The need for a new bike or (N+1) in cycling parlance!

Whilst I'm still in the process of acquiring a bike, I am asking for something that these day's is a little unique being a steel hard tail mountain bike with rim (as opposed to hydraulic disc) brakes and 26 inch wheels.

As for why I'm asking for the above, as opposed to simply using my existing bike, or alternatively buying a stock standard mountain bike with all the latest and greatest bits and pieces, well let's just put it this way - The route is going to be a little trying, to say nothing of the lack of bike shops in order to pick up spares..... Essentially and it's something I'm still trying to get my head around, the vital statistics are as follows:

• It's a journey of 11,000 KMs, of which approximately 3,500 KMs will be on unpaved roads;
• We can expect to do approximately 100,000 metres of climbing;
• The altitude will vary from sea level to 4,800 metres;
• The longest stretch of climbing is around 65 KMs;
• The longest stretch of descending (I'm going to have to be extra careful) is around 60 KMs;
• Temperatures are likely to vary between -15C at night in Peru to around 40C in Argentina.

Travel insurance

On the basis that I've got another trip overseas in the wind, I've done a bit of research as to what is provided under various travel insurance policies, and I'd like to thank those of you who gave me their thoughts on the issue. 

I tell you what it's an interesting exercise and one which is worthy of a PhD thesis.

One of the first and most important things I discovered is, should you purchase your airline ticket using a personal credit card, the travel insurer will immediately endeavour to obtain restitution of fifty per cent of any amount they have to pay out to you the traveler against your credit card's insurer. That's assuming of course, though the majority of banks do, that your finance lender provides an "insurance" element on their credit card and that's irrespective of whether you wish to claim against said card insurance policy or not.

As a result I think that what this suggests is that you should always first and foremost read through your credit card's Product Disclosure Statement to see exactly what is / isn't covered by their insurance policy. 

I further suspect that it's only if your over sixty-five, are proposing to undertake some more adventurous activities such as skiing, will have particularly valuable camera or computer equipment with you, or have some pre-existing medical conditions that there's more necessity to take out travel insurance through someone not connected to your credit card.

Now in saying that, it still pays to read through "whoever's" Product Disclosure Statement, because as I found when I spoke to a representative from Velosure (a cycling orientated insurance company) their travel insurance policy did NOT cover my bike when taken on holidays. In order for it to be covered I had to purchase bike insurance separately. The only problem with that (once again and only because I asked for clarification) is that they would not cover the bike out of Australia for a period of more than sixty days.... IE: Not long enough to cover me for the full duration of The Andes Tour, and that's coming from a cycling affiliated insurer.... 

As a result I'll have to delve a little further to see what I can work out and I'll let you know what I decide in due course....

Ushuaia - Antarctica or Home?

As you may or may not know, Ushuaia, Argentina happens to be the port from which the majority (if not all) of the Antarctica cruises depart and as a result I'm faced with a bit of a quandary. 

Essentially its a question of whether I should book my return flight home to Australia virtually immediately my bike trip comes to an end having had a couple of days stop over in Buenos Aires or whether to delay the return flight home and spending a bit of extra time in Ushuaia in the hope of picking up a discounted Antarctica cruise?

As a consequence, I suppose what I am asking (particularly of any of you who've been to Ushuaia) is whether there are typically any discounted / last minute propositions that are offered in town at the start of the season? I mean, I am assuming that there's a greater likelihood of that being the case towards the end of the cruise season, as opposed to at the start..... Any thoughts / feedback would be appreciated.

A new set of tyres required....

It's no wonder I suffered  puncture my second in the last month or so...... Now I'm going to open myself to mockery and I know - Typical bloody bean counter...... I mean, who else could tell you with 100% certainty that they'd done 7578 kilometres on their tyres?!

At any rate, in an attempt to improve my cycling karma, given my lack of riding last week, I put some Continental Grand Prix 4000 SII tyres on my bike and also gave it a good ole clean with some citrus degreaser earlier today. Now presuming you don't get sufficient forewarning that I'm approaching from the gleam on my bike, you'll be able to smell me..... By the same token, it's an absolutely brilliant degreaser. 

I think I need to stretch my legs a little....

Setting goals is one thing. Achieving them is something completely different. I had hoped to get out and join the ARC on a ride out to the Dandenongs yesterday but ended up having a puncture some 200 metres or so from my front door, at which point there was no need for me to pull out my watch to know that I'd miss the starting gun and would end up cycling out to The Basin alone.....

