Liz Randall's Cycling Blog - a life behind bars

Hour record just a memory now so please change to my newer blog

2010-03-21T22:55:00.000+11:00

hopefully loads of pix and tales of derring-do

http://lizrandallscyclingtravels.blogspot.com/

What's in a word?

2010-03-17T19:31:00.000+11:00

The word "trainer" means different things to different people.

To me it can be:
1. your coach or
2. the thing you put your bike in/on when you have to do your cycle session indoors.

It was this latter meaning that I had in mind when I read the following email subject line from Amazon.co.uk and nearly sprayed my drink all over the monitor.......

Garmin Edge 705 GPS-enabled Cycle Trainer

Now I know that when on my trainer in my back room the SRM read out has shown that apparently I've climbed a small hill(??!!??), but FFS I thought...who needs a GPS when statically grinding away indoors?

http://lizrandallscyclingtravels.blogspot.com/

2010-03-12T18:29:00.000+11:00

This link, with the exception of racing comments for this coming up weekend, mid April for the Masters track nats and later in August /Sept the Worlds and National Masters Road races, is where most of my new posts will be.

Phew...long sentence!

State Track Champs and other things

2010-03-11T06:45:00.002+11:00

These are on this weekend and stupidly I entered the Scratch and the TT....well at least I wasn't stupid enough to have entered the pursuit...I knew I wouldn't be up for that! I'll definitely front up for the TT but probably not the scratch..if for no other reason that I should be out on the road doing mega miles...not just a 10 min sufferfest on the roundy roundy round. The weather will dictate I think, if its anything like last weekend I'll be more than happy to be indoors.

Just like any marathon effort, I'm struggling physically after my March 1st effort...I've developed right knee pain and am just generally stiff and creaky and also unmotivated. I'd better start improving as I have my pre-holiday stress test next week.

My exploits on the track re the hour seem to have caught the eye of some Italian riders on facebook and I'm now friends with them and can practice reading Italian on a regular basis.

Ben is now famous in Narooma (wherever that is!) http://www.naroomanewsonline.com.au/news/local/news/general/mountain-to-beach-bike-race-gets-a-little-more-extreme/1772612.aspx he's the "rider" in front.

Its now only 42 days until I fly out to Italy and I just hope big time that the incredibly crap weather that we keep hearing about goes away pretty damn quick...my Jens factor drops to basement level in cold and wet weather.

and...I have just 27 days left of fronting up to work...right now I'm excited...maybe later I'll be sad, after all I have worked there since 1985.

Reflection on my Hour Record Attempt- a week later

2010-03-08T07:34:00.004+11:00

a self evaluation and therefore no doubt skewed!

With 2 hour attempts under my belt, I'm delighted and somewhat relieved to report that particular monkey is well and truly off my back.

After my first attempt I was keen to try again...which is not how I feel now. What I feel now is that the mark has been made in the sand...it's a soft record and there's at least one person I know who will no doubt give it a go and will smash it...and good luck to her. Records are there to be broken and if I *ever* do this again it will be as a 70 year old...but please, please stop me when I start talking about it!

So while the World record will go fairly rapidly, the Australian one will stay a bit longer, if only because there aren't too many female 65-69 year olds racing in Aus.

There was quite a difference in the training and execution between my 2 attempts resulting in a more planned approach this time round. I walked away this time knowing that I had nothing left in the tank and that my physiological limiters have a lower set point than my mind! does that make me disappointed? Well I'd have to say slightly as I had set my sights on 150 laps and despite the comment above I think I am capable of that, but in the end you can only do what you can do on the night.

My memory of the ride is that I motored (perhaps too much) for the first 20 minutes then struggled then returned. While struggling and seeing Carl walking the line closer and closer to me as I got slower, I'd have to say that only determination and pride kept me going...and the fact that there were people there cheering me on.

The second 20 minutes is a bit of a blur, I had neck ache, was very thirsty and wanted to vomit...(but where!?). Then my right leg started to cramp, followed a bit later by my left leg but it was nowhere near as bad as during the previous effort. I can't recall too much about the last bit except for Alex spruiking "Go Liz!Go Liz! GO Liz! Lawrence told me later many of her "style" signals were ignored...they weren't ignored I just didn't see them..my focus was very narrow.

For the technically minded I rode a 100.8 on 170 cranks ie 52/14......last time it was 51/15 (or perhaps 52/15). I can't "spin" for any length of time and so needed a bigger gear and ("spinning " for me is anything faster than 85rpm). To maintain the speed I wanted I needed a cadence of 80-82, when struggling I dropped into ~78rpm. My bike weighed in at 6.828kg.

So that's it folks...huge thanks to my coach, Auriel Forrester, my crew on the night-Carl, Lawrence and Alex, Greg, the UCI official, the timekeepers and the CSV rep, Rhys. Even bigger thanks to those of you who came to watch and cheer...had you not been there I may well have given up.....

Fund raising

2010-03-06T17:56:00.002+11:00

A part of the Italian trip I'm doing in May/June is to fundraise for the Oncology Children's Foundation. This is a charity that funds research "in pursuit of a cure" for cancer in kids.

I anticipate it will take me a while to raise the minimum required..$1800, but I've started already sitting for a couple of hours at the local supermarket, smiling and chatting to all and sundry. I've also got red wristbands to sell and am thinking maybe later in the year running a roller derby (that's a cycling competition on training rollers..not one of those feral roller skates murder fests)...although that will take a bit of organisation.

For those who'd like to donate but don't get to see me in person, here is an online site you can use:
http://www.everydayhero.com.au/liz_randall
and any$$ put into this site will be attributed towards my obligation.

