This past week we jumped on a 3.5 hour flight to leave Adelaide and the Tour Down Under behind, and fly over to Perth (also Australia). It’s here (well, technically Fremantle…actually, more technically North Coogee) that we’ll be hanging out for the next two months. I’ve been swim/bike/running on a nice even rotation, so here’s a little bit of a window into what the weekend looked like.
1) A Short Openwater Swim
I kicked off the weekend with a brief openwater swim Friday morning. The beach being only a quick walk away, it seemed like the perfect sorta workout that didn’t require much working out. Even better was that the wind was fairly calm today, so no waves/chop to deal with.
Despite the concerns of great white sharks lurking just beyond the break, this particular stretch of beach is nice and shallow – making it such that I could easily walk almost the entire route I swam, save a short spot where they’ve towed a floating platform for kids to jump off.
For my route I simply went back and forth between two breakwaters that jutted out into the ocean. This kept me well within view of plenty of people, including The Girl. Of course, I had my little orange bag floating behind me to help with visibility:
From a test perspective, I was actually trying out the openwater swim functionality within the COROS Pace GPS watch. More on that in the next day or two though. It was the last major sport area I wanted to try out before writing about it. Here it is after the first length.
After all was said and done I relaxed in the water a bit, because…why not?
2) Happy Australia Day
Friday was not just the start of the weekend, but also Australia Day, the national day of Australia. Like most national days, it’s mostly an excuse to eat, drink, and party. And Australia largely does exactly that. The beach near us was packed from early morning, though, we ended up wandering to the next beach down the street aimed at little kids- and that was actually largely empty. So we stayed put there.
Beyond that, the country has all sorts of celebrations, including fireworks over Perth at night and numerous festivals. We ended up just staying close by our place, packing a bunch of meat on the BBQ, and calling it relaxing. Oh, and of course watched some Australian Open tennis.
3) Cycling The Swan
Sunday morning I headed out for a loop around the greater Perth area, more specifically though, along the Swan River. This popular cycling route ends up being about 30MI/50KM long, depending on how exactly you do it. There is no one specific path for cyclists that goes 100% of the way around the river basin. Instead, folks take different streets here and there to make it work.
My creation was mostly based off of the Strava heatmap of one of the AIRhub guys that lives here and frequently does the loop. Of course, I made a few wrong turns here and there, so my bet is I can slice off 5-10 minutes on my loop (which also includes time crossing Fremantle). And that’s before I just get more efficient at riding it. Also, no secret bases were found during this heat map exploration.
There were plenty of cyclists found though on Sunday morning, which had nice weather but wasn’t too hot yet.
For the most part though, I was just riding solo – which was perfectly fine for me. Plus, since it’s a relatively tame route I might be able to convince The Girl to get out for a ride. And it looks like the local bike shop even has bikes in her size, woot!
I’ll be digging through the huge list of suggestions y’all have posted back on my ‘Coming to Australia’ post, so be ready for some pings!
Here’s my ride file, for those interested. Data on this particular file was a Stages LR (dual) power meter, a TICKR-X HR strap, and on an Edge 1030. Of course, there were two Edge 520’s for Vector 3 & PowerTap G3 comparative data. And then the COROS Pace, and probably some other stuff.
4) Markets and Food Stalls
After my ride on Sunday, we headed down to the Fremantle Market area to find some lunch. The markets are open on the weekend (Fri-Sun), though, we incorrectly went to a different market near the docks a few days prior. Said market near the ferries was basically a desolate hot pile of garbage. 100% tourist junk that even the tourists didn’t want.
Thankfully, the real slim shady markets were quite nice and full of neat little food spots.
It’s here we started with splitting some Korean food:
Before moving onto a bit of ramen:
And then naturally, finishing by splitting a crazy big donut.
It’s too bad these spots are closed the rest of the week. That’s gotta be a tough business model, especially for the food stalls. But perhaps the opposite is just not enough business otherwise to justify the cost of being open.
5) Beaches, Kite Surfing, and Wine
Earlier in the week I had gone up towards Cottesloe, and was reminded about all the kite surfers out there. Super cool.
I remember them from a few years back when I was here. It’d be awesome to learn someday how to kite surf. I guess another bucket list task. Maybe there’s even some sports tech to test kite surfing? Who knows. Certainly looks a bit more exciting than openwater swimming.
