Hot Tip

When confined to the ergo/windtrainer/rollers, break the monoteny and take it on a road trip!!
During this recovery period we went for a trip to Melbourne for various reasons and the logical thing to do was to pack my bike and trainer :).

My parents have recently taken over the post office and shop in Longwood, a little village about 140 km from Melbourne, the perfect place for us to spend the night on the way to Melbourne. It was also a great place to get my first training session for the weekend done- a different backyard!!


First session for the weekend. Mum the postmaster

The second session for the weekend was a recovery session. Whilst our room at the Parkview was very nice, there wasn't really room for my bike and trainer. A quick inspection of the facilities revealed there was a small cardio gym and along with 2 spas- one hot and one cold! After 30 minutes on the gym bike, it was into the spas for some contrast recovery. That was good!

Nathan and Karen's wedding
(one of the reasons for the road trip)

After the fun of the weekend, it was back to Longwood for another training session and some lunch with my parents. This time a slightly different spot in their backyard, just to keep it interesting and to enjoy the sunshine!!

Three training sessions, three (technically) different locations. Almost a substitute for being able to actually ride!

In for the second hot tip for this post. If you are travelling along the Hume Hwy, stop in at Longwood Post Office and General Store for a coffee and a bite to eat. (Yes, a shameless family plug!!) About 140 km north of Melbourne, the town is about 5 km off the highway, but well worth it. The coffee is good and from all accounts, so are the roast chicken and gravy rolls, and the hamburgers are very popular! Be sure to tell them I sent you :)

Front of the shop/post office.

So that is what it looked like

Two weeks short of 12 months post-op and the plate that was put in to hold my wrist together has been removed. Initially I was told that it was possible to leave it in indefinitely. However, in recent time the flexibility in my wrist has deteriorated, especially when it comes to climbing hills on my bike! After a brief discussion with Dr Jude, it was decided that the best thing to do was take it out. That operation took place on the 30th April, and thankfully was a lot less frustrating than the original trip to hospital (see post here).

Having only ever seen the plate and screws on the X-ray, and being morbidly obsessed with medical things, I requested for the hardware to be returned to me. Now there is a photo below, so if you are not into these types of things, please DON'T LOOK!! (I will not take responsibility for you being upset!) Needless to say, I thought it was cool!

Now it is back to the ergo for a few weeks while I wait for the wound to close up and the holey bones to recover.

Recoverying my mojo

I think that it fell down the back of the couch!

After a bit too long feeling like I have been going backwards on the bike, being sick and being somewhat over committed to other things in my life, we (Pothole and I) have come up with a plan.

I am now over the flu completely and after a number of blood tests have a better knowledge of my body and why I was feeling tired a lot of the time. (For the record it was not an iron deficiency and nor is it anything overly serious, but worth being aware of.) Despite the thermometer heading south, I am so eager to get out on my bike and train! There will be a bit of disruption to the planned block of training, but I am confident of riding the wave of motivation through the enforced time on the ergo that is coming up.

It may be the bigger picture, or maybe I am sick, but I am really looking forward to a good solid block of training!

"Trying is the first step towards failure" (Homer Simpson)

Stages 3 & 4 of the Tour de Riverina
Coolamon & Rutherglen HCPs.

I think I might have learnt my lesson, sometimes it is better to take a break and let some of the not so important things go by so that you can truly appreciate (and perform) at the important things.

The Coolamon stage was the weekend after the Stockinbingal race and whilst I had been sick with the flu I was convinced that I would be all right when I got to the start line. Unfortunately I didn't get to the start line. I seemed alright in the car, though I did have a bit of a cough- similar to the one that I had hampered me most of summer, but figured that I had ridden through that so surely I would be fine for the race. Wrong. I went out for a warm up, including some motor pacing behind a tractor, and once I started coughing on the bike I couldn't stop. I coughed and coughed, thought my lunch was going to come up, coughed some more. Being incapable of making a decision not to race on my own- I am not into looking soft!- I discussed the situation with Reggie. Being the wise Mr Mum that he is, no racing for me, probably not a bad idea since I had a wedding to tend to the following Friday! All was not lost, I jumped into the Commissaire's car for the Scratch bunch and had the best view of a bike race I have ever had (apart from the ones that I am at the front of ;) ). After learning a whole lot more about bike racing thanks to this different perspective, picking Jess Mac up off the road after she came down in a little crash going up the only rise of the course and getting Adam Phelan going again up said hill, I got to see the girls I train with all finish well and award Suz the prize for first female over the line.

