increased core strength is the key
my 2p is that is that by virtue of it being a pursuit bike, you should not be riding in that position for longer than 16 laps, on a velodrome…
yeah… but a true hipster would persist regardless of the displeasure
in which case, i insist that jeremy get some aero booties and an aero helmet. and a skin suit.
I’ve always wanted to ride around with a sperm helmet on but on one of my bikes with a high stem and risers so that it in no way results in a cool looking aero position but instead just looks like there’s a big tail hanging off my head… for some reason, everyone keeps fiercely persuading me that this is not a good idea - fuks me why
^nob 'ead
good to have you on board. can’t remember what gruppo you run on the roadie, but if it’s shimano/SRAM 10speed compatible I might have a set of clinchers you can borrow. PM me if you’re keen.
dare you to head over Tomewin on the pursuit…fixed…
Feck Tomewin
Hey it’s all good, thanks Ryan. Picked up my wheels today. Fresh Gatorskins too
Got a tough question for you all: has anyone got a spare pair of SPD cycling shoes (size 46-47) lying about that I could borrow?
I realise it’s a long shot, but I’m still waiting on wiggle to come through with the goods
Hey Ryan - I’m gunna pull from the friday morning shirts loop. Need a bit of a break… quads hurt even just walking up the stairs at work
had a light riding week this last 4 days. just my commute plus a few extensions. legs still feel a bit sore after a bit of mash. that should pass once warmed up on Saturday I think (hope)!
my finger believe it or not might be the most painful thing on the trip. has been in a cast the past week and now it is out it reels at every movement.
it should get used to freedom soon.
could be a little bit wet guys - but maybe not too bad.
i’ve long been resiled to getting soaked over the weekend - if we get sunshine, it’s a bonus in my book.
looking at the weather map, there probably won’t be too much wind around for the weekend - in a relative sense for the nsw north coast anyways.
i’m carrying everything on my bike but can I throw a little plastic bag with some tasty muesli bars in Mrs Ant’s car for the Sunday leg please Dan?
Plenty of room in the antmobile. See you fuckers tomorrow morning! If anyone is late (I’m looking your way Gypsy) we’ll be going straight down Logan road so you can catch us up 
… and you better have a fuking jetpack on cause my legs feel about ready to explode having tapered back on the k’s this week!!!
5:15am for 5:30 rollout
so excited i can’t sleep.
Good luck to all involved. Did a city loop with some friends at 6.30am and it was pretty miserable.
I hope conditions were better heading south.
Did this end up happening?
it did indeed! my bike computer died at helensvale so unsure exactly how many ks. about 500.
2 flats (me and Ryan)
1 crash (shirts got cleaned up by an idiot pedestrian at surfers)
1 broken chain (Ryan)
12 pies from the 23 hour bakery at Byron (me shirts and ryan)
full report soon…
full report!
i am writing this just 60 odd hours later, but it seems day 1 started an ETERNITY ago. so much drama, lols and grinding effort.
so 6 of us convened at roughly 5:30 on Saturday morning at dan’s house. being hyper punctual, I arrived first, then shirts, then gypsy, then Ryan, then jeremy. it was raining and it stayed that way most of the way down.
we stopped first at pimpama and then smashed a route to nerang hugging the motorway. after that we got a bit lost according to my gps report and maybe did a few ks more than we needed to.₪
ryan got a flat somewhere around the titans stadium and at burleigh we stopped for breakfast. after that gypsy ₪pulled out cause his knee was fucked.₪
so Dan led us out down the GC highway and eventually we hit the border and the highway started. although i knew this section was dangerous I just led the pack and smashed through trying to keep the pace up so we were a bit safer. there was little or no shoulder and 100k an hour traffic smashing through around us.
when we hit the hill at tweed I got dropped and pretty much everyone got separated. shirts blazed away. at the top I somehow found the energy after 115ks to start cranking it up to smash down the hill. it was a dizzying decent amongst roadworks, dickhead cars and the like.₪
at the bottom we regrouped at a servo. ₪Jeremy was heading to his sister’s place in nimbin and was kinda unprepared, and I say that in a loving way. we said our goodbyes at muwillimbah and headed south. we prayed he would be ok. after all he had a longer ride then us ahead of him.₪
the shoulder here was awsm and the road surface sublime. shirts smashed ahead and 30ks later we caught up to him as he sat waiting for us at an underpass.₪
the rain was severe at times now. and it kinda felt miserable. I focussed on my tunes and that really helped.₪
after so long hunched in the saddle my sense of the horizon was so distorted it felt like we were goin uphill all the time.₪
we managed a decent average over this bit but being so close to the end was playing on my mind. it felt like every km took far longer than it should.₪
the turnoff into byron was an incredible feeling but the next 6 ks was bullshit!₪
but we made it and stepping into the shower at my motel I realized I have never been so grubby in my life. it was surreal. it took 20 mins of serious scrubbing to finally decamp the grit.₪
that night we met up at the great northern for beers and all of us just destroyed it.₪
before this ride I had said to myself, "ok davey… these are the rules. 1) if there’s a hill you can coast down, coast down. 2) absolutely no heroics no matter what shirts does. 3) do your fair share at the front but don’t overdo it. 4) DO NOT drink too much.
I think I broke all those rules, except i maybe number 3, and i broke them repeatedly. especially rule 4.
so after many beers, wine and more I ran back to the motel and collapsed into bed with the intent to ride out at 6:30.₪
waking up on Sunday I knew I was dusty. really dusty. I messaged Ryan saying, "we still on?"₪
Ryan seemed worse than me and said let’s push it back 30mins. so at 7ish we all converged on the 23hour bakery and each ate a pie. shirts was now on his fifth for the trip!
at this point i was in pain, but still wanted to ride so we rolled out without any complaints about our collective self induced pain and hit the green, green hills to the west. it was raining but misty and cool. and for that story, see part 2.
I WANT PART 2!!!