Spontaneity

After a couple of days with lots of running (60km in 4 days), swimming and gym I decided that yesterday was going to be a break for the upper body, and calves/lower legs. The plan was to ride about 4 hours...

In the morning while having breakfast (a big one) I was contemplating the map and looking where to go. 4 hrs is a long long time and I did not feel like going over the same places a bunch of times. Going west was not an option, about 40 minutes into the ride it starts getting hillier and hillier by the minute. I did not want to end up Mount Tambourine or Springbrook (again). Going east I will get about 1 block before I drown. North...mmmm... the super GP is on, streets blocked everywhere with crazy car race fans, and I have gone north many many times. Lets go south and see where 2 hours gets me.

I pack 2 powerbars, 1 super nasty concentrated gatorade (it tasted like orange powergel almost), 1 water bottle, digital camera, VISA, and my riding map. I leave the house at about 10 am and start heading south. About 1 hr into the ride I am past Tweed Heads and start thinking it looks like I will get "pretty close" to Mooball, a relatively larger "city" on my way. Maybe I can make that my destination and ride with a purpose. Half an hour later (1.5 hours into the ride) I see a sign that says Byron Bay 52km. Reaallllyy?? uuhhhmmm, everyone always talks about Byron Bay and I am leaving in 5 days. No way I am going to go there unless is a day trip with a tour that will cost about 80$ at least.

The internal debate: Well, how about if I just add 1 hr to my ride and I just get there, have lunch, and come back? Shit, should have packed more powerbars if that was the plan. Well, 1 bar 1.5hrs into the ride, lunch 3hrs, bar 1.5 hrs into the ride back, home. Yeah, that works, but I am riding at 34kph average with a tail wind. Its about 100km to get there, so to come back at 27-28kph on a nasty straight headwind its going to hurt and take 3.5hrs. Does that mean I am riding 200km? I only have one tubular spare and the most I have ever ridden its 130km. Shit, I am going to be out in the sun from 10am to 5 or 6pm. ohhh boy, this is risky and its really going to hurt no matter which way you look at it. I guess this is what I do for fun huh??? well... just keep riding just keep riding...

3 hrs later I do make it to Byron Bay, small hippy town. I make it all the way out and up the light house (the most easterly point in Australia) before I go into town looking for carbs. A large pizza sounded pretty good despite the massive amounts of unhealthy fats. At 2:30pm I was on the way out of town, and could taste the pain of the headwind (about 25kph with nasty gusts). I blocked my mind and rode for 1 hr without internal mental complaints, keeping the legs smooth and "fresh". 1hr into the way back I started complaining, after all when I left the house I was only doing 4hrs =) I had my bar and filled my water bottles at the rest area on the side of the highway. The night was coming down, I was going to make it with daylight but my face and arms could feel the burn. 30C with the sun above my head between 10 and 6 plus 170km riding was doing it, but I was only about 1 hr away.

Finally I make it home. Surprisingly my legs were not in any more pain than if I climbed up Cypress or Seymour, but I guess it was all a matter of keeping it under control at all times and not redlining or going hard at any moment. I deserved a monster size Australian Meat Pie with mashed potatoes that I had in the fridge (after I showered I was not going anywhere...)

8 Bottles of water
1 Bottle of gatorade
2 Powerbars (Protein Plus)
1 Large Hawaian Dominos Pizza
200 km on the workhorse

Here are some pictures

Made it!


Next Stop: Food


mmm thats better...


I had no problems to crush that in a matter of minutes


The workhorse - 6pm


The sore right hand - 7pm


The overall numbers from door to door


My GPS =)

Back at home on Tuesday!

Facundo

World Master Games - 3K Open Water

I dont really feel like ranting about it, we had enough of that today at 9:00am (1hr before our wave "start") when the following happened:

http://www.2009worldmasters.com/Open-Water-Swim-cancelled-for-competitor-safety/default.aspx

Facundo

PS: I mean I dont feel like ranting at the fact that the water was 16 and not 18, but at the fact that there was no contingency plan even though on wednesday the water was already 15C, or the fact that they made us go and waste 1/2 day in a "remote" location even though the water was too cold all week (and there was no heads up anywhere, so today we were all fired up and very very ready to go)... CRAP, I AM RANTING AGAIN. GOODBYE.

Sydney and World Master Games

Sydney is so far the best city in Australia! It is a large city with a LOT of character: The harbour, the Rocks, chinatown, Paddys Markets, the HUGE parks (Centennial and Botanical Gardens), pedestrian streets, busy Central station and Railway Square, etc... Really really like it!

