Back on the bike, & a little "PING PONG"

After a fractured back half of the year - a trip overseas, an intense period of work, some time in the wild west and a kick-arse flu which belted me around, I finally hit "boot camp" - Christmas hols and time to start the slog back into fitness and form.

FRIDAY - first day out, Vaughan showed me how 8 weeks TOTAL on a bike can belt a TdC vet who's let himself go, with consistent hill attacks against Mal leaving me wallowing down the back. Mal mentions a possible new bike on the way - what about the aqua/blue Learsport? It's an icon!! 50 pedestrian km's and I'm absolutely flattened.

SATURDAY - Cougar calls an Ettalong ride. Apparently the precipitation at his house didn't occur at Mal's house 125 metres up the road, as a result Mal, Shane and I hit out north into a fresh northerly breeze and 98 - 99.5% humidity. Shane's limited by his recovery from his first half-ironman and a diet the day before of rocket salad, and hence only JUST dissappears ahead in the distance on every hill. Mal's on his hammer, I'm limited by lack of fitness, leg strength and heart. But I'm still going.

On the downhill approach to Mooney Mooney Bridge, I'm following Mal at around 60kmh when I hear a very familiar sound - "PING". On dead flat road, on fairly new but run in Ultegra wheels, Mal busts ANOTHER spoke. Even better, Shimano have used an oversized spoke nipple on the 18 spokes so we can't recover the very-buckled wheel from hitting the frame. Shane gets us going but Mal and the Learsport are left with a front brake, a dodgy rear wheel and a long, long way from home, with descents, ascents and wet roads still to come

On the ferry the humidity cracks 100% and down comes the rain, however the rain jacket's useless because we're steaming ourselves. The northerly tailwind now is the only thing which is keeping my sorry legs and gunked-up lungs going. But still rolling.

Shane decides to take the easy route whilst recovering and pump out 20 more k's and 2 more hills, however Mal and I head uneventfully south. Until I hear from behind me (where Mal is riding) "PONG". Mal loses his right shifter cable and is now left with "hard"and "hardest" for gear choices with a couple of climbs to go. The Learsport's breaking down before our eyes! Mal however pumped through the last climbs with his rediculous gearing and I departed him having ticked off 130km. Allegedly the front wheel also shattered shortly after I left and Mal wheelied most of the way home until his handlebars fell off, however these events are unconfirmed.

Sat arvo saw Marty P, Mal and I in KOM at the same time and Mal get fitted for his spanking Six13, resplendent in navy blue and dura ace. Well done fella, but it's the end of an era!

SUNDAY - a lazy KOM ride, 60km on a fine morning. The KOM crew are good value and their Sunday ride is a relaxing affair, until they hit the hills where they just maintain their flat-road speed. My now hammered legs don't cooperate when the road goes up after the first km and I climb solo.

MONDAY - A lazy Christmas/cafe ride with Cougar, Mal, Denver, and "friend of TdC" Paul, which takes in 30km more than planned, a couple of stonking climbs and a great breakfast with loved ones down on the beach in Manly. A total of 85km in the end

Finally the legs are feeling a little better but still sore and stiff and a few rides with the TdC crew have the fire beginning to burn again.

TUESDAY (Christmas)- Well, if the 4 rides back and the comradery of the TdC crew re-established weren't enough to get me firing again, Meg pulls this chrissy present out...

Having sat in the corner since that amazing Wednesday despite my good intentions, the TdC canvas was spirited away, framed up and is now proudly on display in the lounge room. I wanted to go ride right there and then! It was easily up there with the

I can't wait for the Tour! See you all in 2008

Cheers

It's all about the OVERS

Training last weekend was all about the overs!

Knowing that days 4 and 6 of next years tour are equivilant to climbing to base camp of Everest, a group of TDC riders (Cosie, Phil, Mal, Max, Marty, Loey) began 3 solid months of training to be fit and ready for next years ride. Over the next 3 months TDC riders will clock up close to 5000km in training. Hate to think how many powerbars and energy drinks we will go through to complete these rides. Apologises to all partners for the after effects of those bars and GU's!

