An Epic Commute (in pictures)

Yesterday I took on a bit of a crazy task... trying to commute to work in Brisbane form the Gold Coast, more specifically the far end of the coast at Tugun (almost at the New South Wales border). Mostly it was a chance to get another training ride in preparation for the Midi Smiddy ride in June, because finding time to fit in 100km+ rides is hard.

I set out pretty early figuring I'd need at least 4 hours to get there even when my aim was to average over 30km/h. So at 4:20am in the complete dark I took off. I took my Malvern Star Sportif mainly because it was a commute to work and I needed to take my normal work gear with me.

Here's a few photos I snapped along the way (I would have had a few more but my phone went flat)

The quiet roads at 4:30am

Sunrise heading over the hills at Nerang

Passing Movieworld

The long bike lane ahead

Picturesque Pimpama

Watching the traffic roll by at Beenleigh

The sportif after its long commute

All in all it was a pretty good journey with only one car being silly and trying to scare me near Burleigh and a truck deciding it didn't need to give way to me on a roundabout. It was pretty hard work, started to get cramps about the 100km mark but was a fun way to get to work...

Trying an epic commute tomorrow.

(note the last two posts failed hopefully this one works)

I'm down the coast (which you would have known if OptusFail hadn't struck) and still have to work tomorrow. Because I've got the smiddy ride coming up (yes I'm still going on about that) I thought it would be a great idea to commute from the coast tomorrow.

The funnest bit is my mother really doesn't approve of me cycling for reasons I'm yet to work out (in her defense though gave an incredible donation never the less) so there was lots of huffing and grunting when I suggested I'd be leaving tomorrow morning at 4am.

Might blog the result if I manage to take some photos.

Sent from my iPhone

Using Social Media for good... not evil...

I was thinking over the last few days about a strategy for raising donations for the Smiling for Smiddy ride and realised that the fastest way I could reach more people is through the twitterverse. I don't have a huge number of followers but the hope is that a few of those would retweet and on from there...

The fundraising is for something that I probably fear more that anything... Cancer (research)... I know a few people who've had to battle it and fortunately most have come through with only a few battle scars. It would be nice if we could make the list of people who have to battle it just a bit sorter... The details on who benefits from all the fundraising are here http://www.smiddy.org.au/page/get-involved/find-out-more/our-beneficiaries/

Asking for money is something I've always found hard even when it is for a good cause, but if you'd like to help me out all I'm asking is a reshare/retweet... if you'd like to donate as well that'd be fantastic.

Riding for a cause (Smiling for Smiddy)

A friend of mine has been bugging me to do this ride for a while now and this year I decided to give it a shot and register... In what was probably good luck all the registrations for the full Smiddy challenge were taken so I decided to sign up for the "shorter" 570km ride in June.
And whilst it's shorter, the 570km is in 3 days so it's still going to be 3 days of pain.

The Midi Smiddy enters its third year in 2012, challenging 50 cyclists to an unforgettable long weekend.  The three-day, 570km cycle heads west to Toowoomba and Warwick before returning to Brisbane.

The major beneficiary is Mater Foundation where funds support research into melanoma and prostate cancer as well as complementary therapies for cancer patients.

I owe Ness big time for it... not only because I'm away for 3 days over a long weekend but also because of all the time in training leading up to it. This weekend alone I was out for about 200km worth of riding indluding the Coot-tha Challenge (on a side note I was pretty with my time and result up the hill dropping 30secs off my previous best).

So... this is basically to ask for donations. The aim for each rider is to raise $1,500 for the cause and I'd love some support. If you can/would like to help out just follow this link.

Thanks to some very generous donations I'm almost 1/3 of the way already (and I only signed up last week).

New gaming headset

I finally updated my headset for my online gaming after my turtle beach set gave up the ghost. I considered getting one of the 5.1 wireless sets but couldn't justify the cost but wireless was a key requirement.

Purely based on cost ($99) I bought a plantonics set and have been pretty happy. The sound is great although not as bass heavy as the turtle beach (which actually makes long gaming sessions less fatiguing). The only real complaint is the lack of wireless range on the set. I think the saturated 2.4ghz band in our apartment building is the main culprit but still the range is not huge. Fine sitting on the couch but if you travel much further you'll loose it.

Still for $99 there are no complaints. Clear sound. Integrated chat (which reportedly is clear) USB powered and wireless!

I should be blogging more....

So this is an attempt at getting back into blogging....

Also a note to myself that I need to buy Talisman Board Game  after another endorsement from a friend... Then again it's my birthday soon and maybe someone will buy it for me :)

Work stress is pretty high at the moment and this used to be a good outlet for that so time to start it back up again.

The new AppleTV is coming out this week so plan on a "yay! new tech" post by the end of this week.

Back for more appointments.

So it's been a good month since I blogged about my tingling hands and feet etc.

The month overall has been pretty normal given it was Christmas. I played with the kids. Swum at the beach. Started taking some more photos. Stayed up way too late gaming. And obviously rode my bike (I say obviously because I'm addicted), I even fell off and lost a few bits of skin.

The whole time the tingles have been there more or less. With probably the exception of the last few days of holidays where I don't remember them at all. Whether that's. Because I'm just used to it being there or because it wasn't. The conclusion to draw from that is that it's stress related. Especially when you take into account that my first day back it was the worst it had ever been.

Cutting down the caffeine and watching my diet (specifically making sure I stay celiac helps). Not as much as a holiday it seems.

Not sure what that will mean long term. But really this post was just to talk to my self about it and waste the time to my appointment.

At the moment my hip is so sore from the bike crash yesterday that I haven't even noticed any tingles today.

Sent from my iPhone

Blogging instead of shopping.

In an effort to curb my crazy consumerist ways I'm sitting down at a coffee shop writing a blog post instead of shopping. (ok so technically I'm shopping because I bought a coffee but baby steps)

I was at the shops earlier this week aimlessly browsing and realized that all the things I was browsing for were different versions of things I already owned and decided that maybe it was time to give the shops a miss.

The aim is for as much of the year as I can to try and only buy things when I actually need them rather than well .... Just because.

So far this week I'm one from two... (but both of these were before I started this whole plan)

1. bought a new Xbox headset because my old one broke... Even managed not to buy the absolute bees knees version and stuck with minimum spec... So I'm giving myself a tick for that one

2. Not so good I bought new pedals for my bike because I didn't like the other ones and well these ones were made out of titanium..... TITANIUM!!!! (crazy consumerism alert)

Basically it's a bit of self analysis that I shop when I'm stressed (mmmm retail therapy) and it's a bad habit I've picked up from my parents. I'm not expecting to change it too quickly, at this stage a conscious effort is a good start.

End of random time wasting post.

In other news the X95 plantronics headset seems to work really well... Might do a bit of a review after a few more hours with it (aka tomorrow)

Most photo challenge posts coming soon too

Sent from my iPad