By: Spring in the Air

Letter from a Mother to a Daughter:
“My dear girl, the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.”

- If when we talk, I repeat the same thing a thousand times, don’t interrupt to say: “You said the same thing a minute ago”… Just listen, please. Try to remember the times when you were little and I would read the same story night after night until you would fall asleep. When I don’t want to take a bath, don’t be mad and don’t embarrass me. Remember when I had to run after you making excuses and trying to get you to take a shower when you were just a girl?

When you see how ignorant I am when it comes to new technology, give me the time to learn and don’t look at me that way… remember, honey, I patiently taught you how to do many things like eating appropriately, getting dressed, combing your hair and dealing with life’s issues every day… the day you see I’m getting old, I ask you to please be patient, but most of all, try to understand what I’m going through.

If I occasionaly lose track of what we’re talking about, give me the time to remember, and if I can’t, don’t be nervous, impatient or arrogant. Just know in your heart that the most important thing for me is to be with you. And when my old, tired legs don’t let me move as quickly as before, give me your hand the same way that I offered mine to you when you first walked.

When those days come, don’t feel sad… just be with me, and understand me while I get to the end of my life with love. I’ll cherish and thank you for the gift of time and joy we shared.

With a big smile and the huge love I’ve always had for you, I just want to say, I love you… my darling daughter. “

Spring in the Air
In a culture that worships youth and has a thousand sites devoted to parenting, it’s easy to overlook or get impatient with the elders in our life, especially our mothers, the people with whom we likely spent so much time, and, in the nature of relationships, also experienced so much conflict.

Spring in the Air published this letter on their Facebook site in honor of Mother’s Day, but it’s also a touching reminder that shifts one’s perspective on the elderly.

By: Zdenko Kahlina & Westworld magazine

Grain Elevators – will they survive?
Between Edmonton and Viking there are a number of sites that have grain elevators still standing by the highway, representing real rural areas in Alberta. I took pictures of the new mega grain elevators that are replacing old-fashioned wooden elevators from the past.

Another One Bites The Dust… Out of service and located in the small town of Brookdale MB.

Typical wooden elevator in the prairies

Not that long ago grain elevators were being built in just about every town along the railroad on the Canadian prairies. The grain elevator spelled prosperity to the town and region where they were located. Quickly they became the commercial and social centers for the new “Last Best West”. Rows of brightly colored elevators became cultural landmarks, a symbol of greatness for the productive prairies.

Another wooden elevator by highway 14

These days the old-fashioned Prairie sentinels are gradually being replaced by mega elevators made of concrete and steel. These high-tech storage sites can hold up to 10 times more grain than a typical wooden elevator and are fitted with the latest grain sorting and cleaning machinery.

New mega elevators made of concrete

As a new century unfolds, these same elevators are being demolished as fast as they went up! With the loss of the physical structures comes the loss of history associated with them, the loss of a spot on the horizon that identifies a community, a region and a way of life. AGES sees the need for progress, but they also ask “’what about the legacy”? What are we leaving future generations? How will we know how for we have progressed if we don’t know where we’ve been? AGES says “Let us preserve some of our history, our heritage, and leave some of these beautiful prairie sentinels for the future.”

The Cheadle Grain Elevator
Around 1985, Cheadle lost the last of its grain elevators as well as train and tracks that ran past. More houses and residents slowly started to fill the dusty roads and voids within the community. Very little changed Cheadle until after the year 2000, when another expansion of residential homes followed on the West side of Cheadle while some later developments followed on the East side after 2005. With many residents of Calgary looking to the smaller communities as a way of escaping the problems of large city living; Cheadle’s population is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. Some residents have worked very hard to get Cheadle back on the map. As of April 2009, James Gosteli’s efforts, to add a sign to the Trans Cananda Highway 1, have proven successful with the addition of 2 signs for East and Westbound traffic. Satellite mapping companies, such as Teleatlas, have now included Cheadle and its Streets in their GPS map data so that it will not be forgotten in the future.

Hold that elevator
Source: Westworld, By: Judy Larmour

Like many Albertans, Stan Eichorn will never forget the tremendous screech of tearing wood as track hoes clawed at the heart of his community, or that moment of disbelief when Stettler’s Alberta Wheat Pool elevator eventually toppled. As the honeycomb of wood bins split open and dust rolled out in great choking plumes, he knew he was witnessing not only the loss of an icon but the end of an era.

So when Stettler’s 1925 Parrish and Heimbecker grain elevator and feed mill were slated for demolition in 2003, some eight years later, Eichorn took action – though “people questioned my sanity,” he says of his decision to buy the elevator and its coal shed, one of only two remaining in Alberta. “It was my 94-year-old uncle who told me what the shed actually was,” he admits, “and how grain elevator agents also sold coal that they weighed on the scale in the elevator.” A successful agrologist who returned to the family beef operation a decade ago, the energetic 60-year-old was struck by how quickly our collective memory can forget a way of life.

A spurt of elevator construction in the late 1920s signified the peak of Alberta’s agricultural boom, and by 1934, 1,755 elevators were dotted along the province’s rail lines, linking communities whose lives revolved around the grain industry. But by the late 1990s, branch rail-line closures, the end of the Crow Rate (fixed, pro-rated freight charges for transporting grain) and shifts in the industry’s economy of scale were signalling the demise of the wooden country elevator – that proud symbol of Alberta prairie and parkland. By 2005, less than 150 of the 27-metre-high behemoths loomed on their original sites, most of them inactive. Today, large, concrete, silo-type structures have, for the most part, replaced the traditional gable-roofed wooden grain elevators. The lonely relics of past glory that remain have either been modifed for continued use in the grain trade and are privately maintained by farmers or, in the case of only a precious few, are preserved as museums and interpretive centres. Still others stand weather-beaten and abandoned in various states of disrepair.

Lonely Skyscrapers

Mirroring Eichorn’s struggle against time, the town of Alliance is another important bulwark against a vanishing way of life in Alberta’s rural communities. Here, Agricore United still operates its traditional 75,000-bushel wooden elevator, built in 1957 by the Alberta Wheat Pool. “The Alliance elevator is certainly not obsolete,” says Gord Lewis, the town’s elevator agent for 35 years. “It pays its way, handling about a million bushels a year,” and enables locals such as Mary Wold to travel only 13 km to haul their grain, unlike farmers elsewhere. “We’re really happy about it,” says Wold as she dumps grain from her truck over the pit on the elevator’s work floor, just as she has done for decades. So is Alliance mayor Muriel Fankhanel, who notes that without the Agricore elevator, “taxes would go up.” Just as important, though, is that Alliance has preserved what has been lost elsewhere: the elevator as the soul of the community. This is what Stan Eichorn and others involved with Alberta’s burgeoning heritage grain elevator movement are fighting for. And thanks to their efforts, a growing number of restored symbols of rural pride are opening their doors to the public, each with its own story, history and memories.

The small community of Scandia took an early lead in resisting this loss of the past when, in the late 1980s, the local Eastern Irrigation District (EID) Society restored a 1927 Wheat Pool grain elevator on its original railway site as part of an outdoor agricultural museum. Today, EID board member Holly Johnson recounts how, in 1934, the Bow Slope Shipping Association built its stockyards near the town’s Alberta Wheat Pool elevator and how before the stockyard scale house was built, animals had to be weighed on the elevator’s scale. “Imagine flocks of sheep being driven up a ramp into the elevator while the men struggled to keep them corralled,” she chuckles. Its stories like these that bring history to life, she says, and why oral-history interviews with former elevator agents are so important.

Another One Bites The Dust

Another success story can be found in Mossleigh, where three elevators owned by Parrish and Heimbecker (P&H) were meticulously maintained by elevator agent Reno Bexte, a fervent believer in the preservation of elevator history. When P&H wanted to close two of the three in 2000, Bexte encouraged his cousins Ian and Eric Donovan to purchase both, and “we jumped at the opportunity,” says Ian. “Out on the prairie, most of the old elevators are missing. But now, as you come over that hill, you see a little gem.” The Mossleigh structure is indeed a treasure, a minimally modified elevator row from the early 1930s. Painted the mustard shade characteristic of P&H, it has a rare, octagonal annex built for wartime storage in 1941. But the Donovans’ commitment in Mossleigh also set an example for others in the community. When P&H finally closed its doors here in 2006, management of the company’s third elevator was taken over by Monty Beagle, owner of nearby B&B Agriculture Service. And today, “we have a pact among the three of us,” says Ian Donovan: “None of them will ever go down.”

Stan Eichorn is not the only Alberta farmer to buy an elevator, either. A short distance northwest of Drumheller, on an abandoned branch rail line through Kirkpatrick, the Andrew family uses its 1928 Alberta Wheat Pool elevator – a dramatic silhouette against the stark landscape of the badlands – for grain storage. Farther north, in the lush parkland at Bentley, cars line up on the grass behind the now privately owned 1977 Alberta Wheat Pool elevator during the local fair and rodeo each August. The elevator acts as the movie screen for the community’s old-fashioned drive-in.

Vermont elevator in the winter

Unfortunately, given that grain companies prefer to demolish rather than sell their elevators, not all communities or individuals are successful in their attempts to preserve them. Those who are must generally overcome significant obstacles. So back in 2003, when Stan Eichorn first approached Parrish and Heimbecker about purchasing the Stettler feed mill and elevator (the last P&H-owned feed mill still standing in the province), he was delighted to find the company receptive. Specialists in the animal feed business, P&H opened the building in 1920, and its 80-kilogram bags of chop had been a mainstay of mixed farming in the area. But the mill had been closed for some time and, its equipment gone, was slated for demolition along with the elevator. The elevator’s machinery was in running condition, though, and Eichorn soon had a deal. The elevator was his for a dollar, and P&H threw in the $12,500 it would have spent on demolition to support Eichorn’s dream of turning it into an interpretive centre. Two years later, Eichorn founded the P&H Elevator Preservation Society, now 80 members strong, to take over ownership and development of the heritage site.

However, heritage designation of historic structures usually requires ownership of the land as well as the building, with the land on which grain elevators sit generally owned by a railway. And, as Eichorn has discovered, acquiring land from the CPR or CN can be a long and tortuous process. Still, he remains undeterred. “Somehow it’s going to work,” he says of his upcoming plan to buy the land from CN. For inspiration he turns to fellow elevator preservationist Bob Caine, who, starting in 2000, led the Alberta Legacy Development Society’s campaign to save the former Alberta Wheat Pool elevator at Leduc.

“It was pretty tense,” says Caine of the Leduc society’s struggle. “There were times when we thought we were done for, that there was no way around the financial obstacles.” First, the preservation group raised a $20,000 bond in the fall of 2000 for Agricore United to cover the company’s lease with the CPR. Caine then approached the CPR, a convoluted process that took him from Montreal to Winnipeg to Calgary. Finally, more than 12 months and $110,000 later (and after an arduous appraisal process and logistical complications that included easements to give the CPR access to the rail line and struggles to obtain mortgage loans and member loans with indefinite payback schedules), the society was able to buy the land and seek heritage designation. “It was nothing short of a miracle,” says Caine, who still takes delight in the fact that former premier Ralph Klein attended the elevator’s heritage designation ceremony on May 15, 2003.

Obviously, restoring an elevator and opening it to the public as a heritage site or museum is a major undertaking, one that requires vision, planning, stamina, perseverance – and money, lots of it. Yet communities are increasingly rallying behind their heritage elevators, and the provincial government – by way of the Alberta Historical Resources Foundation – is doing its part through significant funding for grain elevator conservation. But even so, says Eichorn, it remains a costly business, one best undertaken in phases with endless bouts of fundraising. As Ernie Halun, president of the group now in the process of preserving the Krause Milling Co. grain elevator at Radway, says, “We just take it one step at a time. We’ve cleaned the elevator and restored the exterior paintwork, hired a heritage consultant to research its history and prepare an interpretation plan. Next we need to raise funds to install sprinklers for fire suppression and to put the plan in place. Only then can we open our doors.”

Lorraine Foesier of the Rowley Community Association is equally familiar with the ups and downs inherent in the process of preserving grain elevators. “We were really rolling in 1988,” she notes, when the three grain elevators in Rowley – a tiny hamlet that is a museum in itself – were used as a backdrop for the Canadian film Bye Bye Blues. Back then, Stettler’s Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions train brought thousands of visitors to the town. But recently, the train’s route was shortened (its last stop is now Big Valley, 28 km away), problems with vandalism have been discouraging and Rowley’s elevators, designated as heritage buildings by the province in 2003, require immediate re-roofing. The timing is unfortunate. As Foesier points out, Alberta’s boom economy means the costs of meeting Canada’s national standards and guidelines for conservation “are rocketing and it is harder to find contractors to do the work.” Nonetheless, even after 20 years of fundraising and hard work, Foesier’s passion for grain elevators is infectious and her dedication unshakable. “Somebody has to look after them,” she declares.

Surprisingly, perhaps, there are people ready to do just that across Alberta. The geometric patterning of the solid-wood cribbing in Mayerthorpe’s 1966 Federal Grain Company elevator was what caught Doug McDermid’s attention the first time he saw its interior. Today, McDermid is president of the town’s Country Elevator Society, formed in 1997, and is working to restore the elevator and develop its annex as an interpretive space – with solar LED lights in the cupola to welcome evening travellers. Ninety-year-old Hilbert Lechelt, the town’s grain buyer from 1949 to 1974, is one of many residents who are more than happy about the project.