New blog

2010-03-06T14:29:00.000+11:00

I'm adding another blog which will run in tandem for a while and then take over. A change in direction requires a change in blog...

It's name is: http://lizrandallscyclingtravels.blogspot.com/

I'll post when the change over happens.

ps...yet another dead rat...this time under the computer desk .

My heart rate shot through the roof and it took a while for the adrenalin surge to dissipate!

Whoops!

2010-03-05T07:00:00.000+11:00

Me to Ben last night via SMS " Hope you had a good recovery day"

Ben to me..instant response(!)...."It was an 80 km race today"

Me..."whoops! got that one wrong!..how did you go?"

Him....... 6th

Me...brilliant, proud of you!

So Ben and Ryan came 6th and 7th on the day, are lying 6th and 8th overall and are leading the pairs competition by about an hour.

Ben and Ryan are "Team ayup", but I was very disappointed that the ay-up facebook page was only mentioning their solo rider's successes, so I did the interfering mother thing and posted a msg asking them why no mention!!!

For the non cyclist "ayup: are lights for cyclists ...both road and MTB and are very very good. In fact, I'm borrowing a set of Ben's light for Italy; my eyes take an age to change over when moving from sunshine to dark...even in that small tunnel on the bike path near Bourke Road and some of those tunnels through the mountains are very long and full of cars etc. Last year someone came off and broke bones when they disappeared into a small pothole, a fate I don't fancy happening to me.

The bike is developing cobwebs but I've promised it an outing tomorrow afternoon. Today I'm off up into the country to pick up some equipment and tomorrow morning I'm fundraising for the Oncology Children's Foundation.

The ocf fund research in"pursuit of a cure" for cancer in children and as a participant in the the Italy tour I'm asked to fund raise for them. If you feel you'd like to support them and don't get to see me in person please visit my "hero" page

Ben's excellent adventures

2010-03-04T07:33:00.001+11:00

This is the profile for the race Ben's currently riding and they're just about mid way. Ben clearly has a liking for the number 7 or perhaps 8 since not only in this race, but also in Wildside a while ago that's where he seemed to end up on the day. For this race he's been 7th for 3 stages and 8th for 1 stage and is currently sitting in 6th overall with he and Ryan leading the pairs competition by about 30 minutes.

Me? well I'm still to get back on the bike. I had planned on riding a bit on Tues, or Wed or today or tomorrow, but in actual fact haven't and wont until Saturday afternoon. Well, maybe its for the best , I do tend to overcook myself.

Ben's racing the Mountains to Beach

2010-03-03T07:01:00.000+11:00

Ben is currently flying the Randall cycling flag in an MTB stage race taking place in NSW...the DT Swiss Mountains to Beach race. He's paired up the his mate Ryan and they're racing in Ay Up colours (I think). today's race is the "Ay Up Dawn Raid" so they're racing in the dark finishing at sun-rise followed by a cruise to the next accomodation and the rest of the day is for R&R. I sure hope this elevation chart is an exaggeration of the truth!

Currently he and Ryan are leading the pairs classification and he's sitting in 7th over all.

Recovery

2010-03-02T18:38:00.000+11:00

I'm deeply into my 2nd glass of wine as I write this, so if it sounds slurred I hope you'll unnershtand!!

Recovery has been inneresting..firstly last night I couldn't sleep..I was dehydrated, had swollen glands in my throat and was, as my mother said many. many times in my childhood, "overtired". I tried to sleep but kept waking up, so in the end gave up, got up, made coffee and accepted the inevitable.

Today's planned car service complete with lazy ride into and out of work was hijacked by ASADA asking me to be at a footy club in the south of the city by 0945. At this point I was just tired and snoozed happily while waiting for them.

After the drug test (completed easily and successfully) and the drive up to the north of the city with the paperwork, I went to work. There I accepted congrats and plaudits..I especially liked my manager getting down onto his knees and bowing deeply! All were impressed with my recovery..ha! if only they knew.

I'd revised my plan for riding the road bike which was that I would ride FROM work today and INTO work tomorrow...at least that was the plan until about 15 minutes before the end of work when suddenly, very suddenly I became very very very +++ tired and sore. Even the thought of cycling made me feel quite ill.

So today I'll be in bed very early..tipsy as well as tired, and hope to get a decent sleep followed by a full days' work and then a massage on Thursday.

Next race is the track States in 12 days time and the track Nats in April. and I have to make a gigantic switch from the hour to the 500m TT, while sinultaneously building up the long distence touring kms.

Crazy? YUP!

Time for a more considered evaluation of last nights sufferfest

2010-03-02T08:05:00.000+11:00

I had hoped to get a good night's sleep last night but an epic fail took place. Aching all over, with glands up in my throat and with a thirst to rival the Sahara sleep was just not going to happen until I'd drunk Melbourne's water supply dry. I finally managed to get to sleep at about 4 or 5 o'clock only to wake again at 7am.

The drug testing unit were unable to attend last night,apparently they are stretched to the limits with staff being over in Vancouver at the Olympics so I was spared waiting waiting waiting for ages while my body reluctantly gave up fluid and instead have an appointment at 945 at some place in the south of the city. After I've done the deed and had the papers signed I then have to drive to the north of the city to deliver them to the official in charge. What this has meant is that I've had to delay last night's adult fluid celebration and also be a bit sparing with the amount of coffee I drink this morning. It also means that my plan to get my car serviced today and gently ride into work has been hijacked.

