2008 September | Aushiker: Bicycling & Hiking in Western Australia

Royal Perth Show – No Bike Parking

Aushiker | September 26, 2008 7:32 am

It seems that the Royal Agricultural Society of WA at is Royal Perth Show does not support people choosing to use alternate transport such as bicycles to visit the show and is not providing any form of bicycle parking. This seems at odds with their own ethos and does not in my view fit in with the way a responsible organisation should behave in 2008 given society’s concerns about health and the environment. Given my concerns the following email has been sent to the Royal Agricultural Society of WA.

Dear The Royal Agricultural Society of Western Australia

I have been advised that the RASWA is not providing bicycle parking at this Royal Show? Can you please clarify if this is in effect the state of affairs? If it is, can you please explain why the RASWA is taking such a discriminatory stance more so given concerns in todays society with respect to health and the environment. How does this stance encourage people to take a more positive approach to visiting the Royal Show.

I notice also that the RASWA states at http://www.perthroyalshow.com.au/raswa/ that

“The Royal Agricultural Society of WA is a member-based not for profit organisation which works year round to promote primary industries. We have close links to regional agricultural societies and livestock breed societies. We support community and junior sporting groups which use Claremont Showground. We encourage regional and agricultural students through our involvement in educational scholarships and competitions which enhance the skills and opportunities of young people. The Perth Royal Show competitions benchmark excellence across a range of industries including wine making, beer production, dairy, food production, clothing production, the arts and sport. We recognise the achievements of individuals through the Agricultural Hall of Fame, the Community Rural Achiever and the Rural Ambassador competitions.”

I am struggling to show how your alleged stance on bicycling fits with this statement and look forward to your explanation.

This is an open email which will be published at http://aushiker.com along with any reply.

I am pleased to report that I have now received this reply from Martin Molony, Chief Executive Officer of The Royal Agricultural Society of WA.

Message

Hi Andrew

Thanks for this suggestion

We will attempt to provide racks near gates 1 and 10

we do not have a stance on not providing racks, this is an oversight and we will correct it asap

we want to encourage people to travel by public transport and cycling due to the limited parking in the area

thanks and regards

Martin

For those readers who chose to ride, please let us know how this works out for you. You can comment via the comment button below.

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Tags: Bike Parking,Perth Royal Show
Categories: Bicycling, Commuting and Recreational
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Garfield – Week 37 – September 21, 2008

Aushiker | 7:23 am

It is Garfield time again. I changed two things this week and hence expected a better outcome: The first is I now eat after my rides not before (e.g., breakfast at work now) and I started using CalorieKing to monitor more carefully my food intake. Does not seem to have helped weight loss, but I have lost 2 cm off my waist which was better than expected. I may with my increased mileage being building up some muscle mass which is off-setting my fat loss.

My Garfield statistics for Week 37 of 2008 are:

Weights and Measurements

Today’s Weight (kg): 97.9 kg – Overweight
Movement from last week (+ or – kg): – 0.30
Weight July 2007: 113 kg (- 18.1 kg since July 2007)
Target Weight (kg): 81 kg

Waist Measurement: 116.0 cm – 2.0 cm (Aggregate – 10 cm)
WHR: 1.08 (- 0.02)
BMI Prime: 1.21 (Target range 0.74 – 1.00)

Mileage

Km ridden this week: 371.60 km
2008 Weekly Average: 200 km
2008 Predicated mileage: 10,400 km (Goal = 10,400)

Cost per Km: $1.10 cash basis (- 0.06)

#559 out of 31,302 in the World (+ 38 places in the rankings)
#24 out of 647 in Australia ( + 3 places in the rankings)
#3 out of 49 in Perth (No change in ranking)
#9 out of 100 in the Bicycling Australia Club (+ 1 place in the rankings)

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Tags: Weight Loss
Categories: Bicycling
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Garfield – Week 36 – September 19, 2008

Aushiker | September 19, 2008 8:17 am

It is Garfield time again. I have really lost the plot with Garfield. My last posting was on June 30, 2008. It is really time I got back on track, so have changed my weighing in day back to Fridays and have got this posting back in play. I now need to loose the 3 kg I gained since June and get my weekly lost rate of 500 grams happening again. Here goes.

My Garfield statistics for Week 36 of 2008 are:

Weights and Measurements

Today’s Weight (kg): 98.2 kg – Overweight
Movement from last week (+ or – kg): + 2.70
Weight July 2007: 113 kg (- 17.8 kg since July 2007)
Target Weight (kg): 81 kg

Waist Measurement: 118.0 cm + 4.0 cm (Aggregate – 08 cm)
WHR: 1.10 (+ 0.02)
BMI Prime: 1.21 (Target range 0.74 – 1.00)

Mileage

Km ridden this week: 196.81 km
2008 Weekly Average: 194 km
2008 Predicated mileage: 10,088 km (Goal – 10,400)

Hours riding – 2008 = 327

Cost per Km: $1.16 cash basis (- 0.41)

#597 out of 31,121 in the World (+ 20 places in the rankings)
#27 out of 642 in Australia ( + 5 places in the rankings)
#3 out of 49 in Perth (New ranking)
#10 out of 98 in the Bicycling Australia Club (+ 2 place in the rankings)

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Tags: Weight Loss
Categories: Bicycling
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Bicycling, Fitness and Health

Aushiker | September 18, 2008 8:51 pm

One of my reasons for getting involved in riding was to loose weight, my Garfield. Bicycling can be good for this, along with developing a good level of fitness. The purpose of this posting is to draw together the resources out on the web that provide good advice on weight loss and riding and developing good bike fitness. Hopefully it will be useful to you as it has been to me. If you have suggested links please post a comment.