In its heyday, “it was a nice elevator,” Lechelt recalls, with bins that had hoppered bottoms – meaning the grain didn’t need to be shovelled as it did in the older elevator where he began his career. As for stories, “I’ve got plenty of them,” he adds, like the day a storage annex was moved alongside the elevator in 1972. “Do you know what they used to move it along the rails?” he asks. “Soap. And the kind that worked best was Ivory.”

Back in Stettler, Eichorn puts a pot of coffee on in the office where the agent once bought grain and farmers purchased supplies, discussed crops and the weather or played a round of crib. He knows his group has a decade-long project ahead, but “we’re in it for the long haul,” he insists. Phase one has seen the building stabilized and the roof’s cedar shingles and coal shed’s siding replaced. (“We spent two years finding drop-siding to match the original,” notes Eichorn.) Next up: two thirds of the roof and the flooring in the three-storey feed mill need replacing.

Although it’s still in the early planning stages, the mill floor will eventually serve as a display centre for showcasing the rich history and importance of agriculture in the area. Eichorn already knows that the elevator’s site in Stettler has one major advantage: the 25,000 people who ride the vintage Alberta Prairie Railway Excursions train each year who will hopefully visit the elevator as part of their heritage experience. As he sees it, “the grain elevator is a beacon: it attracts people to learning about the past.”

Historian and heritage consultant Judy Larmour lives on a grain farm near Rimbey.

Silo Visionaries
The province-wide Alberta Grain Elevator Society (AGES) welcomes all new members; – the only qualification is an interest in grain elevators. The organization shares information, tackles technical conservation issues and promotes grain elevators as an educational venture and tourist attraction. “It’s grassroots network groups like AGES that are so important in advocating strategies and lobbying for financial support for the preservation of grain elevators as a national symbol,” notes Natalie Bull of the Heritage Canada Foundation, opening speaker at the AGES annual conference earlier this year. To sign up: http://www.grainelevators/alberta.ca

Elevator Action
For more information about historic and currently operating grain elevators, the following communities are home to entertaining and enlightening museums and interpretive centres.

• St. Albert
p: 780-419-7354
w: http://www.artsheritage.ca/heritagesites

• Castor
p: 403-882-3271
w: http://www.albertasource.ca/carmn/museums/musatod.html

• Big Valley
p: 403-876-2242
w: http://www.canadiannorthern.ca

• Meeting Creek
p: 780-672-3099
w: http://www.canadiannorthern.ca

• Scandia
p: 403-362-5010

• Paradise Valley
p: 780-745-2150
w: http://www.kalynacountry.com/cream/listings.htm

• Andrew
p: 780-365-3687
w: http://www.adhams.tripod.com/adhams.htm

• Nanton
p: 403-646-5736
w: http://www.nantonelevators.com

• Calgary Heritage Park
p: 403-268-8500
w: http://www.heritagepark.ca

• Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village (Highway 16 east of Edmonton)
p: 780-662-3640
w: http://www.tapor.ualberta.ca/heritagevillage/

• Alberta Central Railway Museum (near Wetaskiwin)
p: 780-352-2257
w: http://www.albertasource.ca/carmn/museums/musatod.html

• Heritage Acres Museum (north of Pincher Creek on Hwy 785)
p: 403-627-2082
w: http://www.highway3.ca/attractions/heritageacres.htm

For information about Alberta’s Grain Elevator Society (AGES), the province’s premier grain elevator preservation organization, visit www.grainelevatorsalberta.ca

Grain Elevators and Train

Grain Elevators at Mossleigh – Alberta – Canada

Grain Elevators at Mossleigh.
Please reduce gas when entering Mossleigh, the village is so small you might miss it. Coming from the US border and heading to Calgary i made a detour in the search for these old wooden grain elevators. I knew that Mossleigh had some, but no idea how they stood in the landscape. When entering Mossleigh they stood perfect against a deep blue sky. Actually there are standing three in a row, but this Twins combination fits better in the overal composition.

Rowley Grain Elevators
The grain elevators in Rowley closed for good in 1989, a result of modern-day shift from the pioneer wooden grain elevators along the central Alberta rail line to selected “super-elevators” in larger centres. But residents saw the tourism dollar potential, and successfully lobbied to buy two elevators from the Alberta Wheat Pool for $1 each.

Less than a year before the new millennium, the last train passed through Rowley. And now the Alberta prairie town’s future may once more belong to the ghosts. In the mid-1970s, Rowley, which once boasted a population of about 500 in the 1920s, was a beat-up dying community, with rows of empty houses and businesses, and inhabited by only a few dozen prairie hardened souls. But one night, a few party-happy locals, whose liquor supply was fast dwindling, decided on a quick solution — a “B & E Party” at a boarded-up old saloon. The brazen men then got talking about sprucing up the pioneer community to make it a heritage stop for tourists. For the next quarter century, locals restored old homes and businesses and soon visitors were attracted from all parts of Alberta, Canada and the U.S. The highlight of the community’s new fame came in 1988 when a cinema production team used Rowley as the set for the hit Canadian movie, “Bye, Bye Blues”.

Here’s another photo from the ghost town of Rowley, Alberta, which we visited in July last year. We already showed you few photos from this place, which you can find in our set The beauty of Alberta Past. This time, the PP is heavy. I had to bring this photo to show something very personal to me. This is not a recording of reality as it was that day. This photo tries to portray my reality/perception/feelings while there in Rowley, engulfed by the ghosts of Alberta/Rowley past.

Attractiveness of the past

Lonely Skyscrapers
Long abandoned grain elevators at Josephine in rural Benson County, ND. View this large for a better understanding of how these old elevators were constructed, and to better see the decay taking place at the closest one.

Not Identical Twins. I’m still working on that crazy Sunday set. Lepine Grain Elevators. Just about all that’s left of the town of Lepine, Saskatchewan: two grain elevators.

Through the bushes

This is what I do for fun… Another look at those neat old grain elevators at St. Joe in western Ramsey County, and another “gratuitous pickup shot”. But this also shows what I do for fun. I explore gravel roads and photograph those things that catch my interest.

Source:

http://www.ama.ab.ca/westworld/?/articles/hold_that_elevator/

Story by: Zdenko Kahlina

My mother passed away two years ago – on Mothers Day! It is hard to believe two years have gone by already. There is not one day that passed I did not think about her. It has definitely been a very difficult two years for me and my family. We still talk about her and her life at our family gathering. Here is what I wrote about her last year:

Weep not for me that I have died; rejoice instead that I have lived!

My mother passed away - on Mothers Day! She quietly passed away at the home for elderly people „DOM TOLIĆ BRADAŠEVIĆ“ in Zagreb (Croatia), at the age of eighty-six. After a long illness, she succumbed to cancer after fighting it for more than 15 years. I think my mother had a very fruitful and happy life and was the most significant inspiration in my life.

Zdenka was born in Zagreb and lived all her life in her beloved city. She was married to our father, Petar Kahlina for a remarkable 44 years until 1988, when our father died due to a terminal illness. However difficult time of her life it was, she never remarried but not to say that she was lonely. She lived a very active life and for years was involved with the senior citizens organization where she had a large circle of friends and acquaintances.  She also visited her sons in Edmonton on more than one occasion and our families reunited with her in Zagreb every two years regularly.

Our mother passed away peacefully on Sunday, May 9th, 2010, her smile leaving a glow in her room at „DOM TOLIĆ BRADAŠEVIĆ“, place for elderly people near Zagreb, where she had lived the very last year of her life.
 
With the following pictures I want to celebrate her life and remember her for all the good things she did. She will be forever remembered by her children, Zdenko and Marijan and their spouses Vera and Sandy, who all live in Edmonton, Canada. She will remain in the hearts of her five grand children Neven, Sanja, Robyn, Christina and Jeffrey.

Our families are thankful to all her caregivers at „DOM TOLIĆ BRADAŠEVIĆ“in Croatia and doctors and nurses at the Holy Spirit Hospital in Zagreb. We are forever indebted and want to give special thanks to Damir and Marija, her nephew and his wife,  for all their kindness, love, care and attention they provided to our mother over the last number of years, since her closest family was out of reach living such huge distances away.

Zdenko and Marijan with mom 
 
2009: Grand children Sanja and Neven with grandma 
 
2009: Family with mom in her room. 
 
2009: Grand children Christina and Sanja with grandma 
 
2009: Sandy, Marijan’s partner with mom 
 
2009: Vera with mom 
 
2007: Zdenko with mom 
 
2007: Zdenka with her older son Marijan 
2007: Vera and Zdenko with mom
 
2005: Zdenko with his mother and cousin Damir

Today My Mother Died

© Sania Harris

Today my mother died
Silently without a sign
No inkling about her sadness
Even though we filled her with madness
Never being a burden for us
Instead giving us all a bless

Today my mother died
The one to whom I always lied
Screaming at her for her calmness
Creating all kind of fuss
Not thinking about her loneliness
Putting her in deep distress

Today my mother died
Thinking about her fate, I sighed
The times I went away
The times I never looked back
The pains she felt astray
The pains she felt setback

Today my mother died
I recalled her past and cried

 
1995: Zdenka with twin brother Zvonko
 
1943: Zdenka with her husband Petar Kahlina
 
1940: Zdenka with her husband Petar Kahlina
 
Twins Zdenka and Zvonko in 1939
 
Family Leskovar 1939: Zvonko, mother Gustika, Zdenka and their father Vilim.
 
Twins Zdenka and Zvonko in 1934 with their father Vilim
 
Twins in 1934: Zdenka and Zvonko
 
Twins in 1924: Zdenka and Zvonko Family Leskovar in 1929

Until we meet again mother, rest in peace. We love you.

Your son Zdenko

Story and photos by: James Huang
This article was originally published on BikeRadar

A look at the WorldTour support network.
Inside the team buses at pro race Paris-Roubaix in 2012. Paris-Roubaix is fought over by the riders on the road but there’s also a tremendous support network in place to keep the massive machine that is WorldTour-level bicycle racing rolling along. From team buses and trucks to mechanics, soigneurs and fans, check out our image gallery for a look at what goes on behind the scenes at the world’s greatest one-day road race.

It’s hard to travel incognito when your team truck is wrapped like this. Lotto-Belisol stores all of its bikes on the truck in one lower row, leaving the upper level for wheels.

Lotto-Belisol’s team truck is a fully capable, mobile workshop for the team. The inside of the Rabobank team truck. Lights mounted underneath the rear door allow Lotto-Belisol trucks to continue working after dark. More wheels are stored in the forward end of the Katusha team mechanics’ bus. Katusha soigneurs get these two lower compartments for food, coolers, and drinks. A small table pulls out from the side of the Katusha team bus for mechanics. This washer and dryer on the Katusha team bus both see heavy use during the season. There is room for lots of bikes and wheels inside the Rabobank team truck. Power and water are critical elements for team mechanics. This portable surge protector allows several team vehicles to operate out of a single outlet. The workbench inside the Rabobank team truck was crowded with wheels the day before Paris-Roubaix. The inside of the GreenEdge team truck. Note the lights mounted to the flip-up rear door. Mechanics work long hours. Astana’s team truck is capable of storing an incredible amount of gear. Astana’s mechanics travel around in a big Iveco box truck.

A washer and dryer are tucked into the lower bay of the Astana team truck. Sorry, we don’t know what the black box is.

 The driver’s view of the Astana team bus. Astana’s bus driver has to navigate this beast through tight European roads.

Big, puffy seats for the Astana riders provide a cozy place on the bus as they travel to and from races.

 Katusha mechanics don’t use a truck. Instead, they use a converted touring bus as there are fewer restrictions on European roads. Compressed air and water hoses are kept on a reel in one of the Katusha team truck compartments. The inside of the Katusha team mechanics’ bus is a little more cramped than the usual box truck but there’s still plenty of room for bikes, wheels, and other gear. Two custom painted frames are ready to be built.

GreenEdge’s awning is a critical piece of equipment when mechanics have to work outside in the rain. The inside of the Cofidis truck is stocked with wheels on one side and bikes on the other. Bikes are stored in the Cofidis truck with the wheels removed.

By: Zdenko Kahlina

Hello everyone!
It has been three years already! Samantha Louise Bagnall and Neven Kahlina got married on May 2nd, 2009. It was one beautiful day in between several cold days at the beginning of May that year. They have become a proud parents of little baby Luka since than. It was a beautiful ceremony at St. Joachim Catholic Church, followed by a reception and a dance at St. John’s Cultural Centre in Edmonton.
 

We couldn’t ask for a better day. It was sunny and warm (+22 degrees), and all the bridesmaids got sunburns. We all enjoyed the warm day standing in front of the church and taking pictures in every imaginable position.

The church where they got married was just beautiful; it has huge ceilings, grand arches, and lots of room for 150 wedding guests to move around in. St. Joachim’s is Edmonton’s oldest Roman Catholic parish, dating back to 1854 when Father Albert Lacombe converted a small building within Fort Edmonton into a chapel. It was later given the name of St. Joachim by Bishop Alexander Antoine Taché. 

The ceremony in the church was wonderful. Though it is a church in the French neighborhood, the priest Fr. Paul Moret held ceremony in English. Here is how my brother described it: ” It was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to (including my own). The church was beautiful, ceremony was great (and short) and people around were wonderful. Sam’s family is great, they are all wonderful people”.

