26th July...GO CADEL!!! Yes, I've been a bit quiet for the last week or so, I have been ill with Tour fever! Having watched almost every live stage the brain is starting to melt down, possibly good 24hr race preperation! The Tour is getting exciting now with only a time trial to settle who is going to be the 2008 winner, fingers crossed for Cadel to make up the time on Carlos...even with a 7hr race on Sunday morning I'll still be watching the TT tonite!

So of course now onto the other news, we might see some frames this week, yeah! It's all getting pretty exciting with shipment number one so close, the fun now begins!

More news with my wife Frais and I making Bezerk Cycles a partnership. Great news as it let's her have some more input and share some of the load. She got the ball rolling by opening up the Bezerk Cycles bank account, depositing funds and paying our frame bill, nice work babe! She had as many as three bank employees running around to get the payment sorted out! Frais is now added to the contacts page too.

So have I been riding? Yep, still just keeping up the km's and getting in plenty of road km's with Baz, Chris, Sam and Steve.

So with the 7hr race on Sunday, I'm trying something different and going with those weird gear thingies added to the bike, some sort of technological breakthrough apparently...ha ha ha. So with gears and the SRM I'm hoping to meter out the power throughout the day and see how I fare, should be interesting. I just need to work out a quick min/max wattage to stay within, heartrate should soon help with that!

Did I mention the frames are coming next week? Whoooha!

15th July...GO CADEL!!! What a great night of viewing, watching Cadel meter it out up Tourmalet and Hautacam, Cancellara and Voigt putting 120 percent in on the front and Cadel pulling on the Maillot Jaune...

Monday night proved to be a ripper with Sam and I sprinting around the 'nongs, a great 30/30 session up the 1/20, then up to Olinda and down the Wall and a different route back toward Belgrave.

Was interesting reading the data tonight watching how quick my hr is reacting, from 175 - 190 or 170 - 185 and back in 30 second blocks looks to be a wider band from last years, could have been the road environment instead of the windtrainer, but I'll take it! Looking to do the same again on Friday morning, I will most likely increase the number of sprints though.

Shock horror, the business cards finally turned up today and look better than I was expecting (me wiping brow in relief).

Frais opened up our Bezerk Cycles bank account and I've put in my application for an ABN etc.

Frames are due for shipment next Tuesday, things are finally coming together!!!

Looking to join Damo and the Pinnacle lads for a mtb ride on Wednesday nite, check out the Knobysports site for more details.

13th July...GO CADEL!!! Looking forward to see his perfomance in the mountains, will he just sit with his rivals or will he see an opportunity for an attack...looks like he's had a stack, glad his collarbone is still in tacked...

So Baz, Chris, Steve and I took off from Bezerk HQ a little after 6:30 for a roadie, first one we've all done together and what a way to kick it off, up the 1/20...my legs were feeling like they didn't want to do anything the whole way up toward the climb, fortunately the alarm went off and they responded to the climb.

Baz decided to test himself and went off the front to find out where he was at while the rest of us paced up. I tokk the opportunity to bridge the gap to see how Baz was going and to get my heartrate up (first time I've worn the HRM since the last race) and he was almost 1km up the road, nice work! I dropped back and ascended the rest of the way in the group.

From here we kept it going for the rest of the climb to Olinda and raced down the Tourist Rd to Montrose. Cantebury Rd down to Bayswater and a detour onto the bikepath to Mitcham Rd. Still surprises me on the steepness of the bike path after Deep Creek Rd, don't think I'll be taking the kids on this section of track for a while!

Once to Mitcham Rd we headed back toward Ringwood on the road and went my favourite flat route back as Steve was setting a new distance and time out record for the year and was glad to fast track the route back.

We got back to the Knox bikepath and parted company with Chris and Steve with, I assume, a bit short of 80km, nice! Baz and I then parted company near my place and I had to decide what to do next...

So off to Belgrave and out to Emerald. Goal for two hours was one of consistency, could I sit on 150 - 160HR? Sounds easy doesn't it, I'm not sure what was harder, backing off for the climbs or hammering on the descents!!! First challenge was up Old Belgrave Rd with a "carrot" not too far up the road "stay seated, stay under 160...pace yourself.." just managed to contain myself and just passed the carrot on the last pinch to Upwey, real tortise and the hare stuff!

