21Km round trip on the Northern Beaches

Did a 21Km training ride today from Collaroy to Collaroy via Wakehurst Parkway. Average speed 18Km, which was very encouraging as this would translate to a 5 hour ride time to Wollongong. Plus 1-2 hours of rest time along the way.

See this Google map of the run:

View Larger Map

And the training continues

I'm starting longer distance training in earnest now. I've been commuting to work most days, particularly since I upgraded to my spanky Trek 7300 hybrid last March. That's 7Km each way, so I've been doing 7/9th's of a Gong ride each week, most weeks.

Yesterday I did that then did another 17Km riding up to my daughter's place on the Northern beaches of Sydney, so 38Km in one day.

I'm looking to do a 20Km ride at least twice a week between now and the race.

My preparations have been helped by the generous gift by my sister and her husband of a bike computer and a CamelBack. Being able to measure improvements in performance and to maintain hydration along the way is a great help.

Sydney to the 'Gong or bust

Well, I've finally gone and done it. I'm now officially registered in the 2008 Sydney to the 'Gong bicycle ride, in aid of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. I'm doing the full 90Km, from St Peters (inner south of Sydney) to Wollongong.

The ride is on Sunday 2nd November.

See this link for my fund-raising page and click here to find out more about the ride.

Do please consider making a donation to this worthwhile cause. Every penny helps.

More on St James on TV

The previous post should have read "... as a part of Episode 3" ... there are more than one treasure in each episode.

St James, King St Sydney to appear on TV

Historic St James Church, King St, Sydney is the subject of episode 3 of the BBC documentary series "Around The World in 80 Treasures". This episode screens in Australia on Saturday 3rd March at 7:30pm.

We who have the privilege of worshipping at St James have long thought it a treasure. Now there's a documentary maker who agrees, putting it up there in company with the Great Pyramids of Egypt and the Great Wall of China.

Major Mori to lecture in Sydney on 22nd February

David Hicks' military defense attorney, Maj. Mori will be lecturing on Hicks' condition, the charges he faces and the procedures that will be followed. This lecture is as part of the 2007 Philip Neri Lecture series at the Broadway campus of The Notre Dame University Australia on Thursday 22nd February at 5:30pm.

The campus is at cnr Broadway and Abercrombie and entry is by $5.00 donation

Orchestral Mass at St. James, King St.

28/01/07 09:30 AM

Today is the second of two Masses at St. James where the accompaniment is by full orchestra rather than organ alone, giving us the rare opportunity to experience these works as the the composer intended and in the original context, that of the Eucharistic Mass. This is the second year we've done this.

Last week we heard Hadyn's Missa in Tempore Belli (aka Paukenmesse or Mass in Time Of War) and unfortunately appropriate. This week we are to hear Mozart's KrönungsMesse (aka Coronation Mass), written early after his return to Salzburg in January 1778 in his role as court and Cathedral organist. Written originally for use on Easter Sunday that year, it is thought to have acquired it's nickname due to it's use at the coronation of Emperor Leopold II of Austria in Prague in 1791.

The Church is full in nave and gallery as we await the start. Like many, I arrived a full hour early to be sure of a seat.

28/01/07 11:30 AM

Well the service is over now and it was magnificent. As an added bonus, we had the orchestra accompany the opening and closing hymns. The latter was “Guide me O thou Great Redeemer” sung to Cwm Rhhonda. As ever, I was a basket case for much of it, managing a bit of the first verse and the last part of the last verse. The tune just taps into my Welsh gene for sookiness and I can’t read the words through the tears let alone sing them.