Bringing it all up to speed

Gosh, five + weeks of no recordings is a bit of a time gap. So, to save time I shall skip:

- the apologies for being so slack,
- the trials of rental cars,
- the pain of getting back on the bike post-RAAM and finding it all not-so-pretty,
- the drain and wonder that are athlete days,
- the awfulness of re-learning the pain of racing,
- the uncomfortableness of sitting too long in the saddle on a 140mile (218km) day in the sun,
- the weirdness of high fructose corn syrup - in absolutely everything,
- the crappiness of having to send stuff home, including my fiancé, on Friday July 18th while I flew to the other side of the country to continue work/athlete days at a conference,

and instead focus on:

- having the fortune of spending five fantastic weeks with Ewin
- being able to focus (briefly) on sightseeing for the first time in three trips to the US in 12 months!
- spending three weeks without getting on an aeroplane!
- spending time with some wonderful wonderful hosts on both sides of the continent!
- eating all sorts of peanut butter combinations (with apple, with celery, with icecream, etc)
- being privileged to see some terrific places in both the US and Canada,
- and being able to once again race and test my limits in the pro womens field.

So, straight to it via the roundabout fashion. A photo montage of course..

This seems so long ago, but yes my parents, cousin, brother, fiancé and myself spent some time in NY city. We discovered the markets of Chelsea were just around the corner from our accommodation. So too was the home made 'lemonade' (as in, with lemons. very unlike the Australian version).

Dad getting into the Chelsea scene..

Marcus found ways to ensure his trip was tax deductible by checking out his competition:

And I thought it appropriate to ensure my supporters got coverage in the city of great influence (and foundations). Thanks Andy!

We did the most embarrassing tourist spectacle you could imagine: we queued to see the Empire State Building. Lets not discuss this ever again.

Following New York we carefully arranged a drive north, squeezing into an SUV: Ewin and myself, two bikes, luggage, and Mum and Dad! My teammate Mark Suprenaut had provided me with an opportunity to ride the Londonderry track in New Hampshire. Abbott Diabetes Care's Jay Dunigan lives close to the track and hosted us for an evening. We all loved his and his family's company. The track itself displayed the sentiments of the State slogan: Live Free or Die. In this case, live above the duck board...or...

Unfortunately the track racing was cancelled due to a rain out, and there went my only chance to ride the track in the lead up to T-Town. Alas.

Following the New Hampshire experience, we headed south to visit the home of Insulet Corp, the makers of the OmniPod insulin pump, in Bedford, Ma. I gave two presentations about racing with the OmniPod and the experiences of RAAM to the company employees.

We were then given a tour of the manufacturing plant for the pods. It was simply brilliant, and we left stunned at the technology going into the device I have been happily wearing on my arm for the past thirteen months.

But first we had to robe-up:

Although technological advances are replacing manual labour, some assembly parts still require the use of a careful human hand:

Almost ready....just the final packaging...

and voila!

(Okay I skipped a few stages of production, but didn't want to make a long story longer)

Speaking of 'making long stories, longer', we then headed south to stay with Tom and Debi King (Its a favourite expression of Tom's). I stayed with Tom and Debi a couple of times last year in order to race the track at T-Town. Here, I had my one and only 2008 chance, and as I hadn't been on a track bike for over four months, performed averagely. It was also my first race after RAAM.

Ewin discovered tracks are pretty similar the world-round:

Tom and Debi loved having Mum and Dad stay - in fact they opted out of watching the track racing to head out with Tom's cycle buddies! But it was so great to see them again and for so generously hosting the four of us.

We made time to join Tom's Early Bird Special Saturday morning bunch ride

which was another opportunity to catch up with my riding buddies from last year, including Alan Ashmore:

We headed on to the Wilmington area to briefly stay with the DuPhily family, who hosted me for the Wilmington Grand Prix in May. Jerry and Lindsay made me feel so much at home, that I wanted them to have the opportunity to meet Ewin and Mum and Dad. Lindsay's parents kindly hosted Mum and Dad before the flew home (which is another very long story involving engines on fire, bomb scares, an extra two days of travel and a refusal to abide by security demands!).

While in PA I was required to complete sponsor days on behalf of the team. This meant a 6 hour drive to the other side of the state for what turned out to be two very entertaining days meeting with doctors and patient groups.

The Erie practice is one of the largest users of the insulin Apidra, and both endocrinologists were intelligent, charming and entertaining. All new pump patients in the practice use Apidra.

Dr Aporicio kindly provided Ewin and I the opportunity to have a full body scan. The benefits, he said, would be tremendous! We couldn't resist, and came back the following day:

It turns out that my bone density is in the highest range for my gender and age group. My bones are super strong! In fact they are stronger than Ewins. I am not fat, just big boned! Officially! Perhaps I should have been better off as a freestyle aerial skier?

Erie was only a few hours from Niagara falls. So we did the touristy thing again:

As part of the huge miles we covered, we also worked hard at researching the combinations of peanut butter. Here is a selection of our peanut butter with chocolate testing:

We made it back to the other side of PA to stay once again with the DuPhily family. This was such a great experience for us, especially as it coincided with 4th of July celebrations. Sophie (13) and Bowen (10) took great pleasure in convincing their father Jerry to partake in some fireworks on a more local scale. While fireworks can be bought in PA, it is illegal to purchase or use them in Delaware. Which was where we spent 4th of July, sitting on the rooftop of Jerry's work overlooking the river and the official (permit required) fireworks display hosted by the city.

