Riding with Pierre

I decided, since you can never have enough bikes, to buy a new "endurance machine" that will alleviate some of the discomfort from riding my Giant TCR long distances. Not that there's anything particularly wrong with the bike itself, I love it, but it does get a little harsh after a few hours riding. Since I turned the big "5-0" last year, and in still wanting to conquer Everest, I needed a bike that would be easier to undertake some serious distances (one of my lessons learned), and that was softer riding.

After researching and evaluating a lot of bikes (ask my wife, she hates bikes and hates seeing endless articles on bikes on my iPad even more!) I settled on a new Lapierre Pulsium 500 with a compact groupset (50-34, 11 x 32).  I was chasing a new Domane, but they're in short supply around the country, and I wasn't sure about the very high head-tube. It looked a little "weird" for me. While they're certainly great bikes, and are selling out everywhere, I decided I liked the look of the Lapierre more - it has a racier (subjective I know) look about it. More integrated? Whatever it is, it just took my fancy and so I headed out and bought one. I hadn't ridden the bike until I brought it along with me to Toowoomba this week. 

First ride impressions.

The more "upright" geometry got me a little at first. After riding a "real racer" for a number of years, it was a weird sensation being a little more upright and not as stretched out. This was compensated for by the very comfortable position in the drops, which I spent a great deal of time in and found probably more comfortable than the TCR (I'll use that as my comparison bike cause that's the bike I know best). Having both stems slammed to a decent degree, the TCR sits 35mm lower (apparently) but it doesn't feel like that. Certainly, I noticed the saddle didn't look as high off the frame and this made me inspect things more.

The frame on the Lapierre is very contorted and flattened everywhere. In comparison, the TCR is one smooth design from head-tube to seat tube. The downtubes are another area of interest. The TCR is clearly more aero (mine is the Composite 2 from 2011 which has a deep and narrower profile) whereas the Lapierre is more "traditional" in that it has a very shallow downtube that's neither here nor there. Nowhere near as boxy as current bikes for sure.

Yet it is these contorted shapes everywhere that work to make the bike look like a real "cobble gobbler", and a nice one at that! The top tube flexes in unison with the rest of the bike to make the ride far smoother. The TCR has absolutely no flex at all.

The Lapierre also has a small elastomer in the top tube to soak up the pounding of the cobbles. This works amazingly well in combination with the slim seat stays, also made to flex.

I took the bike over 50 kilometres of very rough, patchwork roads where every 5 metres there were "patches on patches", lumps, bumps, potholes, dirt "pretend pave", stones and detritis from the myriad styles of trucks that traverse the region. The bike absolutely smashed it out, soaking up everything so well I could have been on a dual suspension mountain bike. I kept thinking the whole time, "I'm glad I'm not on carbon rims and the TCR, my eyeballs would be rattling around by now". It was ridiculously competent and smooth. Nothing seemed to faze it. Everything was handled with utter contempt.

I did note that it didn't "feel" as fast as the TCR. This is probably an illusion, so any comparisons on speed will need to wait till I get home and take it out on a course I regularly ride. Toowoomba is littered with hills and as such the reduced pace may just be because of that very fact.

The latest Ultegra 11 speed drivetrain is also another standout feature. Silky smooth and silent. 

I thought maybe all this smoothness may be to the detriment of climbing and stiffness in the bottom bracket etc. Not so. No flex at all in the BB, not in the Zipp handle bars, or the Zipp stem. Good stuff.

So as far as ride and components go, this bike definitely gets a huge thumbs up.

Bad side? The wheels the bike comes with (Mavic Axiom WTS) are pretty heavy and only suited to maybe those wet and muddy days out. Just too heavy for normal "Joe's" and weight weenies would have a fit!. I've a great pair of Shamals to go on it when I get a shimano hub, so that will both lighten things up in the rear, and also provide a lightweight and decent set of "cobble" rims for the bike. Plus I love the look of the Shamals.

So, some pics...

Note the frame - bends and twists and splits..

Pinarello style forks help smooth the road

The "rear shock"

So all up, I'm very happy with this purchase and I think together, Pierre and I will have a loving future ahead of us!

For those days where speed and hotmix collide, then the TCR will still be the bike of choice, but those days where big distances and/or rough roads will be encountered, this will be THE bike for me.

Stay upright and enjoy the ride.

Starting Over

Back to the training. I've been really annoyed with myself the last two weeks not reaching the goals I set for myself. I learned a lot from the prior (failed) attempt and know now what's required now, both physically and mentally.

