Monthly Archives: December 2011

Three days of riding fun

December 29, 2011Cycling, PhotosMarc Durdin

After Christmas we took a family holiday up to Launceston and I brought my bike. Unfortunately I slept quite poorly each night but this meant I was up soon after 5am each morning, with beautiful still warm weather beckoning. So I went riding until my family arose from bed 🙂

Day 1 was a solo ride up along Bridgenorth Rd, pushing a little on the hills but not overly much. Took Notley Hills Rd which turned rather unexpectedly into dirt just at the start of the descent! Another rider caught me between Legana and Launceston, and that encouraged me to ride that little bit faster.

Day 2 saw me turning up at a church car park in central Launceston where a group ride was supposed to depart from at 6am. Six other riders turned up and it was, for me, a tough ride: 3 of the riders pulled away from me on the key climb of the road, and I could not take all my turns in the paceline towards the end of the ride. To finish off, I was dropped at a roundabout where I paused a little too long and I was unable to get back into the group. Still, the ride finished soon after that, with the biggest cup of coffee I’ve had in my life.

With a poor night’s sleep again bringing me out of bed at 5am, I decided on the third day to do another, longer solo ride, this time east towards The Sideling, a mountain pass about 40km from Launceston. Again, a beautiful morning, uneventful and empty roads, and a very enjoyable climb up to a lookout on The Sideling, and thence back to Launceston, somewhat faster than on the way out (downhill…) For some silly reason, I finished off by riding up the crazily steep David St, and rolled down to Stillwater for coffee with my family.

Launceston, very early

Start of The Sideling climb

At the lookout on The Sideling, my turning point

Strava: Bridgenorth 6am bunch The Sideling

WinDBG and Delphi exceptions

December 19, 2011Computing, DevelopmentMarc Durdin

When debugging a Delphi XE2 app in WinDBG, NTSD or a related debugger, it is very helpful to be able to display the actual class name and error message from an exception in the debugger. The following script will do that for you automatically:

sxe -c "da poi(poi(poi(ebp+1c))-38)+1 L16;du /c 100 poi(poi(ebp+1c)+4)" 0EEDFADE

The command can be broken down as follows:

sxe adds a filter for an exception event, enabled by default. sxd would add the filter, disabled.
-c tells the debugger to run the quoted commands when the event occurs.
da displays an “ANSI” (non-Unicode) string from memory in the debugger
ebp+1c is a pointer to the exception record
poi(poi(ebp+1c))-38 points to the non-Unicode string returned by TObject.ClassName, internally known as Self.vmtClassName.
du displays a Unicode string from memory in the debugger.
poi(ebp+1c)+4 is a pointer to the Unicode string for Exception.Message. As with all Delphi strings, you could go back 4 bytes to get the string length, but for now we limit the length to 100 characters with the /c parameter.
0EEDFADE is the exception code for a Delphi exception (another example is C0000005 for Access Violation).

These offsets are correct for Delphi XE2. For Delphi 7, the relevant command is:

sxe -c "da poi(poi(poi(ebp+1c))-2c)+1 L16;da /c 100 poi(poi(ebp+1c)+4)" 0EEDFADE

Other versions of Delphi will have similar offsets, a little spelunking should yield the appropriate offsets pretty quickly!

The Top 10 Climbs in Hobart: A Recap

December 9, 2011Cycling, Hobart's Top Ten Climbs, StravaMarc Durdin

This post is merely a summary of the climbs I have described in my Hobart’s Top Ten Climbs Series for your reference. Enjoy!