Some compelling facts behind our solid training regime

Tour 08 is 1206km over 9 days

Our longest day is day 4 and that is 207km

Day 6 is not far behind with 205km

On each of these days we climb some 2000m

Over the entire 9 days we will climb 9643m. Everest is only 8848m

Backing up on Sunday taking the long slow dead road* to Ettalong having done Palm Beach and an equally slow dead road out to Akuna Bay on Saturday was great training. Punch up the hills knowing these were the 'OVERS'.

Total Km's for the 2 days Approx 250km

Approx ascent for the 2 days 1800m

Average Speed for the 2 days approx 26km/hr

Food Consumption for the 2 days.............HEAPS! Loved those extra pancakes on Saturday.

Great to see everyone in kit and making some great impressions on passers by. The roads taken were absolutely perfect training and I expect this could we be the norm for the next 3 months. Personally I will be aiming to do 250km every weekend and at least another 150 during the week if I can. For me, shedding a couple of extra kilo's before the ride will make every meter we climb that little bit easier. Giving away 20kgs to Berty, Loey, Beast and in fact most riders (except MAX at the moment) is inspiration to be lighter for the ride.

Great company and a little luck with the weather made it a fun weekend of training. Looking forward to many more before the TOUR de CURE 2008

Can you guess who's legs these are?

Safe riding everyone. Enjoy the training over the holidays and remember you don't want to be under done on the TOUR!

Cougar

* Long slow dead road = a back country road that is not tarred (hot mix) and has little or no free roll when on a bike.................we don't like these!

A Day Of Inspiration

In what for some may have been an overcast, drizzling, ordinary day, the Tour De Cure presented a very contrasting opportunity. The Tour de Cure put on what was a most inspirational day for close to 150 very lucky people!

Hosted at the immaculate Four Seasons hotel, the inaugural “A Day Of Inspiration” commenced with anticipation and eagerness to hear & learn from some of Australia’s successful sports, entertainment and business people alike. To hear their exceptional stories, adventures and tips are a rare privilege, but we were lucky enough that many of them hung around to mingle, chat and enjoy and hear from the rest of the speakers. What made the day even more inspirational was that the speakers kindly donated their time as a show of support to Tour de Cure.

First mention goes to the MCs of the day, Rebecca Wilson, Rob Duckworth & Blake Beattie. They kept the day running seamlessly and (seemingly) effortlessly.

The day got off to a GOLD start with Kerri Pottharst sharing her medals (gold and bronze), Olympic torch, and even her Olympic cozies! Kerri recounted how she 'faced her fears' in hers and Natalie Cook's historic GOLD medal effort on the golden sands of Bondi. Her message was set into action when she got yours truly and Margaret Heath (Mal's sister) up out of the crowd to face our own fears and to walk on what was a LOT of broken glass! Despite a lot of crunching and a few well timed gasps from the audience, we both came away cut free and grinning from ear to ear! Believe me when I say the glass was real and despite having seen Margaret and Kerri both do it, I still had some doubts and fears.
The inspiration continued with the frighteningly awesome tale of Heather Swan. She ever so coolly showed us (with incredible footage) how difficult and often physically painful (e.g. sustaining a hole in your intestine) her challenge was, to become the world record holder for base jumping and winged suit base jumping was.

The view from the top of Mt Meru (in India) was something. Jumping off it- well that is a whole LOT of 'somethin somethin' else.

A Day Of Inspiration was expertly constructed to timely remind us of why we were really there by incorporating the real life journeys of 3 separate cancer sufferers.

Claire O'Conner, Daniel Staunton & Paulina White all so kindly shared the experiences they have had with this disease. Their stories were full of courage and inspiration and, as many people commented, it made "A Day Of Inspiration" that extra special and unique. For mine it reasserted what this day was all about- to raise awareness and empower us to help make a difference! A huge thanks to Claire, Daniel and Paulina- and for those that don't remember why the washing machine was laughing-

go get Daniel's book!

