Information - Help or Hinder

Anyone I have communicated with who is remotely involved in cycling, and many people who are not would have been informed with not very much humility of my Mt Coot-tha climb on Tuesday morning.

It was dark, it was cold and I confess to asking myself just what the hell I was doing there.

I did the alternative approach to the start line by going up through Bardon and past Sommerville College. Yes, the soft way. At the right hand turn onto the mountain road, I stopped to adjust my headlight - it was very, very dark - and waited a moment deciding whether I would continue or not. But being there, it seemed silly to go back and I reconciled the situation by deciding on one only accent.

Just as I reached the start line, another cyclist came up beside me and said hello calling me by name. I had no idea who it was in the dark and must have looked puzzled until he said his name, Stephen.

Stephen is a very strong cyclist and was straight out of the saddle doing a strength exercise riding a 54/18 and continued to do so until he was out of my site some about 5 minutes later.

On crossing the start line, I hit the timer and just settled into my rhythm, aware that in the dark I was unable to read my bike computer or heart rate monitor therefore having no idea of speed, cadence, time elapsed or heart rate.

Having nothing to distract me, I simply concentrating on my pedal stroke and breathing.

My perception was of doing a reasonable climb but due to the recent hamstring injury restricting my training, I had no expectations of a great climb. I was thinking something around the 12 minute mark.

Up I went, pedal stroke and breathing. I overtook a few people and was aware of being overtaken (once). I was also aware I was not breathing anywhere near as heavily as the others on the mountain so I pushed a little harder.

This is a regular climb and I have several land marks I aim for. There is a part of the mountain that kicks a few percent for 300 or so metres. I have a tree at this part of the climb after which I allow myself to get out of the saddle but only until the armcor barrier starts again. (I usually count 100 pedal strokes). I was a little surprised to get to it seemingly quickly and in no distress so I clicked it up 2 gears, got off my butt and started counting to 100. And at 75, clicked it up another gear.

I settled back in the seat after 100 down thrusts and regained rhythm until the last 100 metres where I went for the line. Hitting the timer as I crossed the line I was thinking a time in the high 11 minutes. Stopping to get a look at the timer in the bike headlight, I was shocked and surprised to see 10 minutes 49 seconds. By far my best time.

So what does this tell me?

Perhaps it tells me that riding on feel and concentrating on doing the genuinelly important things really well is the key priority. After all, what is more important than breathing and pedalling when cycling.

Perhaps it also tells me that having speed and cadence data available means I actually hold myself back at some level of perceived (but not actual) maximum effort.

I do ride to some heart rate rules determined by my cardiologist. I therefore expected my monitor download to reveal that I had exceeded my required limits. But no, if anything, they were on the low side when compared to other Mt Coot-tha climbs.

The questions I have are:

• Can all the on board data we have available actually result in us applying some form of mental hand break on our performances?
• Is how we analyse and use our data in planning training and assessing race performances more important than having the information on hand during the ride or race?

I think the answers are to combine both - somehow.

By the way, does anyone have a spare power meter?

For the record, I completed the loop and then headed up the short side to the Cafe - just to cool down.

Spaced Out

There seems to be considerable interest in the 40th anniversary of Man walking on the moon

I was a young boy in the late 1960’s and an avid Space Junkie.

On the day of and the day after the moon walk, I convinced my parents to purchase each of the daily newspapers then published in Melbourne and still have them to this day. The Sun, The Age, and The Herald. And I kept the entire newspaper too rather than just the sections on the moon walk and they are today among of my prized possessions. Worthless to anyone else; priceless to me.

As a student in Grade 5 of Canterbury State School in Melbourne’s Eastern Suburbs, the Space Missions of the year were followed with keen interest and passion. On the day of the moon walk, the class moved across the road to a fellow student's residence where we gathered around a black and white television and watched in amazement as Neil Armstrong descended the ladder of the Lunar Landing Module, took the final step and uttered one of the most well known phrases of the century.

Man walked on the moon. And I am sure I was one of many, many millions to gaze at the moon that evening wondering if it looked any different.

