Where to train in Australia? - Triathlon Week

08-23-2004, 07:39 PM

My girlfriend wants me to accompany her to Australia for two weeks (one week
Sydney, one week Cairnes). This happens to be two months before my first
Ironman (Florida). Does anyone have suggestions regarding places to train
(especially bike)? Any suggestions would really be appreciated (by all!).

--
Steve

08-23-2004, 07:39 PM

"Steve Dannenbaum" <[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]> wrote in message
news:6Pdrc.1645$7y5.34@fed1read03...
> My girlfriend wants me to accompany her to Australia for two weeks (one
week
> Sydney, one week Cairnes). This happens to be two months before my first
> Ironman (Florida). Does anyone have suggestions regarding places to train
> (especially bike)? Any suggestions would really be appreciated (by all!).
>
> --
> Steve
>
>

Steve,

Maybe I've gotten too old, or forgotten how obsessed I was about my first
Ironman. So take that into consideration when I suggest leaving the bike at
home.

Here is my reasoning:

- Your "clock' will be all screwed up from travel - - both ways.
- The time you are there will be fragemented by a relocation.
- Presumably, you can run and swim for two weeks. If you HAVE to ride, go
for a light ride with a rental - - maybe?
- Trying to be careful here... Make sure girlfriend doesn't have
expectations of how the time will be spent. If you are like most people,
you will have more opportunities to do another Ironman than to see that part
of the world.
- Maybe you need a break from the bike? Two weeks would not be overdoing
it - - depends upon you goals, I guess.

Last, from someone who has had some serious wipeouts, check your insurance
coverage. Not all HMO's treat your coverage the same overseas as they do in
the U.S. They drive on the wrong side of the road over there. : )

Just getting you outside-the-box.... Think about making the best of it
without the complications of a bike.

Good Luck,

rsquared,
"prophet of doom" : )

08-23-2004, 07:39 PM

Steve Dannenbaum wrote:
> My girlfriend wants me to accompany her to Australia for two weeks (one week
> Sydney, one week Cairnes). This happens to be two months before my first
> Ironman (Florida). Does anyone have suggestions regarding places to train
> (especially bike)? Any suggestions would really be appreciated (by all!).
>

You might check in rec.running for Sydney. There's at least 1 or 2
people from Sydney, and they or someone might also know something about
Cairns. There's nearby national park in Sydney, iirc from some posts.

You might check the following link for Cairns (googled "Cairns Australia
bike" to find it, and there's other seemingly good links)
[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

The pictures there are typical of the streets in the main part of
Cairns. There are *many* intersections (including roundabouts / circles
that are "backwards") so whatever running I did was on the esplanade
(out the door from my hotel) since I didn't have a car. I depended on
well-selected small tours, mostly 4-12 people, to get to the areas I was
interested in and left the driving and logistics to the pros (I have to
deal with logistics to sometimes remote study areas in Alaska so I
didn't want those hassles on this trip). The town isn't all that big so
it's not too difficult to get out of it by bike, I'm guessing.

For riding, you might try the Atherton tablelands (some hills) to the
west (lower traffic, but minimal shoulders, iirc, at least where we went
for wildlife tours) or the north-south main highway (more traffic, but
better shoulders, iirc) that connects the coastal cities. If you go
north into the Daintree area, my recollection is the traffic is less
than downtown Cairns, but shoulders may not be as wide (absent?) as the
main coastal highway.

I was in Cairns for about a week post-conference 3 yr ago. I'm from
Alaska (field ecologist) and wasn't training for anything at the time so
my priority was on seeing tropical things on a once-in-a-lifetime trip
:) I had minimal time or energy to do much else besides a few short
runs. I had already been in South Australia for 2 wks (including 1
meeting week), so I had pretty much adjusted from the long flight by then.

rsquared makes some good comments. If your gf rides and runs also, you
might consider a ride and/or run together somewhere although that might
not be an intensity you need for training, but it might be a way of at
least logging some miles.

Oh, yeah, the swimming part should be obvious but there's not much in
the way of beach at Cairns (mangroves), and I'm not sure where people
swim locally. I snorkelled a few days on the GBR off one of the boats.
It is most definitely open water out there ;)

Enjoy! I had a blast.

Dot
briefly de-lurking

--
"Success is different things to different people"
-Bernd Heinrich in Racing the Antelope