I didn't particularly want to be doing that and so being 6.20AM decided that I'd head home, catch up on what had happened in the Tirreno-Adriatico overnight as well as possibly getting another forty winks.

I sort of figured I could fix my tyre and head out later in the afternoon to make up the ride difference, which was only some 50KMs short of where I needed it to be. Only problem, is that it didn't happen & I ended up getting caught up doing some domestic chores around the house...

South America calls...

It's official - I have signed up to do The Andes Trail. 

Basically, I have just committed myself to the proposition of spending the better part of four months cycling from one end of South America to the other, at an average of 100 kilometres a day.

 

Somehow I suspect I am going to have to ramp up my training and at the very least get a lot closer to achieving my goal of riding 300 kilometres per week, something that I've only achieved on three or four occasions so far this year.

You need not be alone!

I've come to realize that one of the consequences in having witnessed the accident on Beach Road on Saturday is the angst I feel for those that were injured and not knowing whether they had sufficient love and support at home to help them through their day to day activities....

I mean I suspect a good part of this stems from the fact that when I returned home to Australia after my little incident in Italy, I had stuff all assistance or even a care factor from my own family. As a result all I can say is 

"If I've ridden with you on a couple of occasions, via a Bike Dreams expedition or as part of the Lead Out crew, than if there is ANYTHING I can do to help, please do not hesitate to ask....

Heck, at the moment, I've got a spare room you can use and I'm happy to cook or otherwise look after you!

Insurance quandry...

Having experienced more than just one or two hassles in obtaining restitution from Covermore (being the company I used for travel insurance purposes for my trip to Italy last year) I am wondering whether anyone out there can provide me with any advice, information or suggestions in relation to obtaining:

• Travel insurance
• Bicycle insurance (for both here and overseas)

I'm going to need something decent in the way of travel insurance for my forthcoming trip to South America and having been bitten once don't necessarily want to head down that path again.......

The other element of all this, is that because I'll be buying a mountain bike for my Andes Trail expedition and thus leaving my carbon steed hanging up at home, I need to make sure that I've got insurance that covers me for both bikes / scenarios. 

Oh and just so you know I'm still waiting to hear back from the Innovation Group, being the insurance company used by Bicycle Victoria, as to the outcome of my claim for my physio bills...

Remind me why I ride in Australia?

Whilst riding along Beach Road in Melbourne, which for those of you who are reading from abroad or interstate is a decent bit of flattish bit of road with only a few sets of traffic lights given it's distance and which cyclists have consequently used for time trail or training purposes in their hundreds for time immemorial.

Love it or hate it, the majority of motorists in Melbourne know the frequency in which riders will take to this stretch of bitumen (alone or in largish peletons) and hence generally drive accordingly.

Unfortunately on Saturday that wasn't the case.... Basically I was out with some of my Lead Out colleagues, having ridden down to Frankston, a preview of where we'd been and what we'd done in the way of a couple of the hills and so on can be accessed here. when on the way back into town, trouble struck. Essentially, a car driver decideding to turn right at slow motion "or so it seemed", across the path of the oncoming Lead Out peleton. The result and admittedly it all seemed to happen behind me (and no I don't know how that was the case) was everyone slamming on their anchors....

Five cyclists were subsequently thrown off their bikes, with three subsequently needing transportation to hospital by ambulance given the seriousness of their injuries..... And I know this is going to sound sexist and I don't mean it to be, but the fact that two of those hospitalised were women makes it seem even worse... 

All in all the whole thing has left me feeling shell shocked and sick to the stomach and I wasn't even one of those injured.... I've got my fingers crossed that their all back out on the road in next to no time.

In the meantime please just take care out there and keep an eye out for cyclists. I know we can be a pain in the arse at times, but we've as much right to be on the road as anyone else and we won't block your path or take too much out of your time.

Amy Gillett Fiasco

Well surprise, surprise, I managed to meet my 300Km goal.....

It took a bit of doing however because not only was I a little slack during the week, but things didn't go exactly to plan on Sunday as far as the Amy Gillett Ride is concerned which was to account for a third of the week's ride...... 

Essentially they ran out of water at the first "aid" station, which was somewhat diabolical, given the prevailing weather conditions and to make matters worse, the delay in getting this message through meant that many of us spent an hour or so queuing unnecessarily in the hot boiling sun  for something that wasn't going to eventuate. A delay which meant that a large number of riders ended up being told that their ride had been shortened for safety reasons..