. I rolled down to Heffron for 15 laps at 45+ - nearly a minute quicker than last week. Again. But I did a few more turns this time, so that's something. We only caught C grade with 1 km to go and that means mega chaos = I don't bother sprinting, even if I could.
Wednesday: I heard that our loan has been approved, and we might even settle before Christmas. Woo hoo!
Thursday: Work. It's 40 degrees in Sydney.
Friday: Took possession of a new test bike, a Giant Advanced LE. Very carbon, very light (7.2 kg with pedals), very swish. The seatpost is part of the frame so you have to cut it off just right. I also got some new shoes to try out, so a double whammy there! Nice.
Ozzie Government rushed through 1354 pieces of fairly unpopular legislation this week. Why? Because they could. That's the problem when the senate is controlled by one party - no amount of debate helps. Democracy has been put on hold until the next election, or the one after, depending on whether we can get an Opposition.
Saturday: Set up the bike, took it for a spin at Heffron. There was big money up ($150 for first) and only six bloody starters in A grade!?! It's a bit silly, as you can now win more on a Saturday than you can on a Tuesday, which is much, much harder.
Lap 1: Pete McDonald goes off the front and we see him again.
Lap 2: Dave Treacy chases him and almost catches him when he punctures, according to the Jones/Treacy exclusion principle, which states that if either of us are at a race, then one of us will puncture. 9 times out of 10, it holds true, even in Belgium.
Laps 3-18: We drop people one by one until Dave and I are left chasing Pete, who wins by about a third of a lap. I feel OK, despite saddle being a bit high. Dave leads out into the headwind at 200m to go and I come around him very easily to get second and $90. He did 120 km of motorpacing in the morning, but I maintain that had nothing to do with it. I actually won a two man sprint.
Sunday: Work. I return to present tense writing, which is bad style. The rain returns for a bit and I get wet in Centennial Park for a couple of hours. Then I rev the Laser up to go to Bonnell's Bay, for the construction of Aunty Margaret's Water Feature. It is a great occasion, with 20 persons gathered in Margaret's house in Pelican Avenue. Apart from Margaret and I, there were: Jeff the elder, Jim and Joan, Ron, Kate, Lillian and friend Meg, Priscilla and Greg and children Rachel and Stella, Penelope and Kevin and children Alix and Michael, along with French and German exchange students, one of which was called Sabine and who liked kangaroo (or perhaps that was the other one), and Rocket the dog.
Much food is consumed, including steak, sausages, kangaroo, fish, potato salad, tuna/pasta salad, Ian Parmenter salad, fruit salad, bread, ice cream, bikkies, Christmas cake, and a Paddlepop. Collapse of stout party. There is consternation when we discover that all the water has vanished form the water feature, cause unknown. It doesn't appear to be a leak, so we fill it up and it stays full.
Robert Allenby won the golf. I am back to past tense.
Friday, December 02, 2005
Rain stops play
I'm here in the nation's glorious and unsullied capital, Canberra. If all had gone according to plan, I would have just finished a criterium in the city centre. But all did not go according to plan, as at approx. 4:30 pm, Parliament House Time, the heavens opened and our glorious capital was battered and drenched in a thunderstorm. It was still raining heavily at 6pm, so the organisers decided to call it off. Hmm. This would never happen in Belgium! Admittedly, there would have been a few crashes...
So I'm holed up in room 209 of the Saville Park Suites on Northbourne Ave, and very nice it is. Well it's better than getting wet. I'm also updating the blog because the alternative - watching "The World's Biggest Loser" or whatever it's called - sends a chill through my soul.
I made it to Canberra at 4pm, Saville Park Suites Time, and had to make a Decision. Well, I'd come all this way so after calling the media person, I drove approx. 1 km to the start/finish of the crit, where it was raining heavily. After consulting the oracle at the race, who had examined the auspices (the BOM site), I learned that it was all orf for this evening. However, there will be a consolation criterium run on Sunday. That'll give me something to do then, before dropping in on Colin and Pat in the arvo and then heading back to Sydney.
Somewhat desolate, I found a food court in some mall in central Canberra (how I hate malls). I partook of a Dai Ho Combination Laksa, followed by a caramel slice and a caramelatte at Gloria Jean's (how I hate Gloria Jean's, but it was that or Macca's or Hungry Jack's for anything resembling dessert).
What an evening.
Here are some pics, including those of sculpture by the sea
Rain stopped play in Canberra on Friday. Wimps!
©: Jeff Jones
The fountain of youth is in Canberra, our nation's glorious capital.
©: Jeff Jones
Hugh Kimber wants to race!
©: Jeff Jones
Check out this food court in Canberra. It's great.
©: Jeff Jones
Our landscaper Mick Purdy's People's Choice winning sculpture.
©: Jeff Jones
Cool, eh? You could own this for $27,000, if it wasn't already sold.
©: Jeff Jones
The Dali-esque sculpture from Mongolia.
©: Jeff Jones
More Dali from Mongolia.
©: Jeff Jones
Sculpture by the sea. How about one of these on your patio.
©: Jeff Jones
This wave won a prize, I think.
©: Jeff Jones
Crushed aluminium cans qualify as a sculpture.
©: Jeff Jones
Look at the sculptures, Ma.
©: Jeff Jones
Bondi. I don't think this won a prize.
©: Jeff Jones
So I'm holed up in room 209 of the Saville Park Suites on Northbourne Ave, and very nice it is. Well it's better than getting wet. I'm also updating the blog because the alternative - watching "The World's Biggest Loser" or whatever it's called - sends a chill through my soul.
What I did today
Much mucking around. I planned to leave Sydney at 10am, Petersham Central Time, but things conspired against me, and it wasn't until midday, Stanmore Cycles Time, that I finally set off. Driving the (t)rusty Laser lent to me by Simone, Steve and Charlie the dog, I ended up on the M5, but decided to visit a service station in Hurstville after I heard an alarming sound when I turned on the aircon. I checked everything with the dude at the servo, and he assured me that everything was OK and the car was in tip-top condition. I drove the rest of the way with the aircon off, sweltering slightly.I made it to Canberra at 4pm, Saville Park Suites Time, and had to make a Decision. Well, I'd come all this way so after calling the media person, I drove approx. 1 km to the start/finish of the crit, where it was raining heavily. After consulting the oracle at the race, who had examined the auspices (the BOM site), I learned that it was all orf for this evening. However, there will be a consolation criterium run on Sunday. That'll give me something to do then, before dropping in on Colin and Pat in the arvo and then heading back to Sydney.
Somewhat desolate, I found a food court in some mall in central Canberra (how I hate malls). I partook of a Dai Ho Combination Laksa, followed by a caramel slice and a caramelatte at Gloria Jean's (how I hate Gloria Jean's, but it was that or Macca's or Hungry Jack's for anything resembling dessert).
What an evening.
Here are some pics, including those of sculpture by the sea
Rain stopped play in Canberra on Friday. Wimps!©: Jeff Jones
The fountain of youth is in Canberra, our nation's glorious capital.©: Jeff Jones
Hugh Kimber wants to race!©: Jeff Jones
Check out this food court in Canberra. It's great.©: Jeff Jones
Our landscaper Mick Purdy's People's Choice winning sculpture.©: Jeff Jones
Cool, eh? You could own this for $27,000, if it wasn't already sold.©: Jeff Jones
The Dali-esque sculpture from Mongolia.©: Jeff Jones
More Dali from Mongolia.©: Jeff Jones
Sculpture by the sea. How about one of these on your patio.©: Jeff Jones
This wave won a prize, I think.©: Jeff Jones
Crushed aluminium cans qualify as a sculpture.©: Jeff Jones
Look at the sculptures, Ma.©: Jeff Jones
Bondi. I don't think this won a prize.©: Jeff Jones
Monday, November 28, 2005
Closer
As of today, Australian time, Jones & Jones are one step closer to owning the property concern in Newtown. I managed to get the planets, bank, solicitors, and agents aligned and we exchanged the contracts. There's a five day cooling off period (requested by me) so we can bail if the premises collapse in a pool of rubble on Saturday. But I have been led to believe that it won't. So by next Monday, we should be well and truly locked in Eddie.
It's been raining just a tad recently, and my planned big training week has been scuttled by the forces of nature. It's just not as fun riding in the rain in Sydney as it is in Belgium. Too many cars. So I've been limited to about 60-70 km a day for the past few days, with no racing. The bee-sting swelling has disappeared though, and strangely I didn't have any side effects from the prednisone. It did work.
The CA Awards were a slightly more memorable occasion than last year, namely due to the fact that I stuck to beer and beer alone. I swear they watered it down though, because I'd normally expect to feel some light headedness after 11 glasses. Maybe I'm just used to the real Belgian stuff.
Steve and Simone's wedding went off on Saturday, and the heavens lifted especially for the occasion. Everything was in Steve's garden in West Pymble, and it was the most chaotic wedding ceremony I've ever seen. Things got signed so I'm sure it's legally binding. 100-odd people there, the bbq was good, and I found out from Dave that The Property is actually being sold by a friend of his! He said no-one turned up to the auction four weeks ago!! That's pretty funny. But both Dave and Steve have stayed there, and reckon that it's a goer.
Finally, I just finished reading The Corporation by Joel Bakan. It's an interesting read, examining big, publicly traded companies and their ethics. Basically, because a corporation is legally required to maximise profits for its shareholders, it is sometimes forced to act in an amoral and often illegal manner. Think clothing sweatshops, for example. But the costs of breaking the law are outweighed by the benefits in doing so, so it continues. From a normal human point of view, this is a bad thing, but the corporation is so dominant and powerful at the moment that we have little choice but to accept it, even if we did know what was going on all the time. The continuing deregulation and privatisation merely adds to a corporation's power, and that has as a consequence a more inhuman society and a more selfish population, which I reckon is a bad thing.
The book details many examples, and Bakan reiterates his point several times per chapter. It's a little belaboured, the back and forth switching between two sides of the argument is confusing at times, and the logical conclusions predicted are often unrealistic, but overall it's still a good read, informative, and not written by a radical. At the end, Bakan proposes a whole lotta solutions, with the main one being that governments have to reclaim their power to regulate corporations, because now with all the money being poured into government coffers by the corporations, democracy is thrown out the window. Donations to political parties at election time are a good example.
I am kind of glad that I work for a privately owned (and ethical) company.
It's been raining just a tad recently, and my planned big training week has been scuttled by the forces of nature. It's just not as fun riding in the rain in Sydney as it is in Belgium. Too many cars. So I've been limited to about 60-70 km a day for the past few days, with no racing. The bee-sting swelling has disappeared though, and strangely I didn't have any side effects from the prednisone. It did work.
The CA Awards were a slightly more memorable occasion than last year, namely due to the fact that I stuck to beer and beer alone. I swear they watered it down though, because I'd normally expect to feel some light headedness after 11 glasses. Maybe I'm just used to the real Belgian stuff.
Steve and Simone's wedding went off on Saturday, and the heavens lifted especially for the occasion. Everything was in Steve's garden in West Pymble, and it was the most chaotic wedding ceremony I've ever seen. Things got signed so I'm sure it's legally binding. 100-odd people there, the bbq was good, and I found out from Dave that The Property is actually being sold by a friend of his! He said no-one turned up to the auction four weeks ago!! That's pretty funny. But both Dave and Steve have stayed there, and reckon that it's a goer.
Finally, I just finished reading The Corporation by Joel Bakan. It's an interesting read, examining big, publicly traded companies and their ethics. Basically, because a corporation is legally required to maximise profits for its shareholders, it is sometimes forced to act in an amoral and often illegal manner. Think clothing sweatshops, for example. But the costs of breaking the law are outweighed by the benefits in doing so, so it continues. From a normal human point of view, this is a bad thing, but the corporation is so dominant and powerful at the moment that we have little choice but to accept it, even if we did know what was going on all the time. The continuing deregulation and privatisation merely adds to a corporation's power, and that has as a consequence a more inhuman society and a more selfish population, which I reckon is a bad thing.
The book details many examples, and Bakan reiterates his point several times per chapter. It's a little belaboured, the back and forth switching between two sides of the argument is confusing at times, and the logical conclusions predicted are often unrealistic, but overall it's still a good read, informative, and not written by a radical. At the end, Bakan proposes a whole lotta solutions, with the main one being that governments have to reclaim their power to regulate corporations, because now with all the money being poured into government coffers by the corporations, democracy is thrown out the window. Donations to political parties at election time are a good example.