But the mission that most took my attention, and is remembered by me with even clearer recollection is the flight of Apollo 8.

The Apollo 8 flight took place between the 21st and 27th of December 1968 and was very, very special.

It was the first time a manned space craft had been powered by the Saturn 5 rockets that formed the cornerstone of the moon missions.

It was the first flight to have hot and cold water options for the astronauts. As a result, there was a far more expansive diet than ever before.

It represented the first time Man had entered the Moon’s orbit. It was also the first time Man had viewed the “dark side of the moon”.

And the photos of the moon rise were spectacular to say the least. And by all accounts, we were lucky to have them.

Apollo 8 only circumnavigated the moon 1o times and a key task of the time spent in lunar orbit was for the crew to take photographs of the surface of the moon. Photographic mapping you might say.

The objective was to try and locate suitable areas for the eventual landing on the surface of the moon.

They had been on the “dark side” and out of radio contact with Mission Control. To facilitate the photographic assignment, the craft was rotated in its orbit so that the windows were more directly facing the lunar surface. The rotating of the craft also meant the radio aerials were turned away from the Earth but as there was no contact possible on the dark side this obviously did not matter.

As they began to emerge from the dark side, the Commander commenced the process to rotate the craft back to its usual position so that radio contact could be resumed. It was when this began to happen that the Astronauts effectively looked over their shoulders and witnessed the amazing spectacle of the Earth rising above the horizon of the moon. With camera’s still in hand, they snapped the scene unfolding in front of them and in doing so, captured what perhaps rank among the most famous and most viewed photographs of all time. (other than photos including people)

I recall a discussion at school about these photos. The teacher was talking about the Christopher Columbus voyage to prove the world was round however, it is only as a result of photos such as those taken by Apollo 8 that we really do know the world is round. The thought that it has taken the Apollo 8 mission to prove the “round earth” theory certainly captivated my young adventurers imagination.

Looking back now, even though the Apollo Spacecraft possessed less computer power than a simple calculator, the technology must have been mind blowing.

We have certainly lived through an incredible revolution in electronic communications technology.

But in this era, over a relatively short lifetime, the revolution in human transportation (or human personal communications) was nothing short of remarkable.

My Grandfather was born in 1896. His life started in an era when the internal combustion engine was in its infancy and the four wheel motor car were being invented. By the end of his life, international jet aircraft travel was an everyday event and man had not only walked on the moon, but was basically "over it". It must almost have been beyond belief to his generation.

And, this evolution must surely rank with, if not surpass the change from transmitting morse code by wire to the world of mobile technology we enjoy today. In fact, if it was not for the space program, the communications revolution would not have occurred.

So, next week on the 21st July (Australian Time) spare a thought for the pioneers of the 1960's who conquered the moon. But also, spare a thought for the ground breaking Apollo 8 team that in many ways, made it all possible.

A Weekend that Was

A rather 'large' weekend is coming to a close.

The schedule:

1. Bike Race Saturday Morning

2. Watching Bryce (youngest son) play Division 2 hockey game at Colmslie

3. AFL Game at Gold Coast - Richmond v Adelaide (Bryce is a Richmond supporter)

4. Tour de France commences (a must see from Monaco)

5. Gold Coast Half Marathon.

I wont bore you again with comment about the bike race - the report is on http://cyclingwithheart.blogspot.com/ titled "If you are a Goose - Stay on the farm"

I wont even bore you with the hockey game - which is code for we lost.

In fact, I missed the first 20 minutes. There had been a fatality on the motorway so all traffic had to divert through the city. A 20 minute trip became a 65 minute trip and I actually missed the first 20 minutes of the game.

Fortunately, Bryce had gone with his Mother much earlier and was there on time.

The trip to the Gold Coast was uneventful. Before going to the game, I needed to call in at the Gold Coast Convention Centre and collect race kit for the next day. I had also decided to change from the half marathon to the 10 kilometre event. I figured that one run of about 6 kilometres every 3 weeks over the last 12 weeks may not really be quite the right preparation for a 21 kilometre event. Besides, doing something as sensible as the 10 k event may be a long overdue sign of maturity and common sense. Who knows?

