Hey,

I know I've been quiet on this website and it's time I change that. I've got less than 6 months before the Perth to Sydney trip and it's time to get the ball rolling. I'll probably only get confirmation later this month whether I'll be able to take the leave in August, but I trust everything will be in order there - otherwise I'd have to wait till after summer next year:(

So, I may not have written much about it on here, but I have cycled 1400kms so far this year. Not a huge distance, but on average more than I did last year. I've also done my 160km (100 miles) ride, which was a pretty big achievement for me. Little bit busy with a project as work now, but before the end of April I'd like to ride to Taree one Saturday, sleep over there and cycle back the Sunday. That'll be just over 160kms in each direction, so will be another big achievement to do that 2 days in a row - as my legs and butt were sore for about 3-4 days after that first 160km ride.

So, tomorrow I'll start the exercise and dieting log again and I'll try to post articles and updates on here more often.

Quite a bit has happened at Thamsanqa as well, but I'm hoping Tia will read this and give us a bit of an update.

Finally... Ol' Eric is making his way down Africa and I thing the guy's having a hard time, being thrown with rocks and saddle sores and what not!! You should go read his blog.

Oh - and I mini-goal for myself: I want to cycle 1000kms in March. By the time I get home this evening, I should have 200kms done in the first week and will aim for 300kms next week - which should be possible with the Loop The Lake race on Sunday.

Stopped at a traffic light this morning and I pulled in behind the car in front of me as it was turning left and I didn't want to cause confusion if another vehicle wanted to turn left. Car behind me was going straight, but he just decided that I was in the way from the outset and, even though I pulled to the left as soon as the car in front of me turned, the one behind me revved the engine high and sped away past me.

Fortunately nothing happened with that, but I was still busy shaking my head at that dumb driver, when I heard a loud bang and looking to the side, I saw a cyclist sitting in the middle of the road half on top of her bike.

Took some time for me to wait for other vehicles to pass and to turn around and by the time I got there, there were 3 guys busy helping the lady and I saw another one walking up. So I didn't think that I could add anything and I cycled off.

Not a good thing though. I regularly read about cyclist being involved in accidents on the BNA forums and Australian motorists seem to be terribly impatient with cyclists. I've been meaning to do so and I think I'm going to order myself some Ay-Ups lights right now.

I just pray that I remain accident free.

Dirk

Finally!!!

Woke up this morning at 4:30, had a bath and left the house at 5:30 to attempt an Imperial Century, 160kms, for the second time. Last attempt was in January when I had some knee problems and so I only made 105kms back then.

So, headed out on the Pacific Highway towards Bulahdelah on the road that I now know pretty well. I did pretty well in the beginning and at 40kms my average speed was 24.9kph. This may be slow for other cyclists, but pretty good for me as I don't even do my 23km morning commute at that speed. But it didn't last :) I hit the 80km halfway-mark just after 9:30, so even by then my average had dropped to 20kph. This is still okay and I'd be happy if I can always average 20kph, as long as it includes rest stops as today did.

On the way back I made a mistake!!! I bought this Dexler Hydro Pack that you fit on your back like a backpack which holds 3L of water and, which I discovered today, keeps it pretty cold as well. But first let me backtrack some more.

According to Google it was 29°C in Newcastle with 62% humidity at 15:30 when I got home this afternoon, so I imagine it was even hotter in the middle of the day. I don't actually know what 62% humidity means, but I do know that I couldn't sleep because of the humidity last night!! Seriously, it's the worst that I've had it at night here yet!

Anyhow, so on the way back at Karuah, 110kms into the trip, I bought a bag of ice and topped up this hydro pack. I had also drank (drunk?) 2 650ml bottles of Gatorade by then, but didn't buy another one at Karuah. So, a few kilometers later I take a sip from the hydro pack and nothing comes out??? What the... Worst place and worst time of the day it could happen and I, of course, assumed the worse that the hydro pack had gotten a hole in it or something. hehe, nope... It was just working too well and kept the ice frozen in that midday heat. Put the inside waterbag of the pack on the back of my bike and stood around for a while, but hardly anything defrost. Put it down on the tar and waited, but it still went pretty slow. Fortunately I never got bored, because I just kept myself occupied by dancing with the friggen red/black or whatever ants they were.
Finally got some water from the ice, but basically I was stuffed from that point on until I got to the next stop 20kms later. I got a few sips of water every few minutes, but never enough to kill my thirst. Anyhow, bought 2L of water at the next stop and all was good.

