Mum1 goes travelling

Mum1 has received authorisation to go on an all expenses paid

holiday/road bike research trip overseas.

There were concerns over her self control while away from

BikeOnMums HQ. These have been somewhat alleviated by

her willingness to sign a binding document. 

I would have preferred this document to have been witnessed but the only
person available at the time was eating a cream donut so was not considered
to be reliable.
Mum1 has expressed an interest in starting a course of hill riding when
she returns which we are all looking forward to.

(Mum1 if you are reading this I have been to your house to check on the
renovations and Lars and I have decided to change the colour of the tiles.
Hope this is OK.)

Mum3 passes inspection

The time had come to check up on Mum3 in person.

We went for a too long ride around the bays. I had no chance of filming

this as I was concentrating on keeping up with her and pretending

I was ok to keep going.

Unluckily for me she is too small to block out any wind but luckily she

had been on a run that morning so was not going at full speed

and extra luckily she agreed that we could stop at a cafe, (although this is compulsory).

Hawkes Bay Scenery

Bike On Mums' road rider, Mum3, has invited me to observe her

in action this weekend. She says we will go for a ride around the Bays

whatever that means. I have some concerns; mainly weather, distance,

temperature. But Mum3 assures me everything will be fine. And I believe her.

In preparation Mum1 and I do some extra training. Unfortunately we couldn't

prepare for any climatic differences.... as it is warm here.

Mum1 and I go out for a ride in the sun.

Work Experience

Mum1 has had a busy two weeks with other things which are not as important

as riding her bike but are still somewhat important so she has not been available

for her usual amount of punishing training hours/coffee drinking.

But we did dust off her bike for a couple of worthwhile quick circuits. And we did

happen to run into each other at Soul Cycle Repairs-- what a coincidence.

Gavin had to step out for a few minutes so we thought we would help out by
doing some maintenance. Here we are after we got the wheel off somehow
and now we are having a go at the forks.

Mum4 Sends In A Report

After much pleading Mum4 agrees to submit a few photos of her and the kids.

With no accompanying information.

So in the first one she appears riding skillfully with only one hand.

Mum4 riding on a sunny day

And here we can clearly see Mum4 is riding on a road.

I'm sure that has never been documented before.

I questioned her on the obvious absence of her BikeOnMums supplied bike; she says

the pedals on this bike are better for barefoot riding. She is still breaking the other ones in.

Mum 4 road riding

In this photo Mum 4 is left with the task of locking all the bikes.


                                                                     Typical

And finally Mum4 shows she is a true cyclist as she is filmed doing what
all cyclists love to do; looking at other peoples' bikes.


                                                               Some nice bikes





Bikeonmum3 - Spin Class

It was a normal week for me with just the standard biking to work and I passed on the Revolve Ladies Saturday ride to go to my first gym circuit which they only hold on Saturdays.  I also did my first spin session.  Got to say both were very full on and I haven't sweated like that for a long time, even with running.

During the circuit, I managed to do 5 rotations within 45 mins, but had to drop the weights down towards the end considerably and my technique was all over the place.  We had to do one exercise involving one weight above your head, arm has to be permanently stretched above you.  You have to get on the ground and lie down and then get back up again 3 times.  However, you can't use your other hand to help at all, so its all about focussing the core.  The heavier the weight the worse it is.  Tough!!!  The lunges are a bit of a mission for me as my legs are used to the cyclists action , so apparently its going to be a bit of a work in progress to get me used to that and the right technique.  However, aim is for next time to concentrate on getting techniques right and keeping up with the slightly heavier weights for a bit longer.

Regarding the spin session it was only 28 mins, so 3 mins standard cycle then 1 min up out of the seat hard at it with the resistance turned all the way up that you can't even turn the pedals, then return to the 3 mins/1 min rotation again until you get to 28 mins.  It was extremely hard and the sweat was pouring off me.  To make matters worse I had to bike home after that and for some reason I got cramp in both feet, so getting up the hill at Otaki Street in the dark was painful.  My PT instructor said it was because I didnt have enough hydration after the spin.   Anyway I have another spin session tomorrow at 6.30am.  So I will make sure I drink heaps.

