Better Late than never

NYC blog is up at natevandelliot.travellerspoint.com

Stay tuned for part 3 Yosemite and SF....

USA A OK

Our first USA blog is up at

http://natevandelliot.travellerspoint.com

E

Plastic Jesus

I went to the Burn your plastic Jesus talk last night at the Ent Cent.

Two things to say, one good, one bad.

We'll start with the bad....

For me, the flashiness of the band detracts from the point of worship. I want to join together as one to sing praises to God but I find myself focusing on the people up the front like it's a concert. Why not have pictures of the creation on the big screen rather than the band? I also like hearing the congregation not just the band.

The good....

I thought there were lots of positives incl the talk, the turnout, the Q & A and the alter call but the thing that stuck me the most was one little point about heaven. The point was that we already have it too good, Sydney is close enough heaven. I don't think my problem is that Sydney is heaven. My problem is I'm trying to make Sydney heaven. I want Sydney to be heaven. I care too much about achieving a higher level of happiness here and now.

It's funny how powerful acknowledging a problem can be.

Ev

Could this man be the first Australian yellow jersey winner?

Hopefully Cadel will go one place better in this years Tour de France. If he doesn't I know someone else who looks pretty good in yellow...



PS I promise I'll let Elliot make his own decisions in life but is there any harm in pointing him in the right direction?

Here are some more non cycling related pics









Ok maybe one more cycling photo...

A detailed life history of Elliot John Bartle Snow 06/06/08 - present

Here's a brief rundown of the events of the last 48 hours.

Nat started having contractions at 3am on the 5th. The contractions were a bit sporadic coming an going in intensity and duration throughout the day. In the afternoon it looked like they might fade into a false alarm. We had a prearranged Midwife appointment at 6.30pm and by the time we got there the contractions had ramped up to a more regular 50 seconds every 5 or 6 minutes. We were pleased to discover that Nat was 2cm dilated by then and the days pain hadn't been for nought. After the baby's heart rate and Nat's contractions had been monitored for a while we were sent home to wait. It wasn't long before the contractions had become unbearable and we were back at the hospital trying to score some drugs. Gas was the first drug but it didn't do anything other than make Nat nauseous. After she violently hurled 4 times in very quick succession we decided to try something a little less airy fairy. The anaesthesiologist arrived at 10 to put in the epidural. watching someone stick a massive needle into your wife's spine is hard enough but when he clearly was having trouble finding the right zone it becomes quite distressing. Three positions and about 20 prods later he finally broke through and by 12.30 Nat was blissfully unaware of the contractions that were bringing baby closer to the outside world. at 4am Nat was fully dilated and it was time to push. The Epidural was dialed back so Nat could feel herself push. Unfortunately that also equated to feeling a whole lot of pain. She pushed and pushed like a trooper and got the baby's head all the way to the front door but after 90 minutes of pushing the little one started to fire up. His heart rate was at 170, 40 bpm faster than it should have been so the midwives decided to call in the Doc to get the show on the road. After a quick hit of something or rather to get the contractions fired up Nat was left to use the last of her energy to give it one last push but to no avail. With the heart rate maxing out at 205 the Doc was called in again along with another specialist and a second midwife. I was freaking out a bit at this stage. They tried to use the vacuum thingy but it kept on popping off so it was time to get some real hardware involved. The forceps finally did the trick and at 5:57 Elliot was born. He's healthy, big, hairy and to Nat and I he looks pretty cute.

Here are the Stats

Born - 5:57 am 6th June 08
Weight - 4.03 kg (just under 9 pounds)
Height - 53.5 cm
Head circumference 36.5

Praise be to God,
Ev and Nat

The Sydney Global Food Challenge

One of the bet things about travelling is treating your tastebuds to foreign tastes. from the best Piri Piri prawns to the most bland maize meal cuisine is something that can define an experience and is often the thing that lingers longest in the memory.

With Jr on the way it's looking like a long time before the snow family will taste the delights of Sashimi in Kyoto or a juicy steak in Buenos Aries. Fortunately Sydney’s diverse population provides the perfect alternative, a challenge to keep the hungry traveller well feed, a check list to end all checklists, the Sydney global food challenge.

