Monster’s diary

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alligatorob said:
Nice bike, and nice of you to fix it up for your partner. I suspect you'll have to slow your pace a bit, for a while at least, so she can keep up!
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It really is a nice bike. I still can’t believe it. I’ll have to slow down a LOT. That bike really isn’t built for speed where as mine is.

Rach hasn’t ridden for years and her area is very hilly so I suspect we’ll be doing 2-5km at most to begin with so I think I’ll be riding to her place, go for a ride together and then I’ll ride home; at least for October. Seems a good way to get my fundraising kms up!
 
Just a short ride again today. I was borrowing a car from my father until last weekend when I repaired mine so I returned it today. He lives a couple of hours away so I drove there and got the train home. I took the bike (naturally) so I could ride home from the station ... I got bored and got off the train early to ride home.8F618B3D-7215-440B-AEBB-0ADE2846B05D.jpeg
 
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I’m a bit proud of my partner.

She went for her first ride today. On her own too! 1.3kms and she felt very wobbly when she got back BUT that’s completely normal. She’s used muscles she hasn’t used in years and years. Might just be the start of things to come.
 
Truffle Monster said:
... Re: how I came to be overweight? Well I guess it’s partly convenience and partly lack of mental health.
I worked a very very busy job (across multiple sites) with a lot of travel and easily 70-90 hours most weeks. This meant very little time to eat well and less time to exercise. Most of my “meals” were eaten between stops and as I’m vegetarian there are/were very few choices other than potato chips or chocolate that I could get from a quick convenience stop...
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I've been off-site for a week or so, so I've only just got to reading this - thank you so much for posting! I'm vego, too, and wow, can I identify with "nothing but wedges" at fast foods places. Not long ago I was travelling state to state using buses, which of course stop at roadhouses, and yep, there it was again - crumbed sausages, dim sims, wedges!
By the way - not a crybaby at all! The courage it must have taken to first recognise and then extricate yourself from an abusive relationship is impressive!
I love that you're in a new relationship, too! And the bike-fixing, and that Rach went on a ride on her own, and the thought of wonderful times to come! Adelaide is a great city, with so much flat, bikeable territory (I know you said she's in a hilly part, but still, overall it is). Along the Torrens to the beach! Out to the Port! To that cliff where the fossils are! Into the city, and the Art Gallery! Everywhere by bike! Lovely! :beating:
 
I’m working from home today so I can monitor my dog (she had an allergic reaction last night - just routine. Nothing serious) so I took the opportunity to go for a ride. It’s wet and crappy today so I got soaked and muddy BUT it was a good ride. I’ll head out again tonight too. 22EB7806-7EE5-4CE0-8BEE-D2D624E27718.png
 
Ahhhhh that felt good.

It dawned on me that if I’m going to ride to my partners house and then ride with her AND then ride home (presumably) I’d better get good at hills.

Soooo I took on the grove way hill tonight ... 3.7km of non stop climb between 3% up to 11%. Average of 4.7%. There is no respite on that hill; it just keeps going up. I’ve never tried it before but I’m sure glad I changed to the bigger cassette on the rear! I needed the extra gears. I’m annoyed with myself though because I was grinding away in what I thought was my 28 tooth cog. It was actually my 25. Could have made life easier for myself but nooooo I had to assume didn’t I!

Anyway I’m home now. 26km this morning and 55km this evening totalling 50miles. A good day I think. BAC6B37E-A1CA-4F15-B296-5EC847984BD9.jpeg
 
aiminglow said:
Adelaide is a great city, with so much flat, bikeable territory (I know you said she's in a hilly part, but still, overall it is). Along the Torrens to the beach! Out to the Port! To that cliff where the fossils are! Into the city, and the Art Gallery! Everywhere by bike! Lovely! :beating:
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It really is! If by that cliff where the fossils are you mean Maslin beach that’s where I grew up. It’s a couple of hours from me now but my father still lives there.

You can’t really ride (safely) from my place to Maslin beach because the road is VERY busy. No quiet way through that’s not nearly a vertical climb but the trains are great. I’m sort of in a satellite city area connected by a highway of sorts so pretty much wherever I ride is going to be down a main road. Not ideal for commuting but I actually enjoy riding in traffic.
 
I love Adelaide. I love hearing about it. Your ride last night sounds amazing. I'm still surprised that you don't love watching Le Tour.
 
Hey TM, I am enjoying reading about your cycling, as close as I am coming to it for now.

It would be nice to live in a place with real railroad transport, we don't have much here in the US. Ironically I live about 20 miles from the place where the golden spike was driven linking the US's first transcontinental railroad 150 years ago. There is a big park at the spot, and regular reenactments, but not a railroad track for miles. It's 60 miles from here to the nearest train station, and only two trains a day stop there, one going to San Francisco, one to Chicago. I enjoy train travel, seems more civilized the driving or flying.

