Noosa Imminent

Read this article by this relatively unknown but tryinghardtomakeit website. Yes that is my comment at the bottom.

I'm still yet to write a post-Delhi blog, but have been busy with trying to write literature and take a side on the declining US world order debate, specifically in regard to the Middle East. If I like it enough I might put it up here for those interested in such affairs.

Noosa is next weekend!

Carrying A Load

The Dayboro pines looked too good to ride past this morning :)

Checking In From Delhi

So I'm in New Delhi supporting my sister who is competing for Australia in the Synchonised Swimming. Sadly, she posted this article on Facebook not too long ago (that's my sister in the middle by the way). This article is not the only problem, the media seemingly everywhere over the globe is going nuts about how much of farce Delhi has already become. Nevertheless, once I read the aforementioned article, and some of the reader's comments (in particular the 'terrorists have already won comment') I feel as if I have to say something.

I'm not going to rant, but I just want to say I feel really sorry for Delhi and India as a whole. I have been here for less than twelve hours, but I have already seen enough to convince myself that India is so poor and disconnected from Western ideals and realities that I can't honestly see how it will rise to be the great power that everyone is forecasting it to be. Honestly, about 90% is this place is 100% slum. That being said, Indians are different, and it should have never been expected that these games would surpass Beijing's Olympics, or even Melbourne's Commonwealth games. I was at both these events in 2008 and 2006 respectively, and can honestly say that I don't believe India will match or surpass these events in any way; India is simply too poor!

The reason I feel sorry for India is because they are really trying to make things work, despite everything the media has been throwing against them. I'm not suggesting the way they are doing things is correct, but to me it seems as if they are taking no chances (I'm only referring to security issues). On every corner there are guards with fully loaded assault rifles and AK47's. On other corners and sections there are sandbagged bunkers with mounted guns. There are vans/buses full of security and army personnel everywhere, and even my hotel has a guard with an SMG out the front, and another one with an AK47 in the lobby. I'm just so disillusioned as to why the media is reporting the stuff they are, and at what benfit/s does its negativity bring? Even Prince Charles and other Royal's are strutting around in public. These guys are absolute icons of death and Western corruption in the eyes of the terrorists, and yet certain nations are worried about walking around a fortified stadium. I love sport, and I love great sporting events such as the Commonwealth Games; so I'm going to enjoy my week here no matter what. Here's some shots from a few hours of tourism today...some majestic, some not.

The 'first' Radinson guard

 Making friends

 Don't be fooled when people tell you Gandhi didn't use an assault rifle

View from  my room

 Local works

Who knows?

Literally 'throwing a spanner in the works'

Delhi's $20billion fiber-optic broadband

This was the street outside the hotel we had originally reserved over the internet...deceptive Indians had us thinking we were arriving to a 4star hotel. We went to the Radisson instead.

Community living

Cenotaph

Cenotaph

 Gandhi's mausoleum

President's palace

 President's palace gates

 Military HQ



Military HQ again


So the goods news so far is that my poos are still solid, and I'll try and get some more pics up in the coming days. Tomorrow I'm going to the Taj Mahal, and will start seeing events starting on the 5th with a full day at the hockey.

Stayin' alive,

Josh

Punjab

I've almost finished my first week back on the bike, and will have racked up 650km+ by tomorrow (Saturday) morning. Today I was back down the Gold Coast getting another reminder from Courtney that I need to get fit quick! Our session this morning was 3xSpringbrook reps, with no.1@300Watts, no.2@315Watts, and no.3@340Watts+. For those alien to the Gold Coast, Springbrook is a shallow/medium grade climb that takes just over 20mins to ascend holding similar wattage.

After Springbrook, the man and lady of leisure (which would be Ash and myself) were once again chasing an extended bout of leisure, with fishing being the obsession of the week. Ash managed to catch a preggers Blue Swimmer on a line, and I equaled her with a nice Bream! The Blue Swimmer went back, but the Bream succumbed to the knife and pan later in the night. The carcass was jazzed up with a bit of rice, asparagus and soy replacing the parts that I took out :)

 

 

Tomorrow' agenda...New Dehli baby!!! If this blog never gets updated after this post, it probably means Al Qaeda got me.