After the ceremony at the church, it was time to take zillion family pictures in front of the church. Than, it was bridal party turn to go off at different location to take more pictures. They all went to the Louise McKinney Park, by the Shaw conference centre.

We arrived at the St. John’s Cultural Centre for the reception around 5:15 pm, to relax for a couple of minutes before the party starts!!! A receiving line, consisting of Sam, Neven, Cindy, Keith, Vera and Zdenko, was there to welcome all the guests.  The lineups were not that long, but it was pretty busy for a while. When the cocktail hour started, I was so close to the bar that I could “smell” the beer, yet so far… as I was not able to leave my duty, before I welcomed all the guests to the reception.

Once all the guests were seated, ceremony started. DJ Dave (Bob Layton’s son; Bob Layton is very popular commentator for Edmonton’s Global TV station) introduced the whole wedding party.

The bridal party pairs were:

•1.      Sanja and Ben
•2.      Vicky and Josh
•3.      Kelly and Blaz
•4.      Becca and Mark

Ben and Josh introduced each member of the bridal party with a short description of who they are and how they are related/connected to the bride and groo

It was time for DJ Dave to call out the table numbers for the buffet line-up. After the dinner (by the way, food was great!) ceremony went well. It was time for the speeches.

First was Becca’s turn. She did a great job describing how the sisters grownup together.

Sanja, Neven’s sister, was next. She is a nurse at ICU in Royal Alexandra hospital. She lives only two blocks away from Sam and Neven and with her boyfriend Jeremy and her dog Rheya is a frequent visitor at Sam and Neven’s house. Having come to Canada from Croatia at a young age Sanja and Neven have been very close siblings and are very good friends as well.

Than Mark (Neven’s best man) had his speech and a toast to the groom. Neven and Mark know each other pretty much since Neven came to Canada and the Kahlina family started going to the Edmonton Croatian community gatherings and the Croatian church. They went to high school together; both lived in Calgary with a couple of other friends. They were each other’s wingmen while single. Now they are both getting married in the same year – Mark and Andrea Kemper are getting married later this year.

After Mark it was Vera’s and Zdenko’s turn to welcome Sam to the family. And they did (you can read his speech bellow).

Sam’s father Keith welcomed Neven to the Bagnall family…

At the end, Neven wanted to say few words too…

Ben and Josh wrapped up the speeches and introduced the slideshow that Sanja set up on the main display. The slideshow was something special. In 15 minutes we were introduced to Sam’s and Neven’s childhood with lots of memorable pictures.

When the slide show was finished DJ invited everyone to the dance floor for Bride and grooms first dance. This was followed by the dance for the wedding party, followed by bride’s dance with her dad and by that point everyone was welcomed to dance floor.

This is all for the blog. Hope you enjoyed reading it. I’m sure this wedding will give them something to talk about for the rest of their lives! 

Zdenko

Speeches

 Best man:
 Good evening ladies and gentlemen.  My name is Mark Marinic. There are obviously two very important people here today, without whom very little of this would have been possible. Neven and Sam, when you guys look at each other I can see how much you love each other and today is definitely a testament to that.  When Neven asked me to be his man, I was very overwhelmed and honored, I mean who else would you ask?

Kidding aside, this day has been so incredible and special and I am so happy that you found the love of your life, I know you will have many happy years together.

 I have known Neven for over 19 years; ever since he came to Canada at the age of 13 I remember seeing him and his family at the community gatherings and at the Croatian church. As time went on, I started seeing him around more and more and thought “Yah this is a cool guy!” and we became friends and have been ever since.

Neven, one of the best memories I have of you is when you told me you were going to ask Sam to merry you. You were so excited and happy when you described this special moment to me.  I saw your face light up. I thought to myself “she was the one”.  

Look at us now, back in the old city again and both getting married in the same year! How did this happen???

I’d just like to say Neven, you are a very lucky man, Sam is beautiful, smart, funny, warm and loving and she deserves a good man like you! So thank God you married her before she found some else.

Sam, I did the very best that I could to make Neven who he is today, if he every gets out of line, just let me know!!

I would like to say to the bridesmaids how beautiful and stunning all of you look today! And thank you for everything you have done to help prepare for this special day!

And to the groomsmen, you guys clean up pretty good too! Who knew a shower and a tux could make us look so handsome!

Neven, a few words of advise I’ve heard along the way, number 1) Marriage isn’t a word, it’s a sentence, (pause for laughing) and number 2) Marriage is a three-ring circus – engagement ring, wedding ring, suffering.

Well, my speech is almost done but before I finish, would everyone please stand and join me in a TOAST to Neven, a lifetime of happiness and love. To Neven!!!

From the bottom of my heart and with all kidding aside, may your love survive the test of time, lasting forever! Each of us in this room wishes you a long life of love, laughter, and growth. Along with the good times, there will be tough times but together you will get through whatever hand life deals.

Along with the wedding party, I would like to propose a toast to the happy couple and wish a lifetime of love and happiness together. To Neven and Sam!!!

Father of the groom:
Dear family and friends! Good evening!
It is my pleasure to welcome friends and relatives of both families to share this very special day. As father of the Groom it is my privilege and real pleasure to welcome Sam’s parents, Cindy and Keith and all her sisters and brothers.

Special thanks to our guests who came from afar (UK, Scotland, USA (Oklahoma), Toronto, Vancouver), your effort makes our celebration that much more special.

Not that long ago, Sam asked me if I was going to give a speech at the weeding, to welcome her to our family. I was honored then as I am now, happy to finally, have this opportunity to say:” Sam, on behalf of our family I welcome you to our lives and our hearts.”  (I want you to be my friend on the Facebook!)

We love you and thank you for joining our family! I’m sure everyone will agree with me when I say you are beautiful and today your beauty is even more radiant than ever!!!

I remember the day Neven introduced you to us for the first time, it was right after you left that Vera and I looked at each other with a smile and unspoken thoughts: “Oh, we sure hope Neven falls for her because she is a “keeper”. It turns out our wish was granted.

Our Son Neven is standing here today; honest, determined, loving and loved, a respectful and respected young man who makes me proud to be his father. (I do forgive you for taking my car(s) without permission!)

Neven I am here to say today that both, your mother Vera and I love you unconditionally for everyday of your life and those feelings will stay with us forever. You made us even happier with finding Sam and bringing her to yours and our lives.

Since the day we were introduced we just love to say repeatedly: “Sam is the best “thing” that could happen to Neven”. She understands you, better than we ever could!

Sam stays calm and is very persistent; she knows what she wants and how to get it (done). Whatever it is, to our surprise, Neven is listening! Well, most of the time. Right Sam!?

It appears they assigned their chores quite equally: Neven takes care of the remote control, computer games, Beamer, barbeque and beer. Sam takes care of the rest!? Nobody’s complaining…… Not yet!

We love YOU both very much!

Toast: Please all rise and join us in a toast to the bride and groom:

“May your lives and this marriage be a symbol to us all, of the love in your hearts and the joy that will last forever.”

We wish you and your guests to have a great time tonight! Enjoy!

Groom’s speech:
Ladies and Gentlemen, family and friends, thank you all for being here to share this special day with us. We have been planning this day for a long time and it has turned out to be everything we have imagined and hoped for.

Sam and I met two and a half years ago at a friends going away party and from the first few dates it was clear that we were a perfect match. She has just enough patience to put up with my sometimes immature ways and I……well…..I’m just lucky to have her. Her family has accepted me as one of their own and my family has done the same with her. As a matter of fact sometimes I think they like her more than me.

Guests

We would like to thank all of our guests, friends and family for showing their support today and for sharing this special day in our lives with us. We would like to offer special thanks to some guests who have traveled from far away to be with us today and even apologize that we have not been able to spend more time with them but as you all know this day required a lot of work and organizing.

We would like to thank:

Lorraine, Geoff, Emma and Daniel Hodson as well as Jennifer Clegg whom are here visiting us from England.

Jan and Bob Bagnall from Scotland.

Simon and Amy Bagnall from Arkansas.

Ljiljana Mironovic from Toronto.

Branko and Zlata Vukic from Vancouver.

Amanda Kelloway from Vancouver.

Rob Gora from Vancouver.

Karmyn, Chad and Abi Graham from Okotoks.

Guests not present:

Unfortunately, it’s not been possible to have everyone we love here with us today, but we know they’re here with us in spirit & they’re not only in our thoughts today, but more importantly they’re with us in our hearts.

Parents 

We would like to thank both sets of parents as we wouldn’t be where we are today if it wasn’t for them. We want to thank them all for the love and support over the years and for everything they have done to help make this day special for us.

To my Mum & Dad….

Thank you for all the advice you have given me, for putting up with me and pointing me in the right direction. Although I wasn’t always an obedient kid and had a tendency to do the exact opposite of what I was taught I think it’s safe to say now that I turned out OK. I’m sure you will have a lot of advice and suggestions to pass on to Sam as she will surely need to be armed with patience and Love going forward with her life with me.

Mum, Dad I love you very much, hold your heads high you’ve done a great job!

To Sam’s parents

Thank you for all your love and support and for giving Sam a great start in life. I believe that I’m also meant to thank you for putting up with her in her childhood and teenage years, however when I asked her for some embarrassing snippets of information for this part of my speech, I got the reply: ‘I’m perfect, I didn’t do anything wrong when I was a child’!!….

Of course I haven’t just gained a wife today, but also a family. Thank you to all of them for making me feel so welcome. Most of all, thank you for bringing Sam up to be the woman that I have married.

Mark and groomsmen

I’ve known Mark or Marko for about 18-19 years or so… and both Sam and I are very pleased to hear that Mark & Andrea have decided to get married later this year. I can only hope to be able to return the favor of helping with your wedding as well as you have helped us with ours. I think it needs to be mentioned that the bachelor Party was one for the history books and Mark with the help of all the groomsmen did a wonderful job planning a day filled with fun and exciting events.

I would also like to thank Blaz, Josh and Ben for everything they have done for us and for their support and love. Since Ben is getting married to Jenn later this year and Josh and Jenna will be tying the knot soon also I guess the pressure now falls on Blaz’s shoulders to take the next step….

Many thanks for all your support today…

Becca and Bridesmaids

We would like to thank Becca and the Bridesmaids who I am sure you will all agree look amazing today for their love and support. They have done a brilliant job planning and helping out with the wedding and making sure Sam didn’t run off somewhere at the last minute.

Sam

I now come to the most important person in my life – my wife!

Honey, it’s been a long time coming and I can’t stop smiling! Simply put…. ‘You look absolutely stunning, you take my breath away!’ I’m just so proud to be your Husband… Thank You for choosing me to spend the rest of your life with!

They say, ‘To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.’ It works for me.

We have so many plans to make throughout our lives together but, whatever happens, I know that we will be together forever and that is all that matters in this world. I love you simply because you are you. That’s why I know for the rest of my life I will always be in love with only you!

The bride: Samantha Bagnall Kahlina

Source: Westworld, By: John Cambell

The big lone bull stepped out of the aspens near sundown.
“What do you think?” asked my friend Phil Despins, wondering aloud whether I shared his hunch that this animal might be dangerous. One thing was clear to us: we were not in a good position tactically for a sudden encounter with wild bison here on the southwest apron of isolated Prince Albert National Park, three hours north of Saskatoon.

Alberta buffalo

Not 15 metres away, and staring straight at us with obvious signs of agitation, he certainly looked every inch the malignant brute. Heavy, dark, unexpectedly massive and muscular, with a great shaggy cape and upward curving horns, the big bull was rocking back and forth, silhouetted in the declining light.

A safe retreat seemed out of the question – but there was an upside. Close-quarters experience with Saskatchewan’s major free-ranging bison herds was what we were after. And with this straggling member of the Sturgeon River herd, known to roam in and out of the park at will, up-close and personal was exactly what we were getting.

We’d spent the earlier part of the day following false leads through a maze of grid roads in and around the heavily forested 4,000-square-kilometre park, fielding ghostly reports concerning the whereabouts of the herd before we finally learned it tends to stay in the Amyot Lake area. Locals call this the “wild west” side of the park, which is, for the most part, inaccessible by public motorized vehicles. How to get there was the question. And with just a few hours of daylight left, we finally did the unthinkable: stopped at a gas station in the nearby village of Debden and asked for directions.

Overhearing our questions put to the clerk, a female customer offered a suggestion: “I’m not sure myself, but I’ll look up Ruben Vaadeland’s number for you. I bet he’ll know.” And he did.

Ruben is the 77-year-old patriarch of the Vaadeland family, a cowboying clan that has ranched along the Sturgeon River watershed on the southern border of the park since 1929, raising shorthorn cattle and children on the Lazy SV ranch. His countrified but otherwise precise directions to “stay on the speed curves” (the sweeping bends of gravelled Parkview Road trending northeast from Debden) put Phil and I within a kilometre or two of the park’s isolated west side warden’s office just before the day drew to a close.

Bison in the woods during the cold winters in Alberta- Elk Island national park

The Sturgeon River plains bison herd was reintroduced to the area in 1969 as a supplementary meat source for First Nations people. Initially, 50 head were brought here from Alberta’s Elk Island National Park and released into the Thunder Hills, north of Prince Albert National Park. The herd made its way south and, by 2006, had grown to an estimated population of 400.

But even though the group flourished, its relationship with local ranchers has not been an easy one. At times, the bison have been guilty of hooligan behaviour: smashing fences, competing with cattle for graze and even challenging male bovines for the cows at breeding time. “The cowboys have been hazing the herd out of the fields for the last couple days,” Ruben told us. “I’m sure you’ll find them around there.”

