Bike safety law
Posted by grayskullduggery in Cycling on May 15th, 2009
Lets follow Colorado’s lead and introduce a similar law in NZ to stop bogans and ignorant Neanderthal’s from being a hazard to cyclists;
From the Daily Camera in Colorado, USA;
drivers give cyclists at least three feet of space when passing or risk a $110 ticket. Anyone who throws an object at a cyclist also could be charged with a misdemeanor carrying a fine of $250 to $1,000 and up to 12 months in jail.
Virtual poppies bloom
Posted by grayskullduggery in General on April 20th, 2009
The traditional Anzac poppy has taken a leap off the coat lapel and into cyberspace on a new website.
The RSA-backed website anzacpoppy.com enables New Zealanders worldwide to download ringtones and poppy images to their mobile phone in exchange for a donation of at least $2.
Remember Our Heroes
Plant a poppy in our online Field of RemembranceTake a moment to remember, this ANZAC Day.
Make a donation now and we’ll plant a poppy on your behalf in our online Field of Remembrance. Or leave your thoughts on the Wall of Remembrance.Watch the field grow as Kiwis, like our friends below, come together:
Lance Armstrong video update
Posted by grayskullduggery in Sports, Tour de France on April 11th, 2009
I follow Lance on Twitter - it’s real interesting to check out what he’s up to, his thoughts, etc. Quite often he posts a video update of whats goin on, esp since his crash and stuffing up his collarbone - something I’m all too familiar with having done in both my collarbones on different occasions.
Seems Lance is suffering a bit of fall out from a random drug test a few weeks back, whereby the Frenchie tester took not only urine & blood, as per the norm, he also took a hair sample. No probs/issues reported at the time, but now the French want to open an investigation. The main issue here is that Lance is predicting the French authorities wont let him ride in the Tour de France!!! WTF?! that would sux, I know (almost) everyone has been really looking forward to seeing LA back in the tour.
Anyways, check out the vid below;
@lancearmstrong Video blog re: collarbone and “showergate” http://tinyurl.com/c4bhol
There’s also some news guff here on the situation;
Lance Armstrong said Friday that French anti-doping authorities have been working to prevent him from racing in this year’s Tour de France.
Armstrong, who says he has submitted to 24 drug tests since his return to professional racing in September, said the French anti-doping body (AFLD) appears poised to keep him from riding the race he won seven times between 1999 and 2005.
Ironman NZ 2009
Posted by grayskullduggery in New Zealand, Triathlons on March 16th, 2009
Thanks to everyone for all your support for my big race Saturday week ago. Apologies for not replying earlier, but Oanita and I took a well deserved week off to chill out in Taupo & recover after the race with Rich, SJ & Issy. Lots of walking Harvey the dog, and even a mountain bike up to Huka Falls and back. Its amazing how quickly the body returns to (almost) normal after a couple days.
Just a quick note to let you know how I got on race day.
I finished in 11hrs 52 mins.=20
My last Ironman was Austria a couple years ago where i finished in 12hr 28m so an OK improvement there. Unfortunately I had issues with my stomach near the end of the ride and the whole run (felt like acid burning a hole in my stomach - which also happened the last Ironman) so that slowed me down and meant I didn’t reach my goal of 11hr 30min. I ended up only being able to run 500m-1km at a time, before being reduced to a brisk walk again, then repeat…..for 42km! ouch!
For those interested, my splits are below;
Swim T1 Cycle T2 Run
1:03:23 0:06:14 5:38:25 0:02:44 5:01:13
(3.8km swim - 180km bike - 42km run)
Fundraising wise I raised $2,215.00 so thanks very much to everyone for that. The charity raised over $120,000 through people competing in Ironman NZ which is fantastic.
So now I’m back with the land of the living, I’ll try & make a better effort to keep in touch with y’all, and hopefully catchup more with those in NZ.
Thanks again.
Brendan
Ps there are some photo’s being uploaded progressively here;
http://www.flickr.com/photos/grayskull/sets/72157615225726265/
I’m also aiming on putting a bit more details of the race up on my website in the next week or so, but wont bore you with those details here
www.brendan-gray.com
Ironman - done, tick
Posted by grayskullduggery in Triathlons on March 7th, 2009
ATHLETE RANK AGE/DIV SWIM BIKE RUN TOTAL
1 GRAY, Brendan 62/64/122 33/Ages 30 - 34 01:03:23 05:38:26 05:01:13 11:52:00
3 HARRIS-SMITH, Richard 119/119/136 41/Ages 40 - 44 01:11:48 06:01:50 04:37:12 12:02:27
jesus was that hard, that was pretty much the hardest thing i’ve ever done!!!!
SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL RANK DIV.POS.