The Rutherglen stage of the tour was the Sunday after we got back from our honeymoon, which meant I had been off the bike for about 4 weeks (not counting the ride on Friday afternoon and the bunch on Saturday morning). I really had nothing to lose and was, I thought, mentally prepared for what was going to be a tough race. However, I was physically well under prepared! I got through about 1/2 the first lap of the 2 lap course before I called it a day. The reality of the situation being that I just wasn't physically up to these races.

The trip to Rutherglen wasn't in vain. It was delightful to catch up with Lyn and John. And as fate would have it I had other errands to do in Albury.

Never Underestimate a Cup of Tea and a Good Lay Down

Reflecting on the 2009 Tour de Riverina
Stage 2- Stockinbingal 40km HCP

Photo from http://adozeneggs.com

I went into this series of handicap races as the reigning female champion and was hoping to put up a good fight to try and retain the pink ribbon, but 2009 wasn't the year for it.

I have already posted about the first stage (see here) and I had hoped on an improved performance at the second stage at Stockinbingal. And under the circumstances I can't be disappointed with 8th over the line on the day.

I had scaled back a couple of training sessions earlier in the week as the threat of flu loomed, you know the feeling when it is there but not quite ready to hit you? Race day came, I wasn't great for the drive across- bad enough to need some cold and flu drugs, but not bad enough to think racing was a bad idea! In what has become a pre-Stock tradition, we park in Cootamundra and rode the 20 km to Stockinbingal. It is only a 40 km race after all! It was during this warm up ride I was started to think racing wasn't such a bad idea, though we decided that was a result of the medication kicking in and I'd be alright once I got to the start line. That was kind of true!

The race was pretty uneventful from my perspective, at least the first 39 km- my bunch rolled along at a reasonable pace to the turn around, although I realised when we turned that we had lost an awful lot of people by this stage and in fact we were down to 5. The 5 of us worked really well on the way back, valiantly trying to stay away from the bunch behind, and we almost did it. We were caught with about 4 km to go, thankfully it was only the bunch that started behind us, and some of the ones who had started with us. This gave me a good opportunity to take a breather and work out where the best place would be for the sprint- I was determined to better my 4th place from last year. A couple of the Riverina clubs were getting their trains worked out so I kept an eye on them.

About 1km out it almost all went wrong! I suddenly found myself sandwiched between two guys- one trying to swing of his train and the other, I think, lining up for the sprint! There were a few very anxious moments as I waited to feel the scraping of skin on bitumen and thuds of carbon and wheels colliding... but somehow that never eventuated, maybe it that was thanks to time on the boards. Anyway, I picked my way around the bunch to the other side of the road where I had clear space for a run at the line, I wasn't giving up hope on that 4th place or better yet! Unfortunately I started to fade just before the line and actually was rolled on the line by Jacqui who had followed my wheel for the last 3 km without me even knowing she was there!! Cheeky cheeky!

So all things considered not a bad effort, but it would pay off! I ended up too sick to go to work on the following Monday, nor was I able to train for most of the week, maybe I should have had that lay down...

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Actually there were planes, automobiles, helicopters, ferries and jet boats, but not a bike to be had :)

The obvious follow on to the last 2 posts is our honeymoon, but that is not really what this blog is about! I'll share a little anyway!

Matt and I had a delightful 12 days on the south island of New Zealand. And whilst I didn't ride a bike at all, I wasn't sitting still either. We spent 4 days walking the Queen Charlotte Track, which runs 71km from the northern end of Marlborough Sound back inland through pristine and regenerating rainforest and former farming areas with views out over various sounds. In a break from tradition, we didn't take the tent, and instead made use of the pre-arranged resort style accommodation- it was our honeymoon afterall ;)

The very hard to take view along the Queen Charlotte Track

Following that there was the standard tourist must does for the south island- helicopter flight over Franz Josef Glacier and around Mt Cook, jet boating in Queenstown (we had planned to go bunging jumping, but it was all booked out at the time we were able to go), and lots of kms on the hire car and more walking as we took in the spectacular scenery.

