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YJOM February

1. Keith – 607km
2. Norm – 398km
3. HY – 320km
4. HP – 200km
5. Tuong – 32km

A rather quiet month of February. I’ve now managed 2 of 2 YJOMs for 2009. Although I have to concede, there wasn’t much competition this month, as TYP was plagued by injury this month.

Norm developed what sounds like some knee tendonitis, from too much crit sprinting. He managed decent kays for the majority of the month, but had to give it a rest for the last week.

HY managed to injure his ankle through a non-cycling related incident. He twisted it, just walking to the train station. This was all good though, as this allowed him more time to build my wheels.

HP suffered from an episode of iritis. So basically he could only see out of one eye for the majority of Feb. He did attempt a couple of mtb rides though. However, his falling-off incidence was even higher than usual. HP didn’t even bother to log his rides, so we have an “estimate” of 200km.

Tuong is keen, but was just waiting on his commuter setup. He had been waiting for his spare set of wheels from me, so that he could put commuter tyres on them. Now that this has been done, we are all expecting some monster kays from Tuong from now on. Carn, Tuong. You can DO IT!

YPR #52 Back on the bike

I’ve had a few weeks of not that much riding, due to a dodgy left eye and a dodgy right ankle. It’s all left me feeling pretty unmotivated to get out and ride. This weekend past saw me get back on the bike for a few rides.

Saturday afternoon saw HYG and me out at You Yangs. Cruisy ride around Kurrajong where HYG almost brought his lunch back up on the lower tracks, then a few loops of the upper tracks including one climb up Great Circle Drive for a bash down the rock gardens on track 14. Lowlight of the afternoon was me washing out on some sand and giving myself some good bruises and grazes. Fortunately it was on HYG’s Jamis and not on my bike. By the end of the day, we’d done about 25km of singletrack.

Sunday morning was another another cruisy ride. This time I was pretending to be Alan’s wife on the Melbourne Summer Cycle. The little man (Alex, not Alan. I know we call Alan “little”, especially after his performance of “The Woman”, but I’m referring to Alex) was not well, so Alicia had to pull out. I took her place and joined Alan for a 40km ride around Melbourne. It was a little hairy in the first 10km through the city, with the family riders crowding around and the cafe racers cutting people off. Once we cleared the CBD, it was a little safer and quicker. This was my first time over the Westgate Bridge on a bike, so I had no idea what it was going to be like on the fixie. It ended up being not as difficult as I thought it might have been. I just latched onto the tail of a roadie on a Look and mashed my way up on my 72 gear inches. Passed the weekend riders on the way up, but a lot of them passed me on the way back down the other side! Even if you can spin at 150rpm on 48/18, you’re still limited to 50km/h! Highlight of the day, as pointed out by Alan, was the marshall at the roundabout in Williamstown – almost worth going back for another loop around the block. Around 50km by the end of the ride for me.

Sunday afternoon was YPR #51 at Westerfolds Park. Tuong, HYG and I met up for a few hours on the MTBs. Total of 17.5km by the end of the ride.

My arms are pretty well tanned now.

Two more to the calendar

I just entered two more rides as preparation for La Marmotte.

Tour of Flanders (140km version), 4 April

The Dragon Ride (Gran Fondo 185km, 3000m climbing), 14 June

TCR1 Makeover

Spent a whole afternoon cleaning the bike, and still not quite finished. Cleaned the old wheels and cassette for storage.

What’s new:
- Easton EA90 TT
- Michelin Pro Race 3 in red
- Ultegra 11-23T cassette
- Dura Ace 10 Spd chain (to be installed)
- Dura Ace brake pads (I figured new rims, new pads. In case the old pads had any bits stuck in them that’ll wear out my new rims quicker).

Melting