Amy's ride

Hope 2006 finds you happy & healthy! Now, a roundup of WoJ related news. The whistle n' bells version of this message can be found here;
http://bicyclejustice.blogspot.com/

1. Sam Powries letter published in Cycling News:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/letters/?id=2005/12-23letters#Cyclists

2. Euan & I working on a planned 'cycling wiki'. Any contributions most welcome. Including hosting...more on that soon!
http://www.cyclingforums.com/t306872-wheels-on-the-bike-go-round-and-round.html

3. Elizabeth Wynhausen: Brazen displays of the unAustralian way
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,17694096%255E7583,00.html
A rather acerbic review of unAustralian goings on - with a sizable mention of one Mr Eugene McGee..

4. Melbourne: SMS death driver gets her licence back
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/sms-death-driver-gets-her-licence-back/2005/12/28/1135732642214.html

5. This Saturday (7/1) in Geelong is Amys Ride. The organisers are still taking entries up until the day.
http://www.amysride.com.au

We are having a combined WoJ/aus.bicycle team. Also we have designed a 'team ticket' to be placed on your jersey ie: similar to a race ticket
pinned to the back.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/72663690@N00/81433781/

Should have laminated a.b spoke cards by Friday. If you want one, or both, please email me: cfsmtbATgmailDOTcom

Can also arrange for accommodation, safe storage space and showers at a friends place in Geelong East (near Geelong Showground/Racecourse). This is near the Botanical Gardens. Email me directly if you want the address details.

Katies positive attitude certainly puts my recent whinging relating to my cat-themed bike bingle into perspective. 🙂 Show 'em who's the boss!

Brown in charge of recovery, and partner
http://www.theage.com.au/news/sport/brown-in-charge-of-recovery-and-partner/2006/01/03/1136050442256.html

Katie Brown's feisty nature is undoubtedly sustaining the 22-year-old through her long injury rehabilitation. Now boyfriend Mark Renshaw is about to discover the flipside to that hard-headed attitude.

Brown will manage Renshaw's team from today in the five-day Bay Cycling Classic and no doubt it will be an amusing few days for their relationship.

"Knowing her, she's going to be pretty bossy," Renshaw said.

Brown responded: "This gives me an opportunity to say what I want to say and he has to listen to me, because I'm the boss … I can get a bit feisty."

(more in article via link)

Further reportage from todays (r)Age

Cyclists race along road to recovery
http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/racing-along-the-road-to-recovery/2006/01/04/1136050495585.html

Classic comeback: Alexis Rhodes (left) and Kate Nichols prepare for the start of the Bay Cycling Classic at Williamstown yesterday.

Classic comeback: Alexis Rhodes (left) and Kate Nichols prepare for the start of the Bay Cycling Classic at Williamstown yesterday.
Photo: Sebastian Costanzo

WILLIAMSTOWN foreshore on a summer day is half a world away from the forest road in Germany where Alexis Rhodes almost lost her life last year, but yesterday she and Kate Nichols rode together for the first time since they survived the accident that claimed the life of fellow cyclist Amy Gillett-Safe.

Returning to national competition in the Bay Cycling Classic, Rhodes and Nichols took a further step in their recovery from the horrendous injuries they sustained when a young driver crashed into a group of Australia's top female road cyclists.

On paper, yesterday was more successful for Rhodes, who finished sixth riding for the Pitcher Partners team, than for Nichols, but the presence of a beaming Simon Gillett, the husband of their late friend, was a reminder that there are some things in life more important than placings.

Rhodes, 21, was on life support and in a coma for almost a week after the accident with severe chest injuries and broken bones in her back. The six months since have helped heal the physical and emotional wounds, but she said Gillett-Safe was in her thoughts as they lined up for the race.

"It was pretty emotional on the start line; it was good to see Simon there," Rhodes said.

"It was pretty hard but once the whistle sounded it was business as usual. Amy was one of my closest friends, and I know she'd be really happy to see me back riding."

Nichols, 20, said she took strength from the memory of Gillett-Safe as she slowly navigated the path to recovery from serious arm injuries.

"Amy's always on our minds, but with the racing, it's fantastic because she was such a strong and positive rider and I take that with me in my races now and I definitely feel stronger and more determined from it," she said.

"It was great to see Alexis have a go (today). It was great to see all the girls out there, I haven't raced with them for a while. They were all so encouraging out there and supportive, as well as being competitors too and making it a hard race."