The day didn’t stop there (although that was a brilliant start). Following a quick morning tea, and a serenade from Drew McAlister, Naomi Simson came on stage and spoke of building the Red Balloon Day company. It wasn’t hard to notice and be infected by her positive attitude... and dream of working for her- what a boss! I wonder if Naomi got 150 job applications the following day.

There were so many ideas and so much information to process and it just kept coming with the extremely successful Siimon Reynolds. He has experienced much success in his life and he ever so simply highlighted the 4 characteristics that makes him and any successful person. Siimon was very well spoken and it is no wonder he talked his way into a job that he was 15 years to young for!

We then had a quick reminder from Geoff as to why we were all there and what inspired him to get Tour de Cure off the ground- inspirational in itself. He was followed by a very busy and charity committed, question/answer session with Guy Leech. His continued involvement with the Tour de Cure among his other charities is just amazing, and despite his statement that his 'bike legs' aren't very strong, his title of fittest man in Australia makes that hard to believe! If he manages to find the time to get on the road with us TDC riders again in 2008, I know he wont be the one hanging off the back of the pack!

A delicious lunch put on by the Four Seasons was only settling when we were treated to a very good humoured and exceptionally well voiced Mark Gable.

Then the penultimate speaker was our very own. The ‘ordinary punter’ and co-founder of Tour de Cure, Gary Bertwistle. The Old Dog as I like to (kindly) refer to him had managed to incorporate the messages from all of the speakers before him and add that weight to his own message and stories. His encouragement for us to all be exceptional at everything we do was well received! Despite me still not drinking coffee, I would definetly drink up if I was recieving a coffee with as much effort as those displayed by the Old Dog.

The Old Dog set the floor for us and the sky as our limit- I think his talk of making your ten sets (at the gym) to 11 or 12 was also a 'subtle' challenge to the TDC riders make your $10 grand 11 or 12! Game on Old Dog, game on!

Another nice touch to the day was the occasional pre-recorded messages from Roger Black, Michael Roux, Matthew Pincent and our very own DuncanArmstrong. Thank you so much guys for aslo taking the time from your busy schedules to pre-record messages of support and secrets of what inspired them to achieve.

The officialities of the day was to conclude after a much anticipated Steve Waugh. I was just as excited to see him this time as I was 14 years ago, although I did refrain from getting yet another autograph! His question/answer session was pretty special, and to hear of his work with his many charities made us realise how lucky we were for him to so kindly donate his time to come and speak to us. It also highlighted how important the Tour de Cure is considered by so many people.

A couple of Peronis to cap off a brilliant day, thanks to Saskia and Max. Everyone was a buzz- talking about how much of an amazing day they had just experienced and I defiantly saw diaries brought out to mark the date of next years Day Of Inspiration- September 9 2008.

A huge congratulations and thanks to Geoff, Gary, Sam and Mal or conceiving, creating and successfully completing "A Day Of Inspiration". It was awesome- and then some!

Biggest entourage for the day goes to Phil. At 26, he must be a popular man, or very good at persuasion!

Thank you also needs to go to the Four Seasons hotel and all the lights, camera & action crew from Microhire- special thanks to Daniella & Nick!

Again to all the speakers who did their job of inspiring, donated their time and made the day- cheers! I think everyone hopes to see you again with Tour De Cure in the very near future.

As I left and wandered back towards the buses I couldn't get the huge (and somewhat goofy looking) grin off my face from what I had just experienced. Yes I may have been skipping a little, but that's alright... I was skipping at an exceptional standard, and according to Berty, if its done exceptionally well- it's ok...

To all the riders that made the day, I think we have got just a bit of an inspirational edge for Melbourne to Sydney- just remember your neuro commitment!

It was an amazing day, and the next one has been penned in (no pencilling for me) for the 9th of September 2008- make sure you all do the same!

If the rate that the merchandise was going is anything to go by, I think we’ll need a bigger room next year.

