When it comes to bikes, just like any religion, there are rules. Bikes are not Vietnam. We know the rules and we (mostly) observe the rules.

The rules say many things but one of the most important is this: You must earn your descents.

Today my friend, manager and co-conspirator and I left work early to go to church. Well actually we went to Church Point. This is the story of spiritual enlightenment you never knew you wanted (it's possible you might still not want it, sorry about that).

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So over the last couple of months you may have noticed that I have posted a few times regarding Australia's National Ride To Work Day. This event is run by the Bicycle Network of Australia and this year fell on Wednesday 12 October. The official purpose of the event is to encourage people to try riding to work for the first time and to also formally poll the number of Australian workers who do commute by bike in order to lobby for better infrastructure*. But for me, this year it was much more personal.

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A couple of months ago I mentioned that at our workplace we were putting together a bit of a special event for our National Ride To Work Day.

Just to refresh your memory, we're raising money for Variety - a children's charity that provides assistance to all sorts of children in need. From instruments and sporting equipment for schools to assisting sick kids, they do a lot of good around the country. But we're also raising this money because when we reach $5000 one of the most anti-cyclist guys I've worked with will ride to work on Ride To Work Day.

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To recap, Parts 1 and 2 are available if you want to catch earlier events. Camping in NC was an experience of a lifetime and I genuinely hope to make it back sometime in the future and do it all again. This episode brings our adventure to a close but not without some great bike racing, some dodgy photos and a superhero origin story.

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One of the things that appealed to me most about joining this camping and riding expedition was the opportunity to see a part of the US that I probably never would have encountered otherwise. With all due respect to the great state of North Carolina, it's just never been on my radar as a holiday destination. So I was pleasantly surprised at the sheer number of things I got to do for the first time on this trip.

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So a couple of weeks ago I flew Stateside to work my way up to Montreal. I figured I'd watch some bike races. Before I was finished I'd racked up over 20,000 miles of travelling, one assault by Mt Mitchell, one encounter with a bear, multiple assaults by mountain bikes, two pro bike races, one hilarious (in hindsight) encounter with a border crossing, a bunch of high quality beers and about 8 different fast-food firsts. Here's the first part of the story.

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So, it's incredibly late notice, but LurkerMcLurkerson and I thought it was nigh time that the Sydney PdC members look at catching up. Being an impulsive sort, I said I'd be willing to host a get together at my place this Friday (or Saturday) if people were interested. I don't have a huge place, but can accommodate a dozen folks or so and have a nicely sized tv. So let me know in the comments if you're interested and we'll start to make a real plan.

And if you're this guy, you get first pick of where to sit:

via drunkcyclist.com

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It's TdF time (duh!) and we tend to get an influx of newcomers around this time of year (hi everyone!!!! and welcome!) which is really cool. One of the challenges to being new to the cafe (especially if you're playing in the live threads) can be to get your head around the shorthand that has evolved here over time. We like nicknames and we like the snark.

Fortunately our fearless leader Chris wrote a cool post a little while back called the Podium Cafe Lexicon. It's got a good introduction to some of the specialised lingo that floats around here. I'm suggesting that it's time we do our annual biannual triannual first ever update to catch our new friends up. More after the jump...

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I need your help to convert a guy to cycling. I promise it won't be difficult or take much of your time. Here's the how and why of it.

I recently started a new job and one of the things that has been interesting to me about it is that I am the first person to ride a bike to work. Sometimes it's easy to forget what a novelty that sort of thing might be. So it's been interesting to experience the bemusement of many of my colleagues, and the interest of others.

One in particular has taken great delight in telling me on a daily basis that I should be hit by a truck...

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Clearly she's too busy telling med students stern things like:

• Be quiet!
• Stop fondling each other in the stacks!
• No you can't bring food in here!
• Shush! and;
  
• I'll let you eat your sandwich if you help me bypass the IT department's firewall settings and stream live race video.

So it's down to us, her nearest and dearest bike-loving friends to name her bike for her. After the jump there's a simple poll to pick the name of the newest cafe racer.

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So mostly I'm being an opportunistic bastard and abusing the work of Yeats (not even Romantic!) to suggest a clear link between the great poets and cycling. If this stanza isn't about bike racing, then no poem ever was nor ever will be:

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned.
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity

Go on, drop a line or two in honour of manufactured and meaningless holidays - and bike racing of course. Do your worst, I dare you...

So I apologise if this is all too old and long ago - I'll avoid making excuses for not getting pics up earlier and get out of your way. I promise that there really are pictures of famous (and also slightly less famous) cyclists, some of them are even in focus.

We were posted up around about halfway up the Aphrasia St climb (the 2nd major climb) and got to see quite a bit of good attacking, although we had to rely on updates shouted from a nearby balcony to get the finish. It was a hell of a lot of fun.

Various shots of the race after the jump.

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Hey you guys! Do you remember when a week ago there was a time trial at the "arse end of the world"? Well I've finally got home, trawled through a bunch of really, really bad photos and managed to find some that are only slightly dodgy.

For those who might be interested in checking them out, photos after the jump...

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So there are some people who live in Melbourne or Geelong anyway, and then there are those of us intending to travel there to watch our heroes get busy on their bikes. Either way, it's just another prime opportunity to get together with your fellow loopy cycling fans, have a drink or two and stalk support your favourite riders.

If you're interested in catching up on the Saturday night before the Road Race then let it be known in the comments. Local knowledge on a good venue to meet in is most welcome. Somewhere that serves a wide selection of Belgian beer is immediately at the top of the list.

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So these are from the start of the Scheldeprijs in Antwerp (and then the podium in Schoten). We got lucky again with our spot selection at the start as my all time cycling hero Stuey pulled up right in front of us and was soon surrounded by Aussie riders, a couple of national champions and one very cool Swiss guy.

Enjoy....

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So it's been a while since the Ronde and I'm wildly late, but too bad. I'm still excited by it all and so here is my entirely selfish post full of photos.

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The King of Style (aka Ted King) has an exceptionally good post that includes advice on the fact that we do NOT cycle. Rather, we put out the vibe. Now I will readily admit that there are many days on which I am simply not up to the task of putting out the vibe properly.

Sometimes I didn't get enough sleep, sometimes I'm distracted, sometimes I'm just short on vibe. So the days when I can put out the vibe are special. Recently at the Scheldeprijs I was thoroughly schooled in putting out the vibe.

You see, putting out the vibe is tough enough in civilian life, but take that up a step and try to imagine how much vibe it must take to put out the vibe in the pro peloton among a couple of hundred guys also laying it down. Check out how it's done, after the jump.

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