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content/personal/2009/03/becoming-a-melbourne-cyclist.html
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<h3>Getting Started</h3>
With the move to Essendon and new job in January I decided I'd try my hand (or feet) at riding to work. There's a coupe of obvious benefits. Firstly its good exercise and secondly each time I ride to and from work I save about $6 in train fares. After settling into my new job for a week and loaning my brother's now mostly unused mountain bike<sup>1</sup> I set off one Sunday night on a trial run. I did some research <a href="http://www.bigyak.net.au/gmaps/vicbiketrailsgmap.html">online</a> and via the Melways with my Dad to determine the route. The trial to and from work straight after each other went well so I did it for real the next day.
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Laden with a backpack containing a laptop, lunch and a change of clothes amongst other things I set out into the peak hour traffic. The traffic turned out to be quite off-putting and I wasted a bit of time trying to negotiate it. Once I'd finally crossed <a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Buckley+St+and+Mt+Alexander+Rd+Essendon&sll=-25.335448,135.745076&sspn=43.569223,54.931641&ie=UTF8&z=16&iwloc=addr">Mt. Alexander Rd</a> I was able to head for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonee_Ponds_Creek_Trail">Moonee Ponds Creek Trail</a> with relative ease. Running late I pushed myself a bit and a short distance down the trail started thinking this whole riding thing was not a great idea at all and that I'd be lucky to arrive at work at all that morning. With the rushing and heavy bag it all seemed a lot harder than the trial the night before. It probably didn't help that this was only my second bike ride of distance greater than about 200m in around 10 years.
Laden with a backpack containing a laptop, lunch and a change of clothes amongst other things I set out into the peak hour traffic. The traffic turned out to be quite off-putting and I wasted a bit of time trying to negotiate it. Once I'd finally crossed <a href="http://maps.google.com.au/maps?f=q&amp;source=s_q&amp;hl=en&amp;geocode=&amp;q=Buckley+St+and+Mt+Alexander+Rd+Essendon&amp;sll=-25.335448,135.745076&amp;sspn=43.569223,54.931641&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;z=16&amp;iwloc=addr">Mt. Alexander Rd</a> I was able to head for the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonee_Ponds_Creek_Trail">Moonee Ponds Creek Trail</a> with relative ease. Running late I pushed myself a bit and a short distance down the trail started thinking this whole riding thing was not a great idea at all and that I'd be lucky to arrive at work at all that morning. With the rushing and heavy bag it all seemed a lot harder than the trial the night before. It probably didn't help that this was only my second bike ride of distance greater than about 200m in around 10 years.
<h3>Tracking My Rides</h3>
I did make it to work though, albeit somewhat hot and sweaty. The trip took about 40mins. Since that first day I've done the ride another 10 or so times, refined the route and have begun working on shortening the travel time. First I got it down to 30 mins and my best so far is 28 mins something. I track each ride using a brilliant little (free) iPhone app called <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289333140&mt=8">Trailguru</a> (app store link). It records my ride logging the route with GPS, the duration and distance. When I arrive at my destination I stop it recording and can then upload the ride to the <a href="http://www.trailguru.com/">companion site</a>. Each trail gets a page where there is plot of the route on Google Maps, graphs of altitude, pace and speed as well as other stats.
I did make it to work though, albeit somewhat hot and sweaty. The trip took about 40mins. Since that first day I've done the ride another 10 or so times, refined the route and have begun working on shortening the travel time. First I got it down to 30 mins and my best so far is 28 mins something. I track each ride using a brilliant little (free) iPhone app called <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=289333140&amp;mt=8">Trailguru</a> (app store link). It records my ride logging the route with GPS, the duration and distance. When I arrive at my destination I stop it recording and can then upload the ride to the <a href="http://www.trailguru.com/">companion site</a>. Each trail gets a page where there is plot of the route on Google Maps, graphs of altitude, pace and speed as well as other stats.
Below is a sample ride to work that Trailguru recorded:
<iframe src="http://www.trailguru.com/ui/embed/embedTrack.php?thid=205513" height="475px" width="100%" frameborder="0">
<a href="http://www.trailguru.com/wiki/index.php/Track:4EKP">8 to (Road Biking) | Flemington VIC 3031, Australia</a>
</iframe>Trailguru also lets you search for trails and will show others near your own. You can also take and upload photos with the iPhone app. I haven't used that feature yet as my phone is in my bag during the ride but I'd like to get an iPhone bike mount so I can use it as a speedometer as well. You can see all my trails on my <a href="http://www.trailguru.com/ui/user/tracks/Wmoore">Trailguru user page</a>.
<a href="http://www.trailguru.com/wiki/index.php/Track:4EKP">8 to (Road Biking) | Flemington VIC 3031, Australia</a>
</iframe>
Trailguru also lets you search for trails and will show others near your own. You can also take and upload photos with the iPhone app. I haven't used that feature yet as my phone is in my bag during the ride but I'd like to get an iPhone bike mount so I can use it as a speedometer as well. You can see all my trails on my <a href="http://www.trailguru.com/ui/user/tracks/Wmoore">Trailguru user page</a>.
<h3>Road Rage</h3>

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