The world of cycling

The world of cycling is something I am completely removed from. I have never participated in this sport and never watch it. Moving to Australia has changed that slightly. Here cycling is big. When a man goes through his mid-life crisis here,  he buys a road bike instead of the Harley everyone in Indiana seems to purchase.

This bike was on sale for $8,999

You can easily drop the same amount of money on a road bike and gear as you can on a Harley. Carbon fiber, single gears, special paint, tyres, it adds up pretty fast. And that is only the bike. You also seem obligated to by toe clips, those special clickety-clack shoes, and a spandex outfits.

Here in Geelong there are heaps of cyclists. On Saturday and Sunday mornings they get into their little packs and ride every where. They all sport some kind of spandex outfit with words and colors that I'm sure mean nothing. Surely not everyone in Geelong has a sponsor...right?

There is a group of guys at church that go riding. Brandon has joined the club. He bought a bike off eBay for, thankfully, a fraction of what they are new. I can pick the bike up with one hand. I'm sure the top bikes boasts that you can pick them up with your pinkie.

Real cyclists train in snowsuits!

Thankfully Brandon has not given in to the spandex yet. That will be D-day. Seriously why do you have to own a spandex riding outfit when you're only going out on the weekends? I think they should all wear snowsuits and snowboots. Wouldn't that be better training for them? More wind resistance in training will give you better performance on race day (which most people don't even participate in) when you strip down to your synthetic skin. My idea does not seem to be too popular, sadly.

This and several posts to come are due to the fact that the UCI Road World Championship is coming to our smallish town next week. We will be inundated with around 300,000 spectators, athletes from over 40 countries, and a gazillion bikes. Everyone in this state is going to suddenly think they can ride a bike with clips. I for one will not pretend. I have never ridden a bike with toe clips. If I did, I'm sure I would falling over like one of those fainting goats.


Currently the population of Geelong is a little over 200,000. The population will only more than double next week. Yeah, it is going to be a bit tight.

The race is going through and around Geelong. The race will pass about a block from our house. I am actually getting pretty excited about this whole event, even though I am clueless about cycling. Pretty cool that such a huge event will be held close to our front doorstep.

Mapping out the hub locations

From the beginning of next week until Sunday there will be time trials, races, and festivities. There will be 15 countries who will set up cultural hubs through our town. Portugal's hub is down the street from us. The girls and I pulled out a world map and charted the locations of all the hubs. My goal is to visit everyone of them next week. They are a little excited to visit Spain's hub because they might hear some people speaking Spanish. Supposedly Italy is know for the festivities they bring to any sporting event. We will see how the US of A holds up to them.

We will keep you updated on all our expeditions over the course of next week.

Countries with hubs. Who decides which countries get hubs?

Terrain Map