Steve Button

My spots have changed

My spots have changed.

This is not a posting on Java, J2EE, OC4J, or anything like that.  It's about bike riding. My heading says "OC4J, JMX, Mountain Biking" so I thought I had to add something to fit that billing.

I've always been an avid mountain biker. Living in the Bay Area for nearly 7 years, I got to see and ride some truly awesome trails such as El Corte Madera, Wilder Ranch, Henry Coe State Park, .... I even have very fond memories of breaking my at Purisma creek. I splashed out and bought myself a great  bike -- a Voodoo -- who sadly are no longer in existence.  Sweet machine.

While I was out getting dirty, hurt, and having a ball, a mate of mine signed up for and completed the 112mi ride around Lake Tahoe. I used to laugh at him and the getup he wore on his training rides -- bib knicks which look lile small lycra overalls with short legs, arm warmers, knee warmers .... and riding in a paceline behind a bunch of other rides ... how boring must that be?

Just before we embarked on our return journey back to Australia, I was in a bike shop having one of my last looks around and I spotted a great looking bike that was on sale. But it was ... a ROAD bike, a bright shiny red Lemond Buenos Aires. It seemed to captivate me for some reason, I'm not sure why. Maybe it was the flashy red colour, I just don't know. Anyway, I thought about it for a while and in the end I just had to go and buy it.  I could justify the purchase price to myself because I knew the prices of consumer goods are much cheaper in the US than back here.  But if I didn't ride it when I got home, then it didn't matter how much cheaper it was over in the US, it was basically a waste of money.

I transported my new bike back home on the plane with me, in a hard-carry case, whereupon it got lost for a day or so.  Yes ... I was going to ride this thing straight away when we got back, while I was waiting for my MTB bike to come back via the sea shipment we had.

But alas, things were busy when we got back, my wife was 8 months pregnant, so the bike kind of just sat in the corner and didn't get ridden. Our stuff turned up, I got my MTB back and started hunting around for some decent cross-country trails -- I'm not one of those crazy downhillers -- I actually like to pedal uphill as well as fly down.  The thing I discovered was that while there were some trails around, they didn't seem to compare with the trails I'd ridden around the Bay Area.  I did some races with the Adelaide Mountain Bike club, which were fun, but the same general riding fun wasn't to be had, or had as easily.

One day when I was putting the Voodoo back in the shed, my brand new, barely ridden road bike kind of stood out at me.  Yes, I thought, I'm going to take that for a spin tomorrow.  And I did.  It wasn't the same as riding my beloved Voodoo, but it was different.  The acceleration of the things was quite different from the mtb.  I started to ride it more often and start exploring the local areas.  Sure you had to contend with cars which is not ncie, but where I live up in the Adelaide Hills, there's lots of great roads to ride in and around the hills region, where cars aren't too much of a problem. 

I then found some friends to ride with on a regular basis -- they climb the hills like monkeys up a tree, so they had to wait for me for a while. Slowly, I started catching up with them, although I still think they hold back a bit for me, and really started enjoying the small group rides.  I went out and bought a set of bib-knicks, which I must admit are a lot more comfortable on a 3 hour ride than the shorts variety.  It's starting to get cold in the mornings here now, so purchased a set of arm warmers this week.  What is happening to me?  I've even been watching DVDs of the Parix-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders races they hold in Europe -- which actually look like mountain bike races on road bikes where they tackle hilly and slippery cobblestone sections at great speed -- these cycling pro's are incredible. And nuts.

And now, to top it all off -- one of my mountain biking mates called up recently and wanted to know if I was up for a mountain bike ride on the weekend.  I said no, I was going out for a road ride.  That was it.  I've stepped over the line and ended up on what I always thought was the wimpier side of cycling. I used to laugh at the line on the AMTBC website which said something along the lines of "If you're aftraid of getting a little hurt or dirty, go and buy a road bike and ride that instead".

Now I seem to resemble that remark.  I guess my heading will need to change a bit.

Last update: 3/19/2004; 4:27:09 PM.