I am kind of glad that I work for a privately owned (and ethical) company.
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Property tycoons
So Lucy and I are about to become property tycoons, after I made an offer on this place in Wilson St, Newtown. No, we won't get it that cheap, but I reckon it was a damn good price because it's in one of the desirable inner city spots in Sydney, and it's also quite a nice 2 bedroom unit. Speaking of desirable places, there's always this one. You probably have to be Sydneysider to get this - a tunnel subsided a few weeks ago and this flat was practically on top of it!
Back to the tycoons. The offer was accepted on Wednesday, so the next step is to exchange contracts and pay a deposit. I have left the matter in the hands of my solicitors, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel. Sorry, I always think of the Marx Bros (and Dickens, for that matter) when legal stuff involving property is concerned.
Once the deposit is paid, there's a 42 day settlement period, then we've got to cough up the rest of the cash. No worries. There's a tenant in there at the moment too, and he can stay until one of us (likely me) moves in there later next year. Get someone else to buy your property for you, that's the ticket. Our country's negative gearing laws help in that regard.
So far, it's taken about 3 weeks from when I started physically looking for places, helped by Lucy's able assistance from afar and Domain.com.au. It's not as hard as I thought it would be, but I wish I'd listened to sagely advice and applied for the loan very early in the piece.
Raced at Sutho last Friday and managed to break even by winning the first prime. It's a matter of attacking just at the time when you think they are going to blow the whistle. Maybe I'm psychic. Actually, I'm probably not, because I chose the wrong side to sprint from in the finale - the surge came on the right and I was on the left. 8th. And a free PowerBar, so I finished ahead for the night.
Tuesday at Heffron was interesting, because we had the whole of the Korean track team there. They were better than expected, because Heffron is usually a specialist track. If you haven't raced there much, you'll often have trouble in a Tuesday night handicap. We ended up with a huge A grade bunch - maybe 25 to 30. I played it safe and sat on, although I did have the urge to do some work. Whenever I tried to move up, there was a Korean or three in the way. We averaged 43.5 and caught B and C on the last lap, so it was a bit chaotic...
On Wednesday I got stung by a bee while riding through the National Park. The bugger hit me in the forehead when I was doing about 60 km/h and by the time I'd stopped, it had well and truly stung me. I made it home OK, but during the afternoon, my face swelled up like a balloon (think Jon Vaughters in the Tour de France that year) and on Thursday morning I could barely open and close my eyes! I went to the doc, and he gave me some prednisone, which has reduced the swelling a bit. He warned me that if I was a professional cyclist, I'd have to declare it, but I'm not, and I can't see myself being tested in the next [arbitrary time period].
Tomorrow, there's the CA Awards, so I hope I'm unswollen by then. I won't be drinking much wine though. Then on Saturday there's Steve and Simone's wedding chez Lane Cove. Coolness! They have been some of the major forces at work in our garden recently, and it has been completely remodeled in the shape of a fish. And this week we found out that sculptor Mick Purdy won the People's Choice Award at Sculpture By The Sea. Good on him. I voted at least three times for him. Damn, I should have voted for Lucy too. Anyway, he did some nice work in our garden too!
Back to the tycoons. The offer was accepted on Wednesday, so the next step is to exchange contracts and pay a deposit. I have left the matter in the hands of my solicitors, Flywheel, Shyster and Flywheel. Sorry, I always think of the Marx Bros (and Dickens, for that matter) when legal stuff involving property is concerned.
Once the deposit is paid, there's a 42 day settlement period, then we've got to cough up the rest of the cash. No worries. There's a tenant in there at the moment too, and he can stay until one of us (likely me) moves in there later next year. Get someone else to buy your property for you, that's the ticket. Our country's negative gearing laws help in that regard.
So far, it's taken about 3 weeks from when I started physically looking for places, helped by Lucy's able assistance from afar and Domain.com.au. It's not as hard as I thought it would be, but I wish I'd listened to sagely advice and applied for the loan very early in the piece.
Raced at Sutho last Friday and managed to break even by winning the first prime. It's a matter of attacking just at the time when you think they are going to blow the whistle. Maybe I'm psychic. Actually, I'm probably not, because I chose the wrong side to sprint from in the finale - the surge came on the right and I was on the left. 8th. And a free PowerBar, so I finished ahead for the night.
Tuesday at Heffron was interesting, because we had the whole of the Korean track team there. They were better than expected, because Heffron is usually a specialist track. If you haven't raced there much, you'll often have trouble in a Tuesday night handicap. We ended up with a huge A grade bunch - maybe 25 to 30. I played it safe and sat on, although I did have the urge to do some work. Whenever I tried to move up, there was a Korean or three in the way. We averaged 43.5 and caught B and C on the last lap, so it was a bit chaotic...
On Wednesday I got stung by a bee while riding through the National Park. The bugger hit me in the forehead when I was doing about 60 km/h and by the time I'd stopped, it had well and truly stung me. I made it home OK, but during the afternoon, my face swelled up like a balloon (think Jon Vaughters in the Tour de France that year) and on Thursday morning I could barely open and close my eyes! I went to the doc, and he gave me some prednisone, which has reduced the swelling a bit. He warned me that if I was a professional cyclist, I'd have to declare it, but I'm not, and I can't see myself being tested in the next [arbitrary time period].
Tomorrow, there's the CA Awards, so I hope I'm unswollen by then. I won't be drinking much wine though. Then on Saturday there's Steve and Simone's wedding chez Lane Cove. Coolness! They have been some of the major forces at work in our garden recently, and it has been completely remodeled in the shape of a fish. And this week we found out that sculptor Mick Purdy won the People's Choice Award at Sculpture By The Sea. Good on him. I voted at least three times for him. Damn, I should have voted for Lucy too. Anyway, he did some nice work in our garden too!
Friday, November 18, 2005
Multifarious bilge
As I wait for my speedy dialup connection to upload these pics from Londoninium, I will put finger to keyboard and write spew forth some bilge.
I'll start with London, seeing as that was a while ago already. It was another lightning early week trip to see Luce and the gang, meaning that I left on Monday afternoon at 3-ish, got the Eurostar to Waterloo, tube to Angel, walked to the pub where I met Luce, Pete, and Caz, with Mandy following suit at the Indian restaurant a while later. There were some drinks consumed but no olive pip throwing. Mandy was a bit knackered after starting rehearsals on a Mozart piece that was two hours and forty minutes long...and that was the shortened version! Too many notes.
Tuesday dawned cool and grey but Luce and I were somewhat more organised than last time (and she has a new bike) so we cycled along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Check it. Therein, we saw the new installation, which is a bloody great construction of plastic blocks blocks blocks taking up a fair chunk of the Tate's big hall, which is very big. Then we saw some more art (not bad at all) and had a coffee on the top floor.
Tuesday night was dinner at Cousin Polly's place, complete with baby Eva and cats. My memory for animal names is not so good, but it was a good dinner and great to finally catch up with Polly again after about seven years of living within about 3 hours of her. This is the first year I've managed to get enough time off during the season to go and visit though - one day is not sufficient.
That was a very potted summary of another fun time in London, but it'll have to do. Pics are here:
Setting out from Sabine Road
© Jeff Jones
A glorious day in London, complete with Millenium Bridge
© Jeff Jones
Lucy on her new steed that actually fits
© Jeff Jones
The large Tate Modern
© Jeff Jones
The installation of plastic boxes. Cool, innit?
© Jeff Jones
Chinatown in London is pretty small
© Jeff Jones
Bustling Chinatown
© Jeff Jones
Cousin Polly in Balham, Gateway to the South. Note pic of Battersea power station.
© Jeff Jones
Me and Cousin Polly
© Jeff Jones
Last Saturday I semi-cleaned up at Heffron, netting a massive payout of $65 for coming second. That's not bad for a club race - about the same as fourth in the Zwijnaarde kermis last year. The reason was that Il Presidente decided to run the race as a three grade handicap, and there were about 40 C graders, 20 B graders and just 6 A graders. It was 16 laps (for A) and we had to catch and then lap C grade. Tricky, but with Josh Marden, Spurge and I driving the groupette, we managed to get C grade the first time after less than four laps. A couple of laps later, the other three A graders had diminished off the back and I made the executive decision to continue with just Josh and Spurge.
It turned out OK as we caught B grade with four to go and C grade a lap later. There was some confusion for a lap or so as everyone was yelling 'hold your line', including a B grader who tried to pass me on the inside of the corner after the start/finish. There wasn't room, but I let him through and then attacked fairly hard. Josh and Spurge caught me with two to go and brought another five with them. Josh asked Spurge 'Is this it?' and Spurge replied in the affirmative, however Josh interpreted it to mean that this was the last lap, instead of 'yes, we have caught everyone'. So on the straight coming up to the bell lap, Josh wound it up and I was wondering what the hell he was doing as I was trying to close the 10m gap off the back. He crossed the line and then was downcast when they rang the bell.
I was a bit stuffed but I went again, fairly ineffectually, but it split the group up a bit more. Then the only remaining C grader countered and Spurge chased him down with me on his wheel. We caught him at 1 km to go and I went again, with Spurge easily taking my wheel. I was resigned to second place (didn't even try to sprint) but there is no shame in that. And we did split the money anyway.
Moving along...
The rest of Saturday and a bit of Sunday was spent going to Sculpture by the Sea at Tamarama/Bondi. It's a pretty fine exhibition and extremely popular. There were over 80 sculptures there, some of which were very big, including one by one of our garden landscapers Mick Purdy. It was four faces made out of sandstone and was easily one of the best there. I think he sold it for $27,000. Dad's going to enter in it next year, he reckons...
Monday was dinner at Cousin Sophie's place, complete with Husband Nik, Toddler Nina, Cousin Anty and Soph's three month-old pregnancy (yay). Again, it was most excellent to catch up with them all and we had some fine wine and even a roast dinner!
Although Nina is not even three, she remembers me making faces at here through the window at Wyong earlier this year, which shows she has a much better memory than moi. She is also on the way to becoming a very clean and tidy person, unlike the majority of the family. Anty is working for the public service in NSW regional water management (correct me if I'm wrong, Ant) as an interim occupation before going to study law at Oxford. He reckons he's going to float himself on the futures market to fund his degree, which we thought was a sound idea. You never know when you will need to have a stake in a high court judge.
On Tuesday, the weather was somewhat inclement: a massive southerly change brought in quite a bit of rain and I was the only one fool enough to turn up to Heffron. I knew there wouldn't be racing on, but I wanted to go there to reclaim my mobile phone, which I'd left there on Saturday. No dice. Got it back on Thursday. I did a few laps and didn't get blown off.
The weather was similar on Wednesday so I went through the Royal (via Artillery Hill for the first time in ages) and then did the Otford Wall. The latter is one seriously steep hill - it's nearly 2 km long - and I needed the 39x25 just to grind up it at 10 km/h in bits. Coming home was fun with that tailwind though.
Wednesday and Thursday evening consisted of pub meetings and one sausage sandwich for dinner (spread over two nights) along with much beer. Caught up with Josh (Saunders, not Marden) last night over a number of Hoegaardens and that was good. We discussed Fort Street's 20 year reunion (in 2008) and a 'where are they now', among other things. Where am I now? Am I the only one of our extremely successful year to end up as a journo? Maybe I'll find out in 2008.
I'll start with London, seeing as that was a while ago already. It was another lightning early week trip to see Luce and the gang, meaning that I left on Monday afternoon at 3-ish, got the Eurostar to Waterloo, tube to Angel, walked to the pub where I met Luce, Pete, and Caz, with Mandy following suit at the Indian restaurant a while later. There were some drinks consumed but no olive pip throwing. Mandy was a bit knackered after starting rehearsals on a Mozart piece that was two hours and forty minutes long...and that was the shortened version! Too many notes.
Tuesday dawned cool and grey but Luce and I were somewhat more organised than last time (and she has a new bike) so we cycled along the Thames to the Tate Modern. Check it. Therein, we saw the new installation, which is a bloody great construction of plastic blocks blocks blocks taking up a fair chunk of the Tate's big hall, which is very big. Then we saw some more art (not bad at all) and had a coffee on the top floor.
Tuesday night was dinner at Cousin Polly's place, complete with baby Eva and cats. My memory for animal names is not so good, but it was a good dinner and great to finally catch up with Polly again after about seven years of living within about 3 hours of her. This is the first year I've managed to get enough time off during the season to go and visit though - one day is not sufficient.
