Western Australia – Page 12

Ordinary or Extraordinary?

April 23, 2010

Do you ever have those moments when the ordinary becomes the extraordinary; where things that you encounter every day become brand new?

I cycle beside the river every morning on my way to work and it’s always enjoyable but on some days it just shouts out to be noticed.

As soon as I started crossing Shelley Bridge this morning I noticed how calm the river was. It was like a mirror, perfectly reflecting every building and tree along the foreshore.

I then took in the wider view and saw the clouds that looked like they’d exploded into the sky from the horizon, leaving feathery wisps of white across the city. The view changed as I continued the journey but remained remarkable all the way to South Perth where I had to turn away from the river to finish the ride to work.

I wonder how often we miss something spectacular because we’ve become too familiar with our routines.

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Freeway Bike Hike 2010

March 18, 2010

by Rodney Olsen

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If you’re in the Perth area it’s time to dust off your bicycle and get ready for the annual ride up the freeway to raise money for the Asthma Foundation of Western Australia.

This Sunday morning the southbound lanes of the freeway will be closed to cars as bicycles of all descriptions take over the road for an amazing community event, the Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma.

Cyclists will have a choice of distances to cover. For the keen there’s the 60km ride from Kwinana Train Station. The original 30km ride through the Tunnel from Belmont Park Racecourse is generally the most popular choice with a 10km family ride starting at the Greenwood Train Station. All three rides finish in the City of Joondalup where there’ll be plenty of food, drink, music, prizes, entertainment, and a whole lot more.

The inaugural event was held in March 2005. It was created as a unique fundraising event for the Asthma Foundation of Western Australia and has evolved into WA’s largest mass participation cycling event. After five years it is now a regular fixture on the WA sports and community calendar.

Now entering its sixth year the annual HBF Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma will launch the 25th Cycle Instead Bikeweek 2010 – the State’s annual week-long celebration of recreational and commuter cycling. The HBF Freeway Bike Hike for Asthma is Western Australia’s largest single day cycling event and the third largest cycling event in Australia. With more than 8,000 participants in 2009 the Asthma Foundation of Western Australia is expecting great things in 2010.

During my morning rdaio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM today I spoke to Matt Bissett about the event. You can hear what Matt had to say by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

I’ll probably be cycling over 100 km on the day. I’ll cycle from home to Joondalup where I’ll take on the duties of MC for various presentations before jumping on my bike and heading home again.

If you’re taking part make sure you look out for me around the main stage area in Joondalup. I’d love to say hello.

I’m also looking for any cyclists taking on the return journey towards Canning Vale by bike. My duties should be wrapped up by about 11:30 when I’ll be looking for anyone else wanting to ride back home.

If you’re a motorist who’s wondering how the ride will affect you, here are the road closures.

The following roads will be closed on Sunday 21st March 2010 at the times listed below:

Kwinana Freeway

* Southbound lanes will be closed from Mitchell Freeway to Thomas Road from 4:00 a.m. until 9:30 a.m.

Graham Farmer Freeway

* Eastbound lanes (including the Tunnel eastbound) will be closed from 4:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.

* Eastbound lanes will be closed from the Mitchell Freeway to Great Eastern Highway during these hours.

Mitchell Freeway

* Southbound lanes will be closed from Burns Beach Road to Perth from 4:00 a.m. until 12:00 p.m. (noon).

City of Joondalup

* Hodges Drive (eastbound) from the Mitchell Freeway will be closed from 4:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

* The intersection of Joondalup Drive and Grand Boulevard will be closed from 4:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

* Grand Boulevard will be closed from the intersection of Joondalup Drive to Shenton Avenue from 4:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR180310_1334.mp3]

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Rat Race comes to Perth

February 11, 2010

by Rodney Olsen

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Rat Race Urban Adventure If you’re tired of getting caught up in the daily rat race, you might like to experience a different kind of rat race.

The Rat Race Urban Adventure Series heads to Perth this weekend.

Teams of three will navigate, ride, paddle and abseil their way around Perth on a course that will only be revealed minutes before the race.

Rat Race Australia Director and course designer David Wolf joined me on the phone during my morning radio programme on 98.5 Sonshine FM to tell listeners just what it’s all about. You can hear our conversation by clicking the play button on the audio player at the bottom of this post.

We are going to blow your mind with the adventure you can have in the heart of Melbourne. Teams of three will run, ride, kayak, climb, abseil, and so much more over two days on the weekend in October.