I've had a look at my files in both WKO+ and SRM and have seen that the amount of time when I was struggling to keep the lap time on the money was from about 21.5 minutes to about 27 minutes, after which I managed to keep closer to my schedule until cramps hit me first in my right leg and then more severely in my left. During that ~ 7 minute period, not only did I lose rhythm/cadence I also was not riding a good line which didn't help the cause at all. I was pretty smooth most of the time but my speed over the final 10 minutes is very choppy, from memory I'd feel ok so speed up but couldn't maintain it. The blue (kph) dotted line is set at close to my final total and so you can see where I really dropped the speed..I think the pix might enlarge if you click on it

Luckily for me I had a good deal of vocal support from cycling friends and acquaintances, work friends and family and this barrage of support every time I rode down the front straight helped me punch through the difficult times.

Huge thanks are due to my trackside crew..there was Carl walking the line keeping me up to date with my lap by lap progress and Lawrence the style queen helping me to keep aero..ie shoulders down, stretch, pedal in circles.....all the things that disappear under pressure. And finally there was son Alex, who initially was a bit reticent when I asked him to use the microphone to stir up vocal support, but who rose to the task admirable demonstrating totally unexpected haranguing skills!

Thanks also to all who came to support me. Any hour attempt has an element of sameness that doesn't really grab the onlooker and so the fact that you came to watch, support and cheer is very, very much appreciated. Amongst the spectators were a couple of prime candidates for an attempt in their age grade and they can rest assured that whenever they make their bid for glory and agony I'll be there urging them on.

In other and equally important news, Ben is going well in his race , he's sitting in 8th place and he and Ryan are leading the pairs competition by a whisker.

quick post before I fall asleep

2010-03-01T21:05:00.000+11:00

all done and dusted...149 laps...just one lap shy of my goal...I got into some difficulties at around 20 minutes...??hunger flat...worked through that then got cramps in both legs at about 40-45 minutes which took a few laps to resolve.....more later..sleeeep now

Morituri te salutant

2010-03-01T06:42:00.001+11:00

....well metaphorically dead not actually! so eat drink and be merry for this evening I suffer. There... I've managed to get 2 cliched statements into 1 sentence.

Huge thanks to all of you who have sent me messages of good luck and support. Sadly quite a few have said they can't make it to the velodrome on the night, so those of you who are going to be there need to be of good voice! If there aren't very many people there to provide crowd noises I might have to crank up the music to an even higher decibel level and I've asked Alex to add another job to his list...that of being in the stands yelling loudly.

So now I've stopped counting down the days as there are just 11 hours til the sufferfest I've managed to sign up for yet again. Please can you all stop me in my tracks next time I start talking about a 3rd attempt? Please?!

Actually the experience I gained from the first attempt has been of great benefit and has allowed me to avoid some of the organisational pitfalls plus a deeper understanding about what I can and can't do and how I need my concentration to be 100% and how it is is adversely effected by my handlers talking to me. Actually, I think I always knew that since I seem to go deaf when doing TT training efforts and have frequently found myself slowing down while trying to work out what exactly had just been yelled to me....

New count down: I have 34 more days of fronting up at work.

and here's me thinking I speak clearly! or how pre race nerves got the better of me

2010-02-28T16:03:00.001+11:00

I just got off the phone with an automated voice at Ticketek..I usually buy my tickets via their webpage but this time it wasn't allowing me to buy anything, so needs must.....

I was trying to buy 2 tickets to the show CATS and this is how the conversation took place a few minutes down the track:

Automated female voice..what day would you like to go?
Me: March the 7th.
AFV: sorry cats is not in Melbourne on July the 12th.

I then went through the whole thing again and when she asked what show I was asking after and I said "Cats, in Melbourne" she then went into a spiel about the Melbourne Cricket Ground.....WTF??????? (Geelong football club are the "Cats"..so I guess that explains that little mystery)

Anyhow at that point I'd had enough and took great delight in telling her what a total moron she was and hung up.

Ticketless still, but feeling alot better!

Cool

2010-02-28T12:53:00.002+11:00

Today's temperature of 18-20 degrees is one that I function very well in but sadly is not really warm enough for good times on the track...but fingers crossed tomorrow will be warmer.

Training today was s'posed to be 20 minutes spinning on the road bike, but instead I opted to ride Jens on the outdoor track to see if I could discern anything different what with the small padded parcel of fishing sinkers stuck in the seat post. I couldn't so mission accomplished. Thanks Ben. Sadly for me, Ben is unable to be trackside tomorrow as he is taking part in the DT Swiss Mountains to Beach Race which is a 5 day/11 stage mountain bike race from Thredbo to Narooma. We've exchanged "good lucks"!

While circling around the Blackie track I came into rather closer contact with a bird than I like. This idiot bird obviously had found a choice morsel which it wasn't going to give up as 3 times it flew up from the same spot as I passed. Well, I say idiot, but clearly it had some learning capacity since each time was less dangerous for both of us....either that or there were 3 different birds. The first time it flew up very late and passed between my wheels and under my pedals.....there was a very small collision and on the next circuit I sorta half expected to see a carcass...but no. Next time round it flew up from the same spot on the grass, but this time just a little bit ahead of me and the final time it was up and away long before I reached it.

Excuse of the year..sorry folks..can't do the attempt I got knocked off the bike by a bird.....yeah right!

28 hours 23minutes to go

It's Saturday

2010-02-27T06:35:00.002+11:00

Training: Road ride later today (massage at 9am)

Tasks: Yesterday Ben and I got Jens' weight issue sorted with an elongated parcel of fishing sinkers stuffed into the bottom of the Schmolke seat post and kept there by a plug at the end of the post. Got it all together again and it came in at 6.8kg exactly. Now lets hope the official weighing machine agrees! Can't currently think of anything else I need to do.