That was a very potted summary of another fun time in London, but it'll have to do. Pics are here:
Setting out from Sabine Road© Jeff Jones
A glorious day in London, complete with Millenium Bridge© Jeff Jones
Lucy on her new steed that actually fits© Jeff Jones
The large Tate Modern© Jeff Jones
The installation of plastic boxes. Cool, innit?© Jeff Jones
Chinatown in London is pretty small© Jeff Jones
Bustling Chinatown© Jeff Jones
Cousin Polly in Balham, Gateway to the South. Note pic of Battersea power station.© Jeff Jones
Me and Cousin Polly© Jeff Jones
The Oz report
Since last I updated, things have been busy, as usual. I'm on holidays for a couple more weeks (yay) and am making the best use of my time. House buying is coming along, but I need to get the cash together before making an offer on somewhere. The inner city/inner west is reasonably affordable with Lucy and I pooling our resources, so that will be good. By the end of next week, I hope things will be somewhat further advanced.Last Saturday I semi-cleaned up at Heffron, netting a massive payout of $65 for coming second. That's not bad for a club race - about the same as fourth in the Zwijnaarde kermis last year. The reason was that Il Presidente decided to run the race as a three grade handicap, and there were about 40 C graders, 20 B graders and just 6 A graders. It was 16 laps (for A) and we had to catch and then lap C grade. Tricky, but with Josh Marden, Spurge and I driving the groupette, we managed to get C grade the first time after less than four laps. A couple of laps later, the other three A graders had diminished off the back and I made the executive decision to continue with just Josh and Spurge.
It turned out OK as we caught B grade with four to go and C grade a lap later. There was some confusion for a lap or so as everyone was yelling 'hold your line', including a B grader who tried to pass me on the inside of the corner after the start/finish. There wasn't room, but I let him through and then attacked fairly hard. Josh and Spurge caught me with two to go and brought another five with them. Josh asked Spurge 'Is this it?' and Spurge replied in the affirmative, however Josh interpreted it to mean that this was the last lap, instead of 'yes, we have caught everyone'. So on the straight coming up to the bell lap, Josh wound it up and I was wondering what the hell he was doing as I was trying to close the 10m gap off the back. He crossed the line and then was downcast when they rang the bell.
I was a bit stuffed but I went again, fairly ineffectually, but it split the group up a bit more. Then the only remaining C grader countered and Spurge chased him down with me on his wheel. We caught him at 1 km to go and I went again, with Spurge easily taking my wheel. I was resigned to second place (didn't even try to sprint) but there is no shame in that. And we did split the money anyway.
Moving along...
The rest of Saturday and a bit of Sunday was spent going to Sculpture by the Sea at Tamarama/Bondi. It's a pretty fine exhibition and extremely popular. There were over 80 sculptures there, some of which were very big, including one by one of our garden landscapers Mick Purdy. It was four faces made out of sandstone and was easily one of the best there. I think he sold it for $27,000. Dad's going to enter in it next year, he reckons...
Monday was dinner at Cousin Sophie's place, complete with Husband Nik, Toddler Nina, Cousin Anty and Soph's three month-old pregnancy (yay). Again, it was most excellent to catch up with them all and we had some fine wine and even a roast dinner!
Although Nina is not even three, she remembers me making faces at here through the window at Wyong earlier this year, which shows she has a much better memory than moi. She is also on the way to becoming a very clean and tidy person, unlike the majority of the family. Anty is working for the public service in NSW regional water management (correct me if I'm wrong, Ant) as an interim occupation before going to study law at Oxford. He reckons he's going to float himself on the futures market to fund his degree, which we thought was a sound idea. You never know when you will need to have a stake in a high court judge.
On Tuesday, the weather was somewhat inclement: a massive southerly change brought in quite a bit of rain and I was the only one fool enough to turn up to Heffron. I knew there wouldn't be racing on, but I wanted to go there to reclaim my mobile phone, which I'd left there on Saturday. No dice. Got it back on Thursday. I did a few laps and didn't get blown off.
The weather was similar on Wednesday so I went through the Royal (via Artillery Hill for the first time in ages) and then did the Otford Wall. The latter is one seriously steep hill - it's nearly 2 km long - and I needed the 39x25 just to grind up it at 10 km/h in bits. Coming home was fun with that tailwind though.
Wednesday and Thursday evening consisted of pub meetings and one sausage sandwich for dinner (spread over two nights) along with much beer. Caught up with Josh (Saunders, not Marden) last night over a number of Hoegaardens and that was good. We discussed Fort Street's 20 year reunion (in 2008) and a 'where are they now', among other things. Where am I now? Am I the only one of our extremely successful year to end up as a journo? Maybe I'll find out in 2008.
Thursday, November 10, 2005
On holidays (nearly)
After two weeks of semi-intense work in the Surry Hills Office, I have earned myself a bit of time off. Three weeks, to be precise. That should be nice, as I have reached that "battery empty, need recharge" phase of the season. It won't be a relaxing period, as I have to sort out this house buying, but hey, it'll be something different!
Step 1) Get cash
Step 2) Acquire house
Easy!
I've been racing four (4) times at Heffron. Got 6th and 10th in the "Snowy Wilson", 6th A on the first Tuesday nighter, 5th on a crappy Saturday race, and dropped in the last Tuesday nighter after four (4) laps. I had bad legs for a week before that, so I wasn't really surprised. But I've replaced my flexy carbon seatpost with a more solid titanium one, and I already feel better. I'll start racing at Sutho next week.
Step 1) Get cash
Step 2) Acquire house
Easy!
I've been racing four (4) times at Heffron. Got 6th and 10th in the "Snowy Wilson", 6th A on the first Tuesday nighter, 5th on a crappy Saturday race, and dropped in the last Tuesday nighter after four (4) laps. I had bad legs for a week before that, so I wasn't really surprised. But I've replaced my flexy carbon seatpost with a more solid titanium one, and I already feel better. I'll start racing at Sutho next week.
Thursday, October 27, 2005
Terra Australis
The fact that I'm writing this means that I made it across the pond on the plane and am safely housed near a phone line in Ma and Pa's house. I'm bloody knackered too, as I got about 8 hrs sleep in two days. I finished cleaning my place (and it was very clean, apart from the odd mark on the wall...) at 1am on Monday night, went to sleep about 1:30, got up at 4:30 to make the 5:15 train. I was seriously considering having the Duvel I'd left in the cupboard for breakfast...but I didn't.
I didn't get charged for excess baggage!! So I stocked up on duty free - some Hoegaarden with the right glasses and lots of chocolate. I was peckish but I didn't do the "Yak Goes Home" trick and eat all of the chocolate on the plane. Sorely tempted.
I misread the intinerary so I thought we were cutting it a bit fine getting into Vienna at 9:30 when my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur left at 9:25. Fortunately, I was wrong. It was 10:55. I was also wrong about the arrival time in Sydney, because I thought it was 20:10 when in fact it was 15:10. The total flight time was 20:10. I think I needed more sleep.
I got on the plane at Vienna and I was Out of Order because I had a low row number but I hadn't been called. So I was sitting down in my comfy chair when I overheard a couple commenting on how "ignorant" all these people were who shouldn't have been in these rows yet. I resented that. I wasn't being ignorant, I knew damn well what I was doing. I wanted to get into my seat to stash all the duty free in the overhead lockers!!!
Things took a turn for the worse when a man of Middle Eastern descent was ushered into the seat across the aisle next to me by a very large and very menacing Austrian cop with a gun. The man looked very upset, and I would be too if I had a thug of a policeman coming back every five minutes to give me the evil eye. I don't know what he had done, but he was pretty quiet on the way to Kuala Lumpur and he didn't hijack us. I think the Austrian cop with the gun was far more dangerous.
I watched all the movies (Kingdom of Heaven, Garfield, Monster-in-Law, Hitchhiker's Guide, Herbie Fully Loaded, The Longest Yard) and chatted to the Swedish bloke next to me for a bit. He was going to Oz for a six month holiday which sounded pretty good to me.
I stepped off the plane into glorious 31 degree temperatures and real sun. It was good to be back. Alas, Ma has whooping cough and is very poorly. It's not a disease you want to get. She's better than she was last week though.
Eyes closing.
I didn't get charged for excess baggage!! So I stocked up on duty free - some Hoegaarden with the right glasses and lots of chocolate. I was peckish but I didn't do the "Yak Goes Home" trick and eat all of the chocolate on the plane. Sorely tempted.
I misread the intinerary so I thought we were cutting it a bit fine getting into Vienna at 9:30 when my connecting flight to Kuala Lumpur left at 9:25. Fortunately, I was wrong. It was 10:55. I was also wrong about the arrival time in Sydney, because I thought it was 20:10 when in fact it was 15:10. The total flight time was 20:10. I think I needed more sleep.
I got on the plane at Vienna and I was Out of Order because I had a low row number but I hadn't been called. So I was sitting down in my comfy chair when I overheard a couple commenting on how "ignorant" all these people were who shouldn't have been in these rows yet. I resented that. I wasn't being ignorant, I knew damn well what I was doing. I wanted to get into my seat to stash all the duty free in the overhead lockers!!!
Things took a turn for the worse when a man of Middle Eastern descent was ushered into the seat across the aisle next to me by a very large and very menacing Austrian cop with a gun. The man looked very upset, and I would be too if I had a thug of a policeman coming back every five minutes to give me the evil eye. I don't know what he had done, but he was pretty quiet on the way to Kuala Lumpur and he didn't hijack us. I think the Austrian cop with the gun was far more dangerous.
I watched all the movies (Kingdom of Heaven, Garfield, Monster-in-Law, Hitchhiker's Guide, Herbie Fully Loaded, The Longest Yard) and chatted to the Swedish bloke next to me for a bit. He was going to Oz for a six month holiday which sounded pretty good to me.
I stepped off the plane into glorious 31 degree temperatures and real sun. It was good to be back. Alas, Ma has whooping cough and is very poorly. It's not a disease you want to get. She's better than she was last week though.
Eyes closing.
Monday, October 24, 2005
It's going home time
It is indeed time, so I'm gunna post these pics for posterity's sake. Next year, I'll be back for at least a couple of months staying at Reinhard's rather more sumptuous apartment. I'll see some of yez in the snow then!
London blog will follow when I get home.
Goodbye Koningin Astridlaan
© Briony Neilson
Archival photo of moi and Christina in August. Note Panos sandwich.
© Briony Neilson
I spotted this Trabant parked out the front! It's not mine, I tell you.
© Jeff Jones
London blog will follow when I get home.
Goodbye Koningin Astridlaan© Briony Neilson
Archival photo of moi and Christina in August. Note Panos sandwich.© Briony Neilson
I spotted this Trabant parked out the front! It's not mine, I tell you.© Jeff Jones
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Countdown
I'm sitting in the very classy antechamber in Brussel-Zuid, waiting for the Eurostar to take me to Londoninium, where much Fun awaits. It's another lightning trip: leaving on Monday arvo, stay for a couple of nights, back on Wednesday. So while I was waiting in line to check in, three English travellers pushed in front of me - not that there was any hurry - and then proceeded to complain about the 'shambles' that Eurostar is. We reached the passport control together and they just beat me because I had a couple of Japanese in front of me. Then we had a half an hour wait before the doors even opened to get onto the platform :-) But that's half an hour of Bilge writing time!
It's been all systems go in the last two weeks, but things are gradually falling into place vis a vis the Move. I have much to do when I get back, but a tenant has been found for my place I think, and I can leave my furniture with him. Yay! I also cleaned about a quarter of another room, which leaves just one and three quarter rooms to go. So much dust, so little time.
I saw Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) in a late late session while the Flemish Film Festival was on. It's a Russian film, dubbed 'the first Russian blockbuster' and it had Flemish/French subtitles so I could at least follow what was going on. Brief plot summary: Light versus Dark, all vampires/shapeshifters and other assorted weirdos on both sides. But there's been a truce for a while, until things start to change. It's set in modern Moscow and there's a boy who has to choose between Light and Dark, and supposedly that will tip the balance in favour of one. But it's not so easy, because Anton, a vampire who chose the Light, tried to murder the kid before he was born (long story), so the kid feels hard done by and chooses the Dark. OK, so I gave away a bit of the plot there, but there's gunna be three movies so it's no big deal, you can wait for the next one.
I liked it because it was Russian and therefore different. The cinematography was great - lots of closeups of stuff, and it was fairly bleak. Surprisingly, not too many people got massacred. The plot was a little weak but at least the usual stereotype of Light = Good and Dark = Evil didn't really exist. The Dark guys weren't that bad and the Light dudes weren't that good. Herendethereview.
