Welcome to the late January edition of the Queensland Newsletter. This edition has a reminder that the Queensland AGM is almost upon us, an excellent pictorial ride report from Fred and some observations about puncture repairs, supporting rides and a call to readers to provide some feedback about their GPS.
Newsworthy Bits
Brisbane River Loop – Bushfire Relief Ride
Thanks to those that registered for this ride. The ride raised $800 to be donated to the Red Cross Bushfire Relief.
Queensland Annual General Meeting
The Queensland AGM is being held at the Hamilton Wheeler’s Cycling Clubhouse adjacent the Nundah Criterion Track. Riders and non riders are welcome to attend the AGM which will start at 10am. Non-riders please RSVP to Peter via his email on the registration page for catering purposes. For those riding in the brevet beforehand (7am start), please register via this link
Important information regarding the officebearer and general committee positions
The Qld Regional Committee represents the voice of Audax Australia members across Queensland. We are your committee, elected by members at the AGM every year.
At the conclusion of the AGM the current committee will be dissolved and new position holders will be elected. Nominations for all positions will be taken from the floor and can be made by any Club Member.
If you and/or your nominee are unable to attend the AGM, please communicate your intended nomination by email to the Qld Secretary by 5pm Friday 31 January.
We are grateful to have commitment from active club members who are willing to fulfill all necessary positions. However, we always welcome new and additional support! If you would like to step forward for a position, now or in the future, please review the position descriptions online or approach any committee member for a conversation.
In the event that multiple nominations are received for any position a vote will be taken from attendees. Information is available on the Audax Australia Website: https://audax.org.au/knowledge-base/audax-management/
Jim Soorley Bikeway river bank remediation
As mentioned last edition, some remedial works are being undertaken shortly either side of the turnoff to the path beside the Gateway Motorway. Whilst we don’t know what the diversions will be, some riders will keep me updated with works as it happens so I can let you know.
Information can be found here: http://www.yourneighbourhood.com.au/jim-soorley-bikeway
RACV recommends introduction of mandatory safe passing distance laws in Victoria
Victoria has bucked the trend nationally by running with an education campaign in preference to introducing mandatory safe passing distance legislation. RACV has looked at the statistics since the introduction of the education campaign and found little difference in the cycling road statistics. Read more here:
The end of e-Bikes?
 | Peter Jenkins found this gem of a video for us. The end of the e-bike is nigh and these could actually complete Audax distance rides. It is a worthy watch. |
Ride Reports
 | This edition Fred Vekeman provided a pictorial ride report for Esk at Night, one of South East Queensland’s feature rides. You can read Fred’s report here |
Make Your Own ride report
How to create a ride report:
Go to the Audax website www.audax.org.au then select login from the menu bar at the top.
Once logged in, select media then My Ride Reports from the menu
On the right you will see a button “create a ride report” and click on it
Follow the directions in each box and tell your story.
If you want to insert photos – select the insert photo button above the main text window. Remember that all photos must be smaller than 1MB
Completed Rides
Esk at Night (11th January 2020) 100Km BA, 200km BRM, 300Km BRM. This ride saw a good spread between the 100km, 200km and 300km. 4 riders completed the 100km 3 1/3 and 5 1/h hours on a hot afternoon, 9 riders completed the 200km between 7 hours and 11 hours and 6 hardy riders completed the 300km between 10 and 14 hours. Well done to all riders on a hot then stormy day and night.
Colt 50 (12th January 2020) 50Km BG. I had to break out the excel spreadsheet for help on this one…137 riders finished this brevet with times ranging from 2 1/2 hours to just over 4 1/4 hours.
Bushfire Relief Ride (14th January 2020) 50Km BA. 16 riders registered and donated to the fund. Many thanks for your contribution. 12 riders took part in the ride with the usual 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 hour completion time.
Every Which Way (18th January 2020) 50Km, 100Km, 150Km BA and 200Km BRM, 1 rider completed the 150KM route in 6 3/4 hours and 4 hardy riders toughed out the wet and humid 200Km day between 10 1/4 hours and 13 hours.
Maintenance thingies
Wax on, Wax off…. Whilst supporting Esk at Night I caught up with James to let him know how my experimentation with waxed chains was going (positive I might add) and James made an observation from a performance perspective that had not occurred to me (I am captain slow after all).