Bike On Mums Welcome Mum5

Bike On Mums welcome with great pleasure Mum5; Billie Sue.
Mum5 was officially signed up last night at a bar, (see photo below),
the traditionally accepted venue for signing agreements.

 Note -this photo seemed perfectly clear when taken. Mum1 who appears as a shadow in
the left corner can testify to this fact.

 Unfortunately for me Mum5 has her own bike. This severely limits the influence
I can exert over her. For the time being anyway.
Mum5 knows a lot about bikes and prides herself on keeping up to date
with all new developments especially in the fascinating area of
gear componentry.
As you can imagine she takes exceptional care of her bike.
Here is a photo of it taking pride of place in her garage.

Welcome Mum5!

Real Women Duathlon

Today April 3 Mum1 completes the first of many 'fun' events in style and make me so proud.

Here we are before the race briefing working out which way round biking
gloves go on.
Mum1 hasn't even pinned her race number on yet but I can't
be too sarcastic because I've put mine on the back of my shirt and apparently
everyone else thinks they should go on the front.

I then spend a considerable amount of time outlining our tactics to Mum1.

I don't know why she is laughing. She then listens to the race briefing and does the

warmup. I really admire people who do that.

Here we are on the second run leg. It appears as if we are walking but we just
slowed down to give the camera a chance to catch the image clearly.
And we are obviously so far out in front there is no need to hurry.

No film exists of us biking the 20kms- (It was a fantastic ride and Mum1 found some
extra speed on the home stretch; good for her)- but ...there is a clip of the finish line!

It was an exceptional day and Mum1 was brilliant.
Heartfelt thanks to all the people who turned up to support us or sent texts.

(A meeting will be held this week at Pippi's Bar to decide on the next event.. the Tough Guy in
Rotorua has been mentioned. If this is agreed by Bike On Mums HQ then for
Mums3 and 4 this will be a compulsory event.)

Bikeonmum3 Changing a Tyre

Ok so I know that its been 3 months since I started cycling and I was taking a huge risk going out and not knowing how to change a tyre.  Mitigating this was the fact that I had my bike mechanic at the end of a cellphone, however there is always that small chance that coverage would drop out and then where would I be...walking home slowly one would expect.

So last night my bike mechanic presented me with an opportunity to learn how to change a tyre.  Well it took over 3/4's of an hour...but we did have dinner in between.  Its reasonably straight forward but I really hope I dont ever get caught out in a race situation as it would be a bit time consuming.  Guess I might need to practice a bit more.  My mechanic gave me a pass mark,  but is shaking his head on my description of some the parts of the bike.  I dont know why you can't call some parts that "gear thingey"  I know what I mean.

This week's activities saw the normal biking to work and I did a lovely two hour jaunt with the Revolve Ladies up Brooklyn and around the Bays.  Stunning day in Wellington.  On talking to some of the Revolve Ladies I mentioned my dilemma about running red lights when they don't change.  I believe the fine is circa $250 and of course one suggestion is to just get up on the footpath and go that way as if you did get caught thats just a $50 fine.  Most intersections with lights have those little triggers on the ground but I did try my bike mechanic's suggestion and angling my bike sideways and it worked!!!!.  The other comment I picked up from the Ladies was that as daylight saving is finishing their maybe a campaign by the Police on lack of lights on Bike.  There maybe a warning first and maybe even a voucher for lights given out to selected cyclists, however the point she was making was if you are out during the dark make sure you have lights.  Now this all sounds common sense but I have been surprised by the number of cyclists with bad or no lighting.

Final comment for the week I have joined a gym with the aim to get the upperbody a bit more toned as my flappy chicken wings will take off in a good Wellington Southerly.  Will update you on my progress as I am changing my diet at the same time to no Carbs!!!!!  Suffice to say this first week saw a few headaches as I had the carb withdrawl.