Cycling Adventures

As many of you may know I have taken up cycling since arriving in Australia.  Everyone in my office cycles, Garreth and his wife have 8 bikes between them, Dave has more bikes and bike parts than I can count and Peter has 3 just for himself ( one of which he has loaned to me).  I invested in a new helmet and an awesome cycling shirt right away (for safety and style) but decided that I would just wear my jogging shorts and running shoes. What I discovered is that:

1. Maybe cycling shorts have those funny pads for a reason. The seat is hard, it chafes and my ass hurts.
2. It’s really hard to keep my feet on the pedals when I am on rough dirt trails

Giving these two discoveries I decided that I needed both a pair of cycling shorts and a pair of clip in cycling shoes. Fortunately they have “shy shorts” here which are nice loose shorts covering the tight spandex padded shorts so I got those. Then for the shoes, as I was trying them on Anthony and Peter gleefully discussed how much I was going to fall over and that I should wear gloves and don’t forget to loosen the clips on the pedals and so on and so forth until I began to have second thoughts. “Peter”, I said, ” can we go someplace nice and easy?” “Sure, he says. We’ll go to Lysterfield!”  Well now I know better.  Lysterfield is lovely, nice lake, beautiful plantation of eucalypts, hills, lots of trails, tree trunks, switch backs. In other words a mountain bikers paradise…. unless you were a complete duffer AND using  clipless pedals for the first time in which case it was a beautiful hell.  To be fair, in the beginning it wasn’t bad, well within my skills when not wearing my new deadly shoes. Sadly, Immediately I had a terrible and spectacular accident.  I was executing a brilliant jump over a tree trunk on a downhill………actually I had gone around a corner, quite slowly mind you, and then….I fell over, landing on my hit and shoulder, one foot still clipped in. I laid in pain, waiting for Peter to return and help me. I continued the ride, doing some trunk jumping, some technical switch backs, and some painful hills. Finally though I just couldn’t continue, going uphill required pulling back on the handle bars and that just killed my shoulder.

I went in for Xrays the next days and was relieved to discover that I didn’t break anything, though surprisingly I had previously cracked my collarbone and was unaware of it. It must have been when my shoulder got slammed by a steel storm door in Wyoming, who knew? The doctor feared then that I had torn my rotor cuff and referred my for ultrasound. However, it’s healing so quickly I have decided not to have it done unless a couple weeks from now it still hurts. In the mean time my hip has turned the most spectacular colours.

I went for another ride, just here in town, and my final results are:

1. Cycling shorts with the funny pads are wonderful. My poor sore ass feeling better and my shafed thighs are soothed. I did get a pair of padded 3/4 length tights that dont have the “shy” part…haven’t had the courage to wear them yet.
2. I *LOVE* my clip in shoes, more power and more control and they are comfy and cool. I wont ride without them and the while they feel a little scary still they are brilliant.

Being a Social Scaredy Cat and a Sheared Sheep

Looking back on the week I am having a hard time having a clear recollection of any particular day. Each one blurs into the next, all of them spent sitting long hours in front of my PC at work trying not to cuss at it too loudly and trying to keep some kind of upbeat attitude. I have had a hard time as a PhD student keeping myself feeling like I can do it. I compare myself to other students and I wonder if I have the drive it takes to do this. Now that I am a few years in (Sept 2008 would be the beginning of year 3 I think) I feel like I have to finish. And it’s not just the time investment but proving to myself that I can. I never feel smart enough but I know I am. I just need to find the drive that I had for my undergrad work. I will complete my course work in the 2009-2010 year and then spend the next year writing my thesis, hopefully from Australia. So I try to keep my chin up, not beat myself up too terribly, cry when I can’t take feeling stupid, and try to get some good work done while I am here.

A few days do stand out. Tuesday was my first 39 degree day. The wind was from the north, off of the desert, so dry it smelled of eucalyptus from the leaves that were being dehydrated as it blew over them. I loved every second of it. Thursday I rode up to Bendigo with Matt, Graeme, Anne and Michelle to talk to the DSE office up there about a program to encourage farmers to care better for their native grasslands. I saw a pair of zebra finches, a brown falcon and a distant sighting of a little eagle.

Socially this week has presented it’s own special hell for me. Firstly I had to bite the bullet and meet the thoroughly intimidating Jane Elith. She is an amazingly intelligent woman with a hugely busy schedule and yet is still willing to teach me her boosted regression tree technique. God, please let me not look like an idiot.  That went over pretty well though beyond arranging when I would come to her office (Thursdays and Fridays for the rest of my stay) and what I wanted to do most of the meeting was her, Matt and Graeme chatting (Hurray, they were my heroes for taking me over there though hopefully they didn’t realize how terrified I was). So I survived that encounter and followed it up with dinner at Matt’s house with Peter. While I know and like Matt I haven’t really spent much time in a social situation with him and I would be meeting his partner, Deb, and their family and a friend. So all in all I was feeling a bit nervous. I was relieved to discover that Deb was a beautiful and lovely person, friendly and very comfortable as was their friend Owen (say owen and that’s exactly what my name sounds like from an aussie). It wound up being one of the best evenings I’ve had in Australia.

New Hair Cut

As for being a sheared sheep…. I couldn’t hack it anymore. I had to get my haircut. I was hoping to make it the entire time but it just wasn’t going to work, my hair was driving me mad! I made an appointment at a rather posh looking salon right downtown in Melbourne, Geisha. It was a very nice establishment and everyone there seemed qualified. Renee, my stylist, was very professional and she really did do a good job but there wasn’t the instant rapport that I have with Alex at Wack in Portland. Alex has an amazing ability to understand my desire for elegant but edgy, feminine but not girly. Sadly Renee just got the edgy bit I think. It is really short in the back. Really really really short Fortunately my hair grows quickly so it will be long enough for Alex to salvage when I get home. First stop after Portland airport…Wack Salon!

Lane

Before and after my appointment I walked around Downtown a bit and just enjoyed the people. The area is riddled with these little lanes, packed with cafes and boutiques. Every alley and dumpster is covered with wonderful graffiti and stencil work that the city finally gave up trying to get rid of and now embraces.

I do find that shopping by yourself isn’t really that much fun. I need to find a girlfriend or a guyfriend that is into shopping. I love the clothes and the style here though they are a bit fussy for the laid back vibe of the northwest. Women here dress up (by our standards) every night and they love their high hells heels.

Today (sunday) I am returning to cycling. My ass bones have finally healed enough that I can sit without feeling like it’s torture and I am really craving a ride. (This is very strange for me but I am not going to question it) I love cycling, who knew? Going to ride to the boat house and rent a kayak and paddle for an hour then ride home. What a perfect day.

Love you all!