Alberta where the Buffalo Roam

So, with some persistence, we’d finally manoeuvred ourselves into this tension-filled predicament despite the obvious warning signs: steaming clods of dung amid hammered-down clumps of trees where the massive creatures had barrelled upslope from the Sturgeon River. Though the rest of the herd had already moved deeper into the thicker woods surrounding Amyot Lake, this lone male had lingered on the threshold between ranchland and parkland, seemingly awaiting our arrival.

But suddenly, with the same ethereal speed with which he’d materialized, the menace was gone. He simply bolted with a kangaroo leap up a short incline and feathered into the darkening woods that closed behind him like a curtain. The show was over. “Now that was real,” said Phil, his voice filled with both relief and admiration. It was the vanishing act that startled us the most. We simply had no idea a creature weighing close to a ton could move like that.

“We call them ‘bachelors’ and they can run at about the same speed as a horse,” Ruben Vaadeland’s son Gord informs us later of the aging bulls who choose solitary lives, and who can often be more aggressive and unpredictable than the other males. The younger Vaadeland recently splintered off part of the family’s Lazy SV to start the Sturgeon River guest ranch, which takes clients by horseback to within spitting distance of the herd. “Bison seem to have an extra level of tolerance for horses and we’re usually able to ride within 50 yards of them,” says Gord, who has hosted university researchers, grade-school education experiences and even Terry Grant, the steely-eyed star of OLN’s Mantracker series in which Vaadeland appears for an episode as “sidekick.”

Bison feeding

“A favourite time for me is in August when the rut starts,” he says. “The young bulls are getting tossed around and there’s dirt flying everywhere. Plus, it’s loud: you can hear them grunting from the other side of the river.”

Gord Vaadeland is also the executive director of the local Sturgeon River Plains Bison Stewards whose short-term goal is to create an environment where co-existence between ranchers and bison is possible. The herd’s presence here is a direct connection to a traditional cowboy way of life that Vaadeland reminds us “is in jeopardy too.”

Free-ranging herds of Alberta buffalo

If you don’t appreciate the romance of the Old West, you probably wouldn’t bother rambling around the province for a glimpse of the free-ranging herds that have been so recently reintroduced to sprawling Saskatchewan. For those who do, there are options. About seven hours south of the Sturgeon River herd, another 70 bison live in a fenced-in 180-square-kilometre area of Grasslands National Park. A herd of 50 takes up residence in the Old Man on His Back Prairie and Conservation Area, an hour west. A further 35 mosey in a secure paddock with a viewing tower at Buffalo Pound Provincial Park, 25 km northeast of Moose Jaw in the Qu’Appelle Valley. Still another unmonitored herd free-ranges in the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range north of Meadow Lake.

The term “free-ranging” is a relative one. It would be a stretch to say that even the Sturgeon River herd can come and go as its ancestors did when an estimated 60 million roamed as far south as Texas. And as committed as westerners are to the iconography of the legendary buffalo, history was hard on its species. An industry voice for domestic growers, the Canadian Bison Association reckons that by 1899 less than 1,000 remained in the aftermath of one reckless century of western expansion. “The complete loss of a species was prevented by the efforts of ranchers and conservationists in both Canada and the United States,” declares the CBA’s website.

Though it may be hard for die-hard conservationists to credit commercial bison operations with the resurgence of the species, Gord Vaadeland takes a conciliatory view. “Domestic growers have restored the relationship between man and bison,” he says. Indeed, a Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture survey found that the number of bison in the province had risen from less than 35,000 in 2001 to more than 57,000 in 2006 thanks mostly to the efforts of producers. The few hundred “free-ranging” bison must be seen in the context of the domestic growers’ success story. Saskatchewan’s bison population represents a quarter of Canada’s national herd of 220,000. 

Most official sources, including the Nature Conservancy of Canada, which now manages the Old Man on His Back herd, trace this repopulation back to two Metis men named Charles Allard and Michel Pablo who, in 1884, dismayed by the diminishing numbers of bison on the prairies, bought a small group of calves and nurtured them along until their numbers reached 800 by 1906. In 1909, members of the Allard-Pablo herd were shipped to Alberta’s newly created Elk Island National Park. Most of today’s purebred plains bison originate from that lot, including those at Sturgeon River, Grasslands and Old Man on His Back.

“If you hurry, you’ll see them just down the road,” says site host Sue Dumontel of the resident bison herd as we arrive on another crisp, sunny day at the interpretive centre of the 5,200-hectare Old Man on His Back, south of Saskatchewan’s storied Frenchman River valley. With its sweeping, wide-open vistas, pronghorn antelope and views of Montana’s Bear’s Paw mountain range rising on a clear day, this is quite literally a place where you could watch your dog run away for three days. It’s also a region steeped in the lore of Canada’s Old West and in a semicircular arc from this point are some of its most dramatic touchstones: Fort Walsh at Battle Creek, the site of the Cypress Hills Massacre; the Red Coat Trail, the pipeline for the arrival of the North West Mounted Police; Eastend, home of the T-Rex “Scotty,” and his fossilized remains; Grasslands National Park, and nearby Wood Mountain, where Sitting Bull led the remnants of his Sioux nation after Little Bighorn. Even now, it’s not difficult to imagine that there was once a time when the rising, falling swells of this still sparsely populated mixed-grass prairie were black with bison.

Signage makes finding the Old Man on His Back centre, a few miles of gravel off Hwy. 18, straightforward enough, though only 336 people visited last year. The gravel roads can turn slick and impassable in the rain, but it’s mostly the isolated feel of this country that takes it off the tourism mainstream. Yet here, under the dome of an endless blue sky, and on this vast stretch of open grass, the buffalo seem timeless and perfect.

Bison in the Elk Island national park, Alberta

Sue is right, the herd is on the road, where it seems content to stay. With Phil and I on this prairie tableau is a member of the Archaeological Society of Alberta, Marlin Sercombe, who shares our reverence for the western story. We approach the herd with caution, although Sue has advised us that we’re past the spring calving season, the most dangerous time to be near the animals.

Because we need photos, Marlin and I advance on foot toward the watchful herd, while Phil mans his big four-by-four for a quick pickup, just in case. One of the ground rules is that you stay in a vehicle at all times, and we heartily endorse this. After Sturgeon River, there’s no doubt in our minds that a pursuing bison could quickly reel in a man afoot – especially here in the open. Our next moves come unrecommended.

Step by step we draw nearer to the herd, which is now perhaps 100 metres away. That’s close enough, says the body language of two adult females who, with tails swishing, turn their full attention on us. We back up slowly toward the truck and watch the herd depart the road, plotting a quick-stepping course onto the yawning prairie.

Undaunted, we follow behind, gingerly picking a tacking approach. The herd is now definitely on guard, and we know we’re pushing our luck. Still, astonishingly, the herd temporarily disappears from view in the folds of the land. Now it’s apparent why buffalo hunts were not always a success. The enormity of the land can swallow whole even North America’s largest land mammal.

When they re-emerge, we again press forward in an angling manoeuvre. Gradually we close the distance, realizing that what we’re doing is dumb, but relishing the primal joy of stalking an Ice Age survivor. Then, without notice, the herd makes an abrupt U-turn and within moments we find ourselves corralled. With deft skill, Phil eases his truck to our position and we clamber inside, seconds before the big, brown forms completely surround the vehicle.

The herd tolerates the truck as Phil gingerly picks a line through their mass and takes us out onto the main road. Once we’re clear, he pulls over to inspect his vehicle. “You know you’re having a good day when you get buffalo crap on your tires,” he says with a grin.

Alberta Bison Spotting – Wood Buffalo National Park

Established in 1922 and straddling the border between Alberta and the Northwest Territories, the 45,000-square-kilometre Wood Buffalo National Park is both remote and alluring. Park officials caution visitors that weather, wildlife and road conditions all require preparation, but the rewards for the hardy explorer are immense. A designated UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, Wood Buffalo is home to bears, wolves, eagles and at least three “at risk” species: the peregrine falcon, the whooping crane and the wood bison.

Larger and darker in colour than their plains cousins, the wood-bison herd in this park numbered 5,600 as of 2005, which officially makes it the largest free-roaming herd left in the world.

Elk Island National Park

Just a one-hour drive east of downtown Edmonton lies the opportunity to see, not just one, but two unique groups of bison co-existing in Elk Island National Park. The park has maintained a wood bison herd since 1965 — when a group of 18 was brought south from Wood Buffalo National Park. The plains bison arrived much earlier, during the park’s formative years, between 1907 and 1909.

What’s the easiest way to tell these hulking relatives apart? Just look for the plains bison’s telltale drooping beard, its full cape and thick chaps. The wood bison, meanwhile, is bigger as a breed, but its beard is straggly and short, its cape tight to the shoulders and its chaps notably absent, the poor fella.

Source: www.ama.ca

By: Zdenko Kahlina
You can’t get companionship like this when riding solo.
Finally! Halfway the month of April and it’s our first group ride of the season. On this mild Sunday, spring is unmistakably in the air. But the nights are still cold, close to freezing point. So the start of my bike ride at 10 AM was pretty chilly.

As usual, I drove my car to Ardrossan, just few minutes east of the city of Edmonton. There, in this small town by the hockey arena is a huge parking lot, which on Sunday is used mostly by cyclists. They leave cars there and jump on their bikes. When starting the bike rides from Ardrossan, they escape city traffic.

On Sunday mornings there is a different group of bikers leaving every half hour for their ride through beautiful country side of Strathcona County. In otherwise mostly flat Alberta, here in Ardrossan area you can ride through the hills and wooded areas, all the way to Elk Island national park. The area is populated with farms, horse stables and acreages, where people enjoy tranquility and peacefulness of the nature.

My first spring group ride for the 2012 season

This morning I started early, to warm up my legs, even before my group gets together, only couple of kilometers away in the Hunters Hills area. One of the Ongaro brothers lives there and we always use his house as a meeting point. It is already a tradition to stay at his place after the ride and have tasty Italian pasta and glass of Italian Chianti vine.

As predicted, the weather for the first ‘official’ day of spring was fantastic and demanded a good ride. This year’s event was even more special for me as I was taking out for a spin my new Jota-Moreno bike, purchased only couple of months ago, while visiting a friend in Sydney, Australia. I showed up on time and the guys were already outside on the road, ready for the ride… I guess, everybody was pumped up for the first group ride of the new season.

The Ongaro group. From the left: Mark, John, Eugenio, Alex, Paulo and Zdenko (Rudy was taking the picture).

Rudy Ongaro, giving last instructions

O.K. guys, let’s see who is missing… Paulo where are you?

Bike riding with the Ongaro brothers
We began riding in a slow tempo, just to give everyone a chance to warm up. There was seven guys in the group: the Ongaro brothers, Rudy, Paulo and Alex, Eugenio, John and two Kahlina brothers, Mark and myself. Rudy was the designated leader of the group and we all followed his instructions. He picked one of the standard routes around Ardrossan, first heading West towards Edmonton, than turning North towards Fort Saskatchewan into the area with farms and acreages. We were riding past horses and cattle pasturing on a farmland by the road. The boys were chit-chatting and we were happily moving along, pilling kilometers in our legs. We talked about professional racing, and fellow cyclists. In Europe the pros just finished one of the spring classics ‘Liege – Bastogne – Liege’, and we talked about the winner Maxim Inglinsky (Astana team) from Kazakhstan, who won the race. We discussed traffic in Edmonton and other less important things in our lives…

Riding in the prairies and chit-chatting in the group

Everyone does its share of pooling at the front

The constantly rolling terrain provided some climbing opportunities. We climbed some hills and flew down the other side of them. During the descending we would gain the high speeds that we all liked. We even raced each other in a ‘free down hilling’ (no pedaling). This is a game, where we try to catch a draft from the guy in front and gain some speed. The goal is to pass that guy before the end of the descent without pedaling. Cars should never underestimate the cyclists and their speed. They can go faster than cars on the downhill section of the road.

When we reached Township road 540 we made another turn, this time towards East. On this section we had a tail wind and the boyz were flaying. The speed picked up and it was time to say goodbye to the older guys who at this point couldn’t follow our increased speed. After all, they knew we would all get together at Rudy’s house for the previously mentioned Italian pasta.

Paulo, Alex and Rudy… the strongest in the group

Mark was the oldest in the group and Rudy was the leader

The wind!
After yet another change of direction, our little group turned south on RR215 towards highway 16 and this time strong western side wind was giving us a hard time. Wind is generally an enemy for cyclists and here in Alberta wind blows most of the time. It affects the temperatures as it would be much warmer without the wind. To make things worse, it was on this difficult section of the road, that we started attacking each other. The speed was already high, but when Rudy went, pulling away Paulo, I lost their wheel for a moment. Big mistake… this type of a mistake in the real race would decide the outcome at the finish. Here, I kept going, counting on the fact that it is our first ride of the season and that they are probable not in the great shape, and sooner or latter they will have to slow down. They did as I predicted several hundred meters later and we were again together, less Alex and John, who couldn’t follow this high speed and were left for dead…

Zdenko with Alex

Our small group riding through the prairies…

Finishing sprint!
Once we turned onto Township road 534 we faced the strong head wind. But by this time everyone had enough and we decided to slowdown and wait for Alex and John. All that was left for this ride was a final – traditional sprint at the end of the ride in Hunters Hills. But who can beat sprinter Alex, a silver medalist at the 1986 Commonwealth Games or his brother Paulo, national gold medalist in the Olympic sprint team 2001 event!?

