Journey to Warny – Week 8

Posted on September 26, 2011 by Duke6amer

Sunday
This turned out to be a cracker of a day and a much longer one than I had first planned. But given the low k’s the week before & the glorious weather it was an opportunity to good to pass up. It started with what has become a 6am-ers bi-monthly ritual, a Beach Run towards Mt Eliza. Even though we had already done it about a month earlier we were heading down that way again so many members could receive a bit of new 6am-ers merchandise. To give the cafe’s enough time to open & ensure our reputation of never missing a climb was kept intact, we did the Mt Eliza Power Loop of Canadian Bay & Two Bays Rd’s before sitting down to a hearty coffee & muffin in Mt Eliza proper. All the guys were pretty impressed with the new merchandise which is not only a keep sake but also pretty functional for us blokes.

image courtesy of 2laps: Bling in the V8

While most turned back towards Melbourne I headed further south with 5 others to cruise along the Italian Riviera. O.K, not really but the coast road from Mornington to Safety Beach is spectacular and as close as I’m ever going to get to the real thing. The idea was to turn back once at Safety Beach but as soon as “Arthurs Seat” came into view it just begged to be ridden. It was around this time that my own “seat” decided to give up the ghout, luckily I could continue even though it felt & looked like a Barney Banana. The return trip after conquering “The Seat” called for a 2nd coffee in Mornington before arriving home with a true Imperial Century in 5hrs of riding. Sweet!!!

Monday
Another out & back commute to the city office day today. Ride home was pretty warm with the mercury sitting around the 25′C mark.
Distance: 58kms, Time: 2:02hrs & Elevation Gain of 371mtrs.

Tuesday
This was just one of those mornings. After setting my alarm for 5:55am not 4:55am the 6am-ers Hurtbox train had well & truly left the station but I was determined to meet the guys at our Albert Park rendezvous lounge to give 6am-ers keyring to anyone who missed out on Sunday. I knew I was asking for trouble as I rode directly towards a big black storm cloud (much like that below).

image source: Today@ Colorado State

Yep suffice to say I got so drenched it was like riding in a bath tub and just to add insult the rain was freezing but I still got to see the boys who also had the same glum look on their faces at the finish point.
At least the commute home was dry but still pretty cool compared to just the one day before.
Distance: 60kms, Time: 2:05hrs & Elevation Gain of 377mtrs.

Wednesday
I was back on the NRR Long bandwagon this week but as I was feeling very heavy in the legs I decided not to wait at Edithvale for the mad bunch. Instead I cruised down towards Frankston and to my surprise I was able to tempo the first 2 climbs at my own pace before I got swamped. But what was to come was the most extraordinary thing I have ever seen in all my time cycling. I’ll let the pictures below tell the story but keep in mind this happened at close to 50km/hr & within a bunch of 50 odd riders. How no-one, particularly the innocent victim Harry Hanley, was seriously hurt in this freak accident I’ll never know, skill or luck you decide…

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Thursday
A very easy commute home from the office as I am in a sort of tapper for the last part of this week to support my 6am-ers team-mate in his Club Championships on Sunday.
Distance: 29kms, Time: 57mins & Elevation Gain of 278mtrs.

Friday
My last training session for the week was another venture to Hawthorn Velo in the morning to ride in circles for 45mins, half of which was in a fair bit of self-inflicted pain as usual. But the pain this week was intensified further due to the windy conditions that are common this time of year. I was glad when it was all over but also pretty happy with how I performed during the 2x15mins intervals sticking to that 100rpm goal yet again. Had a great coffee at the cafe right on the train line near Glenferrie Station, sorry didn’t get it’s name but the brew was sensational.
Distance: 53kms, Time: 1:45hrs & Elevation Gain of 203mtrs.

Splits 230911

Saturday
Rest, Shave Legs, Clean Race Machine, Stretch & Race Strategy Planning for tomorrow’s Blackburn Cycling Club Damien McDonald Road Race where I was assisting my friend & team-mate trying for Gold in his Clubs Masters 123 Championships.
I’ll let you know how it went in next weeks post.

Week 8 Totals
Distance = 457 kms
Ride Time = 14:54 hrs
Elevation Gain = 3,297 mtrs

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Journey to Warny – Week 7

Posted on September 24, 2011 by Duke6amer

Firstly apologies for being so late with this weeks Warny post. You know what they say about “The Two and a Quarter Rule”, well with the new project at work, family & then actually doing the training rides there was no time left for the blog since last post. But hopefully I can stitch something together from memories that are quickly fading from week 7 of my journey to Warny.

