In the weeks leading up to the Milano Classica I had reduced my climbing to a single climb a week in favor of training to ride at a faster pace and for longer.  On balance I chose the right direction I believe as these were the major attributes required for the ride however I still suffered a little because my climbing was a little weak and showed on many of the undulations encountered along the 230 km's we actually completed.  After coming to this conclusion I have decided…

What was it!

Its best to checkout the official web page at "2013 Milano Classica – 28 April 2013 « Redline Cycling" to get an idea what was planned. It didn't all go to plan even though it had been well organised. The support was great even for those that went astray! I would personally recommend rides organised by these guys for anyone as long as you thoroughly  checkout…

Today's Outer Harbour ride is the last one I will attend before heading out on the Milano Classica on the 28th. I have already decided to taper my rides as I am only 8 days out. For this, I drove to Glenelg to limit the ride to just Outer Habour and back. It was quite fresh when I arrived at 7:40am so I did a short spin along Adelphi Tce so that I might warm up my legs. Wearing long bib nick's and arm warmers, well actually sun sleeves I felt warm enough but my legs seemed…

Didn't I ride with them to Outer Harbour yesterday! Yes, I did and Kane McCard during the week had asked if I was going to do the 100 km ride on Sunday to which I replied what 100 km ride?  He told me they were going to duplicate a ride they did on the 1st December 2012 which could be seen at http://app.strava.com/activities/30332313  Kane is doing the  Milano Classica with me so I thought it was a good chance to ride with him…

I am writing this entry to my blog only for completeness as there isn't a lot to actually say. All planning for Milano Classica training is going ok and this is just another Redliners Outer Harbour ride, or is it!

Actually it's all about getting ready for the Milano Classica, getting km's in the legs in preparation for that epic journey of 290 km's in one day!  Of late I have concentrated too much on average speed to the detriment of my cadence.  I have been producing long'ish rides…

Tough ride with the guys today! After completing a 175 km, 27 kph average,  ride with David yesterday the tank was half empty before I even left home.  I was a little hesitant about attending with the reserves so low and a weather forecast of showers developing.  At 6:30 am my alarm went off and it was time to make a decision weather to attend or not. Obviously I wouldn't be writing this if I had decided I wasn't!

Up The Driveway

As I rode up the driveway I knew today was…

I can't believe I am going to write a bike review, as if there are not enough of these on the Internet already! Before I get into the review I should let you know what my driving force was behind buying this bike and what my expectations were in doing so.

I ride a lot of kilometers and so I would like a bike that absorbs the lumps and bumps a little better and one that is a couple of kilograms lighter as well.  Cash is at a premium so I was not looking to buy a new bike right…

When I decided to enter the 2013 Milano Classica 290 km's in a day ride I had only ridden one ride at a 30 kph + average. Since that time I have been working on increasing my average speed for my rides because simply put, if I don't ride quick enough I won't finish 290 km's in the 12 hours available when including stops!  If I was able to do the entire distance without stopping for food, drink and nature stops I would have to average over 24 kph! If we have just 10 1/2…

How This All Started

It all started with Lynn encouraging me to buy a

bike some 18 months ago as I had stuffed up my knees running and she wanted me to keep fit.  Lynn dragged me around many bike shops before I decided on a particular bike and then she encouraged me to buy the next model up as it had a more durable drive-train.

I…

 I have found myself short of time to write a regular post so I find myself posting this catch-up. I don't have a lot of time this morning either so I will keep it brief or I will start it and finish it off in the next few days.

Before I start About Me

Last weekend turned out to be a special time for Lynn, my wife. After the Redliners Outer Harbour ride I went on a ride with Lynn, who has been learning to ride for 12 months. It has been a long and painful process for Lynn, as…

Confirmation  that I have signed up for the Milano Classica event to be held on April the 28th and is being run and supported by the Redline Cycling group and is in support of the Cancer Council of South Australia.

I am taking this challenge seriously and have embarked on a modification to my normal riding to build endurance and teamwork skills to…

During the week I received an email from the Cancer Council with the subject "So you want more riding..." The last time I received one of these was to advertise the Tour DeSud, a 240km ride circling the South of Adelaide down to Victor Harbor and back. This proved to have a new challenge!

Milano Classica

Earn ultimate bragging rights after this one tough day in the saddle. Join legendary cycling coach Charlie Walsh on Sunday 28 April 2013 for a one day 290 km…

Plan A

I started with plan A, this plan was to drop the car off for its service in Morphett Vale at 10:30am and head round to my brother in-laws on the bike to go on his first hand-cycle ride from home and act as tail gunner. That plan didn't last long, I had a text message Friday morning saying that Keith was not able to go for a ride. Now for plan B.

Plan B

With my bike already in the back seat of the car and already dressed in my riding gear I was going for a…

A regular ride for me of late is this early morning ride starting from the corner of Main South Road and Pimpala roads. The SSRC Tuesday Morning Range Riders gives me a short ride climbing Chandlers Hill road before cruising across Piggott Range road and a quick descent down Cox's Hill road before returning to the start.

My First Ride After turning…

I almost did not write about this event as I was not sure it had anything of interest. I then thought about the last time I rode with this group, back in August 2012 and realized that that ride had been a celebration of 12 months from when I started riding a bike as an adult. You can checkout the WOMGiE group to see who rides with them and where they…

Motivation to ride is becoming more difficult to find when almost 1 out of three rides ends in a puncture!

A Little Background

I bought my first bike in August 2011 and it had Rubino, wire bead tyres on it. They seemed to work ok and were durable so when the time came to change them I moved on to Rubino Pro folding tyres. These were also satisfactory with a few extreme failures due to special objects rather than the tyres themselves.  For only a couple of dollars more I then…

I have been staring at this blank page with a tittle for the last 10 minutes trying to figure out just where to start. I tell myself to start at the beginning but where is that!  I guess I need to start where my last post finished so I will go and read that now.

Where Did I end my last Post

Weight loss, training for BUPA with hill climb's, a broken rim and lots of punctures! The training had been going well as had the weight loss. The purchase of a set of…

Broken Rim Christmas Eve

My last post indicated I had found my EMC had a broken rim on Christmas Eve and so I was riding my son's, David's, old Standish school bike and used it to climb Willunga Hill on Dec 26th. Since then I have had several rides on that Standish as well as a SSRC L group ride on Lynn's XS Apollo Exceed on Dec 29th. That must have been something to see, me on an extra small Apollo with the seat up high, my peddles with cleats on a flat bar road bike! Sorry, I have…

 This was an impromptu ride organised at the last minute by Andrew Watts. Andrew wanted to climb Old Willunga Hill for the first time in 11 months. He has not had much chance to ride his bike in that time and had lost a lot of bike fitness. He is trying to get some of it back now.

Why The Standish

The night before I went out to check over the EMC to discover a wobble in the back wheel. …

As part of my new training regime I am including this Tuesday morning ride to include the climb up Chandlers hill. My intention, to build up cadence on the climbs!

I attended this ride last Tuesday only to fail to start the Garmin until I was almost at the top of Chandlers Hill. A little disappointed as I felt I had achieved a PR on the climb and was happy with my cadence for the entire climb. Not quite as high as I would like but happy all the…