As I mentioned earlier, I got home at 15:30, so it took me a full 10 hours to ride 161.8Kms. I know speed is not my thing, but I'm just happy to have broken the 100 miles!! Yeeha!

When I passed my street the first time, I had 153kms on the clock so I had to do another loop to make it past 160. At one point a Ute came riding past from the back at the same time as a couple walked past with their kid in a pram and I thought "I wonder if these mere mortals realise that there's a superhero in their midst?" Stupid, I know, but if you told me 2 years ago that I'd be cycling 160kms in one day (and a hot summer's day at that), I would have laughed at you!!! No I'm not a hero, but I'm quite proud of this achievement. Some of the other guys in the BNA forums ride 300km+ Audax rides, so for them this is nothing - but for me, this is huge.

While my knees seem to be okay, my butt took a lot of strain again and I'm not happy with that. Will have to make a plan there.

Anyway, tonight I sleep.

I'm off the bike, again!

In December I stayed off the bike for most of the month to rest my knee, which was giving trouble from a short period that I used cleats on my old bike. In the beginning of January my knee was better and I thought I could start my training for the Perth to Sydney ride. In fact, I did do quite a bit of cycling as I racked up 602kms from the 3rd until the 20th of the months and only had one long day, being 105kms on Saturday the 16th.

Anyhow, the knee pain returned, but I was keen to push up the distance, so I ignored it at first. Last Saturday I was planning to attempt my maiden imperial century (100 mile / 160km) ride again, but lying in bath the Friday night, my knee had a cracking sound when I bent it and quite a bit of pain when I pulled it in all the way. So, probably a little too late, but I decided not to push it any further. Turns out to have been a good decision as Saturday was 42.5°C and I would have suffered out there:)

Bla, bla, bla... so now I'm off the bike again!! I do have an appointment to see a physio on Thursday and I'll make an appointment to get a bike fit next week.

In Afrikaans we have an expression "wie nie hoor nie moet voel" which mean "he who doesn't (want to) listen, should feel (carry the consequences)". And well, that's me! I asked about this pain on the BNA cycling forums weeks ago and everyone said don't ignore knee pain or try to sort it out yourself - go see an physio and get a professional bike fit! But Dirkie didn't listen... I've just been to doctors so many times in the last 12 months, I just want to stay away. In this case, however, it seems to have been the wrong decision.

Anyhow, we'll see what the physio says on Thursday.

I recently bought a custom built Surly Cross Check from BikePro in Melbourne and my simple response is DON'T DO IT!!!

What a terribly, terribly disappointing experience!

You know, before I placed the order, the guy (I think he may be the owner) replied to my emails in the middle of the night, but towards the end, even before I received the bike, he just started ignoring my emails completely.

So here's the last email I received from him on the 5th of January. Note that he originally promised to send the bike before Christmas.



And my response



To this day I haven't had any feedback from BikePro about that email. In fact, the only reason I finally got the bike is because I kept phoning them and accidentally learnt from one of the other guys in the shop that the bike's standing there in a box waiting to be sent.

Fortunately I love the bike. No thanks to BikePro for that as I ended up specifying everything myself and the only thing I have a complaint about is the tyres, which is a result of BikePro's wheelset which they put on.

So, you decide for yourself, but my experience is that BikePro will treat you well until they have your money and thereafter you fall to the bottom of the priority queue.

I'm hoping this is a Newcastle phenomenon only and not the case in Australia in general.

I've been in Newcastle in New South Whales for 1 1/2 years now and unfortunately spent way too much time in doctor's rooms during that time. What I have discovered is that finding a good doctor here is a very difficult task!!

Yesterday I went to see the seventh doctor since I arrived here and honestly she's the first one that's left me feeling that she knows what she's doing! Seven doctors in 17 months??? I don't think I've ONCE been to a doctor in South Africa that left me feeling like I'm not in good hands here!! I'm sure there are many such doctors in South Africa, but I've just been fortunate that I've never encountered one of them before.

The highlight to me was the 3rd doctor that I saw here in Newcastle. Keep in mind that I'd prefer to stick to one doctor for the rest of my life. If I change doctors, it's because I feel that this person might not be able to take care of me.