I met up with Reinhard for a coupla drinks on Vrijdag avond, and that was entertaining. His shop is going well and he's selling a lot more pies, so good on him for getting the massage across. I'll probably stay with him for a couple of months next year and eat pies. We went to a cafe just opposite his shop, then moved around the corner to a "Trendy" place called Igor a bit later. It was so "Trendy" that the name of the bloody cafe wasn't even on the building. You had to look across the canal where it was strung up in neon lights. Jeez, I thought the place was called "Vedette" but that was the name of the beer that they served. Not bad beer either.
The cafe was a bit weird though. It's only been open a week and it's supposed to be the place to go if you want to be Seen. I wasn't sure about that as I normally go Incognito, but it was worth a look-see. It was a biggish place but there was no advertising on the walls, so it was quite plain. It was all done up in wooden paneling, but some maroon had made everything uneven and asymmetrical in the name of being "Trendy". Even the floor had little ramps everywhere, meaning that once you had imbibed sufficient alcohol, you'd probably trip over and crackabone. The seats, tables, everything were uneven, and so were the bar staff. They were very surly so after one Vedette we called it a night, or an early morning by that stage.
I've been building up the mileage base without going too hard for the last two weeks, and that should knock me into shape for Oz. It's been awesome weather too: 20 and sunny most days, apart from a bit of mist. On Thursday I went to Knokke along the Leopold kanaal, which is a really nice ride. I got good pics of the 'cathedral of trees' that runs along most of the bike path - see below.
On the weekend, I just did the bunch ride both days. Saturday was a little harder, and I think there were four Aussies in the bunch at the start, along with Gab(ke) Reid, who is getting fitter again. We were fairly average on the Trap Op (5'38 on Saturday, 5'30 on Sunday), but that was fine by me. No need to go into the red too much at this point of the proceedings. The sprint on Saturday had to be aborted because we would have run into a number of horses that were milling in the fog about with 150m to go. Sunday was nicer weather and we had a bunch of over 30, which is amazing for this time of year.
Finally, and by no means the most trivial thing of this bilge update, the pure, sweet waters of Gent have been poisoned!!!! Yes, our water supply has been contaminated by some canal water in Dampoort, apparently. No idea how that could happen, but anyway, we have to deal with the consequences. Everyone has been advised to go to London or drink bottled water. I am doing the former because I didn't want to run out of beer.
More later...
A spot of fishing
© Jeff Jones
Closer to Gent
© Jeff Jones
Cathedral of trees
© Jeff Jones
Somewhere between here and Knokke
© Jeff Jones
Pithy caption
© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke
© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke again
© Jeff Jones
On the way home, near Knokke
© Jeff Jones
35 km to go
© Jeff Jones
It's been all systems go in the last two weeks, but things are gradually falling into place vis a vis the Move. I have much to do when I get back, but a tenant has been found for my place I think, and I can leave my furniture with him. Yay! I also cleaned about a quarter of another room, which leaves just one and three quarter rooms to go. So much dust, so little time.
I saw Nochnoi Dozor (Night Watch) in a late late session while the Flemish Film Festival was on. It's a Russian film, dubbed 'the first Russian blockbuster' and it had Flemish/French subtitles so I could at least follow what was going on. Brief plot summary: Light versus Dark, all vampires/shapeshifters and other assorted weirdos on both sides. But there's been a truce for a while, until things start to change. It's set in modern Moscow and there's a boy who has to choose between Light and Dark, and supposedly that will tip the balance in favour of one. But it's not so easy, because Anton, a vampire who chose the Light, tried to murder the kid before he was born (long story), so the kid feels hard done by and chooses the Dark. OK, so I gave away a bit of the plot there, but there's gunna be three movies so it's no big deal, you can wait for the next one.
I liked it because it was Russian and therefore different. The cinematography was great - lots of closeups of stuff, and it was fairly bleak. Surprisingly, not too many people got massacred. The plot was a little weak but at least the usual stereotype of Light = Good and Dark = Evil didn't really exist. The Dark guys weren't that bad and the Light dudes weren't that good. Herendethereview.
I met up with Reinhard for a coupla drinks on Vrijdag avond, and that was entertaining. His shop is going well and he's selling a lot more pies, so good on him for getting the massage across. I'll probably stay with him for a couple of months next year and eat pies. We went to a cafe just opposite his shop, then moved around the corner to a "Trendy" place called Igor a bit later. It was so "Trendy" that the name of the bloody cafe wasn't even on the building. You had to look across the canal where it was strung up in neon lights. Jeez, I thought the place was called "Vedette" but that was the name of the beer that they served. Not bad beer either.
The cafe was a bit weird though. It's only been open a week and it's supposed to be the place to go if you want to be Seen. I wasn't sure about that as I normally go Incognito, but it was worth a look-see. It was a biggish place but there was no advertising on the walls, so it was quite plain. It was all done up in wooden paneling, but some maroon had made everything uneven and asymmetrical in the name of being "Trendy". Even the floor had little ramps everywhere, meaning that once you had imbibed sufficient alcohol, you'd probably trip over and crackabone. The seats, tables, everything were uneven, and so were the bar staff. They were very surly so after one Vedette we called it a night, or an early morning by that stage.
I've been building up the mileage base without going too hard for the last two weeks, and that should knock me into shape for Oz. It's been awesome weather too: 20 and sunny most days, apart from a bit of mist. On Thursday I went to Knokke along the Leopold kanaal, which is a really nice ride. I got good pics of the 'cathedral of trees' that runs along most of the bike path - see below.
On the weekend, I just did the bunch ride both days. Saturday was a little harder, and I think there were four Aussies in the bunch at the start, along with Gab(ke) Reid, who is getting fitter again. We were fairly average on the Trap Op (5'38 on Saturday, 5'30 on Sunday), but that was fine by me. No need to go into the red too much at this point of the proceedings. The sprint on Saturday had to be aborted because we would have run into a number of horses that were milling in the fog about with 150m to go. Sunday was nicer weather and we had a bunch of over 30, which is amazing for this time of year.
Finally, and by no means the most trivial thing of this bilge update, the pure, sweet waters of Gent have been poisoned!!!! Yes, our water supply has been contaminated by some canal water in Dampoort, apparently. No idea how that could happen, but anyway, we have to deal with the consequences. Everyone has been advised to go to London or drink bottled water. I am doing the former because I didn't want to run out of beer.
More later...
A spot of fishing© Jeff Jones
Closer to Gent© Jeff Jones
Cathedral of trees© Jeff Jones
Somewhere between here and Knokke© Jeff Jones
Pithy caption© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke© Jeff Jones
Glorious Knokke again© Jeff Jones
On the way home, near Knokke© Jeff Jones
35 km to go© Jeff Jones
Tuesday, October 11, 2005
Recovery Ride
As promised, Sunday's rapport:
The effects of approx. three Trappist Dubbels and a couple of shots of Jenever do not wear off that quickly, I found, and I woke up on Sunday morning with a taste of Jenever still in my mouth but with a surprisingly clear head. I also woke up 40 minutes later than planned, and had roughly half an hour to get ready and ride out to the bridge for the Sunday recovery ride. Bolt down a cup of coffee, several muesli bars and a yoghurt (not too many superfoods in there) and I was out the door.
I ended up being early, as we didn't leave for five minutes. Jo of the five Trappists rocked up, as did Rudy, but I didn't spot any of the others from the cafe. I remembered Jo's promise that we were going to attack on the cobbles near the top of one of the hills, so that was my primary motivation for being there. Also, riding is the best way to get rid of a hangover.
We had a modest sized group and were very orderly as we rode down the Schelde, but I believe there were some comments made when a police van passed us going in the wrong direction. It immediately turned around, sirens blaring, and about half of the group was stopped to get an earbashing from a very angry cop. Apparently we weren't riding two abreast (what do you think happens when the front two guys pull off after doing their turn?) but the thing that actually annoyed him were the snide remarks. It wasn't me guv'nor, honest. I was off the back.
Mr Officer, who claimed to be a former bike rider, wasn't going to book us because none of us would have had any ID. We are such an anarchistic lot. I mean, it's a slippery slope from riding four abreast to international (wieler)terrorism, and this goodly officer clearly wanted to nip it in the bud. He deserves a medal for his crime fighting vigilance.
About 500m later, we turned off the Schelde anyway, and continued our very sedate pace on the Sunday parcours. There was no inkling of an attack on the cobbles, and we did the Trap Op in about the slowest time ever, due to a) a minor crash at the bottom, involving our own cycling cop (I think he's a cop), and b) some communing with nature. But at the top, Philip Vereecke had lifted the tempo a bit and we started to roll over at 40 clicks.
After the Edelare descent, we were given a tip off from one of the others who had taken a shortcut that the cops were just around the corner. So we all got onto the bike path just in time to see the cop van. Hah! We're law abiding citizens, we are. Then, to be even more sneaky, we decided to go straight ahead and take the bridge at Eine instead of the earlier one, and we gave the p'lice the slip again! It was wielerterrorism at its best.
Just before Eine, Jo and I were on the front, not going hard but riding tempo, and we looked back and saw we had a couple of hundred metres. That was all the incentive we needed and we kept going fairly hard back along the Schelde, encountering no more cops. The Others didn't bother chasing and we were about five minutes ahead at the end. Thus, Saturday's promise had more or less been fulfilled!
It was a great way to get rid of the alcohol, and for some reason it was my best day on or off the bike for about four weeks! Mr Vereecke's girlfriend told me that it was probably all the vitamin B in the Trappists, and who am I to argue? That stuff really works. Jo and I opted not to go for any recovery drinks though.
In other news, it's been beautiful weather here for the last two days: sunny and 20++!#. That has been pleasant.
I am in the throes of moving stuff, which means I haven't started yet. Better clean the bathroom. I believe that a new tenant has already been found, which only took a week. Anyone got a garage I can rent for three months?
(Note on comments: I've turned on an anti-spam thingy so you have to type the secret word in to post a comment. Don't ask me what the secret word is, but it's not theodolite. Blogger will tell you.)
The effects of approx. three Trappist Dubbels and a couple of shots of Jenever do not wear off that quickly, I found, and I woke up on Sunday morning with a taste of Jenever still in my mouth but with a surprisingly clear head. I also woke up 40 minutes later than planned, and had roughly half an hour to get ready and ride out to the bridge for the Sunday recovery ride. Bolt down a cup of coffee, several muesli bars and a yoghurt (not too many superfoods in there) and I was out the door.
I ended up being early, as we didn't leave for five minutes. Jo of the five Trappists rocked up, as did Rudy, but I didn't spot any of the others from the cafe. I remembered Jo's promise that we were going to attack on the cobbles near the top of one of the hills, so that was my primary motivation for being there. Also, riding is the best way to get rid of a hangover.
We had a modest sized group and were very orderly as we rode down the Schelde, but I believe there were some comments made when a police van passed us going in the wrong direction. It immediately turned around, sirens blaring, and about half of the group was stopped to get an earbashing from a very angry cop. Apparently we weren't riding two abreast (what do you think happens when the front two guys pull off after doing their turn?) but the thing that actually annoyed him were the snide remarks. It wasn't me guv'nor, honest. I was off the back.
Mr Officer, who claimed to be a former bike rider, wasn't going to book us because none of us would have had any ID. We are such an anarchistic lot. I mean, it's a slippery slope from riding four abreast to international (wieler)terrorism, and this goodly officer clearly wanted to nip it in the bud. He deserves a medal for his crime fighting vigilance.
About 500m later, we turned off the Schelde anyway, and continued our very sedate pace on the Sunday parcours. There was no inkling of an attack on the cobbles, and we did the Trap Op in about the slowest time ever, due to a) a minor crash at the bottom, involving our own cycling cop (I think he's a cop), and b) some communing with nature. But at the top, Philip Vereecke had lifted the tempo a bit and we started to roll over at 40 clicks.
After the Edelare descent, we were given a tip off from one of the others who had taken a shortcut that the cops were just around the corner. So we all got onto the bike path just in time to see the cop van. Hah! We're law abiding citizens, we are. Then, to be even more sneaky, we decided to go straight ahead and take the bridge at Eine instead of the earlier one, and we gave the p'lice the slip again! It was wielerterrorism at its best.