Well, the answer is – only their older brother Rudy can surprise and jump them sometimes, for a long shot to the finish line, but even this didn’t work today… Alex and Paulo sprinted away from us and I didn’t even see who won this sprint… they were so far ahead of us.

Thank you…
… to everyone who joined us on Sunday for the first ride of the season. What a great day it was! We all enjoyed the beautiful weather as we rode around Strathcona County. This time I didn’t stop for the Italian pasta after the ride, but there is always next time. All in all, it was a great first ride and I’m hoping for many more to come.

He has a gap… This is what happens when Rudy gets at the front!

Spring Biking Fitness – Advice from expert cycling coach
Unless you’re a total stooge who did nothing but play PS3 over the winter, it’s safe to assume that you’re heading into spring with at least a little fitness. Even so, as riding season is about to hit full swing, what can you do to be sure you’re performing at your peak – especially if you’re short on riding time?

According to James Herrera, M.S., expert cycling coach and founder of Performance Driven (pushyourlimit.com), an athletic coaching and executive consulting company, if you focus your rides to reap maximum benefit, you can reach a decent level of spring fitness with just three rides a week, in four to six weeks. The keys to success: group rides and longer intervals that improve your lactate threshold.

The work: Extended intervals (a.k.a. tempo rides) aren’t done at an all-out effort; you want to reach a point at which you feel you’re riding at 80 percent effort, and your breathing is short, steady and rhythmic. Herrera recommends spending 25 to 50 percent of your ride time on these efforts, and breaking that time up into chunks depending on your fitness. Let’s say you’re a less-fit rider on a two-hour ride. “Instead of doing all 30 minutes at once,” Herrera says, “get there with shorter efforts (say, four 8-minute intervals), with a few minutes of recovery in between.” As your fitness improves, work up to longer intervals (2×15 minutes or 1×30 minutes). Dedicate two of your weekly rides to these efforts, but not on back-to-back days. Choose paved roads or open fire roads which are more conducive to interval riding.

The fun: Go on a group ride at least once a week. “Group riding is a practical form of race simulation,” says Herrera. “Find a group that’s appropriately challenging. If you do you’ll reach all energy levels at some point–aerobic, threshold, VO2. That’s just the nature of the group ride.” According to Herrera, to get the most benefit, don’t be the guy at the front or the back; be the guy who’s chasing the strongest rider. That way, your fitness builds while you’re having fun–a no-brainer that’s sure to make you faster.

Rudy, Mark, John, Eugenio, Alex and Paulo

By: Dumneazu

Its been a dreary and lingering winter in Budapest, which is up in the top reaches of the Carpathian basin, so when spring won’t come to us, we have to go to spring. That means down south, and that means Da Balkans. It was Aron’s 15th birthday this week, and so to celebrate we headed down south. Zagreb, capital city of Croatia, doesn’t care what the temperature is. If the calendar says it is spring, than the whole city can be found outside sitting in outdoor cafes or sitting in the hostel with pizza and Battlestar Galactica reruns on Dad’s laptop.

One drawback to visiting Zagreb has always been the lack of inexpensive lodgings. The old Communist era Youth Hotel is undergoing reconstruction, so we chose one of the newer Youth hostels, the Mali Mrak. The last year has seen a bunch of hostels opening, and the Mali Mrak offered a Spartan double room and a cozy living room. Since we were arriving after 11 pm, they even ordered a pizza, which was waiting for us on arrival. That’s the kind of service you expect at a five star hotel, not a hostel.

Ahhhh… Croatia!

Aron is always up for something new, so it was off top the Dolac Market for lunch. There is a row of cheap good food stands just below the market that offer burek, fried fish, squid, cevapi, and whatever a Croat could possibly want for lunch. Aron went with ribice, small sardines coated in corn meal and fried. He was not yet up to the Japanese method of eating them whole, bones and all, but did pretty well for a 15 year old. These babies were probably swimming in the Adriatic seven hours earlier and tasted fresh and clean. It helps that the Fish market is only 50 meters away.

One of Croatia’s big economic draws is tourism, especially to the Adriatic coast, and that means fish. Whole fish, however, are not cheap. The popular skarpina, or scorpion fish, below are 199 Kuna a kilo, whole. That is around USD $42 a pound. Double that if you are having them baked and served on a plate in a restaurant.

Next to the skarpina are brancin (sea bass) for 100 Kuna a kilo, and gilt headed bream for 129 KN a kilo. The sad truth is that the Adriatic is getting fished out, and demand far exceeds supply for finned fish. The majority are sold to hotels and pricier restaurants. Most Croats settle for smaller fish such as sardines, or squid or octopus, which go for about $10 a kilo.

Interestingly, Croatia has some of the best trout waters in Europe, especially in the mountainous zones near Bosnia. These farmed trout are from the Gacka river, one of Europe’s best wild trout waters. The Gacka is one of the many Croatian and Bosnian rivers that actually benefited from the war era in the 1990s. Since so many rivers were mined to prevent troop movements in the valleys, they were neither stocked nor fished for over a decade, and wild trout bred unimpeded. Today you can fly fish on the Gacka and other streams, but there are still a lot of areas which still need to be cleared of mines.

The Dolac Market is the main central marletplace for Zagreb’s downtown. The upper level is a farmer’s market, while below is a butcher and grocery market indoors. Just behind the market is the Zagreb Cathedral.

The big difference between Croatian markets and what you can get in Hungary or anywhere’s north of here is the preponderance of green vegetables. We simply cannot get greens in Hungary. Croats – particularly Dalmatians – eat a lot of Swiss chard (blitva) and rucola.

Croatian cuisine is deliciously schizophrenic. There is the Pannonian and Slavonian style of cooking, which is close to Hungarian and Central European cuisine with its use of lard, paprika, and beans. Then there is the Dalmatian diet, which is about as Mediterranean as it comes. Greens, fish, and olive oil. Croatian olive oil is some of the thickest and most distinctive I have tasted – these plastic bottles of oil come from small Dalmatian producers, and you can actually taste the salt sea flavor from olive groves located out on the Adriatic islands.

Another Dalmatian creation is prsut, ham dried in the dry air of the mountains above the Adriatic. Like its Italian namesake, prosciutto, it is slice in almost translucent slices and eaten as an appetizer.

Of course…. if you like something a bit more prosaic and down to earth, there are always sheep balls.

We left the sheep balls for others and had a field day with the burek. If you think of Greek spinach pie, then cross it with lasagna, remove the spinach, and serve it fresh and hot you have burek. We can now get burek in Budapest, but the Burek stand at the Dolac market is a busy place, and all the burek comes hot from the oven. You have a choice of cheese burek or meat (lamb) burek.

Burek is pretty much the same all over the Balkans – it is directly taken from Turkish culture and doesn’t need much improvement. Bulgarain banitsa, perhaps, is the one burek style that I never took a great liking to – usually dry and miserly, and while Turkish burek will always be the apex of Ottoman phyllo-pastrydom in my heart, the Croats do damn good job on it as well.

Aron agrees. He sat down to his plate of cheese burek and went into the kind of trance only a 15 year old can have on discovering something halfway between lasagna and pizza… crusty, noodle-y, meaty, cheesy, all at once. We had to order two servings. Best birthday cake ever.

 Posted by dumneazu

http://www.horinca.blogspot.com/

By: Zdenko Kahlina

Beautiful Adriatic coast * Uncrowded Roads *
Several years ago I was excited to invite all my family and some friends to join us in V. Losinj, Croatia as part of our summer holidays in Europe. This was back in 2009. I brought this blog back as a reminder on good times we all had… 

 V. Losinj is the place where every second year old cycling buddies from the same cycling club get together with their families, to spend summer vacation. Only this time we expect to have a much bigger group due to popularity of such holidays within the families.
 The beautiful island of Losinj is the spotlight of the Primorsko-goranska county of Croatia. The island is not very big, yet it includes a number of fantastic sights that are definitely off the main tourist track.

CYCLING THE BEST OF SLOVENIA – ALPS TO THE ADRIATIC
FROM THE MOUNTAINS THROUGH THE VINEYARDS
TO THE SEA

 Vera and I are hoping you will join us for this exciting trip.

 At the end of our “The Best of Slovenia“  trip, we are traveling from Slovenia to island of Losinj in Croatia. After a short ferry boat ride, we’ll have about 60 km to drive across island of Cres until we reach the island of Losinj. Cres and Lošinj are connected by a small bridge in the town of Osor (Italian Ossero), on the island of Cres. Town of Losinj is 20 km further down the road from that bridge.

ABOUT ISLAND OF LOŠINJ

Lošinj, Primorsko-goranska county, Croatia

Info from wikepedia ;

Lošinj (pronounced low-sheen) (Italian Lussino, Latin Apsorrus) is a Croatian island in the northern Adriatic Sea, in the Kvarner gulf. It is near the city of Rijeka, and also a part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar county.

Lošinj is part of the Primorje-Gorski Kotar CountyThe towns of Lošinj are listed here with their Italian name equivalents in parentheses: Nerezine (Neresine), Sveti Jakov (San Giacomo Lussignano), Ćunski (Chiusi Lussignano), Artaturi (Artatore), Mali Lošinj (Lussinpiccolo) and Veli Lošinj (Lussingrande). A regional road runs through the island; ferry connections (via the island of Cres) include Brestova – Porozina, Merag – Valbiska, Mali Lošinj – Zadar, Mali Lošinj – Pula. There is also an airport on the island of Lošinj.

Panoramic view of Losinj island… 

Geography
Lošinj is a part of the Cres-Lošinj archipelago. The Cres-Lošinj archipelago includes Cres and Lošinj, and the smaller islands of Unije, Ilovik, Susak, Vele Srakane, Male Srakane and a number of inhabited small islands. Cres has the biggest land area, and Lošinj is second. Cres and Lošinj are connected by a small bridge in the town of Osor (Italian Ossero), on the island of Cres.

Lošinj is the 11th largest island in the Adriatic Sea, 33 km long, with the width varying from 4.75 km in the north and middle of the island, to 0.25 km near the town of Mali Lošinj. The total coastline of the island is 112.7 km. With over 2600 hours of sunlight a year, the island has become a popular destination for German and Italian tourists in the summer months. Average air humidity is 70%, and the average summer temperature is 24 °C (75 °F) and 7 °C (45 °F) during the winter.

The highest elevations are the mountains Televrin (also called Osoršćica) (588 m) and Sv. Nikola (557 m). The towns of Nerezine and Sveti Jakov lie at their base. The island is formed predominantly of chalk limestone and dolomite rocks. There are sand deposits in the western part of the Kurila peninsula. The island has a mild climate and evergreen vegetation (like myrtle, Holm oak, and laurel). The highest elevations in the north have more sparse vegetation. Veli Lošinj, Čikat and the south-western coast are ringed by pine forests.

Mali Losinj 

History
The island of Lošinj has been thought to be inhabited since ancient times. This is evidenced by hill-forts at the foot of Osoršćica and around the port of Mali Lošinj. The Romans called this island Apsorrus (Ptolemy), and named the islands of Lošinj and Cres together as Asperities. In several places, ruins of Roman villas have been excavated (villae rusticae: Liski, Sveti Jakov, and Studenčić near Ćunski). In the Middle Ages, Lošinj was unpopulated and the property of the clerical and secular nobility of Osor. Built in the Roman Era, several small eremitic churches have been preserved (St. Lovreć near Osor, and St. James in Sveti Jakov).

The first evidence of settlers from the mainland was in 1280. Pursuant to a contract with Osor, their settlements gained self-governance in 1389. The name Lošinj was first mentioned in 1384. Parallel with the gradual decline of Osor from the 15th century onwards, the settlements Veli Lošinj and Mali Lošinj played an increasingly important role.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, trade, shipbuilding and seafaring on the island developed more intensely. After the fall of the Republic of Venice, Lošinj was under the Austro-Hungarian rule up to its breaking off in 1918; under Italy up to 1943. In 1945 the island was annexed to Yugoslavia. Lošinj was then an under Croatian rule in 1991 after Croatia’s declared independence from Yugoslavia.

The 1945 annexation of the island to Yugoslavia was associated with a substantial exodus of its people of Italian descent to Italy and to other countries, due to their unwillingness to live under Yugoslav communist rule. These expatriates today are a vibrant “community” living in Italy and around the world, and publish a newsletter (http://www.lussinpiccolo-italia.net) which keeps their memories and traditions alive.

Let’s start with…

Veli Lošinj (“Big” Lošinj)

Typical street in V. Losinj.

 …and finally lol – Mali Lošinj (“Small” Lošinj, a town that is way bigger than its ‘brother’ town – Veli (Big) Lošinj)

I will begin to make accommodation arrangements some time in April 2009 based on received confirmation from all of you. Also, if some of you wish to make your own arrangements for the hotels that’s O.K. too, just please let me know.

HOTELS LOSINJ

Hotel Punta, V. Losinj

We are planning to stay at the Hotel Punta in V. Losinj. Here are two similar links to the same hotel:

http://www.losinj-hotels.com/English

http://www.island-losinj.com/

 The hotel complex Punta contain 181 single and double rooms and 53 family rooms, situated on the promontory dominating the Veli Losinj bay. Rooms have central heating, bathroom (shower), telephone, SAT-TV, and sea side balcony. New building has 4 stars apartments on international level. Apartments Punta are equipped with air-conditioned, telephone, SAT-TV, hairdryer, bed clothes, modern kitchen and bad. All apartments have a balcony, most of which have sea views. It is surrounded by beautiful pine woods with a spectacular view to the transparent sea and the mainland Mountains.