I'm working for the University of Southern Queensland now, up in Toowoomba, Queensland. So once again, training will be interrupted by the necessity to constantly travel up here from Brisbane. To counter this though I intend to bring both road and mountain bikes up when I travel so at least I can still put some miles in. The roads are pretty bad, pot holed and rough bitumen, but there is no shortage of hills!

Last night I did a hard ride, down to the bottom of the southern side of the range (Great Dividing Range) and then some k's around the city itself. The weather was absolutely miserable so I was glad I brought my Niner instead of the road bike. The temperature was 6 degrees, cold and rainy with a biting wind blowing the entire time. To compound things, I hadn't brought up any cold weather clothes so my pain was doubled. I was glad to escape into my tiny cabin at a local caravan/motor home park at the end!

Picnic point Toowoomba, in the dark.

Strava profile, though this (partial, from my phone)

So where to from here? Time to get serious again, find the motivation, and start putting in some big miles before having another crack at this monster called Everesting.

Probably the biggest necessity bar none, is having family support on the day. This is where I came apart on my last attempt. So there'll be a few discussions to be had before any new attempt to Everest on your own is just not a feasible activity to undertake.

From Failure the Phoenix will Rise

As those who've I've spoken to or emailed know my weekend was disappointing, and I didn't reach anywhere the target required. But there were a lot of lessons learned, so it wasn't all bad. I'm happy with an initial attempt at this stage anyway and the knowledge I got out of the weekend, both about Everesting and also about myself will prove invaluable in the weeks ahead.

I ended up doing 16 or 17 repeats of Mt Gravatt and after making the mistake of phoning home guilt got the better of me. Everyone is on holidays and just waiting for me to get home and that made me feel very selfish. So despite not feeling too bad, I called it a day at 2200m or so. Wouldn't have been so bad if I'd taken the Niner as well for those times when I was feeling shattered as the first 200 -300m (and then at the 1k mark) or so was quite steep and really hit your legs hard. Those tiny sections really got me hurting after a few hours. 

A fellow cyclist came off on the (fast) descent and did himself some serious damage given the amount of blood left on the road and the large number of bystanders willing to help out. An ambulance made an urgent appearance and he was taken to hospital. After that the guys I was riding with decided it was time to call it a day too and left me to my own devices.

So the wash up (lessons learned). 

1. I need to do far more repeats more often before having another go. That will entail some repeats of Mt Mee (a big and long climb) or something big regularly 
2. Regular 160-180k rides to get used to both the monotony and also build far more endurance in my legs (and ass!)
3. I must remember to take some music as I left it all at home and was bored out of my brain..
4. Support crew is essential (I had none..) This was probably the biggest part. You definitely need people around you to encourage and give you constant uplifting statements, otherwise you fall in a heap very quickly

I'm already planning out a training regime for another attempt in a couple months....I'm stubborn like that..

It's Time to Summit

A shout out to those on the interweb - How was your Easter? I was feeling crap the whole weekend with some sort of flu like symptoms. So no riding, although we did go down the coast for a few days. You can see my photo's on Instagram @jefftillack.

However, this coming Saturday is "E" Day!! (Everesting Day), that is, I will attempt, rather than just 4000m, the full monty! yes, stuff training and endless "what if's", I'm going for broke. There's 8 others doing a "half", starting at 5:30am, but I'm going out there about 4am (depends on the gates being passable to the park) and starting off the endless repeats until I get that damned jersey!!! (see below). I'm guessing it will take probably 20 hours of suffering, but the main problem will be food intake and support - I won't have any support crew! Psychologically I think this will be the hardest part. My family are just not into this at all and so it will just be me, myself and I until the end.

So I'll have to ensure the car is full of food and drinks, and I'll pack an esky of stuff. I just have to work out a regime for eating and drinking. I'll have the bike as light as possible, carrying no tools (it's only 2k up/down) and maybe one bidon of water/drink. The rest will be in the car. I'll also fill an iPod full of music to while away the endless hours going up and down. Can I do it? time will tell suppose. Either way, I'll tell you all Sunday (at some stage) !!!

    This is the ultimate goal for this coming Saturday....

Mont Blanc Group of Mountains

Well, it's been a while since my last post. I did manage to finally get some work after completing my contract with the university last Friday (27th March). The other roles fell through due to funding and internal machinations, so despite the stress being minimised for now, it's still lurking in the background.

I did score a new short term role with the University of Southern Queensland in Toowoomba, after being telephoned by one of their faculties. They're hoping to secure me long term and possibly permanent, so fingers crossed in that regard. My new bike is dependent upon things going well!!

