dickhead drivers, world champions

Been a busy couple of days with the whole riding thing. Been trying to get in some road miles as I feel that they will be crucial for getting fit for the Otway. As Jase said to me the other night when out riding you get efficient at riding a mtb, but riding on the road there is no hiding the fitness. So with that in mind I will continue my hilly little circuit out through the back blocks of Melbs North East.

Anyway Monday saw me take in the Rob Roy circuit. Great day to be out low 20's, and no wind which made a huge difference compared to the week before when it was in the mid 30's. I love the riding out there cause there is little traffic on the roads and no traffic lights make it a sweet solid ride. I have plenty of options to make the ride longer if I chose which I ended up doing this week which gave me more climbing (exactly what the doctor ordered).

Tuesday was a study day at work on aggression management (that's right people I had to learn how to deal with angry people..... nicely). Slow day but it did end in some kung fu moves with punching bags at the end of the day in the aid of self defense. Jase swung by and decided that he would join me on the Tour de Burbs ride. I thought there was a Tuesday bunch but we ran in to Malachi and his crew from Nacinoal Cafe Team and tagged on to it. I think we were invading their ride but fuck it it was unlikely I was going to hang on for long. In the end I blew apart on the Doncaster Rd hill and lost sight of them pretty quickly. Jase talked me into a hilly way home (not so cool, I thought but good none the less) its all for February I kept telling myself.

The thing that amazes me most is still the attitude of drivers. On the way out on Tuesday night we were minding our own business spinning shit and cruising along when we cop this massive tirade of crap from a passenger in a BMW. Now I am OK until you call me C#$T. The usual thing happened of catching the car at the lights. The passenger was shocked to see that I filled up the whole window and was not some little weedy cyclist. I tried the door handle but luckily for him it was locked. After doing my block and smacking on the window it was all done. He had gotten the message that I was less than impressed by his actions, guess mine were not much better, clearly though at 60 plus years (he was seriously batting way above his average picking me) of age why yell abuse at 2 people riding along the road. He needs to help here I think and learn to love thy cyclist.

Last night I hooked up with Gav and we headed down to meet what is left of the Fatties ride. We arrived at the scout hall and were about to head out when Mario and a few others arrived so things were looking up. Just as we headed out four more turned up in a 4wd and caught us in the first part of single track. I did note a female dressed in all white looking very pro (Mario actually commented to her how pro she looked.... didn't get much of a response). We continued along the Yarra out towards Han's Loop. The female in the group was smashing it and was no slouch on 2 wheels. After a brief mechanical which turned into a night of annoyance for me at Heidelberg (continual loose crank) we continued out. The female of the group asked me how long it took to do the ride... nice young lady with a Welsh accent, interestingly looked familiar. It was then noted that her nice white shoes had world champs stripes and a name embellished on them. It said Cooke..... fuk me I muttered to myself its Nicole Cooke. Its not every day you get to smash it out on the dirt with a Olympic Champion and World Champion (take note Cadel being a normal person is OK!). As it turns out she was out visiting her brother who lives in Perth and has come over to Melburn town to check out the Worlds course for next year and believe it or not do the Kona 24 this week end. Some friends that live in Melburn had brought her out on the Fatties ride for some fun. I will say though we did manage to get her lost and her friends had to go and find her in the failing light so hopefully she will go OK in the dark at Kona. But I will say from the brief interactions with her she is a nice friendly person.

In the end it was a kick arse little Fatties ride with 9 or so people. I was amazed at how many people were out on the trails enjoying this indian summer weather.

Back to work today and I sit here tapping it out during a thunder storm so maybe its not such a bad thing I cant get out on the bike. Will head to the gym and have a few coffees before work and a read of the papers.

Happy trails!