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Audax Australia
This is the umbrella organisation running long distance cycling events in Australia Their website includes a calendar of events.

Bikejournal
A place where cyclist can keep track of their mileage and any number of other statistics, as well as an attached forum.

Bikeforums
A set of discussion forums covering almost every conceivable cycling related topic.

Cycling Adventurer
The Cycling Adventurer has tossed in the structured life of an urbanite to explore the world by bicycle. A well-written site detailing how he came to cycling, and what he learned along the way.

Crazy Guy on a Bike

Bicycle touring journals from all over the world, including a couple of my own.

Johns Cycles

This is my LBS on the Gold Coast. While they cater more to the racing market, their service, advice and workmanship is the best on the coast.

St Kilda Cycles

Importers of all manner of things hard to find in Australia, including the legendary Schmidt hub dynamo & E6 lights.

Blogs

Bicycle-eye
Wonderings and wanderings out and about in Portland, Oregon, US

The Journey
The journey begins in Perth, Western Australia.

Lance Notstrong
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Ms Mittens
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Iron Gambit
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Aussie Writer and Cycletourist
A blog chronicling the writing and cycling of a seaside baby boomer.

Up in Alaska
Jill's subarctic journal about ice, bears and distant dreams of the midnight sun.

The Kin Chronicles
Taking mediocrity to a new level of ordinary.

Allez
Riding and running with a vengeance.

London Cycling Diary
Pedalling across the capital since August 2005.

CouchPilot-2-BikePilot (Zin's cycling blog)
Living an adventurous life with Type-2-Diabetes.

The adventures of Crazy Biker Chick
... Including cycling, adventuring, cooking, knitting and ranting.

Redneck Espanol
The two wheeled Spanish redneck.

Treadly and me
"Work is something I do between riding my bicycle".

Crowlie
Womanist philosophy and theology. Cycling, climbing, art, single-motherhood and fire-twirling.

Adrian Fitch's random rambling.
A bit about cycling, a bit about genealogy, a bit about radio but mostly a lot about nothing at all.

Geo's big adventure
The life and times of Geo.

It's about the bike
Musings on the cycling life.

Spinopsys
Various cycling tidbits.

Industry Outsider
A blog about bikes and stuff.

Tweed Coast Treadly
An old man's bicycle riding diary.

A cyclist's life in Tenerife
(Canary Islands).

Bike to work to live to bike
It's never too late to get back on the bike

Stupid Hurts
Just the random scribblings of a guy with a bicycle

I'm not drunk enough for this
Really, I'm not.

BikeHacks
What can I say? Just read it.

Mozam's cycling adventures
A random collection of the things I like to do most, and mostly that is to ride my bikes, bicycles that is... My musings from competitive riding, long distance endurance to puttering around the neighborhood..

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Wednesday, April 20, 2005

First ever organised 200k on the Gold Coast

That's what's coming up this weekend. Winders Park, Currumbin, 6am on Sunday. Audax are organising a 200km ride on the Gold Coast. It comes at a perfect time for me, as I seem to be regaining my form right now after the illness setback, it also makes Sunday's determined effort suddenly worth that little bit more, I can go into this Sunday with confidence. I guess the question the (two) regular readers of this thing are asking, is why do I care about an organised 200km ride, when I do them solo all the time anyway?

There are a number of answers here, but this one is a little more personal for one thing. I, myself have tried to organise longer distance rides on the Gold Coast taking in the beautiful Hinterland and Tweed Valley in the past -- but often without any success. Those few that did turn up seemed to come from Brisbane more often than the Gold Coast. Add to that the reluctance of many Gold Coast cyclists to ever leave the coastal strip for any other reason, and you have something I've spoken about previously on many fora -- the "only in the designated areas" aspect of the cycling culture here. Just why this should be so is beyond me, as my own experience indicates that riding in these areas is often considerably more stressful than riding in the areas these people avoid. However, it's definitely a factor.

Consequently, I'll be interested to see what sort of turn out there is on Sunday -- and also just how many of them are actually from the Gold Coast. I don't know much about the route itself at this stage, and that intrigues me. All I know is Currumbin, Chillingham, Mooball, Tomewin, Currumbin. Now this opens up some possibilities. The most direct lines between these points, by my estimates, is actually slightly less than 200km, meaning that there has to be a deviation in there somewhere. Will the inital stretch between Currumbin and Chillingham go via Salmon's Saddle (Springbrook) and Numinbah Valley? Will there be a deviation toward the Condong Range at some point between Chillingham and Mooball? How will the climb of Tomewin late in the day perform? Is there a road somewhere that I don't know about (or have forgotten about)? Call me a geek, but I find these possibilities absolutely intriguing. I just hope I pull up well enough from it to back up for the 100km the next day.

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