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Cyclists beware! New baggage restrictions for Virgin Australia
I am sitting in Melbourne Airport on my way to Adelaide, fuming about my excess baggage charge. Virgin Blue have just changed their rules about carrying sporting equipment. Your total baggage allowance is now 23kg, including bike. Previously having a bike entitled you to 28kg. Excess baggage is $15/kg and no matter how much you bat your eyelids you will be slugged!
I'm heading over to Adelaide to see my family, do some training with my old mates at SASI, and do a race. Packing the bare minimum (which is still a fair bit of stuff when you do all of that) took me way over and I'm now $90 lighter- almost more than my airfare.
If you booked your ticket before 27 April you are entitled to 28kg, although you need to argue that at checkin as they don't volunteer it.
It's sad to see Virgin going the way of other airlines as they used to be the cyclist-friendly airline. No more.
Ride happy (without excess luggage!)
The Famous Five and the Canberra Tour
Sometimes when I get tired all I want to do is look at pictures, not words. Also, my sister and I are in the midst of writing a children's book and I need to practise my children's writing skills. So I enlisted the help of Greg Long from Greg Long Photography, and my VIS teammate Sarah Roy's 'Memoroys', to tell the story of the Famous Five (aka the Jayco-VIS girls Kendelle, Roy, Jo, Lisa and their coach Donna) at the Canberra Tour:
The Famous Five were fresh from the Summer hols and ready for a jolly good time taking on smugglers and eating lashings of energy gels in Canberra.
(c) Greg Long Photography
'I don't think we'll find any smugglers out here in Stromlo Forest Park,' mumured Jo doubtfully.
'Woof!' said Timmy.
'What was that?' asked Donna.
'I think it was one of the Bundaberg Sugar girls,' said Kendelle. 'They're trying to distract us so they can attack and win the tour. I know, we'll attack first in the opening crit and take them by surprise.'
(c) Greg Long Photography
Bother!' said Lisa. 'Those girls were onto us from the beginning. Now we'll have to spend the next 45 minutes chewing stem and bleeding from our eyeballs. That is a jolly old bore.'
'Woof!' said Timmy.
'Who keeps making that noise?' said Donna
(c) Greg Long Photography
'My, that was a smashing ride,' said Roy. 'And Kendelle came 3rd! Let's celebrate with tea and lemonade and then go sit in an ice bath for 14 minutes. Hurrah!'
(c) Memoroys
The next day, the Famous Five went back to Stromlo and did a 114km road race in the morning followed by a 20km time trial in the afternoon.
(c) Greg Long photography
'My goodness,' said Lisa. 'I feel like somebody has taken to my legs with a hammer and smashed them into a million pieces. But Jojo came 3rd and is looking jolly good for tomorrow. Let's all sit in another ice bath while Donna washes our smelly kit.'
'Jolly good idea!' agreed the Famous Five. 'You're a brick, Donna!'
That night Lisa had nightmares about her time trial.
(c) Greg Long photography
On Sunday the Famous Five rode out to Stromlo again in the fog (ideal conditions for smugglers), and raced the 84km final stage road race.
The Famous Five did their best on the final stage, but they could not peg back the time needed to move Jojo up on GC - although Kendelle put on a jolly good show in the road race and earned the team's Lazarus Award for her rise from the dead.
'What a smashing weekend! said Roy. Let's all go home and eat lashings of steak sandwiches on the way.'
'Jolly good idea!' chimed the Famous Five. 'Let's go sit in the car and eat salty treats while Donna drives for 8 hours. You're a brick, Donna!'
'Woof!' said Timmy.
Next: the Famous Five ride to Lorne!
Lisa's Mum wraps up the Tour of Canberra
Lisa's Mum loves Canberra because she enjoys driving around in circles and believes buying fireworks for domestic use is a right, not a privilege. So it was with great delight that she travelled with us to Canberra. It took us a while to wedge her onto the roof racks of Supercoach Donna's station wagon but that is the price you pay for being a hitch-hiker.
Mum was very impressed with the calibre of ladies racing the tour. Miffy Galloway in particular stomped the house down. And Grace Sulzberger proved that while she might not be called Wes or Bernie, she can bring home the yellow jersey just as well as either of them.
But mostly, Lisa's Mum thought the VIS ladies team was a tight and supercool bunch, with an awesomeness rating exceeded only by the awesomeness of Roy's mum's date and banana loaf. Jo timetrialled like cancellara, Kendelle turned into the super domestique from hell with a stomping stage 4, and Roy proved that lacking a time trial bike was no obstacle to riding a kicker time trial (11th in a national series race, anyone?). And Lisa introduced everyone to the joys of a steak sandwich with the lot, so everyone went home happy. Mum found the AIS ice baths a little cold for her liking, but you cannot have everything Mum.
And now, as Supercoach drives us home along the Hume, it has begun to rain. We must be nearing Melbourne...
ToC stage 1
The VIS strategy for stage 1's 50min crit was to burn enough energy that we could make a decent assault on the AIS dining hall at dinner tonight. With rumors circulating that apple crumble might be on offer, the team knew it was all or nothing. And so we attacked. And attacked. Even a local Canberran magpie in the spring would have been proud of our relentless aggression.
