Sydney pictures

Despite being pumped about my new little camera, turns out I'm still luddite enough not to want to carry it all the time. Maybe that's too much hubris thinking my memory will stay in tact. Here's a few from our rides near town.


Shake in Mona Vale. Did two 7 hour rides Thursday and Friday, plus about 3.5 hours on Saturday. Good exploring all around, but needs a few calories.



Happy rider in Ku-Ring-Gai Chase national park.


Those are some sweet cycling roads, complete with watch out for kangaroo signs. Too bad I didn't see any.



The big Sydney bridge is surprisingly well set up for power climbing intervals. I'm surprised they were so thoughtful to include that in their urban training grounds.

We're silly.

Ooops, we're silly again. We just finished our first Turkish dinner, a 6 course meal of pure delight.

Sydney has funny stuff out and about.

Glass tornado thingy. I wish I had this at home, it was cool to look at up close.

Tori loves blasting close ups of me. Wakey wakey, here's my reciprocal close up. I like seeing you close by.

Tasmania Wildside tourism pictures

I'm now back in the land of worthwhile internet that can upload photos, free from airports and coffee shops. Go Canada. That functionality is competing with the feeling of snowy grey-ness... hmm... missing that Australian landscape and climate already.

At the very least, here's a few pictures to supplement my wordiness of prior commentary - I couldn't find more than a few bits written about Wildside Tasmania MTB in review form or otherwise before my trip (maybe it wasn't uploadable in 2008 in plain text from the Australian internet backbone) so now there's a few more bits out there.

That dazed blank look is what happens when you time capsule into long haul airline flights.

Australians have good wine and like to promote it. This was a smart setup. Having said that, internally consuming Argentine wine in Argentina is still the tastebud to dollar ratio that I haven't seen beat worldwide.

I like this kind of tastebud experience when I travel. Nippy, whatever that is. Iced Honeycomb flavoured. Good stuff.

Considering the wallabies were mere feet from our hotel room when putting together bikes, the availability of Tasmanian wildlife didn't disappoint.

These guys seemed really placid. In between munching, they did some sweet chest fur scratching while staring at the sun.

Spot the incredible cycling road in the world heritage area. Heavenly!

Made it to Dove Lake, yet ruined this photo with looking too bike keen.

Ahhh... that's more like it, nature on its own.

Tasmanian animal encounter number two: the echidna walking across the road. Seeing these animals just made my day, it's like another world down under (or is that under under?).

After the race meeting, went to see some harder to spot wildlife at a local recovery center/breeding ground/tourist thing/research place. This is a spotted quoll, who would likely be happier if it had more family left on earth.

Tasmanian Devil. Yeah! Even got to pet one.

These guys are pretty placid until a raw chunk of recently shot wallaby was thrown in for them... then it basically turned out as intense as that spinning dude in the cartoon. Noisy little guys!

Callout 2 - Australian Internet

Through the last two weeks I've found Australian internet to be the worst of any advanced country I've visited.

I didn't want to be hasty and base my judgment on Tasmania alone, as I understand how remote it is.  Even now in Sydney I'm not experiencing evidence of any better, whether it's wifi or internet over 3G.  Yes, basic economics apply - large space, relatively small number of people.  But this can be addressed, and isn't as expensive as it once was.  On the contrary, the opportunity cost should be counted, and is high.  I had better access almost anywhere in Cambodia.

I've also read up on the politics, and the populace's opinion of the politics of the issue.  Obviously the way those go varies greatly, but I don't see a lot of credible reason to keep your heads in the proverbial sand of modernity.  Even just for the love of modern democracy make it better. 

I don't get it.  Australia go buy a satellite or two more, juice them up with as much bandwidth as you can, and figure out how to have it proliferate through the country a hundred times better than it is.  I haven't experienced connections this bad since dial up modems in 1995.  Such is what happens when you still have one monopoly carrier?  Canada is "big and spread out" too, yet you also have the same fact where a few cities make up the bulk of the population.  That's workable - start with those!