Anyhow, so the third doctor...
This bugger sat and read a bunch of questions to me from a computer program. This might be okay in some cases where it's a weird situation and he wanted to get some ideas, I don't know. Problem is, he started with the first question - something like "Where is the pain?" and started reading body parts to me!!! WTF??? I'd just finished explaining to him that I had stomach cramps and chest pains, so why does he ask me "Where is the pain? head, shoulders..."???
Probably could have dealt with all that (probably not), but when I said I don't understand the one question, he laughed and said "yeah, they ARE a little difficult, aren't they"!!!
When he asked me to "strip down" to investigate my stomach pains, I started looking around for the camera and waiting for the babe from Australia's funniest home videos to jump out of the cupboard, but no such luck!! I'm not joking BTW.

The fourth doctor seemed quite nice and very friendly and I went back to her a few times. However, at one point I had had headaches every single day for a couple of weeks by the time I went to see her. Unfortunately I am on a work visa, so I have to pay for consultations in advance and claim it back from my medical aid. I was having a bit of financial difficulty at the time, so I had to wait till pay day and I also had the chest pains which I mentioned during doc #3. She sent me for a exercise stress test and echocardiogram for the chest pains, but said I shouldn't worry about the headaches??? Weeks of daily headaches and a doctor tells you not to worry? I think she decided that I must be making this up as I had two (actually 3, as I still had the stomach pains then as well) complaints at the same time. Never did find out why I had the stomach or chest pains, but fortunately they have now stopped on their own.

Fifth doc made me feel comfortable and I was pretty sure I had finally found one I could stick with. But, I went to see her about my skin turning red and feeling dizzy and overall jittery. These are/were hot flashes that came on for a couple of minutes up to an hour every few days. I was actually at the doctor's rooms when it happened and she saw the red skin and that my blood pressure had shot up and bla, bla, bla. Did an ECG (which said my heart was okay) and asked some of her colleagues to have a look at my red skin. Sent me for a whole bunch of tests, including a CT scan of the abdomen because she feared that it might be a carcinoid tumour. We've all seen it on TV or in a movie where some guy's waiting for feedback to find out whether he has cancer... It's a lot more scary in real life when it's you doing the waiting... trust me!!!
None of these tests found anything and bla, bla, bla... In my final visit to doc #5 I asked her how do we proceed from here, what is causing these episodes and she said “Well I can tell you what it’s not”. Said we’d tested for everything dangerous and I shouldn’t worry about it. Hmm, what kind of an answer is that?
One day during doc #5’s term of duty I felt really bad during one of these episodes and phone for an appointment. As they had no openings for that day, I went to another medical centre where you don’t need an appointment, but sit and wait for a long time... Saw doc #6 there and he requested a CT scan of my head, which also showed nothing. I don’t know whether it was good having another CT scan 2 days after the abdomen one, but won’t worry about that now. So can’t really comment on doc #6, but I went back to doc #5 cause at that stage I was still hopeful that I could settle with her as my permanent GP.
In the meantime one of my colleague’s wife is a psychologist and he asked her for some recommendations of GP’s for me (their own doc’s books are closed). Gave me 3 GP’s names. First two I phoned I was told that their “books are closed”, which I discovered means that they’re not taking on new patients - seems to be the norm for any doctor worth seeing.
The 3rd recommendation, thank goodness, works at that same medical centre where I saw doc #6, where you can’t make an appointment, but just wait till the doc’s available. Went there yesterday and said I’ll wait for this specific doctor. Well, I walked in and told her about my turning red. She asked me a couple of questions and when I told her I take blood pressure medication, she stopped me and asked “That wouldn’t be Adalat, would it?”. Turns out that two of the more common side effects (at least more common compared to other possible side effects) is hot flashes and dizziness...
So, after who knows how many tests, poking and prodding and about two weeks of waiting to find out whether I have cancer, it turns out that I may just have a reaction to my blood pressure medication. She prescribed a different tablet for me and said I should give it two months to see. Could still be something else, but she seems quite confident that this was it. This doc was also recommended by one of my other colleagues who goes there herself.
Hohum... wish I’d found this doctor while I had the stomach and chest pains earlier last year!! Anyway, it’s a bit strange for me. Seems that there is a serious shortage of good doctors here – or a serious abundance of bad doctors, I don’t know :)

I woke up at 4:40am yesterday morning with the intention of leaving pretty early. Don't know what happened, but my iPhone's battery, which I had charge on Friday night, was completely flat... it was down to 7%.
As this was going to be my first long ride in a while and as I didn't know the area in Sydney where I was going to be staying, I felt it important to have at least some charge in my battery, so I eventually only left here after 6:00am.