However, changing events meant lining up and standing in a slow moving line for 70 minutes is not my idea of a relaxing time.

On to the game. It was cold, very cold and because of the earlier delay changing events, all seats were sold. Standing room only for nearly 3 hours. It was a pretty ordinary game and Richmond lost.

Now it would have been easier to stay on the Gold Coast - and that was the intention however Bryce had made (late) plans for Sunday that only a 16 year old can make. (not as if I needed to know)

He did enjoy the game despite the Richmond loss. It is actually the first time he has seen them play live. Mind you, the fact that a group of about thirty girls aged 15 to 17 arrived just after we did and took up residence just in front of us perhaps added to his enjoyment. (Although he did tell me they were too young)

Game done at 10 pm and the drive back to Brisbane was uneventful and concluded with enough time to make a cup of tea before the Tour de France coverage commenced.

Being very disciplined, I decided that common sense dictate I only watch a few riders in the Time Trial - perhaps until Lance goes through. So I see Lance go through and he sets fastest time to date. I better wait and see how long that holds up. It doesn't hold for long but Levi is on a fast time so better wait and see if he takes the lead. He does. I wonder how Kloden will go? Better wait and see. Well it is now 2 am and I head off for a couple of hours sleep before the trip back to the Gold Coast.

The good thing is the start of the 10 k race is 25 minutes later than the half marathon - bonus.

Alarm set for 4.10 am and I am awake almost before I am asleep. Up, dressed, wetbix x 6, cup of tea (and one for the car), water bottles, Gu's and jelly beans - all set.

I then collect "the colleague" and off we go. I should explain "the colleague". The colleague offered to come along and be my support crew and if need be, relief driver. However, I am under threat of punishment "worse than death" if I make any reference at all the the colleague's name, sex, occupation, hair colour, eye colour or dress etiquette. Hence "The Colleague".

A quick trip back to the Coast and a car park is found in a side street a short walk from the start area. Easy. The half marathon runners have just got underway and we are called to marshall. Off with the tracksuit, stretch, jog, stretch again, jog again etc etc and all ready on the start area, taking my place with the group who nominated a time per kilometre of between 4 and 5 minutes.

I was looking around at my fellow competitors in this category and wondering what the hell all these elite athletes were doing starting with my group. And why are they all about 30 years old?

While waiting, my mind wonders. It occurs to me that my preparation for the race over the last 24 hours might be unique and I am wondering if this is an advantage. I mean, there is no point being unique unless you get an advantage is there?

I wonder who else has drained themselves in a bike race the day before, stood up watching a hockey game, driven to the Gold Coast, stood up in the cold for 3 hours at an AFL game, driven to Brisbane, had a touch over 2 hours sleep and driven to the Gold Coast again. I am thinking I must have a competitive advantage hear.

I then wonder if my pre race diet this last 24 hours will be equally beneficial. After some thought I tick off a 24 diet of a weet bix breakfast pre bike race, 3 fruit muffins, one cup of pumpkin soup, 2 plain multi grain rolls, about 10 cups of tea, a grape fruit, 3 apples, another weetbix breakfast and a vanilla bean Gu. This did not seem good at the time - and looks even worse when I see it in words now.

In the meantime, the Colleague is trying to take some photos.

Remarkably, the race begins and I am feeling good. Rhythm is great and I am certainly overtaking more people than are overtaking me.

I start to pick out a person 50 or so metres in front and concentrate on stride pattern consistency until I overtake them before repeating the process, again, and again.

On checking my heart rate, I realise that 165 is probably too high but I am coasting so I ignore it and concentrate on beathing patterns which brings it down to around 150 without costing pace.

Inevitably, these events form an almost "bell curve" shape. They thin out at the front and the rear and bunch up in the middle.

We are coming into the 5 k sign and I realise I am at the back of the strung out line at the front and am ticking over 4 minute k's - easily. Hell, time to up the pace and effort.

Keep the rhythm I tell myself, this fun.

Coming into 7 k's and still feeling good. Heart Rate around the 155 mark but not long to go. Right hamstring is a little tight, but it usually is - after all, it has literally been pulled or strained 20 or more times.