OK so Thai is going to be pretty easy, as is Mexican but beyond the classics is going to get a little harder. So where in Sydney can you get good Rwandan or Turkmenistanian? This is not a rhetorical question. I need help....

So far in the last month we have checked off
French - Essiette
Lebanese - Emma’s on liberty
Thai - Thup Tip Siam
Greek - Mediterranean
Columbian - San Jose
Czech - Prague

We have some restaurants lined up
Hungarian - Corner 75
Brazilian - Casa Brasil
Spanish - La Cantina
Macedonian - Lukas
Austrian - Una's
Vietnamese - Phuong
Egyptian - Radio Cairo


Any other suggestions?? or do you have a better suggestion for one of the cuisines above?

Want to join us for some Iraqi in Fairfield?

Even if we can't have a schnitzel in Vienna at least we will be able to hook into one of these bad boys soon....

Dirtworks 100

5.30, alarm goes after a restless night in a cold cold tent. I momentarily toy with the idea of dencorubing whist in my sleeping bag. I start asking myself why didn't I challenge myself more when I was young and resilient rather than waiting until my 30's? After a few bits of fruit and a B&E roll I made my way to the start line for the Dirtworks 100km race. I was feeling strong.

The first 10kms was pretty flat and then the punishment began. I rode a small portion of the ridiculously steep first climb before running into a logjam of people walking up the hill. To be honest I was relieved to have an excuse to get off. Once of the top of the hill we were speeding along a ridge with fantastic views in all directions. Things were going swimmingly until the 32 km mark when my rear derailleur hanger snapped. Without a derailleur you don't have anything to tension the chain and you effectively lose peddle power. 32kms back to the start line or 18kms to the half way mechanic station??? I made the decision to soldier on to half way with the hope that they had a spare hanger. I didn't mind the uphills and of course you can roll down hill but pushing a bike along the flat with hundreds of people flying past sucks. Just under 3 hours and two massive blisters later I made it to the Mechanic station only to find that that had run out of the hanger that I needed. The only thing left to do was remove some of the links from my chain shortening it to get the required tension. The only problem with that solution is that rather than having 21 gears I now had 1.

With the 72km cut off time looming and with everyone else a good few hours ahead of me I ripped in to the last 50km hell bent on finishing the 100km. The one gear that I was stuck in was 10th/21 which basically meant it was too high for most of the hills and too low for the flats and down hills. I normally peddle at about 90rpm which equated to 16km/h in 10th gear so my top speed on the flats, with a rpm of 110 was about 18km as opposed to the usual 30-35km. I made the 72km mark with time to spare and lined up the next obstacle, a 50m long 1ft wide bridge. You had the option of walking or riding across. by the time I got there 60 of about 600 riders had ridden and 11 of them had fallen in. After double checking my phone and car key were properly ziplocked I set off at a leisurely 16km/h. It doesn't sound hard but keeping a bike straight for 50m is pretty difficult and for a few split seconds I thought I was a goner but fortuity I made it. Unfortunately 10th gear wasn't great for riding up the sand bank on the other side and the cheers of the onlookers turned to jeers as I pancacked meters after getting off the bridge...

The last 30kms was extremely gruelling and I began to cramp all over, even muscles that I didn't know I had began to cramp. I eventually rolled into St Albans 8 and a half hours after I had started. The sense of achievement was huge.

Goosebumps

was doing some random web surfing and I found this little clip. By the end I had a massive smile and Goosebumps and I was calculating how many frequent flyer point I need to earn to get to J'burg.....

http://theworldgame.sbs.com.au/webjunk/4270/

If this video doesn't get you going you're either Japanese or not into sports.

Final Figures

Thanks for all the support. I ended up raising $3804 which was just short of my $4000 target. Despite the constant rain it was a fantastic experience and I'm already looking forward to the next big ride.

Sydney to Surfers the hard way

After a restles 5 hours I woke (very early) not quite ready to face my fears. Was I going to make it? Was my undercarridge going to withstand 7 days of preassure and friction? Would my legs work on day 2, let alone day 7?

