Tour de Mike

[mikesbytes]

Did my lazy 85k this morning. For most of it, I hung around about 20 meters behind some slower riders I know, one of whom recorded her average speed for the ride at 28.3kph, which pleased her no end, her fastest so far.

[toolonglegs]

back in the saddle again

[inaminit]

Did my lazy 85k this morning. For most of it, I hung around about 20 meters behind some slower riders I know, one of whom recorded her average speed for the ride at 28.3kph, which pleased her no end, her fastest so far.

Note to self.....If thats Mikes "lazy 85k", don't ride with him when he's fully fit!!!!!


2nd note to self....If I ever get a chance to ride with Mike, run over his hand first

Good to see your back into it Mike, and I hope the ride didn't give your hand any grief.

[mikesbytes]

The ride was well within my fitness, I could of easily rode faster, the riders I normally train with waved to me going the opposite direction after the turn around, something I haven't seen before.

I was more focused the safety of my hand. The only problem I had was once I had to brake quickly at a roundabout while my hand was on the hoods rather than been in the drops and my hand hurt a bit.

BTW, my carbon fibre gloves didn't explode on contact with the rain

[Mulger bill]

Good to have you back riding Mike

Keep those gloves away from pebbles now...

Shaun

[mikesbytes]

On Saturday I did around 70k. More importantly I did loops of sprinters hill in centennial park. It was quite noticeable that my speed dropped off lap after lap, the consolation been that I seemed to be holding my pace all the way up, where typically when a rider is tired on that hill, they seem to loose pace half way up. However on the way home was not the same case and about half way up each hill I seemed to loose pace unless I was really focused. Still not complaining, you would expect to loose some fitness.

At a guess I'd say that completion of tour de mike is around 4 weeks away.

[inaminit]

Good stuff Mike, how'd the hand hold up?

[mikesbytes]

Good stuff Mike, how'd the hand hold up?

The hand was fine, it wouldn't have enough grip strength to do an all out sprint as at the end of a race. What did give me trouble was the left shoulder and knee. I had to stop and give the shoulder a 5 minute rest

[Bluerider]

I'm sure your glad to be back on the saddle Mike a little under done but I'm sure you'll be back in shape soon enough.

[mikesbytes]

Went to physico this arvo and while my hand had shown excellent progress, they expressed concern about taking risk, which I interpreted as no track, aggressive bunch riding or racing until November.

They did a squeeze strength test on it. First I did the right hand the the device gave a reading of 40kg. Your writing hand is usually about 10% stronger so that would equate to 44kg for the injured hand pre-injury and that hand returned a figure of 37kg, so that's only 7kg down, not bad.

I've been given a new bunch of exercises to do that deal with getting the finger back into position and improving its mobility, it all looks rather positive at the moment.

[europa]

Sounds good mate, though I think you're overestimating what they mean by 'risk free'

Glad to have you back on the road. Maybe it's time to take up heavy touring

Richard

[mikesbytes]

Did my first bike commute this morning, at first the right shoulder hurt, but after adjusting the straps on the backpack so the weight was mainly on the left shoulder, it settled down to just discomfort. I was a bit more cagey about the local traffic, there wasn't very much of it, but I didn't trust it anyway. At North Sydney where the traffic was heavy I had no problems, probably because the traffic was traveling slower.

[Bluerider]

From where to where are you riding from ?

[europa]

From where to where are you riding from ?

Home to home?

Richard

[mikesbytes]

From where to where are you riding from ?

Ashfield/Ashbury to North Sydney In about 2 weeks time it will be Ashfield/Ashbury to Chatswood

On the way home I was nearly wiped out by a dog not on a lease and got cut off by a car in a roundabout. Car was no big deal, but the dog was. If I can't ride without risk of been knocked, I'll have to stop until November.

[toolonglegs]

From where to where are you riding from ?

