The Canberra Report - Paddy's River Road

I've been invited by Pablo to share some of my rides here on The Weekend Report, so I hope you like hills! Contrary to the popular image of a sun-burnt flat country, here in Canberra, Australia we have hills all around. For a skinny climber dude like myself, this is a good thing. If you'd like to read more about Canberra's rides, check out my blog at bike.sipols.com.

Paddy's River road is the main connector the runs through the foothills of the Brindabella range, the most famous of the three ranges which surround Canberra. It makes a nice loop by itself in either direction. The southerly direction gives you the Pierces Creek climb, but I prefer northerly for ease of access. This ride is rolling, with plenty of climbing but not the crazy gradients of the deep south.

From Tuggeranong, you can either take the short way across Point Hut crossing or the higher Tharwa bridge. The Tharwa extension makes a nice flatter warmup, plus unlike Point Hut the Tharwa bridge doesn't flood (a critical consideration at this time of year).

On deep south rides, Tharwa can be a critical resupply point but here its just a town to pass through. There is a surprisingly steep lump straight out of Tharwa, before the road meanders up and down. Once you reach the lookout get your climbing legs ready.

The road climbs steeply up to the Corin dam turnoff (a great sidetrip), then the landscape opens up as you approach Tidbinbilla. Take this opportunity for a bit of a breather.

The Canberra Deep Space Centre has a cafe and is the default coffee stop around here but since thats a side trip, we're not going there today. After you pass the Space Centre turnoff, the road will descend, with a few lumps to keep you honest. Like most of this ride, this area is farming land so you'll see quite a few cows and sheep.

If the ride so far has tired you out, you'll pay for it through the lumps at the back of Pierces Creek, they may be short but they are steep too, with gradients reaching 11%. Around here the scenery transitions to pine forest, but still has a nice scattering of natives too.

After a hair-raising descent on tarmac of dubious provenance down Pierces Creek, the short option is to climb back up the Cotter, through to Adelaide Ave and wherever home may be. On this day, the Murrumbidgee was threatening to burst its banks (good thing we went via Tharwa at the beginning).

The Canberra Report is a collaboration between Pablo Alves and Michael Sipols. For more in-depth detail on this route, check out Michael's post on the Paddy's River Road at bike.sipols.com.  

A not so traditional Sunday ride.

Hello friends..! 

As part of a club I am member here in Belfast, Northern Ireland we have what we call "Traditional" rides. For example here is a pic of what we normally ride on Sunday's morning:

We do this same loop every Sunday morning.. Every Sunday there is something new, someone new or something that makes the ride to be unique..

Is a nice loop with a few ups and downs...Around 40 km. Most of the ride can be done on the big chain ring (I ride a compac so there!) if not you can always use your small chain ring right..?

Well today's ride had it's own character.. Wondering what was special this time around?

Do you realize this is open roads so is road biking right?

Well to break the routine and also because my road bike is at the shop waiting to know if it can be fix or not.. I took my CX bike out to do this ride.. 

The Trekross handled it well..! The down hills were smooth, it also helped that it was dry this time.. You have to enjoy this days around this part of the world, sunny and dry is a very good day here..!

I also have the legs to to the original loop at a nice pace.. The extra part was another story...

So what did I do today?

Since I was riding the Trekross I sent an e-mail out last night letting everyone know that i was going to leave 10 minutes earlier to try to stay away of the main bunch or get caught by the coffee stop or close to it..

To my surprise when I got to the start point there were 3 other guys waiting for me and they wanted to take it easy so they joined me on my early start of the loop.

We left at 7:36 from the church where we meet.. The faster, bigger bunch usually leaves at 7:45 or something like that.. Usually a few minutes later since is a thing for fun we don't like to be too strict with the start times.

Here is a picture of my bike for the day and a hill right at my door steps.. You can see the city of Belfast in the horizon..

Some of the view we rode by today..?

I went by here twice today

Stormont Park, Official building at the top of that hill

Then rode to the top of this local hill, Strabo Tower.

And from the top...Of Strabo..

 And this is very much what my Sunday looked like riding ways,,

So that was my Sunday on the bike.. Later on we might go hiking with the kids to a local park where is a nice trail... (hmm... trail....)

Oh for those that like Strava and would like to look a bit deeper into the data of the ride I leave you a link to my profile HERE

Till next adventure..

Pablo Alves.

The Zwift Effect

Before you say another review about this let me tell you something.. "has nothing to do with it" OK maybe a little but is all part of the game...

Lets see in order to understand what is coming you should know that I live in Belfast, Northern Ireland and the weather here is well.... lets put it this way, is a good reason for everything to look so green, plenty of rain...
On top of that I did a lot of indoor training due to recovery from an accident, now that that is explained here is a picture of my numbers on the Zwift:

Is that a lot? Well there is others that did a lot more then I do some others less but let me tell you something this is or was enough for what happened next..

As every Saturday I decided to show up for my club traditional Saturday run, I woke up, had breakfast, went to the bathroom, pump my tires/tyres (will never get the difference on that one) filled my water bottles, kissed the kids, kissed the wife told the dog to get out of the door and said good bye to her too.. (spoiled little rat..!)

So I got on my trusted horse (Le Trek) she likes how she sounds in French go figures even my bikes have a personality..! Here is a pic of her:

As soon as i started to ride I noticed I was on the small chain ring, no big deal since when i come out of my house I have a 200 meter at 8% before I can hit the flats and jump to the big chain ring.. 