The first of the classic's five women's events was won by individual pursuit world champion Katie Mactier. Mactier described winning as a "fantastic feeling", but was at her most animated when discussing Rhodes' and Nichols' efforts.

"It's terrific, it really is. There's a wonderful feeling in the group, there always is in Australia, but to have those two girls here … they're remarkable girls and … an inspiration to be around," she said.

"They're just such a credit to themselves and their country. I have so much respect for what they're doing and what they've been through."

When asked if she believed Rhodes stood a chance of making the Commonwealth Games team — an unlikely achievement, but still possible — Mactier replied: "Bloody oath, that girl's capable of doing anything; they all are, look what they've come through, nothing's going to stop them."

On Saturday, Amy's Ride, a charity event devised by Simon Gillett, will be held before the Geelong leg of the Bay Classic. The ride is open to all entrants, who can choose from five courses of varying length around the Bellarine Peninsula.

What's with all the name change?

'Gillett-Safe'

bit strange form a PR point of view, changing a brandname halfway thru...

flyingdutch said:

What's with all the name change?

'Gillett-Safe'

bit strange form a PR point of view, changing a brandname halfway thru...

Not at all - these were Amy's married/maiden names. She had a successful rowing career before marrying Simon & simply using both surnames is a mark of respect.

cfsmtb said:

Not at all - these were Amy's married/maiden names. She had a successful rowing career before marrying Simon & simply using both surnames is a mark of respect.

yeah, assumed that. just seems wierd that it pops up now when everyone has been referring/printing 'Amy Gillett' or 'Amy Gillet Foundation'
I assume the foundation name is still 'AGF' ?

We're baacckkk!

Too tired for a proper RR. Over 3000 cyclists. About 10 in the WoJ/a.b team from Melbourne. Bloody superb day. More details and pix soon.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

cfsmtb said:

We're baacckkk!

Too tired for a proper RR. Over 3000 cyclists. About 10 in the WoJ/a.b team from Melbourne. Bloody superb day. More details and pix soon.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

You won't wipe the grin off my face any time soon. I had one of THE BEST days ever.

SuzieB said:

You won't wipe the grin off my face any time soon. I had one of THE BEST days ever.

you darn right...

it was superb weather, superb views and superb riding....sorry I couldnt ride with the woj/a.b team, I was under orders from my Pink Inc ladies team to be their gatekeeper, chaperone and love slave for the ride...so ever willing to be as obliging as possible for 12 ladies on roadbikes who can hold more than a conversation on and about bikes for 4 hours, I went along dutifully and we had one of the greatest days in the saddle ever, even better than ATB in 05 with the same group....

Brilliant occasion and great racing followed....

maybe see some of you at the finale in Docklands on Sunday....🙂

overdue time for bed .....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Had a great day as well. Superb weather and great beach views along the way.

I've uploaded my photos from Amy's Ride at flickr.com1784111Open ↗

I woke up mega early bouncing something silly. All I wanna do is pull the lycra back on and get out there and do some more riding. Yep, I'm hooked! 😄

I've got heaps of photos from the Crit as well to follow later today.

As seems to be the consensus, I thoroughly enjoyed the day out.
I noticed a group sporting 'Wheels of Justice' on the back of their jerseys... I couldnt jump on to ask at the time, but I think I recognised the name from this forum. Is that the case???

SEGFTG said:

As seems to be the consensus, I thoroughly enjoyed the day out.
I noticed a group sporting 'Wheels of Justice' on the back of their jerseys... I couldnt jump on to ask at the time, but I think I recognised the name from this forum. Is that the case???

Aye, aye, that was us. cfsmtb did a great job making the cards for us to wear. 🙂

cfsmtb said:

We're baacckkk!

Too tired for a proper RR. Over 3000 cyclists. About 10 in the WoJ/a.b
team from Melbourne. Bloody superb day. More details and pix soon.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Oh, so that was what was going on in Geelong yesterday? I did wonder,
when I tootled on through to Portarlington for a navigation course,
behind (and in front of) a bunch of cars with bikes attached.

I need to pay a little more attention to what's going on around me, I
suspect ... *sheepish grin*

--
My Usenet From: address now expires after two weeks. If you email me, and
the mail bounces, try changing the bit before the "@ to usenet".

Duh. should have checked out your photos first. Definitely saw you guys cruise past, but obviously saw only backs - no faces!

I will have to keep alert for the next ride and try to join the group.

