5 Laps around Centennial Park today (3.8×5=19km) plus to and fro (another 5.5km) makes the ride today almost 25km. I’m kinda enjoying it, but my behind is really wearing the brunt of my (current) 96kg. And that is the main reason I decide that whatever particular lap is now the last lap.
I do have two lucky features for the ride around the park: 1) lots of things to look at, and 2) the gradient of the park has me not so buggered when I reach the gate to come home and I often fell “Yeah, I can do one more”… A few hundred metres into it and I’m thinking about turning around. But then it gets easy again… and hard… and easy… LOL
And when I get back to the start… “yeah, one more!” :-)
What a beautiful day it is out there… Maybe I should now go for a walk… Circular Quay anyone?
I bought the bike last week and straight away I got on it and done 30km. That was Saturday. On Monday I went and did a couple of laps around Centennial Park (well, 4 laps to be precise) and then came home. I wanted to do more laps, and felt physically capable, but my bum was so sore from all the riding that I simple had to call it quits. That ride, on the Monday, was pretty much 4 laps around the park, and directly between home, there, and back again (which is the east-west line in the map to the right.
Todays ride I did much the same again except this time, after the third lap, I left the park from the Paddington gate and rode back to the bike shop. The ride down Oxford Street was great, since it was pretty much all downhill. Very enjoyable indeed. The reason I was going back to the bike shop was due to the speedometer I bought (the “Incite 8i”). I was really unhappy with it due to it being wireless and it receiving phantom signals from random sources. Over the last couple of days I have had “MAX” speeds approaching 200kmph! On the two rides I had been on (30km and 22km), the speedo had registered 82km, instead of just 52km. And then on todays ride it added on an extra km (only one). So for a total of 73km that I had ridden, the speedo registered that I had done over 100km. This amount of error was unacceptable. It is (apparently) a problem generally with the new generation wireless speedos. I do hear you can pay extra dollars and get a “digital wireless”, but figured that a wired variety is going to give me less grief. So, I went into the shop (Clarence Street cyclery) really not knowing what to expect, and they were happy to upgrade/downgrade the speedo at no cost. Which is good for me since I didn’t have any of the boxes or manuals for it.
Half hour later, I was back on my bike with the “Incite 9i” and I was happy. The wiring is a little ugly (it definitely looked better without it), but I don’t want extra kms added onto my ride just because of some simple interference.
So my recommendation is to NOT grab yourself any of the TREK brand “Incite” speedos that are unwired/wireless. I strongly recommend getting one of the wired models, or maybe forking out the extra and grabbing a digital wirless model, if you so desire. More generally, however, the Incite 9i is vastly superior to the 8i in other ways IMHO. Such as it has an included temperature guage, the up and down mode buttons work in an up and down fashion (pressing one side sends the mode to the left, the other side goes to the right – where-as the 8i just moved sequentially through the modes), and the mode button is more responsive.
I stumbled and fell, and now I have picked myself back up again. My weightloss was going well, and when I peaked at around 12kg I simply stopped. Initially it was the walking that stopped, then it was the diet that went out the window.
But now I am back on the band wagon. Starting off simple, no carbs in the evening, bringing back my protein shakes, and riding my new bike!!!
In this map, the blue line is the walk to the Clarence St Cyclery to pickup my the bike in the previous post. The green line is the ride I went on. Without zooming in, you can’t tell that the ride around centennial park consisted of 2½ laps! The whole ride was spot on 30km.
Obviously with this posting, it can be inferred that I am still alive. That IS the case, I AM! But I am soooo STUFFED!!
I had planned to catch a bus/train to the shop, but got all excited about getting fit again and so I decided to walk! That was 3km, and in doing the walk, I remembered why I stopped walking. I have my spurs on my heels and as I was nearing the shop they were already hurting again :(
I picked up the bike and headed off on my journey. I had forgotten how dangerous it is to ride in Sydney. Cars (and busses) just don’t seem to care and will pull over in front of you, open their car doors, travel so close to you that if you sneezed you would dirty them. But, unperturbed, I continued.
There is but one thing to say: I am SOOOOOOO unfit. So, it’s a work in progress. Back on the bike, and let’s get fit!