  In the vicinity of the heated indoor seawater swimming pool there are saunas, massage and kinezitherapy, physician’s, hairdresser’s, several shops. Those who love sports will appreciate 13 tennis courts, mini golf courts, table tennis, and billiards as well as boat and sunshade rental on the hotel beach which is awarded with Blue Flag. Entertainment and animation for the whole family starts with morning gymnastics and continues in team games, music or folklore evenings including cocktails and food degustation.

From the summer of 2005. we are able to offer you beauty and wellness program. You can choose between massages, facials, essential or body care. You can use some package arrangement, anti stress package; firm your skin, relaxing moments or wellness weekend. If you want us to calculate the price of your vacation for you, please fill in the booking form and you will receive the total price of services required.  Contact us at any time, we will be happy to give you the information you need.

You can contact us by e-mail, fax, and phone during our working hours, or you can fill out the contact form below. We encourage you to contact us by Internet, as the fastest and most reliable means of getting all the necessary information.

 ASL AGENCY d.o.o.
Tourist agency “Turist”
O.M.T. 17
HR-51551 Velli Lošinj
Tel: 00385 51 236 256
Fax: 00385 51 236 256
E-mail: info@island-losinj.com
Internet: www.island-losinj.com
Tax number: 0699829
Code: HR-AB-51-0401
Main manager: Tihana Dakić-Barichievich 

I hope this was helpful information.

By: Zdenko Kahlina

The Sydney Harbour Bridge
It is the most famous bridge in Australia. The Sydney Harbour Bridge is located opposite the Sydney Opera House and close to Circular Quay. You can certainly find the Sydney Harbour Bride on most postcards, souvenirs and any tourist guides. The Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House are iconic images of both Sydney and Australia.

The Coathanger – Beautiful Sydney Harbour Bridge

Much of Sydney is built around this epic harbour lined with beaches and hidden coves and dotted with islands. Stretching 20 kms from the sea to the mouth of the Parramatta River, ferries, sailboats, and multi-million dollar yachts cross the harbour throughout the day.

Sydney is Australia’s largest city and perhaps, its most romanticized city. With a population of 4.2 million and a size equal to that of greater London, Sydney truly is a place to visit in Australia. Our first full day in touring the Sydney, began with a walk around the Sydney’s Darling harbour, we boarded the ‘Magistic’ cruise for a 2 hour trip around the bay and we walked around the amazing Sydney Harbour Bridge. We didn’t cross the bridge until few days later.

Arial view of Sydney Harbour Bridge and the bay

The Sydney Harbour Bridge, also affectionately known as the ‘Coathanger’, was opened on March 19th 1932 by Premier Jack Lang, after six years of construction. Made of steel the bridge contains 6 million hand driven rivets. The surface area that requires painting is equal to about the surface area of 60 sports fields. The Bridge has huge hinges to absorb the expansion caused by the hot Sydney sun. You will see them on either side of the bridge at the footings of the Pylons. The views and photo opportunities are fantastic. There is a great display on how the thing was built. It has a similar place in Sydney history to the Statue of Liberty in New York as far as many migrants to Australia go.

Walk across the Bridge
The bridge walk is about 1.5 km. We started at Milsons Point Railway Station, a short distance from the north end of the bridge. We left our car on a small parking lot, almost under the bridge. From the Broughton Street turn right and walk towards the city and up the stairs on the eastern footway of the bridge.

Ahead are the northern pylons with the southern pair in the distance. These granite faced concrete boxes serve no structural purpose. The Commissioner for Railways, James Fraser, recommended they be omitted to save the money. However, they stayed, because Bradfield’s view that they were an essential architectural feature of the bridge prevailed.

The northern pylons

These granite faced concrete pylons serve no structural purpose

The walk ends at the stairs leading down to Cumberland Street in the city, a short distance from Circular Quay and Wynyard Station. There are stairs leading to the footway at each end of the bridge. Allow two hours for the walk, including a visit to the pylon lookout and museum at the southern end of the bridge. You can have a close hand look while you are in Sydney by visiting the South Eastern Pylon. It is a walking trip and recommended for the fit only. It is a longish walk to get to the base of the Pylon and then there are 200 steps to the top. There is no charge to walk across the bridge by the footway, but there is a charge ($15 for adult) for the optional visit to the lookout and museum.

Immediately after leaving the pylon to continue our walk towards the city, look down at the shoreline below to see a rectangular ferry dock. Vehicular ferries and a horse-ferry for horse drawn transport used this dock up to the time the bridge was opened.

The southern pylons

Walking across the Bridge in the rain: Vera and Zdenko

When you reach the city end of the footway, look right to see the tunnel entrances down which the trams ran to and from Wynyard. The tunnels are now a car park. It was raining when we were there, so my pictures didn’t turn that well as I was expecting. But it rained most of our stay in Sydney, so we had no choice, but to be tourists even on rainy days like this.

Pylon lookout and museum at the southern end of the bridge.

After crossing the bridge we walked down the stairs to a tourist area called The Rocks, wandered around Circular Quay (which is more square than circular) and then ventured up the steps of the Sydney Opera House. It’s an amazing sight to see first hand, after only seeing it on the telly, and builds excitement for some of the other monuments we’ll visit in the next few days. We then walked down through the Botanic Gardens and down to the Sydney Aquarium. Having never visited an Aquarium (where have I been my whole live) I was pretty gob smacked. Rip out the Adelaide Zoo and replace it with one of these, it’s an absolutely amazing experience. The underwater tunnels where Sharks, Fish, Rays and Eels share a tank and swim right overhead is really something to see.

Tourists on top of the bridge

Climbing the Bridge – Not worth the money charged
To be fair, we didn’t climb the bridge because my friend warned me that it was very expensive and not worth the money charged. I am not the ideal audience for the Bridge Climb anyways, as I am scared of heights, I hate touristy things, and I can think of a lot of things I would rather do with a few hundred dollars that don’t combine droves of tourists at heights. The only reason I would probable do it anyway, would be to take photos with my camera, from the top of the bridge. But picture taking is not allowed!!! It is especially painful to be parted from your camera, as there are fantastic views. I don’t understand their logic and reasoning behind this. They are saying that any objects like cameras, could be dropped, which could be fatal for someone below. They are prohibiting cameras, but they are selling their own photos. This would be OK if they were not so expensive. Eight pics run about 50 or 60 AUS dollars. That said, if you do the climb, I can just about guarantee you will be talking about it for a long time.

My friends and I walked the bridge instead – for free!! It was just as satisfying as climbing, but saved us significant amount of money, and we did it in less than 2 hours.

Group of tourists on top of the bridge – Impressive!

Here is how others described climbing the Sydney bridge event:
It was as expected. Lots of people in lines, putting on clothes that made the whole thing seem like a bigger deal than it was, then getting in other lines to slowly go across a bridge that was, even at that height, pretty boring. The views were nice, but certainly were not worth the price. We spent more time getting dressed, getting a safety briefing, waiting, getting undressed, and putting all of our equipment away, than we actually spent on the bridge.

We were not allowed to take anything with you at all. It’s quite energetic – over 1000 steps, so feel free to take it easy and don’t feel pressurized to keep up. I can be a bit afraid of heights, but as you are attached in a way that makes it impossible to disconnect yourself it didn’t worry me at all, even the steep ladders. However, it would theoretically be possible to fall down a ladder, though there are special guides to keep an eye on those bits in case anything did happen. There is a continuous stream of groups going through, so you can sometimes feel like going through a sausage machine!

View of the bridge and the city from northern side

Our docent was very accommodating and informative. It can be a bit exciting if you have issues with heights but most get over their fears pretty quickly. Safety is a priority – everything is well tied down so you can’t lose anything like hats, glasses, etc. And climbers are harnessed to secure cables on the railings at ALL times. I have two gripes, one minor, one a bit more significant. The first one (minor) is that it is a bit difficult finding start of the climb. It’s in a somewhat out of the way location.

The bigger one is photography. I understand their concern for safety but I think the bigger concern is revenue. They are moving a lot of groups through the tours close together so they need to keep people moving (which would leave little time for straggling photo hounds).

When you look at a photo of the bridge, look at where the flags are on top – that’s where we were! It felt like a real achievement until I realized that well over 2 million people have done it in around 10 years of the tour running. Oh well, at least the views were great. But a grand old bridge it is, and one you will remember it whenever you think of Sydney after your visit.

Moral of the story – if you have wanted to do this your entire life, then you will probably think it is awesome. If you don’t really want to go and think it sounds lame and overpriced, you will likely leave feeling violated.

Conclusion
My impression of Sydney is a big, busy place with layers of history and interesting stories underneath the more renowned cosmopolitan lifestyle. From an outsiders point of view it’s a beautiful city, its famous Harbour is alive with interesting activity and its city centre seems to hide many surprises such as old pubs, street markets and classic architecture. Sydney’s China town and Chinese Garden in the middle of the city are very impressive!

There seem to be more tourists in the city than actual Sydney-siders, but it’s nice to think they’re interested in Australia enough to visit. I can imagine living here would be quite exhausting, but to visit and relax around the place… and to be seen! Sydney is a pretty great place to spend your time.

Sydney Harbour Bridge – The Coathanger

Sydney Harbour Bridge History
The displaced peoples of Europe who came to Australia in the days of the grand ships can get very misty when you ask them what they felt when they saw this grand old arch on their arrival in Sydney from the aftermath of World War Two as they sailed up Port Jackson (Sydney Harbour). The old Bridge has been replaced as “the” landmark of Sydney by the bold architecture of the Opera House.

When it opened it cost a car six pence to cross. A horse and rider was 3 pence. These days a return trip (for some reason the only kind) costs about $3-4 dollars. Price changes throughout the day. Horses and riders are banned, that’s the changing times. You can walk across free and you are allowed to bicycle in a special lane. Sydney Harbour Bridge is the world’s largest (but not longest as that’s the New River Gorge in the USA) steel arch bridge, and, in its beautiful harbour location, has become a renowned international symbol of Australia.

Its total length including approach spans is 1,149 meters and its arch span is 503 meters. The top of the arch is 134 meters above sea level and the clearance for shipping under the deck is a spacious 49 meters. The total steelwork weighs 52,800 tones, including 39,000 tones in the arch. The 49 meter wide deck makes Sydney Harbour Bridge the widest Longspan Bridge in the world. It now carries eight vehicle lanes, two train lines, a footway and a cycleway.

After inviting worldwide tenders in 1922, the New South Wales Government received twenty proposals from six companies and on 24 March 1924; the contract (for Australian 4,217,721 pounds 11 shillings and 10 pence!) was let to the English firm Dorman Long and Co of Middlesbrough.

The general design was prepared by Dr J.J.C Bradfield and officers of the NSW Department of Public Works, while the detailed design and crucial erection process were undertaken by the contractors consulting engineer Mr (later Sir) Ralph Freeman of Sir Douglas Fox and Partners and his associate Mr. G.C Imbault. Some other designs that where not chosen can be found here. As Chief Engineer of Sydney Harbour Bridge and Metropolitan Railway Construction from 1912, Dr Bradfield is regarded as the “father” of the Bridge as it was his vision, enthusiasm, engineering expertise and detailed supervision of all aspects of its construction which brought Sydney’s long held dream into reality.

The contractors, under Director of Construction, Lawrence Ennis, set up two workshops at Milsons Point on the North Shore. Here, the steel (79% imported from England, 21% from Australian sources) was fabricated into girders etc. The foundations for the four main bearings, which carry the full weight of the main span were dug to a depth of 12.2 metres and filled with special reinforced high-grade concrete laid in hexagonal formations.

The four impressive, decorative 89 meter high pylons are made of concrete, faced with granite, quarried near Moruya, where about 250 Australian, Scottish and Italian stonemasons and their families lived in a temporary settlement. Three ships were specifically built to carry the 18,000 cubic meters of cut, dressed and numbered granite blocks, 300km north to Sydney.

After the approach spans were erected, work began on the main arch. Two half-arches were built out progressively from each shore, each held back by 128 cables anchored underground through U-shaped tunnels. Steel members were fabricated in the workshops, placed onto barges, towed into position on the harbour and lifted up by two 580 tone electrically operated creeper cranes, which erected the half-arches before them as they traveled forward.

There was great excitement on 20 August 1930 after the arch was successfully joined at 10pm the night before. The steel decking was then hung from the arch and was all in place within nine months, being built from the centre outwards to save time moving the cranes. As the project neared completion, the last of approximately six million Australian made rivets were driven through the deck on 21 January 1932. In February 1932 the Bridge was test loaded using up to 96 steam locomotives placed in various configurations.

The official opening day on Saturday 19 March 1932

Traffic on the bridge in 1956

The official opening day on Saturday 19 March 1932 was a momentous occasion, drawing remarkable crowds (estimated between 300,000 and one million people) to the city and around the harbour foreshores. The NSW Premier, the Hon. John T. Lang, officially declared the Bridge open. However, the Premier enlivened proceedings when Captain Francis De Groot of the para-military group, the New Guard, slashed the ribbon prematurely with his sword, prior to the official cutting. This incident caused both amusement and dismay on the day and has since become part of Australian folklore. The opening celebrations included a vast cavalcade of decorated floats, marching groups and bands proceeding through the city streets and across the deck in a pageant of surprising size and quality, considering the economic depression.

