Katoomba and Sun Valley

Stayed up late watching the ever-so-promising, but ultimately grindingly-boring, World Cup game between Portugal and Brazil and so missed riding with Tania up to Katoomba this morning. The roadworks through Lawson can now be circumnavigated using new bike/foot paths but Wentworth Falls is still problematic. Cold and drizzly from there up but 2.5 hours up was pretty good going and a total of 73km.
I fitted the V-Strom brake pads and then did a hills run with two laps of Sun Valley and one lap of Endeavour Drive for a hilly total of 31km. The new Continental tyres are superb and finally I have a speedo which works reliably - its a Sigma BC1106 from CellBikes online. A wired one with good contrast for reading by my failing short eyesight.
We also did another test ride at night to the shops at Winmalee the other night to make sure all our lights are OK - Tania's Petzl helmet light is as bright as any car headlight.

Rear Brake Pad Replacement DL-650

Well it was supposed to be pretty straightforward - just follow the manual (free download) on page 7-69 - until some retaining spring fell out of the caliper housing and the manual didn't mention or show it in order to return it to its proper spot.

My somewhat blurred photo (sorry about that) shows where it is supposed to sit - this took me about an hour of testing different spots to find this but in the end it only goes in one way and works (I think) to stop the pads lifting under braking. I initially reassembled without it and went away and thought about it and then came back and had another go at finding where it goes.
BTW - the manual recommends only undoing the rear caliper bolt and leaning the housing forward to remove and refit the pads but this is how I knocked the retaining spring out in the first place in trying to refit the new pads. I thinks its easier (now that I've stuffed it up and fixed it!) to remove both caliper bolts and lift the whole assembly off, clean everything up, locate the new pads and then drop the caliper over the top of them. I also had to press the piston of the brake back out to accommodate the new pads - easiest way was to fit the outside pad, drop caliper on top and then press on the piston housing (the big circular bit labeled Nissin) until there is enough room to fit both pads).
I fitted EBCFA174HH pads for $55 from Western Motorcycles in Penrith.

The grubby world of politics - Rudd v Gillard

I think it was a very dark day for politics generally in Australia – the female side of things is not relevant except that historically men (who generally run the back rooms and are the power-brokers) put a women up to run the show when they can’t find a credible male. Thatcher, Keneally, Bligh are all examples of this. They are not expected to save the show really but if they do well that’s a bonus.

This seems to me to be more about grubby deals to try to hang on to power rather than an honest attempt to run the country better – if they spent as much time in running the country and consulting with the right people at the right time as they do in plotting to keep power, wouldn’t the world be a wonderful place?

The media has played a disgraceful role in the lead-up to this. The Sydney Morning Herald has seemed to run a hate campaign against the State and Federal Labor and has taken every opportunity to whip up frenzy around leadership speculation and poor performances on selected issues – building education revolution, roof insulation, and completely disregarding amazing achievements like financial management, health reform, tax reform.

I think Kevin Rudd was given a mandate by the people to make change and yet he was thwarted at every turn by the Senate and the procession of opposition leaders (except Malcolm Turnbull – I still fancy him as being a good prime minister). What this does is disenfranchise voters who thought they had done the right thing and said what they wanted and yet are thwarted by an unelected bunch of party power brokers.

Young voters – eg my 17 and 20 year old sons – are completely uninterested in any of this as they see it as being irrelevant to them – just a bunch of old fuddy-duddys who are over-paid and over-empowered (a bit like football players really!).

If we, as a country, are not careful, the federal government will turn into an impotent government because the whole system on which it is based is out-dated, unrepresentative and therefore irrelevant.

So what should happen? I think the representative system is failing our modern way of life and people (male and female) who are in the system are just fighting about power and not fighting for our country and the people who can’t fight for themselves. That’s why you are a politician – to help people who can’t help themselves!

Sorry for the rant but it makes me very angry that all people are focusing on is the female aspect which is completely irrelevant – it is the system that has failed and has been failing for some time.

And lastly – what about the loss of Lindsay Tanner? I have always fancied him as a person of high integrity and extremely well-spoken. I am pleased in some ways to see that he is not involved in any of yesterday’s grubby politics and will walk away but not pleased in other ways that the country has lost the skill and thinking of such a person.

Graham West – State Labor Minister for Jails etc – resigned recently and said that he was so frustrated by politics and that he felt he could achieve way more outside of politics than he could by staying. If that’s not an indictment of how the present government system is failing the people it was put there to support, then I don’t know what is.