I appreciate your comment about blending rather than juicing, that is a good idea, and probably better for you than juice. At some point I think we will try that, problem right now is we have way too many peaches to do anything with other than juice. By the end of the season, a couple of weeks from now, we will have to process something like 1,000 lbs of peaches, or let them go to waste. A good problem to have.
 
alligatorob said:
Hey TM, I am enjoying reading about your cycling, as close as I am coming to it for now.
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Hey Rob, any more thoughts about getting into cycling yourself?

Civilised isn’t the word I’d use for trains in Adelaide. Maybe during the morning work peak hour but late night it’s a lower class of human
:rofl:
 
Early morning for me. I was out the door at 6am on a ride through the hills out the back of my house.

I was disappointed with my time up Yorktown road. I thought I was going much faster than that but I ended up 40 odd seconds off my PR. Ah well it was a pre breakfast ride so I wasn’t really fuelled properly.

On the way down the final descent I stopped to try help an injured magpie but he wouldn’t let me near him. I don’t know what happened to him but he couldn’t fly and was hopping over the road. Looked like he had no tail feathers so may have been caught by a cat. I managed to get him off the road at least but unfortunately he won’t last long in that condition. E43B19FE-EFC6-4C98-A8C9-EC5DCDE05961.png
 
It’s been a few days but I’m still alive. The weather was crap over the weekend and I’ve just been very busy the last couple of days.

I went for a ride with Rach on Monday night. She was nervous and scared because her last couple of rides were capped at 1.3km before she had to stop. I took her up to the Stuart ogrady bike way up near my place and we covered from Curtis Road to Angle Vale Road and back which is 8km. Huge improvement there so although she’s happy with the improvement she was worn out so I think next time we’ll cut back a bit and build up more slowly (should be heading out tomorrow night).

In other news I asked Rach if she wanted to do mount lofty on Sunday ... she reminded me that I’ve got the city to bay fun run on Sunday. I’d completely forgotten about that so I’m really not ready. The distance/fitness won’t be a problem but the gastrointestinal “distress” I suffer from on any jog over 2kms will cause some problems soooo my plan is to not eat any dairy from now (Wednesday night), not eat much sugar, hydrate very well and take a couple of gastro stop tablets before starting. It might block me up for a few days but it’ll be worth it. I’m actually really looking forward to the event.

In OTHER other news I found an absolute bargain today. A near brand new set of fulcrum deep rims WITH pirelli tyres for $95. That’s $550 for the wheels and $140 for the tyres for just $95! I couldn’t pass that up so off came the standard cassette and on went a 12-25 tooth cassette. Took them for a ride tonight and boy are they nice to ride. Very smooth, quiet and FAST.

The average speed, distance etc shown in the picture actually includes the ride with Rach on Monday so it’s not a true representation of tonight but that’s ok.

I’ll try catch up on everyone’s diaries in the next day or so. A4D4E4D6-AAF5-4487-AEAD-23072CAB489E.png
 
Is that your bike? Things look nice and green where you are.

Truffle Monster said:
Hey Rob, any more thoughts about getting into cycling yourself?
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Yes, I am the negotiating with my wife phase. She's concerned that I not buy something I don't use, a legitimate concern. So i am trying to convince her we both need bikes and to do it together. I am making some progress, she has ridden more recently than I have. I have located a dealer very close to my house that can get the Diamondback, will go in soon to see what kind of deal I can get. Appreciate your advice on things, tire size etc.
 
Hey Rob,

Yes that’s my bike. That’s a farm near my place. Green in winter brown the rest of the year.

That’s cool. Hope you get out and enjoy it soon.
 
TM, what do you think about the Trek Rosco 7 (Roscoe 7 | Trek Bikes ) Its what the dealer is pushing, he says it will work better for me than the Diamondback. And he has one in stock that he is willing to significantly discount. I am going to pull the trigger next week, either on this one or the Diamondback, just trying to decide.

I appreciate your input.
 
alligatorob said:
TM, what do you think about the Trek Rosco 7 (Roscoe 7 | Trek Bikes ) Its what the dealer is pushing, he says it will work better for me than the Diamondback. And he has one in stock that he is willing to significantly discount. I am going to pull the trigger next week, either on this one or the Diamondback, just trying to decide.

I appreciate your input.
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Hey Rob,

Sorry for the late response. Ive just looked at the link now. That seems like a very decent bike. The sram drive train components are slightly more expensive (over here) to replace than shimano but that’s a small concern. I’d recommend swapping out the tyres for something like a 30mm cyclocross tyre though as it’ll be easier to pedal with much less rolling resistance but overall that looks like a great bike.
 
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