So I reached the flat part and it was time to get some speed up to be on time to the start of the ride, I am one of those that really dislike people that is late, but also understand that we do this for fun and we have to have some tolerance.. As I was saying... Time to hit some speed this means to jump to the BIG chain ring and start smashing the pedals.. OK here it comes, one click!, nothing..Uh? OK another click... What a ...? Nothing again... Is ok is only 3 km to the meeting place, high cadence and it will be a nice warm up by the time I get there..

So I made it to the church were we meet and right away started looking at what could possibly wrong??

As I was looking one of the guys told me from the other side.."Pablo!! Look at your cable..! What do you mean? I asked.. Look he said again.. Is way too loose.. Oooh that must be the problem..!! Easy fix..! lets tight it up..!

Now as I reach down to start making a bit more tight the cable I noticed that this is completely loose..Now this is not a normal sort of loose cable..

What was wrong you are asking by now? Look...:

The cable stopper snapped off the frame..!

How often you see this happening?

The guys at the shop never saw anything like it..!

So as any normal person would do I was getting ready to turn around and come home... I was upset at the fact that my bike was broken and I couldn't ride that morning.. I was not thinking clear..

good thing that others were :) one of the guys told me "just use the the screws and make it jump to the big chain ring with the regulation system..Great idea..!!!

How do you do that again? Remember I am upset, not thinking clear and I am not very mechanical oriented. 

Another jumps off the bike grabs a multi tool and regulates the screws till the chain jumped to the big chain ring.. Wet tighten the cables together with a rubber band and off we went for a nice flat 100 km and 700 meters of elevation..

I know I am not a normal person and my friends either right?

Now you want to know why I called this the "other" Zwift effect? I tell you..!

It was just to catch your eye and remind you that those little cable stoppers need to be clean and lube as well every so often if you are an indoor rider, learn from my experience or inexperience and keep them in mind.

Now fingers crossed I am waiting for Trek to call me back or the bike shop and see what they offer me, what would my options be? Is not a normal thing to break and they usually back their brand very well..

Till next time or adventure, 

Pablo Alves.

What did you do Saturday?

Good morning world..!

Yes is Sunday morning and I thought why not tell you a bit about my, our Saturday as a family living in Belfast, Northern Ireland...

Yesterday we had a small birthday party for our daughter and a few of her friends.. Nothing big or fancy but a nice opportunity to show the local people a little taste of my home country... WHAT? I haven't made a comment about where I come from? Oh well that seems like a good topic for another post..

Back to the kitchen, I mean to the subject... So we had people over and the kids and I decided to go for Empanadas Argentinas to show our friends what we like to eat.. You want to see what they look like?

Here:

Ooops...! That is not the finish product... But we are getting there don't worry... This is call an empanada "disc" and is what you have to make first in order to cook the dish... I never said it was easy.. Did I? (but trust me is totally worth it!!!)

So after getting the dough ready and cook the stuffing we were going to use it was time to stuff the discs and oven bake them, you could also fry them but you have to use a different recipe for the pasty.. if you try to fry this ones will fall apart the moment they hit the hot oil..

I know by now you are salivating and want to see the finish product.. OK i will make you happy...

Here are the ham & cheese ones (with Béchamel sauce)

Yes i know the picture has a lot of presentation and production in it but you want to know something else? They taste better then what they look..!!!


We also made some beef and vegetables ones, this is a home recipe that I remember my Mom and ants making in the kitchen for family reunions....Aaaaah #memories from growing up flashing in my head..

This one is was stuffed with ground beef, sweet peppers, onions and boiled eggs and spices (salt, pepper and cumin) I will be right back let me see if the kids didn't finish them...YET!!

So everyone helped in the kitchen, while I was rolling the discs the wife was stuffing them and the daughter closing them... A nice line production and a family activity.. Aaah almost forgot..! The little man was the quality tester since he couldn't wait for them to come out of the oven..!!!

So that was my Saturday in Belfast with the family and friends.. Also i spent a good part of the day trying to understand how this blog thing works out and making it looks a bit more "professional" LOL..!

What do you think so far?

Feel free to post in the comments your best dish with us... Recipes are always welcome and if you have questions or suggestions feel free to post them in the comments..

Happy Sunday..!

Pablo Alves.

Gravel routes at Divis Mountain with the family

I had an awesome day outdoors with the family that started something like this:

Did you notice anything different on that picture? There is 2 bikes on the rack...!

Here is a pic of my riding partner and me... You can read and +Google Chrome the name of the place for our adventures for the day.
By the way Felix is learning how to ride.. (or was?)

I hit every available gravel route I could find up there... While Felix stayed on the pavement with the rest of the family..

Most of the routes head up from this point... They look something like this:

I was heading to the highest point of the ride.. Can you see the antenna?

Some trails lead to no where.. I had no choice but to turn around and take the views with me:

Believe it or not somewhere there was a trail....

Some of the local fauna came out to say hi... This little guy didn't want to move..

After a detour here and there I caught up with the family and Felix decided that the middle of the route was as good as anywhere else to take a break...

After talking to them for a few minutes I made a left turn and headed for the highest point of the ride.. You can look in +Strava  at the segment or the are in general... Cat 2 climb out of Belfast.

A mandatory picture at the top..

One thing that hit me when I was taking this pic of the little man was that most kids learn how to ride at the park, around the block or some quiet area.. My son? Naaahhhh...! On a hiking trail..! Muchos kudos to Katja for her patience (mommy)

Look at how happy he looks..! Awesome job little dude..!

Belfast back, down there...

And at the end climbing out of the park after like 3 hours of hiking, pushing walking and riding..

It was a great day out with the family..!

If you like this sort of report put this in your favorites and check it like once a week for updates with rides like this and all sort of stuff that I might come up with.

Thanks for reading and see you next time!

Pablo

The Weekend Report Guy