Pup

ICAP CHARITY DAY

Let me set the scene. The Elevator door opens to the sounds of cheering and music as we walk the narrow corridor following the ICAP sign to reception. Plastic drapes cover the entrance to a room where flashing lights and smoke crept through the cracks of the industrial plastic. You could tell something was going on inside that room…………………….We kept following the signs to reception.
Cosie, Phil and I, dressed in TDC lycra, pushing our bikes through a very corporate corridor felt more than a little out of place. That didn’t last long as we turned the corner to see a hive of colour and characters, yelling and shouting, laughing and winking, roll playing and secretly enjoying their costume choice for the ICAP CHARITY DAY.

In this room, deals worth MILLIONS of dollars were taking place every minute. The most unlikely characters dressed as 1920’s Gangsters, Hari Chrisna’s, Santa, The Spice Girls, Arab Sheiks, Haz Chem cleaners and Scottish Kings were making deals with banks and financial institutions with the profits being shared with 12 other charities on this one day.
ICAP are the biggest broker of its kind in the world however they do have some competitors (none of whom do such a wonderful thing to help different charities each year). On this charity day the market tends to give most of it’s deals to ICAP knowing that the money goes to a good cause. Last year the ICAP day raised over 7.1millions Pounds Globally ($700k+ Australian) for their chosen charities. We were honoured to be chosen for this years ICAP charity day and in return for our generous inclusion , we have named a team in next years charity ride in their honour.

So here are Cosie, Phil and I, shaved legs and lycra completely unsure of what our roll was on this day. In the room when we arrived were the following slightly recognisable characters. Steve Waugh, Dr Charlie Teo (Brain Surgeon), Jonathon Coleman, David Peachey and a couple of others whose name I don’t remember from the tabloids. Each charity was asked to provide a celeb or 2 on the day to walk the floor and help close the deals with customers on the phone. As you can imagine Steve Waugh was constantly on the phone closing plenty of deals for the charities on this day . Nice work Steve!

Our sponsor in to the ICAP Charity Day is Tasman Lovell (ICAP Director and great bloke). Watching Tom orchestrate his team, push his guys to make the deals, massage some numbers in our favour, having complete control over 4 or 5 deals at any one time was amazing to watch. These guys talk at a hundred miles an hour with Millions rolling of the tongue like its change from the supermarket. We soon learnt that the louder you yell and getting eye contact with the other dealer meant you got your client in the hot seat. We also learnt that a YARD is equivalent to a BILLION Dollars……………………OMG! Phil the textile king from Verosol Blinds has a new found respect for the word Yard, as would most

Unfortunately we missed the 10am rates announcement which is the time when banks and investment funds, hedge against the pending change in the rate. We can only imagine just how frenetic the atmosphere was for those first few minutes.

The afternoon session 3pm – 4.30pm saw Maximus, The Mayor, Stiffler and I join the ICAP traders for a couple of cheeky beers as the trading continued until the market closed at 4.30. The jokes got dirtier and thanks to Mrs Clause (Aka Natalie from another Charity) the ICAP team kept up their endeavours to make every deal matter on this day. Stroke of genius bring Mrs Clause to help close the deals. I think Mrs Clause and Steve Waugh single handedly raised the most money on the day! Not sure if Mrs Clause will be telling Santa just how many times she was invited out for some eggnog and cookies at the CBD bar that night.

A massive thanks to Hugh Gallagher, Mark Benfield, Tasman Lovell and Michelle Cheevers for not only including the Tour de Cure as a charity of choice on this day but also for allowing us to share in the excitement of the day on the trading floor with the ICAP team.
As you can see from the picture there was no room for the quiet on this day. For more pics from the day go to Http//charityday.icap.com.au
ICAP set a new record this year raising a whopping $9.2million POUNDS on it’s Charity Day. That’s up from the $7.1million pounds it raised in 2006……………..AMAZING!

No matter how much the final amount, every dollar counts and we are extremely grateful for being included in this years ICAP Charity day.

Cougar