And for the rest of the time between now and when I leave home for the velodrome.......hmm not sure. Watch the early rounds of the Melbourne Cup on wheels at DISC, go to the cinema, watch DVD's, do the right recovery/taper stuff ie rest up/keep off my legs, think longingly about after the event and finally get anxious and indulge in worrying about a small niggle in my left knee and the sneezing I've been doing the last 3 days....

I also have to keep well clear of Phil who has returned from Morocco with a stomach upset.

and there's only 58 hours to go

Tapering is exhausting!

2010-02-26T07:49:00.000+11:00

...'cos I'm not tired at night and so am having a bit of trouble dropping off to sleep. One (?) plus is that I now get to see a few TV programs I'd previously fallen asleep through!

Today's training is nothing, nil.. a "rest day".

Today's task is to sort out the bike's weight problem once and for all..it was still 20gm shy yesterday. The weights under the saddle had shifted, so I think something down the seat tube might be the go..well padded so as not to rattle. I've tried another heavier seat tube but the angle isn't right. So off to Ben's shop I go for help with the task.

With only 3 days and 9 hours to go I'm now starting to dream of my life post attempt, working out how to start building up my training to be able to deal with 28 days of >100km of hilly riding up the length of Italy

Gulp! 4 days 10 hours to go

2010-02-25T07:46:00.000+11:00

Not much to report in this post...today's training is an easy road ride or easy ergo and I have to drive over to Ivanhoe cycles to put Jens with race wheels on onto the official weighing machine.

Monday's forecast has dropped to 22 degrees with Friday in the 30's.....hmm! Melbourne weather is always a great source of conversation....after weeks of being unable to contemplate having even a sheet covering me overnight, last night was quite chilly and was snuggle under the doona(duvet) time and its still summer.

I'm starting to fantasize about March 2nd and beyond. I'm looking forward to have a glass or two of adult beverage for starters! then my training will change as I start getting used to riding 100km day after day after day. To this end I've cancelled my staff car park ticket and will start riding to work. I can also get round to bleeding out $$$ for the various trips I'm doing, having only paid deposits so far.

I've added another trip to the list...(getting a taste for this!) I'm off to NZ for the Wattyl Lake Taupo Challenge in late November. I'd been debating whether or not to do this when I saw that some Eastern Vets club mates are going and have a bed free in their accommodation. That was all it took and so the flight is booked and paid for and all I have to do is enter. By the end of the year I should either be extremely fit or totally wasted..or both.

Next year I'm looking at cycling trips in Canada and South Africa. I'm very aware that we never know what is round the corner for us and so am keen to do these trips while I'm fit and healthy and this attitude has been underlined in spades since I heard of a cycling friend in her 40's who's discovered she has lung cancer with secondaries in her hip.

Phil is back from Morocco which turned out not to have been the best of all his trips...the weather and his gut having let him down a bit....a minor attack of Delhi belly struck again.

Taper time

2010-02-24T07:10:00.001+11:00

Panic re: the UCI and the 60+ record is now over as its been changed to the 60-64 record.
Training last night was spinning on the rollers for 30 minutes and today is a 20 minute lapping effort on the boards.
I have 3 fishing sinkers taped to the underside of my saddle - Jens weighs 6.820kg and so I can either leave it as it is with slightly heavier pedals on or put on the lighter pedals and add another small sinker!...decisions decisions!
I'm having trouble getting to sleep..not anxiety yet..just all part of the taper since I'm not tired.
I've distributed flyers out at work headed "Want to see a Physio suffer" the answer seemed to be a 100% "YES! we want Physios to suffer".
Monday's forecast 25 degrees cloudy.

Still to do:

Check that the right amount of officials are engaged for the night
Check which weighing machine is being used and get Jens onto it
Check the cafe is still ok to be open for the evening

On the topic of "not getting sleep" I've taken to listening to audiobooks to help me drift off...this is fine when they're on CD's , but when they're on your iPod you have no idea when exactly you fell asleep. So what I propose is a device in the iPod which can detect when your brain stops being alert and will trigger it to turn off...a sort of extremely smart snooze mode.

Yikes! 5 days 10 hours to go

6 days and 9 hours to go

2010-02-23T08:09:00.000+11:00

The forecast for Monday is finally up on the BOM site and it looks like it'll be perhaps a bit on the cool side of perfect but at least I'll not be feeling ill from heat and humidity.

I had planned to get onto the track at 0800 this morning for some steady sub speed/threshold lapping, but failed to ring DISC to see if it was free so have had a lie in instead and will go a bit later at a more civilised time.

Before Phil went away to Morocco I'd told him I wouldn't be meeting his 0600 flight this morning as I was usually at the track on a Tuesday and such an early arrival was stretching the friendship to breaking point what with the airport being at least an hour's drive away. Anyhow I'm truly glad I stood my ground on that one since he'd got his days wrong on the list he'd typed out for me and he doesn't actually arrive until tomorrow! The flight into Melbourne is a daily one so had I gone to meet him I'd have been hanging round for hours waiting for him to emerge.

What luck...for both of us!!!

Yesterday I got my tyres checked and they're fine. I also had a panicked conversation with Cycling Australia following an email telling me the oldest age grade in the hour records is called 60+ rather than 60-64 and at close to 40km is not one I can better. I asked them to ensure the UCI would be granting a 65-69 record which they should since there are other records in that age group. I do hate it when these glitches come about in the final run up and wish officials would get things sorted weeks out rather than days out...it does my head in at a time when I shouldn't have these sort of worries.

