Links

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
The "other" Lance!

Ms Mittens
The Wired Cat on-line

Iron Gambit
.

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..

More cycling blogs

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Tuesday, May 06, 2008

The lost weekend



About the only nice thing I can find to say about the weekend passed is that it's over, and that whatever happens next weekend will almost certainly constitute an improvement. Having already been forced to cancel a long-weekend tour, I now had little time or motivation for riding due to a death in my family. With my mind on other things, I basically just didn't feel like it.

I did force myself into a ride of around 110km yesterday on The Black Magic, at least I think it was around that figure. I can't actually be sure because my cycle computer was only working intermittently. If all the external factors were removed, it was just about the perfect day for a ride. The temperatures were cool, the air was crisp and clear, and most of the yobbos either surfaced late or were heading in the opposite direction.

Urliup creek

It was when passing through Urliup that I had a profound realisation brought on by a combination of the rainforest and events of the previous 24 hours. When someone close to you departs, it makes you consider your own life in a different context. This person passed away at a time when they were making plans to travel, to explore different places, to move on to another phase of their life, and yet they fell agonisingly short of those goals.

In Urliup's rainforest yesterday, it dawned on me that I take many of these things for granted. For all the complaining I do about "bogans", "yobbos" and "tosspots of the week", I have an extremely fortunate existence. I have my health, I live in a beautiful part of the world, and at different times in my life, I've had good people to guide me when I could have made wrong decisions. I was also reminded that we should always focus on the things we think are important, because life is a gift that we all enjoy only for a limited time. It's such a waste to expend that time on things we don't consider important just to try to impress others.

Mt Warning from Tomewin

Further along the ride I followed Glengarrie "road" across the Tomewin ridge, and had my fifth minor crash for the year in as many months. I really need to get a handle on this -- one of these days I might actually lose some skin if I keep this up. Further on, a centipede tried to hitch a ride on one of my gloves -- and that was about as exciting as the day ever was.

1 Comments:

Blogger IronGambit said...

I like the last pic! :)

12:06 am  

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