All competitors of the games got a backpack and ID tag with picture and free access to all transport and games events, so it it nice and very easy to spot people all around the city that are here for the games (30,000 people!) Everyone around is pretty friendly, some come to compete, some come to have fun, some come to prove that they can (see picture above), some come on holidays and find that swimming 800m is the way to relax and get stress out (weird).

As for the Games, I am pleased to say that I have a bronze medal on the 800 free (Saturday) and today 4th in the 400 free, and bad bad bad bad on the 50 fly. The 800 was a tough race, as painful as I remembered last time I swam 800 in a swim meet (age 15), but for some reason now I seem to enjoy pain a lot more =) I beat my time from when I was 15 by 5 seconds. The time was 10:03.33, average of 1:15.4/100m. I must say that I was pretty happy.

The 400 today was not as good. I went 4:52.60 I think, which sucks as my 400m split on the 800 was 4:55.xx. I went out hard and paid the price: 1:06, 1:14, 1:17, 1:16. I was not pleased at all, I did not beat my time from where I was 15, and got 4th place. 4:47 would have got me 3rd again and in a good day (and a smarter race strategy) think that might have been possible. Anyways, now I have something to gauge myself against in the next couple of months.

Ahh, the 50 fly. mmm... let just forget about th 50 fly shall we? To be honest I was tired, sore (from being out all day yesterday + openinig ceremonies + 400 2 hours before). I knew coming into the games that I have lots of endurance and not lots speed, so longer events are the ones I had more chance. 50 fly:terrible, 400 free:4th, 800 free:3rd. Next Saturday is the 3km Open water. Hopefully I do well on that one, I will make sure I rest in Melbourne the next 3 days.

Here are some pictures. Until Melborne or back in Sydney next weekend.


Bronze Medal Back


Bronze Medal Front


Youngest and Oldest Competitor of the Games (24yr+10months and 101yr+6months = 76yr+8months different "a lifetime")


Friends from Paraguay I met at the Opening Ceremonies


Darryl works in the same building in Vancouver! (I knew he was coming, we always chat in the change room as he also rides to work every day)


Downtown Sydney


Sydney Olympic Pool


The Harbour, ohh so pretty...

Facundo

New Swimsuit

Today I went for a swim in the morning and I found out that the speedo I was using for the last month in Australia is already wearing out! Chlorine levels are insane in the pools around here and have managed to go through my tri shorts and now my speedo. No wonder why the Speedo shop at the mall was all crazy about their Chlorine Resistant stuff and almost nothing of the regular old stuff...

Anyways, so today I had to make a decision as I am leaving for the World Master Games on Thursday (less than 2 days away here). I could either race with the slip I have (still in decent conditions) for the pool events, and maybe the open water or get something new (depending on what I found on the store). So I headed out to Harbour Town Outlet straight into the Speedo store. It was a relatively big store, and there was plenty of options. Jammers were about 45, drag shorts 40, speedos about 35, non chlorine resistant speedos 15! (I would almost say they are disposable...) Prices were not bad, and I was going to get a speedo with a pretty cool design, one that its not available in Canada for sure. I was about to make my decision and when I turn around I see the aisle with the Fastskins and LZR suits. Pretty cool, I had never seen the famous LZR before... Anyways, I looked at the price of the LZR and was 50% off, I guess since they are banning them starting January they just want to get rid of them ASAP. 50%off means it still costs 250$ for the full body, no way. They I turn into the FastSkin (FSII to be precise) which is the second best suit (used before the LZR came out). Surprise surprise, the price was down from 250$ to 59$ and until Saturday there was a 20% discount of the lowest marked price.

Right away I go to the sales lady and I ask:
q: aheemm, excuse me miss, is this really 59$ minus 20%?
a: yes, it works out to be 47.20 with taxes...

Result: We found the size, I squished myself into it, liked it, bought it.

The suit will be banned in January 2010 (the list has not come out yet, but pretty sure). Unlike the LZR, the material of the FSII is approved by FINA, however starting in 2010 mens suits are only allowed to be below the belly button and above the knees (ie: jammers. And yes, I asked in the store for jammers but there was nothing!) Anyways, I dont really care. I had to buy something and it was going to cost me the same as a speedo, so I got it. I am dying to try it in the water! Here is what I got:


FSII Full


This is exactly the model I got, just the male version =)

Another advantage I see is that for the open water race we are not allowed wetsuits (well, we are but then we dont qualify for medals) so I was going to have to suck it up and race in my speedo no matter what temperature Sydney water decides to be on the 18th. Now with this I will at least have a "second skin" which might (or might nor) keep me warmer and still qualify for medals. Great!