Waxing chains with paraffin wax has multiple benefits. My reasons were a clean drivetrain and long intervals between re-waxing. James made the observation that there is a performance benefit as well but it may not be noticable unless you ride in a fairly aggressively. Whilst I may not take up this additional feature of a waxed chain at this time, additional performance can be achieved by adding PTFE powder into the liquid wax ensuring it is properly mixed through. PTFE is a low friction substance that in the wax reduces friction even more than the wax. Another additive commonly used is some molybdenum powder that helps protect the surfaces where the chain and gears meet.
Night support for rides. I have helped one of our ROs by assisting with support on Esk and Night (we have three locations to cover) and Tara and I also supported the 2019 Midnight Century which as the name suggests, starts at midnight.
One of the challenges for supporting night rides is assembling the collection of lights required to allow supporters and riders to see what is going on at the picnic tables.
I found a solution by coincidence (not by accident) with some aligning circumstances and it has some interesting research behind it as well. The converging factors were my son in law working for a shopfitter that was decommissioning cabinets with commercial grade LED lighting and my desire to install some LED lighting supported by some storage batteries (charged by some second hand domestic solar panels)
When I started looking at the idea to have a 12 volt lighting system, my experience was from a 10 watt panel directly connected to the battery and draw a small amount of power. Some research informed me that I needed to have a control module to connect larger panels, batteries and loads together otherwise things would self destruct (to paraphrase) and the first of these I bought was suitable only for 12v panels, not the rooftop panels I had purchased second hand for $20 each.
When the Midnight Century came around, I had a very heavy storage battery that I had yet to install into the battery collection, a spare controller that I couldn’t use with the house panels and the loan of some recovered LED light strips. I combined that with some stretchy thin rope to put on the superstructure of the gazebo at the control and had a very impressive temporary lighting system for the night. The control module was used to prevent the lights discharging the battery too much.
Move on a couple of months to Esk and Night and I needed to have a much more portable solution. This time, I raided the musical cupboard and my own supply of LED lighting (yet to be installed) and because the storage battery was now in service, I used the old battery from my 4wd which was replaced because it had difficulty starting the 4wd. The new solution was to attach two light strips to the boom of a microphone stand and place the battery at the bottom out of the way. This edition’s photo is showing this setup. The downside is that automotive batteries are not designed for providing continuous loads to devices.
But wait – there’s more!. Large 4wd batteries are quite heavy and cumbersome so I had a thought of using something like a large phone battery bank and after starting to research better models (stating real values) and then doing the math on the led lighting I discovered that none of the readily available (20,000mAh) units would last more than a couple of hours because that rating was at 3.7v, not the 12v I required. I then had a look at better lithium battery options and found some awesome units available in the USA, but at a cost of $100 Australian each (and I needed 16) I decided they didn’t really fit into the budget (as cheap as possible). After my merry-go-round of research and pipe dreams, I discovered I already had arrived at the most economical solution – 18 watts of LED lights hooked up to a battery that I couldn’t use in a car and owed me nothing. The benefit with this battery is it has an in-built handle. I guess I will just charge up the battery a few times a year and use it for the night rides.
Those horrid punctures!. Last weekend I rode my third successive Every Which Way, this time as a calendar ride and starting at the ‘far end’. We had a very wet start to the ride and sporadic to heavy rain periods throughout the day. Just before the second control I noticed the rear was very spongy and being a couple of km’s from the control I elected to use the pump and fix the flat at the control. For the first time I can remember, I used a glue-less patch to make the repair saving a tube because we all know rainy days attract more punctures and I had forgotten to pack a third tube the night before.
Roll on another 10km and I heard the front wheel letting air out so being conveniently near a park bench I chose to fix this one in comfort. The downside of front flats on my bike is it is a tubeless rim and the tires are difficult to get back on (I need more practice but don’t want it.) Like the previous puncture, I found the hole, put a patch on it and whilst fitting the last bit of the tire I pinched the tube, putting a large split in it. Needless to say, I gave up and replaced the tube as both punctures had put me an hour behind schedule.
I was already aware that the CO2 from the cartridges leaks out within a couple of days (tubes must pass the CO2 molecules a lot easier) so once home and after cleaning the bike I let the CO2 out of the tires and re-inflated using a floor pump. Two days later my grandson pointed out that the rear wheel was flat. Suspecting the repair, I pulled the tube and saw that the patch had lifted in a trail from the puncture to the edge so I replaced the tube then did a stamina test on the patch which gave way overnight.
I mentioned the patch failure to a couple of cyclists at work who had observed the same phenomena with glueless patches particularly if it was hot, humid and / or wet.
