Life in Australia!

Vo2

I want to find out from you guys what life is like in Australia. Now I know it's difficult to explain something like that without any questions, so I'll ask away.
First, let me introduce myself:
As you all now, I'm a cyclist ;D The wife too, but not as hectic. She's happy doing the shorter distances (lazy, u see). I try and race each weekend, weather permitting. The average race distance in SA is about 100 k's; shorter races are about 75 k's and the longer races are 130 k's. The premier race is the Cape Argus Cycle Tour www.cycletour.co.za. It's part of the Golden Bike Series http://www.cycletour.co.za/index.asp?newsId=19 and attracts about 35 000 cyclists. It's a tough race, and many cyclists that come along thinking it's a fun-ride, go home eating humble-pie! I've seen big men with tears in their eyes struggling up some of the climbs. There is also the 94.7 Cycle Challenge http://www.highveld.co.za/cyclechallenge/index.asp. There is a radio station in SA called 94.7 FM, and they sponsor the race that runs over 94.7 k's. Clever hey? It's another toughie, with some teeth clenching climbs.
As for my job, I'm a IT Security Professional i.e. I make sure that no-one hacks into our company's IT infrastructure 8)

So, what does everyone else do apart from cycle? What's the ups and downs of living in Australia? How's the cycling scene? How often are there big races? Let's hear it! Maybe I'll meet some of you at a race soon!

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Guest

;D well race distances can vary depending on club i guess my club hasnt done any bigger than 50k, though i do rides up to 260k by myself. how many cyclists ? ???, would depend on what state you are moving too ;D. living in australia is great and has good bike rides, uv got to have plenty of water in summer though as it can get hot.+ sun screen.
what state are you  moving to?

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE OI OI OI : ;D ;D :

Vo2

Gee, 50k's? Why so min? That's a lazy distance, except if it's all uphill, of course ;D I've heard it is such a beautiful place, and that the life style there is very similar to ours. I believe Perth is alot like our own Cape Town? If that is so, then people must be very laid back in Perth. We always joke that people in Cape Town are about three years behind the rest of the country ;D
As you guys know, South Africans are serious rugby fans, but so are the Aussies. There has been many a heated battle between the two country's.

Nicholas, you say you do training rides of 200 k's +. That's a serious training ride, buddy! We have what we call breakfast rides. It's a slow cruising Sunday morning ride of about two to three hours. No-one dares even attack, and we stop over at every coffee shop along the way! Needless to say, theres alot of pee-stops too!
Is there a race each weekend at your club, and what's the turnout like?

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Guest

Most weeks the club has a race some times there is a break
also 50k is a short distance but its flat out! though i prefer longer rides. the club has a turn up of about 20 i think

Your Moving to Brisbane my club is about and 1r from brisbane
and i live and 1.5hrs from brisbane. I have not heard that brisbanions are agains south africans it sound like rubbish
often there are rumors people from overseas hear. When i visited euope with my parents there reletives thought we got cancer from our barbieques and plenty of other rubbish

any way the club is the caboolture cycling club its in caboolture and 1r from brisbane. Caboolture also has its own velodrome which is not use much and its new!.

Vo2

Are there any BIG races in Oz? Checkout this website: www.cyclelab.co.za It's the SA cycling website. Go here to checkout the events: http://www.supercycling.co.za/content_large.asp?cId=188 My question is, are there races as big as these? Is there a BIG annual race that Aussies from all over the country participate in?

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Vo2

Just got back from a ride. I'm still getting rid of a flu I picked up two weeks ago, so I took it easy and only did the 40k's (instead of the 80).
Nicholas, we have a national seeding index for cyclists in our country. You are seeded according to the number of rides you do, and the time it took you to complete the ride in relation to the winning time. At big rides such as the Argus and 94.7, most riders are seeded. Obviously the pro and elite riders all start at the same time. Everyone else starts after that with three minute intervals between each seeded group. So the better you ride, the higher you start up the group. That motivates everyone to ride hard and start earlier and in a better bunch. My current seeding index is about 30 (on a scale of 1 to 100), meaning that if there were 10 groups on the day of the race, I'll start in the 3rd group. It works well for big races. On smaller rides, the pros and elite go first and then three minutes later everyone else follows. If you are good enough to catch the pros, you are welcome to race against them. Obviously this doesnt happen! Those guys are in a different league!

The Audax thing looks good! I'll definitely check it out when we get to Aus. I don't think I'll be there by next week! Your country will kick us out as we havent received our visas yet ;D I love climbs though, and that 30k mountain pass sounds like a real masacre!

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Guest

not that i know of, not in queensland any how!
those rides u mentioned are huge. goh 20.000 cyclists
thats unheard of. if they are proper races wouldnt it be unfair to the people at the end of the line?. or is it more like a fun race?. as they are all shortish medium rides.

also im a member of Audax Australia it does rides through out aus,ps they are not races (though some of them race themselves) they are social rides they vairous sizes from 50 - 100 - 200 - 300 -400 to 600 k rides for the keen like me

check it out    http://www.audax.org.au

if your here by next week the Glorious mee ride is a ripper
and its real hard. with a 30k mountain range at the start and  wicked down hills.

Guest

Most of the good racing is probably in NSW and Victoria

Some of the bigger races that would be worth doing if you're going ok include;

• Melboure to Warranbool - its about 260km long UCI points are up for grabs
• Tattersall's Cup - This is a serries of 5 oneday races, top ten riders overall get a start in the Sun Tour
• Tour of Sunraysia - 3 day tour, top ten also get a start int he Sun Tour (its actually on now)
• SunTour - attracts some of the best riders from europe
• Bay serries crits - crits that attract top riders from here and europe
• TDU - http://www.tourdownunder.com.au

There are also a ton of opens on most weekends http://www.viccycle.com.au http://www.cycling.org.au

Anyone that races can enter these races except the Sun Tour and TDU *you have to be selected for these 8)

Guest

I dont think we have any races with 20,000 people in them, infact I doubt we'd even have 20,000 people here that race *

I remember reading that Victoria has about 3,000 members NSW about 4-5,000 members and the other states about 1000 members each. I think tassie has something like 200 members *: BUT I could be worng so don't quote me on that hehe

cheers!

Guest

Are you still coming over Vo2? Over here we have this grading system

A grade (The Best)
B grade (Medium)
C grade (Begining)

I am now in B grade but still need practice on criteriums as i am hopless at them why? well because you have to keep bracking acceleating bracking corering and more cornering im used no used to it ah well. Do you do night riding? I have got a cool lighting setup either 20 wats for 3 hours + 1hr of 10 wat or 7 hours at 10 wat.

Vo2

There are no night rides that I know of in our country. Too dangerous. Taxis are ruthless over here, buddy.

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Guest

The seeding index works as a percentage ratio of how long you took over the winners time so it can't be calculated on a scale of 1 - 100. For example, if the race winner in the Argus did 2 hrs dead (just for easy calculation purposes ) and you did it in 3 hours, then your seeding index would be 50. If you took 4 your index would be 100 and if you took 6 then your index would be 200.

Guest

All you Aussie guys...

Anyone from Sydney?
I'm serious considering moving over there soon. What's the cycling/racing like?

Vo2

hehe, U and I got lots to talk about if we ever meet, Sean ;D

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