Sometimes I feel like this!

There is a little bit of content at the start that might upset some...

I know it is advertising, but I actually find this little mouse kind of inspiring :)

Are you faster than...

A triathlete... well, yes. But, I am not faster than myself!!

Vikings ran an autumn time trial series over the same brutal course that we had been using over summer. It was billed as Cyclists vs Triathletes with the intention of increasing numbers at races. I am not sure how successful this aspect was, but it was a nice idea.

I managed to make it to 2 of the 3 races, but as much as I hate to say it, they were somewhat disappointing appearances. The first one out, the inner scientist took over over analysing and holding me back at different parts of the race. The time that week wasn't completely disgraceful, but it was slower than my best times over this course.

My next appearance was at the last installment and unfortunately this happened to be the weekend after the ill-fated Canberra Tour weekend and I was still not 100% recovered from my illness. Needless to say that the time posted this time around was a long off my best. I will also add that rolling away at 8:30 am in late autumn is fraught with peril- the fog from the top of the 3rd sister to the turn around was so thick I couldn't see more than a couple of metres in front of me and for safety's sake washed off a lot of speed on the fastest part of the course.

But, it is not all doom and gloom. I did win the series and laid claim to being faster than a triathlete (is that really something to be proud of??) My name is now engraved on the trophy for the series (I hope the time isn't, I am really unimpressed with it. Maybe they will take my time from pre-Nationals!!) And to top it off I scored a gift voucher to one of the local bike shops. Really can't complain, but... well, the whole over-achiever thing strikes again!

Thanks to Vikings CC for a fun series and TLC cycles for supporting the initiative.

Such a fine line

Canberra Tour
Friday 30 April- Sunday 2 May

This weekend, of all weekends, I lost the battle of the work-bike balance. With no indicators prior, I can only assume that the stress of the last couple of weeks at work finally caught up with me :(

I raced on Friday and even though I was about 4 minutes down (who was responsible for having us finish at the top of Honeysuckle Creek?!!) I was really really happy with how things had gone on the day. I had had some very specific personal goals to achieve and I ticked all the boxes. I was totally geed for Saturday's stage.

The profile for Friday's stage- what a nice way to finish a race!!

I did all the right things for recovery. Had a lovely evening relaxing with Davina, her Dad and Matt. And got to bed in time to ensure a good night's sleep. It all came undone at about 630 on Saturday morning when I woke up feeling like I was swallowing razor blades my throat was so sore, a resting HR that was through the roof and swollen glands. A phone call to Brian confirmed that I was not to get on a bike. Hello cold, goodbye racing weekend.

I know it wasn't an event that was well suited to me, but I was really looking forward to the challenge of the weekend and learning as much as I could from it. C'est la vie, that is about all I can say.

Well done to all the girls who raced so well. Jo Hogan for taking an impressive win, Lisa Jacobs in second and Bron Ryan in 3rd. Bec Domange has a good write up as well. To the guys that I fed in Saturday's stage, I hope that you achieved what you were aiming for.

Time to rest up and come back bigger and better (figuratively, not literally!)

Almost, Dr...

A quick update on this post.
Today I got word that the examiners had approved my thesis WOOOHOOOO! :D

Some minor changes are needed, but I reckon I can have them done by the 31 May in order to make it to July graduation!

Thank you to everyone who has supported me in achieving this.

How many false starts are you allowed?

A couple of club races, a couple of results that I am less than impressed with. :(

One of them was because of a low level virus that was wearing me down, and that sucked, especially when on race day I was actually feeling pretty good. Others were my own doing. Sometimes the analytical scientist in me won't let the cyclist in me just do its job.
These are perfect reminders that cycling is about so much more than just the legs...

We all know the phrase "Shut up legs", I think mine will have to be "Shut up brain".

(I have no idea what this DVD is about, I just wanted the image. Maybe it would be useful!!)

The wheels on the bike go round and round...

The last few weeks have been all about clocking up the kilometres. Most of these have been solo, "secret training" kilometres. Consequently, many things have been observed.

• Goulburn, home of the Big Merino, is not far enough away and the kilometres need to be rounded up. :|
  

• Yass is a perfect distance away. However, it is all uphill on the way home, starting with the hill in the way out. :)

• People who do not know how to ride in a bunch should NOT suck my wheel! Further more, I HATE WHEELSUCKING SUPER COMMUTERS!! :v
  

• I have a very good relationship with my mp3 player, but some tunes are better for the road than others. :) From the current playlist:

• Anthrax- good
• Presets- good
• Peaches- good
• Mr Bungle- not so good (I love all things Mike Paton, but Mr Bungle is a little too erratic for good pedalling tempo, although for this purpose it is better than Fantomas).
  

• I dislike people tossing their rubbish out the window of their car. We are all familiar with the "bogan droppings" (broken glass bottles in the bike lane), but is it necessary to toss a cigarette butt out the window, particularly when I am there? And, did you know that it was clean up Australia when you committed aforementioned crime? :@

• The number of people with complete disregard for red lights, both bikes and cars, is unbelievable! Just STOP! xo
  

• The guys and girls at OnyaBike Belco are fantastically awesome. I am incredibly grateful for all their support! :D

• At the end of the day I love riding my bike! :D

Just like the textbook says

Club Crit Champs, 17.2.2010

When things go as planned and the objective achieved, it makes for a very satisfying ride.