In any case, The Girl and I came back Sunday night sans-kiddos to enjoy a bit of a date night. We took some selfies, which are up on The Girl’s Instagram:
After the sun set, we headed up the hill to Il Lido for dinner. We’ve also eaten here in the past and really enjoy it. Though, they have an odd practice of giving tongs with almost all the dishes we got. Why did we need tongs for gnocchi? Still, tong situation aside, it’s good food and we’d go back again.
And with that – the weekend was wrapped up. Though, as I write this it’s still weekend for most of ya. I kinda like being this far ahead of the time zone game.
Have a good week ahead everyone!
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Looks like nicer weather than Paris right now.
Looks great Ray.
Spotted the orange DCR branded float. Are they available to buy?
Have you ever thought about some DCR branded clothing? I would happily cycle round in a DCR jersey.
Maybe start with a DCR jersey in Zwift if that’s possible.
Enjoy the rest of your trip.
Phil
Doh! Meant to link to it. Someday I’ll learn…fixed.
Here’s the post on it: link to dcrainmaker.com
And here’s the direct link to purchase: link to clevertraining.com
Plus, you can save another $4 (10%) if you use the DCR Coupon Code (DCR10BTF). Also worth nothing if you want to avoid shipping costs, you can basically spend another $10 (to get you $49, the free shipping threshold), like a pair of socks or something.
Oops, and for DCR branded clothing stuff – yeah, it’s been on my to-do list for years. I keep meaning to try something like 99 Designs or similar (I’ve had a tab open on my browser – still – since later summer on that one), to come up with some good designs.
What about a Zwift jersey? Looks like it’s possible via promo codes.
I’ve just started on Zwift and would like to show allegiance to something via a jersey rather than the generic ones.
DCR jersey would be perfect.
Yeah, they’ve offered in the past to create a jersey of sorts. Though, at present I don’t even have a jersey design to digitize, so I suppose that’s part of it.
My only hesitancy previously was I didn’t want folks thinking I was more lenient towards Zwift, if they had a jersey for me (versus other platforms like TrainerRoad/Kinomap/Rouvy/etc…). But maybe that’s just me over-thinking it.
Is the DCR SaferSwimmer comming to CT Europe at some point? After having shared one with my wife last year, I’d want my own for the upcoming open water season.
Of course a DCR branded one would make my GPS logs 10% more accurate by default!
Hey Ray ,
We met a while back in my time at Cycliq with Andrew and kingsley 🙂
Long story short I now look after the operations at Pedal Mafia (based out of Subiaco / 15- 20 mins from Fremantle) and I would love to have you in store and talk about the possibility of a DCR custom cycling kit .
Hope to talk more soon.
Thanks
Anthony
I hope the cave is safe from all the water in Paris right now.
So far so good. It stopped just short of the water line from two years ago, which we were safe in then. So best we can tell we’re all good this time too.
Yum, that’s some good looking ramen!
” I kinda like behind this far ahead of the time zone game.” I think you meant beeing 🙂
Thanks for sharing,I enjoy these weekend posts.
I think you meant being 😉
Hey Ray – welcome to Perth!
There are heaps of cycle paths and great running routes – whether it be around the river, along the beaches or even Kings Park for you to test out. Just don’t forget the sunscreen 🙂
Awesome Strava link, impressive
Yes, E Shed markets are on the whole, not awesome… BUT it is also home to Kazoomies which is a cafe that served really delicious Israeli/middle eastern food and is a bit more kid friendly than the main Freo markets because it has tables and more space. Kazoomies is on the veranda, opposite the Rottnest Ferry (so towards the maritime museum).
Another kid- friendly spot is Stickybeaks in Kings Park. The toddler play area is well shaded & kings park is a great spot for a run or a ride. Best mid-week to avoid big crowds. My local go-to spot on a hot day is the Perth Zoo. There is a small water play area, lots of shade and you can walk through the kangaroo enclosure.
Oh and the Fringe Festival is on now – maybe Peanut might be amused by the Mermaids?
This is the first I’ve seen of the Coros watch, pretty neat. Can you tell us if it will connect to a running power meter, like Stryd?
Since it’s multisport, I’m assuming it will at least connect to a cycling power meter.
Thanks Ray.
It’s set to connect to various sensors, including at least power meters, cadence, HR, and speed sensors. At present, the current firmware doesn’t do any of that (not set to release till March or so). I’ll have to get clarification though on the running power meter piece.