Anyways, that is it for now. Last 2 days I was on the egde of getting sick but today I am feeling much better. Taking it easy tomorrow and then off to Sydney Thursday. I will probably post from there next.

Facundo

PS: ohhh yeahh... one more advantage of the full suit, I am not shaving!!! Once again, I manage to evade the razor.

Cairns

A picture is worth 1000 words, and at this moment I am way too tired to write something consistent so here are the pics! (maybe I will write on it later - maybe not =P )


Tour Breakfast


In the falls


Tour Bus full of Crazy Irish


Cape Tribulation - Daintree Forest (the oldest in the world - World Heritage Site)


Stefano and I (met him on the plane and ended hanging out for 4 days)


A very cheap version of Tarzan


Great Barrier Reef 1


Great Barrier Reef 2


Great Barrier Reef 3


Great Barrier Reef 4


Great Barrier Reef 5 (yes, that is me - awesome!)


Great Barrier Reef 6


Great Barrier Reef 7


Great Barrier Reef 8

Facundo

Brisbane

Yesterday I came back to Surfers Paradise after spending 2 full days in Brisbane. I left early on Friday morning to catch the first express train at 5:20 am. It takes about 30 min by bus to get to the train station by bus and then 1:15 to get from Nerang to Brisbane downtown by train. I had a very nice map of the city that had a 20km city walk tour on it. I am not sure who it was designed for, but I believe most people will “screw that” when they see 20km on it. I went for it as it was taking me through pretty much all things to see around the city.

The walk started in Central station, then went by some typical neighborhoods were I could see the “typical house style” (see picture), then across a bridge to the West Bank area where most of the Museums, markets, etc are. In that area, there is a crazy beach/pool (see picture) in the middle of a park. You can see the river to the right, the pool and white fine sand, salt water, life guards, palm trees. I thought it was one of the coolest things I have seen in the middle of a city (with no ocean) so I decided to take lunch and watch people tan, swim, play, whatever. After that I kept walking along the river but on the cliff side. Brisbane is quite hilly and in one section they blew out some rocks to do rock climbing by the river, also pretty cool, it was a 100m drop I say.

In the afternoon I headed to downtown and walked around most of the main streets, pedestrian walks and parks. I found the area of hostels and without a reservation (there was 5 hostels all together so I thought I did not need one) there was only “expensive” rooms left. In the end the only one that had a cheaper room was kinda shitty and the room was absolutely covered in clothes and things on the floor. I did not care much as I was only going to go there at night, sleep, wake up and take off. There is a picture that shows what I am talking about. When the sun when down the streets downtown started to get busier and busier, live music and dancing going on in the streets, and outdoor bars everywhere. I walked through the city again (not the 20km, but probably another 5) to see everything at night. I really like taking night pictures…

On Sunday I woke up and went for a ferry ride in the river. The company that operates it is the same that operates the trains and the buses so it was pretty cheap (not like a tourist boat…) I got to sit and relax for 1hr while I was taken everywhere. I hit the Museums and Art Galleries from noon till 5pm as it was blazing hot. I am not sure how hot, but I say above 30 for sure. It was not so much the heat, but here the sun is pretty strong compared to Vancouver.

After a long long day I got back on the train and got home by 9pm ready for food and bed. Today the day was pretty easy with a swim in the morning and being lazy in the afternoon (which includes internet and writing this!)

Anyways, that is it for now. On Tuesday I am heading up north to Cairns for 5 days so I don’t think I will post anything from there, but there will be lots of pictures when I come back I am sure. I will be scuba diving/snorkeling in the Great Barrier Reef, I cant wait!

Here are some of the pictures I got from the city (and random stuff I came across during the 2 days, some of them pretty weird!) Enjoy


Anyone wants to BBQ?


Sinks at the Moder Art Museum


Paradise in the City


I still dont get it...


Parklands at night


Cool Restaurant


River and Downtown at night


Maybe I will make reservations next time =S


Queen Street


hmmm very affordable...


The city from a bridge








Facundo

Indoors

The plan today was not to come to internet again; however weather changes made my plans change so here I am. It seems that pretty much all south eastern Australia (from Brisbane to Sydney at least) is going through a Red Dust Storm. It consists of very very windy conditions (up to 100kph gusts) and well, DUST. In the morning after yesterdays ride I did not feel like going swimming so instead I went for a 30 min ride to a triathlon shop to talk to the owner and see if he knew someone looking for a Cervelo bike (he is the only Cervelo dealer for a couple hundred Km). He did not but he got my info and if he knows someone he will let me know. He also told me to post it in a website and ebay Australia and I could get lucky.

Here are some pictures I got from the storm on the way here.




Facundo