Sunday
Well if you remember from last post I was super excited to be heading to Toolangi for the very 1st time but was also worried the weather wouldn’t play it’s part. Well my fears were realised when I woke to a very sodden Melbourne after lots of overnight rain. Against my better judgement I got dressed & mounted the bike to meet the other brave (or is that fool-hardy) 6am-ers souls, more than once I nearly turned around to go back to bed but peer pressure kept me going. Maybe I should have listened more to my inner-voice like Diesel’s Read did that morning. Suffice to say the ride was destined to “fail” not only as it just got too wet & cold but also due to a regular guest on our rides, Tom “Bear” Leaper suffering a strange tyre carcass failure after a puncture half way to Toolangi. Luckily we all got back home, some in a worse state than others, and we all spent the rest of the day thawing out & trying to get warm.

Monday & Tuesday
Work was the priority as we had an urgent build to complete at the Phillip Island GP circuit ahead of that weekends V8 Supercar event. It meant I had to forfeit riding due to the travel & start / finish times required to get the job done. But honestly Sunday’s wet ride had completely knocked the stuffing out of me so it was probably a good thing that I was so busy to even think about missing on training. It was also the first time for a long time I didn’t get to do the 6am-ers Hurtbox. Oh well there is always next week.

Wednesday
With the PI project complete I was finally able to jump on the bike for an easy commute home from the office. It was good to get the legs moving in circles again.
Distance: 28kms, Time: 1:00hrs & Elevation Gain of 312mtrs.

Thursday
Just a commute day today. Was great to be back on the bike enjoying the peace & tranquility it provides. The one notable thing I remember was seeing a very solid (politically correct term for fat’ish) bloke on one of those ugly 90′s “SOFTRIDE” frames the Triathletes raved about back then.


I have to say with this bloke on it I was more than fearful the carbon top-tube / seat pole thingy was all of a sudden going to let go considering the noises I could hear coming from it. If it had it wouldn’t have been pretty for him or his bike!
Distance: 58kms, Time: 2:00hrs & Elevation Gain of 390mtrs.

Friday
Morning Ride: 2 x 15min E3 intervals at Hawthorn Velo were on the menu. My aim for this session other than hitting the intended heart rate was to maintain 100rpm as I felt I’ve been grinding too much lately & leg speed has been suffering cause of it. I got there early enough to have a quick chat to team-mate Gilmore and also to pump out a 4min max effort after the two intervals before heading into town for coffee with 6am-ers Bighorn & 2laps. It as a great start to the last day of the working week.

Afternoon Ride: A standard commute home to flush the legs after the mornings training session. It was also a mild afternoon so the legs had a rare opportunity to get some sunlight on them.
Distance: 58kms, Time: 2:00hrs & Elevation Gain of 390mtrs.

Saturday
The normal scheduled rest day ahead of tomorrow’s 6am-ers ride, which this week had a surprise installed for the members who could make the run down the Beach. But that story will be told on next weeks post.

Week 7 Totals
Distance = 277 kms
Ride Time = 8:56 hrs
Elevation Gain = 1,846 mtrs

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Journey to Warny – Week 6

Posted on September 10, 2011 by Duke6amer

Sunday
Fathers Day = A rare sleep in. There’s present hunting once the kids wake up you know. My Wife is still very ill so after missing the dedicated 6am-ers (pre)Fathers Day ride yesterday I found myself having to forfeit riding all together this weekend. Family matters always take precedent as they should rightly do. I’ll just get back into it tomorrow & if I can get up early enough I’ll extend the E1 commute to 2hrs in the morning hopefully.

Monday
Morning Ride: No extended commute this morning. I thought it better to creep back into the new months training block, actually there was probably a bit of the CBF syndrome thrown in as well. Although my legs felt fantastic after the recovery week & forced 2 days of no riding.
Afternoon Ride: It was fantastic to ride home in glorious 20′C spring sunshine although having my thermo-(nuclear) winter jacket from the morning as the only thing to wear had me soaked in sweat by the time I got home.
Distance: 58kms, Time: 1:52hrs & Elevation Gain of 452mtrs.

