A weekend's torture - self inflicted

2 TT's, 7 hours driving, 1 sore finger, 1 contact lens lost somewhere under my eyelid, 1 motel room next door to a restaurant hosting a wedding=1 very tired Liz. So tired that my drive home had to be punctuated by 2 stops for a caffeine infusion and 1 powernap.

But it was worth it. My weekend started on Thursday evening when I gathered everything together, packing the car before work on Friday in order to have a fast get away from work 1 minute after 5. First stop a 2-3hr drive away was Castlemaine..it being Friday evening I was looking to the 3hrs rather than 2.5 hr, but once I cleared the city traffic, the run was good. I'd booked a cabin in C'maine, it being rather an expensive area and motel rooms being $100/night and up. It was a bit chilly but once I'd worked out the heating system was comfortable enough.

I'd decided to do this club TT because the next in the Masters' series is here and I'd like to pre-ride/race the course as I'm sure others have done before me. The course is a nice one although the railway lines after a sharp downhill right angled bend is a bit dicey on a wet day (as it was) and I thought the turnaround was located poorly. There was a tailwind going out and so a regular hoon fest and then a struggle fest coming home. I passed seven people so that was good for the ego, especially as I wasn't going full gas. The course was just under 20km.

My warm down consisted of a very brief spin followed by a rapid re-packing of the car, a dipping of the finger in ice to control swelling and bleeding(see previous post) and an apologetic early departure.

Then followed a somewhat difficult drive via Shepparton to Wangaratta...difficult cos somehow one of my contacts slid under my eyelid which resulted in me being blind in one eye. If I'd been sensible I'd have stopped and taken the other one out and worn my glasses, but I'm not. So I drove for 3 hours with one eye closed! Actually that's a lie...it only became a problem when it got dark.

My motel at Wangaratta is next to an Indian restaurant and was hosting a wedding, so my evening's entertainment was Bollywood style.

Next day dawned relatively windless but wettish. I needed rather a longer warm up that usual and definitely struggled big time for the first 2km...I thought there was a head wind, but on talking to others, I realise it was just my fatigue. I managed a PB by just a bit..but this was comparing to a time that included a punctured tyre, so .....

The rider one minute behind eventually caught me on a slight rise (I suck on hills) after which we were riding at approx the same speed and occasionally I was catching her up. The rural roads do have one problem which is difficult to overcome and that is: they are so narrow its hard not to draft...you can't swing very wide to escape the drafting sweet spot. In the end, my slow turn around allowed a better gap to form which made me feel alot more comfortable.

I've been using these TT's not only to race, but to try and up my cadence..but I think somehow I could go faster at my usual slower 75-80 rpm rather than the 85-95 I've been practising...dunno.

The drive home was an ordeal. I fed myself caffeine, indulged in chocolate and had a powernap, then on getting home and after unpacking the car, I ordered myself to bed very early and went out like the proverbial light.....apparently there was a big storm..but I slumbered on totally undisturbed.....