Rest day today

2010-02-22T07:12:00.001+11:00

"No man is an island" and making an attempt on the hour is definitely not a one man show, it might be me up there grinding out the laps but in order to get the show on the road there have been years of help and advice from my coach Auriel Forrester, an understanding family on the home scene and a crew to help on the night.

The crew is Carl..timing/pacing...walking the line, Lawrence the provider of ice, spare wheels just in case, pre-race liaison with officials and style queen ie visual reminder when I'm starting to lose the loooong(well relatively)/stretched out/aero position and finally son Alex-general duties. Yesterday evening I met up over a "coffee" (actually lime juice cordial..yum!) with Lawrence for a briefing to make sure we were on the same page; she was track side with me on my last effort and so it was easy to refer back to what worked and what didn't that time.

Added to their tasks before and during the attempt they will also need to be there to catch me at the end of the hour, rip off my aero helmet, put on the camelback and put me on the road bike to do a few final extremely weary circuits to start off the recovery process. Experience tells me I will need 1-2 hours before the drug test can be completed, so hanging around for that long is also part of the job description for someone as I will need to be driven home.

Things yet to do: get weights for the bike, have tyres checked out and new ones glued on if needed, source an ice vest to borrow, taper wisely, stay clear of germs, eliminate walking long distances, stay cool, calm, collected, positive and confident.

Finally Baby Baum has his first blemish...bugger! actually its on the forks not the bike itself....must have happened in the car.

7 days 10 hours to go

Skinny bike, the count down and final checking continues

2010-02-21T09:04:00.001+11:00

Baby Baum aka Jens is now 70gms under weight; that's just over 2 ounces which is a mere nothing and if I can't find the malleable lead strips we used to have at work, I'll go to a fishing shop and get a couple of sinkers to tape to the seat rails.

Today's training is to be a road ride but relaxing and fun.....so it will incorporate a visit to the library to take back a TV DVD series which is missing one of the DVDs, to Anaconda to ask them to take off the security tag they disabled but left on the Camelback I bought and finally up the 1 in 20.

Yesterday I spent a greasy hour taking my SRM cranks off and then thought I might give the bike a real clean so took off the derailleur and jockey wheels and was somewhat mortified to see just how filthy it all was. I had the usual problem of getting the chain back the wrong way first up but at least this time I ensured I got the lower little wheel in the lower position.....dunh!

Despite the citrus hand wash gloop we have, it took for ever to get my hands clean and not surprisingly it gave me the same data as the gizmo the Hand Hygiene project officer brings around at work. Since it was revealed that alot of the germ problems in hospitals are caused by inadequate hand washing by all (staff, patients, visitors) they've had a drive to make us more aware of really thorough hand washing techniques.

8 days 8 hours... and I'm now starting to check out the weather forecasts. Seems we're in for a nice week with temps in the mid 20's but rising to mid 30's over the weekend, but I'm not taking this as gospel quite yet - "accuracy and weather forecasts" are not words I put together a week ahead of an event.

And while on the countdown theme..I have 39 more days of fronting up to work - but I can't get excited about this quite yet..maybe in 8 days, and 9 hours I can!

When electronic gizmos let you down

2010-02-20T11:04:00.000+11:00

as they surely will do sooner or later and Murphy's law usually has a say too.

For the last 18 months I've been training with an SRM powermeter on my road bike and since Late last year one on my track bike too. As a result I'm grooved into training with power input. My training instructions are along those lines..eg 20 min efforts at 170-180watts with a cadence of 75-85..that sort of thing,

On Monday I asked my coach how long I could expect the batteries on the cranks and the powercontrol to last since I'd like them to be working for the every km of the 3,500 km I'm going to be cycling up the length of Italy come May and June. We'd decided I'd probably better get then sorted before I left for Europe and then...bugger me... but the battery on the cranks failed totally on Thursday...did I jinx them or what?

This would have to be my only gripe about my SRM's...there was not one solitary clue that the battery was about to turn up its toes...one minute there, the next.....not.

So today's training ride (Croydon to Yarra Glen and back) was a 2 hours ride with efforts as described above but was a bit hit and miss as I had neither watts nor cadence-enjoyable for all that.

With the bike 140gm underweight I'm deciding how to fatten it up...I had thought to change the seat post, but I'm a bit anxious about changing anything and so will probable secure some lead onto the underside of the seat instead.

Uh, oh...single figures now...9 days 6 hours to go

10 days 10 hours

2010-02-19T07:17:00.001+11:00

Yesterday I spent rather alot of time in my car dashing to and from work. Not only did we have the painter in doing the final touches to our bathrooms, but I had arranged for the ratokil man to check out where the rats nest is and to put down bait.....I've had enough of rats. What a surprise!

$364 later and I have 5 baits around the place, have warned the neighbours and have destroyed the compost heap, which apparently was too enticing for the many Samuel Whiskers living and working in Croydon (link up for those not raised on Beatrix Potter stories). I also locked the cats indoors overnight and will have to for a while until Sam and his mates are dead Dead DEAD...giggles evilly.

Training last night then was multi-faceted. Core work as I huffed and heaved the compost bin over and shoveled the stuff into a bin. Speed work as I sprinted away when a rat emerged and finally steady state stuff spinning on the rollers in front of the TV while glassily watching "The Biggest Loser" and "So you think you can dance".

Today is a rest day. Alex is off to the Otway Odyssey this weekend and so spent most of yesterday do "things" to his bike, so with him over in Forrest grinding out 100km on his MTB and with Phil trail bike riding in Morocco it looks like I'm going to have one of those rare and beautiful coupla days when I can do exactly what I want, when I want and how I want yahoo! and yee ha!

