Riding to work

Well this week I managed my first of what will be many rides to work as I ‘train’ for the 250 ATB and I must say I was pretty happy with myself! The weather was fantastic, mid 20C’s with no wind. The morning was a bit of a struggle in with a chilli 10C. (I’m not looking forward to doing this in the winter!) Having recently moved house I now live about 45Kms from my work in Melbourne’s CBD. Since I live on the rural fringe outside the burbs there was no way I was going to ride all the way to the city, so I loaded the bike on to the car and drove about 15kms to a spot near a bike trail in Donvale and set off for the 30km trek to the office. Thankfully its downhill most of the way on a picturesque trail that eventually follows alongside the Yarra River. Getting to work was the easy part, the ride home at the end of the day was simple a long slog, my legs felt as heavy as concrete but with the consistency of jelly. I found myself glancing over my shoulder half expecting to see someone hanging on to the back of the bike slowing me down. I cursed at the hills and began to rethink the whole 250km ride, then I reached my car. After I cooled down and finished yet another water bottle, I regained enough strength to reflect back on the 60km that I had ridden that day and that’s when I thought to myself, I can do this!