Just before Eine, Jo and I were on the front, not going hard but riding tempo, and we looked back and saw we had a couple of hundred metres. That was all the incentive we needed and we kept going fairly hard back along the Schelde, encountering no more cops. The Others didn't bother chasing and we were about five minutes ahead at the end. Thus, Saturday's promise had more or less been fulfilled!
It was a great way to get rid of the alcohol, and for some reason it was my best day on or off the bike for about four weeks! Mr Vereecke's girlfriend told me that it was probably all the vitamin B in the Trappists, and who am I to argue? That stuff really works. Jo and I opted not to go for any recovery drinks though.
In other news, it's been beautiful weather here for the last two days: sunny and 20++!#. That has been pleasant.
I am in the throes of moving stuff, which means I haven't started yet. Better clean the bathroom. I believe that a new tenant has already been found, which only took a week. Anyone got a garage I can rent for three months?
(Note on comments: I've turned on an anti-spam thingy so you have to type the secret word in to post a comment. Don't ask me what the secret word is, but it's not theodolite. Blogger will tell you.)
Saturday, October 08, 2005
Afscheidswedstrijd
Although it's two weeks until I go, Guido is going on hols next week so we had to have our depature drinks today (and tomorrow if anyone can still feel their heads). Good ol' Westmalle Trappist plus a couple of Jenevers for the road and...ooooohhh dear.
We did the usual Saturday loop in the fog that's been hanging around for three solid days, and even though riding through humid air is meant to be quicker, I felt like I was riding through Victoria Park swimming puel. We did the Trap Op in 5'45 (about a minute slower than best) and I was even off the back at the top! Felt a bit better coming back and Marc and another guy gave me a perfect leadout for the sprint, but Jo hadn't read the script properly and came around me easily. Sorry guys! Not to worry, I'll get my speed back.
Then we had some drinks, and it was good to see Philippe B again, on the bike for the first time after his accident nearly 6 weeks ago. As mentioned above, we started with Westmalle, and I stuck to the dark stuff, which is only 7 percent, while the others went to the tripel (9.5 percent) and then Guido got stuck into the Jenever (something like 40 percent).
One beer is enough to annihiliate me after a hard ride, and I was only a bit of the way through the second beer when somehow I knocked it all over the table, the floor, the guy next to me, and me. Oops. I felt better when Jo did exactly the same thing with his fourth or fifth. Then it was clearly time to drink Jenever.
I think we all made it home, although the guy I was riding with kept disappearing off the side of the road. He already did that when he was sober so it wasn't a big drama Sleep was necessary, then I watched Kindergarten Cop by accident and my headache came back.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, I did Henk's Tweede Fietstocht, which was a nice loop down south towards the southern parts of Belgium. I need to look at it on a map. He'd already taken the Others on the ride a few weeks ago, so it was just us two. No punctures this time, but I was fairly hammered after doing that plus another 70 km in the morning. But afterwards we had a great pasta meal at Henk and Ilse's, so that made it definitely worthwhile!
Then the fog set in. On both Thursday and Friday, the fog was thick all day and all night. It didn't lift once, not until Saturday. I even got lost riding around Zwalm on the backroads. I thought I was going in one direction but it was the opposite. I think I need more sleep.
Things are progressing slowly as far as moving out goes, but next week I'll have to get my A into G. I'm leaving in just over two weeks but in a week I'm paying a final visit to Rabbit's friends and relations in Londoninium on Monday->Wednesday. Woo hoo!
We did the usual Saturday loop in the fog that's been hanging around for three solid days, and even though riding through humid air is meant to be quicker, I felt like I was riding through Victoria Park swimming puel. We did the Trap Op in 5'45 (about a minute slower than best) and I was even off the back at the top! Felt a bit better coming back and Marc and another guy gave me a perfect leadout for the sprint, but Jo hadn't read the script properly and came around me easily. Sorry guys! Not to worry, I'll get my speed back.
Then we had some drinks, and it was good to see Philippe B again, on the bike for the first time after his accident nearly 6 weeks ago. As mentioned above, we started with Westmalle, and I stuck to the dark stuff, which is only 7 percent, while the others went to the tripel (9.5 percent) and then Guido got stuck into the Jenever (something like 40 percent).
One beer is enough to annihiliate me after a hard ride, and I was only a bit of the way through the second beer when somehow I knocked it all over the table, the floor, the guy next to me, and me. Oops. I felt better when Jo did exactly the same thing with his fourth or fifth. Then it was clearly time to drink Jenever.
I think we all made it home, although the guy I was riding with kept disappearing off the side of the road. He already did that when he was sober so it wasn't a big drama Sleep was necessary, then I watched Kindergarten Cop by accident and my headache came back.
Earlier in the week on Tuesday, I did Henk's Tweede Fietstocht, which was a nice loop down south towards the southern parts of Belgium. I need to look at it on a map. He'd already taken the Others on the ride a few weeks ago, so it was just us two. No punctures this time, but I was fairly hammered after doing that plus another 70 km in the morning. But afterwards we had a great pasta meal at Henk and Ilse's, so that made it definitely worthwhile!
Then the fog set in. On both Thursday and Friday, the fog was thick all day and all night. It didn't lift once, not until Saturday. I even got lost riding around Zwalm on the backroads. I thought I was going in one direction but it was the opposite. I think I need more sleep.
Things are progressing slowly as far as moving out goes, but next week I'll have to get my A into G. I'm leaving in just over two weeks but in a week I'm paying a final visit to Rabbit's friends and relations in Londoninium on Monday->Wednesday. Woo hoo!
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Journo World's 2005
For those who don't want to bother with the reading crapola, here's the short version:
Carlo Alberto Rossi wins the bike race
© Fotoreporter Sirotti
Now read on...
After last year's fun and games getting to Bussolengo, I vowed to take it a bit easier on myself this year. We were told already last year that the Journo World's would be in San Marino, and that it would be hillier. I wasn't a hundred percent sure that I'd be able to go this year, as it was in the middle of the Vuelta, but I convinced my workmates that I wouldn't let the side down if they covered for me.
There was to be no 15 hour all-night train ride this year, because I'm always looking for new experiences. Instead, I flew to Bologna and was going to catch the train/bus to Rimini/San Marino, but I took Tim's advice and hired a car at Bologna airport and drove the 140 km instead. Never mind that I'd never driven a car in Europe before, nor in Italy, nor in the pouring rain.
I had checked out the weather beforehand, and Belgium actually had better weather predicted than San Marino. Friday was supposed to be thunderstorms easing to rain; Saturday and Sunday showers, and Monday as well, although I didn't care about that. Thus, it wasn't surprising that when we set down at Bologna airport it was pissing down, to coin a phrase. I was concerned about getting my bike back and asked Baggage Assistance where the oversized baggage reclaim was. I was informed it was "over there" but just as I went over there, I saw my trusty red SciCon bag lurch out on the conveyor belt in the normal baggage reclaim and get stuck. That's why they have an oversized baggage reclaim, I reasoned.
Picking up my roomy Peugeot 206 from Europcar was painless, and I could somehow fit my bike bag in the back seat, after a little manoeuvring and squashing of the wheels. I spent five minutes trying to figure out whether the accelerator was on the same side as it was in Australia (it was. I think.), even though the gear stick was on the right. Oh well, nothing for it but to set off. I had an internet map itinerary, courtesy of Mappy.com and thanks to it, I didn't even miss a turnoff. Italy is sign crazy though.
The rain was shocking, but I figured out the autostrada system fairly quickly: don't stay in the right lane unless you want to do 70 km/h with all the trucks. I chose the middle road. Me and the Peugeot 206 arrived at the Hotel Rossi intact at 2:30pm, only seven and a half hours after setting out from Gent, instead of double that.
I crashed out for an hour and then put the bike together, although it took me ages to figure out what I'd done to the front brake. I still don't know, but it works now. Then, using more trusty internet maps, I rode up to San Marino. It wasn't too hard to find, because it sticks out like the proverbial. It's quite spectacular actually - an old city built on top of an 800m hilltop. I was hoping that the Hotel Rossi was already at that altitude, but it wasn't, so I set off at about 12 km/h (trying to take it easy) for the three kilometre slog to San Marino. When I got there I didn't look at my map, so I missed the turn I wanted and ended up going up even further. It's quite a climb! Finally I figured it all out and ended up on the course.
The fabulous three star Hotel Rossi
© Jeff Jones
San Marino, from one of the castles
© Jeff Jones
The course
I was armed with a course map and profile. The map was accurate, but the course profile was only qualitatively useful. It had altitude numbers on it, which were rather fanciful. I also had these comments from the organiser:
"Our colleague Andrea Mandusia has tested the circuit. He says that: 'It seems a demanding circuit, viale Campo dei Giudei is rising with some points at 6% or 9% in the beginning, but it's possible to do at high speed; the downhill road is more easy, without curves.'"
"On the same circuit, the prologue of the women's Giro di San Marino was organiser. The winner averaged 44 km/h and you can expect a fast race."
And finally:
"Some colleagues have said it's a little harder than it seems."
You're not bloody wrong mate! Some details: 6.7 km circuit to be done nine times for 60 km-ish. Basically it went up and down viale Campo dei Giudei with a 3 km loop at the top of the road where the main descent and climb were. I wish I'd brought an altimeter! According to the profile, the first 1.3 km were uphill at about 1%. Yes, that would explain why I was using my 39x23. Then it went down for a couple of hundred metres before turning right off the viale Campo dei Giudei and going up for another couple of hundred metres, then down, down, down for a kilometre or so. The descent was quick, until you hit a sharp right, easy left, then really sharp right at the bottom. It had more curves than an Italian game show hostess. I pictured myself doing it in a bunch in the wet on carbon wheels, and it wasn't anywhere near as pretty.
After the sharp right hander, it went down for a bit more (not up, according to the profile), before the main climb started. On the profile, it was 1 km at 3.5%. This was bollocks. Every lap I did it, I was using the 39x25 going at 10-11 km/h in the steeper second half. No, I wasn't going hard, but I know what a 3.5% hill feels like (bottom part of the Trap Op) and this was more like 5% at the bottom at 8-9% at the top, maybe an average of 6-7%. They're only numbers here, but numbers like that translate into pain in your legs.
After reaching the top, it was back onto the viale Campo dei Giudei for a rather pleasant 1 km back to the start/finish, before I realised that would only give us 5 km and that we would have to keep going along the Campo dei Giudei up the final "bump" that the profile indicated, do a U-turn at the top, and come down to the finish again. I could also see it like a wall in front of me. The profile had it rising 20 metres in 800, but by now I knew what to expect. It was 400 metres for a start, and I think Mr Mandusia was correct about the 9% section here. It reminded me very much of the climb at the end of the West Head road in Sydney. After the U-turn at the top, it was a fast descent and then 300m gradually uphill to the finish. Repeat.
The start/finish
© Jeff Jones
The hairpin at the bottom of the descent
© Jeff Jones
The top of the start/finish hill
© Jeff Jones
Packed into 6.7 km, it was easily the hardest circuit I've ever ridden on. At the end of 2 hours riding, I had an average speed of 21.7 km/h. By comparison, for the same average heart rate along the flat, I'd average 31-32. Thus, it was getting a bit dark at the end as I coasted back to Hotel Rossi. Tomorrow, I'll take the camera, but I might look for an easier ride somewhere.
I dined extravagantly in the hotel, going on Tim's menu advice: pasta bianco (plain pasta with olive oil and cheese), bistecca griglia (grilled steak), verdure griglia (grilled veggies). It was plain but quite OK.
I'm now watching some Italian-Japanese Anime on MTV, which is even weirder than in English.
After an hour of messing around to put the Zipps on and making sure that the front was true after the harrowing journey in the bike bag, I chucked the bike in the car and actually drove up to the course again. I realised that it was impossible to find a flat road in San Marino, but I wanted to avoid climbing up to the city in the Saturday morning traffic. I rode on the course for a little bit, especially the descent to see how different the carbon wheels felt. Not bad, but I vowed to change them at the first hint of rain.
I met who I thought was another journalist, but it turns out he was just up here for a ride and was a bit lost. He had a jersey on from Wooly's Wheels, a bike shop in Sydney, which I thought was pretty funny. I wasn't particularly helpful in my directions, but he wished me luck for tomorrow's race and went on his way. As did I, although I'd had more than enough after 40 km at 24 km/h and put the bike back in the car.
More wheel truing followed.
