Long time no write...

In the climate there is this week and because I HAVE been asked(!) I thought I might start this off by saying that as the proud possessor of many titles and many records on road and track -  state, national and world in age grades from aged 55 up to today (I'm now 68)..I have not doped!

 I'd also like to say the reason  I have not doped is NOT because I'm  worried about the effect on my health or because it's too expensive ...I have not doped because it's not allowed in the rules of the sport and therefore is illegal, immoral and unfair to other competitors.  If I'm going to win or do well, I like it to be something that I own,.... the result of my hard work and NOT something I have to share with my friendly chemist/drug dealer.

Phew, now that's out of the way...

Melbourne to Taree is 1175km and no 1 son and I went there for a weekend of MTB orienteering.  Alex 'cos as a highly ranked MTBOer so he should be competing in the nationals and me to help with the drive.  The original idea was that I would take my road bike and do some training km's around Taree.  However, when you don't compete, the inevitable orienteering focussed conversations are incredibly boring, so I decided to compete.

I took the MTB out of mothballs and searched for the map board.  The bike needed a visit to the bike shop and the map board still had the map of my last ride in it...the 2010 nationals near Castlemaine.  I peeled the plastic cover off and since it took half the map with it, spent an hour cleaning up the resulting mess.  The bike is old school and twice as heavy as my road bikes...Alex thinks I need a new bike...I think probably not, afterall if I only ride once every 2 years.....!

Alex won both his competitions and somewhat surprisingly I won the long course and came second in the middle length course.

Major impressions of the drive...

• some NSW drivers are rude and stupid
• petrol in NSW is more expensive than in Vic
• no need to cull kangaroos..just send them near the Pacific Highway and they do the culling themselves..the amount of bodies and red smears across the road was quite sickening.
• when everyone is on cruise control it's really difficult to overtake when you only have 3kph over limit to play with
• when a police car follows you for 10km, the likelihood of taking the road to Alexandra instead of the road to Melbourne is 100%
• my GPS has no brain or logic and failed us 3 times.
• falling off an MTB is a given and I am the proud possessor of quite a few bruises large and small

Next races..next week in Tas..the AVCC nationals near Launceston.

MTB riding is a total blast..haven't had so much fun on 2 wheels for...well ....2 years!

Ikea chair build fail

well ok...I got it right eventually!  I think there are  4 possible options and I tried 3...hmm.

More pix

Definitely avoiding this one!

and this parking in Melbourne (my car is the front one and  was there first)

just isn't up to the giddy heights of Italian parking!

Nope, none allowed

I've been home 5 days and jet lag is still in situ.... I seem to have developed a habit of waking up at 1100am! and my cat is delighted to have a body in a bed at a time when he's allowed the run of the house....My current sleeping habits are not helped by watching the Vuelta at 1100pm til whenever it finishes but it   is soooo exciting..unlike this year's 100% boring Tour de France. 

So far sleeping at odd times has been my major occupation but at least I've managed 1 ergo session, entry to the  CA and AVCC road nats, 3 coffee sessions and some much needed shopping for food...I'm ignoring the piles of dust everywhere for another day or so. (my welcome home was an empty fridge and layers of  dust everywhere!).

Hopefully tomorrow the weather will be good at a time when I'm awake and then I guess I'll have to  pluck up courage and at least think of  attacking the dust...

My thoughts exactly

"My biggest fear is not crashing on a bike... 

It's sitting in a chair at 90 and saying, 

 'I wish I had done more'  "

 - Graeme Obree.

3rd in the road race

The forecast for today was diabolical but when it came down to the time for my race it was just very cold and very wet!!

8 registered but only 6 started and once again I got dropped on the first hill...gotta sort this problem out me thinks!  I made it worse for myself by starting off with too many clothes on and so had to stop and take off my rain jacket half way up the hill..stupid me...lost time and lost the jacket!

So with 2 away and a third about 400m ahead of me I spent the rest of the race getting more TT practice.  I gradually caught up with her and stuck on her wheel for about 2 km before going ahead just as  we started to pick up the stragglers from the race that started 10 minutes ahead of us.

My aim was to gradually up the pace and rely on my "sprint" (!), which I did and had a bit of a gap by the finish line, although we were given the same time...we ended up 2 minutes adrift of 1st and 2nd.

So...off to Rome tomorrow starting at 5am...it's nominally an 8 hour drive, but it's also Saturday when many tourists are on the move, so an early start is needed.  My flight doesn't leave til 10pm, so there's no huge rush and no need to panic if all doesn't quite go to plan.

No pix...the tablet has gone on strike..will catch up when I get home

Time Trial day

Today's  weather forecast had been very iffy but when it came down to it, we had perfect weather.  The previous day's head wind on the way back was still there but not as strongly.

My normal plan is to load the car up with everything I need and drive down to the start very early to get a good spot, then cycle back home on the road bike and somewhat  later cycle back again and get onto the trainer.  However this year the stomach bug I've been wrestling for the past 2 weeks reared it's ugly head again this morning and so I drove down much closer to my start time.  Actually not only did I race on fresh air and water, I  couldn't even manage to have any coffee so I also raced with a caffeine withdrawal headache!

So I warmed up initially on the road bike, then on the TT bike, although I was very despondent with how hard everything seemed on the TT bike...until I got off and realised the back tyre had punctured.......=language most foul!

Well what can you do?...change wheels and think positively...its a lighter wheel was my positive thought. I did a couple of quick efforts to make sure the gears were working and it was time for my bike to be inspected.

I was last starter in my group and all went well until the hill ( tops out briefly at 7%) which is when I discovered that  actually all was not ok with my gears.   Looking for an easier gear, everything went bellyup and I almost came to a standstill as I fished around for a gear, any gear that would work and that I could turn!  Well I got up it, but with somewhat more pain in my legs and a higher heart rate than planned..however, when the going gets tough etc etc...and people who do TT's are tough types.  What's more, I'd carted the TT bike around for weeks and I wasn't going to give up before it earned it's keep!

A much needed day of rest happens tomorrow which will include a bit of a ride, a drive out to Oberndorf to pick up my newly re-tyred wheel and ...groan...packing the TT bike........the weather forecast for my RR is currently diabolical, but we'll see..we all know how accurate they are.........not.