Yesterday I climbed Mt Kosciusko…Australia’s highest mountain!

We actually tried twice and succeeded once. The first time was cut short by miserably cold and wet weather. The second time took Aiden and I four and a half hours to climb to the summit and get back to the top of the chair lift.

I thought Kosi itself was pretty unimpressive, but the views from the top were amazing and I had a great afternoon of mum and son time with my oldest boy.

Very pleased to have crossed another thing off my bucket list!

A bit of background….I went to jump on my bike at the end of a very long and busy day, only to discover that I had a flat tyre (why didn’t I see that this morning?). Whipped the wheel out, removed a piece of glass, new tube…blah blah…exploded the jolly thing IN THE OFFICE with a CO2 canister. Had to run home (the husband is away on a ski trip) and didn’t have the right gear with me.

Here’s what I learned tonight:

1. CO2 canisters and road bike tubes don’t mix. This is the second time I’ve exploded a tube.

2. Bare footing at night is less than optimal.

3. Bare footing in socks is a pain in the butt when you get a hole in them and they start to collect small stones through the hole. (ended up putting my Colorado MaryJane flats on after 5kms)

4. Socks really are only good for 4 or 5 kms.

5. MaryJanes are neither a sexy choice in running gear, nor a comfortable one….I had sore knees within 5 minutes of putting them on after I got holes in my socks.

6. Running in a pair of biking knicks that were designed for long distance riding is like running in a full nappy.

7. Playing spotlight with spiders on the path is fun…their eyes shine blue!

8. Coming home to an empty house after such a crappy evening sucks.

I hope I don’t have to do that again in a hurry.

Have you ever had to suck it up and just get going?

I wasn't even two when I started hooning around on wheels

This bike was my pride and joy for YEARS

Speed was always an issue...at times I would employ my little brother to help me along

Here are a couple of pictures of me on my early bikes. It was blue and shiny and it had streamers. It kept me on the road for years But even before that cycling was in my family’s blood.

Seagul Cycle Works in Melbourne

This is a picture of my grandfather in his bike store – Seagull Cycles. He built the finest custom hand built racing and commuter cycles in Melbourne and then in central Victoria in the 50s and 60s, and before that his father did the same. It’s not called Seagull Cycle Works any more…but if you’re ever in Beechworth and cruising the main street, check out Beechworth Cycle and Saws. That’s where my earliest memories of cycling were forged.

Grandpa in the Beechworth Seagull Cycle Works shop

Even today when I walk into a bike store and smell the peculiar mix of rubber and grease I am instantly transported back to the times when I would visit grandpa’s shop where children were seen but never heard, and I marvelled at the shiny bikes in the front, and the greasy bike skeletons that littered the workshop out the back. As we sipped hot sweet tea around the little cast iron wood-burning stove, I’d listen to the talk of truing wheels, the virtues of hand-crafted bikes, hand-brazed joints and the numbers of tourists visiting the little gold rush town.

This old pennyfarthing was grandpa's pride and joy

These days I find myself wondering what grandpa would think about me and my riding. He never did talk much about a particular passion for cycling itself (to me at least), but his perfectionism in building beautiful bikes showed a love of the sport that spoke louder than anything. And again I wonder that I have not made the connection between my passion for bikes and the bike grease that has coursed through the veins of my family for years before now.

Uncle Pete on a custom Seagull Cycle built by grandpa

I remember hearing about my uncles (when they were in their early twenties) riding from the middle of country Victoria down to Melbourne and back on the steep and windy high country roads, and being fascinated….and horrified. I remember thinking that I could never do that, but now I reckon I’d give it a try.

I may never ride 3000kms in three weeks like Cadel Evans nor at the pace that he did it, but like our Aussie low-key hero of both mountain biking and road cycling, I hope the love of all things two-wheeled and pedal powered will continue to bring a smile to my face for many years to come. And I am more than chuffed that my son Shel has caught the cycling bug too and will carry on the legacy.