It was club champs night out at Stromlo Forest Park. Being back into the full swing of training for 2 days, I was hoping to get to the end of the race, with a distant thought of defending my Vikings Crit Champ title from 2009.

The race was scheduled to be about 23 minutes plus 2 laps, although that was shortened due to the brown snake taking up residence on the 2nd last corner (credit to Brian and his broom for keeping it off the track while racing happened). The pace was reasonably high, but still comfortable. Bron (Ryan) was attacking regularly but the other girls weren't letting anything get away despite my trying to stop them. At one point, I attacked and Bron came with and we thought that we might have got away with it, but no. sigh.

It was apparent to me that it wasn't worth me trying to go up the road, so I found myself a nice safe spot to be in the bunch and pretended to be a sprinter trying to avoid the front. With about 2 minutes of time remaining, the plan was hatched. Bron would attack once more, and knowing that the bunch wasn't going to let that happen and she would be back with us, she would lead me out.

Two laps to go, away went Bron, and for just a little while, it looked like she might have got a way with it. But the others decided that wasn't right and went and got her. Coming through for the bell, I had myself nicely attached to Bron's wheel and away we went. I can't really tell you what was going on behind me, but from where I was sitting it, the only person who could have stuffed up a podium finish was me!

Being the awesome time trialer that she is, Bron did a fantastic job winding me up to speed. At one point I was actually worried that I wouldn't be able to hold the wheel after my recent time off, but there was nothing to worry about there (thankfully!). I stepped off Bron's wheel as we came out of the last corner, just like the textbook would say, and lit it up from there.

As for what happened next...

That is gold, if you can't tell.

Thanks Bron, you're a star!

NB...

The following three posts should be read from the bottom up... Shake, Rattle and Roll... and then they will make sense :)

Just realising the date :)

But only the original, I don't want to know about any of this remake stuff!!

Roll

I hate being injured. I am very impatient and at the moment, and especially since I can't, I really really want to ride my bicycle at the moment! Here is a brief run down of things...

Monday
Thought I was OK to ride to work. About 6km into the 16km ride, I realised this was a bad idea. Everything hurt, my ribs and my knee especially. I left my bike at work and caught the bus home at the end of the day.

Tuesday
As a result of the pain I was in, I went to the Dr to get things checked. No ligament damage to my knee, most likely it is soft tissue and will take a little while to settle. That is a very impreesive bruise covering the knee though! As for the ribs, there was a suspected fracture so it was off for Xrays. And, the worst part, no bike! At least until the end of the week- BOO!!

I managed to get Xrays that afternoon as well, now to wait.

Wednesday
I hate it when I have to catch the bus to work! Xray results, all clear- woohoo- but it hurt to do that!

Thursday & Friday- feeling better.

Saturday- Managed 30 minutes on the wind trainer.

Sunday- 45 minutes on the wind trainer. Better than yesterday.

Monday- Rode to and from work. Almost better! Still some pain when I am out of the saddle and pushing a bigger gear, but it wasn't unbearable. On the way home it was better still

Tuesday- Cut a lap around the lake. Better again!

I seem to have bounced very well! Man, am I lucky!! There are still a few easy days to get through before we can really ramp things up, but that is much better than the possible 6 weeks that might have resulted had there been a fracture.

On the up side, this has all been managed with the guidance of my new coach, Brian (Simpson)- thanks!

Bring on the weekend!! (and 100% functioning limbs!)

Rattle

In the process of developing some bike love after an interesting couple of weeks, I went off to do a CORC advanced mountain bike course for ladies. Ahh, to the darkside I went!

By way of background, in the last 12 months, I have ridden my mountain bike about 4 times, including two dirt crits in the last two weeks. Thus, I was perfectly prepared for this course!!

Anyway, off I went. I got through the first few things, no dramas and was having a whole lot of fun. Then our instructor extrodinaire, Mick, decided it was time that we tackled something a bit more challenging. About 2/3 of the way down the world champs 4X track at Stromlo Forest Park, there is a pile of rocks packed with dirt, about 2 metres high. (All measurements are purely subjective and I am not making any claim to accuracy!!). After a couple of poor attempts to go over this, I finally nailed it. Not satisified with ticking this off the list, I went back for seconds...

I had a good run to the top and I was ready to go down the other side. The trick with this pile of rocks, is that there is one good line down. On this attempt, I didn't find this line! My front wheel got stuck! Instinctively I grabbed a fistful of front brake! Before I knew over the handlebars I went and heading head first towards the rocks and dirt below! Maybe a fall of about 3 feet, maybe more, maybe less.

Growing up riding horses I instinctively protected my head and didn't stick my hands out, thus saving my wrists and my face from getting cut up. However, this move left my ribs and lateral knee clearly exposed to the rocks. Bruised, winded and missing a bit of bark, I lay on the ground for a little while before heading off for morning tea!

I rode through the rest of the day, perhaps foolishly, but I was having fun and where necessary I sat things out.

CORC put on a fansastic day and everyone got a lot out of it. Thanks everyone!

As for me, my ribs and my knee hurts! No sneezing, coughing, laughing, squating or kneeling!