Pasha Bulker

I admire activists. I admire the ingenuity of their protests. Like this one at Nobby's Beach in Newcastle, NSW, where the 77,000 tonne coal carrier, Pasha Bulker, ran aground earlier this month.

I have a friend who is an activist. She engineered a particlury amusing protest in regard to the conditions of child care workers. It involved psuedo soiled nappies and an MP's electoral office. I bet the MP didn't see that coming.

La Grande Boucle

I meant to post this many months ago.

On a Sunday, in last November, we went for a ride around the Swan River. 4000 other people did the same thing. The start was quite a spectacle.

I am not much of a cyclist. For one, I am far too fat (see chubby knees below). But, against my expectations, I have found that it is a pleasant way to get around, even if it requires far much more ‘gear’ than was required when I was a kid on my Indi 500. Cycling is turning out to be like skiing. Expensive. Also fun. Not quite addicted yet though. Also not willing to take the bike all the way to Europe.

The Burber King; he is a cyclist. A real cyclist. He didn’t really want to wear the maillot à pois rouges on this little blat around the Swan. After all, there are no mountains here (and to his despair, I could not face the idea of hauling up the big hill at Mosman Park, so we cheated at that point. Shhhh.).

But he has climbed mountains on his bicycle. He rode this very bike up Mont Ventoux.
Mont Ventoux is on the periphary of the French Alps, and is 1909 metres high. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mont_Ventoux

It took him several hours and he never got off his bike once. And the bike was laden with paniers carrying all the supplies you need to tour France. I drove past this mountain once, and I have seen it on the Tour de France year after year. Our campervan would barely make the climb. It is difficult to contemplate it on a bicycle.

Anyway, as I said, he was hesitant to wear the Polka Dot Jersey around the Swan. I asked the question - of the 4000 people riding around the Swan today, how many have rode their bicycle up Mont Ventoux? Perhaps a few. But it would only be a few. So wear the polka dot jersey, because you have really and truly, ridden up mountains.

The Great Perth Bike Ride was a hoot. Freaken hot though. And our sprint finish was hilarious. But 53km circuit was completed in 2hour 9 mins. I think the people doing it as a race did 2 circuits – 106 k’s - in less time. Clearly, there are drugs in cycling.

Look at this freak. More evidence of drugs in cycling