At 7k's there is a drink station and I grab one slowing down to drink it before ditching the cup and getting back to my pace and stride.

Onwards, 100 metres, 200 metres 300 metres and the runner behind sticks a screw driver in the back of my leg about 10 cm above the knee. Or that is what it felt like.

Of course, it wasn't a screw driver but it was a feeling akin to something pinching my hamstring every time I took a stride. I try taking shorter steps to relief the discomfort but that doesn't work so I try longer steps which also doesn't work. I try various strike methods - outside of foot, different heel pattern etc etc all to little effect so I try limping and this doesn't work either.

All the time I refuse to walk - to walk is to lose.

I am going slowly now.

I try to take my mind elsewhere to take my mind off the pain and this sort of works for small periods of time. I imagine I am looking out across the waters of the Whitsundays to Bali Hi, I am reciting the words of Man from Snowy River,and do I know all the words from Smoke on the Water?

And where is that blasted 8 k sign. I must have reached it by now. I have it appears as there is a 9 k sign up in front. Thank God.

Looking down the road and what do I see. The last kilometre is mainly up hill. Great, however running an incline actually seems to be easier on the hamstring.

We turn right and enter the last 400 or so metres through a barricaded area lined 4 and 5 deep on both sides with spectators cheering. It was electric.

I have played a fair bit of sport and coached too. I have also played at a reasonable level. Unfortunately, the sport I have played most, does not attract crowds very often. I have perhaps only played in front of significant crowds on 3 occasions and recall it being a thrill.

Running these last 400 metres through the crowd was awesome. The noise raised the adrenalin level and I hardly felt the leg at all. It was amazing.

My last 2 kilometres took forever and really destroyed my time. I finished in a touch over 50 minutes. If I had been offered this time at the start I would have gladly taken it but given where I was through 7 k's, it was ultimately disappointing.

I will be back next year for the half marathon and I will prepare properly.

This weekends events on the Gold Coast are sensational and I want to be part of it again, and again and again.

In the meantime, I will be reacquainting myself with physio staff at Queensland Sports Medicine Centre this week.

As an aside, when the Colleague and I headed back to the car, we couldn't find it. Well we did, but only after wasting 90 minutes looking. Amazingly, it was where we had parked it. I blame the Colleague.

Failed Relationship - Its not me - you have changed

An almost logical progression after taking up cycling a little over five years ago was the development of an interest in the Professional Cycling scene.

Like most Australian’s, I was aware of the Tour de France and a few local races. I also knew a few Australian’s had led the Tour on different occasions and the name Anderson was quite well known.

Most sports followers knew the names of Armstrong, Merckx, Le Monde and we knew Kathy Watt had done something pretty special at the Olympic Games.

As awareness in the pro scene grew, familiarity with the Race to the Sun, and the Spring Classics also developed and it was discovered there were three Grand Tours a year.

Some of the history of the sport came to light. Such things as the Hell of the North, Pantani’s great climbing feats and the tragedy of Tom Simpson were discovered with great enthusiasm.
Information about race tactics, equipment advances, training knowledge and nutrition advice was absorbed with an enthusiastic and unquenchable hunger.

Like many, the consistent source of information was http://www.cyclingnews.com/

It was the first site many went to in the morning and the last site visited each evening.

The site provided race and team news, rider information, technical and equipment updates, product reviews and individual rider news, interviews and analysis.

Via cyclingnews.com new aspects of the sport came to light including cyclocross and MTB.
The website was easy to use and clearly laid out.

I will not be going there anymore.

Two weeks ago, the website was re-launched with a new design and new navigation. I am sure it still contains all the same information. But I don’t really know.

I immediately found it difficult to use but persevered for 2 weeks believing the problem was probably mine. I mean, these people are clever and run a successful website. It must be an improvement on the old site.

Well it is not. It has a complex appearance and it is “not straight forward” in its use and application.

I for one have moved on. I am thankful for the education cyclingnews.com has given me and the passion for the sport of cycling that it has contributed to me now having. However, like many relationships, it is now over and it is time to move on.