My understanding is this country has felt "distant" its whole history.  Here's a modern fix to close the gap at your fingertips.  Seriously, the internet service I've found here so far is a total joke. 

The current standard is patheticly feeble!  If you can re-jig the rules of Australian Rules Football around "diving" because it's "embarrassing and un-manly" as quoted on TV the other day please do so for your internet as well.

Dear Sydney, you mystify me

You are a totally clean, totally beautiful, entirely lovely city thus far.  After my tired commute and post race "what's next in life" blackout, you re-lit my fire.

After bike building, organizing my packing, and drinking coffee this morning, I fit in 7 hours of riding today by exploring north through the bike routes out to the beautiful 'burbs, then past into the national forests.  Once there I had seemingly endless kilometers of riding with hardly a car to bother with, which was nice relaxation from trying to cope with this whole left hand side of the road ordeal that's thoroughly challenging my well established road habits programming.  Ku-ring-gai Chase park and Garigal park are cycling wonderland about an hour by bike from town.  The temperatures are beautiful, the skies a mix of overcast and times of direct sun.  Your coffee shop employees brew it strong.  Even when the sky showers us, it doesn't reduce a person's temperature at all, only wearing a jersey.  It was supremely fun as the less-than-killer volume of the race plus a day off means my legs feel like steel (plus the riding alone to self pace never hurts).

Yet on the three post Wildside email threads going with all the locals and their friends, encompassing at least two dozen people, it seems many are making riding plans conditional on the rain?  The politicians on TV are debating how much to spend and how to go about reducing CO2 emissions?  When I ride back into downtown between 5 and 6pm there's only a handful of people going opposite way bike commuting home from work?

Which begs the question - what am I missing?  The climate, layout, path design, path rules (ie. no impractical/useless rules I can see posted), path flow and signage when winding through those ritzy areas, plus the nearby terrain are heaven on earth from this cyclists perspective.  Traffic looked like it totally sucked in line with other many million person cities. 

Why don't more of you ride bikes/bike commute?  I've only experienced a day of climate, but I'm hazarding a guess that you don't need to perform any -35C single speed with goggles/snowboard helmet/full face mask rides.  I suppose there's days when the rain does feel cold... but you're a tough enough bunch for that, non?  As far as I can tell, this city is as easy and enjoyable as they come for cycling.

Wildside Tasmania looking back

Reflecting back on this race the pure diversity of terrain we rode stands out.  From mountain to beach and everything in between, each stage was distinctly different.  Seeing the animals, vegetation, topography and people (and lack thereof) here is burned into my memory, what a beautiful place this is.  From Cradle Mountain to Hell's Gates where the prisoners came in, it was a good cross section of adventure and test.

I had failed to appreciate the name "Wildside" properly in advance.  I had passed it off as just a sensibly creative name for a race that perhaps drew on history.  In reality, this side of Tasmania just feels like the end of the earth.  There's a few mining operations but people work shifts and live elsewhere, but other than that, mankind hasn't made a lot of imprint here.  Given the protected world heritage status of much of it, won't anytime going forward too.  Australians are no strangers to remoteness and harsh climates (ie. the outback), and with that context still call this place the wildside.  It's heavenly, and even though they're a very different size, the animals and setting reminded me more than once of "where the wild things are".  Between the birds that sound like sheep and my new little friend the devil that I got to pet and all of the others, I sure hope they survive, whether it takes advanced science or modifications to human behavoiur to help.  Who needs worlds like in Avatar when we have them right here.