There was only one way to find out...

As we arrived at Hornsby TAFE carpark for the grand depart I noticed an abundance of flashy bikes and a absence of leg hair. I threw my gear in the baggage truck and made some last minute checks. I was as ready as I was ever going to be. The packs were called and one by one they rolled out. Thomo and I were placed in Pack 7 of 9. The pack stayed together for most of the morning session but our speed was a little lackluster and once we hit the first of many hills it became apparent that we were in the wrong pack. I'm not a good hill climber, never will be, so when I reached the top of the Hakesbury climb in second position (behind thomo) we knew it was time to change packs. We rode out the rest of the day with pack 7 and decided to jump up to pack 6 the next day.



Pack 6 had some good strong riders and over the next few days we got into a pretty good groove. The pace was still a little slow but the company certainly made up for that. Despite the average age of the 170 riders being 48 and the male:female ratio being 10:1 we had a young pack with 7 lovely ladies which made for plenty of on road banter.

Unfortunatly day 2 was also the first of 5 very wet days. I've never really ridden in the rain for any length of time as normally once the heavens open we head for cover. When your final destination is 150 kms away you don't have much choice so we became very proficiant at wet weather riding. The biggest problem with riding in the rain isn't getting cold and wet because as long as you keep pedaling you can keep pretty warm. The biggest problem is punctures. Your wheel is much more likely to pick up something sharp in the wet and at times the frequency of punctures was laughable with as little as 100 meters between punctures. In our worst session our group picked up 6 punctures in 50kms.

The rain peaked on day 4. We woke to torential rain, lightening crashing and strong gusty winds. After a long wait on a crowded balcony and no break in the weather, the call was made to cancel the day's ride and bus everyone to Nambucca Heads. While I really didn't think it was wise to ride it was very disappointing to break the journey.

Throughout the whole trip I was surprised by how well my body coped with the constant strain. I'm sure the hearty meals and deep sleeps were instrumental in the daily recovery. I was worried about saddle sores,chafing and general fatigue but I'm pleased to say other than a little muscle strain and knee pain I made it through unscathed.

With only a few days left we decided to crank it up a few notches and see if we could match it with the shaved legs brigade. Pack one and two were pretty much out of the question and word on the street was that pack 6 was riding at about the same speed as 4 and 5 so we decided to give pack 3 a go. The change in pace was immediatly noticable and after about 10 kms thomo and i got caught up in a breakaway. We were riding with a bunch of ten very strong riders who were going 100%. It was a big change from the stop start pace of pack 6 and after 30 kms of huffing and puffing I fell off the back and rode the remaining 20kms to morning tea solo. Thomo managed to hold on but paid the price and decided to take it easy for the rest of the day. After morning tea pack three headed off as one and everyone worked together. The other main difference between pack 6 and 3 is that the riders in pack 3 know where they need to be and what they need to do once the pack gets moving. It was pretty cool being part of such a well oiled machine.


The down side of riding at such a high pace is that there isn't any time to talk. It was great to take up the challenge and to know that we were strong enough to ride at that level for a couple of days but for the final day we decided to bring it home with our mates in pack 6. The last day was the day I found the hardest. The niggeling injuries were starting to take a toll and with a solid 36 km of hills in the morning it was comforting to know that only one more big push was required to make it to Surfers. Another good reason to ride with pack 6 was the Mount Warning pub tradition. Just after morning tea on the last day packs 5 and 6 go ahead of the other packs and stop at the pub for a beer (yes in the am) and to cheer on the other packs as they fang through the little town of Uki.

After a cappacino, a beer, a coke and a big lunch the last 50 kms were a little harder but we made it up one last hill and coasted into Queensland in the early arvo. We regrouped just shy of our finishing point and all 170 riders stopped traffic and turned heads as we cruised up the main street of Surfers.

All in all it was a sensational week and I'm already lining up the next cycling challenge. Thanks so much for all the support (financial and other wise) it was great to know you guys were backing us.

