Who dat driving the bus

Following my meeting with the very annoying Grenda bus on Doncaster road, as detailed in this post,  I had several phone calls from the operations manager at Grenda.  Interesting.   You can follow this in the appropriate thread here on BV forums.  Anyway it was good that they were proactive.  The bloke who rang me was certainly being responsive and good on Grenda for that.   BUT..

Several conversations later an issue became apparent.   We will see if quote works better this time in this blogging software.. but this is my forums post.

Well I have had a further conversation with the operations manager at Grenda bus lines. It seems that the bus was one of two.. I suspect the earlier of the two.. that were Grenda services but actually driven by drivers supplied by Tullamarine bus lines. To date they have not positively identified the driver, as neither should have been a woman. 

Sorta interesting huh? I explored the possibility of their driver being of uncertain gender. The Grenda bloke is quite serious about following this up.. and I will carry a camera for a bit.. but it looks like their is some possibility that unauthorised people are driving their buses.... or at least their is some issue of accountability to be sorted

I really dont know how thats going to turn out. I,ll keep on it tho
Editing my first shopify site at the moment.   Well actually the owner and I are editing it from different suburbs at the same time.  Strange and likely to end badly  but so far so good.   Cheap URL registries on the other hand I am going to keep clear off in future.  Register free has some connection with Oz IT... but Oz IT is easy to set DNS up with and Register free has hidden those settings somewhere.  Not cool

Getting old

But I dont feel it.       Riding rather well atm

Sunday was the waffle wace (nope.. not a type)   Meet up in Kingsbury  ride to Whittlesea and back.  Then to Canucks and Marties and eat waffles.   Pretty cool way to start the day.

I rode to the start... advancing years meaning I have to start taking training seriously.    Sigh.     On  Doncaster road.. with a loud ping.. the front derailier cable snapped.  Small ring for the rest of the day.

About 9 or 10 of us at the start.   We set off..  A pootle and a good chat on the way to Whittlesea.   The public dunny in Whittlesea bears witness to many blokes with bad aim.    And then we set off on the return.   Where things got a little frantic

To quote Ducky..

 What a wipper of a wide

Somehow I did actually manage to get up at Stupid-o'clock, and arrived at the start point at precisely 7:03. Being unfamiliar with the route I just sat in the bunch & cruised on the out trip. A very light tail breeze helped waft us on our merry way.

For the return trip I had secretly decided I was going to turn the wick up just a little bit anyway, even if it meant an ITT. So just as we left Whittlesea I started to wind it up & see if anyone followed. Nick (non-forumer), Percrime, Bek & Marty took the bait, but after a while it became just me, Nick & Percy, cracking along as a TTT, cruising at 43 km/h. As previously noted, Percy had no use of the big ring, so he was spinning at about 250 rpm to keep with us on the descents. 

Finished of with a well-earned feast of waffles etc. Thanks again to Bek & Marty for the catering. 

What he doesn' mention is that I took him in the slightly downhill final sprint.  I hit 60;00   my highes speed ever in the small ring.  Not bad for a grinder.

And the Waffles were great.

It looks like being a slow week this week.. one client decided he liked his sisters work more than mine..  meh..   he is biased.    Today is my birthday so I had to have a decent hitout on the Maling Room Ride 

But met the stupidest bus driver of the year.   In a "Smart Bus"   You know why they call em "Smart Buses" ?   No?   Its a comparative IQ thing.   Compared to the driver.....
Ok its an oldie. and not very nice, but hey if the companies carefully choose drivers that fit the stereotype..    I,m happy to use it.    Anyway here is my email to the Operations Manager of Grenda Buslines.   With who to date I have no bad experiences  worth mentioning.   Unlike the unloved Driver Buslines.

At about 7:37 this morning (23 November 2010) a Grenda bus lines bus
traveling westbound on Doncaster Rd  Doncaster west of Blackburn Rd tried on three separate occasions to merge into bus stops though a bunch of 20 +cyclists.