In my efforts to lower blood pressure and get fit, I’m deciding to increase my heart rate with one of these little beauties. It’s next years model and the colour scheme (black with dark gray) is simply spot on. I paid shelf price on the bike and probably a little more than I actually wanted to pay and I probably could have done better on ebay, or gone for a lesser model. But it’s next years model, has a 5 year warranty on parts and lifetime on the frame… You can’t put a price on good health… right?
That said this is the baby I pick up today at 1 o’clock. It’s Sydney, the day is abso-bloody-lutely gorgeous, I live in the city, the sun is shining and it’s approaching 30 degrees. Almost time to go pick it up and probably scour the beaches. I’ll know more this afternoon once I actually get on the thing
“I think I’ve made more wrong decisions in my life than right ones,
I’ve been very selfish, and I’ve hurt a lot of really nice people because of it.
Sometimes I wish I could go back and change a few things.
But, sadly, if anyone could actually grant me a wish,
I’d probably ask for money.” – 2NU
I’m still alive and, well, not doing so well on the weightloss front. Let’s come back to that later…
A lot has happened since my last entry:
I had my 39th birthday
I went to Singapore, and
today I went in the Sydney City to Surf – a timed 14km fun run
A couple of years ago I helped a friend video his sister’s wedding. As a result the bride and groom had given me a red balloons (this link) gift voucher. It was for a tidy sum and I needed to find a way to spend it. I chose the helicopter trial instruction flight (TIF). The voucher itself wasn’t enough to pay for the flight, but it covered almost half of it, so I put in the other half as a birthday present to myself and the day before my birthday I took off in a Robinson R22.
The flight was probably a little more than half hour, and it was certainly an experience worth having. I have long had an interest in flying, having even completed a few hours fixed wing as a kid, and wanted to see how a helicopter felt. It was good, but I don’t see the value in continuing on any further, mainly for the same reason I didn’t progressed with my fixed wing license… It’s too expensive.
Then, a few days later, I went off to Singapore for a week, with a couple of night in Kuala Lumpur. This was my first trip overseas (I don’t count Tasmania), and I was not sure what to get from the experience. We met some fantastic people and I could not get over the amount of Aussies we met over there! The friend I went with is a bit of an electronics buff, and we spent many hours in Sim Lim Tower and Square, but we also did some sight seeing, and some casual lazing about too. We even almost got arrested in one of Singapore’s Casinos (hint: Singapore doesn’t have any casinos – but that’s another story).
All-in-all, it was a fantastic experience, one which I will be doing again next year, albeit for much longer and seeing many more places!
And then today I went into the Sydney’s timed fun run, the City2Surf. It’s a 14 km journey that tests not only your fitness, but your resolve for running up very steep hills for long periods! I walked!
I think most city runs have a “heartbreak hill”, but Sydney certainly puts the “break” into it. Because just when you think you’ve mastered the hill, and every corner you go around, you think it’s going to be the last one… and it’s not! Heartbreak hill climbs for around 2.5 – 3km, and it hurts. Hence, I walked. Actually, it wasn’t heartbreak that made me walk, although it would have anyway. By the time I got to heartbreak I had already “broken”.
This is NOT me… this is Martin Dent
Going up the incline to Edgecliff shopping centre, I suffered an awful tightness in my shins (shin-splints). For anyone that’s experienced them, they are debilitating and it’s like someone is holding a blow torch to your shins, only this hurts! I eventually shook/walked them out and continued on.
Then my second problem hit me about the 8km mark, my shoes. I have three very expensive pairs of shoes, and I have only ever run in one of them, but I thought I would try a different pair today. That was a mistake. The pair has a slightly bigger instep (or whatever that little rise is called on the inner part of the soul of the foot, between the ball and the heel). But it was only ever so slight, and as a result that part of my foot was rubbing profusely… constantly… insessently… painfully…
In the end, the run turned into an extended walk – not a power walk, my legs are too short. But a walk/ho chi minh shuffle. My tubby little body crossed the finish line 2 hours and 15 minutes (135 mins) after I started. That’s over 6km an hour. For someone who’s 5′ 6½-7″ and 100kg, I think that’s pretty good! Especially considering that I haven’t done any exercise since March!