	1 Mt Wellington 11.2km 7.2% 827m 0:25from town
	2 Waterworks 4.4km 7.7% 350m 0:10from town
	3 Bonnet Hill 2.4km 4.2% 100m 0:20from town 3.1km 4.9% 153m 0:35from town
	4 Collinsvale Road 3.5km 8.1% 287m 0:40from town
	5 Grasstree Hill 4.0km 4.9% 197m 0:60from town 5.3km 4.2% 219m 0:40from town
	6 Strickland Ave 4.6km 5.4% 247m 0:15from town
	7 Mt Rumney 3.3km 6.9% 226m 0:25from town
	8 Longley to Neika 5.5km 5.7% 314m 0:45from town
	9 Nelson Rd 3.9km 6.0% 232m 0:10from town
	10 The Domain 2.2km 4.6% 102m 0:05from town

So I am sure that my cycling mates won’t agree with this list of climbs, and more importantly, the order of the list. But this is my list — I’d love to see your list. You’ll often find me slogging my way up one or another of these climbs… Now writing about the climbs turned out to be easier than I expected, but getting photos for the climbs has taken a fair amount of work and in more than a few cases, a couple of revisits to the climb for a new set of photos… Nearly all the photos were taken with a phone camera, so quality is pretty variable. I hope this series has inspired you to go out and ride these climbs!

Now that this series is done, I’m taking a break from bike blogging for a while. See you next year!

Hobart’s Top 10 Climbs, #1: Mt Wellington (Fern Tree – Summit)

December 8, 2011Cycling, Hobart's Top Ten Climbs, Photos, StravaMarc Durdin

Mt Wellington — this view from Mt Rumney.

This is the final post of a series on some of the great road cycling climbs around Hobart. I’ll be posting a recap shortly but this is the final climb I’m planning to write about. I hope you’ve been enjoying the descriptions and have felt motivated to go and ride all the lesser climbs so far…

Earlier in the series:

When I wrote the first draft of this post, I was sitting down at Salamanca Place enjoying a coffee as the sun burned off the early morning fog. I had the day off work and was going to watch Stage 1 of the Tour of Tasmania, a rather unique Team Time Trial up Mount Wellington. I planned to watch from three quarters of the way up the mountain at the Chalet, 1000m above sea level, at the end of the steepest section of this climb. I was keen to see how many of the teams were still together at this point. Read the full story of the TTT.

It’s pretty much a given that Wellington would be the top climb in my list. It’s by far the biggest climb and the mountain dominates Hobart. You really can’t call yourself a mad cyclist in Hobart until you’ve conquered the mountain.

However, no one should ever describe the Wellington climb as easy. Living as I do in the foothills, I’ve ridden up many times, and I still find myself wondering what on earth I’m doing when I’m half way up the steep sections of the climb. In this blog I’ve opted to describe the section between Fern Tree and the summit of Mt Wellington, as there are multiple approaches to Fern Tree that all converge on this 11 kilometre brutal slog.

As with all my longer climbs, I like to break Wellington down into sections; hence the Wellington climb can be split up at the Springs at 720m and the Chalet at 1000m. Each section has a markedly different feel.

The first section is a little deceptive, marked as “only” 6.8% on average. One might wonder then it is so hard to get a tempo rhythm up on this section of the climb. This is because the gradient on this section is actually mostly above 8%, with just the last kilometre at about 4% (which feels flat in comparison). It is characterised by tall forests and cool fern-shaded bends. It finishes at The Springs, a popular picnic area where there also used to be a hotel, before it was destroyed in the 1967 bushfires.

And now is where the pain really starts. The next section is steep with a constant average of about 9% and has a rough road surface which saps your energy with every turn of the pedals. The view to your right is often amazing but it is pretty hard to take it in! This steep stretch of road seems to go on forever, and at each corner you peer hopefully ahead for a glimpse of the Chalet at 1000m, but it’s always a corner or two more than you expect. I take heart when I pass a parking bay – it’s only 1km from there to the Chalet!

