Hooked on the Peacemaker from Fixie.Inc

Holger from Fixie Inc. was very patient when he answered all my email questions but there was still one question I missed asking, probably because it never occured to me that a bike could not have one: What about a bottle holder mount? The bike is obviously thought to be ridden over short distances but with Brisbane's hot temperatures in summer I will need something to drink even on half hour rides. I'm not keen on drilling holes in this pretty brand new frame so I'll have to find a different solution.

And so I downed a big glass of mango juice just as I walked out the door hoping it would get me through. Sure I could have stuffed a bottle in my back pocket but I like to travel light ... and there was already camera, mobile phone, spare tube, pump and ... a tool kit, needed because this bike doesn't have quick releases.

Oh, and did I mention that I felt somewhat anxious about the first few hills? What if I had to walk? So uncool!

A Singlespeed ride with John, he brought out his khs urban soul for the occasion ... something we had talked about for over a year now. We were set to meet at Zupps for a mainly flat ride out to Sandgate, and I didn't need to worry about the few short and not so steep rollers on the way there. I managed just fine on the 55/21T combination.

John, reliable friend that he is, made all the right noises when he saw the bike. I think he genuinely liked the Peacemaker, especially the carbon belt, and he couldn't have made a bigger fuss. A little taste of all the future attention this bike may receive?

Later during the ride he observed that I looked one with the bike and he was right. I felt so at ease and comfortable as if I had ridden this bike for years.

For tomorrow I had semi-committed to a hilly road ride with friends but like with so many new love affairs, I might neglect my old friends for a while because I'm completely hooked on the new beast. I hope I will be forgiven.

Thank you to John for taking care of the photography and to Jim from Aspley Bike Hub for going out of your way to help with installing the belt drive. It's really appreciated!

OMG it's here!

The FedEx' tracking status showed that it had arrived in Brisbane. Excitement levels were rising. But the little note in the comment section on the tracking page bothered me. It showed Not due for delivery. The anticipated delivery time remained Monday, 29th November. Monday? That's half a century away! How was I supposed to concentrate at work with a brand new bike begging to be ridden and a perfect weekend just around the corner? I watched the status for 24 hours but nothing happened and I knew: I wasn't going let the weekend pass and wait till Monday with the boxed bike sitting idly in a freight shed less than five kilometers from me.

It was a quick and friendly phone call. Monday was indeed the scheduled delivery day but I was welcome to pick it up earlier. How early? From 11 am onwards. You bet! I did not have food on my mind during my lunch break. With the bike in the boot of my car, the afternoon in the office was absolute torture. Legislators should be more understanding and pass something like NTAL for overworked employees - New Toy Arrival Leave ...

I shall do. Nothing but LOVE!

I couldn't wait to get home and finally open the box and have a look at the bike that I only ordered a week ago but that I had wanted for so long. Even though the box had received a few knocks on its fast trip from Karlsruhe to Brisbane, the bike was well packed and undamaged. Holger from Fixie.Inc had always answered all my emails patiently and quickly. The whole decision making and ordering process had been a pleasure (maybe not for Holger but it certainly was for me).

And building the bike up was quite easy, too. I only needed Alberto's help with mounting the sprocket and the belt. It's a beautiful bike.

Now it's late and the bike still needs some adjustments and to be perfectly honest, right now I feel worn out and tired from all this anticipation and excitement. Tonight I will go to bed and dream of all the places I'm going to explore. The first real ride with the Peacemaker I will have to wait just that tiny little bit longer.

über cool ?

Lifestyle choices

We were something like the terrible two since grade six, inseparable like twins. And then life happened. It took Daniela to Barcelona and I - well I washed up on Australian shores, never intended to stay when I first arrived.

The last time we saw each other in 2007 during my stop over from Berlin to Rio de Janeiro. She came over from Barcelona and we spent 24 hours in Madrid together, catching up on ten years of adult life.

With the time difference and very different lifestyles it has proven challenging to talk on the phone regularly. We missed each other last Saturday night because I had gone to bed at nine because of a planned early Sunday ride. She had been out with work folks Friday night, trawling Barcelona's Tapas Bars till the early morning hours, thus missing the short 8 am to 11 am window to call me during waking hours - mine and hers under normal circumstances.

We did get to talk Sunday after all and she told me about school holidays spent together on her great granny's farm, I always out of bed early, ready to raid the cherry tree or hit the lake for a swim, and annoyed with her sleeping in till midday. I had completely forgotten about it. Apparently I even once told her that I would get a headache if I stayed in bed any longer.

Amazing how she remembers those things. So according to her, I was always destined to become a cyclist and that our later lifestyle choices were already visible in our childhood. Australia's outdoor, sport and adventure obsession versus Spain's late night tapas and wine, dance, siestas and nothing happens before ten.