The other takeway that formed this week is that Australia is like a giant frat house.  I tried not to jump to opine right away, but I didn't see much evidence to the contrary.  Our race kits came with beer cozies that were very very well used in the field.  The announcer/organizers/volunteers had nicknames like Boag and Wombat and sipped away on their "ales" all day, meanwhile dispensing banter amongst their semi organizedness.  It's not like anything was unorganized, it's just the approach to organization is different.  "Hey Wombat, is there is a garbage around?" "Matey that's a good idea-r, but I don't have a bin.  Maybe take your rubbish over by those caravans (RV's) and just make it look like theirs, you know?  I'd say pick one with kids, that'll pass it off well."  Right. 

Jumping into water is really popular.  Anywhere there's a bridge, there's guys jumping in.  Even better when the town strip is in sight of the pier.  5 guys made a human pyramid to help one climb up to the top of a big pier post - he saluted at the top and all the patio goers cheered.  He then dropped his trunks, spun them around, threw them on the pier, followed it with one more salute, then did a big swan dive off, of course to more cheers.  When the little girl coloring with crayons at a table beside us looked up to see what all the commotion was about, her mom just pointed over and said "the blokes over there are just giving it some fun without their swimming trunks", simple as that, she laughed and went back to coloring an elephant.

It seems really popular to chuck stuff around rugby/Australian rules football style, especially if it's heavy, you can throw it hard, and the intended recipient is only half paying attention so you can get them in the gut really well.  One of the stage draw prizes was a couple of kilos of fresh crayfish wrapped in paper.  Perfect chucking material.

I may be in the minority here, but I think the most death defying part of the riding was these left hand drive traffic circles, man am I glad there's no traffic.  Still haven't seen a stop sign or traffic light!

Wildside Tasmania Day 4

Today's stage is flat - some short power climbs on sand out to the beach, a TT along the beach, then home through soft sand with the last straight away being gravel then pavement. 

My buddy Tom and I, who are both still relegated to start block F, knew that working together on the beach would be key to bridging up to some good groups so we don't just wither away in the headwind alone.

I woke up without a single bit of sore muscle in me and knew it'd be a great day.  Drank a cup of coffee down by the start and watched it all come together.  We rolled out neutral until we were off the town pavement then were signaled in the rolling formation to pin it... and man did guys pin it.  Unfortunately they couldn't hold it, about 5 guys took ridiculous pulls, then it was my turn.  I did about 30 seconds then saw a marshall signaling left for trails, it honestly couldn't have been a better set up.  That was the last I saw of group F.

Whittled through E on the trails, then took note of the lay of the land coming up to the beach.  Did one hard interval right away to bridge up to a group, in retrospect Tom said he saw this from behind and knew once that happened he probably wouldn't see me again.

Continually worked my way up groups on the beach with say 1 minute rest drafts then off to the next.  Felt great, today was my best fitness day for sure, it just wasn't the kind of day to post a good time when not starting in packs of equivalent riders for the beach wind.  Oh well.

Got onto the wheel of some guy I instantly named tree trunks, who took every effort I made to share the windbreaking as offense.  Man could he power it out on the flat, unfortunately the tree trunk made it up to the belly too so I don't suspect he was a climber.  Eventually we worked together a bit and kept moving the right way through most of the D's.

After the beach we turned left into combination of forest trail and soft sand.  The soft sand is a bit like snow, but it sucks so much energy out.  A full aerobic mix of running, powering through a few pits, and cyclocross mounts (doesn't appear they've done much 'cross here) kept me moving the right way, but man was it hot.  Got through my bottle and hoped the finish was near.

Got onto the gravel road by the 3k marker with a super-master age grouper who had awesome power.  We TT'd together and reeled in a couple more... then a few turns of trail and it was on to the beach near the barbie, with the smell to guide us in.

I'd have to say by effort and feel that was my best day, just promised myself I'd never sit in for more than a recovery then try to keep plowing forward.  It felt great.

Norm had a fantastic day, I think the combo of his power to weight, the terrain, experience riding sand and the 29er just put it all together nicely.