Bike Fit

The Cyclefitcentre.com has some interesting articles on bike fit via the menu item, “Further Reading.” The articles do change, so it is worth keeping an eye on the page.
Palm Beach Bike Tours (blog) has an interesting recount of a bike fit. It gives a good idea of what one should expect.

Nutrition and your Ride

Added March 18, 2009 – Thoughts on snack bars – what to look for. BikeRadar.com has a good article on what levels of sugars and fats to watch for in energy and food bars.
Protein and Post-Ride Recovery – BikeRadar.com has an interesting article on the important aspect of post-ride recovery, muscle recover that is.
Natural energy boosters – Fuel you body with premium – BikeRadar.com has an interesting article on the importance of boosting our energy levels.
Seven Health Eating Resolutions for the New Year – MapMyFitnes.com has some good old basic tips on healthy eating.
Fluids – No guts, no glory – BikeRadar.com has an interesting article on training your stomach, yep that is right your stomach.
Added March 3, 2009 – Supermarket Superfoods – BikeRadar.com have an interesting article on good food sources for bicycling and endurance. Foods that can be easily carried and obtained at the supermarket.

Training

Added March 10, 2009 – Get Some Air is an interesting article from BikeRadar.com on the importance of breathing for cyclists.
Comeback for good – Advice on getting back into cycling and training from BikeRadar.com.
Home brew fitness testing – BikeRadar.com has an article on how to benchmark one’s fitness. Then one can go and compare times in the future to get an indication of improvement.

Weight Loss

Added February 4, 2009 - Measuring calories expended whilst cycling or running. I have started using the Triathlon Training Blog’s calorie calculator for two reasons: First and foremost it attempts to measure energy expended either via VO2 max or heart rate. Second it recognises my time riding rather than my distance. Riding time along with energy expended gives, in my view, a better measure of one’s efforts. Previously I used BikeJournal.com calculator but comparing the two, I feel the Triathlon Training Blog’s calculator is returning numbers which in my view reflect better my exercise experience.
How to Burn Fat Better – BikeRadar.com – An interesting article on maximising burn up of our own fat stores whilst riding. It makes suggestions about the timing of meals in respect to when we ride.
Added February 1, 2009 - Discussion in the Australian Cycling Forums on commuting, weight loss and diet. One comment from WombatK in this discussion worth noting in my view is this:

Dietician in my house reckons 500 cal (approx 2000 kJ) deficit per week will strip about 1 kg per week, and is a long-term sustainable target; mainly cause it’s really hard to get most people to go that far.

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Tags: Nutrition,Training,Weight Loss
Categories: Bicycling
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Touring Western Australia on a Bicycle

Aushiker | September 15, 2008 12:55 pm

CrazyGuyOnABike is a great touring based website. One aspect of it is journals, its bicycle touring journals. This page is a compilation of known touring journals of bicycle tours around Western Australia. Journals posted elsewhere will be listed as well. If you know of a Western Australia bicycle tour journal not listed here, please let me know.

Tours – Planned, In Progress, Completed

The Great Escapade WA 2009 – Mark Hales – Added June 11, 2009
Katherine to Broome Kimberly Tour 2009 – Gordon Ross
Travelling Two – World tour blog with a brief visit to Western Australia
South-west Australia Feedback – Bike Forums posting – December 2008
Katherine to Broome Kimberly Tour 2009 – Gordon Ross
Pedalling around Plantagenet by John Galloway – Planned for December 2008
Around Australia -Cycling Around Australia and Tassie by Werner Fische
Globetrotting -Eighteen months around the world by Neil Sneddon.
Cunderdin Loop by Peter Bradshaw – October 2008
Munda Biddi Track – Mundaring to Collie – April 2008 – Aushiker
Weatern Australia – A hard spring by Tony Calvert – October – November 2007.
Mark Beaumont – World Cycle Challenge – 2007.
Springtime in Western Australia by Dave and Jo Whitney – October 2006
Canning Stock Route (CSR) Adventure by Jakub Postrzygacz – September 2005

Other Tour Websites

Bourkes on Wheels – The adventures of Ed and Gaye Bourke – More challenging tours for sure.

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Tags: Off-road touring,Road touring
Categories: Bicycling, Road and Off-Road Touring
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Archive for September, 2008

Royal Perth Show – No Bike Parking

Garfield – Week 37 – September 21, 2008

Garfield – Week 36 – September 19, 2008