The format will be the original Weekender Program – a Saturday and Sunday mix, incorporating the Mean Streets Prologue, and the Rat Race Adventure Challenge.

Mean Streets Prologue

Saturday night only (5-8pm) – quick, exhilarating and extremely entertaining. Foot based event, where teams collect as many zany checkpoints as they can in 3 hours, door to door. Any ability. Bring a pair of runners and a sense of humour.

Rat Race Adventure

Saturday night and all day Sunday. You do the Mean Streets Prologue, and then on Sunday embark on an adventure race city-wide, that will take you at least 70km all over Melbourne – by bike, boat, foot and rope!

The winning team must compete in both adventure challenge events – a combination of points and time will determine the winner, and it better not be those Poms!

If you’re in the Perth area it’s not too late to enter. You can get a couple of friends together and get involved.

[audio:http://mpegmedia.sonshinefm.ws/feeds/MOR021110_1047.mp3]

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Smokefree Perth Criteriums 2010

January 16, 2010

by Rodney Olsen

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There’ll be some excellent cycle racing around Perth from Friday the 5th to Monday the 8th of February.

Smokefree Perth Criteriums 2010 is on its way with some spectacular racing around various Perth street circuits. The series is being run by the team at TriEvents and promises to be a highlight of the Perth cycling calendar in 2010. I’m looking forward to once again being part of the commentary team with Gary Suckling of Riders Choice. Gary is such a professional and it’s a real honour to work alongside him.

Criterium racing is the most exciting version of road racing. Each race involves high speed and intense competition, around a tight and intimate circuit. No rider is guaranteed a win and no spectator walks away disappointed, which sets the scene for a perfect week end of racing.

A Criterium is a fast paced, multi lap cycling race on a tight and relatively flat street course. The course is approximately 1km in length. Criteriums are raced over a specified time rather than a distance with the races lasting no longer than 1 hour.

Most venues give spectators the opportunity to see a high portion of the course with the circuits being tight and intimate. Tactics are usually played from start to finish; so spectators are more than entertained for the entirety of the race.

Each rider receives points for placing in the top 10 of the race and these points accumulate to decide the overall winner. With a large calibre of cyclists in the event, the overall winner is often not decided until the final race.

Smokefree Perth Criteriums is made up of four events over four days. The events are afternoon / evening races in four high profile locations – Joondalup, Northbridge, Victoria Park and Leederville.

The first event of the series gets underway at 6:00 p.m. in Joondalup on Friday the 5th of February.

Western Australians are great supporters of this kind of cycle racing and there’s sure to be plenty of spectators watching each event. There have been a number of Perth Criterium Series over the years and they’ve all been nail biting spectator events. If you get a chance, get out and enjoy some fantastic racing.

Race One:
Joondalup – 6:00 p.m. Friday 5th February 2010

Race Two:
Northbridge – 3:00 p.m. Saturday 6th February 2010

Race Three:
Victoria Park – 4:00 p.m. Sunday 7th February 2010

Race Four:
Leederville – 6:45 p.m. Monday 8th February 2010

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Aussie Green Thumb Returns

January 4, 2010

by Rodney Olsen

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One of the big benefits of moving house last year is that we now have a much smaller garden.

I like having a nice garden … but I’m certainly not a gardener. I’m better at killing plants than helping them thrive. I don’t try to kill plants, it’s just a natural talent.

Thankfully there are people like James Middleton who are ready with excellent advice to help your garden grow. James has just re-launched his gardening website AussieGreenThumb.com. It’s the place to go to pick up all kinds of hints for your garden. However, if you’re more like me and you know that all the advice in the world won’t help, James is available to do the work for you at a reasonable rate. At the moment he is only doing gardening work in Perth, Western Australia, but I’m sure if you paid his travel and accommodation costs he’d be happy to travel. 🙂

Hello, my name is James Middleton and I want to warmly welcome you to my re-launch of AussieGreenThumb.com. Back in 2007 I started this website, offering hints, tips and traps for fellow Australian Gardeners with a particular focus on Australian Native Plants. This will still be my focus as we kick off again!

My belief is that everybody can have a good garden.

At AussieGreenThumb.com I promote both gardening yourself OR hiring professionals to take care of your gardening for you. This is why my philosophy is ‘a gardening lifestyle, today and tomorrow’. What this means is I believe anyone can start to improve their garden whenever ‘today’ is, with an outlook to having an even better garden on every ‘tomorrow’. Whether this be by improving your own gardening skills OR by employing a gardener to keep things looking green is your decision.

Why not check out AussieGreenThumb.com and tell James I sent you.

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