The celebrations continued with a gun-salute, a procession of passenger ships under the Bridge, a ‘venetian’ carnival, a fly-past, fireworks, sports carnivals and exhibitions. After the pageant the public was allowed to walk across the deck…an event not repeated until the 50th anniversary of the Bridge in 1982. Some enthusiastic ones celebrated by unofficially climbing up the arch.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge is an essential artery feeding traffic to and from Sydney.

I was glad to be there, see the bridge and experience city of Sydney!

By: Daniel Friebe

Exclusive extract from Daniel Friebe’s book.
Forty-five years ago this week, in the spring of 1967, Eddy Merckx was already a two-time Milan-San Remo winner, already a flat-track bully of some repute, but also just one of several would-be kings of the cycling world.

Merckx’s second Tour of Flanders that year ended in a defeat which would prolong the illusion, or rather delusion, that Merckx was no different from prodigies who had come before, shooting stars who eventually waned with the hype which had accompanied their rise. The race also ended in victory for the garrulous Italian Dino Zandegù – and one of the more unconventional victory celebrations in a “Ronde”.

‘O sole mio
sta ‘nfronte a te!
‘O sole, ‘o sole mio,
sta ‘nfronte a te!
It’s my own sun
that’s upon your face!
The sun, my own sun,
It’s upon your face!

Eddy Merckx The Cannibal

Dino Zandegù says the urge to sing came spontaneously, the words just flowed. Well, not exactly: a large and vocal group of Italian migrants stationed close to the prize podium had watched him cross the line, his right arm thrust towards the angry skies, his face and hands black as theirs after a day in the mines of Charleroi and Marcinelle, and broken into their own chorus.

First an ironic, ‘O sole mio!’, then an invocation to join them: ‘Canta, Dino, canta!’: ‘Sing, Dino, sing!’ And so Dino had sung, to the delight of his countrymen and the tickled disbelief of cameramen and journalists from all over Europe.

A few paces away, making his way through the mêlée, Zandegù’s Salvarani teammate Felice Gimondi also smirked. He had watched ‘Il Dinosauro’ win from 200 metres back down the finishing straight in Gent. Thirteen seconds later, Gimondi had followed Eddy Merckx across the line. As the blubs flashed and Merckx lunged, Gimondi harked the anguished cry of a beaten man.

If Zandegù’s performance on the cobbled hills, the bergs of the Tour of Flanders on the second day of April was a revelation, his singing was not, at least not for the Italian public. Ever since his Giro d’Italia début three years earlier, the baker’s son from Padova had enlivened many an uneventful race with his impromptu balladry, often accompanying an impressive baritone with exuberant arm-waving. If a birthday needed celebrating, all eyes would be on Zandegù in the middle of the peloton: his mouth and an eyebrow would rise mischievously at one side, he might disappear for a minute or twenty, then reappear balancing a birthday cake in the palm of his right hand and conducting the chorus with his left. ‘Buon compleanno a te! Happy birthday to you…’

‘Typical’, says Zandegù today: those three or four bars of ‘O sole mio!’ became more famous than the victory they were meant to celebrate. More famous even than him beating Eddy Merckx on the Belgian’s own patch.

It was to be the story of Zandegù’s career. No, of his life. He was a talented cyclist but a better showman. And an utterly brilliant raconteur. These attributes now earn him an annual invitation to the Giro d’Italia from state broadcaster RAI. In their daily, pre-stage eyesore exhibiting all the naffness that makes Italian television a national embarrassment, Zandegù is the performing seal in a circus commanded by the mustachioed ringmaster Marino Bartoletti. In 45 years, not much has changed; what Zandegù used to do within the bosom of the peloton, he now accomplishes in a makeshift studio in the Giro’s hospitality village. At Bartoletti’s unctuous behest, Dino sings, Dino dances, Dino jokes, Dino laughs.

Above all, Dino tells stories. On air and off it – to him it’s the same. No sooner have the credits rolled than ‘Il Dinosauro’ is shuffling off, his fingers are clasped like five thick salamis around a new listener’s, and he’s away. His tales are breathless, hysterical, crescendo-ing monologues delivered through a north-east Italian accent as gravelly as the unpaved sterrato roads which are often their setting. What’s more, says Zandegù, ‘ninety-five per cent of them are true’. Unless, that is, it’s the afternoon. Then, by Dino’s own admission, ‘the percentage falls to ninety’.

Dino, Dino, tell us about growing up…

‘Well, we didn’t have a lot but at least we weren’t hungry because we owned a bakery. You just about scraped by. The first batch of bread that Dad used to bake at 6.30, we kept to one side just in case the oven broke and we were left with nothing. There were 18 of us in the family: eight brothers, six sisters, Mum, Dad, Gran and Granddad. We all used to get together at four every afternoon to boil up the dry, stale bread, the pan biscotto, and put it into a kind of panzanella, a bread salad. It was buonissima! Better than what my wife makes now! Anyway, when I won races as an amateur, I’d come home, tell my mum and sisters, and my reward would be a cup of caffè latte and a corner of bread straight out of the oven. If I didn’t win, my mum pretended that she’d forgotten to cook and there was nothing you could do! Even my sisters were annoyed with me. Then if I got a bit friendly with a girl, they didn’t like that either! They’d tell me that I had to go and explain to her that I had to race my bike and mustn’t have any distractions. Thanks to them, I was practically a virgin at 26!’

Practically? Eh? Never mind…What about that Tour of Flanders in 1967? Beating Merckx, that must have been something…

‘Ah, yes, well my teammate Gimondi and I attacked with Merckx and came across to Barry Hoban, Noel Foré and Willy Monty, who had been in the break earlier on. After the Mur de Grammont climb, I attacked with Foré and Merckx was stuck, because Gimondi wasn’t going to help him. Foré was too tired after his earlier break to pose any threat in the sprint. I won easily. Then Merckx came over like this big, roaring lion, absolutely furious. I didn’t pay him too much attention. The Italian fans were shouting to me to sing, and it just came naturally. “O sole mio…!”.’

Dino, Dino, seriously now, should you all have known in 1967? Should you, could you not have seen what was coming?

‘We were all intimidated. We were. This kid just arrived, this big, handsome Belgian kid with high cheekbones – the face of an immense athlete – and pretty quickly we all realised that on the bike he was a brute. […] He used to drive me nuts. When he was racing, you knew that he could put you out of the time limit any time. It was a constant, breathless chase. You’d see Merckx’s team on the front ready to make the race 150 kilometres from the finish, Van Den Bossche, Van Den this, Van Ben that – they all surged to the front – and he’d be pawing the ground like this big tiger. He couldn’t wait for the moment, kilometre X, when he would attack and smash us all to pieces. I used to tell him to go stuff himself. When you’re hurting, you turn nasty. I’d be shouting from the back of the bunch, “Vaffanculo, Merckx! Bastardo!” Half of the peloton detested him despite thinking that he was an OK bloke […] I say we all realised quickly but it wasn’t straight away. It took a while, a couple of years. We, we didn’t know, we didn’t…’

For once even Dino Zandegù is lost for words.

Eddy Merckx was presented with the Giro d’Italia trophy for his 1974 victory

Eddy ‘The Cannibal’ Merckx riding back in his prime.

Eddy Merckx leads Felice Gimondi in the 1974 Giro d’Italia

Freddy Maertens’ rivalry with Eddy Merckx transcended cycling

A tifoso perhaps tells Merckx he has a two-minute lead as he climbs the Stelvio during the 1972 Giro

Another yellow jersey for Eddy Merckx in 1971.

Eddy Merckx The Cannibal is available online at Amazon.

By: Zdenko Kahlina

Gold Coast Hinterland – Mount Tamborine
The “Green behind the Gold” is the term given to the lush hinterland that sweeps up from the golden beaches of the Gold Coast to mountains, plateaus, gorges and valleys that remain at peace with nature. They contain a storehouse of environmental treasures now fully protected in vast swathes of pristine country under the banner of World Heritage Listing as the Gondwana Rainforests of Australia (formerly known as the Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves).

Mount Tamborine is in Queensland hinterlands

Just 30 minutes inland from the Gold Coast beaches is the Hinterland which has sub tropical rainforest hills and mountains. This lush mountain plateau offers breathtaking views of the Hinterland ranges and the Gold Coast. It is a world of subtropical rainforests, waterfalls and associated wilderness. It was raining in Broadbeach since our arrival (three days in a row!!) and by now it was time to head inland instead to the beaches.

The drive up to the hinterlands from Broadbeach takes you by the Surfers Paradise, and through the small towns of Benowa, Carrara and Nerang in the north/west direction. The road will lead you out past an area of acreage properties and then up the mountain to Tamborine Village where you’ll probably want to spend some time. Head over to North Tamborine and you’ll see signs pointing to various bushwalks and National Parks. There are plenty of short strolls around the mountain into gorgeous rainforests. If you’re hungry grab some morning tea at a coffee house and then head over to Eagle Heights and back down the Mountain to Nerang. You should arrive in Nerang at about midday. There’ll be a bit of traffic if you leave on a Saturday morning, but nothing that would compare to a major city.

Further on as we drove up to the top of Green Mountain we found Mountview Alpaca Farm which has a real estate office, coffee shop and gift store selling a range of clothing made from the soft wool of the Alpaca. The coffee shop at Mountview Alpaca Farm has a great view through the mountains down over the valley. On a sunny day that is! But when we were there, clouds were very low and it was raining heavily.

The coffee shop at the Tamborine mountain

There are a number of large National Parks that make up the hinterland. Tamborine National Park, Lamington National Park and Springbrook National Park are protected lands to ensure the fauna and flora are protected.

The hinterlands are made up of an extinct volcanic range which formed the peaks and valleys. There are plenty of things to do in the hinterlands including canopy walks through the tropical rainforest, bird feeding, visiting wineries and visiting the hundreds of arts and craft stores throughout the small villages and towns found in the Hinterland. Because of the falling rain we couldn’t do many of those things.

The area does produce crops on a small scale and there are plenty of roadside stalls to purchase the kiwifruit, passion fruit, avocados, rhubarb, apples and mangoes. If you like walking trails there are many and varied to choose from. If like me you prefer a less energetic way to get the most from your visit, there is a Trolley car style tourist operation offering a variety of tours in sit down comfort. The system features a hop on-hop off route that allows you to see as much or as little as you wish. It’s a great idea. When you do hop off you can be refreshed in any manner of ways in any number of places as coffee shops abound, and if you care to, take advantage of the wine tasting. Yup, they have grapes even up here.

When we were there, it was raining all day long

There is quite a diverse range of wildlife found throughout the Hinterland including kangaroos, wallabies, platypus, wombats and a range of tropical birds like the Australian King Parrot, Crimson Rosella and Albert’s lyrebird. There are also some interested insects including the glowworms.

There are a number of impressive waterfalls throughout the hinterlands including Purlingbrook Falls at Springbrook, Twinfalls Canyon, Cameron Falls and Cedar Creek Falls. The easiest of the waterfalls to visit is Curtis Falls located within Tamborine National Park Joalah Section. That’s exactly what we did, because on a rainy day like this, we didn’t want to end up walking for a long time.

The Curtis Falls

The Curtis Falls
The Curtis Falls is a 10 minute drive from the Mount Tamborine village, then a short walk through the wet eucalypt forest. The round trip walk takes only around 30 minutes.

The Curtis Falls in Joalah Section of Mount Tamborine is one of the many walking tracks in Tamborine National Park. Near the beginning of the trail is a parking area, which also had two restrooms. The walking trail is quite short, only 1.5 km which consists of descending steps in the middle of the rainforest trees. The end of the trail is the pool below the water falls, which can be viewed from a fenced platform. No direct access allowed to the water area.

The walking trail is quite short

 The wet eucalypt forest

This is one amazing tree

The uniqueness of the Rainforests and Eucalyptus forests that make up the Tamborine Plateau.

The Eucalyptus forests trees

At the end of the trail, there was an impressive view of the falls and surrounding columnar basalt rock face. Swimming is prohibited at the falls. A restricted access area below Curtis Falls protects an important glow-worm colony.

By the pool below the water falls

The track continues from the falls, along a piccabeen palm-fringed creek to a giant strangler fig. Beyond this strangler fig, the lower Joalah track is closed for the safety reasons (due to rockfalls).

With Gold Coast located within an hour’s drive from this site, visitors have easy access to many popular attractions in the area. Tamborine Mountain Botanical Gardens are not-to-be-missed while in the mountain.

Driving through the rainforest

Wineries in the Hinterland
There are a number of wineries throughout the Hinterland with their cellar doors open to try their range of wines. Also the wineries have retails stores at Mount Tamborine for wine tasting. Wineries include O’Reilly’s Wines located in the Canungra Valley.

Marks & Gardner Gallery
During the ride, we stopped at the ‘Secret Garden’, because of its intrigue name. The gallery and café are located on the left side of the road. The Secret Garden Veranda Cafe is located on the rear deck, overlooking expansive gardens and lawns. Light lunches, coffee and cakes are served from Wednesday to Sunday 9 am to 4 pm.