I caught up with the Dutch guys I met last year for a cuppa at the Hotel Rossi. Peter de Groot, Mark Koghee and Karel Beckmans had all driven down from Nijmegen - about 1300 km all up. They'd stayed overnight in Milan, although they'd found a somewhat cheaper place en route in Switzerland. They didn't stay there for long because the all-female hotel "staff" were a little, ahem, too friendly. They did say it was cheap though.
The Dutchies had also checked out the course, and were a bit dismayed. Peter was the defending champ in the Over 50s, but he quickly realised he'd need to rely on all his cunning to survive San Marino. Oh well, they were here and it was Too Late Now to go home.
At any rate, we had a dinner to go to, and the Dutchies trusted my driving skills to let me take them up to La Fratta, which is right near Parking Place 6 towards the top of San Marino. It was a cool place, and we had a fairly substantial six course meal. I ate everything that was put in front of me, although I would have been happy with what I had the previous night, which was quite plain, but very digestible.
It was a chance to renew acquaintances from last year, and I caught up with Ze Chermans: Robert Kuehnen and his friend Tobias Krug, from Tour Magazine. Actually, Robert is more of a freelancer these days and has his own coaching business. I think San Marino's top brass was there too: the mayor and the president of the cycling federation (not the same person). There was also a delegation from Austria, where the Journo World's are next year, and they handed out course maps and info for next year's races. That's bloody organised!
Getting back to the hotel was easy, because it was all downhill, and I was getting the hang of all of San Marino's hairpins by now. I could watch more Italian-dubbed Japanese Anime on MTV before getting some sleep. Not a lot, I admit.
I also caught up with the Slovenians at brekky. They'd come in two proper team cars, complete with roof racks and logos on the side (I think they were borrowed). They even had a team manager, mechanics/photographers, etc. Very organised! They were tops, and I remember Primoz from last year. He asked me if I was going to win today, and I said I'd try, but you never know who turns up to these things.
I drove up to the course but couldn't get onto it because it had been blocked off. I couldn't argue with an San Marino cop, so I just parked at the top of the start/finish hill, and chucked everything into my backpack and rode down to the start. Sign on was in the sporting complex a bit further along, and because it was sponsored by Enervit, we got lots of free stuff like a jersey, waterbottle, racing food, some Zone cookies, and so much more. I found out later that the cookies tasted really weird, but I still ended up eating them all anyway. I'm not sure if they put me in the Zone, but I can say that I didn't feel like eating anything at all after eating a few of them.
This year, I got number 136, which was a bit less auspicious than last year's number 1. I didn't see Mr Agostini anywhere (he was still at the Vuelta with Petacchi), but I did spot Mr Riparbelli, who pipped me for second last year. He looked scarily fit, not an ounce of fat on him anywhere. Also there was Bart de Schampeleire (5th last year), looking super-skinny, on a super-light bike, and obviously super-motivated. Davide Cassani was there too, but he was an ex-pro so would race in his own category. He didn't look that fit, but you never know with these guys.
First up was the Over 50s/Women, who had to do 6 laps for 40 km. After one lap, there were only six left, including both women and Peter de Groot. After about three laps, there were four left, as Slovenia's Lucija Bosnik had been dropped along with one of the men. They stayed together until the last climb of the last lap, when I heard "scatto Peter de Groot" over the loudspeaker. Yep, Pete had saved it all up for that hill and left the others behind with a massive attack. He came back down with a pretty decent gap and had plenty of time to celebrate. Nice work! I congratulated him, and he advised me that that was the hill to go on, but I had to wait and wait, and not do too much during the race. I actually hoped to get away before then, but I remembered what he said.
The Over 50s podium, with Peter de Groot as the Champ
© Fotoreporter Sirotti
Lucija Bosnik (L, 2nd) and Ilenia Lazarro (1st), winners of the women's race
© Fotoreporter Sirotti
We set off at 11:45 for our nine laps (60 km) and finally I was in the race. I took Peter's advice and stayed back for the first part. Everyone was fresh, so it's harder to make a difference then anyway. It was also a good opportunity to find out who was strong. Thankfully, the descent was not too frightening in the race, although Riparbelli had the strangest descending style I have ever seen: on the corners he was out of the saddle and over the back of it, with his hands on the brakes. It wasn't very safe. Afterwards, he told me that he'd only been racing for four years, and wasn't so good technically.
By the end of lap 1, our group had been cut in half down to 15, and that was just us riding, no attacks at all. On the second lap, Bart was a bit frisky and tried to get away a couple of times, but the bunch was still a bit big and everyone was still a bit fresh. We had it down to 11 riders after two laps though, and I hadn't done much at all. I noticed Riparbelli was taking the hills very easily: if there was a gap, he'd close it in a tiny gear. Robert and Bart were also strong, but I didn't notice any of the others (including Rossi) looking that good. Even Cassani was sitting at the back.
On the fourth lap, Bart came up to me and said that it was still too easy, and we'd have too many left for the finale. I agreed, but I said 'next lap', which was when we started really attacking. At the start of the lap on the long, steady climb, Robert, Bart, and Riparbelli got a bit of a gap, which Mark Koghee and I closed. Rossi came along a bit later, as did a few of the others, but we did manage to reduce it to nine riders over the next two laps. I was doing a lot of the tempo making on the steep climbs, because that's when the drafting effect would be minimised. But there was always a descent to recover on.
The group was still too big, so on lap 7, I put in a bigger attack on the steady climb. Although only Riparbelli and Bart came with me, Riparbelli didn't want to work, so we lost a bit of momentum and firstly Robert K, then Mr Rossi caught us. I was actually surprised to see Rossi suddenly appear, because we weren't going that slow, but I thought we could drop him again. Needless to say, he didn't do a turn after that.
We had it down to five with two laps to go, and it seemed as though I was the only one interested in attacking. But after the steep climb midway through the eighth lap, Bart and I had a small gap, so we made the others work to get us on the way back to the start/finish. And then, we were on the last lap...still with five. This wasn't how I'd planned it, but I hadn't quite been able to break the elastic. I noticed that any acceleration would put Robert and (usually) Rossi out the back, while Bart and Riparbelli would always manage to get my wheel immediately.
Me leading Bart, Riparbelli and Rossi on the short start/finish hill
© Robert Hajdinjak
Final lap. I had to keep attacking. I went near the top of the first steady climb, again taking Bart and Riparbelli with me. But then Bart came past on the short descent before the real downhill started and said 'keep the speed up on the descent'. The plan was to drop Riparbelli here, and it sort of worked. We got a gap and he was again forced to chase with the other two. But Bart wasn't super strong and neither of us had the balls to take the first corner 5 km/h faster - necessary if we wanted to keep the gap. At the bottom, they were almost on us again, but as I was in front, I accelerated hard out of the hairpin. I looked back and alas, Bart had sat up and was back with the others. 2 against 3 would have been better odds than 1 against 4.
I had maybe five seconds when I hit the 1 km climb, and tried to save a little bit as I hit the first part of it, which wasn't so steep. My speed was OK, but I didn't have enough in the tank and I started to lock up and get that all-over lactic feeling as I hit the steep part. Well, I hoped the others were feeling that too! Evidently not as much as me, because at the top, first Riparbelli, then Bart, then Robert, then Rossi caught me. Dang.
I was running out of options, as there was only one more climb to go: the 400m one past the start/finish line, the one that De Groot had flown away on. I had less than two minutes to recover for one last, all-out effort, but I made sure I did one short turn on the descent to keep the pace up and stop everyone from sitting up and watching each other. That worked, and I dropped to fourth wheel while Riparbelli and Bart led us to the bottom of the last climb. Rossi was still in fifth wheel, but I wasn't about to start worrying about him now.
I had no idea how effective this attack would be, but I made sure it counted. I backed off a bit, then jumped in the 53x14 about 50m before the bottom of the descent, taking three of the others by surprise. I had a much higher speed than them at the foot of the climb, and that was absolutely crucial. It was maybe a one minute, full gas effort. This was as important as the sprint. But again, I got 150m from the top and started to lock up, unavoidably losing speed as the U-turn approached. I looked back quickly just near the top and saw a flash of red coming up behind me: Rossi! Dang and damn.
The other three were further back, and I knew they wouldn't get me, but Rossi was right on my wheel just after I rounded the corner. I didn't want it to come down to a sprint, but it was Too Late Now (again) and I just had to hope. There was no way he was coming past me on the descent, so I just got into a tuck and tried to recover.
We hit the bottom - 300m of 3 percent uphill to go, but with a 65 km/h headstart. I started to pedal, but just to keep the speed going. I looked down and saw him glued to my wheel, as expected. I'm a bad judge of distance, but I think I got out of the saddle at 200m, then wound it up to top speed at about 150m out. The line was a long way off, but I was completely committed now, and I still felt good. At 100m, I could sense that he was trying to come around me, so I dug a little more and went as deep as I can ever go in a sprint. At 50m, I felt like I was going to burst, but he still hadn't got around me, although I could feel him moving up on my left. 40m, he was level and I was losing steam. 30m, and it was all over. It was like something snapped. He was past me, and I knew that I wasn't getting him back, and I stopped pedaling. He was too fast. Damn my lack of fast twitch muscle fibres. Aaaargggghhhh, so close, and yet so far. 1 metre, 1/10th of a second - it's nothing, but it's the difference between being a 'world champion' and not.
I wasn't completely happy with the result. In fact, I was shocked that he had beaten me, and not one of the others. Where on earth did he get the legs to follow me on the last hill? True, he hadn't done any work, but he'd also been dropped a few times, and that's never easy to recover from. Either he was a complete genius at reading the race, or he just wanted it a little bit more than I did. Last year it was different: I was OK with being beaten by Agostini because he was clearly the better sprinter, but he could also match any of my attacks. This year, although I finished a place higher up and much closer to the jersey, it was almost too close.
I think I was the strongest in the race, and Bart, Riparbelli, and just about everyone else told me this, but I still lost. I'd perhaps overestimated the severity of the course, too: sure, it suited strong riders, but it was still very hard to make a difference on your own because of the recovery time on the descents. It was a fun course to race on, though. The bottom line was that I was strong, but not strong enough to get away alone. As always, that depends on the competition just as much as it does on you.
If I could re-run it, I'd probably do the following:
1) Get a 2kg lighter bike (like I had earlier this year). On course with 27 km of climbing at an average of about 5 percent, that would make a difference of 1'00, even allowing for time gained on the descents with more weight. This doesn't mean that I would win the race by a minute, but it would have saved me a bit of power.
2) Start attacking one lap earlier. Lap 4 would have been OK.
3) Eaten the last half of my energy gel on the last lap.I'd been eating for the previous laps - shouldn't have stopped.
4) Led out the sprint 50m later, or at least not hit full gas until 50m later. That may or may not have mattered. The person coming from behind does have the advantage.
5) Made Rossi work a bit more. That probably wouldn't have mattered either, because if someone doesn't want to work, they won't. And they certainly won't work hard.
6) Attacked with Bart a bit more: he was the only one who would work with me. He was even more pissed off than I was, because he finished fourth, and he'd also done a hell of a lot of training for this, even using an alti-trainer!
Oh well, could have been worse: I could have punctured on lap 1 and got zilch. Maybe revenge next year, maybe not. The course is not nearly as hard, although it does contain a few climbs. We shall see!
Not quite happy Jan
© Robert Kuehnen
The Slovenians distribute largesse
© Jeff Jones
Me, Carlo and Valerio - top 3 in the U50s
© Fotoreporter Sirotti
Aftermath
We had the presentations and a post-race buffet, but I was so late and so not hungry that I didn't get much of it. I nearly missed the presentation too! The Slovenians were great though: they gave us all some Slovenian bubbly, which I can use to drown my sorrows at one point. Later on back at Hotel Rossi, Peter bought us a couple of bottles of prosecco, so we could celebrate our first and second place. As he said, 'not bad for a couple of pancakes', referring to the predominant terrain of Belgium and The Netherlands. He also revealed that he'd done a bit of training in the Alps in the last two weeks, so that would have helped, I'm sure!
We went up to San Marino again on Sunday evening and found a different restaurant - the Titano - which was overhanging a wall. It looked pretty precarious, but there were a lot of folks in there so we went in and enjoyed another very fine meal. Incredibly cheap too - I think it was 20 euros a head, including booze.
After another nightcap in the Hotel Rossi, we all retired, although I didn't (couldn't!) get to sleep until 3am.
I think I walked every street and saw every fake weapon shop in San Marino, all in the space of two hours, with plenty of time to take pics. It's not the biggest metropolis in the world, but it's worth a visit if you're ever in this area of Italy. San Marino, I mean.
