Houseboat Withdrawal

What a weekend! After planning for more than a month, we finally pulled it off! Over the weekend, we held a surprise birthday party. What made it extra special was that it involved 11 people and a house boat. We hired out a house boat from Able and cruised the Hawkesbury River for 2 days and a night. To keep this a secret was no easy feat!

So we boarded the boat at Wisemans Ferry, and then hid on the boat, and waited for the birthday boy to arrive. I think the delight shown on his face was priceless! Over the weekend, we did some swimming, paddled a small dingy, tried to fish, sung some Singstar, drank wine and beer, cooked several barbies, and played some board games, such as Ticket to Ride and Balderdash. We also managed to catch a water ski race, got a tow from another boat (while trying in vain to paddle against the current in the dingy), and even managed to dance some Salsa.

A day later, I'm still suffering from the after-effects of the boat ride. Even as I type, I feel the screen is waving as if I'm still on the boat. Time to get some more missed sleep!

Diversification

Well, this blog hasn't been updated for a couple of days, mainly due to a certain lack of inspiration. After having a chat to one of my close friends, I decided to diversify this blog. I was told to consider blogging as an art form, and to discuss topics that I am passionate about. This blog will continue to exist of course, but it will be here mainly for my rants. I will soon start blogs on a few areas that I'm really passionate about (or at least I think I will be passionate about). These are the areas:

• Football
  
• Travel
  
• Motoring
  
• Taekwondo / Martial Arts
  
• Salsa / Dance
  
• Cycling / Hiking / Camping
  
• Photography
  
• Gadgets / Computers
  
• Events / Entertainment / Reviews

They will be updated a lot less frequently, but at least they will have a dedicated topic, although I'm not too sure where a review of a camera lens would fall into - Photography, Gadgets, or Reviews?

MS Sydney to the Gong Ride Part 2

I got up this morning at 5 am, after not having a very good night's rest. Picked up everything prepared from the previous night, and headed off. I was running a little late for my train, so decided to ride to Strathfield station instead as a warm up. Jumped on the train, got off at Redfern to change, but was still going to be late, so rode down to the start at Sydney Park, St Peters.

After fumbling around a bit, taking team photos, and not eating breakfast, I hit the road eventually around 7.30 am - 40 minutes behind schedule. Along the way, much liquid was consumed. My breakfast came in the form of a triple Time Out bar and a blueberry muffin. Other food consumption on the way included a banana, half an orange, and and packet of GU carbohydrate gel.

Having never ridden this distance before, I tried to stay quite fresh at the beginning, and up to Loftus Oval, it was all pretty easy riding. No major problems with hills either. Up to waterfall, the ride becomes more interesting, with some up and downs along the highway. At waterfall, we were herded together to go down hill in packs in order to improve safety. However, what goes down must come up. As I hit the Royal National Park, the hills starts to take a toll on me as I started to push a bit harder. Eventually arriving at Stanwell Tops look out, I was pretty well spent. A lot of people here started to push their bikes up. I just dug in deep.

The rest of the the journey was just a hard slog. The scenery was magnificent, and included the must-used-in-car-advertising-bridge: the Sea Cliff Bridge. The hill on the other side of the bridge however, was not very kind. More people were pushing their bikes up the hill by now. There were also a couple of accidents that I was aware off, and plenty of bikes on the side of the road with an array of mechanical problems and punctures. Luckily, my bike held up to the end.

After 5 hours and a half, I finally made it to the destination. Much liquid was then consumed, muscles sore and tired. Lunch was had at a local fish and chip shop, and after a power nap, we headed home. Thanks to Greg who drove down just to support and give my bike a lift back to Sydney. Much appreciated!

So here are my final stats: 

Top Speed: 52.8km/h

Time: 5 hours 28 minutes

Average Speed: 15.8 km/h

MS Sydney to the Gong Ride

Tomorrow, I will participate in my first ever MS Sydney to the Gong ride. The ride goes from St. Peters to Wollongong, via Brighton Le Sands, the Royal National Park, and the Sea Cliff Bridge, totaling 90 km. Personally, I hope to finish in 5-6 hours. The event is held to help raise money and awareness for MS - Multiple Sclerosis - an autoimmune disease affecting the central nervous system.