1:03:23 5:38:26 5:01:13 11:52:00 570 122
LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (1:03:23) 1:40/100m 287 62
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi (5:38:26) 19.86 mph 295 65
RUN SPLIT 1: 7.5 mi 7.5 mi (1:10:48) 6.36 mph
RUN SPLIT 2: 13 mi 7 mi (1:12:49) 5.77 mph
RUN SPLIT 3: 20 mi 10 mi (1:23:35) 7.18 mph
RUN SPLIT 4: 26.1 mi 6.1 mi (11:52:00) 0.51 mph
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (5:01:13) 11:29/mile 570 122
TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 6:14
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 2:44
and Richard;
SWIM BIKE RUN OVERALL RANK DIV.POS.
1:11:48 6:01:50 4:37:12 12:02:27 615 137
LEG DISTANCE PACE RANK DIV.POS.
TOTAL SWIM 2.4 mi. (1:11:48) 1:53/100m 613 120
TOTAL BIKE 112 mi (6:01:50) 18.57 mph 578 120
RUN SPLIT 1: 7.5 mi 7.5 mi (1:13:27) 6.13 mph
RUN SPLIT 2: 13 mi 7 mi (1:06:37) 6.30 mph
RUN SPLIT 3: 20 mi 10 mi (1:11:06) 8.44 mph
RUN SPLIT 4: 26.1 mi 6.1 mi (12:02:27) 0.51 mph
TOTAL RUN 26.2 mi. (4:37:12) 10:34/mile 615 137
TRANSITION TIME
T1: SWIM-TO-BIKE 6:26
T2: BIKE-TO-RUN 5:11
Vorb: Illness Forces Doe Out Of Bonita Ironman New Zealand
Posted by grayskullduggery in New Zealand, Triathlons on March 5th, 2009
Illness has forced title hopeful Kieran Doe out of Saturday’s 25th anniversary Bonita Ironman New Zealand in Taupo.
Doe (Auckland), who was third last year, has been unable to shake a mystery stomach and bowel complaint that has dogged him for several months.
The 27-year-old, who had a breakthrough race-record victory at Ironman Canada in 2007, said he needs to take a break in order to find an answer to the problem.
Doe said he had been able to train at only 80 per cent with each long training session dogged with frequent bouts of stomach upsets.
“It’s really disappointing. This is the big race of the year for me in front of my sponsors, my family and supporters,” Doe said.
“Initially this problem started last year and would happen in some intensive races. Now it happens during my hard and long training sessions also.
“It is a hard decision to withdraw but the only one I could really make. I need to get it solved so I can carry on with my profession. It is very frustrating. We’ve tried lots of things with medical people but we cannot get to the bottom of.”
Doe was the second seed for the race behind seven-time winner Cameron Brown who will now be challenged by top rating internationals Stephen Bayliss (GBR) and Jan Raphael (GER) and kiwis Richard Ussher and World 70.3 Champion Terenzo Bozzone.
Doe said he will attend the race and help out his sponsors as well as support Bozzone, who has been his regular training partner at home and in the USA.
The race starts at 6.45am on Saturday with the winner expected around 3.15pm and the leading women by 4.15pm.
Ironman race numbers, etc
Posted by grayskullduggery in General on March 2nd, 2009
Name Race Number Country Age Group
Brendan Gray 381 New Zealand M3034
Richard Harris-Smith 853 United Kingdom M4044
Also a big shout out to
Richard Bayly 27 New Zealand MPro
you should be able to follow us on the net raceday, this Saturday 7th March at ironmanlive.com
Ironman Countdown
Posted by grayskullduggery in Triathlons on February 26th, 2009
well as of this very minute there is only 8 days, 13hours, 8min and 13sec until the start of Ironman NZ in Taupo - 7th March 09.
Trainings been going really well, apart from a period of no swimming post my accident in the half IM at New Years.
But now a few 18-20hour training weeks are behind me, and into the taper. 9hrs this week, and only about 4 next week, so I’m itching to go.
Did a quick blowout race at the Stroke N Stride the other night, hammered the swim then just cruised the run so as to not over do it.
Fundraising is going really well, yesterday i was in 9th spot on the fundraising list, and hopefully higher today.
must dash, take it easy
CerveloP3C on Flickr
Posted by grayskullduggery in Triathlons on February 3rd, 2009
Here’s my new bike waiting to be built up over at Performance Bicycles.
CerveloP3C - 2 on Flickr - Photo Sharing
A new Cervelo P3C, with a mix of kit incl Dura Ace 7900, Zipp bars, Cinqo power meter on SRAM cranks, etc.
Check out the set of photo’s here. I’ll try update as the build progresses. Target completion this Thursday, just in time for the 5.5hr ride over the weekend. Whooo hooooo
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