After the Chalet, the gradient eases off a bit, and a couple hundred metres later the road surface becomes slightly smoother, a welcome relief. You are now onto the final section of the climb, and having passed the Organ Pipes the road curves onto the plateau, with the summit clearly in view on your left. It’s a beautiful ride across the plateau, but the road is still deceptively steep in places. When I can see the summit, I get a boost in confidence and energy, and find myself going a little faster! Then the last kilometre just hurts: the summit is just there, but it’s such a long kilometre…

Once you make it, hot and sweating, you’ll pause for a minute. Congratulate yourself, it’s a tough climb! I can rarely stay long on the summit: there’s usually a brisk wind and the temperature is cold… The descent is long and cold – put on your full finger gloves and a wind jacket!

You should combine this climb with Longley to Neika, or Strickland Ave, or if you are a masochist, Waterworks Rd, for the full experience! Although you can approach this climb from the city via Huon Rd, this is not a particularly pleasant route due to traffic and I would recommend Strickland Ave over Huon Rd.

Your challenge: ride the mountain 3 times in one day. Nope, I haven’t done it; Cameron Wurf has.

And that’s the end of the series. Next up will be a recap and summary, just for good measure…

Mt Wellington
Distance	11.2km
Category	HC
Elevation	827m
Gradient	7.2%
Maximum Gradient	15%
Time from city	25 minutes
Traffic	medium
Strava	http://app.strava.com/segments/631819
How to get to the climb: Take the Strickland Ave climb, or the Commando Route to Longley. Turn onto Pillinger Drive in Fern Tree as signposted.

Beautiful morning for a climb up the mountain with Rob

A study in motion on the “easy” part of the climb

Pausing at the lookout just before the Springs

Take in the early morning view South at the Springs

The grind: 9-10% on a rough surface. Just plug away until you get through it

The road seems to go on forever…

and ever…

Plenty of opportunities for fantastic views and scenery, here from near The Chalet

Onto the plateau.

On the plateau, the summit is in sight, but still nearly 4km away!

Glancing over the edge down to Hobart

Yes, that’s me, at the summit. Looking altogether too pleased with myself…

Cold, foggy summit. That’s probably more typical. Didn’t hang around!

Another day. Bethany conquers the mountain … well, the last 2km anyway! Still a massive effort!

Hannah and I followed her up

A grand day, Bethany takes in the view with a well earned break

Don’t forget to put the bike down for a moment to climb to the top of the rocks…

Yet another day; Barry descending on Big Bend

Fun bit of road for descending… if it’s dry!

Being badly behaved, or Copenhagenizing Hobart

December 8, 2011Cycling, PontificatingMarc Durdin

I was involved in an interesting twitter conversation yesterday and I felt a blog post arising from it. It started with a tweet from Mikael Colville-Andersen aka @copenhagenize:

'Badly behaved' cyclists are just cyclists without proper, well-designed infrastructure.

Tim Stredwick, our local Hobart bike hero also known as @bicycle_tim, retweeted this (without the Salon article link unfortunately, so I missed that):

That’s where I first saw it, and then I reacted (perhaps a little strongly…):

That's bollocks. What about badly behaved car drivers? No, in both cases it's just inconsiderate behaviour.

The conversation continued thus:

The thing is, I think it is an unhelpful position for a cycling advocate to take in Hobart. In Hobart, the car is still king. Bicycle infrastructure is in its infancy. A cultural shift is needed for safer roads in Hobart.

It’s unhelpful if anti-bike people read this message: they’ll just see it as excusing what they see as the typical cyclist’s behaviour, and use it as one more reason to push for having bicycles removed from the road entirely. Bike registration anyone?

But it’s also unhelpful for those who already ride antisocially: they can use it to justify their own poor behaviour, viz. “Even @copenhagenize says its not my fault I’m riding the way I am: the infrastructure made me do it.”