Was a good level to aim at as the legs didn't complain too much, kept it going to Emerald and out to Monbulk...then came the "Wall"...hmm, this might be hard to stay under 160...sure enough up to 170 and I tried to hold it here without going into the 180s. It ended up being a sweet climb and I felt great minimising my effort.

Picked up a couple of riders when I got to the Tourist Rd and they were keen to keep the pace high, so the 160max HR went out the window as they tried to drop me up after the 1/20...plenty off checks by them over the shoulder to see if I was still there, yep, ha ha. A good pace down to Devils Elbow but ended up going round as one of them was on the brakes even more than me and decided it prudent to lead the way. They took off up the Mad Mile and I headed off home.

So end tally, 125km, up 1,800m and just over 5hrs of ride time. I ended up with exactly 160HR average for my last two hours, sweet! Now wearing the Skins with the hope of minimising the soreness tomorrow...maybe some sprints on Monday night...

11th July...GO CADEL!!! Nice to see Cadel sheltering in the peleton but keeping up close to the front out of trouble...nice performance in the TT...it's about to hot up!

75km on Sunday for me with Baz on the SS, into the city and back and joined in with the 10th year anniversary of the VICHPV recumbent weekend rides. Yep they've been holding a ride almost every Sunday for ten years, so if 'bents are your thing, you now know where to go for a Sunday ride with like minded people.

It was then a quick paced 75km ride with Sam on Monday with the bike path again getting a thrashin, definetely more fun at night when there is little traffic about. Sam was aboard the long suffering Pro Hammer and I had the roadie, so I had the easier effort this time, much prefered the wet trails with my fenders in place!

Wednesday saw Baz and I riding out to meet Sam for another path assault...Baz did it a bit easier aboard the roadie while I battled on the SS and Sam Hammerin' it. Must say my legs are still knackered as I write this...

Finally had the funds to sponsor myself with a pair of Skins tights, so Anaconda was the place to visit and acquire a pair. Looking forward to some post ride recovery too see if my legs feel less sore with the extra miles I've been putting in.

Still no cards yet...obviously still making their way around Aus...hope they're worth the wait!!!

Funds are coming together for the first Bezerk frame shipment...it's getting exciting now!

I've added Quickbooks Plus to my arsenal of software to keep track of the books and stock, a little better than the drawer full of receipts and hand written receipts!

Off with Baz, Chris and Steve on Sunday for another roadie, thinking I might take the SS and fit a 15 up on the rear...if you're interested we'll be leaving Bezerk HQ around 6.30...

5th July...GO CADEL!!! Yes, it's Tour time again! Love or hate it, I've been loving watching it since the days of "Big Mig", the man with the heart of a horse as Phil used to say way back then. I know I might be nieve in wanting to believe that all the riders are drug free...maybe one day...I still love the spectacle and amazing feats these riders perform, the sprints, the climbing, the tactics, the awesome scenery and Phil and Paul's race call...YEAH, BRING IT ON!

So I'll be holding the eyelids open with matchsticks again like many other Aussies keen to see Cadel and the rest Oz riders do well, nice to see Cadel better backed this year...

Been a quiet riding week as I backed off for a rest week and tottled around checking out the newer bike path routes created with Eastlink, finally making some sense even though the routes themselves making no sense, obviously designed by car drivers!

Got some disc brake mounts welded onto Damo's 29er during the week and fitted up his new American Classic 29er single-speed wheels, very nice indeed. Chris's Cannondale is making some good progress and is slowly being lightened up into a nice flat-bar roadie...

Fitted up the SRM's to the Bezerk SS today and look forward to rolling the legs over tomorrow with them, a first for SRM'n on the mtb and a first with the 165mm cranks. It all just fitted and the handlebar area is slowly looking crowded for a SS...

The frame shipment has been delayed a few weeks with factories having a Summer holiday for a week...business cards also got delayed when they were sent to GS when we all happened to be out for an AGM, DOH! So they're most likely bouncing all over the countryside...