The stats
864 kms
6 days of riding
averaging 144 km/day
longest day 156kms
average speed 28.2 km/h
time in the saddle 30 hours 38 minutes.

Politics of Le Tour

I watched an interview during last years Tour de France with a journalist who said everyone knew that Contador was guilty of doping as implicated in Operación Puerto. Allegedly he avoided prosecution by becoming a snitch for the Spanish cycling federation. The pendulum of justice has swung against Alberto. Today it was announced by the ASO, who run Le Tour and the Paris-Nice race (which Contador also won in 07) that it has banned Team Astana from all it’s races. I’m finding it hard to pinpoint what emotions this is evoking within me. It’s great that Cadel will have a better chance of winning this years tour but it would be better if he won with Contador present. Had Contador been banned last year would Cadel have won? I feel like justice has been done but only to a very limited extent. I’m scared that Team High road (which included my favorite cyclist Mick Rogers www.highroadsports.com/team/Men/Rogers_Michael) may also be barred from the tour because of the bad press it received last year as T-mobile. Most of all I feel like cycling needs a governing body with the power to effect change. At the moment the UCI is in a power struggle with the ASO and other event organizers, a situation which is hindering the efforts to capitalize on the global resurgence of cycling as a spectator and participation sport. Can’t we all just get along…..

I love a challenge

As we head into summer it’s getting harder and harder to get on the bike as much as I would like. For starters I now need to divide my leisure time between surfing and cycling and on top of this even when I want to ride it get’s a little masochistic once the temperature is above 25 degrees. You can either wait for a cool dry day, which at the moment are few and far between, or get up in the wee hours to beat the heat. Not being a morning person I need to set goals that will lure me out of bed. This morning I found my challenge.

I have been thinking about riding with a club for a while and a few weeks ago I took the first step. I called Bike Addiction to see what the go was with their club rides. I was told the Wednesday social ride averages about 30km/h and the Tuesday Thursday and Saturday A grade hit outs average 45km/h. We normally average about 30 – 35km/h over the same Manly to Church point coarse so I joined the BA crew for the Wednesday morning social ride. It was pretty good fun but after 20 or so kms I hadn’t even broken a sweat. We averaged a dismal 23km/h. Based on the overestimate of the social average I decided the ridiculously fast 45km/h average of the A grade rides must have been similarly over estimated and therefore well within my grasp. I was wrong.

I rode with the A grade guys for the first time this morning. About 50 very toned looking cyclist met at BA in Manly at 5.30 and headed off at a leisurely 30-35 km/h for the first 5kms. Somehow I started in the 3rd pair and by the time we reached the top of Long reef hill the 1st and 2nd pairs had peeled away leaving me at the front. It’s down hill (my speciality being a big, heavy boy) for the 2kms to Collaroy and as the leader I decided to raise the tempo a little. The guy I was riding next to started to drop back, foolishly I thought it was because he wasn’t up to the cracking 45km/h pace I was setting. What I didn’t realize was the first 5 km’s was the warm up and the top of the hill was when they really started to crank. It wasn’t until I got overtaken by a long line of cyclists at 55km/h that I realised we had transitioned from a peel off when you’re bugged formation to an anti clockwise rotation formation. The heart rate was maxing out at 190bpm as I got spat out the back of the Peloton for the first time. At this point I started praying for red lights. Everyone came back together in Narrabeen and over the next 10kms or so I managed to cling to the tail of the bunch. Keep in mind it’s 30% easier riding on someone’s wheel and I was pulling myself inside out to stay in touch as we mached along in the high 50’s. By Mona Vale I had to sit up and let go, fortunately there were a number of other riders in the same boat. We got most of the way to Church point and as the first riders started zooming past up in the opposite direction the guys I was riding with told me to swing around and jump on the tail. I held on for a while but once again I got munched and spat out the back. On the return leg everyone does a slightly different route depending on how they’re feeling. I took the most direct route and found myself hooking up with and getting spat out by different bunches most of the way home. By Narrabeen I gave up and limped home at 20km/h.

It was a pretty awesome way to start the day.