The dialogue on cycling in Australia and especially in Hobart is currently stuck in a pretty pointless us-vs-them cycle. Bad behaviour is endemic and increasing on the roads, and it’s certainly not just limited to people on bicycles. Of course discourtesy is by no means unique to Hobart but here are some examples of the attitudes that are part of the problem:

Selfish driving: on a multi-lane road, if you indicate to change lanes, it is common for a driver in that lane to hurriedly close up the space you planned to merge into. I have not seen this particular behaviour elsewhere.
Bike rage: verbal abuse for not giving way to a “faster rider” is not infrequent on the most comprehensive part of Hobart’s cycling infrastructure — the Intercity Cycleway. I’ve often heard riders complaining about children on bikes and mums with prams on the cycleway (it’s a shared use path).
Aggressive driving: road rage is a daily sight despite the shortest commutes of any capital city in Australia.
A tit-for-tat response to discourtesy from other riders and drivers; we all trip up on this one; I know I do. Take a chill pill, Marc!
Dangerous overtaking (illegally, even on blind corners) and speed; Tasmanians drive much too fast for the conditions. Both of these issues are very visible on highways in Tasmania, car vs car, even without bicycles in the equation.

Now Australia has a peculiar attitude to road rules. People get very upset when anyone else is seen violating a rule (for example, speeding) but the rules are still seen as unfair and even decried as illogical by many. It seems this knee jerk reaction is amplified when it comes to cyclists who disobey them — running red lights, riding triple file (actually this seems rare to me but it is often cited as people become more aware that double file is legal)… And, “how dare he ride without a helmet!” Does it impact you if he does that?

A quote from the 2011 AAMI Crash Index sums it up:

“When we cut someone off, it is because we are in a hurry; when someone else does it to us, it is because they are a jerk.”

But even the most relaxed of my non-cycling friends complain about the behaviour of cyclists. While most of them support the creation of great bicycle infrastructure, they’d probably be offended to hear this sentiment from a cycling advocate and may even question if cyclists “deserve the infrastructure” if they are going to ride so badly in the first place.

Last year, Jan Gehl was commissioned to prepare a report for Hobart and there was a strong negative reaction from some segments of the population. All while they complain about traffic jams and other drivers of course… Part of his report dealt with cycling but he outlined the need for a much greater cultural shift than a bit of cycling infrastructure! I personally think Jan Gehl’s report is fantastic and would love to see it all come fruition, but it seems I am in the minority in Hobart.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Attitudes on the roads in Hobart have improved in the last 5 years. The number of cyclists on the roads is increasing dramatically. Aspects of Jan Gehl’s report are being acted on by the council. But there’s a heck of a long way to go.

So how does this all come together? Better cycling infrastructure is going to increase the number of riders on the roads, but I don’t think it’s necessarily going to change the behaviour of those who already ride discourteously. They’ll just be a smaller proportion of the cyclists out there. Courtesy on our roads is part of a cultural shift that must come from within the society. I think those of us who are cycling advocates need to always be aware of the deep seated resentment towards those who ride badly, which impacts all cyclists, and not be seen to condone this discourtesy, even if the original argument has some validity!

Hobart’s Top 10 Climbs, #2: Waterworks

December 5, 2011Cycling, Hobart's Top Ten Climbs, Photos, StravaMarc Durdin

The dreaded Waterworks climb

This is the ninth post of a series on some of the great road cycling climbs around Hobart. You can be notified of new posts in the series by following me on Twitter. Until now the climbs have been reasonable, but now it all changes.

Earlier in the series:

I still remember the first time I rode up Waterworks. I forced myself to finish the last few hundred metres without stopping, crawling up in my 40×28 bottom gear on my old steel frame Superlite, and finally saw the road levelling out and the crest of the hill just ahead. The last 50 metres were just torture – surely the climb should be easier now: it’s levelling out. I reached the very top of the climb, with its view over the Ridgeway Reservoir, and collapsed over the handlebars, panting and nearly dead. And then I realised that wasn’t the top – there was still more to come.

