A whole months worth of blogging in one post

Yet again I have been slack in updating the old blog over the last month. I could use an excuse like dog ate my keyboard but well it’s been done to death.

Rain, Rain more Rain
So since my lat post I think I have ridden the MTB maybe 2 or 3 times along the bike path with the family due to the absolute hammering Canberra has hand in December from the rain. The rain wiped out Stromlo and Majura from about 2 weeks before Xmas through to about now with some of the Stromlo trails re opening but a lot of them still in need of maintenance.
So the training has been all road riding which while not as much fun is good for base building. I’m had three good Saturdays out with the boys on the Bakery Bunch with a catch up afterwards for coffee and to talk sh!t...something I don’t normally do.

New Zealand Trip
Xmas was spent back over the ditch with family. A good time was had by all, but I think my mother was glad to see the back end of Wee Man....he’s not the sweet little 2 year old she remembers from a year ago more of a dervish of chaos on legs now!! The number of times he was told off for chasing her cat....I lost count after the first day.
I trip to the Caroline Bay Carnival was in order to show the family the rides. My favourite was the bumper cars which left me feeling like I had just been in a bike crash after getting out at the end. We avoided going on the roller coaster which was a good thing as it looked dodgy and sure enough after we got back there was a news story saying it had come off the tracks but luckily no one was injured!!!
There were also a couple of trips to the beach, got to go to the movies for the first time in a couple of years and just some general bumming around catching up on sleep.
I must admit it wasn’t til after four days of getting 9hrs+ sleep I actually realised how tired and burnt out I had been feeling from work and training. Suddenly getting up on the odd day at 6.00am didn’t have me burying my head under the pillow and grinding my teeth when the alarm went off!

Training
I also got some riding in over old training roads I haven’t been on it years. I borrowed by little brother’s bike....and managed to crash it. No real serious injuries but my hands do look like I picked a fight with a cheese grater still.
Now that I’m back home, the training is in full force with the weather cooperating so far. The rides have been either early or late to avoid the heat of the day and I’m starting to feel a bit more normal!
This weekend is Big Jase’s Kosiosko 360 ride (Yes Jase I am putting the blame on you if this goes pear shaped!) A ride from Cooma over 2 days covering...you guessed it 360k. Looking at the altitude there is going to be a fair bit of climbing on tap which is good with the Alpine Challenge in two weekend’s time.
Following on from this is a month’s gap to the Otway Odyssey which I have entered. The goal for that one is try to knock a good chuck out of the 6.5hrs I did it in the first time.
The other two races I am focussing on in the first third of the year are the Real Bike Insurance 100miler and Escape from Cobra Mtn 100miler. I DNF’ed at the first race last year so am out for redemption this time around.
Well that’s a month,s catch up in one post more or less. Next time I will do a summary for 2010 of the good ,the bad, and the ugly .

I have been busy!

Haven't posted a write up in a couple of weeks, in fact just before the 8hr race at yellowmundi. This was a race I was looking forward to as it is part of the NSW enduro series for the year, so to DNF out due to busting my knee up, not once, but twice was really disappointing.
In fact I managed to crash in exactly the same spot both times two laps apart. The falls were slow speed through a rocky technical section. The first time hurt and it took me a couple of minutes to get myself together again and back on the bike, but the second time was a lot harder and my knee started swelling and ceasing up. By the time I nursed it through the remainder of the lap it was getting towards excurating so I didn't have any choice but to pull the pin.
By the time I got home it had swollen to the point where there was golfball size lump on the knee and very stiff getting out of the car (Sorry no pictures).

So this mean't a couple of days off the bike, and with it being a long weekend I decided to get productive around the house. I have been swearing to my wife for a while that I would tidy and organise my bike stuff in the garage into some sort of order so on the Monday that's what I did...and it took me most of the day. And here is the final results.

Time to write something...

Well it has been a week or so since I posted something up so here goes.
Firstly I last wrote that I was going to ride the CORC 3hr...well I went to the race, arrived and found the front tire had exploded on the way there with a tear in the side wall. The damage was such that I couldn't repair it in time. So I ended up going for 1.5hr for nothing. To say that I wasn't in the best of moods after was an understatement...good thing I don't own a cat.

The training in the lead up to the Real MTB Cruise went well given the weather and lack of racing. But come race day I felt like sh!t, with no warm up (who warms up for a 100miler?) we were off. And straight away I felt like I was riding with the brakes on. So I just tried to chill and get a rhythm going...but things only went downhill from here.
After 2 laps the clamp on by seatpost gave out such that the saddle would end up pointing up about 20 degrees after every lap. So I persevered for another two laps before 2 spokes broke in the rear wheel and it went out of true.
At this stage I just cracked it mentally.
I still ended up with 120k for the day, and a good beating for my troubles.