My boy Shel at his first downhill mountain bike race

I would love to have one of grandpa’s Seagull Cycle bikes one day. A little while ago I found a guy on an online forum that had found a Seagull Cycle that was in need of some TLC, but unfortunately it was unsalvageable, and just yesterday I heard of someone with a beatup old Seagull frame in the US (long way from home, and the description isn’t quite right), I’m sure it’s not going to be easy to track down a 50-60+ year old steel bike. Until then I will keep riding my sweet dualy mountain bike and my sweet roadie and enjoy the wind in my face (and the frost on my nose in this crazy Canberra winter ) and the freedom of almost flying.

I think I have forgotten how to relax.

For a year or so now I have been having various problems with muscles being too tight and contracted to function properly. The latest round of problems is with my shoulder, and I’ve been seeing a psychopath osteopath who tried manual techniques before finally getting the muscles to behave with dry needling. OUCH. I don’t want to have to have that again! So I need to figure out how to relax.

My problem now is that I think I might have forgotten how to relax my muscles. I was lying in bed this morning and noticing just how much tension there was in my body. There were tight muscles all over, and even after I tried to relax them, the tension crept back in. This is quite possibly why I don’t sleep well either…..hmmm…

So, I need help. How do you relax? What are your most effective non-chemical methods for relaxing your body.

I love riding to work. The early morning exercise sets me up for a smooth and mellow start to the day.  Usually it’s pretty uneventful…mostly because I’m half asleep. Today was different.

This is what a cheap tube plus CO2 canister too fast looks like

This morning I was having an AWESOME ride….it was nice and early, not pitch black, but still dark-ish, not too cold, little bit of fog around. I was in the zone. Cruising along. Smiling. I was up early enough to take the long way to work. Beautiful!

When I do the long ride I come down through the middle of Fisher, then between Waramanga and Stirling, down past Maccas, down Streeton Dr to Scrivener Dam etc…. I had just come past Maccas and was approaching the skate park beside the tennis courts there and I hear psshhhhhhhh…bugger…flat…turns out I had run over some glass (didn’t see it).

No stress! I’ve changed tyres before. So I got all greasy and pulled the back wheel off, untangled it from the rear derailleur and removed the tyre, pulled out the tube… found the glass and extracted it. The tyre ended up with a 1cm gash, so I sleeved that with a $5 note I carry in my kit for just such an emergency. Ran my hands around the inside of the tyre a couple of times to make sure there was nothing left in there to kill the replacement tube…. pulled out the new tube and blew it up with my mouth just enough to give it shape to put onto the wheel … refit the tyre (road tyres are a pain in the butt – they are so tight!…mtb tyres are much easier to change) and did the usual rigmarole to make sure I hadn’t pinched the tube with the tyre… now here’s where it gets good….

I carry a CO2 canister to pump up my tyres rather than a hand pump. They are smaller and faster. This is what a CO2 set up looks like http://www.cellbikes.com.au/Bike-Rider-CO2-Gift-Pack .. you attach it to your valve and then release the gas into your tyre…inflates it in about 5-10 seconds … brilliant stuff! So fast, and no sweat involved!

So I did that, the tyre felt great, I was set! Then I tried to take the canister off the valve but it was too cold and stiff, so I picked the wheel up and had the derailleur cocked in position in one hand and the wheel in the other hand and I gave the tyre a squeeze just to check it, and BOOOM!!!! The tube exploded and the tyre blew off the side of the rim! Sounded like a  gunshot! I seriously very nearly wet myself. (Would have been more than a little embarrassing!)

There was a woman (probably in her early 30s) walking her dog about 100mtrs away at the time. I saw her jump, and the dog went berko for a second.  She was very nice actually…offered to go home (she lived nearby) and get me a new tube…but I had already called Al and woken him up by then He was kind enough to get out of bed and come rescue me. I was lucky none of the local military college guys were jogging by at the time…could have gotten messy

*incoming!!!!*

Sorry, it’s late and I’m tired.

I was telling this story to a friend this morning and he told me I should blog it so I didn’t lose the story. The thought hadn’t even crossed my mind.

*face palm*

So busy lately that I haven’t written a whole lot for myself.

Anyway…

that’s how my day started today…I was pretty peeved that I didn’t get to ride. I was looking forward to it. My day didn’t really improve…but you get that