The restaurant Titano where we had dinner (on the right)
© Jeff Jones
Walking up to Castle #2
© Jeff Jones
Escher would have been proud
© Jeff Jones
Nice view. Don't fall.
© Jeff Jones
Looking back to Castle #1
© Jeff Jones
Antique weapons museum
© Jeff Jones
Bars in San Marino
© Jeff Jones
Look at moi
© Jeff Jones
Castle #1
© Jeff Jones
Looking across to castle #2
© Jeff Jones
Fake weapons - a San Marino specialty
© Jeff Jones
Downtown San Marino. It's thriving.
© Jeff Jones
San Marino's place of worship
© Jeff Jones
The City Hall Thing
© Jeff Jones
I love narrow streets
© Jeff Jones
More San Marino streets
© Jeff Jones
The drive back to Bologna was pretty quick, as I had fully mastered the left-hand drive of the Peugeot 206, so I had oodles of time to check out the queues in Bologna airport. Then, back to Gent and back to the computer, where I have been stationed for the last two weeks until the Vuelta and World's have finished.
It's been nice weather - calm and 20 degrees - but the rain has returned today and looks like setting in. I've got a few fun things lined up this week: doing a TV spot (with Scott Sunderland) for Proximus - an English version of their latest commercial, which is a pretty funny take on cycling commentary. It won't get to be aired, but you might hear me on a funniest home video show at some distant point in future. The irony is that my Proximus mobile has been cut off again this week, due to lack of bill payment.
I'm also meeting photographer and track guru Fat Nick (Nick Rosenthal) for lunch on the weekend, which will be cool!
On the not so fun front, I turned on the TV last week and I have become an addict again. It's really bad. So many crap shows, so little time. I even saw two minutes of Outback Jack the other day, and I was so rooted to the spot in horrified fascination that I didn't change channels until I had seen him instruct one of the girls on how to change a wheel on a ute. Oh dear. It'll end in tears.
Carlo Alberto Rossi wins the bike race© Fotoreporter Sirotti
Now read on...
Part the first
I will begin at the beginning because that's where I am now, holed up in my sumptuous room at the three star Hotel Rossi in Domangano, which is approximately in the vicinity of San Marino. Most of the Others are staying at the four star Primavera about half a k up the road. If I'd gone there, it would have meant 40m less climbing to get to San Marino. But I'll come to that.After last year's fun and games getting to Bussolengo, I vowed to take it a bit easier on myself this year. We were told already last year that the Journo World's would be in San Marino, and that it would be hillier. I wasn't a hundred percent sure that I'd be able to go this year, as it was in the middle of the Vuelta, but I convinced my workmates that I wouldn't let the side down if they covered for me.
There was to be no 15 hour all-night train ride this year, because I'm always looking for new experiences. Instead, I flew to Bologna and was going to catch the train/bus to Rimini/San Marino, but I took Tim's advice and hired a car at Bologna airport and drove the 140 km instead. Never mind that I'd never driven a car in Europe before, nor in Italy, nor in the pouring rain.
I had checked out the weather beforehand, and Belgium actually had better weather predicted than San Marino. Friday was supposed to be thunderstorms easing to rain; Saturday and Sunday showers, and Monday as well, although I didn't care about that. Thus, it wasn't surprising that when we set down at Bologna airport it was pissing down, to coin a phrase. I was concerned about getting my bike back and asked Baggage Assistance where the oversized baggage reclaim was. I was informed it was "over there" but just as I went over there, I saw my trusty red SciCon bag lurch out on the conveyor belt in the normal baggage reclaim and get stuck. That's why they have an oversized baggage reclaim, I reasoned.
Picking up my roomy Peugeot 206 from Europcar was painless, and I could somehow fit my bike bag in the back seat, after a little manoeuvring and squashing of the wheels. I spent five minutes trying to figure out whether the accelerator was on the same side as it was in Australia (it was. I think.), even though the gear stick was on the right. Oh well, nothing for it but to set off. I had an internet map itinerary, courtesy of Mappy.com and thanks to it, I didn't even miss a turnoff. Italy is sign crazy though.
The rain was shocking, but I figured out the autostrada system fairly quickly: don't stay in the right lane unless you want to do 70 km/h with all the trucks. I chose the middle road. Me and the Peugeot 206 arrived at the Hotel Rossi intact at 2:30pm, only seven and a half hours after setting out from Gent, instead of double that.
I crashed out for an hour and then put the bike together, although it took me ages to figure out what I'd done to the front brake. I still don't know, but it works now. Then, using more trusty internet maps, I rode up to San Marino. It wasn't too hard to find, because it sticks out like the proverbial. It's quite spectacular actually - an old city built on top of an 800m hilltop. I was hoping that the Hotel Rossi was already at that altitude, but it wasn't, so I set off at about 12 km/h (trying to take it easy) for the three kilometre slog to San Marino. When I got there I didn't look at my map, so I missed the turn I wanted and ended up going up even further. It's quite a climb! Finally I figured it all out and ended up on the course.
The fabulous three star Hotel Rossi© Jeff Jones
San Marino, from one of the castles© Jeff Jones
The course
I was armed with a course map and profile. The map was accurate, but the course profile was only qualitatively useful. It had altitude numbers on it, which were rather fanciful. I also had these comments from the organiser:
"Our colleague Andrea Mandusia has tested the circuit. He says that: 'It seems a demanding circuit, viale Campo dei Giudei is rising with some points at 6% or 9% in the beginning, but it's possible to do at high speed; the downhill road is more easy, without curves.'"
"On the same circuit, the prologue of the women's Giro di San Marino was organiser. The winner averaged 44 km/h and you can expect a fast race."
And finally:
"Some colleagues have said it's a little harder than it seems."
You're not bloody wrong mate! Some details: 6.7 km circuit to be done nine times for 60 km-ish. Basically it went up and down viale Campo dei Giudei with a 3 km loop at the top of the road where the main descent and climb were. I wish I'd brought an altimeter! According to the profile, the first 1.3 km were uphill at about 1%. Yes, that would explain why I was using my 39x23. Then it went down for a couple of hundred metres before turning right off the viale Campo dei Giudei and going up for another couple of hundred metres, then down, down, down for a kilometre or so. The descent was quick, until you hit a sharp right, easy left, then really sharp right at the bottom. It had more curves than an Italian game show hostess. I pictured myself doing it in a bunch in the wet on carbon wheels, and it wasn't anywhere near as pretty.
After the sharp right hander, it went down for a bit more (not up, according to the profile), before the main climb started. On the profile, it was 1 km at 3.5%. This was bollocks. Every lap I did it, I was using the 39x25 going at 10-11 km/h in the steeper second half. No, I wasn't going hard, but I know what a 3.5% hill feels like (bottom part of the Trap Op) and this was more like 5% at the bottom at 8-9% at the top, maybe an average of 6-7%. They're only numbers here, but numbers like that translate into pain in your legs.
After reaching the top, it was back onto the viale Campo dei Giudei for a rather pleasant 1 km back to the start/finish, before I realised that would only give us 5 km and that we would have to keep going along the Campo dei Giudei up the final "bump" that the profile indicated, do a U-turn at the top, and come down to the finish again. I could also see it like a wall in front of me. The profile had it rising 20 metres in 800, but by now I knew what to expect. It was 400 metres for a start, and I think Mr Mandusia was correct about the 9% section here. It reminded me very much of the climb at the end of the West Head road in Sydney. After the U-turn at the top, it was a fast descent and then 300m gradually uphill to the finish. Repeat.
The start/finish© Jeff Jones
The hairpin at the bottom of the descent© Jeff Jones
The top of the start/finish hill© Jeff Jones
Packed into 6.7 km, it was easily the hardest circuit I've ever ridden on. At the end of 2 hours riding, I had an average speed of 21.7 km/h. By comparison, for the same average heart rate along the flat, I'd average 31-32. Thus, it was getting a bit dark at the end as I coasted back to Hotel Rossi. Tomorrow, I'll take the camera, but I might look for an easier ride somewhere.
I dined extravagantly in the hotel, going on Tim's menu advice: pasta bianco (plain pasta with olive oil and cheese), bistecca griglia (grilled steak), verdure griglia (grilled veggies). It was plain but quite OK.
I'm now watching some Italian-Japanese Anime on MTV, which is even weirder than in English.
Saturday, part the second
Eight hours of sleep at last, a luxury in these modern times. At brekky, I checked out all the photos of riders who had stayed in the Hotel Rossi, and I figured out that Mr Rossi was something of a cycling fan. He's had everyone from Paolo Savoldelli to Joane Somarriba stay here. There are plenty of pics of him with Francesco Moser, Gianni Bugno, Marco Pantani, Claudio Chiappucci and other Italian legends as well.After an hour of messing around to put the Zipps on and making sure that the front was true after the harrowing journey in the bike bag, I chucked the bike in the car and actually drove up to the course again. I realised that it was impossible to find a flat road in San Marino, but I wanted to avoid climbing up to the city in the Saturday morning traffic. I rode on the course for a little bit, especially the descent to see how different the carbon wheels felt. Not bad, but I vowed to change them at the first hint of rain.
I met who I thought was another journalist, but it turns out he was just up here for a ride and was a bit lost. He had a jersey on from Wooly's Wheels, a bike shop in Sydney, which I thought was pretty funny. I wasn't particularly helpful in my directions, but he wished me luck for tomorrow's race and went on his way. As did I, although I'd had more than enough after 40 km at 24 km/h and put the bike back in the car.
More wheel truing followed.
I caught up with the Dutch guys I met last year for a cuppa at the Hotel Rossi. Peter de Groot, Mark Koghee and Karel Beckmans had all driven down from Nijmegen - about 1300 km all up. They'd stayed overnight in Milan, although they'd found a somewhat cheaper place en route in Switzerland. They didn't stay there for long because the all-female hotel "staff" were a little, ahem, too friendly. They did say it was cheap though.
The Dutchies had also checked out the course, and were a bit dismayed. Peter was the defending champ in the Over 50s, but he quickly realised he'd need to rely on all his cunning to survive San Marino. Oh well, they were here and it was Too Late Now to go home.
At any rate, we had a dinner to go to, and the Dutchies trusted my driving skills to let me take them up to La Fratta, which is right near Parking Place 6 towards the top of San Marino. It was a cool place, and we had a fairly substantial six course meal. I ate everything that was put in front of me, although I would have been happy with what I had the previous night, which was quite plain, but very digestible.
It was a chance to renew acquaintances from last year, and I caught up with Ze Chermans: Robert Kuehnen and his friend Tobias Krug, from Tour Magazine. Actually, Robert is more of a freelancer these days and has his own coaching business. I think San Marino's top brass was there too: the mayor and the president of the cycling federation (not the same person). There was also a delegation from Austria, where the Journo World's are next year, and they handed out course maps and info for next year's races. That's bloody organised!
Getting back to the hotel was easy, because it was all downhill, and I was getting the hang of all of San Marino's hairpins by now. I could watch more Italian-dubbed Japanese Anime on MTV before getting some sleep. Not a lot, I admit.
Sunday, part the third and the most important part
Race day! We had an early-ish start (11:15 on the program), but I couldn't be arsed getting up at 6am to eat breakfast and then another breakfast. That said, I always ride faster after I've had two meals instead of one. So I ate as much cereal as I could, lamenting the lack of available porridge. I had a snack about an hour before the race, and in hindsight I should have had a bigger one, because I wasn't feeling full at all during the race.I also caught up with the Slovenians at brekky. They'd come in two proper team cars, complete with roof racks and logos on the side (I think they were borrowed). They even had a team manager, mechanics/photographers, etc. Very organised! They were tops, and I remember Primoz from last year. He asked me if I was going to win today, and I said I'd try, but you never know who turns up to these things.
I drove up to the course but couldn't get onto it because it had been blocked off. I couldn't argue with an San Marino cop, so I just parked at the top of the start/finish hill, and chucked everything into my backpack and rode down to the start. Sign on was in the sporting complex a bit further along, and because it was sponsored by Enervit, we got lots of free stuff like a jersey, waterbottle, racing food, some Zone cookies, and so much more. I found out later that the cookies tasted really weird, but I still ended up eating them all anyway. I'm not sure if they put me in the Zone, but I can say that I didn't feel like eating anything at all after eating a few of them.