The outcome? glueless patches should get you to the end of the day’s ride, maybe even two but they probably are not a long term repair. Some brands have better reports than others but preparation is important as well (read the instructions).
It’s not the GPS you are looking for….(a survey)
Often new riders ask which GPS people use and which one is better. I am calling for riders to send me two good things about their current GPS and two things that annoy them. I won’t publish anything to identify riders, just collate and publish the results of this survey.
Can you send these items and the brand / model to qld.communications@audax.org.au in the following format:
Brand / Model
Two good things
Two annoying things
Upcoming Rides
For a full roundup of all calendar events, have a look at the Audax website https://www.audax.org.au/portal/rides/calendar
Saturday January 25th – Mt Coot–tha Loops – 51KM BA
6:30am start at Anzac Park Toowong. The iconic Brisbane Saturday morning ride. The front, the back and the Gap Creek loop. (With time left over to mow the lawn in the afternoon). This year special! Free Coffee/Milkshake at Bean on Dean after the ride.
Tuesday January 28th – River Loop Social Ride
5:30 am start opposite the Regatta Hotel. This is a loose group ride with assembly locations at key points along the ride. Breakfast at Plenty in West End. Just turn up and ride, no booking necessary
Sunday February 2nd – QLD AGM – 50Km BA
7am at the Nundah Criterion Track for a quick ride to the Ted Smout bridge and return.
Sunday February 2nd – QLD Annual General Meeting
10AM start at the Hamilton Wheeler’s Cycling Clubhouse adjacent the Nundah Criterion Track for the Queensland Annual General Meeting. Riders and non riders are welcome.
Tuesday February 4th – River Loop Social Ride – 50KM / 100KM BA
5:30 am start opposite the Regatta Hotel. This is a loose group ride with assembly locations at key points along the ride. Breakfast at Plenty in West End. 50km is an extended River Loop via 17 Mile Rocks and the 100km gets an extra loop over Mt Coottha to Wacol and return.
Saturday February 8th – Moreton Bay Ride – 160KM BA, 200Km BRM
6am Starting and finishing at Strathpine, the Classic Imperial closely follows the route of the original Moreton Bay Classic Imperial from days gone by touring Dayboro, Kurwongba, the undulations of Moorina (the easy way) and back via the peninsula.
The BRM extends the route at Sandgate to travel to the Gateway Bridge and return via some familiar roads but omits the Bray Park final section.
Tuesday February 11th – River Loop Social Ride
5:30 am start opposite the Regatta Hotel. This is a loose group ride with assembly locations at key points along the ride. Breakfast at Plenty in West End. Just turn up and ride, no booking necessary
Saturday February 15th – Horizontal Hundred UAF -100Km UAF
7am start at the Nundah Crit track. Flatter than the Netherlands and some nice scenery too. An easy paced group ride on a very flat route utilising mostly lightly trafficked roads and cycle paths. A good introduction for newcomers to the gentle art of UAF or Eurodax. Includes a leisurely brunch at Scarborough. Book early to avoid disappointment!
Tuesday February 18th – River Loop Social Ride
5:30 am start opposite the Regatta Hotel. This is a loose group ride with assembly locations at key points along the ride. Breakfast at Plenty in West End. Just turn up and ride, no booking necessary
Saturday February 22nd – Gregor’s Creek Circuit – 200km BRM
6:30am start at the Fernvale Futures Center car park. A scenic undulating ride skirting the Brisbane Valley Lakes.
Tuesday February 25th– River Loop Social Ride
5:30 am start opposite the Regatta Hotel. This is a loose group ride with assembly locations at key points along the ride. Breakfast at Plenty in West End. Just turn up and ride, no booking necessary
Saturday February 29th – Round the Mountains – 300km, 400Km BRM
6:00am start at The Gap Park and Ride. Scenic ride from The Gap, through Caboolture, Kilcoy, Esk etc. around the mountains west of Brisbane back to The Gap.
Sunday March 1st – BVRT 70 – The “Just Right” Dirt Ride – 70Km BD
7:00am start at Clock Park Lowood. A pleasant ride to Esk for lunch at the Bakery or Red Deer followed by a downhill (in places) return journey. The “Goldilocks” distance in the BVRT Dirt Series.
That is a wrap up for the this edition of the newsletter. If you have any articles, please send them to qld.communications@audax.org.au. If you have any ride reports, please enter them on the website.