Which brings me around to my weightloss. I have had a set-back. I am not yet prepared to call it a failure, but things haven’t gone as planned. I did a massive effort and lost almost 13kg at one point, but sadly, I have put a chunk of it back on. Not all of it, but I am back to 100kg neat. I will not be rising above that mark and I will be starting all over again. A new regime this time, new methods, more madness. Let’s just hope this time I can stick to it.
BTW, the image above is not me, it’s the guy who beat me by a mere 94 minutes, Martin DENT. The first Australian to take out the race since 1997. Well done Martin.
I have never been overseas (unless you count going to Tasmania overseas, but most people don’t – self included). But I have a good friend in Singapore who I have been wanting to go and visit over there. He is originally from Australia and has been working there now for a few years and he comes home all the time, but I’ve never made the trip there.
Last Friday week ago Jetstar announced a new service from Melbourne to Singapore via Darwin. As an introductory offer they opened the service at $200 each way. The problem is, I don’t live in Melbourne, I live in Sydney! So I needed to find a way to get to Melbourne, I opted for Jetstar again and found a $110 return fare Sydney to Melbourne.
With all fees, taxes and tariffs, the whole trip is costing ~$550 RETURN!
So I have to fly from Sydney to Melbourne, tinker around for a few hours and then fly from Melbourne to Darwin… Off the plane again for a couple of hours and then on to Singapore. Now, it sure is going to take longer than flying straight from Sydney to Singapore, BUT it’s almost half price… And we get to stretch our legs a couple of times along the way, so for me, I think it’s a fair call.
I have to admit, we’re both amazed that so many people who know have been there, and give it a few weeks and so too will we
BTW, the map at the top is for a friend who’s coming as well… He made the admission the other day that he doesn’t even know where it is! :-S
I had another game of squash today, I have found it hard to get back into the fitness groove lately, but squash is easy. I love the game, it kills me, but I love it. We played for almost 2 hours today! Only about 10 games. I prefer playing handouts, the new international rules make games go too quick.
I played a friend who I rarely beat… We played a few weeks ago and played 16 sets and I only got 4 off him. And it was only at the end of each 4 games when he was tired that I got one from him.
But today started off with a bang. I got 2 sets from the outset! I wanted to go home then, but he wouldn’t let me :-P. Towards the end of the second set he was getting a bit gnarly and decided to clonk me in the head with his racket. I tell you what, a squash racket in the head puts you on your arse pretty quickly. I dropped real quick. I recovered well, and took the final 2 points I needed to get the set, but then couldn’t find the groove again.
I was feeling a bit off, but at the end of the day he is a much better player than me. The thing is, he makes me work hard… Work REAL hard for those hours.
We’re pretty closely matched. Today we played many sets where we were stuck on 2 points for handout after handout. And we had about 4 games where we went over the 9 points to finish the game. 1 game went to him at 13-11.
I have not done any exercise or walking for a long time, over 2 weeks (there was one night I did a small amount of gym work, but I wasn’t feeling well, so I bugged out early…)
Mum was in town, so I took an early mark from work and we went out to dinner in Surrey Hills. And on the way back I thought I would take her for a short jaunt around Central. All up, not quite 6km.
I only went for a short walk to Moore Park (2.2km) today because I wanted to see what was out there in LCD land. So I paid a visit to Bing Lee, Dick Smith PowerHouse and Harvey Norman… I think I have found the one I will buy, it’s the Samsung “SyncMaster 245B”, features a resolution of 1920×1200 and a 5ms refresh. It only has DVI and VGA inputs (why is it so hard to find dual DVI inputs?). So, I have contacted my bank and I am upping the limit on my credit card – Australians LOVE credit…
Well, I do :-)
All 24″ varieties were very expensive at these stores, the cheapest of which was around $750. The Samsung though was $999. A little out of my price range. Although a quick search on StaticIce (link) found many places selling these little BIG beauties from as low as $530…
One place would even sell them from little more than $500 if purchased with a new system. I don’t need a new system… Or do I??
That’s almost 2 for the price of 1! Maybe I should buy 2 :-)
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