It appears that many other teams also had some kind of dining hall-themed plan and the race was particularly aggressive. Big up to Loren Rowney who won the final kick ahead of Bec Wiseak and VIS' own pocket rocket Kendelle Hodges.
Now for the real stage 1- dinner and an all you can eat buffet! Now the real attacks start...
Ride Happy
Stage 1: Breakfast
As I said before, it's all about the AIS dining hall. Canberra Tour will be conducted in and around sessions in the dining hall. It will be tough but we are tour riders and built for eating endurance.
Today's stage (breakfast) began with an attack on the bircher muesli. The bananas and berries counter-attacked to no avail. Just when the field began to falter, a late surge by the cinnamon bagel took out the stage.
Bunking Down In Canberra
> Maybe it was the 8-hour drive. Maybe it was the caffeine withdrawal headache. Maybe it was the questionable combination of compression socks, Birkenstocks and shorts that I chose this morning. Whatever it was, there was the undeniable feeling that a race was approaching. And so it was that team VIS arrived in Canberra, ready for Canberra Tour tomorrow. (That's Roy and Kendall in the pic below, getting too excited to sleep)
>
> I love tour racing. I also love the AIS dining hall. The two are a match made in heaven and go together better than Roy and food photographs. You will hear further updates from me on both. (Maybe, if the racing part of our trip isn't going so well, you'll hear more about the dining hall.)
>
> First stage is a 50min crit tomorrow afternoon at Stromlo. In Ride Happy tradition I'll try not to dwell on the racing part too long. After all, we have a dining hall visit to prepare for.
>
> Ride Happy
Bunking Down In Canberra
Heading to Canberra
Wasn't Easter a cracker!! Andy is back in Australia, the weather gods smiled on us and my body held up for some great training around Bright, in north-east Vic. It was so good to be back riding pain-free and on the way to building some semblance of form. We mixed up some good mountain riding around Mt Buffalo and Mt Beauty with a couple of mtbs in Bright and Beechworth... and a lot of coffee drinking. Paradise. We are also planning what to build on our block of land at Porepunkah (yes Stack we're building a bedroom and barista station just for you!).
On Thursday I head to Canberra for Canberra Tour, the second national series race of the year. It will be a good tour - the organisers have made it even harder than last year. Team VIS will have all 4 riders (me, Jo, Kendelle and Roy) and Supercoach Donna at the helm. Looking forward to it.
Ride Happy
Blog comment of the week: Mildred from Eketahuna
Mildred sharpening her pencil
Some of you Ride Happy followers out there will be aware that you can leave comments at the end of these blog posts. What you may not be aware of is that these comments get emailed to me and it makes my day
to open my inbox to a comment or two from readers.
I just got the following comment, which was instantly catapaulted to #1 on the All-Comers Record for Most Intriguing Ride Happy Comment. It was in response to a post I wrote in January 2010. I've reproduced it below because it deserves a wider audience. I then googled 'Whole Smoked Chicken Elite Cycling'... and sure enough my post was there. For her efforts, Mildred from Eketahuna wins an albino unicorn dressed in diamonds. If you have a comment, Lisa's Mum would love to hear from you.*
Dear Lisa's Mum
Gosh, well I must say, old Anonymous there, he's a hard act to follow...clearly hangs on your every word!! Anyway, I realise that if one wishes to comment on a blog post, it is customary to do so within a less than geological timeframe, however I must beg to be excused for my lack of timeliness, having only just stumbled on this post (as a result of Googling "Whole Smoked Chicken Elite Cycling"). Being a mid-race-whole-smoked-chicken-snacker from way back, I would like to share my experiences with yourself.
I may often be found hurtling along with a headless chicken on a solo training ride, or winging it at the beaky end of the peloton in a race. So remarkable is the performance enhancement enjoyed by those of us who have discovered this potent sports supplement that, rumour has it, WADA is considering classing it as a banned substance!! (although my informant assures me that rich chicken casserole, spicy chicken kebabs, smoked chicken flavoured cheese fondue and other popular chicken-based mid-race power snacks are not at risk of prohibition).
May I respectfully add that I find your quibble concerning alleged portability difficulties with whole chickens somewhat 'nit-picking'. Myself, I find that a stylish wire handlebar basket serves splendidly as a receptacle for a whole size 22 chicken or even a small turkey. Moreover, a chicken so carried is located perfectly for munching on in motion without abandoning the aerodynamic posture. Once the preserve of Miss Marple types tootling around quaint English villages, nowadays, a wire handlebar basket is a 'must-have' accessory for the serious competitive cyclist.
Inevitably, as effective a weapon as the 'WSC' has one or two trifling drawbacks: for example, the delectable aroma emanating from one's laden handlebar basket can attract the unwanted attentions of fauna such as vulchers, wolves, dingos and bears (subject to location) and one's chicken may even be the target of theft (total or partial) by passing cyclists!! However such annoyances are simply obviated by investing in a deluxe wire basket featuring a hinged, padlocked lid.
Best regards
Mildred from Eketahuna
*While I think of it, if your name is Anonymous and you recently left me hate mail because you didn't like the tale of Ali Baba and the 40 Triathletes, Lisa's Mum would especially love to hear from you because it's been just soooo long. And triathlon season is over so you must have lots more time now to write hate mail.