Thanks to son Ben for tightening the cones on my race wheels..Ben now works at Trailmix. While at the shop, which is situated in Lysterfield Lake Park, location of the Commonwealth Games MTB race, I bought a really groovy pair of rainbow striped socks - the current trend of socks having a long cuff is ok for people who are tall, but at 162cm I ain't got much room between ankle and calf muscle and those socks look downright ridiculous on me. So these socks are the low cut variety which suit me perfectly and what's more lower the tan line.

Off to have a massage...yeah!

Final dress rehearsal...I hope

2010-02-17T19:37:00.003+11:00

This morning I hit the boards again...feels like a home from home now....for another attempt at a dress rehearsal in an effort to erase the last week's disaster from my memory.

Last week I was tired from sleeping poorly in all that crap weather. I also found I didn't like the method of keeping me on pace at all. I'd borrowed a chart which gives you seconds and tenth's of a second in bold print. However what I discovered was that having to read something every lap disturbed my concentration and so led to ..well...a disaster.

Today we used the "walk the line method" and this proved to be 100% better. So I did 3 efforts with a minor recovery between for re-hydrating and, as it turned out, letting others have a turn on the track (I was s'posed to be solo on the track but a communication break down meant that I had company...actually it worked out ok and saved me $$$$$$.).

Pacing is 1000% vital and this was what I needed to nail today and did:

With "the hour" the urge to ride as you feel has to be well and truly resisted in the first 20 minutes, which is a period when the effort should be marginal...your yells of support are heard and are very welcome.
The second 20 minutes takes forever to go by and the effort starts to feel very hard..I can still tell what's being said but am beginning to slide into the state described below.
The final 20 minutes is a lifetime long and is incredibly hard... can't hear, can't react, are in a very bad place , a"world of pain" and it is this part of the hour when your encouragement is supremely vital.

If you're reading this and live in Melbourne..please come along and yell your support. The canteen will be open so you can wet your whistle and carb load for the long haul!.

I've been asked what I think about while churning out the laps...the answer is...nothing except keeping up the speed and cadence....any deviation into "thinking about something" causes me to drop off the pace.

11 days 22 hours to go

Bloody cat

2010-02-16T07:06:00.002+11:00

I don't post very often on Facebook..more of a lurker..but here's today's input....."sheeeee-t bloody cat..another live rat in the house..this time (shudder) in order to escape the cat it decided to climb up Alex who calmly walked outside with me in the background thanking my stars it chose him and not me. Now I know they can climb that well I'm really keeping out of the way".

I love my cats but sometimes that love is sorely challenged! and thank god for a brave Alex...calmly walking outside with a rat clinging to his T shirt!! shudder shudder yeeeeetch shudder shudder.

Actually what was even more disconcerting was the way the rat ran/climbed up the outside house wall...our house is made of weatherboard ...horizontal bits of wood nailed to a frame..so it was climbing up a shiney recently painted smooth surface...scarey. Also I think I'm going to have to get some sort of ??skirt? at the bottom of each of our inside doors so at least any future rodent visitors can't get out of the room the cats are corralled in overnight.

Decent weather and a clean bill of health

2010-02-15T19:00:00.000+11:00

Woo!hoo! the temperature is in the mid 20's and all is good again. Last week I had a dress rehearsal for the hour attempt but with the incredibly exhausting weather we've been having recently and lacking a good night's sleep for about a week, I was waaay off. Started too quick (memo.. pacing, pacing, pacing you idiot ,not how you feel) and just didn't have what it took . So that's been called the dress rehearsal of the dress rehearsal and the dress rehearsal proper will take place this Wednesday.

I decided that I'd have to buy a stand alone AC unit just in case the weather turned feral again, but when I discovered they cost $600-800 decided that for that I'd could book into a motel for 8 nights!!..so that's the plan..feral weather = retreat to a motel.

and the clean bill of health?...well for my 35 day cycling trip from south to north of Italy and 'cos I'm over 60, I've had to get a doctor's certificate to say I can cope...the ignominy of it..just because I'm over 60..pffft!.

So in order to get this certificate I've had to go through a 3 stage test...

Stage 1 was heart lungs and abdo prodding in the doctor's office...pass.

Stage 2 was ECG, and blood tests as follows..glucose, cholesterol, thyroid function, liver function. All came back as well and truly ok and the technician for the ECG said she rather wished her ECG looked as good as mine!..heart rate for the test was 49. I haven't taken my resting HR recently but its always been in the low 40's, so 49bpm when up and about is good.

Stage 3...well I guess I should be grateful I have a conscientious doctor but I'm a bit peeved 'cos despite the flying colours results, he wants me to do stage 3, which is a stress test. When I booked in for the test I asked what the protocol was and was told that I'd be asked to walk on a treadmill until I got to a certain heart rate...!!! I asked if I might have to run...not likely she said..more like a brisk walk...ha! ha!..can't see there's going to be much stress in that test. something tells me I'll be running.

The test costs $464 of which I should be able to get $300 back..luckily (or unluckily) I can say I have a family history of coronary problems or I'd have have to fork out the full amount.

13 days 23 hours til I start my hour attempt

An invitation for March 1st

2010-02-12T08:39:00.000+11:00

to support me in my Hour Record attempt and I say "attempt" deliberately because with the incredibly uncomfortable/inclement weather we've been having recently my training has gone off the rails more than somewhat (its been either wet and windy, windy or very humid and hot).

The attempt will take place at DISC 5.30pm (1730) on Monday March 1st. and I'd love to have people come along and give me support since, if my recent trial is any indication, I'll need heaps of ~~verballing~~ vocal support of a raucous nature to get me over the line. The licensed caff will be open for drinks and snacks.

