Tag Archives: 5000km

Happy New Year

Dear Rouleurs,

This is my  last blog for 2015.  At the start of the year, I set myself a goal to ride 5000 km before 1st January 2016. Despite illness and a couple of really enjoyable holidays I was able to achieve this easily.  I’m actually pretty chuffed. The grand total was 5947.39 km from 432 individual rides.

So this my ride log care of my GPS ->2015-Bikelog

And this my monthly ride total -> November and December were great months.

2015-KM-by-Month-01

As I have a fetish for charts here’s another 2.  This time its my weekly total below,

2015-KM-by-Week-01

and ‘worm’ charts showing progress to target.

2015-KM-by-Week-02

Woo hoo…I’m off to a barbeque.  Happy New Year, see you all in 2016.

Marv

Cars vs Bikes infographics

 

Dear Roulers,

I’m a big fan of the infographic.  Whilst I’m some what concerned that the Gen Y/Hipster/Millennial types may be using these as an excuse not read text that takes longer than 30 seconds, the infographic is a snappy way of getting a point across.  Which brings me to 2 that I found on that wonderful place….the internet.

The first is sourced from CycleAsia who are promoting cycling as a healthly, better for the environment than cars alternative of transport.  Imagine how much better our inner city roads would be there were less cars.
20150628-Car-vs-bike-space

 

The second is from our own wonderfully low profile Cycling Promotion Fund.  For me this one makes the point beautifully as to why people should be riding a bike and not driving a car.

 

20150628-CPF-Environment

 

The moral of the story being if you trip is under 3km, do the planet a favour and use your  bicycle. My own personal contribution to saving the planet this year has ticked over the 2,800 kilometre mark this week, which means I am 56% complete on my goal for this year.

On a different tack, its only 6 more sleeps until the Tour de France 2015.  Woo hoo 🙂

Until next time,

Marv

The moral dilemma of the shop demo replacement bike

Dear Roulers,

It’s official I’m still waiting on my Villier, that’s in the workshop at Freedom Machine, waiting for that pesky Campagnolo rear derailleur.  For whatever reason, this part seems to be very difficult to track down.  It has been two weeks and I’m becoming very twitchy.  I assume it is some type of withdrawal symptom.  Which brings me to the major moral dilemma of my cycling life, whether to succumb to the forbidden fruit of the shop demo bike.

Trek Domane S5.2, demo bike care of Freedom Machine

Trek Domane S5.2, demo bike care of Freedom Machine

It was the second time I was offered the demo bike.  What didn’t realise was that it was serious roadbike, well over twice the cost of my Villier. OMG what a bike. It’s a matt black 2013 Trek  Domane 5.2 and it is beautiful.  It’s the first time I’ve ever ridden a full carbon fibre framed bike.  At first it’s a bit weird as its very light and super responsive in steering and acceleration.

I’ve always wondered whether the reviews I’ve read of high performance road bikes were a bit like snobby  wine reviews where the sommelier makes seemingly abstract and obscure claims about the relative merits of a wine.  For example http://www.bikerumor.com/2012/07/03/review-2013-trek-domane-endurance-road-bike/

However the bike that was designed for Fabian Cancellara and the classics doesn’t disappoint.  Its absolutely true that the bike soaks up the lumps and bumps on the road. There is almost no vibration coming into the handle bars. It’s also much kinder on my back as the riding position is a bit more upright, as you would expect in an endurance focused bike.  I now understand all the fuss over the Shimano Ultegra.  The gear shifting was faultless.

The 38km I did on it today was relatively effortless and in word… smooth. So does this mean I’m now cheating on my Villier and fallen for a high spec Trek?  More importantly how do I scrape together $4000 to by one?

Until next time.

PS Before I forget I’ve completed 697km in 6 weeks, which means I’m 14% of my 5000km goal.

The cost of cycling is…bananas

Dear Rouleurs

I bought a new bike rack on Saturday from 99 Bikes in Port Melbourne.  I’ll write about it in February once I’ve been on a few road trips.  On the way out, I spotted this on the door.

20150111_CostofCyclingI assume its been there for while and in need of an update.  Especially as falling petrol prices have been in the press over the Christmas break.

As someone that lives close to bay, I’m a bit perturbed by the thought of rising sea levels caused by Global Warming.  That’s a serious cramp in my personal style.  I can understand why people in places like Kiribati are very edgy about their homes disappearing into the Pacific in near future.

Consequently, I’m not sure that falling petrol prices are a good thing….ever.

So with aid of Google, Comparethe market.com.au and Coles I’ve updated the figures on the door:

 Fuel Cost per Litre Density Cost per Kg
Petrol $1.10 0.75 $1.46
Diesel $1.40 0.83 $1.68
LPG $0.60 0.58 $1.03
Bananas $7.00

Which has lead me to the horrible discovery that it would be cheaper to drink petrol or diesel than eat bananas to fuel my daily commute 🙂  Just may be we don’t pay enough for our pollution creating fossil fuels.

On a different tack – I’ve completed 132km in my first week in attempting to complete 5000km in a calendar year….woo hoo 🙂