Speaking of riding, as this is a riding blog afterall, this coming Easter weekend I intend to do the "Mont Blanc Group of Mountains" in elevation, that is, those mountains are all over 4000 metres and this is my target goal in metres for this upcoming Saturday.

I rode out to Mt Gravatt last weekend to check out the climb and see if it was "do-able" for me and my level of fitness. The first kilometre is steep (ish), but not too bad at all, with the second kilometre being of a lesser gradient and a much easier "spin" to the top.

I'll be looking to do 36 repeats, or approx 4320m of climbing. For me this will not be easy as I've never done this before, have no idea how my mind and body will go, and won't have anyone there to support me when I'm stuffed and need some motivational speeches to keep me going. But this is all irrelevant to those amongst you who have summitted multiple times! You've been there, done that and know what to expect so I won't go over my present thoughts in that regard and bore everyone.

I'll get through this weekend, and then write up my thoughts on this interim path to Everest.

have a good week and stay upright.

Choices

Choice - what life is all about I suppose. Presently life has turned a few corners. I have a couple of offers now that, while they seems great, are taking their sweet time in turning into concrete jobs. Consequently you reach that stage where people (those with offers on the table) need some answers, i.e. “yes or “no” whilst the others are still dilly-dallying with their decisions. The question that then comes to mind is “ should I wait it out and hope for a “yes” in my favour for the more preferable role?” or “should I take what’s on offer now and see what happens afterwards?” Anyone have any ideas???

I went up to Toowoomba last week for a discussion with some of the uni staff up there. On the trip up, beautiful and green for a change, I spied some mountains with towers on their pinnacles. This needs further investigation in case there’s a good road that needs “Everesting”. Potential is everywhere at the moment! I also remembered growing up around the area and that in turn made me think of some of the big hills around our farm. Perhaps that’s in my interest to check out too.

My biking has started to get going, slowly, but at least it’s going OK. I’ve started doing the Strava Climbing Challenge for March and whilst I haven’t done any riding the last two days, I’ll nevertheless get back to it tomorrow and smash out some more metres. This is a challenge I will complete.

I read today the Strava blog about the girls down in Melbourne doing their Everesting of Mt Donna Buang together. How inspiring was that! Looking at some of the photo’s it seems like a truly beautiful ride and one I’ve now got very interested in.

It seems decisions will be made in the next day or two and that these will determine whether I'm still my present role, possible in in Melbourne (my preferred role) or in Toowoomba.

Sometimes it can be nice to have choices afterall.

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!

The rain started proper yesterday and today, it hasn't stopped pouring at any stage. The region north of Brisbane has copped a (now) Category 5 cyclone, which is causing (as I write this) a fair amount of damage. Luckily for most, the cyclone crossed the coast in a relatively low populated area, meaning damage was kept mainly to the bushland. The cyclone, once hitting the coast is deteriorating slowly however it still poses a significant risk (flooding) to the areas around Yeppoon, Rockhampton and southwards towards Brisbane.

My city is in the middle somewhere....

This is a big impediment to me! (yep, selfish) as I had planned a decent 100k+ plus ride for the morning, out around the southern suburbs before the weekend really got under way. The idea of spending time on the trainer doesn't thrill me as it always seems to upset the gearing on my roadie, and consequently I tend to not use perhaps as much as I should.

Been reading everything and anything related to Everesting the last few days as it makes it's way back to the forefront of my mind. I really need to get in and get this done soon. Otherwise it'll bug me forever and a day until the goal is attained.

Recently a friend attempted an "Everest" in an area known for continuous, big and steep hills and subsequently failed, doing only 2 of the approx 15 loops. This was a concern as this fellow is extremely fit and mentally tough so I was surprised to see his attempt falter. Gave me pause for thought, however that just then spurred me on to do my own thing, irrespective of how others went with their attempts.

My own attempt will be done on my own, in the company of myself (poor me!). That'll be the tough part. I've found a couple hills that will be suitable. It's now a case of riding them regularly and then when I feel I'm able, go and smash out the required laps.

I need to do this soon. It's killing me mentally, going round and round in my brain. Guess it's a bit of OCD that I feel I need to do this before I turn 51 in August. Each year (for the past 10 or so) I've set some crazy goal and most times get there in the end, from mountain bike races to running marathons. This one is by far the biggest yet though!

So from the very next ride, it's full focus on getting this old body fit enough to conquer Everest. Things are gonna get weird from here on folks!