So I've bought a new seatpost and the LBS is re-building the rear wheel, so I'm a bit happier.

On tap for the weekend is a smashfest with Big Jase on Saturday. We have a mini-Fitz Challenge lined up so it will probably be 3000m of climbing for the day.
Sunday I'm hoping to get out on the hardtail for some fire road action...but this will be dependent on recovery.

No racing this weekend

Title says it all no racing. So a longish ride this morning, probably the bakery ride plus a bit extra. And tomorrow will be a hit out on the MTB around Sparrow Hill.
This week I haven't touched the bike much just through various things (work, having to go to the bank twice)so have pulled up after last weekend really well.
Next weekend it's off to Sydney on Saturday for the Sydney Road Champs, but other then that I really, really want to race my MTB somewhere....so the next MTB race isn't till the CORC race next month at Kowen, then the Working Week 8hr the weekend after that.

Productive Weekend

The Weekend

Well I had a really productive weekend, got out on the MTB to Sparrow on Saturday and did some intervals on the erg on Sunday. Also managed to:

- Re-calibrate 2x SRM's
- Bleed and shorten the brakes on the hardtail (really been meaning to do this for a while)
- Oil change on a set of Fox forx's (something else I have been putting off doing)

Really starting to get amped about the eight hour this weekend. Haven't done one since last year at Stromlo. The course should be good for the hardtail and I should have all my bits and pieces by this weekend.

New Race Hydration

Well I got my sweaty little hands on a new product today that I will be testing this weekend



These are basically mineral tablets you dissolve in your bottle that provide sodium, potassium, mangesium, calcium, Vit C and B2. they don't contain any carbs. This is a good thing especially in the heat, alot of mixes don't have the correct ratio and are slow emptying.

Will let you know how they perform later.

Week in Review

Well haven't posted anything for the last couple of days so time for an update.

Wednesday- Thursday
Went up to Wyong on a course for work and took the MTB with me to do a couple of laps of Ourimbah Forest. First day went well, but the temperature was hitting the 40° mark with no wind coming through the trees. After a lap of the 10k course my jersey was soaked with sweat and that was the way it stayed for the next 40 or so minutes for the second lap.

Course was fun completly different to anything down Canberra way, the closest course for comparision would be Majura but he soil is alot damper in Ourimbah so alot more grip. Because of the fun I had was keen to come back the next day....

Arrived back Thursday at about 5.00 pm just as the weather started to break as I got the bike out of the car. I think this was really a sign I should pack it in there and then but no I kept going. Half way round the loop on a steep pinch the rear wheel spun out and I started to take a slow speed fall. No dramas at this point, we all have these and come out alright with minimal damage not this time.... As I am falling to the right hand side I can see a sawn off tree trunk, so as I'm falling I try to grab it so I don't end up completly on my arse on the ground. However what I don't see is the cut off branch hiding behind the level of my shoulder, this little sucker manages to come up and under my arm and jab me square on in the side on the ribs.

Now I never played contact sports when I was at school and have never gotten into a serious fight in my life so have never had my ribs worked over. There I am lying on the side of the track, trying to catch my breath and swearing in my head at the world in general. The next thing (like most cyclists!) is trying to work out whether something is broken, lot of pain.. not going away oh shit. After a few minutes to get the breath back I jump back on the bike and start making my way back to the trailhead. Along the way monitoring the ribs and trying to workout whether I can go for another lap or call it a day. Well with the amount of jarring I call it a day.

Sunday
Have the next couple of days off to try and rest the ribs. The problem with ribs are that whether they are bruised, cracked, or broken there is nothing a doctor or hospital can do for you except perscribe painkillers. So stock up on Voltarin and just rest up.
Roll out the door Sunday AM at 6.30 to get to the race for an 8.00 start. Ride to the start is pretty mellow just feeling the legs and concentrating on the ribs, to work out what I can and can't do. Deep breathing... check, Out of the saddle...oh crap! looks as though the whole race is going to be done seated.
Race is set down for 2 laps of the Homestead course for a total of 76k. A grade sets off at good pace with everyone rolling through, the hard part of the circuit is the last 4k up to the u-turn and return to the finish so everyones just happy to roll through for the time being.
We hit the first of the hills and I go to the front to keep the tempo up the power meter is showing OK watts so I might just be OK with the race after all!
We hit the long drag up to the u-turn and right away I know I'm in trouble, the pace is up there but I can't get out of the seat and swing on the bars for a bit of relief. Trying not to look at the power meter........ great we're sitting on a steady 430w. About half way up someone puts in a surge and I can't respond, game over the bunch just starts riding away, getting further into the distance till they're gone from view.

I pull out when I get back to the start finish line and begin the ride home. It was good to get out and try the ribs out and they felt better afterwards so hopefully there is not too much damage but time will tell