Old Hat

I found some shots of my Dad from his running era circa 1970's. He was pretty quick back in his day, and he got his marathon time down to 2:27 in Singapore Marathon of '78. He did most of his running in Singapore when he was posted there for the military. I hated running 10km once in Singapore because of the heat, I don't know what would entice you to train for a marathon there! A few ultras later he busted his knees and never ran again.

 

Return...

to blogging and training.


I have just taken the past month off, and now trying to cram some training in for my perennial quest of winning the Noosa Triathlon. Breaks are weird. I was so eager to get on one when I was training, and then when I was finally on one I was so eager to train. I know I'm better for it, but I think I may have taken too long off and could be in trouble for Noosa! Compounding this, I didn't really do anything useless with my time off, and it seems the only things I became accustomed to were;

-Wasting time
-G&T

And now that I'm training again, all I have become accustomed to so far is;

-DOMS

Nevertheless, I made one more step towards better fitness this morning with this old man



And this is my new tool





And here's a bonus shot from the day

New kinds of competitions (for me)

I picked up a flier at Uni the other day and found out about a really neat photo competition being run by my Political Science school at the uni. I decided to enter some of my shots from Morocco (this first one was originally posted here I think) when I went for an ITU race back in May. Each photo required a description that obviously has to impress the professors and PhD scholars, so I gave it a go and here are my entries!


Writing on the Wall

This photo was taken during my second day in Morocco. My perceptions as to what Morocco would be like prior to arriving had been well adjusted by the time this photo was taken.  It was made abruptly clear just by walking the streets that time in Morocco has stood still for decades. Time and civil society in Morocco may perhaps even be going backwards as encapsulated by this photo. The writing on the wall is clear, but the doors are locked, the blinds are closed and the streets are decaying and littered with filth. Ironically, a lack of monetary wealth and purpose is a large part of the problem. The money comes out of the wall, but ultimately the dilapidated streets and the dreamy populace don’t allow it to go back in. Thus, the vacuum is filled on the gutters and pavement of the streets.

Divisionals

My journey in Morocco continued with some late night discovery walks around the city of Larache. Every corner I turned, I would see something that blew my mind, and this image stands as no exception. The road is in a state if disrepair as Asphalt is broken up and divided by sand (the dominant surface of the city’s landscape), to me encapsulating the city’s failed attempt to modernise.  Behind the sand is an uncovered, but perfunctorily fenced man hole perhaps leading to the town’s sewage system, neighbored by a mound of dirt. People are walking past oblivious and without concern, yet this is by no means a pedestrian street, demonstrated by a cars attempt to negotiate the obstacles. To me this embodies the sad duality of the people; their continued intent to modernized, but failure to recognize the pitfalls that are bringing them up brutally short. 

Devotion

Larache in Morocco is the most visually oppressed city I have seen in my travels, and the people have a clear disconnect between pride and property. However when the sun goes down, the streets are lined with people sitting on chairs drinking a simple mint-leaf tea. There is no alcohol to be found and no hooliganism to be seen; the Koran is the rule of law here. Graffiti as a common crime in the west is evidently a simple act of faith here as a hooded man scribes the Koran on a wall. I stood there for five minutes watching this man, who never once turned his head or attention from his scriptures on a wall seemingly painted and cleared for this exact purpose. 

Thanks for reading,


Josh

VO2max Study

A friend of mine is currently doing her PhD thesis in determining the relationship between laboratory-based lactate data and performance in sub-elite triathletes. She is recruiting male triathletes between the ages of 18-35 years of an elite or sub-elite status for participation in a number of laboratory tests involving running and cycling. The main aim of the study is to examine the strength of lab based data in predicting endurance performance.


So if you have ever wondered just how behemoth your VO2max is, and you live within a drive of Brisbane, get in touch with Sam @ samantha.fisher@uqconnect.edu.au


Get involved chaps

Shots from my weekend in NZ visiting the family, mud, high pressure hose, snow, clouds, and blue die (marking the edges of the cliff faces).