On the first occasion she overtook.. pulled hard left and braked hard
immediately she had passed. On the second occasion she did not bother
overtaking and pulled through the middle of the bunch several riders
having to take evasive action.   On the third occasion she pulled up,
overtook and with the front door alongside me started merging left into my lane.   Coming well within a meter of me.
Bullying arrogant aggressive behavior.    I gave her a finger on the next lights.. she looked at me and then drove through the red light.

I take this attempt  at vehicular intimidation particularly amiss as its my birthday.  This is the sort of behavior one might expect of 19 year old tradies in shiny utes.  Most of the buses we see along this route are extremely well behaved to cyclists..   and most are particularly nice to this well known training ride.  Then again most are National.     The roads were clear and all but empty.   The bunch is a well behaved one.. does not run red lights and except for the odd dropped rider  is mostly a pretty tight group.
The driver was female.. middle aged and appeared indian.  I appear to have the wrong rego.. but it ended in AD.   I have no doubt you will have no issue identifying the driver.  Next time I see her I will make sure I take a photo  and publish it.
You will be able to read about this incident on various cycling forums and my blog (Percrime.blogspot.com) shortly.  I will be sure to publish any response .    It should be noted that I have 20 odd witnesses to this behaviour.   Anyone who needs a  10 000 Kg weight advantag to be a bully has my utter deep contempt and loathing.     If at any time it comes to my attention that a Grenda bus has hit a cyclist I will make sure that the details of this incident  find their way to the appropriate person..
 My phone number is 0412 506 123.   I urge you to follow this up
Regards
David Thomas.
I doubt I get a response but who knows.    Stupid stupid woman.  If I had got the rego I would be talking to the cops right now.  Mental note to take a camera tomorrow.

On the positive side I claim the King of the Mountain up Belmore.. and my speciality  KOF  King of Fintona.    First decent hit out up Belmore in a while.. first time I have lasted to the end.    I have to say I don't feel 50... er.. something. 

Pretty happy overall.  Looking forward to racing. 

Ya gotta wonder.

Its been a week since I have posted..  Meh.   Such a tough week, and not a hell of a lot of excitement in my life.   I rode a bit.. worked a bit and turned a week older.   Sigh.  

Well my riding seems to be improving.. I was going to race today.. but I have spent 2 days working on a server for which I quoted 5 hours..   so I thought I had better try to break through that stonewall.   Made progress..  hopefully enough.    This server turned out to be deep in RPM hell.. where you install bits of software from various sources to try and get a particular thing running, and in the process screw the package manager software and make updates, and installs a thing of horror.     Depressing.  

I had a near miss this week when some fool in a taxi overtook me heedless of the oncoming ambo then swerved left and jumped on the brakes.    I came close to dragging him out of the car and beating him to death.   If we have to import our cab drivers from a different sub continent could we weed out the really useless ones first?    Seems little to ask.  Another friend is in hospital  when she was stopped at a stop sign at a T intersection when a woman cut the corner and drove right over her.   You just have to wonder.   How can anyone argue that that person should be given another chance to drive?  Ever?   How about on the same street your kids are playing?   Comfortable with that.. or should she only be allowed to drive where other peoples kids are playing?

Conversation with my mum.    Mum.  "Can we go to Bendigo to visit *********. "   Me  "Sure..  we are going down there pretty often for business meetings..     we can fit that in.  We will drive up the night before... stay at Pyalong with KKKKKKK,   and then go the rest of the way..   go to our meeting and then go on and visit **********"   Mum.. " I could't put KKKKKKK  out"  Me "They have the beds and we are going to stay anyway.. you wouldn't be putting them out"   "Mum.   "NO,  I couldnt put them out.. you can drive me into Bendigo and put me in a hotel,  and then stay with them"

Its like talking to an alien.    Yeah right mum... thats cool,  no worries.     I deny all genetic relationship here.   I was stolen from gypsies,  clearly.

One of my close friends has left recently..  its pretty upsetting.    Maybe I am getting warm and caring in my old age.  If so..  I am unconvinced its worth it.

Outclassed and not fast.

Sunday was the monthly Blackburn Sprint Series  at Blackburn Velo.  This is the same event I won D grade in last month with the infamous Team Splat!   Did not go so good yesterday.