That sinking feeling

I'm not an attention to detail kind of guy. This deficiancy can present in a number of different ways and in a wide variety of circumstances. I did something last night that I have't done for a long time. I sat an Exam..... It's been about 8 years since my last exam and 11 years since I last had the feeling I had last night. That sinking feeling you get when you realise you've stuffed something up big time. Can I just say attention to detail is very very important when reading an exam paper. Had I read the paper properly I would have seen the bit that said "answer 4 of the 8 following statements" in the short answers section. It wasn't until we walked out the door and Nat asked me which 4 short answers did you answer that I realised my folly. Of coarse the extra 40 minutes I spent answering all 8 short answers made it very hard to punch out three essays and as a result I'm pretty sure my essays will come up a little short too. Oh well at least we are saved by faith alone not by exam results so that no one can boast.

Gong ride 07

I really didn't want to leave Ems 30th at B'wood. Not only was the wine plentiful and the company outstanding but what lay before me was undecidedly uninviting. We left at about 10.00 amongst the thousands of golden oldies that had been in the hunter for a beach boys concert. A short way into our drive we were reduced to a crawl by the heaviest rain I have seen in years. By the time we got home the rain had eased off but the slow trip home had eaten into my already inadequate sleep allocation. Four short hours later i got up, avoided looking out the window, lathered most of my sore body with dencorub, downed a few panadol and Lycraed up. The last thing I felt like doing was riding 90 k's in the rain.



As we drove into the city the stop start rain became less stop and more start. The team photo was taken and without too much fuss we were on the road. If you enter as an individual you get allocated a departure time based on your estimated time to cover the 90km's. I was shooting for a sub three hour time which should have equated to a 6am start. Unfortunately because I was riding with the work crew we started at 7am. Of course this meant we started behind the 3 hour riders, the 4 hour riders and even the 5 hour riders. Anyone who has been in the car with me will know I don't like being stuck in traffic. The first 10 k's was all about ducking and weaving, trying to get into a rhythm, longing for the open road. The rain continued falling and within minutes the rain along with the water being thrown up by 10,000 cyclist (most of whom were in front of me) drenched us to the bone. We managed to make our way through the bulk of the slower riders and by the time we got to Engadine we were pretty much in the clear. The rain stopped the sun came out and before long I was enjoying riding with the sun on my back.. With renewed vigour we started ascending the main climb of the day through the royal national park. I loved riding a completely new route through such a beautiful area. The RNP and the northern Wollongong beaches might be easy on the eyes but they are certainly hard on the legs. with a strong southerly blowing the undulating hills were taking more of a toll than I had anticipated. I was well and truly ready for the waiting sausage sambos and powerades that were waiting for me in the CSC tent. Nat was good enough to pop down to the gong to pick us up. I finally got to catch up on a weekend of sleep deprivation with a solid 4 hour arvo kip.



This was my first organised ride of any sort and I have got to say it was pretty awesome. I'm sure I'll be back next year but until then it's time to look for the next challenge. The list of epic rides keeps on growing:
I should proably start with something flatish
http://www.bv.com.au/great-rides/20005/
Then something with a few hills but still close to home
http://www.audax.org.au/alpine-course.htm
I'm probably not going to be able to make it to Europe this year for the Etape de tour but it's pencilled in for 09 http://emandgav.blogspot.com/2007/10/new-challenge-etape-du-tour-2008.html
If I do the Etape in 09 and am looking for a challenge on 10 I could always go the Marmotte
http://www.sportcommunication.com/GT/epreuve.php?langue=2
If the marmotte isn't enough to keep me fired up I can always ride across Canada.....
http://www.freewebs.com/jacandaaron/index.htm

What would Uncle Jesse say?

I'm a firm believer in the half your age plus 7 rule. For those not familiar with the rule it is a simple mathematical equation to ensure you don't cradle snatch. Say you're 40, you want to date a younger girl (lets say a 30 year old) so you do the math. 40 / 2 + 7 = 27, you're in the clear this time. Say you're 37 (like 7 times tour de France winner Lance Armstrong) and you want to date a younger girl (lets say a 21 year old like Full house star Ashley Olsen), you do the math, 37 / 2 + 7 = 25.5. Clearly this is an unacceptable age gap as the following photos demonstrate.