Thank you cyclingnews.com for all you have done. Who knows, we may well meet again.

On The Road

You all think you are just so clever. Well let me tell you, right now you are at the top of the school but next year you start at the bottom again and this is a cycle that repeats throughout life. Then after secondary school, it is university and then it is the workforce. You might think you are all very clever now but remember, it does not last for long.

The above is a close approximation of a lecture an angry teacher gave my final year primary class many, many years ago after we had developed the habit of being a little uncontrollable. And it is a lecture I have never forgotten, partly because it continually proves to be true and in many walks of life.

And as recently as Saturday, this wise teacher’s words came into my consciousness.

I have been racing consistently for about 8 months and gradually improving both fitness and race craft. I even thought (naively) I was doing ok and getting to understand a little about this business of bike racing. At least in low grade club events anyway.

However, my racing activities have been restricted to Criterions at Nundah, Lakeside and Murarrie.

On Saturday I completed my first road race out of Elimbah.

Criterions are conducted on nice smooth surfaces free of potholes where at worst, you only push into the wind for a relatively short distance each lap.

The roads we raced on at Elimbah were very rough, contained many pothole hazards including some big enough to break a wheel if you hit them and sections into the wind that went for kilometers not meters.

There were races conducted in two divisions and I was pleased to be allocated the second division race – and I expected to be too.

However I wasn’t really expecting the handicapper to call my name out along with 5 others to start from scratch.

I asked a few other competitors how a handicap road race worked. The best answer I received came from one of my fellow scratch who simply advised “When the starter says go, we go like hell for as long as we can and when we are spent we hang on for dear life and keep going like hell”. Sounds like fun I thought to myself.

The first group of racers left the start line a full 14 minutes before we did, with other groups leaving 11, 8, 6 and 4 minutes before we were waived away.

I was advised we would operate a pace line along the flats and gradual rises and falls and do “your best on the hills and if you get dropped on a hill go hard to get back on because we wont be waiting for you”.

And go like hell we did, on bar jarring pot holed roads into seemingly endless head winds on up hills that seemed like mountains and down hills that seemed so short.

After about 5 kilometers we lost one of our group and it took some 25 kilometers before we caught anyone at all. At about 30 kilometers we had reeled in everyone else and the race was on.

Having a sprint capacity roughly equal to a broken billy cart uphill and knowing my only hope for a win was to break away I stepped on the gas with around 3 kilometers to go and achieved a gap of about 200 meters.

Looking at my heart rate monitor, I decided to ignore a heart rate in a range that would not please my cardiologist.

A kilometer to go and I still had a lead but with pain in the legs and bursting lungs my strength was waning. The chasers caught me with about a hundred meters to go and I finished 5th with a comfortable lead over the next placed cyclist.

Totally spent, aching back and neck, and legs not keen to keep rotating I rolled to a halt before turning and heading back to the finish line where other competitors were gathering. The big thrill came from my scratch partners. These guys are experienced cyclist and experienced road racers. To receive their comments such as “well ridden”, “great ride” and “you made the race and would have deserved a win” was extremely satisfying.

Road racing is tough and very different to criterions. It is fast and furious and you are more reliant on each rider in your start group. You work in cooperation with the people you aim to defeat because to not do so ensures you have no chance of victory.

I knew nothing at the start and now know a tiny little bit about road racing. The words of my primary school teacher came to mind as a racked up my bike and drove home. Her wise words repeatedly are proven to be true as they were again on Saturday. But it is good to be at the bottom again and I look forward eagerly to the next chance to race on the road and rising from the bottom of the heap.

Now for a Time Trial

Intellectual Politicians - Success or Failure

In the last 30 years, we have perhaps had 2 political leaders in Australia possessed with intelligence somewhat higher than that of a normally intelligent person. They are John Hewson and Kevin Rudd.

John Hewson was a leader of outstanding intellect. While his economic credentials were without peer in the Parliament at the time, his intelligence was best illustrated by his ability to be across the detail of a range of other topics and he became a most capable orator particularly on issues of Foreign Affairs.

