Tag Archives: summer

Melbourne…the windy city

Dear Rouleurs,

Last blog, I made a couple of throwaway lines about how f%#king windy Melbourne has been over the last few months.  Of course, copping some serious wind on my first attempt at RTB 2016 100Km version was not fun.  So it was really very, very unsurprising to come across this article, in The Age, a few weeks ago.  Unfortunately the photo of this I took is completely rubbish, so I’ve added a link to the article.

20161119-melbournewind

One paragraph in this article stood out.  Here it is fully plagarised in all its beauty.

In a month which saw 50 severe weather warnings issued and gusts reaching 80-kilometres-an-hour in Melbourne and up to 100-kilometres-an-hour in the state’s north, the wind run data for October easily surpassed the figures for the same month last year.

Tullamarine managed 14,399 kilometres in October 2015, Laverton accumulated 12,155 kilometres and Moorabbin 12,068 kilometres. Enough to comfortably get you to Buenos Aires, Salvador and Santiago respectively.

Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Blair Trewin said these measurements were 20 to 30 per cent up on data from the same month in previous years. The last October with comparable winds was 2007.

All I can say is WTF….50 wind warnings…that’s almost 2 a day and 20 to 30% more than usual.  Now, if you clicked on the link in the ’50 severe weather warnings’ you would have seen an earlier Age article.  This one  had another memorable quote and graph that is just plain horrible to look at, if you are a cyclist.

Here’s the quote:

Senior climatologist Kevin Smith said all this gusty weather comes down to several factors – a perfect storm, if you will.  Mr Smith said there were seven major storm events across Victoria during October. “We normally average about three,” he said.

Again….WTF!!! here’s the Alan Kohler style money shot graph:

20161121-windgraph

May be I need to install a motor or a sail on my bike or move to another city.  I hope summer isn’t this f#%king windy.

Until next time, ride safe…in hopefully still conditions.

Marv

Marv does the MS Cycle 2016

Dear Rouleurs,

A few weeks ago, one half of  Team MMT did the 50km version of the 2016 MS Cycle.  Back in 2013, Team MMT did the 30km version with a few friends.  We also had it in our calendar last year, but untimely bronchitis put  this half of the team into bed for a week.  Needless to say this was poorly timed and made MMT very grumpy for a few weeks afterwards.

Fortunately, the 2016 version was a really enjoyable experience.  Unlike last year’s atrocious conditions, the weather was cool, overcast and relatively windless.  The event started and finished at Flemington, which Team MMT had never visited before. Overall, the event was superbly organised, with one exception. The outbound route looped around through the traffic queuing to to use event parking which put many cars and cyclists in close proximity to each other. Really not cool. The course map is shown below:

MS Cycle 2016 Event Map

MS Cycle 2016 Event Map

The 50km route looped through a number of backstreets, lanes and bike paths in Flemington, West Melbourne, Kingsville and Altona that MMT had never ridden before.  Given the early start, the route was relatively car free and where the route changed direction or merged with traffic, volunteers were on hand to reduce any  road user ‘conflict’.   MMT had three highlights for the day:
1. Travelling over the Westgate Bridge and clocking 70 km/h on descent.
2. The volunteers were clearly cycling fans as they came prepared with cow bells and signs.
3. The village with post-event entertainment.

MMT has a few happy snaps to document the event.

Ready, Steady, Go....its MS Cycle 2016.

Ready, Steady, Go….its MS Cycle 2016.

View from the top, looking towards Port Melbourne.

View from the top, looking towards Port Melbourne.

Climbing leads to descending...which is much more fun :-)

Climbing leads to descending…fast …which is much more fun 🙂

Atrocious selfie on the Westgate. How the hell does Gen Y take these things??

Atrocious selfie on the Westgate. How the hell does Gen Y take these things??

Hanging with fellow rouleurs at the second rest stop.

Hanging with fellow rouleurs at the third rest stop. I lost the triathletes I was drafting here…oh well 🙂

Serious kudos to this rouler who carted his kids round the 30Km course. Finish line in the background.

Serious kudos to this rouler who carted his kids round the 30km course. Finish line in the background.

Overall, it was great fun and hope to participate in the event next year.

Until next time, ride safe

Marv

Ruining my visit to Clovelly Beach

Dear Rouleurs,

As almost none of my readership will know, I lived in the Eastern suburbs of Sydney for about 8 years.  One of the places I loved to hang out was Clovelly Beach, a secluded man made beach tucked away in between Bronte and Gordon’s Bay.  Last Sunday I visited the beach with the better half of Team MMT.  Sunday mornings at Clovelly are particularly special as the local surf club run their junior lifesavers program, aka nippers.  The beach and inlet are overrun by kiddies 7 years and older swimming, paddle boarding and beach running.  Its a pretty amazing sight and one that I’ve greatly enjoyed over the years.

God lives here according to Reg Mombassa.

God lives here according to Reg Mombassa.

However, MMT was greatly annoyed by overhearing two older English couples complaining about cyclists riding on the Pacific Highway in Northern Sydney.  The complaints included: slowing traffic down, being overly aggressive whilst ridding in a pack (its called a peloton dearie…sigh) and apparently causing them fright when they nearly ran one over.  WTF…..

Stupidity of this kind really should be rewarded with a Darwin Award.  First, as you visitors to our country, do us a favour, leave your money and GO HOME.  Second, the road is there for everyone to share and unlike you, those cyclists who pay taxes and have every right to use the road.  Finally, if you were frightened by nearly running over a cyclist, how to you think that person felt.  Possibly its time turn in your drivers license and pick up a mobility scooter.  These people really did live up to the often described stereotype…whinging poms.  Fortunately, they didn’t stick around for long, perhaps they were confused by sunny, warm conditions and the absence of rocks on the beach.

Until next time, ride safe.

Marv

 

Marv’s Feb Bike Log

Dear Rouleurs,

February was a bumper month for cycling with good weather providing excellent conditions.  My personal highlight, being the 60km Ballarat Classic, where I did some reasonably serious climbing for the first time.  My Garmin account reliably informs me that it was a grand total of 505 m. This is what my weekly distance count looks like.  I’m about 200km ahead of target now and I’ve zipped past the 1000km milestone.

2016-Feb-Log-Graph

I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s MS Cycle.  Hopefully this week’s clear skies and warm weather will continue.

Until next blog, ride safe.

Marv