I'm really keen to get this in the bag as I'm also going to try for a World Best Time(Record) in the 500m TT at the Nats in April, which would make a rather unusual double. Unless someone has again sneaked in while I wasn't looking, I should be creating the WMA8 (women 65-69 year old) record for the hour, but there is a time for me to beat in the 500m TT.

Counting the days

2010-02-06T07:15:00.001+11:00

Not that I'm counting of course...much!

However this is where I'm at currently.....

I have 23 days til I make an attempt to create a World Hour Record for WMAS 8 (ie women 65-69 years old)

I have 53 days to front up for work before I cease permanent part time work permanently

I have 90 days until l I fly out to take part in the 35 day tour of Italy riding from Palermo to Como

in there somewhere but currently not being counted are the State and National Masters Track Champs (March and April respectively) where I'm going for a World Record in the 500m TT. I managed to break it in an earlier event but it couldn't be ratified as there was no drug testing/not enough officials and a few other things that made it ineligible.

The hour and the 500m records make for an interesting bookending of effort do they not.

cyclist's sun tan lines

2010-02-01T09:47:00.000+11:00

I can deal with the ones on the top of my arms and on my legs..'cos generally they're covered by shorts/trousers and shirt....what I'm struggling with is sun tanned arms and alabaster white hands.

Are there such things as backless cycle gloves?

yet another character building ride and a proud mother post

2010-01-31T13:34:00.001+11:00

with the forecast of temp in the mid to high 30's, a total fire ban somewhere in the state and high winds it was obvious no ride was going to be "fun". With having to avoid mega hill climing due my asperations on the track, my options for good long rides are quite limited.....so I reluctantly set the car off towards Black Rock .... another ride along Beach road would be the site of my suffering.

The way the flags were flapping and the boom gates swaying gave me a hint of what I was up for, so instead of going out for 1hr and then turning round, I decided it'd be Black Rock to Frankston and back no matter how long it took.

Needless to say the ride out was a soda and was done in 43 minutes, and the ride back was diabolical! Actually even the ride out was tricky with the wind coming from behind my left shoulder but veering quite a bit so occasionally as I passed a road to my left I'd be blasted directly from the left and nearly lost it a coupla times. there was no chance of sitting up hands resting lightly on the top of the bar.

On the return journey my back was giving me the hurry up (couldn't sit up ..see above) and I was thoroughly shattered. I also noted with some dismay that all the traffic lights I normally willed to be green ...WERE green but this time round I wanted them to be red! Later on I had an exuse for a long rest as a following cyclist handed me back my little saddle baggy that had apparently slipped off its mooring. I thanked him profusely and then spent a good few minutes fixing it back on..grateful for a genuine reason to stop and rest.

Ricketts Point came and went without a glance at the speedo.....who cared...not me that's for sure.

I found my car and sat like a stunned mullet for quite a while before packing up and wandering off home.

Wildside..slight error on my post re this..Rhino's not with Ben, although another mate is...Andy Bell who's riding in the vets class. Currently Ben's sitting in 7th place in the Open class with a great ride today ending up 3rd for the stage..Andy was doing fine but looks like he must have had a mega mechanical during this morning's stage.

Beach road..busy and a bit dangerous in the late morning

2010-01-30T15:32:00.000+11:00

woo!hoo! a 4 second improvement up Ricketts Point which was 88s and now is 84s and doing it tempo..no out and out "sprinting".

My 2.5 hr ride was cut short due to a costume failure(!)..no not actually..no Janet Jackson story here...but 2hrs after I put it in, my left contact lens disappeared somewhere in my eyeball..one moment I was seeing, the next I was one eyed....and this is not the first time its happened

I knew it was there somewhere 'cos of the discomfort, so I just had abort the ride and find a mirror to see where the little f*&%er had got to. Didn't find it until I was nearly home after some serious eyeball searching at every set of red lights..it was somewhere under my top eyelid.

So that was the downside...the upside was that, since I turned round early, I wasn't running out of energy when I got to the bottom of Ricketts Point and so was a happy camper with an improved time up the 700m hill just riding tempo.

And now I'd best get horizontal for a while I guess as I'll have to now do a longer ride tomorrow.....always providing my contacts stay where I put them......

Work upheavals,the week's training and holiday preparations

2010-01-30T08:35:00.002+11:00

Work upheavals:
This week has been one of those unsettling times where not only did we have Tuesday off to celebrate Australia day, resulting in a certain amount of confusion in my small brain as to exactly what day it was for the rest of the week, but there was also alot of angst amongst the managerial levels at work due to a certain "re-structuring". This of course didn't effect me except WRT the funding for my Workplace Wellness and Communications Group...will it keep going past this financial year?

This week also seems to have been when many have come back from holidays since I've been approached by rather alot of staff expressing surprise that I'm retiring....the word is out so I'd better start preparing a speech for the farewell party!

This week's training:
has been a mix of roundy roundy roundy plus 2.5 hr road rides. The weather has been calm enough for me to do laps on the outdoor track, which not only saves money but also time since the track is 400m, just over the road, from where I work. This weekend's efforts will be on the road..2 x long steady rides with today's been more effortful than tomorrow's. For the rest of the week I'll be on the track Tues and Thurs and the road for very, very easy efforts MWF.

Holiday preparations:
I'd have to confess to looking forward to changing my training over to preparing for my Italian epic, although once I start slogging uphill again the groans will be in the mega decibel range. I've started off the proceedings for getting a medical clearance..so far its blood tests and an ECG, but if the GP wants to I might end up having to have a stress test. HA!