Tuesday
Morning Ride: The 6am-ers Hurtbox was pretty uneventful compared to last week. We welcomed back Foggy after returning from his QLD holiday although he soon got a rude awakening with being reacquainted with the typical cooler climatic conditions of down South. The ride may have started off in balmy temperature but by the time we had finished the cool southerly change had started to bite.

Afternoon Ride:My commute home was super-fast tonight. It was a combination of a nice taily and feeling fresh and motivated. Not sure what my best ever PB is for this ride but a sub-55min would be top 5 if not better, not that I usually race for PB’s on my commutes it just happens from time to time.

Wednesday
Interestingly there was a lot of talk on the twitter waves leading up to this weeks NRRL. Someone who still remains anonymous to many, including me, has taken it upon themselves to try & own one of Melbourne’s longest running mid-week social / training rides. It all started on the Sunday prior with tweets from this new twitter user North Road Ride who tweeted this;

North Road Ride Wednesday to split. From 7th Sep: 545 = 2Bays, 6am = Mordy. Pls RT, tell your mates. #NRRsplit #SafeRiding

Which was later backed up with this after many questioned why?

#NRR Wednesday group split initiated in response to concerns expressed about deteriorating situation on Nepean Hwy #SafeRiding

Now I am not against this suggestion as the ride is getting so large that it has become quite unwieldy in recent weeks. But it was interesting to see the response come Wednesday as from what I could tell it didn’t really effect numbers or the attitude of the riders who still went long from the NRR 6am bunch. It was still 50 riders strong & in single file as they swept up myself & Trento “SprintDemon” coming through Edithvale. Then on the return leg it once again become a survival of the fittest with most just sucking wheels just to hang on. I heard later the 5:45am NRRL bunch had around 25 riders but have not had it confirmed by any of it’s participants.

Anyway back to my ride in the 6am NRRL, it’s funny how once changes are suggested you all of a sudden take the time to reflect & view a different perspective on something you previously thought was just routine. For the first time I actually felt this ride gave me no real training benefit, added to this was some of the riding etiquette I witnessed this week left a lot to be desired. It would later lead me to email my 6am-ers team-mates suggesting we do our own NRRL at a later time to maximise our precious training time & get in a better quality session. The added benefit will be that with only 5-6 riders it should be a lot less of an issue for other road users as well.

Then to top it all off one of the best & most respected (local) cycling blogs Cycling Tips also wrote a piece this week about the issues facing Beach Road rides of late. I just hope something good comes from all of this as I would hate to see it degenerate further & potentially have us loose such an iconic ride in this state. But for now I am done with the NRR Long as I’ll be doing a version of it with my own smaller 6am-ers bunch, so if you see us say G’day, give us a wave or a toot as you drive by.

Thursday
Little did I know today would be my last ride of the week. I was only going to be able to ride home from work anyway given I had a site visit already planned for the morning which meant I had to leave early in the work car & head up to Mt St Leonard. Pity I couldn’t ride to the top as it was a spectacular climb with a magnificent view.
So it was a simple commute home that evening that ended my first week of the second building block of my Journey to Warny.
Distance: 28kms, Time: 1:00hrs & Elevation Gain of 284mtrs.

Friday
What a complete wash-out!!! My only opportunity to ride was to commute to work in the morning as I had to bring the work car home that night. I had a Velo session planned & was really hoping the weather would hold out till at least mid-morning. But the pelting rain that was hammering our roof for most of the night & early morning meant I would not even get to suit up, it was just too wet & dangerous for me to be out on the road.
Kudos goes to my team-mate Brenton “BigHorn” Kaitler for showing true commitment to sticking to his training plan by smashing out his intervals at the Hawthorn Velo or should I say Hawthorn Pool on Friday morning. Top Effort Champ!!!

Saturday
I’ve been sitting here all-day with fingers, toes, legs & arms crossed wishing that the weather is good enough to get out on our traditional 6am-ers Sunday. I am really excited as we are doing a ride I & many other newer 6am-ers have never done before, heading all the way out to Toolangi & back. It should be a great ride after I ironically saw most of it by car during my site visit on Thursday. It’ll be about 150km round trip for me which will be just what the doctor ordered given the riding I missed this week.

Week 6 Totals
Distance = 266 kms
Ride Time = 8:17 hrs
Elevation Gain = 1,837 mtrs

Damn I actually thought these posts would get smaller each week.
Maybe it’s time for twice weekly posts now, even daily or on the days that I ride.
What do you the readers think or do you have any other better ideas?

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