Changing the subject slightly: My new friend from Germany just set food on Australian soil this morning and is currently in transit, after being stuck in Poule GB for a good 48 hours and is scheduled to arrive here on 29th November (according to FedEx tracking information). How exciting! I hope I'll get to meet her before we head for Bright, Victoria, next Thursday. No point taking her with me because with her one 55-21 gear she won't be of much use in Alpine country.

Old friends - refreshing forgotten memories of past adventures, and new friends - in anticipation of future memories.

The question remains: Are we genetically pre-destined to become a cyclist rather than a night-life loving late up-getter? Or much rather: Are lifestyle choices actually choices? Would someone with a biological clock set on "late" ever become a cyclist?

But the real burning question to me right now is: Is riding single speed or fixed gear also a lifestyle choice?

I can't wait to find the answer to the last question really soon!

Simply good

A perfect morning ride is ...

... when the only oncoming traffic are two Rainbow Lorrikeets flashing their colourful plummage right at eye level, obvioulsy mating on their mind.

... when you find it within yourself to forgive the road for its 16% gradient because it is brand new, smooth and fast.

... and someone waits for you when you're not quite as fast...

... and, 60 kilometers later, the well deserved coffee has a slightly lopsided heart shape in it's froth.

And when, at home and all sweaty, grimey and in need of a shower, the shrinking white round soap, stolen from the hotel room exactly for the reason to revoke Thailand memories, lets off holiday fragrance, then life's just simply good.

What made your ride today?

Something more challenging than riding up Mt Hotham...

I started Ashtanga Yoga again. Six practises in three weeks qualify for saying that.

When we lived in Cairns I used to love the Mysore classes (Mysore as in place in India, not as in my sore abs). I showed up at the Yoga school in Edge Hill for my practise, went through the series of postures according to my level of ability and Oliver, the Yoga teacher, walked the room and gave adjustments. All in my own time. That's why I still have the sequence of postures in my head, which makes it easy for home practise. I just wish my body would remember, too, how to twist arms around legs in Marichyasana or how to do Shirhsasana. I've never been good with inversions but right now I don't have enough core strength for a simple headstand. Sad.

But that's not the part more challenging than climbing a good long steep mountain on the bike. The real challenge is much greater.

Rediscovering Yoga slowly now, only two sessions a week and I already started craving each next session, I can't believe I neglected it for so long.


So I love Ashtanga. It's my type of Yoga. It's fast. It's physical. It gets me sweating. And it will hopefully help me get my spine and hips aligned (I have booked a chiropractor appointment, too, just to get things moving a bit faster) and my muscles stretched. I know, I know - that's only one aspect of Yoga (Ashtanga means eight limbs) but I'm not ready for most of the other limbs just yet.

Take for example last Saturday: I was dutifully going through the closing sequence that is supposed to calm your mind. There is this little meditation practise where you sit still and watch your breathing without thinking anything. Not thinking! Anything!

Not scared of a challenge I sat there for ages, probably about three minutes, and it was more difficult than climbing Mt Hotham. It went something like this:

Breathe.

Breathe.

"This feels good. So quiet!"

Breathe.

"What should I wear for Mel's Farewell Party later?"

"Hey, concentrate!"

Breathe.

Breathe.

"My hammies are sore from this morning."

"Watch the breath!"

Breathe.

"This yoga is great."

Breathe.

"I can't believe how much fitness I've lost. Wonder why I couldn't breath and was wheezing up the hills this morning. Next time I ride uphill I will breathe like this. I bet it will help climbing."

Sigh. "You're supposed to n-o-t think. Concentrate!"

Breathe.

"Beautiful new road though, this Gap Creek Road ... I'm glad I went riding with P. Great fun!"

"Shut up!"

I remembered that I wasn't supposed to get upset about the chatty mind and just gently return my focus to my breathing.

"I'm a bored."

Breathe.

Breathe.

Breathe.

"What's this yellowy-orangy light inside my forehead? That feels good."

...

And then my mind shut up in awe. For a brief few seconds.

...

"Wow. Can this change colour, too?"

I couldn't help but start laughing about my silly mind but it was exciting new territory and I did feel calmer afterwards.

Alberto still insists I should find a yoga school here in Brisbane and he is probably right, but the Ashtanga Yoga school is very inconveniently located in an out-of-my-way-suburb and the really conveniently located Bikram Yoga studio - well, I still have my doubts that Hot Yoga is good for me after my experience earlier this year.