Ashfield/Ashbury to North Sydney In about 2 weeks time it will be Ashfield/Ashbury to Chatswood

On the way home I was nearly wiped out by a dog not on a lease and got cut off by a car in a roundabout. Car was no big deal, but the dog was. If I can't ride without risk of been knocked, I'll have to stop until November.

You will have to drop and roll,go flopppy!.MTB'ers crash better...it's proven.
But back to the point,old lady 2 dogs,cycle path and they are running wild and she has words at me!.I said I would remind her what she said when her mangy mutts knock a kid of their bike and they end up with brain damage,she gave me one dirty look!..so I said next lap I would cut them in half if they got in my way...wasn't in a good mood was I!.But you know it is always a risk,be careful dude!.

[europa]

If I can't ride without risk of been knocked, I'll have to stop until November.

Roads, you have cars.
Bike paths, you have mobile carbon based life forms.

Mate, you are an experienced and sensible rider. Just get out there and enjoy it, but wind your paranoid index up to 'full' for the time being.

Richard

[Bluerider]

Mike nice steady climb up the hwy to Crowie then onto Chatswood.
Would you turn right just before RNS or follow hwy or go back way up Willoughby Rd ?

[toolonglegs]

Mike nice steady climb up the hwy to Crowie then onto Chatswood.
Would you turn right just before RNS or follow hwy or go back way up Willoughby Rd ?

Wouldn't go near the highway...DANGEROUS road at the best of times,especially rush hour....thats why there is a cycle path that no one uses along the expressway,then up to Artarmon,then another cycle path to Chatswood.

[mikesbytes]

A few years ago I use to take the back streets between St Leonards and North Sydney. Nowadays I'm too lazy so I ride up and down the Pacific Hwy.

Going to work, from St Leonards I turn right and follow the railway tracks all the way to Chatswood.

Coming home I usually go the same way, but for variety I sometimes take the following routes;
1. Through those parks and bike path down to somewhere near North Sydney Leagues Club then take the Motorway.
2. Take the Motorway from Artarmon. BTW can you still do this nowadays, ie did they reopen it?
3. Ride thru the back of Artarmon and Gore Hill, then thru the Hospital and down to Grenwich? and take the Ferry to Birchgrove and then south from there. This is technically the shortest route but by far the slowest. Its also the quitest from a traffic viewpoint.
4. Ride to Lanecove shops, either down the Highway or thru the back of Artarmon, then if I'm lucky get a slipstream off a car and do 50kph all the way to the base of Hunters Hill then over Gladesville bridge and then back streets all the way to Ashfield. This is the fastest route. Classify this one under "take no prisoners" type riding.

[mikesbytes]

I should add that I encounted boy racer last night as well. Heading onto Anzac bridge, I had decided to cruise but after doing the s bends, the 4 riders in front of me were going a bit too slow, so I decided to overtake them, so I upped the speed about 10kph faster and went past and next thing some dude on a racer has gone all out to beat me to the top of the hill. Perhaps he's planning on entering TDF next year based on his ability to win the commuter (non) race.

No drama's on this mornings commute.

[toolonglegs]

I take pacific highway as far as Crows Nest,but once Falcon St traffic joins in it can get a bit busy,especially around the hospital.If you turn off at Crows Nest and go down Willoughby Rd to Narremburn,you can jump on the cycleway until turning right up to Artarmon.
Gotta love those boy racers!

[mikesbytes]

The commute home got me sweating tonight, perhaps I rode a little quicker? Not doing a very good job of taking it easy am I.

[mikesbytes]

Busy day today
AM
Ride to Gym/Work
Body Pump class

Lunchtime
Pilate's

PM
Ride home
Drive to Velodrome
Sprint intervals.

Was thinking about doing the Vets race at Olympic Park on the 11th November as my first return race.

What about the World Masters Championships ????

[europa]

What about the World Masters Championships ????

Why not. If anyone can it'd be you

Richard