SuzieB said:

Aye, aye, that was us. cfsmtb did a great job making the cards for us to wear. 🙂

On 2006-01-07, Stuart Lamble (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

cfsmtb said:

We're baacckkk!

Too tired for a proper RR. Over 3000 cyclists. About 10 in the WoJ/a.b
team from Melbourne. Bloody superb day. More details and pix soon.
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

Oh, so that was what was going on in Geelong yesterday? I did wonder,
when I tootled on through to Portarlington for a navigation course,
behind (and in front of) a bunch of cars with bikes attached.

Jeez, what rock were you hiding under for the past 4 months?

Quoted message said:

I need to pay a little more attention to what's going on around me, I
suspect ... *sheepish grin*

I definitely do. I just ran over my cat with my chair.

BAN 5WD CHAIRS!

Oh, do stop sulking.

--
TimC
HANDLE WITH EXTREME CARE: This Product Contains Minute Electrically
Charged Particles Moving at Velocities in Excess of Five Hundred
Million Miles Per Hour. --unknown

Great day out until going thur the carpark in Ocean Grove and hit a pot hole just before the 5 sets of speed humps. Result being a one inch tear thru to the belting in the rear tyre and an eighth inch split thru the belt letting the tube out. Didn't notice the damage at the time until the hill after Barwon Heads when the tube let go. Final 50km's with less than 40psi in the rear tyre (road bike) 2 tubes, 3 patches and a tyre liner which my brother loaned me when he caught me on the side of the road adding another patch.

Crits were great afterwards though.

On 2006-01-07, SEGFTG (aka Bruce)
was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea:

Quoted message said:

As seems to be the consensus, I thoroughly enjoyed the day out.
I noticed a group sporting 'Wheels of Justice' on the back of their
jerseys... I couldnt jump on to ask at the time, but I think I
recognised the name from this forum. Is that the case???

Yep. Which ride? We had about 5 or 6 go on the 45, and about 7 go on
the 120.

Myself and 'soiler rode together basically the entire 120km. We rode
a paceline with a family, with a kid doing extrememly well -- taking
turns at the same pace up front and not tiring at all. I didn't
notice, but apparently he was missing an arm too.

We split with them to grab water, and the field was becoming rather
spread out. Some people had obviously never seen hills before.
Riding along, and a guy kitted up quite nicely passes us about 15km/h
faster. He then gets in front by about 20m, and just sits there. He
did this a few times whenever things bunched up a bit and we overtook
him. Eventually, he came to a hill, and soiler and I powered up it,
passing almost everyone, and this one obviously quite powerful guy
just stopped in his tracks. Dude! Get off the wind trainer and
practice in some real hills!

A bit of a headwind out west, then when we turned around, it was a
tailwind. We had stopped on the side of the road to wait for the
puncture culprit to show up, and just as we were about to accelarate
off, a large bunch of motor-company people from Bendigo flew past. By
the time we got up to speed, they were 500m up, so I went after them.
Caught them, and we just took it easy into town at 33km/h.

No real hills for the day -- just one short sharp uphill. My max
speed for the day was 59.3km/h, in the final sprint in town -- a
couple of people took off down a very slight decline, and we sprinted
after them.

Final distance for the day, including from train to home: 134.77km,
moving time, 5:12:40, avg 25.9km/h. It was funny - had noticed in the
morning that most of the time we were doing 30km/h, so I thought my
avg would be up there. Nope, 20. Could barely pass anything for the
first 30km. I wonder how that compares to ATB?

And then, I ate not nearly enough pasta, and attempted to do a BR this
morning. Short route, and felt... not good.

--
TimC
Disclaimer: Due to feline interference, this post may contain typographical
errors.

SuzieB said:

I've uploaded my photos from Amy's Ride at flickr.com1784111Open ↗

I woke up mega early bouncing something silly. All I wanna do is pull the lycra back on and get out there and do some more riding. Yep, I'm hooked! 😄

I've got heaps of photos from the Crit as well to follow later today.

aha! so 'Gooch' DID show after all.

flickr.comset 1784111Open ↗

looks like the 'Anthony Collea' microphone technique 😄

bummed i couldnt make it. house of plague has seen me tied down with 'chief domestic' duties for seemingly ages now.🙁

well done all.
thought. Imagine the numbers if they did it in Melbourne/surrounds?
3500 was a brilliant turnout that hopefully will get built on next year/etc