Preparation for any endurance event is of utmost importance, and this is no different. Equipment must be checked and rechecked, supplies readied. For this event, the most important equipment will be the bike. It has been serviced a couple of days ago, and all gears and brakes are checked. The tyre pressures are also checked, as are the pedals and the shoes. Aside from the bike, there are the clothing, helmut, gloves, shoes, camelpak for hydration and some light energy snacks for along the way.

But perhaps the most important thing is human preparation, both mentally and physically. I have no idea how I will go as I have never ridden this far before. Unfortunately, I haven't had much time to train up for this event, unlike for the Oxfam Trailwalker, but hopefully I will finish tomorrow.

Sculpture by the Sea

Until the 2nd of November, the coast line from Bondi to Tamarama will be littered with colours and shapes, forming the one of the largest outdoor sculpture displays in the world. Best of all, it's free. I went to Sculpture by the Sea today, even though the weather could have been more kind. A few of my favourite this year included the anatomically correct farm animals, and the huge needle pulling thread on the hill. There were a few more abstract ones that also caught my attention, and the butterfly-globe was also very striking. Here are some of photos from the day trip, definitely worth a visit!

Night Noodle Markets and World Bar

October is Good Food Month and last Friday was the last night the Noodle Markets were held. at Hyde Park, and I went to check it out. The atmosphere was amazing, the north side of the park packed with people chatting, drinking, eating. Musing blaring in the background and an array of coloured lighting transformed the trees and walkways.

The food on offer was pretty good too. The best part? The fact that I went at 8.30pm. The stalls all close at 9.30pm, and it's the time to flog off whatever they had left. This means shorter queues, and cheaper food. I also got to try out the Citi VIP area. The area is just a small barricaded area in the middle of everything, and it had a private bar, and some candle lit tables draped with red table cloth. It gave a very intimate feel to the area. The noodle markets were very well carried out, and I'll be back next year for sure.

After the noodle markets, I headed to World Bar with some friends. For a bar right in the heart of the Cross, we were told that we would only get in if we were casual and not business attire. One of my friends had to go buy a t-shirt from a near by shop after he turned up in a dressy shirt. The bar was pretty packed and a live band was playing. The trademark for the bar though had to be their teapots. Several cocktails - Long Island Iced Tea,  Tropicana, etc, are served in teapots you would find at a Yum Cha restaurant. One pot is about 7 shots, which is pretty awesome!

Ride to Work Day

Today was National Ride To Work Day. The idea is to encourage people to lead a healthier lifestyle by riding to work instead of driving. This is beneficial not only to the rider but also the environment and the hip pocket. I started cycling to work a few months ago, my daily commute is about 11 km one way and takes approximately 45 minutes. That burns about 2000 kilojoules of energy for me, which is about the amount contained in a McDonald's Big Mac. It will also save me approximately $1.50 on petrol and approximately 2 kg of CO₂. All of that might not seem much, but if I cycled twice a week, in a year, I will have saved over $300, and 400 kg of CO₂ not to mention the health benefits I'd receive.

There are a few things that can make cycling less enjoyable. In particular drivers that really don't give any respect to cyclists. On my way to work today, I saw an ambulance at an accident scene involving two cycles and a car.I guess it is frustrating sitting in morning traffic, and having to continually go pass cyclists only to be overtaken by them. There are dedicated cycling lanes and paths in some areas, but they're far too inadequate and puts out a mixed message. Often the path is shared with pedestrians or end abruptly and forces a cyclist to join the road again. There are pros and cons for cycling with traffic or cycling on dedicated paths, but I find its very counterproductive to force cyclists to have to do both.

Other than traffic dangers, when riding in spring time in Australia, magpies do attack riders. These birds are highly territorial, and there are not many ways to avoid being attacked. Some suggestions to help avert attacks include putting elaborate devices on the helmet. This has to be carefully considered - in the event of an accident, the contraption must not affect the helmet's purpose to protect your head. One suggestion from my colleague was to use cable ties and stick the pointy end away from your helmet, although I have yet to try this out. If you could, it would be best to avoid where they nest and use an alternate route if possible. A map of magpie attacks is being compiled.

Fortunately, there is good camaraderie between cyclists. Often I will cycle pass another cyclists and we will acknowledge each other with a nod or a wave. So next time you cycle, don't forget to say hello to your fellow cyclists!