Kevin Rudd on the other hand has a head start on Foreign Affairs, Health and Education but has managed to turn himself into a competent analyst of matters economic.

Both Men have reputations as work alcoholics and both drive colleagues and staff to distraction with the demands they place upon them, and themselves.

There are some fundamental differences though including that when as Opposition Leaders, Rudd won the un-losable election while Hewson lost the un-losable election.

Hewson was the academic who became an economics policy adviser to John Howard before himself moving into Parliament.

Rudd was the career diplomat who became Chief of Staff to Queensland Premier Wayne Goss before standing for Federal Parliament.

In a politically brave move, Hewson took a detailed radical policy platform to the electorate in March 1993. The policy was a Goods and Services Tax. Then Prime Minister Paul Keating destroyed him and in doing so, ensured it would be a long time before another Prime Ministerial challenger would take detailed policy to an election.

In November 2007, Rudd took a largely “me too” policy along with a great deal of rhetoric to the electorate and achieved a comfortable victory.

John Hewson ignored political reality in a world where politics is unfortunately of equal or sometimes greater significance than policy. He believed he had the weight of “right” on his side and that he could convince the electorate of the “correctness” of his belief of a GST being good for voters personally, and the country as a whole.

Rudd primarily took the concept of the need for change to the election together with creating significant doubt about work choices.

Hewson was all policy and little politics; Rudd was all politics and little policy.

Our three most recent Prime Ministers prior to Kevin Rudd appear to have understood the need to combine both Policy and Politics. Whether or not you agree with their politics, they were all part of major reforms in Australia, be it Keating primarily as the key Minister in the Hawke Government.

The Hawke/Keating years included the de-regulation of the Australian Dollar, massive manufacturing reform, introduction of a retirement savings system envied by much of the rest of the world and a consistent approach to achieving a balance between income growth and productivity improvements.

The achievements of the Howard Prime Ministerial years included firearm reform, an overhaul of the tax system, consistent approach to revenue distribution to the States and work place reform (be it ultimately un-successful).

Hawke, Keating and Howard understood that in addition to the politics, they had a responsibility to lead and govern and in doing so, regularly made un-popular decisions. They all generally respected the Parliament and accepted the reality of traditions such as question time.

My concern is that Kevin Rudd has decision reluctance and lacks the ability or willingness to drive a reform agenda for fear of the impact such reforms may have on short term popularity. He also seems overly sensitive.

Last week during question time he labored for 25 minutes answering a “Dorothy Dix” question .
The Government has initiated Community Cabinet meetings in rural areas where the public attend and participate in the forum. Inevitability only Mr Rudd gets to say much at all and rarely is it about the subject raised.

I don’t know if the following is factual but it does serve to illustrate the problem:

On a recent trip to North America Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was invited to address a major gathering of the American Indian Nations in Kitimat BC due to his experience in handling the indigenous situation in Australia.

He spoke for almost an hour on his ideas for increasing every First Nation's present standard of living.

At the conclusion of his speech, the tribes presented the Prime Minister with a plaque inscribed with his new Indian name Walking Eagle. The proud Rudd then departed with his entourage, waving to the crowd as he left.

A news reporter later asked the chiefs how they came to select the new name given to Rudd.

They explained that Walking Eagle is the name given to a bird so full of shit it can no longer fly.

With a little courage, self belief and leadership, Prime Minister Rudd can be a long term successful Prime Minister who retires from office with a track record of achievement to be proud of and in doing so, leave Australia in a better position than he found it.

Or, he can focus on simply winning the next election, racking up debt and taking us to the brink.

Perhaps he could do worse than study the legacy of the Fraser years. Malcolm Fraser was a Prime Minister seemingly intent on the next election and who achieved very little in real or any other terms. He has arguably achieved more since he left Government than he ever did as Prime Minister.

“ITS TIME” is a famous ALP slogan from the 1972 election and it is now time for Mr Rudd to use his intellect for the good of the country by getting the political balance right. Ultimately, this will guarantee his success and his legacy.

