After almost 5 years, it’s finally going to happen…. my parents want to meet Gin’s parents (and vice versa).

Any ideas? Experiences? Tips? Exit strategies??

Whilst HY and HP were tearing around the inner suburban streets of Melbourne today, Al and I headed to the hills. We met at 8am at cnr Union and Canterbury Rds (sorry I was late again Al) and we soon made our way towards Mt Dandy. We encountered another 2 riders enroute, but they were only going as far as Belford Rd so we quickly ditched them as they weren’t going to be of help :).

We get to the 1 in 20, roads slightly wet and Al heads off first. I prep’ed up for the climb by dumping the contents of my water bottle and firing out all remaining snot rockets to ensure maximum breathability.

0-1 km - 39×23… keeping it above 20km/h… good sign
1-2 km - Ouch… hmmm…. maybe I’m pushing a little too hard to begin with
2-3 km - Okay, feeling a little better now… is that a glimpse of Al ahead?
3-4 km - False flats! Woohoo! Decided to keep it in 39×23 still and just keep spinning, just keep spinning (think Dory in Nemo… just keep swimming, just keep swimming…)
4-5 km - There’s Al. Need to work hard to pass him…. and when I finally do, more ouch! Did I push too hard again?
5-6 km - Hitting the red zone… if you could hear me breathing up this bit you’d seriously think I was Puffing Billy with the amount of noise I was making. Never made so much noise breathing before. Still in 39×23 for most of the way (had to hold back to ensure I wasn’t going to blow up), then at T-500m mark shifted into 39×19 and stood for the rest of the way. Well and truly dead by the time I got to the top.

Rolled over the line, stopped the HRM - 19:49 at 176 average HR. PB… woohoo!! :)

Many thanks to the sacrificial lam for acting as the carrot.

Almost had another fishless day but I finally managed to break the drought.

A skinny 30cm brown trout - small, but not too bad from these waters.

Hi guys… i dunno if Han forwarded the smarties commercial to you guys… but anyways, here it is… i dunno what else to upload. hehehhehe

Constructive criticsm very welcomed…

Link 1
Link 2
Link 3

Enjoy…

I’ve posted some pix of a dinner we had one of the night when i was still in Melbourne. Thought of posting it here but was too troublesome… so here’s the link to my webbie. hope u guys can view it though!

Linky.

Al, you need one of these…

Chain Watcher

Well, this was kinda 2 rides.

Morning - Keith, Al, HP, Nick, Yang and I introduced Wayne and his new entry level Giant (taking bets on how long before he upgrades) into the world of driver abuse, tight lycra, freezing cold mornings and snot rockets. We did have a route mapped out but because it was so freaking cold from the morning fog/dew, we all decided to cut it short and sit in a coffee shop instead. Event of the morning was Nick’s altercation with a rock on Yarra Blvd, with Nick and his bike coming out worse off. I didn’t see it all happen but when I heard the girly scream I turned around and managed to see Nick on the ground with his bike bouncing about a metre in the air towards the Yarra. Miraculously aside from torn gloves, the rest of his lycra stayed pretty much intact. His bike however was not quite as fortunate but the dent in the top tube does appear only to be cosmetic (according to the frame experts in our group ). Anyway, he now also has plenty of road rash to brag about (hopefully the rest of you checked out okay).

Afternoon - DJ, HP and I went for a quick trip down to Mordy. The original plan was maybe Frankston but after remembering that nobody had a damn pedal wrench, we had to take the Shogie down to the LBS (local bike store) to get the pedals swapped over. (HY, can I borrow you wrench to swap them back please?). Anyway, I think DJ has improved a lot fitness and tactics wise since his last visit, given that he gladly let HP and I work into the headwind on the way down only to leave us for dead on the way back. It was also the first time in a long time that I’d bonked on a ride… oh well, more km’s next weekend!

Keith was ultra keen for a Mt Dandy run this morning and although I wanted to join him I decided that I couldn’t be stuffed waking up early again. Will try to get up tomorrow for the NRR instead.

Next weekend’s weather’s looking good atm… *fingers crossed*

As the title says Best Drunk

- It’s Safe For Work.
- I dunno if it’s real, staged, viral advertising(doesn’t look like an ad) but it’s damn funny.

There’s not much on show as I failed to take my camera to the hot spots but lets just say everything people say about riga is true….the hottest chicks in europe…easy

1.all the boys that went on the trip.
2. the barmaid
3. my mate harassing someone
4. the standard quality
5. drunken clown at the hostel we stayed at
6 - 8. chicks dancing around us at the club
9. my mates victim

didn’t do much over the weekend in terms of sightseeing but just hit the clubs. we walked the entire city in half an hour. unfortunately the shooting range was closed and ice was melting at the bob sleigh complex.

Admin: I shuffled images again, and I’m not sure if James’s captions make sense anymore.

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The last to join ‘the club’???