Waterworks still rates for me as the hardest climb in Hobart. It is a shorter challenge than Mount Wellington, but so much steeper. The full Waterworks climb is still a 350m ascent over 4.4km. That may not sound too bad until you realise that nearly half of that distance is made up of a level plateau traversing around Ridgeway Reservoir. The maximum gradient is somewhere in the order of 25%, about half way up the first section of the climb, and the road surface is rough, uneven and lumpy, so you have no hope of riding to a tempo. It’s just a tough, tough grind, all the way up.

I now live at the top of Waterworks in Ridgeway, and this means that every night on my way home the climb taunts me – when am I going to try it again? Usually I chicken out and ride up Strickland Ave. But eventually I forget how just hard the climb is and turn up Waterworks Rd… Now remember that the climb starts at 150m above sea level – the same altitude as the summit of Bonnet Hill. All that ascending before you get to the start of the climb? That’s just a warm up. It’s on nice, smooth tarmac and I’m sure you’ll be thinking, how hard will this climb really be? Then you turn the corner that marks the end of Dynnyrne and the climb, ridiculously steep, opens up before you. I find myself climbing the first straight, in a couple of gears above my bottom gear, and still thinking this isn’t too bad… But the road just keeps getting steeper, and rougher, sucking up all my energy in bumps and ripples. All of a sudden I’m in bottom gear, and frantically pushing that gear lever to find another gear, as the road curves around its two steepest corners. From there to Ridgeway Reservoir is an exercise in mind over agony. Just slog away until you get there. Forget cadence, forget heart rate, they’ll both be silly. Just turn those pedals over and over again.

But once you reach Ridgeway Reservoir, don’t stop: push along on the flat, get your speed back up to and over 30km/h and push around to the next ramp. This is steep but much, much shorter – just slightly too long, with that first climb in your legs, to sprint up…

And now you reach the crunch point: the climb doesn’t finish here, but you could pretend that it does (I do, with the powerful excuse that I’m going home…). But I know you’ll want to conquer the whole climb, and ride to the very top of Chimney Pot Hill. So, turn right, ride a couple hundred metres on the level road (oh blessed relief!), and then turn left up the service road that leads to the Telstra tower at the top. You may have to hop off your bike to negotiate the gate at the base.

This bit of road is enough to make seasoned riders cry. It averages over 10% for another one and a half kilometres. The surface on this road is pretty broken up, but given that you’ll be slogging along in bottom gear, it probably won’t be a problem for you! The most demoralising moment of this climb is no doubt about 500m from the finish, when the road straightens up for what at that point looks like an impossibly long 400m straight. Just remember, when you get to the end of that straight, you are nearly there!

Again, there are some great views at the top. Not that you’ll be able to see them, as you’ll be too busy wiping sweat out of your eyes and trying to keep yourself from falling over.

The descent of Waterworks would be one of the most technical in Hobart. It is very steep, with badly cambered corners, ripples, potholes, and a rough road surface. Great on a mountain bike but be careful on your road bike! Also beware of gusts on windy days – I’ve been literally blown off the road when I encountered a sudden strong cross wind on the descent. I’ve also overcooked it coming into the first of the two steep bends – the ripples make it very hard to slow down if you get too much speed up! I was lucky – I just explored a ditch for a few moments before somehow, miraculously rolling back onto the road!

If that descent doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, turn left at the bottom of the service road, and follow Chimney Pot Hill Rd to Huon Rd, the gateway to Mt Wellington.

Edit: I forgot the challenge. Just do it. Without stopping.

You have probably already figured which climb the next and final post will be about…

Waterworks and Chimney Pot Hill
Distance	4.4km
Category	2
Elevation	350m
Gradient	7.7%
Maximum Gradient	25%
Time from city	10 minutes
Traffic	low
Strava	http://app.strava.com/segments/625953
How to get to the climb: From Sandy Bay Rd, turn right on King St, follow it up to Lynton Ave, then turn left onto Waterworks Rd. The climb starts 1km up this road.

It all looks so easy from here, the start of the climb

Rough surface, and the road just gets steeper and steeper

The gradient is deceptive, it doesn’t look as bad as it feels!