Magical Mushroom, Two Phase Power and Other Memories

Today has been the culmination of several days of built up expectation. The build up has also resulted in an amount of internal reflection and reminiscences, which are not something I often do. I am more an “enjoy the event in its own time, learn and prosper from it, move forward to the next challenge and above all, have no regrets as a result of decisions or actions” sort of person.

My era really took the live music scene in Melbourne in the 1970’s in our stride. We participated, we enjoyed and as far as we knew that was the way it was and would always be.

It is only looking back that we were really living in a period of a live music feast and we would never dine on such ease of access of quality band and performer again.

It was the era the phenomenon of Mushroom Records was established in South Melbourne. The phenomenon that spurned the re-birth of Australian Rock and popular music and brought it access to the commercial radio waves. Mushroom perhaps also established the ground work that led to the establishment of a wonderfully successful broadcaster.

The bands and artists I refer to include:

The early 1970’s:

Daddy Cool
Russell Morris
Captain Matchbox
Spectrum (and Mercepts)

Daddy Cool eventually rolled into the enormously successful and internationally acclaimed Mondo Rock.

Mushroom was established in 1972 and signed and launched such acts as:

Renee Geyer
Skyhooks
John-Paul Young
Swannee
Split Enz
Dragon
OL 55
TMG
AC/DC

And many more.

Other acts of the era include Jon English, Australian Crawl, Men at Work, Kush, Hush, Richard Clapton, Jo Jo Zep, Little River Band (LRB) and Sherbet while the end of the 70’s saw the emergence of local Punk with The Saints and the iconic Nick Cave.

Intertwined in all of this were some wonderful musical experiences via the Rock Opera.

We enjoyed the wonderful and simple Godspell, the controversial Hair, the commercialization of religion via Jesus Christ Superstar and the magical, mysterious, challenging and naughty Rocky Horror Show. I will always remember my 18th birthday and be thankful to a girlfriend of only 3 weeks who saw fit to take me to see Rocky Horror. What a night and thank you Heather.

Colour television also came to Australia and there was nothing more colourful than Rock.

The motivating factor behind the drive to establish Mushroom to get Australian music on the airwaves eventually forced alternative or less commercial music off the airwaves. Popular Rock sold and rated on the radio. And the power of TV and Countdown was such that if a Band or Artist did not appear on Countdown, they could not get airplay and could not sell product.

The ABC established Double J as an alternative music outlet and launched many a band on the road to success and mainstream acceptance. It is a little known fact that Midnight Oil never appeared on Countdown. They got their break on Double J and when they took off, refused requests to appear on the ABC TV Countdown programme. Of course, Double J became Triple J with the advent of FM radio in Australia.

Melbourne of the 1970’s had two primary venues for major concerts.

The first was the magical and totally unsuitable Festival Hall. Built in 1915 by the “Colourful” Business identity John Wren, it was known as the House of Stoush being built for and continuing to be a boxing venue. It’s largely corrugated iron construction meant it was hellishly hot in Summer and freezing cold in Winter. It also had the worst acoustic qualities you can imagine. However a night out seeing an act perform at the “tin shed” was always a night to remember.

Deep Purple is one act that is front of mind and not only for the music experience. That night also was the first time I had ever been asked to “leave a licenced premise”.

A group of us arranged Deep Purple tickets. To get to Festival Hall meant a train trip to Spencer Street Station and a rather long walk up Spencer Street to the Hall. We arrived at Spencer Street with lots of time spare and in very good spirits as it had been the final day of year 11 exams.

It was a warm clear November Melbourne evening and daylight saving meant the sun was still shining. The Spencer Hotel was across the road and we decided a beer was in order.

At the time, Australia was in the grips of a bitter election campaign following a constitutional crisis and the sacking of the Government by the Governor General.

Being a group of (theoretically) intelligent, aware and politically interested 16 and 17 year olds, a political debate soon got underway to go with the beers and wines we were enjoying. UNTIL, Ian stood up and announced seemingly for the entire lounge to hear “What are we all talking about this for. We are all too young to vote anyway”. It was very, very soon after we were all asked to leave the pub.

