Tour De France

I only managed one ride this week, travelling for work, lousey weather and staying up too late to watch the Tour de France has taken it's toll! I have managed to do a few rides on the trainer. Speaking of the tour tonight Cadel Evans is going for Yellow in the Time Trial. it's been a huge tour for him and he is well placed . GO CADEL!!!!

Kinglake 120km Ride

To see how I am going before the 250km "around the bay in a day ride" ATB,  I have decided to test myself out over half the distance just 5 weeks prior. The Kinglake ride is a 120km loop just north of Melbourne in the Kinglake area with rolling hills and at least one long climb, (so I hope to be fitter and lighter by then).  I'll be riding by myself, (unless there is anyone out there that want to join me!) Check out the ride by clicking on this link Kinglake 120km ride.

Psycho Possum

On the way home from work late last evening a near miss on Yarra Boulevard nearly spoiled my night. I was going down a slight decent at about  40 km/hr, there was no one in front of me and no one behind me. I could have been the only person on the road for miles around for all I knew. When a psycho possum choose the exact same moment I was passing by to attempt a kamikaze run across the road! In a reflex action I stood up out of the seat as if to jump and swerve at the same time. I’m sure it didn’t,  but it seemed like the possum ran between the front and back wheel!  In a split second I came back down hard on the seat and did my impression of the nutcracker! With tears welling up in my eyes I rode on, hoping that my falsetto voice would return by the time I got home! fortunately it did, and if I come across that possum with a death wish again it may just get what it is asking for!     

Chasing the fog

Each day I commute to work I keep a close eye on the weather. These past few mornings have been cold but dry with no wind, it’s been a joy riding in those conditions. Last night around 4:30pm I looked out of the window to see a huge bank of fog come rolling in from the south. It was a surreal sight with the sun going down and the fog rolling in.

Weird afternoon fog rolling in across Melbourne CBD (i-Phone)

What this meant was the temperature had dropped a long with the visibility. It made for an interesting ride home as I seemed to be chasing the fog eastward for most of the ride. Fortunately I have lots of reflective gear, three rear lights and good front lights, but it is still a little eerie riding through the fog along the bike paths. I got up this morning and found my front wheel had gone flat overnight, I must have picked up a slow puncture on the trip home. I was thankful that I didn’t have to deal with it last night!

Commuting free week

Last week I didn’t do any commuting on the bike, however I did get up early each morning and rode for about 45 minutes on the trainer before going to work. I had the weekend off from riding and caught up with friends which led to eating and drink too much of all the wrong things! All I can say was it was all worth it! sometimes you just need to take some time out to enjoy yourself once in a while otherwise all this training gets a bit boring! This morning was my first commute for at least a week so I rode in from the 28km mark. It was great to see a hot air balloon floating overhead about to land in the park on the Koonung trail between Doncaster and Bulleen Rds. The balloon was so low you could see the people in the basket taking pictures. It was a quick ride this morning and I was averaging 30km/hr for the first 15km which felt pretty good. Once I got closer to the city the pace slowed down a little as I got into the hills around the Yarra blvd, then there were more pedestrians on the path and traffic started to build up on the roads. The winter solstice is past so now I’m looking forward again to the time when I don’t have to stress if I have charged up the battery on my light long enough for the ride home!

Cycle Trainer

I dusted off an old magnetic cycle trainer and set up my bike on it. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to get on and ride for a while on the days I can’t commute to work because of meetings and whatever.  Even if it’s only for a quick 30-40 mins before I head off to work, or in the evenings, a least I’m doing something and getting my back-side used to sitting on the skinny little seat for longer periods of time!

Running out of Steam

Last week I began to get really fatigued, having ridden to work from 40km’s out a couple of times took its toll! I rode in to work one morning and by lunch time I had no energy, so I decided to leave the bike at work (in the secured bike parking facility) and took the train home. My support crew came to the rescue once again and picked me up from the train station and took me back to my car. I think it was a case of too much too soon, that and the fact that I probably wasn't drinking enough water. It’s a bit of a trap on the cold mornings, I get lulled into thinking that I don’t need to drink as much when it's cold, but despite being cold I’m still sweating a lot so I need to replace the fluids. So now that I’m re-hydrated and the bike has been resting at work, I hope to be able to ride it home again! fingers crossed!