Tag Archives: Rapha Cycle Club

Marv’s 2017 Annual Report

Dear Rouleurs,

Hasn’t 2017 disappeared in the blink of an eye.  MMT had a great year all things considered.  He watched his adorable little red-haired girl grow from rug rat to toddler and attend childcare.  He received the best ever Father’s Day present in the form of her first steps in this world…awesome work bubba girl.  His beloved AFL football team, Richmond Tigers broke its 37 year drought and won the 2017 AFL Premiership.  MMT still gets goosebumps and feels a bit teary when thinks about that one.

So onto cycling, like Alan Kohler on ABC I have a bunch of pretty charts to present.  The first one shows my yearly worm, or how I accumulated kilometres over the course of the last 12 months. The sharp kick at the end is the Festive 500.  In December, alone, MMT did nearly 1000km.

The second, has the same data set, except its month by month.  This graph clearly shows the impact of worst cold and flu season Victoria has for 15 years. MMT was seriously YAFFed in April, June, August and September.  It also shows how doing Rapha related stuff has pushed my annual kilometres to almost 8,000.

The final graph shows my ride activity month on month.  It seems the combination of work, life, Bubba mean that about 22 to 25 rides a month is what I can expect for the next few years.

So in summary the numbers look like this:

So in an average month MMT, does 24 rides, for 660km, which takes about 28 hours and burns 33,460 calories.  Honestly, MTT feels that he should be much, much thinner than he is, after seeing these numbers.  That would be something to work on in 2018.

Until next blog, ride safe

Marv

PS Go Richie Porte in Team BMC in the 2018 TDU

To Rapha Cycling Club or to not Rapha Cycling Club….that is the question

Dear Rouleurs,

MMT mentioned in a blog a few months ago that became a member of the Melbourne chapter of the Rapha Cycling Club. MMT received his shiny new membership for Christmas from Mrs MMT. MMT was actually twice gifted, by receiving the Rapha Welcome Kit for 2016 and the new 2017, later in the post. Nice. MMT has 2 member chapeaus, a matt grey metal membership card, a luggage tag, musette, a bunch of stickers and access to Rapha’s free members only app. In short its an impressive haul of goodies.

Mind you club membership was $225, which is not cheap but is comparable to racing licence purchased via Cycling Australia/SKCC herein Melbourne. Also not cheap and not discounted in any form is the Rapha Club Cycling Kit. There’s a couple of nice features about the kit. First it’s really well made and looks great. Second it is not plastered with sponsors adverts. Compare the following:

   

The St. Kilda is one of the best club jerseys going round in Melbourne at the moment. The above version was offered to members between 2013 and 2016. MMT has bothered with 2017 version, as its just a little too bit Mondrian for his liking. The Rapha Jersey is much cleaner, daresay MMT say, elegant design. Yes MMT is biased and Yes $200 was shelled out for the short sleeve version of the Brevet. The other cool feature of club membership is being able to lay your sweaty hands and cleats on one of these Canyon bikes, if you are visiting a city that has RCC Club House.

Phoaw….its so beautiful. MMT can’t wait until he clips into one of these beauties in Sydney or who knows may be London some time soon. MMT digresses.

Of the main reason why a cycling club exists is for its members to go cycling. RCCMEL offers three regularly scheduled rides.
Tuesday’s Northside ride deporting from Richmond
Thursday’s Southside ride departing from Elwood
Saturday’s Shop ride departing from the Popup Shop in Fitzroy

MMT has been riding on Thursdays. The first couple of rides post-pneumonia were unpleasant and just a little bit humiliating. MMT was dropped on ramp leading out from Sandringham to Black Rock. The hacking cough and reduced lung power were to blame. However, MMT is now on pace and happily not always the lantern rouge.

The Thursday ride has become the stretch ride for MMT’s aspiration to be ‘FASTER’. The bunch averages 30Km/h and in certain section on the return leg touches 50Km/h. Those sections were quite a shock. The outward leg is a straightforward run down Beach Road to Mordialloc. After that the route weaves through the back streets of Parkdale, Mentone, Hampton and Brighton. MMT surmises that being a newbie in the bunch and being dropped on the return leg would mean using Google Maps to get back to Elwood.
So the key question is club membership worth the $225 annual fee worth it?? MMT thinks so the answer is ‘Yes’.

Until next time, ride safe

Marv

Marv’s post-Christmas childcare blues

 

Dear Roulers,

The baton of primary child carer has been passed to me and I’m officially in ‘daddy daycare’ mode. My main job is to transition my darling daughter into childcare.  My wife, the other member of Team MMT, has had really mixed feelings about this, after having nearly 7 months leave. Alas all of us will need to return to our employment and keep our places in the great rat race that is working in Melbourne CBD.  Happily, our daughter seems to be adjusting to the transition.  We both draw solace from knowing that she’s being cared for in a centre nearby to our respective workplaces. 

So onto cycling, MMT is still recovering from his brush with pneumonia which has really reduced my horsepower.  This has taken some of the gloss MMT’s main Christmas present.  For Christmas, MMT received an annual membership to Rapha Cycle Club from his wife.  MMT rolled up to his first ride last week.  RCC operates 2 rides during the working week.  The Thursday one leaves from Elwood’s Turtle Cafe and cruises down to Mordialloc and returns via the Nepean Highway.  I should qualify that description of the route with “I think’ as this bunch has dropped me 2 out of 2 rides, after about 10kms. It’s happening on the ramp that leads into Blackrock.  MMT just can’t seem to find the grunt to keep up with these guys.

Much of what MMT has read suggests that to become a faster, better rider you have to start riding with people are better than you. So it seems I have had my wish granted. These guys are moving much quicker than what RCC App says is the overall speed for this ride. So I’m going to  have to suck this up and get back to shedding unwanted kilos and getting my pre-Christmas conditioning back. I’m hoping that another new member will turn up one morning and challenge me for latern rouge that I seem to keep ‘winning’.  May be I’ll form up the second bunch that that the Rapha app speaks of 😉  

So onto the main topic of this blog, my new Trek Domane SLR 6 Disc.  First let me say I’m in love.  Its taken me awhile to get used to the geometry and the stopping power of the disc brakes.  Here’s a picture of MMT’s new machine.

Its soooo beautiful. My Trek Domane SLR 6 Disc

The first couple of weeks were driving MMT a bit nuts as the relaxed geometry and bike fit were creating aches and pains in places that weren’t there before.  The most significant problem being the saddle, which seemed to be creating friction and soreness in a area that MMT would rather not have it.  So after a few adjustments in seat post height and saddle position, it looks like that problem is now resolved. So happily, it looks like I have the bike and enough conditioning to take on, at least, the 65km version of the Cadel Evan’s Peoples Ride next weekend.  A weeks ago I wasn’t sure that I had either.

So in a couple of weeks time I’ll write up my experiences on that ride.  Last time I did in 2015 and it was great fun.

Until next time ride safe

Marv