Adam Hansen, the Australian professional cyclist with more consecutive grand tour finishes than any rider in history, has described the Ridley Helium SLX as the best bike he’s ever ridden. Well he would, you might say, given he rides on a Ridley sponsored team. But Hansen is a thoughtful and technically savvy rider, not prone…
https://video.relive.cc/2321980722_strava_1554696106953.mp4 In the space of a few weeks I’ve gone from questioning whether I’d pin on a dossard again, to taking two climbing podiums including a win, and upgrading with the Victorian Road Series leader’s jersey for my (former) grade. It’s been an intense month and proves that if you keep at it, good…
I’ve been growing tired. At the same time I’ve been growing faster, still. It’s something of a contradiction. I should be enthused that I’m improving little by little, even as I’ve reached my 40s. I went into the Mansfield Tour in close to best-ever form and came out with the stage win of my life…
Every January since 2014 I’ve travelled to Adelaide to relish riding and exploring amidst the excitement of the Tour Down Under. This January I had my cheap action camera on my handlebars. It’s taken the rest of the year, but I’ve set some of the best moments to some appropriately themed music. When I watch…
I like David Millar. He’s always seemed to be one of the more interesting figures in and around road cycling. I appreciate that he can string a sentence together, that he can freely articulate the essential experiences of the sport. So when I saw that his film Time Trial was finally coming to Australia I…
What to do when you’ve accumulated a collection of spare components over the years – sell or build something fun? I posed this question to friends recently and it didn’t take much convincing for me to embark on a new build. Besides, I needed something I could chain up at the supermarket without worrying about…
The 2018 Mansfield Tour proved the Mansfield Mt Buller Cycling Club can really punch above their weight. Despite lower entries, the race in its new form is a worthy equal to the more established Tour of Bright. The addition of Old Tolmie Road – the ‘Col du Tolmielet’ – ensured iconic scenes of suffering, more…
Ok, it’s still 2017. Enough of the year left, just, for me to finally detail how I built my 2017 S-Works Tarmac and still feel timely. Like many manufacturers, Specialized reveal new models mid-year. So there are men and women getting about on 2018 Tarmacs right now. But my bike has taken a year to…
Originating in the French Alps, Haute Route has become famous for its 7-day events which can offer 800km distance and 20,000m climbing. With the event already expanding as far afield as the Rocky Mountains I began to wonder what an Australian Haute Route-style event might look like. Could the Australian Alps offer a match to…
In October this year the Australian Bureau of Statistics released a second round of data from the 2016 Census. This data included responses to the Method of Travel to Work question, providing insights to bicycle commuting numbers. I started to look at this data and was concerned by what I saw. What follows is a…
The best things in life come at some risk. This July we defied our circumstances and took off for the French Alps. The journey may have seemed unlikely in the preceding weeks. It had been a difficult winter in Melbourne: the loss of a dear friend, followed by a period of reduced riding, and a…
It was only the other day. I eased up the volume on Alex’s stereo, having just moved the stylus on to his Sgt. Pepper’s LP. I wasn’t sure how loud I should mix the music with the hum of conversation from the mostly 50 and 60-something party. ‘No, right up!’ said Alex. Here, at his…
2016. What a year! At times it might have seemed like the world was fracturing: with wildly unexpected political outcomes alongside ongoing turmoil and suffering. Against this backdrop my world of amateur bike racing stood in stark contrast. Racing in Melbourne continues to grow and the contests of the Victorian Road Series and local club…
The 2016 Tour of Bright was, for me, the culmination of my most committed period of training since I took up racing. A race that started well enough, my Tour almost ended in disaster before ultimately resulting in one of my most satisfying achievements. There is, perhaps, a psychological danger in committing so much preparation to…
Two years ago I limped to the finish of the Strade Nero road race after crashing before the start of the dirt climb. Last year I missed the race altogether, having crashed badly before hand – a story my friends and blog followers know well. So this year I was looking forward to the weekend…
Allez Alain 