You can see Mt Wellington in the distance, near the top of the first half of the climb

The top of the first steep pinch is within your grasp!

Level road, a relief, time for a breather

The road tilts up again, a bit too long to sprint

Turn right here to continue the climb

And turn left up this little sweet road

Your guarantee of a car-free climb

Oof, that’s steep.

Holes in the road give you an excuse to weave!

Another view you won’t be seeing

Does the climb ever end?

The debilitating final straight

Round the corner, another view

Yes, it’s a steep corner

And here’s what you were aiming for!

Hobart’s Top 10 Climbs, #3: Bonnet Hill

December 1, 2011Cycling, Hobart's Top Ten Climbs, Photos, StravaMarc Durdin

Iain climbs Bonnet on casual coffee run Friday

This is the eighth post of a series on some of the great road cycling climbs around Hobart. You can be notified of new posts in the series by following me on Twitter. What am I doing sitting at the computer when I could be out on one of these climbs?

Earlier in the series:

There is little doubt in my mind that Bonnet Hill is the most popular climb in Hobart. Bonnet Hill lies on the Channel Highway between Hobart and Kingston, just south of Taroona, and is the usual commuting route for most riders from Kingston. It is also very popular in bunch rides. In this blog, I’ll look at both the Northern and the Southern approaches.

Bonnet Hill is not a difficult climb, although the Southern approach is somewhat steeper and longer than the Northern side.

The defining landmark of the Northern approach is the 150 year old Shot Tower, for a time the tallest building in the southern hemisphere. The builder of the Shot Tower practiced by making a small tower on his house first, before constructing the full tower — all without any formal learning on how to do it. The Shot Tower slides into view shortly after leaving the last houses of Taroona behind. There is some dissension on where the climb “officially” starts for competitive purposes, but most riders I know mark the start when they pass the southern end of the Taroona Hotel.

The road winds about before reaching the Shot Tower — this is the “hardest” bit of the climb, and still not hard. Soon after passing the Shot Tower you’ll come across a neglected bike lane — it’s fine on a mountain bike but if you are on thin road tyres you’ll probably prefer to stick to the car lane. From there it’s an easy climb to the summit. Unless you are trying to do it at 30 km/h!

The Southern approach starts with a steep 14% pinch called “Golf Course Corner”. It doesn’t last long, but it does take the wind out of your sails! From there, the climb continues at a much more reasonable gradient, with some great views over Storm Bay on your right. It is a little harder than the Northern approach, but it’s still not a huge climb.

I find that both sides of the climb can be done without much difficulty in the big ring, with an average gradient of less than 5% in both cases. Being a popular climb, there are lots of riders competing for KOM honours; check the Strava links below to see if the medal is within your reach!

The only issue with this climb is that there can be a fair amount of traffic at some times of day. There are no overtaking zones on either side of the hill, and the road is quite narrow. However, as the speed limit is 60 km/h, and there are plenty of places with enough visibility to safely pass, this does not typically pose a big problem; a little courtesy and awareness go a long way. There have been noises about constructing proper bike lanes on the hill, but no traction so far.

Your challenge for this climb: I’ll give you two achievable options: ride both sides in the big ring, or ride the Taroona side no hands.

Next up, my bête noire…

Bonnet Hill (North)
Distance	2.4km
Category	4
Elevation	100m
Gradient	4.2%
Maximum Gradient	7%
Time from city	20 minutes
Traffic	medium-high
Strava	http://app.strava.com/segments/629724
How to get to the climb: Follow Sandy Bay Road south through Taroona.

Bonnet Hill (South)
Distance	3.1km
Category	4
Elevation	153m
Gradient	4.9%
Maximum Gradient	15%
Time from city	35 minutes
Traffic	medium-high
Strava	http://app.strava.com/segments/629725
How to get to the climb: Ride the Northern approach, then down the Southern side…