A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Version 3.0

[ldrcycles]

Nose






Head




Result





What my wife hears

[rangersac]

Steph's response

[ldrcycles]

An uncanny resemblance . Boy am i glad she doesn't read this .

[rangersac]

Boy am i glad she doesn't read this .

Ahhh but can you be truly sure?

[ldrcycles]

Well i'm not dead yet, so either she's biding her time, or she hasn't read it .

I was a bit unsure if i'd be able to last the full day but still went to work today and got through it alright. Possibly a gentle spin tomorrow but the big focus is on rest, if there is any possibility of me doing that 12hr on the weekend i want to grab hold of it.

In the absence of any riding, goats!

Well, this photo isn't a goat but it's a fence for goats, still another strand to go and might need some tweaking of heights but hopefully this will do rather than very expensive mesh.






And awww, sleepy goat .

[singlespeedscott]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news LDR but I suspect that the goats will merely laugh at your fence as they pass through it. The mongrels that wander in ours would just bloody jump it.

[ldrcycles]

Well that's the thing, this is a copy of what i saw around Stanthorpe when i went down there with elantra for the That Dam Ride (or at least it will be when it's finished). The key in getting barbed wire to work would appear to be having the lower ones close enough together, and all of them tightened up to just short of snapping point so if they try to pass through it they bounce off .Mine don't have any interest in jumping luckily, other than jumping onto the old W123 mercs that my dad has next to their paddock. If that does turn out to be a problem i can just add another strand or two.

Pictorial representation of "another strand or two"-

[rangersac]

Two more strands at a minimum unfortunately I reckon. You might think that yours don't jump, but any goat that wants to go over a fence will clear up to six foot in my experience.

[Stefan_A]

As entertaining as always LDR. One day, you'll learn to pace yourself....just as Foo did!

[ldrcycles]

Hmm, i hear what you're saying there rangersac, so i need to make sure they don't want to go over the fence.

Cue 'special pasture'!

[rangersac]

Goats and pigs are a flamin' nightmare when it comes to fences. I swear there must have been some genetic programming somewhere along the line so that they see any fence as a challenge rather than a barrier. Electric is your best bet, but even then you need several strands for goats which quickly starts costing some coin.

[ldrcycles]

Been there, stuff that. Unless it gets them right on the end of their nose, electricity does nothing at all, i've watched them just push underneath the hot tape and let it slowly run along their back as they wandered out. There was just short of 9,000 volts going through it . I've gotten pretty good at doing mesh fences but the stuff is just so damn expensive. Barbed wire on the other hand i have a virtually limitless supply of, all i have to do is retrieve it from the old fence lines from when we were dairying. Problem is most of the fence lines have been buried under out of control grass etc since we got rid of the cows nearly 7 years ago, but free is free and the stuff needs to be removed anyway, so 2 birds with one incredibly big, difficult to handle stone.

[rangersac]

Been there, stuff that. Unless it gets them right on the end of their nose, electricity does nothing at all, i've watched them just push underneath the hot tape and let it slowly run along their back as they wandered out.

That's why you need several strands of the stuff so they can't push under/ get over it. They are cagey buggers though as they can sniff out when the electricity is off, and since you have the barbed wire to hand then it makes sense to use it. Be careful though if have any long haired varieties. I've seen Angoras get tangled up in barbed wire after using it for scratching!

[ldrcycles]

Well thursday i felt great, just a bit of a sniffle but otherwise ready to go nuts. Friday however i felt like hell, and not much better today, though i've perked up a bit in the last few hours. Still good enough though, so the bikes, food and clothing are in the car ready to go, the alarm is set for 4am ( ), thunderbirds are go!

[singlespeedscott]

Good luck mate. Don't push hard and you by right.

[foo on patrol]

Well thursday i felt great, just a bit of a sniffle but otherwise ready to go nuts. Friday however i felt like hell, and not much better today, though i've perked up a bit in the last few hours. Still good enough though, so the bikes, food and clothing are in the car ready to go, the alarm is set for 4am ( ), thunderbirds are go!

Unless you sleep through the alarm again!

Foo

[ldrcycles]

Unless you sleep through the alarm again!

Foo

SO IT WAS YOU!!





So yes, thanks to bloody Foo, i did sleep through the alarm. 8 o'clock i was in bed, 8! Woke up feeling fine, raring to go and then next thing i know i'm waking up and it's 5:30. After an internal battle that would put Waterloo to shame i decided to just get in the car and go anyway, though it would mean starting at least an hour late.

But then i got onto the open road and saw a sky full of black filth stretching to the horizon. A quick call to the lady to check the radar and i was turning around.

12 hours in the rain?
















And that's that.

[singlespeedscott]

12 hours in the rain?

Soft.

I've done 24hr mtb events in the rain. Your on a road bike. How hard could it be. You could always fit mudguards. Over a 12hr event their effect on your performace would be even less then normal.

Besides it hasn't even rained here this morning

[ldrcycles]

Pretty much hasn't stopped raining here in Coolum, there's a waterfall on the mountain that only flows after very heavy rain and it's been going all day. I'm satisfied i made the right choice . Still a shame, but i got over playing in the mud a long time ago .

[singlespeedscott]

All we've had here at work are a few light showers.

[duds2u]

You made the right call Lockie

[foo on patrol]

Oh diddums to you and I thought you were different soft soft soft soft!

Foo

[toolonglegs]

Lamington soft!

[ldrcycles]

Lamington soft!

Ooh i like lamingtons!


EDIT: 213mm at Mt Tinbeerwah in the last 10hrs, and a fair bit of flooding about the place. This is one of the roads near Pomona this afternoon-

[foo on patrol]

You can still see the white line so you can still ride through it. Bloody youngins, always looking for an excuse not to ride.

Foo

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