This year, I got number 136, which was a bit less auspicious than last year's number 1. I didn't see Mr Agostini anywhere (he was still at the Vuelta with Petacchi), but I did spot Mr Riparbelli, who pipped me for second last year. He looked scarily fit, not an ounce of fat on him anywhere. Also there was Bart de Schampeleire (5th last year), looking super-skinny, on a super-light bike, and obviously super-motivated. Davide Cassani was there too, but he was an ex-pro so would race in his own category. He didn't look that fit, but you never know with these guys.
First up was the Over 50s/Women, who had to do 6 laps for 40 km. After one lap, there were only six left, including both women and Peter de Groot. After about three laps, there were four left, as Slovenia's Lucija Bosnik had been dropped along with one of the men. They stayed together until the last climb of the last lap, when I heard "scatto Peter de Groot" over the loudspeaker. Yep, Pete had saved it all up for that hill and left the others behind with a massive attack. He came back down with a pretty decent gap and had plenty of time to celebrate. Nice work! I congratulated him, and he advised me that that was the hill to go on, but I had to wait and wait, and not do too much during the race. I actually hoped to get away before then, but I remembered what he said.
The Over 50s podium, with Peter de Groot as the Champ© Fotoreporter Sirotti
Lucija Bosnik (L, 2nd) and Ilenia Lazarro (1st), winners of the women's race© Fotoreporter Sirotti
We set off at 11:45 for our nine laps (60 km) and finally I was in the race. I took Peter's advice and stayed back for the first part. Everyone was fresh, so it's harder to make a difference then anyway. It was also a good opportunity to find out who was strong. Thankfully, the descent was not too frightening in the race, although Riparbelli had the strangest descending style I have ever seen: on the corners he was out of the saddle and over the back of it, with his hands on the brakes. It wasn't very safe. Afterwards, he told me that he'd only been racing for four years, and wasn't so good technically.
By the end of lap 1, our group had been cut in half down to 15, and that was just us riding, no attacks at all. On the second lap, Bart was a bit frisky and tried to get away a couple of times, but the bunch was still a bit big and everyone was still a bit fresh. We had it down to 11 riders after two laps though, and I hadn't done much at all. I noticed Riparbelli was taking the hills very easily: if there was a gap, he'd close it in a tiny gear. Robert and Bart were also strong, but I didn't notice any of the others (including Rossi) looking that good. Even Cassani was sitting at the back.
On the fourth lap, Bart came up to me and said that it was still too easy, and we'd have too many left for the finale. I agreed, but I said 'next lap', which was when we started really attacking. At the start of the lap on the long, steady climb, Robert, Bart, and Riparbelli got a bit of a gap, which Mark Koghee and I closed. Rossi came along a bit later, as did a few of the others, but we did manage to reduce it to nine riders over the next two laps. I was doing a lot of the tempo making on the steep climbs, because that's when the drafting effect would be minimised. But there was always a descent to recover on.
The group was still too big, so on lap 7, I put in a bigger attack on the steady climb. Although only Riparbelli and Bart came with me, Riparbelli didn't want to work, so we lost a bit of momentum and firstly Robert K, then Mr Rossi caught us. I was actually surprised to see Rossi suddenly appear, because we weren't going that slow, but I thought we could drop him again. Needless to say, he didn't do a turn after that.
We had it down to five with two laps to go, and it seemed as though I was the only one interested in attacking. But after the steep climb midway through the eighth lap, Bart and I had a small gap, so we made the others work to get us on the way back to the start/finish. And then, we were on the last lap...still with five. This wasn't how I'd planned it, but I hadn't quite been able to break the elastic. I noticed that any acceleration would put Robert and (usually) Rossi out the back, while Bart and Riparbelli would always manage to get my wheel immediately.
Me leading Bart, Riparbelli and Rossi on the short start/finish hill© Robert Hajdinjak
Final lap. I had to keep attacking. I went near the top of the first steady climb, again taking Bart and Riparbelli with me. But then Bart came past on the short descent before the real downhill started and said 'keep the speed up on the descent'. The plan was to drop Riparbelli here, and it sort of worked. We got a gap and he was again forced to chase with the other two. But Bart wasn't super strong and neither of us had the balls to take the first corner 5 km/h faster - necessary if we wanted to keep the gap. At the bottom, they were almost on us again, but as I was in front, I accelerated hard out of the hairpin. I looked back and alas, Bart had sat up and was back with the others. 2 against 3 would have been better odds than 1 against 4.
I had maybe five seconds when I hit the 1 km climb, and tried to save a little bit as I hit the first part of it, which wasn't so steep. My speed was OK, but I didn't have enough in the tank and I started to lock up and get that all-over lactic feeling as I hit the steep part. Well, I hoped the others were feeling that too! Evidently not as much as me, because at the top, first Riparbelli, then Bart, then Robert, then Rossi caught me. Dang.
I was running out of options, as there was only one more climb to go: the 400m one past the start/finish line, the one that De Groot had flown away on. I had less than two minutes to recover for one last, all-out effort, but I made sure I did one short turn on the descent to keep the pace up and stop everyone from sitting up and watching each other. That worked, and I dropped to fourth wheel while Riparbelli and Bart led us to the bottom of the last climb. Rossi was still in fifth wheel, but I wasn't about to start worrying about him now.
I had no idea how effective this attack would be, but I made sure it counted. I backed off a bit, then jumped in the 53x14 about 50m before the bottom of the descent, taking three of the others by surprise. I had a much higher speed than them at the foot of the climb, and that was absolutely crucial. It was maybe a one minute, full gas effort. This was as important as the sprint. But again, I got 150m from the top and started to lock up, unavoidably losing speed as the U-turn approached. I looked back quickly just near the top and saw a flash of red coming up behind me: Rossi! Dang and damn.
The other three were further back, and I knew they wouldn't get me, but Rossi was right on my wheel just after I rounded the corner. I didn't want it to come down to a sprint, but it was Too Late Now (again) and I just had to hope. There was no way he was coming past me on the descent, so I just got into a tuck and tried to recover.
We hit the bottom - 300m of 3 percent uphill to go, but with a 65 km/h headstart. I started to pedal, but just to keep the speed going. I looked down and saw him glued to my wheel, as expected. I'm a bad judge of distance, but I think I got out of the saddle at 200m, then wound it up to top speed at about 150m out. The line was a long way off, but I was completely committed now, and I still felt good. At 100m, I could sense that he was trying to come around me, so I dug a little more and went as deep as I can ever go in a sprint. At 50m, I felt like I was going to burst, but he still hadn't got around me, although I could feel him moving up on my left. 40m, he was level and I was losing steam. 30m, and it was all over. It was like something snapped. He was past me, and I knew that I wasn't getting him back, and I stopped pedaling. He was too fast. Damn my lack of fast twitch muscle fibres. Aaaargggghhhh, so close, and yet so far. 1 metre, 1/10th of a second - it's nothing, but it's the difference between being a 'world champion' and not.
I wasn't completely happy with the result. In fact, I was shocked that he had beaten me, and not one of the others. Where on earth did he get the legs to follow me on the last hill? True, he hadn't done any work, but he'd also been dropped a few times, and that's never easy to recover from. Either he was a complete genius at reading the race, or he just wanted it a little bit more than I did. Last year it was different: I was OK with being beaten by Agostini because he was clearly the better sprinter, but he could also match any of my attacks. This year, although I finished a place higher up and much closer to the jersey, it was almost too close.
I think I was the strongest in the race, and Bart, Riparbelli, and just about everyone else told me this, but I still lost. I'd perhaps overestimated the severity of the course, too: sure, it suited strong riders, but it was still very hard to make a difference on your own because of the recovery time on the descents. It was a fun course to race on, though. The bottom line was that I was strong, but not strong enough to get away alone. As always, that depends on the competition just as much as it does on you.
If I could re-run it, I'd probably do the following:
1) Get a 2kg lighter bike (like I had earlier this year). On course with 27 km of climbing at an average of about 5 percent, that would make a difference of 1'00, even allowing for time gained on the descents with more weight. This doesn't mean that I would win the race by a minute, but it would have saved me a bit of power.
2) Start attacking one lap earlier. Lap 4 would have been OK.
3) Eaten the last half of my energy gel on the last lap.I'd been eating for the previous laps - shouldn't have stopped.
4) Led out the sprint 50m later, or at least not hit full gas until 50m later. That may or may not have mattered. The person coming from behind does have the advantage.
5) Made Rossi work a bit more. That probably wouldn't have mattered either, because if someone doesn't want to work, they won't. And they certainly won't work hard.
6) Attacked with Bart a bit more: he was the only one who would work with me. He was even more pissed off than I was, because he finished fourth, and he'd also done a hell of a lot of training for this, even using an alti-trainer!
Oh well, could have been worse: I could have punctured on lap 1 and got zilch. Maybe revenge next year, maybe not. The course is not nearly as hard, although it does contain a few climbs. We shall see!
Not quite happy Jan© Robert Kuehnen
The Slovenians distribute largesse© Jeff Jones
Me, Carlo and Valerio - top 3 in the U50s© Fotoreporter Sirotti
Aftermath
We had the presentations and a post-race buffet, but I was so late and so not hungry that I didn't get much of it. I nearly missed the presentation too! The Slovenians were great though: they gave us all some Slovenian bubbly, which I can use to drown my sorrows at one point. Later on back at Hotel Rossi, Peter bought us a couple of bottles of prosecco, so we could celebrate our first and second place. As he said, 'not bad for a couple of pancakes', referring to the predominant terrain of Belgium and The Netherlands. He also revealed that he'd done a bit of training in the Alps in the last two weeks, so that would have helped, I'm sure!
We went up to San Marino again on Sunday evening and found a different restaurant - the Titano - which was overhanging a wall. It looked pretty precarious, but there were a lot of folks in there so we went in and enjoyed another very fine meal. Incredibly cheap too - I think it was 20 euros a head, including booze.
After another nightcap in the Hotel Rossi, we all retired, although I didn't (couldn't!) get to sleep until 3am.
Monday, part the fourth
I had an afternoon flight so I had plenty of time on Monday morning to check out San Marino in full. It's not such a big town, but it is pretty cool. There are two castles built right at the top, and you can climb up the towers and get an amazing view. One of them had an antique weapons exhibition, and I noticed that the San Marinese(?) were big on weapons. Most of the souvenir shops sell fake guns, knives and swords, which all look pretty authentic! It's bizarre. I can understand one shop selling these, but not all of them! A friend of mine said it was so they could defend their fake country. Hah!I think I walked every street and saw every fake weapon shop in San Marino, all in the space of two hours, with plenty of time to take pics. It's not the biggest metropolis in the world, but it's worth a visit if you're ever in this area of Italy. San Marino, I mean.
The restaurant Titano where we had dinner (on the right)© Jeff Jones
Walking up to Castle #2© Jeff Jones
Escher would have been proud© Jeff Jones
Nice view. Don't fall.© Jeff Jones
Looking back to Castle #1© Jeff Jones
Antique weapons museum© Jeff Jones
Bars in San Marino© Jeff Jones
Look at moi© Jeff Jones
Castle #1© Jeff Jones
Looking across to castle #2© Jeff Jones
Fake weapons - a San Marino specialty© Jeff Jones
Downtown San Marino. It's thriving.© Jeff Jones
San Marino's place of worship© Jeff Jones
The City Hall Thing© Jeff Jones
I love narrow streets© Jeff Jones
More San Marino streets© Jeff Jones
The drive back to Bologna was pretty quick, as I had fully mastered the left-hand drive of the Peugeot 206, so I had oodles of time to check out the queues in Bologna airport. Then, back to Gent and back to the computer, where I have been stationed for the last two weeks until the Vuelta and World's have finished.
It's been nice weather - calm and 20 degrees - but the rain has returned today and looks like setting in. I've got a few fun things lined up this week: doing a TV spot (with Scott Sunderland) for Proximus - an English version of their latest commercial, which is a pretty funny take on cycling commentary. It won't get to be aired, but you might hear me on a funniest home video show at some distant point in future. The irony is that my Proximus mobile has been cut off again this week, due to lack of bill payment.
I'm also meeting photographer and track guru Fat Nick (Nick Rosenthal) for lunch on the weekend, which will be cool!
On the not so fun front, I turned on the TV last week and I have become an addict again. It's really bad. So many crap shows, so little time. I even saw two minutes of Outback Jack the other day, and I was so rooted to the spot in horrified fascination that I didn't change channels until I had seen him instruct one of the girls on how to change a wheel on a ute. Oh dear. It'll end in tears.
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