Penrith Run today

We were up early watching the England-Algeria World Cup match (why did I bother? Honestly 0-0 is not worth the lack of sleep!) and so headed off soon after sunrise to Penrith for a spot of haircutting, good coffee and bike bits shopping. I test drove the new CellBikes nicks and leg warmers as it was about 3 degrees in Emu Plains as we went through.
The nicks were disappointing I have to say - there are seams in the seat pad where there shouldn't be seams and so ended up being quite uncomfortable. The leg warmers however were excellent once I worked out that the top part of them go underneath the leg-grippers of the nicks. My legs have never been so warm on a cold ride.
The new Continental CitySport tyres were superb - they really do roll quite a bit quicker than the Schwalbe Marathons - about 7km/h down a typical rolling hill so it is significant. I doubt whether they'll be as good on less smooth roads but we'll see.
Went to Anaconda Outdoor shop in Penrith and bought 4x26x1.25 tubes and finally got round to replacing my laces in the Shimano SPD shoes - they were still the originals after 6 years so not bad really. Found some 3mm purple climbing rope and got them to cut it into 2x2metre lengths - perfect laces.
Went on to Blackman's Bicycles and got some EBC green replacement rear brake pads for $35 (resin) - fitted when I got home as the originals were had it. Bought a spare Shimano XTR gear cable (teflon and stainless steel) as well $16.
Mitchell's Pass is a fantastic bike route down the mountain from Glenbrook now that it is closed to all traffic. We use it to go down and back from Emu Plains now - much safer and quicker than the usual Lapstone Hill route.
All up about 52km and with shopping in Springwood on the way home to see Ben at work we were home by 12:30.

Connecting with Uni of Fiji

I've got an opportunity to work with a friend in Fiji who used to work with me at Parramatta a few years back. He is now the Head of the Education Department at the University of Fiji and is keen to get some help with the Master of Teaching degree and the PostGraduate Diploma in Teaching course especially in relation to the Teacher as a Researcher - using Action Research and Technologies to enhance reflection by teachers when they consider their performance.
Still working out the details but it is very exciting to get back into some intellectual activity again. I'm keen to see how a blend of face-to-face and online supports might work to help students work through the course. I'd like to use something like Moodle to plan the program and then make it available to various people to test it as a pedagogy. Any volunteers?

Equipment Update

I've put the CitySport Continentals on and they look fantastic and very thin at 1.3. I need to get narrower tubes now to suit - the current ones are 1.75 and way too big. The Online Store at CellBikes came through with courier delivery of the order in 4 working days - its only coming from around Auburn somewhere so I'm not sure that its terribly swift but as I said before, the price is right.

The Queensland Tour July 2010

Its been a while but we at last have another ride coming. Flying with the bikes up to the Gold Coast - riding to Kingscliff, Hopkins Creek, Beaudesert and then up to Brisbane and fly home from there - about a week all up early in July and about 3-400km with some stiff climbs.
We have booked with VirginBlue and paid for 23kg of luggage (an extra $10 on top of a 'carry-on baggage' fare). I'll pack the bikes into the Ground Effect bags (called a 'Body Bag') we've had for a while - these are good because you can easily fit the bikes in (take off front wheel and turn handlebars) and upon reassembly at the airport, the bag folds up into about an A4 size to fit into the pannier ready for next time.
I've also found some narrower tyres to test out for this trip - we used Schwalbe Marathons for Germany and the Snowies and they were fantastic but slow. Tania's bike is going to use Hutchinson Protect Air Top Slick 2 front and back - they're a 26x1.2 and so quite narrow compared to the Marathons at 1.5. They're dearer though at $58 compared to about $45 for the Marathons. My bike is going to have a set of Continentals (Sport Contact) at 26x1.3 - these look pretty good and a bitter wider to carry my fatness! They are also dear at about $65RRP but through CellBikes they are normally on some sort of special at about $48. CellBikes aren't the quickest mail order mob I've dealt with but the price is right.
We arrive in the Gold Coast at about 10pm so we've looked into some lights for this trip as well. Tania went for the Petzl helmet light from Paddy Pallin in Katoomba for about $100 (become a member and get it cheaper) - she has used it for camping and riding so far and found it to be quite OK. She already has a blinking LED rear light. I went the cheap option from KMart for a headlight - its a Huffy brand white LED device that clips to the handlebar with a variety of flashing and still options as well as 'economy' mode. I haven't really given it a test yet so I'll await that before commenting. I also bought a Tioga rear light (Big Eye) and it is very bright and visible from a much wider angle than other plain LED rear lights I've seen. Lots of the rear LED lights I see on the road are best visible only when you are directly behind the light.
Doing some training in SunValley and the Hawkesbury Bends to get some hill work into the legs and looking forward to getting out on the road again. It is such a great feeling being able to use only leg-power to travel hundreds of kilometres.