After what was now 4 weeks of the bike, I was definitely looking forward to getting home and getting back to it! And you better believe that I went for a ride the afternoon we got home- a little birthday present to myself :)

Some more photos for the impatient...

Cyclists must take care in the Sculpture Garden

(sign in the Sculpture Garden at the National Gallery of Australia).

That sign definitely tells the truth!!

On the Friday the 3rd April I went down to the Sculpture Garden at the NGA, when I left I was married :)

Thanks to everyone who contributed to making this such an awesome day for both Matt and myself.

Photos by Bec Thorpe of Funky Photo
(at this stage they are only preview size so you can't have them any bigger- sorry!)

A picture says a thousand words...

Congratulations to the girls of the Onya Bike Belco & Civic A Grade Crit team for taking out the CCC 2008/09 grade championship!

L to R: Grace Meisel-Dennis, Bron Ryan, Bec Henderson, myself.
(photo courtesy of Greg Long)

M.I.A.?

Sorry if you have been dropping by and there has been nothing new added for a while. I have been a little bit busy and very neglectful.

Post nationals I had a little bit of time off the bike. Timing was perfect as I started a new job, one that pays money, the day after I arrived back from Adelaide. It also gave me a chance to reflect on what went wrong at Nationals this year and think about what needs to be done to improve for next year. I had hoped for a much better showing in Adelaide than what resulted, but in hindsight, 2 courses of antibiotics in the weeks leading up to a week of solid racing probably wasn't ideal preparation, and in reality I wasn't anywhere near the level of fitness that I would have liked or needed. Now, after a couple of months of ill-health, I think we are finally getting to the bottom of a number of things, with one more blood test to be performed. Right, moving on.

I have a new job as a toxicologist with the Department of Health. So far that has been going very well. The people I work with are all scientists, most with an PhD/academic background, so I fit right in! And, they are happy to be flexible s0 I can ride my bike! In the meantime I have been pushing myself pretty hard to get my PhD thesis finished... only one chapter left to write.

On top of that, just because I don't have enough to do, our wedding is now less than a month away! Obviously I have been busy finalising plans for that. For a change of scenery I might post some photos when I get back from our honeymoon, but you will have to wait until the end of April for that!!

Oh, and as expected, there has been some bike riding! There was the combined club championship criterium a couple of weeks ago. The first time this was attempted there was a nasty crash and the race was abandoned on the bell lap- hopefully the injured girls are all recovering well. The second time around, I finished third overall and claimed the Vikings Crit Champion title. Not the most exciting race and unfortunately the field was somewhat depleted due to a number of riders being in NZ.

The Tour de Riverina Series has also got underway. The first stage was at Coolamon over 64km. The first race of the series is always tough to get the handicaps right and this race was no exception! Being the reigning "leading female" I had been taken back a bunch from the girls I normally ride with, and I think we were actually the biggest bunch for the day with 23 riders (2 females). Most likely the combination of the size of the bunch, the start of the series and the mix of personalities, our bunch didn't really gel and blew itself apart at various points. Unfortunately I got caught out when the first splinter came off and was left chasing and trying to hang in with other bunches as they came through. In the end it was the bunch 3 minutes ahead of mine, with the bulk of the other girls racing, that got up for the win. Alex took 5th, Susie 7th and Grace 9th. So I am handing over my pink number to Alex, but I will be working hard to get it back at Stockinbingal in a couple of weeks!!

In between there has been a bit of time in the hills, and for those who know me well know how much I would have been loving that!! And some other fairly intense sessions!

Sorry for the epic post, but now you know where I have been! I have some other things to share, a review of a JetBlack Fluid Windtrainer that I promised Mick, and a bit about my new toy, but that will have to wait!

Thanks for reading, come back soon :)