Set out with my new Surly Crosscheck, having just fitted the last piece, being the carrier rack, on Friday evening before I went to bed. As I had assembled a lot of the stuff on the bike, I did not feel terribly convident on the bike, must I must say that it performed brilliantly.

As I had said to everyone during last week, I was riding "towards" Sydney and made no claims that I would make it all the way. This was my first long ride since the end of September last year and whateva, whateva.

Got as far as Gosford and my knee was taking a bit of strain plus I was feeling overall tired. At that point I was still thinking I could go all the way to Sydney, but I knew that I had only done half the distance and the major hills only start after Gosford.
Haha... then I hit a hill just before Gosford, at Terrigal, I think. A BIG hill by my standards and I almost died. Plus, putting some effort into the hill, I realised that my knee was really not doing well.

So I ended the ride at Gosford and took a train in to Sydney. Did a few more kilometers in Sydney from the train station to the motel and all together I did 105kms for the day. So I didn't make nearly as much as I had hoped, but a 105km ride as my first long ride in a long time is okay. I'll get back into regular rides from now on and push the kilometers and the hill climbing.

Did another 40kms today, so 145kms for the weekend isn't too bad. Before the end of March I would like to do an imperial century (100 miles / 160kms), but I don't think it'll be the road to Sydney:) On the way back today the guy I was driving with took me through those hills to show me what I'd be facing and they are much, I mean MUCH, MUCH bigger than anything I've climbed to date!! They'll be a separate goal:)

Anyhow, so we're back into training.

As a matter of interest, Eric started his Tour d' Afrique yesterday. Hope it's going well.

Finally got my Surly Crosscheck today! Yay!!

It's a completely different beast to the Giant Elwood Hybrid that I've been riding up to now. Even though it's steel, it's much lighter.
Finally got it assembled about 1/2 hour ago and as it was almost dark, I just had a short ride with it up and down my street.

Had the Brooks Flyer saddle on for a moment, but that's not going to work for me... Things just don't fit!!

Don't have much of an opinion yet, but I'll ride to work tomorrow and see how she goes.

I'm thinking about cycling through to Sydney next weekend. I mean, I've booked a room in a motel already, just don't know whether I'm going to make it on the bike all the way or whether I'll end up jumping on the train somewhere. There is apparently a fair sized hill/mountain between Newcastle and Sydney and I have been warned that it won't be a joke, nevermind that it would be my first 160km ride if I do make it all the way.


Anyhow, this afternoon I was on my 16km ride home and got to a bit of a hill where I normally turn left to miss the hill as I'm pretty lazy in the afternoons after work. Decided to continue on and cross the hill and I found a very interesting thing... Previously when I've tried my current bike's granny gear (easiest gear), I didn't have enough endurance or airobic fitness to continue on for very long, even if I took it very slowly. Well, on this smallish hill it felt as if I could just keep on going for as long as I wanted and, in fact, I wasn't in my granny gear - I was in 1 (front) x 2 (back). So I continued on to King Edward Park hill, which is a pretty hectic hill by my standards and which I have only covered a couple of times before. Approaching it from the opposite side this time, it is a much longer ride, but not as steep as from the side which I had done before. Harder work, I think, because it feels like it just never ends.

Still, I went on between granny gear and "second gear" (there is no such thing in cycling) and made it to the top feeling pretty good.

So my total ride this evening was 22kms instead of the usual 16kms. It could be that I just had a bit of excess energy today, so I'll try it again before deciding whether I'm really ready for it, but it would be great if I can do a total of 45kms of cycling every day, especially if it includes King Edward Park hill on at least on of the rides:)

I feel pretty good right now, must just keep it up!

Well boys and girls, Eric's big start is around the corner.

If I understand correctly he's flying to the UK today, to Cairo on the 13th and on the 16th they start their amazing 12,000Km race through Africa. The man's worked hard and I think he's ready.

People, the man's put a lot of effort into this and he's doing it for the Thamsanqa orphans. Please visit his blog and wish him luck.

http://www.ericonhisbike.com/