Sophie with the (prohibited) goods:

Overlooking the Christiana river (which runs into the Delaware around the corner)

Once the fireworks were done, it was back to the DuPhily's for some personal instruction on crab destruction by Bowen. Mmmm Maryland Crabs:

Jerry kindly arranged for us all to head to a Phillies game. The Phillies were playing local rivals, the New York Mets. The DuPhilys were huge fans of the Phillies, so we came appropriately attired:

Lindsay beat us all in the footfire competition. I have lost all my basketball 'pitter patter' skills:
Unfortunately, rain interrupted the 8th innings which was fascinating for a while just to see the size of the tarp they bring onto the field:

After giving up on the rain delay (dinner plans), play eventually resumed. The Phillies lost after pushing the Mets to the 11th innings.

We were very sad to leave such terrific hosts after feeling so much at home in a sports-mad family. But the west coast beckoned, and we flew to Seattle for more sponsor obligations.

We did get a chance to have another hit out at the Marymoor track in Seattle, using their club bikes for madison training. We had a blast.

I also raced the local track meet on the Friday night, with Bobby and Simone bringing a whole swag of buddies to watch the evening, and converting more fans to track racing. I raced the madison with a local mate, Jen Triplett, but we were outclassed in riding the Pro1/2 mens field. I also struggled with the 'no stopping' rule on a very large 400m track. I was rolling round the top of the track as slowly as possible, turning around the look for Jen, when I somehow swung the bike up into the fence. It momentarily became wedged, and as I went to get it free, I fell and my foot unclipped. I had a brief moment to grab the fence, but with the bike falling beneath me I knew the only way out of this would be to fall with the bike. With two pairs racing round the bend below me, I tried to slow my fall with my hands against the concrete as I slid. They passed beneath me, and I then tried to accelerate to get down as quickly as possible, just as Jen was finally coming round. All I could do was look up at her helplessly as she was forced to continue racing until I got myself upright and back on the bike. I did this as quick as possible, but of course everyone in the entire park had already witnessed the idiot maneouvre!

After a late night at the track it was a very early start the following morning to ride the Seattle to Portland (STP), a 200 mile (320km) ride from Seattle....to....Portland! You can opt to ride the whole way in one day, or stop off along the way and break it into two days. We decided it would be much safer and nice to break it into 2 days. We could talk to more people that way...

Here we are at the start with local Sanofi reps Jason Brandt, Steve Fronckowiak, me, Ewin and teammate Bob Schrank. Yes, Ewin was our ringer.

We were totally astonished at the type of bikes and riders that attempt this challenge. Its a long way, and it was bloody hot! Hats off to all the finishes, man there were some crazy folk!

Given the number of riders totally 9,500, it was important that we stayed together for safety. And sanity.

Shortly into the ride, we were riding slow through a town when a rider came up to me and asked me if I was diabetic. Sixteen year old Jake was riding the STP on his own, and had been diabetic for almost thirteen years. His mum had arranged to meet him at strategic points along the way to check up on him. We thought we'd keep an eye on him, particularly in the heat. As he only rode 100miles on the first day, we were unable to meet up with him on the second day. Here we are with his mum at Jake's day one halfway point (50miles):

After a few little dramas, we completed 140miles (218km) on the Saturday, and then cruised into the finish on the Sunday by completing 65miles (105km).

We were most appreciative of the ringer's work, even if he did flick us at most of the town/county and state lines..

The Portland Sanofi reps organised transport for us from the finish back to our hotel, which was terrific:

The driver was also terrific: Harry, who hails from New Jersey originally. Of all the things to see and do in Portland, his number one pick was to visit the Irish pub. What a man!

Portland. I was finally in Portland! As a economist planner/planner/somethingerother with development facilitation, I often hear the tales of the goals the city of Portland scores when it comes to public transport and bike-friendliness.

My experiences of Portland could be summed up quite aptly by another economist/retail consultant expert from Vancouver, BC, Jim Smerdon:

Portland: Big Woop.

Sure, they are spending big money on extending their light rail system to connect to Union Station - a massive heavy rail interchange. But most of this funding is from federal sources. Public transport isn't a big ticket item in Portland, but they'll make it that way with other peoples money!

Light rail extension works over the river:

I guess its great that you can stay downtown and catch a lightrail to the airport:

But the airport rail links do not allow additional room for luggage. Which I guess is why most people in Portland take the other alternative to the airport:

And of course, cycling on fixies is also sweeping Portland by storm. Like the rest of the country. Most interestingly was the number of fixies in San Francisco! What gear ratio would you use for those hills I wonder?

But in terms of provisions for cyclists in Portland, I left feeling very disappointed. The usual bike lanes here and there, but nothing that Warragul, or any other place on the planet has also paid token efforts towards.
At the end of the day, Portland is still a city dominated by cars. Sure it looks nice on the downtown with the lightrail and expensive parking options, but getting to the downtown still remains in the domain of the four wheeled varieties, with reminders all around the city and across the river:

You want to see a city that DOES work hard for cyclists? Try Vancouver. Their city policy has been in place for a number of years, and I particularly like their philosophy towards providing practical community routes that run parallel to main arterials:

On the commuter bikeways, bikes share the road with cars on mostly local/residential streets that are parallel to major arterial streets. A safe, direct and convenient route with fewer cars, less noise and better air quality make the bikeways a good choice for cyclists traveling to school or work. To allow cyclists to activate traffic signals, push buttons have been installed at the curb at pedestrian/cyclists signals and bicycle logos have been painted on the roadway over the most sensitive area at 'loop detected' signals. Traffic circles, diverters, medians and other traffic calming measures discourage non-local car drivers.

No more jumping up onto the path to hit the pedestrian crossing button when you want to activate a signal! What common sense!

Enough work rant!

I might post a race-oriented one soon. I have completed three pro womens crits and two track meets since finishing RAAM. So stay tuned once I have finished catching up...

Thanks for playing!