Deceiving roads

I never thought of roads as being deceitful but I saw Graham's point when, after bombing down towards the old wooden bridge in the gully, the road wound up and around the corner, pretending to be a short little climb when it was rather a pinch with sting that kicks up a notch behind the bend. You realise - too late - that it goes on for longer than first anticipated and, recognising your mistake, you almost immediately regret the early out-of-saddle attack. I had cautioned him to change into small gear before hitting the bridge. There are at least two of those deceiving uphill bends on Bunya Road that take the unaware by surprise. The kookaburras were laughing.

I didn't mean to trick him or Heather with these deceitful roads. I just thought they would enjoy a new road (I always do) and some hills (I definitely do), especially when the scenery is so pretty. I have been putting some hill work on Heather's training program but I wasn't quite sure how diligently it had been done. I glimpsed Heather's smile during the ride and even bigger smile later when we enjoyed coffee.

And I had almost stayed home. Peeking out the window I saw the garden furniture wet from the night's rain and it drizzled again when I made coffee. But the sun was out, too, in a mixed weather kinda way. It was one of those morning when the weather would have served as perfect excuse to stay in bed if I just wouldn't have been too afraid to wake up later to a beautiful morning and the regret of having missed out on a great opportunity to ride with friends.

My legs felt stiff from the previous day's hard ride with my friend P. She took me down to Gap Creek Road, a road better known to mountainbikers in town because it used to be all dirt and has been sealed recently. A hilly road through forest, not far from the city and completely new to me, on the harder end of the scale and the complete loop via Kenmore Hills with 70 km longer than what I have been doing lately, but finished off with coffee - it was a good recipe for a great morning. Training goal achieved.

Off Topic

It has been bugging me for weeks now, up to a point where I couldn't bring myself to write at all. It's like Off Topic screaming from the pages, every single post. Sure I could write about competing in cycling, but - let's face it - right now I'm not! And I won't for a while. And writing a blog called Competitive Cycling is like poking my thumb in a sore all the time. Seriously. And the struggle even sits deeper.

Competitive Cycling - Set backs, Frustrations and Disappointments! How's that for an enticing and up-beat blog title? That won't do any good, I know; neither for my own frame of mind nor for yours.

Some days are really good. They are the ones when I have patient mindfulness down to perfection. When I do slow pretty well. Don't get me wrong. I love riding slowly. Like for example yesterday, when I happily cruised alongside John, content to just be on my bike soaking up the sun, discovering yet another of John's secret bike paths through a posh neighborhood.

And even today, the ride started out well. I really craved to get out and fun was on my mind until my ego talked me into pushing up this Mailman's Track - great innocent sounding name but, hey, nobody ever mentioned it's as steep as any mountain - far harder than I intended to go. The same ego then wanted me to add another little loop through beautiful Samford Valley. Good intentions - sure - because it was such a lovely afternoon, riding along Jacaranda roofed roads with fading Jacaranda blossom carpets. I even more enjoyed letting my bike find it's way along a dirt track that I chose to escape the P-platers who were out in force with their provisional licenses not provisional enough to respect other road users.

And then my blissful happy ride turned into struggle when the path spat me out on the outer edges of Brisbane and I made my way through the hilly suburbs against a stiff afternoon breeze that was suddenly blowing in my face. I was fading. I hadn't intended to ride for over two hours ... and I all of the sudden hated being on my bike and being even slower and weaker. The last twenty minutes of the ride turned into eternal unhappy moments, in which I sadly missed new Personal Bests and exciting races, painfully missed strong legs to carry me up the next hill and home - fast.

Anyway, I decided to change my blog title to fit my new attitude. Fun's on my mind and some days I achieve my training goal and other days I don't do so well. But most times I love riding, slow or slower, and I look forward to going down to Bright in less than a month's time and watch Alberto race up Mt Hotham. I won't race the Tour of Bright this year but won't allow a bad attitude to get in my way when exploring some other climbs of the region that I have not had the pleasure to tackle in the past. Falls Creek is right up there on my list. Good times ahead. Riding on.

The pleasure and pain of bike shopping

I found a cycling magazine with little white bookmarks laying around the house. Turned out it was the Bicycling Magazine Buyer's Guide and a Fixie was marked with a little white paper snippet. There was a ripped piece of paper poking out of the Mountainbike section, and obviously a time trial machine had taken someone's fancy, too, because that page was marked the same fashion.

Then I opened my emails and there it was, a Titanium frame flashing from the computer screen, subject line "So tempting, too..." Now, was this the bike he swooned at yesterday over dinner? I thought it had a different name. Bikes I had never heard of: Enigma, Van Dessel ... I'm confused.

It's much easier for me. While he's agonising over what bike to buy, I know exactly what I want, made up my mind a long time ago and put the order in with my mysterious bike shopper. Like when I was a little girl, I can't wait for Christmas to come fast enough... How many more sleeps?