Only I and Jenny were racing.  Sally has been very sick and incommunicado for the last fortnight.  I cannot speak for  anyone else but she has had me worried.  I have been mildly crook for the last week myself, although I seemed to be riding rather well.    Anyway Kathy kindly decided to come along and lend support.    

Had been troubled by a few mysterious flats on the track bike in the last few weeks..   and in fact fixed one on the friday in order to ensure a trouble free start to the racing.   One flat the Sunday prior resulted in a fall at DISC and I am still replacing skin from that one

   I find being in the right headspace and being confident in the bike is seriously important to my results.   Threw a couple of spare tubes in just in case and we set off .. in plenty of time to Blackburn.   To find some people warming up on the track.      Sigh.   Not so early.  Went to pull the bike out of the car and it had a flat tire.  Damn.   Change it..   go to get stuff out of the car.  And Jenny tells me that my bikes back tire just went 'bang'.   This is not funny.  Is doing my headspace in.   I change it again.. can get no consistent reading off the pump.   Try another pump.. same.  What is going on?

At this point someone rings about Kathy's old BMW we are selling, this is doing my head in.   Change it again.. tube has a hole.   Give the tube to Kathy to patch.   Looking at wheel for some explanation, tire is perfect.. not even nicked..    Thinking 'rim tape'   the rim tape is newish and undamaged  but is clearly being pushed into the spokeholes by tube pressure and it does seem like the tubes have spoke hole marks.    Maybe the tapes not thick enough.   At this point.. Kathy.. asks me to show her how to fix a flat.    Wha.....?     I really really really don't need this.    Start times for qualifying  are now up.. looking rather bad.   I show Kathy how to patch a tube.    Express opinion as to how much help she is being.  She hits me.

Great.        I take roll of insulation tape out..     run it around the rim tape 3 times.  Put a patched tube in.    Pump it up.   Kathy goes off to get some new tubes.   Tire stays up.    For a couple of minutes.  I put shoes and helmet on..   and check.. tire is still up.. maybe a bit softer  but.. its qualifying time.. and I go out and discover I am 2nd off.     Wow.   great preparation.. headspace and warmup.

So I go out and find myself unable to hold the bike down in the corners, waiting for the flat.  End up with 16.6 or something.    A bit slower than last time.  Meh.     didnt crash.   When I get back in the tire is noticeably softer...maybe second was not so bad.   I pull the tube .. and Kathy turns up with new tubes.    Win.

I put it in..  goes in perfectly. Pumps up normally.  I do the same with the front tire.. just in case.  With qualifying over I am able to go out and do a warm up.  Starting to feel happier.   And  Carl calls me over.    Its been decided that I did 2 seconds better than I did in my flying 200.   Which does mean I have finally cracked 16 secs.   And that I am racing in C grade.  Doh.

First race.   David Thomas vs Emily Apilito.  Em is 15.    She is the current 2nd fastest 500 metre racer in her age group in the country.. We are racing over about 580 metres.    She can accelerate like a cannon shell.   I am even slightly awestruck.    I lead,  try pretty hard.. aggressively pushing her up and  down the track..   My plan such as it is is to try and get in her face,  have the sprint start late,  grab a tow when she starts,  and try and come around the top when she spins out because of being on restricted gearing cos a junior.    It all works except for the grabbing the wheel bit.   Jeez she can accelerate.    I pull back a bit on the run to the line and I dont think it was all because she sat up and went to sleep.. but Em wins by 10 metres.  Watch my defeat here

Next round I was up against Justin Perrin,  an up and coming kid.   Good rider who definitely had the edge and the race unfolded much the same way.   I was just outclassed.. more work to do.   I looked up just before that race to see Sally watching.. very uplifting.


 In the last race I thought I had a chance.. I led out.. the other rider tried to jump me earlier and I decided to turn it into a drag race and held on for the win.   Not a bad finish to the day.


Jenny made it into the finals and very convincingly beat PennyR to take 3rd in D grade and uphold the honor of Team Splat!.