Hey Ray,
Haven’t seen it noted anywhere — what is the GPS battery life on Coros Pace? They specifically DON’T mention it on their site (but mention the charging time) — so it’s either been poor during their beta testing and they’re hoping to improve it before announcing it… or it really is just not that competitive and they are waiting for good press first.
Also, how has it been working day to day? Accurate? Easy to use?
I saw somewhere that battery would last 30 hours in GPS mode. But now I can’t find that on their site anymore.
Found it, here you go:
link to coros.com
Awesome, thanks! Strange that their official specs page says the battery size in mAh — and total time to charge.. but doesn’t mention the 30 hours.
I wonder if that’s with any reduced polling frequency?
Doesn’t really say.
Sounds like Ray will have a “first look” or “hands on” post coming pretty soon, I’m sure he will address it then.
Anyone have a clue if Coros Pace will do 24/7 HR, or only in activity?
Eagerly awaiting a DCR first look post.
Yes, does 24×7 HR as well.
As for battery life, it’s a bit tough to tell at this point, and I don’t usually test battery life to the very end. Mostly because most companies don’t optimize battery life type gains until just before release (is what it is).
Hi, any ideas when you will be posting more pieces of information regarding the coros?
I am eager to know 🙂
Great escape from winter! Here in Kentucky we are expecting 16 inches of snow next week. You are officially a “snowbird”…
Did you test the new Scosche in open water? Is it made for open water and pool water (for hr), or just pool?
I’m definitely looking forward to your review on that. Seems like a great potential jack of all.
Also can it act as a running footpod for Zwift? Like can it do speed, or just cadence?
Thanks again Ray, keep up the awesome work and awesome pictures!
I didn’t test the Scosche in open water yet. It’s made for any water, so it doesn’t much matter there.
It can indeed act like a running footpod for Zwift, though I haven’t tried pairing it to Zwift yet. Might do so soon though for an unrelated post.
Wow. That’s one hell of a feature-set… especially if all of that works well. Hell, at this point even if a few things don’t it’s STILL a hell of a feature set… I hope they all do work fairly well though!
Hey Ray. Good to see you’re back in Perth.
Come and check out Sorrento beach. You can run and ride along the coast and the beach has an enclosure to swim in.
Also Fremantle only has 2 “e’s”, not 3 as you’d typed above.
Enjoy the rest of your trip down under.
Adding to the Sorrento recommendation: this Friday night there is an aquathlon event. 600m open water swim, followed by a 4km run.
Always great fun and learning experience to swim with a bit of swell as the sea breeze is usually in. Surf Life Saving is always in the water to keep everyone safe.
Registrations at 5.30pm, race at 6pm. Could combine with a hang out with the family at Hillarys Boat Harbour in the afternoon.
See: link to facebook.com
Cheers!
Ray, Have a great vacation with your family! I highly recommend learning kitesurfing. I definitely recommend that you start out by taking lessons. Buy nothing. Any decent shop worldwide will rent you all the equipment you need and it’s way better to learn on a shops kite than crash a brand new $1500 kite repeatedly. Even if you are able to get out for an afternoon while you are in Australia, you will have fun. Depending on progress, you will probably be able to kite self sufficiently after 5 lessons(10-15 hours. Let me know if you want more information. BTW, I occasionally use my Fenix 5 track sessions but there are several dedicated kitesurf tech devices to measure jumps, etc. would love some dcrainmaker kite tech reviews.
Favorite of the instagram photos is the one with The Girl and the horizon in the background. You guys look like you had good lighting. What camera was used?
An iPhone X in portrait mode using the self-facing camera. Not too shabby!
Glad to see you are loving our summer but seriously, I would not swim in that water!! Lol.
I just read this in my cold house with 29F temperatures outside, meaning Australia looks like paradise right now and I am very jealous! Hope you enjoy it!
Hi Ray
I live near where you are staying in North Coogee.
If you head North and take Robb Road, the old power station is on your left, turn left at the end of the road, you will come out at C Y O’Connor Beach (local dog beach – kids and dogs love it).
From there you will see a path that you can walk/run all the way into Freo. From my place to South Beach at South Freo and back is about 10kms and to Little Creatures and back 12km.
On Saturday nights, there is a bunch of food trucks down at South Beach – good food and pretty casual fun.
Enjoy your time in Perth (the weathers been pretty cold this year but can’t complain)
Cheers
Rob