So what's all this about?

So I'm a cyclist. One of those lycra-clad middle age yobs you see swanning around at the coffee shop on a Saturday morning, who should be a lot more self concscious, but for some reason isn't.

I'm not though a great cyclist. A 40 km ride at moderate speed (say, 30kph) on flat terrain is a pretty decent hitout for me. A bloody far cry from the Tour de France. They might sound like impressive numbers to a non cyclist, but they're not. Decent at best.

It's not a complex formula to get better - I need to ride more often, ride harder terrain, ride further, and ride faster.  If I do that, I'll lose weight, get fitter, which will in turn accelerate my improvement.

And I've decided to get fitter, faster & lose weight. I want to start racing. Club Racing. D-grade.  Still a bloody far cry from the Tour de France, but significantly better than where I am today.

It's hard to quantify how much better they are, but I do have some rather handy benchmarks. My local cycle club, Townsville Cycle Club (based in North Queensland, Australia) last weekend ran their biggest road event of the year: The Tiny Mountain Brewery - Tour of the North. The tour (for D-grade) consisted of 4 stages: a flat prologue (7.5km), a 40km road race (on rolling terrain), a 20 minute crit (flat), and an ascent of Castle Hill (a local climb of 2.5km averaging 7.5%). So I've got times for the prologue, the road race and the hill climb.

My goal. To win the 2022 Tiny Mountain Brewery - Tour of the North D-grade. This blog is tracking my journey.

So where does the name Hardman of 28s come from?

I started riding road with Dulwich Hill Cycle Club in Sydney. As a beginner I joined the Saturday Slowies ride out from Marrickville to Centennial Park (where we did a few laps) and then back. From there I stepped up to the Waterfall ride, a rolling 76 km ride from Marrickville to Waterfall and back (no massive climbs but there was 500 m of vertical on the trip). Initially I rode with a bunch that aimed to average 25 kph, then several months later stepped up to the 28 kms group (the 28s). There were two more advanced groups - the middies (who average around 32 kph) and the fasties (who averaged 35+).

I never progressed beyond the 28s. So very middle of the road. Just to give people perspective, there were probably about 40 regulars spread across the middies and fasties. I was though one of the stronger regular 28s. I think once, very tongue in cheek, I was described as the hardman of the 28s. A backhanded compliment at best. It's a bit like being the second toughest in the infants.

I quite like the term though - it screams mediocrity.  Hence the blog name.