Awesome racing in a different format and great time overall.  That's now 7 high intensity sessions crammed into 4 days, it's actually sort of a fun way to race vs. longer enduro events, and that's coming from a guy without a top end.

Wildside Tasmania Day 3

Had a good post race shower last night, actually sort of prefer the back to nature of the lake swims.  There was a big group BBQ ("where's the barbie at mate?" was the most popular question in tent village) which was solidly executed.  I went to bed early and woke up late, except for Tasmania's most annoying bird visiting at 3am.

I can't believe how early people get up for the starts, but my TT start time is 10:44 today so it appears yesterday moved me the right direction a bit.  We do a 6k time trial this morning that also goes through some big tunnel for novelty, then ride coastline this afternoon.

There's a great steady grade hill on the edge of town that served well for warmup duty, despite an ominous sign at the bottom near a gravel off road that says "Fatigue can be fatal".  Of course that runs contrary to my cycling experience, but I think they meant that bushwalking too far into the wilderness isn't smart out here.  Needless to say that wasn't what I wanted churning around subliminally before the time trial.

The TT at 6k was a pure gut buster as expected.  Rode up a paved then gravel climb right off the start, through a local track for either BMX or motocross, through some good tight singletrack, on a gradual grade mining road through the big tunnel, then flat out for the last 2k on level ground into a headwind.  It was a really well rounded course.  I was a hair over 20 minutes, probably would have cracked 20 if I hadn't come across one of my minute men (30 second intervals were done for starting) who was sideways and upside down on a single track corner, no idea how he pulled that one off.  It was funny though, he decided to wear a sequined, rainbow tank top for the ride.  Had a mild cough going for the rest of the day in response to overdosing on air yet still apparently not getting enough to my legs. 

Our 12k cruise stage took us on white gravel road to the coast, where if you sailed west for 10 weeks you may hit Africa.  Seemed a bit windy over on that edge...

Since we ate right on the coast, the last few k's were straight down, and yes post lunch we got to mass start race up it, probably a 5k gravel climb.  I tried not to think about it while eating fruits and sandwiches and loading up on the local french pressed coffee.

The climb actually went well, and with the mass start I was soon back to riding with the guys I hadn't seen since day 1, it's great motivation to pass the people between where I'm starting and where I'd approximately settle in.  The coastline trail was steep and rolly, power climbs that it took everything just to stay riding, followed by loose rock descents or massive slabs of rock covered in ball bearings (or fine white ash tray sand).  It suited me well, I could just survive the climbs but tried to power over the tops and rest on the way down instead of when the grade flattened.  There were a couple hike a bike climbs where the bottom of the gullies were impassable and remounting for the other side wasn't in the cards.  These coincided with the 5k to go sign so I hike a biked as hard as my engine would allow, which the guys who had settled into their spots didn't seem to like.  Oh well.  I figured I'd pop a gel while running and make sure I didn't fade for the end as I was squarely in their sights.

Last 2k were open, headwind and rolly steep climbs.  I shoulder checked and didn't feel keen on being hunted down by 4 guys, so dug in and suffered.  I think they gave up cause by the end the gap had widened. 

All day was beautiful and sunny.  The course is great, it's not BC singletrack (nowhere has that) but it was technical enough in it's own way that skilled riding made a noticeable difference.  The organization was good, by the time we were bussed to the next town, bikes and tents and luggage were their waiting.  I sat in the front seat of the first bus (the delinquent seat as the driver called it) and chatted to the lady driving, who was a total card. 

It's nice to actually feel like a bit of an athlete again, pushing right up to redline on dozens of climbs with energy for going over the top and knowing you'll avoid popping.  My back muscles are sore, but only of a sign of steep climbs and leg muscles stronger than my back.  I never feel more alive than stage races, I'm still on the upswing on this one where I feel stronger each day than more beaten down.  Good times!

Ps.  That powerhouse who passed me on the second competiton stage on day 1 flatted earlier I think, no other reason on earth he was behind!