Marks & Gardner Gallery @ Secret Garden

Set in five acres of rolling lawns central to wineries and national parks, “Marks & Gardner Gallery @ Secret Garden” is a unique destination for serious art and booklovers. The innovative exhibition program changes every 5 weeks and presents exhibitions by contemporary painters, sculptors, printmakers, jewellers & designers , together with focus exhibitions including original illustrations from children’s books and a biannual ceramic exhibition.

Secret Garden Bookshop specializes in Australian children’s books from birth to teen. The Bookshop also stocks an eclectic range of books for adults from literature to specialty themes. Regular book launches and workshops are held with authors and illustrators throughout the year and provide a unique opportunity to meet some of our well known Australian authors/illustrators.

Website: www.marksandgardner.com

Our small group in the ‘Secret Garden’

About Mount Tamborine
Located to the west of Surfers Paradise and less than one hours drive from either there or from Brisbane Central, Mt Tamborine is a place of beauty, never-ending views and a haven of markets, cafe’s and stalls.

In recent years it has become popular with visitors and many new Spa’s and Retreats have opened. Songbird’s Rainforest Retreat combines all of the natural elements of the area with tranquil settings, organic cooking and luxurious accommodation. So popular in fact is their restaurant that weekends require bookings well in advance as many of the regions locals choose this as an ideal getaway.

The population of Mt Tamborine has boomed in recent years as along with the rest of the Gold Coast, property has been sort out by southern state residents looking to make the sea change.

Avocados – Food of the Gods!

Tamborine Mountain Avocadoes – Food of the Gods!
Tamborine Mountain is known Australia wide for its plentiful, magnificent avocadoes that can be bought at the road side honesty stalls. When driving through the mountain, you’ll suddenly see the stand with avocadoes on the side of the road. There is nobody watching them. It’s all about trust. You pick your avocadoes and live $2 for each one you take with you.

Avocados for sale at the road side honesty stalls

 Self-serve with Avocados

They are available all year round, depending on the variety. At the moment the rough pebbly purple, black skinned Hass are in season: they have creamiest flesh of all the varieties. Split and consumed with nothing more than a good squeeze of lemon or lime juice or a flick of best olive oil and balsamic vinegar, flecks of sea salt and ground black pepper, it offers a sensuous solitary eating experience.

The flesh is smooth and creamy and the flavour nutty and rich. With a glass of chilled Witches Falls Verdelho it is a perfect little meal. Certainly greater more glamorous embellishments can be used, for the avocado is happy partner to all kinds of different flavour profiles – prawns, tomatoes, chillies, garlic, smoked chicken, crisp fried prosciutto or bacon to name but a few.

Return to the Gold Coast
Once we’ve been done for the day, we followed the signs to the Pacific Highway and Brisbane. We followed the road 90 through towns Mount Nathan, Clagiraba and Canungra. Once on the Pacific Highway (M1) make a right turn and head towards Surfers paradise again.

Tambourine Mountain was an interesting change from the Gold Coast in many ways.

By: Zdenko Kahlina

Let me introduce you to ‘wheel sucking’ from a cycling perspective.
It was a Friday, and after a long and difficult week at work I donned some Lycra cycling clothing, drove my car east of Edmonton to the Sherwood Park, mounted my Jota-Moreno bike and headed into the rural area of Strathcona County. The goal was to clear the tension from my legs and the metaphysical residue of the week in the office from my head.

Drafting in cycling

It was a typical crisp, but sunny spring afternoon, and as I rode on well known roads around Ardrossan I was gradually overtaken by a feeling of peace and well-being. A few kilometers into my ride I noticed that my shadow had an extra head. I turned to look behind me, and my brief glance confirmed that this was not my imagination but I had indeed acquired a wheel sucking guy. 

Drafting in its pure form: the British team pursuit squad on their way to Olympic gold in 2008. Photograph: Tom Jenkins

So what is a Wheel Sucking?
‘Wheel sucking’ is a term used to describe the practice of cycling behind another rider with wheels a few centimeters apart, for an extended period of time without changing position (moving forward) to gain a physiological and aerodynamic advantage by reducing the amount of work he has to do. Some have claimed that this practice allows the “wheel sucking” rider to perform 30% less work. The advantage of ‘wheel sucking’ is magnified when the size of the front rider is large, when there is a considerable headwind and when the front rider is moving at a significant speed > 30 km/h.

Wheel sucking on the track. During the race, it’s called ‘tactical drafting’!

Drafting
The practice of riding in the slipstream close behind someone’s rear wheel, thus greatly reducing the effort you need to expend keeping at their speed is called drafting. If you’re riding in the middle of a big group this can, supposedly, save you up to 40% in energy. It’s all pretty standard and uncontroversial if you’re participating in an organized road race or sportive, assuming of course you take your turn at the front.

That’s me doing ‘tactical drafting’ during the race in south Edmonton

The story continues…
So, I should point that it would be O.K. with me, since it was only a training (read: pleasure) ride, but the guy never bothered to say even hello, never mind asking me if it’s O.K. to ride behind me. So, suddenly I hit the breaks and since he was too close to me and couldn’t avoid it, he crushed into me falling onto the road heavily…

No, no, I didn’t do that, but for sure was thinking about doing it.

He sat on me for bloody long time and didn’t say ‘thanks’ when he finally peeled off! Sitting on the wheels of strangers–especially when they don’t know you’re there, and especially when it’s me at the front–is a very bad thing to do.

Drafting in the group, during the training ride

First of all, it’s dangerous for the same reason automotive tailgating is dangerous. The last thing I want in the event I’m forced to brake suddenly is for some wheel sucker, I didn’t even know was there, to wind up humping my back. Second of all, it’s just rude–it’s like sidling up behind someone at a urinal and putting your hand on his shoulder, or even joining in uninvited and “crossing the streams.”

Nevertheless, there are some people who think that, no matter what the circumstances, Lycra clothing and a racing bike mean ‘it’s on’. It’s the ‘he was asking for it’ mentality of the cycling world. But it wasn’t ‘on’; in fact, it was very much ‘off’.

So I swung off and waved the mysterious rider through. I said something along the lines of, ‘You shouldn’t sit on my wheel like that’ (in the same way you might say to the guy at the urinal, ‘Hey, you mind backing up a little bit?’), and then moved to the left side of the road to further underscore my ‘it’s so very not on’ point and allow him to continue on his way.

Apparently, though, I hadn’t done enough. ‘Whatever’, replied the guy, and after I moved back to the right side of the road he latched on to me again. At this point I felt very much like a guy being followed into the man’s room of a bar by a ‘frat boy’, so I reiterated my request and by way of explanation offered a more succinct version of the above.

By now you’d think that he’d either respect my wishes, or else dismiss me as an old ‘roadie’ fusspot, but in either case leave me alone. Instead, he said this:

‘C’mon, don’t we (all) do this for the danger? Where’s the flint in your veins? Don’t be such a pussy’.

He said this just sarcastically enough for it to be ironic, in the well-practiced manner of someone accustomed to getting his way and with a lifetime’s experience in telling his parents off while remaining utterly confident that they will continue to praise him for his mediocrity and keep writing those tuition checks to Bard. Now I really wanted to push my brakes and make him fall.

The advantage of ‘wheel sucking’ is magnified when the size of the front rider is large – like on this picture.

It made me extremely angry–not so much because he had called me a ‘pussy’, but more because he had found one of the few people in Alberta, who would not push him off his bike and break his teeth for doing so. Instead, his childhood had once again received a stay of execution and the bubble in which he lived would remain intact for yet another day. One day he will run into someone else who will do exactly that: brake his teeth! I hope he finds and reads this blog and recognize himself in my story…

Wheel suckers are bottom feeders and slackers
Wheel suckers are often considered bottom feeders and slackers as they do not work toward the greater good of the rider or riders in front of them. But there are many instances where wheel sucking is perfectly acceptable. Putting individual race tactics aside, an annoying but perfectly acceptable implementation of the technique, wheel suckers have many valid reasons for not ‘pulling through’. I have listed a few below.

It’s O.K. to suck when…
• The sucker is the sprinter being set up for a stage/ race win. (this is generally not considered true wheel sucking as it does not last long enough to qualify, however there are times that sprinters are dragged for miles in preparation of the final sprint, mountainous terrain would be an example)
• The sucker is a team mate who has had problem and needs help returning to the peleton (again this is up for debate if it is a short duration, but the technique is the same).
• The sucker is your spouse or significant other (happens to the best of us, if your the stronger rider, you’ll be pulling them, get used to it).
• The sucker is an athlete you are coaching (They are paying you too pull).
• The sucker is totally blown (Most commonly seen on group rides, never leave a man behind).
• The sucker is you, as long as I’m not pulling!
• The sucker is me, as long as your pulling!

 It’s O.K. when the sucker is your significant other

The tactical ‘wheel sucking’ is O.K.

The tactical wheel sucker:
In racing, there are occasions, when wheel sucking becomes a useful tactic. One example may be a rider who is in a lead break and their team leader or overall race contender is not. The rider may choose not to ‘work’ with the group and wheel suck to decrease the chance of having a successful breakaway. Other times the wheel sucker is simply not strong enough to be in the break and is doing everything they can to hang on. These riders are of not much concern for long, but are annoying because, they can’t help in the groups success and take energy away while they are engaged.

The group ride wheel sucking or drafting is O.K.

The group ride wheel sucker:
This is the most common place to meet a wheel sucker or become one yourself. Group ride dynamics seem to breed them. Newer riders are often scorned by the more experienced group because they spend the entire ride sucking the wheels of the stronger riders, but it’s not their fault. It is the natural order of things. For them too ride with the group and learn how not to be a wheel sucker they must first be a wheel sucker and suffer the humiliation of not being able to ‘pull’. A good wheel sucker can deflect much criticism by being gracious, such as bestowing the honor of allowing a rider who is dropping back the opportunity to drop in front of them and in so doing allow that rider the great honor of pulling again sooner.

It’s not O.K. to suck…
• Your teammate who is winning
• Your spouse or significant other
• Anyone you want to ride with again and again and again.
• Anyone who can make you suffer.
• Me!!!

Riding in the group is not ‘wheel sucking’ unless you don’t take turns at the front.

Detractors of the ‘wheel sucking’

The moral of my story
If you find yourself in a situation to become ‘wheel sucker’, first of all be nice. Say hello to the guy you want ‘wheel suck’. Talk to him first about something… anything, before you ask him if it’s O.K. to follow his rear wheel. Most people are going to be nice and say ‘yes’ after this type of introduction.

My position’s pretty clear: I’m happy to either draft or be drafted. With the former I don’t go ludicrously close to another bike’s rear wheel and I’m vigilant in case my temporary helper has to brake or swerve to avoid something. And if we reach a red light I’ll often try to set off quickly so as to offer a reciprocal helping hand. When in front I indicate well in advance, and point a helpful finger towards upcoming potholes and the like. But the most important thing is communication between the two of you on the road. One should never assume that its O.K. to draft some stranger without asking first!

There is a spin-off minefield of protocol connected to drafting: as a male rider is it a bit ungentlemanly to do so to a female commuter given that the basic technique involves staying as close to their buttocks as possible? A friend of mine was once drafting a Lycra-clad road cyclist from Edmonton to Sherwood Park, when she turned round to accuse him of ‘having a gawp’. He backed off.

Drafting is common in all group ridings.

Zen and the art of  ‘wheel sucking’.
Detractors of this practice and there are many, often look down and despise the humble “wheel sucker”. These detractors can easily be generalized as people who are testosterone filled and excessively aggressive. Furthermore these people do not possess the characteristics and are unable to be enlightened by the Zen that accompanies a “wheel sucking” journey.

Close drafting during the races is very important

Humility is an essential component to attaining the Zen of “wheel sucking”. Start the bike ride with statements like: ‘I’m feeling lousy’, ‘I had a hard day at the office’ or ‘My bike is heavier than yours’. Statements like these allow the rider seeking ‘wheel sucking’ Zen to disappear amidst the pre-ride bravado. It also volunteers others to offer their wheels for you to latch onto, when the ride starts.

Drafting behind a friend is O.K.

During the ride get into the ‘zone’. You’ll know you’re there when you suddenly start hearing nothing but the melodic humming of the bicycle chain and other moving bike parts. Often peace and tranquility in the ‘zone’ can be disrupted by calls to pull or ‘do some work up front’. For any true blue ‘wheel sucker’ this disrupts the essence of disappearing into ‘oneness’ of a pack ride. To avoid such situations you can always feint weakness leaving a gap between you and the rider in front, often resulting in a charge from the ‘macho men’ to close the gaps. Alternatively you could be gracious and allow the rider returning from his pull in the front of the pack, the wheel of the rider in front of you. These acts often work as the aggression of a fast ride often results in riders wanting to get ahead of each other. To attain Zen stay calm and be at peace especially on a fast pack ride.

So what happens if there’s a break? A true practitioner of wheel sucking never gets caught out in a break. A genuine ‘wheel sucker’ sees all that happens around him. A break is not perceived as such but rather it is a huge suck, dragging and pulling the wheel sucker from one zone to another. In the immortal words of a wise Jedi ‘feel the force’, use the pulls of these breaks to move with the breaks. When one does so, it’s like the shifting of the sands, effortless.

Do wheel suckers ever win? Always! Never forget humility, especially if you want to keep riding with the pack. What good is a wheel sucker without a wheel to suck?

Peace all and ride heaps!

Source of ‘Zen and the art of wheel sucking’:

http://www.teamabsolut.net/index.html