Lance in 1999 (wining his first Tour de France)


Ashley in 1999 (post full house, prepubescent)


I guess celebrities live by a different set of rules so I don;t know why I'm surprised by the latest turns Lances love life has taken...
I'm not angry, I'm just disappointed.

The great escape

The last job I resigned from was Surfection. That was back in the 90's, back when life was simple and fancy free.
Today I pulled the plug on my short career in recruitment. I feel liberated but not fancy free....
Stay tuned for more exciting news.

Who do you love?

Is it worth getting up early to watch a South Africa v England final? possibly not but it did help me sort out the tail end of my fav rugby teams. Going into the final I thought I hated England and South Africa in equal measure. After 80 minutes I was quite shocked to find myself whole heartedly supporting the boks, cheering for Victor and Jon even for that dirty dog Butch.

I have a confession

I cheated in the 1986 MS read-a-thon. Time was running out, mum had been hounding me to get some runs on the board, I tried to read a few books but lets face it, reading just isn't my special talent. After getting the balls up to walk around the neighbourhood asking for a per book sponsorship all I had to do was read ten books and I would reach my fund-raising target and thus receive my prize of a MS book bag. It was the 11th hour and I still didn't have enough books read. Being the entrepreneurial type I even resorted to reading Golden books for some quick fire results but even that was proving too time consuming. On the last night of the read-a-thon I did something that would haunt me for years to come. I falsely claimed James and the giant peach.

It's time to pay my pennants. It's time to make amends. It's time to raise some legitimate funs for the MS society. It's time for the MS gong ride.
I'm riding in the MS Sydney to the Gong ride on the 4th of November. It's 90kms of shark tooth like hills, howling costal winds, blazing sun and to top it off it's the night after Emmy G's 30th so I'm probably going to have a headache....



If you want to be a part of this tale of repentance and redemption I would love your support.

http://register.gongride.org.au/?evsnow

I promise I won't cheat....
Get on board,
Ev

I want to ride my bicycle, I want to ride my bike

There is nothing like riding past kilometre after kilometre of traffic that, if not for my bike, I would be stuck in. I, like many other Sydney siders, brave nasty traffic, disgruntled bus drivers and sometimes unpredictable weather to commute to work. One of the nicest things about the commute is riding up Parriwi hill with it's million dollar view and not a car within earshot.



My question today is why is Sydney (and in particular the government) so far behind most other developed cities in it's attitude towards cyclists? For a city facing mounting traffic and pollution problems and an obesity crisis to boot it just makes sense to encourage more people to ride to work. If a city as old and congested as London can make it happen I don't see any reason why Sydney can't make it happen too. If you're keen to save petrol, save money, save the environment and save on future medical health bills October 17th might be the day to give it a bash.

Go the All Blacks.....

New Zealand's opening game against Italy was hard to watch. Not only because it was only shown on one TV in the whole of Manly but more so because of my abhorrence of Doug Howlett. He's such a poof anyone could score tries on the end of the All Black backline. He's in the same boat as Geoff Wilson, glory hoggin nancy boys. That being said I did draw NZ in the office sweep so I get $80 if they win! Let's just hope Dougie gets hurt early in the tournament so I can enjoy supporting NZ. Go the All Blacks....

On another NZ sporting note: what is the name of the NZ badminton team??

Work it baby, YEAH

Due to office I work in not having a shower I have recently joined a gym for the first time. It's a crazy new world in there and quite frankly, I'm a little concerned. As one would expect the change room is full of naked men strutting around but what concerns me most is the designated stand around chatting naked zone that I have dubbed the funboy zone. Gone are the days of having to travel to Bardots for a spot of nude conversing.

The second thing I need to share is that I, being a novice gym junkie still haven't got the routine down yet. Not only did I walk through the main foyer in the budgie smugglers (not realising there was a more direct route from the change rooms to the pool) but I have also fallen into the classic trap for young players.

I implore you people never forget these

Especially when you're wearing jeans.....

"Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?"