The evening was also memorable for another reason. I broke my hand but that is another story.(I hastily add, it was not in a fight)

Deep Purple was magnificent; however the night was musically significant for another reason. Little River Band was signed as the support act and it was the first time I saw them live. I subsequently became a long term fan

The second concert venue was the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. An outdoor amphitheatre, it was situated in the wonderful green belt that connects the City of Melbourne to the suburb of St Kilda and includes what to me is the very spiritual Shrine of Remembrance.

In March 1967, the Sidney Myer Music Bowl set a world record for the largest crowd to attend a concert by a single band when over 200,000 people witnessed a performance by The Seekers. This record stood for decades.

As poor students, we liked big concerts at “The Bowl” because we could get a seat in “Scabs Alley” where you could hear but not see and best of all, tickets were free. I heard many an act from “Scabs Alley” but was never all that comfortable asking a girl out to a concert only to go to Scabs Alley. It was a cheap date though and usually acceptable.

However I did often purchase tickets or more correctly acquire tickets and had many wonderful musical experiences at the Bowl including Rick Wakeman (Journey to the Centre of the Earth Tour), Rod Stewart and ABBA.

Acquire Tickets? Well, my Father worked for Ansett Airlines and if they were the airline flying an act in Australia, tickets would often materialize.

Not only would I have never paid for ABBA tickets, I actually kept my attendance at the concert a secret from many friends. In fact, it was only when attending a 50th birthday party in February this year that I revealed to many friends I had attended ABBA. They were not a cool band for people my age at the time. However, along with David Bowie’s Glass Onion Tour, this would be the best international act I have witnessed.

There were also many great Australian acts in concert at the Bowl.

While Festival Hall and the Myer Music Bowl were the major venues for live music, it was the Pub Rock scene that gave us easy access to great acts. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and sometimes Sunday night were when the big music pubs fired up. Venues such as the Notting Hill, Village Green and The Station Hotel were where us teens fed our rock live music appetites and often free of a cover charge.

Notable Pub Rock Bands and artists included the likes of The Aztecs, Kush, Hush, Stevie Wright, Sherbet, Australian Crawl, Midnight Oil and AC/DC. In fact almost every band or artist honed their performance skills in the Melbourne Live Music Scene. We all have stories of seeing Bands for free playing to small audiences before they became famous. Mine involves Men at Work.

I cannot say for sure in what year one of my most memorable quintessentially Melbourne live music experiences took place. I am reasonably certain it was 1975 and I think it was on the night before Good Friday that year.

With my then Girlfriend, I caught the tram into the Myer Music Bowl where a number of Australian acts were performing. The plan was to enjoy the benefits of Scabs Alley and appreciate some fine local music. The Band that blew me away that night was not the key attraction for me and if it had only been them on the bill, I perhaps would not have spent the tram fare getting there. But I cannot now recall just what the main motivation for me was. As a typically horny 17 year old male, the main attraction may have simply been a degree of optimism about what might “eventuate” later.

Walking to take our “seats” took us past one of the entrance gates to the enclosure. In a split second we noticed it was temporarily unattended and we slipped in. Being an outdoor amphitheatre, the Bowl doesn’t have seating as such so we took up a reasonably elevated position a little to the side of the stage with a great view of the action.

And then they came on. Loud, electric, aggressive, cheeky, fun and harmless. The crowd exploded as they went through the songs in their set and reached a crescendo when the lead singer slipped on a set a bag pipes and let rip with the now well known pipe chords of “It’s a Long Way to the Top if you want to Rock and Roll”. Of course, I am talking about AC/DC.

While we always admired the guitar work of Angus Young, he always looked a bit of a goose on TV. But live, he was Mr. Personality. Bon Scott was the ultimate performer and the band was sensational.

And at the end of the concert on the walk back through the gardens, my optimism was also“rewarded”.

I wonder if my then girlfriend (Zoe) remembers the night AC/DC rocked our world.

Australian Band AC/DC have caused my build-up of expectation this last week and also the motivation for this retrospective and it is AC/DC concert tickets I secured today for their Brisbane performance on 27 February 2010. It cannot come quickly enough.

Lets Rock – One more time at least