A little bit of Friendly Competition

There once was a time when I only had to compete with the bikes, for time with CH. That was, until the iphone was invented. This small piece of technology has practically been grafted onto CH's hand, only to be ripped away when it needs to be charged, or, when he is riding - at which point the iphone takes a back seat, in the pocket of his jersey. CH is NEVER without his iphone. It has been fascinating to see him develop a whole new addiction whilst still maintaining his cycling addiction.

So curious was I, as to what CH found all encompassing about the iphone, that I decided to have a peek at it. And as I scrolled through cycling app, after cycling app, after cycling app, I began to see why there was such a strong connection to his beloved iphone. It was bursting at the seam with cycling apps, It was his tool for organising rides via text messages and he could access any cycling website whenever and wherever he wanted to. The iphone was the hub of his cycling life. It is the glue that holds it all together.

So, as I peeled back the layers I realised that the bike and the iphone weren't competing for CH's time, they were working harmoniously together to create some sort of super power that I will now need to try and conquer if I am to see CH at all anymore.

The Perfect Gift

Recently some gorgeous friends of ours celebrated their anniversary. On the eve of their anniversary weekend, S had just discovered that T had organised a surprise for their weekend and was elated by the fact that her hubby had taken the time to organise something special for them on their anniversary.

As I shared this story with CH over dinner that night, we began to speculate about what romantic gesture T must have planned for them. CH thought for a moment before exclaiming - 'I know! I bet he is taking them to do the Brisbane to Gold Coast ride!' CH was deadly serious about this being the ultimate thing you could possibly do for someone you love.

Ahhhh, CH - such a romantic.

Local Newspaper Famous

CH has escaped the mundaneness of everyday existence and fled south for the 'Tour of the Murray River' for the past week. Our daily phone contact, which is squeezed in between stages, bicycle maintenance, eating and sleeping (not much time left over once you fit all of this into a day) allows me to hear CH whinge about how sore he is and how exhausted he is, but underneath it all he is truly happy.

Today the phone call was to share exciting news, with CH ringing to tell me his photo had made it into the local paper. I assumed it was for cycling and asked what stage it was from? CH responds, with enthusiasm .........'No, it wasn't for cycling. It was a photo of me smashing down a Vanilla Slice at the Great Australian Vanilla Slice competition!!!!'
Of course, if he doesn't get in the paper for cycling, eating is his next favourite hobby

This clever little town of Ouyen has organised the event to coincide with a flood of cyclists hitting town, as bakers from all across Australia battle for the title of Best Vanilla Slice in the country. I am sure CH was only too happy to oblige in doing some taste testing.

The Michaelangelo

In a desperate attempt to create a little more space in our house, for the constant flow of visitors that filter through our front door, we are trying to congregate all of the bikes in one common area. Of course, when you assemble them all together you have a little 'wow' moment when you realise just how many bikes two poeple can own! So in creating clever storage solutions, CH brought home this bike rack - 'The Michaelangelo'.

Once assembled, and safely nestling two fixies, CH stands back to admire his handywork, and says - 'You know why it's called Michaelangelo storage? Because it's carefully holding works of art'.

The works of art

New Additions and Battles Won!

Many Apologies for the lack of posts over the past few weeks! Life has been slightly hectic, hence my extremely neglectful behaviour towards the blog!

Since I last posted, we have welcomed yet another bike into our ever growing fleet. This spunky commuter has been faithfully getting me to work each day for the past few weeks. I uptraded my old commuter bike for this fabulous bike adn it feels amazing to ride! I finally have panniers - which means I have rid my journey of a great bulky backpack!! So, with no backpack on and this super new, super light (well - it's light compared to what I ride - I know CH will debate this and proclaim - 'It's heavy!') fabulous bike, I feel like I practically fly to work and back - It feels so easy now!

I have also finally won the battle of cool! After much debate, CH finally admitted defeat and surprised me with this fabulous new seat for Old Red. Goodbye Flame seat! Hello Funk!

Rainy Days

CH greets this drizzly morning with 'Stupid rain!'
Knowing that he would get soaking wet, be riding in slippery conditions and his bike would get dirty, he still chooses to go out riding.


After arriving home looking like a drowned rat, he then spends the next three hours pulling apart, cleaning and rebuilding his bike.

The rest of the day........well that is spent whinging about the rain and the impact it had on his cycling.........yet I guarantee he will repeat this cycle again, and again, and again.

CH and his Handyman Skills (or lack of)

CH is a fabulous cyclist - there is no doubt about it. He is dedicated and passionate about the sport and to be as dedicated as he is takes a lot of time. Much of CH's time is spent on the bike, talking about the bike, watching bikes, racing, driving to a race or hanging out with other cyclists.

With so much time being dedicated to cycling, CH does tend to lack in other areas. These cracks in his expertise only appear in the midst of a crisis such as the one that follows......

A few weeks ago our kitchen tap began leaking around the base. Pointing this out to CH, I assumed that he would be able to fix it, or at least look into it. A few weeks went by and still there had been no action with the tap, despite multiple reminders. I offered to call the landlord and arrange a plumber. Horrified, CH declined my offer, as he doesn't like his manhood challenged with the suggestion that someone else may have to come in and do a job that he feels he should be able to do. I left it at this, hoping that the suggestion of a plumber might prod him in the direction of fixing the tap............No such luck.

This little leak in the tap all came to a head one Saturday morning while I was filling up the kettle, only to find that the tap wouldn't turn off on it's own. With water gushing everywhere I called CH to the scene. He looked at it, obviously confused about what to do. I would love to know what thoughts ran through his head before he finally blurted out 'I need to go to the toilet'. Obviously needing to buy some time while he thought of a strategy to avoid the disaster which had occurred, he scurried off, down to the bathroom. Whilst he pondered his next move I fashioned a temporary contraption which stopped the tap gushing out water, yet also made the tap unusable.

CH finally showed his face - looked at the tap and said "I have to go - I need to ride to work. Don't touch that tap today okay!" With that great bit of advice he took his beloved bike on a journey far far away form the tap problem that he couldn't solve.

Finding a spare moment amidst my day I dedicated some time to researching how I could fix the tap. Unfortunatly, I didn't find the time to actually fix the tap, but I am armed with knowledge which I passed onto CH later that evening. CH was skeptical about the information I gave him and after scoffing at my findings he challenged a few facts I shared with him. At this point I gave up talking about it and planned to fix the tap myself the following day.

The next day CH had beaten me to it, and I find that he has managed to get our neighbour down to fix the tap. As I listened in on the conversation I found CH rattling off all of the details I had shared with him the day before! Yes, the ones he had scoffed at only hours before. I couldn't believe it! He was obviuosly feeling the need to show that he does have the knowledge, just not the time to fix this small problem of a leaking tap.

Finally, Thanks to our fabulous neighbour, we are back to having a functioning kitchen!

CH has gone back to what he does best - cycling.

And I have learnt the lesson to bypass CH for all future plumbing situations and either do them myself or get a professional in.