I've got myself a new set of contact lens..they were s'posed to allow me to read maps as well as everything else, but the optician gave me the ability to read at "medium" range which leads me to wonder how many maps he gets to read and how long he thinks my arms are. However they do correct astigmatism and so that's a definite plus.

Found on a friend's facebook ...what`skill..I wonder how it ended!

Talking about highly skilled cyclists...Ben and his mate Rhino are over in Tasmania for "Wildside"..check out the website and his blog and for those who don't know him, he's the one on the right.

Well that's coffee drunk and brekky eaten, so i'm ready for whatever the day's got in store for me.. better get out and do the 2.5 hours tempo while the weather is friendly.

Weekend's training

2010-01-24T16:39:00.001+11:00

This weekend's training was accomplished at a time that allowed me to watch the full TV coverage of the final 2 days of the TDU....and it was good to see first Cadel Evans (Sat), then Trent Lowe (Sun) showing at the front of the race.

Saturday's was a 45 min TT effort with 30 mins warm up /cool down book-ending the effort, Sunday's was a gentle tootle on the rollers in front of the TV with efforts during the ads.

Tomorrow I plan going into DISC at sparrow fart to do timed laps since Tuesday (my usual DISC day) is Australia Day and a public holiday resulting in DISC being closed.

Saturday was also the first day I've had my new bars on the road bike..FSA K Force..compact (shallow drop short reach) and with a smooth curve rather than the anatomic style which I have found very uncomfortable when descending. Actually I've suffered my previous bars for quite a few years, but since I'm going to be doing a fair amount of climbing and therefore descending in Italy, a change just had to happen.

Apart from sorting out final payments and hiring a car in Sicily for 4 days, all my holiday plans are complete, and tomorrow afternoon I'm off to the quack to get a certificate of health to let the tour organisors know that, despite my advanced years, I am more than physically capable of riding a bike every day!!!!...grrrrh! the ignominy of it.....

Time limited track training

2010-01-21T19:29:00.001+11:00

yup..today's training was always going to be rushed affair. There was a hold on getting onto the track at all while the electrician did what sparkies normally do after which clocks and timers started to work again.

Then I had decided today was test the race gear day so that involved finding the wheels and pumping the tyres up to warp pressure and then ensuring I got them in dead straight as there ain't much wobble room in the baby Baum's back end. Many stoppings occured as I checked out unusual noises and but eventually I was off.

And I was happy...until there was a loud crack followed by a dopplering type noise...but no real drama,...I reconised the noise...my speed magnet had slipped of the valve hole cover and was rattling around inside the disc wheel.

Fixed that good and proper to overkill level actually and went again. This time i set my watch timer to the number of seconds I wanted to do per lap and decided to go until I'd stolen 1/2 lap on that timing. In other words I was marginally faster than the set time (which was on the generous side anyway).

12 laps later and I was finished and dashing off to work. Meeting, meeting, treat patients, where does the day go?

Sooooo I'm feeling good .......and hopefully on track to be good on the track.

A different sort of problem....

2010-01-20T19:57:00.000+11:00

Well waddya know.....Baby Baum is 140gms underweight with race wheels on....bugger!..pix up tomorrow.

I'm going to have to do some changing around of gear..probably have to lose the featherweight Schmolke seat post to the road bike...not cut off the excess length of the TT bars, put on a VERY heavy wheel magnet...what`else??!!

While typing this I've got an Italian program on the TV...SBS... and I've recognised a few words!!...can't say much, but if you want to book a table near a window, I can help you......I can also greet you at any time of the day and count to 10.......been listening to this "Learn Italian in a Week" CD for a month and as you can tell...I'm a really quick learner!

Preparations

2010-01-19T18:49:00.001+11:00

are all the go for my hols OS.

I've been checking out insurances, filling in a form for an international cycling licence for the World Road Champs in Austria, sorting out B&B's in Sicily for the 5 days prior to the start of my cycling epic and generally getting organised ridiculously well ahead of time.

I've also been getting eyes and teeth checked and a medical check up organised...something required by the tour organisor for over 60's...wot an insult.

I've got spare spokes for the Kysriums, spare cleats, wedges and shims for my shoes, Ay-up lights for those long tunnels, new luggage, a new sleeping mat and a zillion other odds and ends that apparently I can't do without. Apparently they also advise a spare derailleur hanger...just in case(!).

I would have bought the Quechua tent they suggestin order to have a go with it before I have to...but the price here is so much more than they are going to charge me to pick it up at the start of the ride that it was just not worth it.

Just gotta wait til May, only 101 days to go I think

rediscovery

2010-01-16T17:07:00.002+11:00

I found this a while ago and have just rediscovered it.....

http://www.cyclingmaven.com/tips-from-a-world-masters-pro/

or without the irritating revolving bit: http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5738967/

very funny..better go get my legs up/eat sardines

:-)

Not that I'm counting.....

2010-01-15T07:25:00.002+11:00

How many count down widgets do I need on my desktop!?

The first significant day for me is a race on March 1st...so I have a widget up and running for that date...45 days.
When I work out how to have more than 1 widget on the desktop, the second one will be a countdown to the cessation of permanent work (not actually full retirement since I'm moving onto the locum/casual list)..that date is Friday April 30th which is 14 weeks in total with about 63 days of actually having to front up at the salt mine.
Then next one will be for May 8th which is when I fly out for Liz's glorious adventure/challenge of cycling the length of Italy (3500 km in 28 days of cycling, 35 days in total)
And the one after that will be July 15th which is when I submit myself yet again to jetlag in order to ride the Alps, Pyrenees, visit Italy again, Slovenia, Austria, UK and finally USA.
And after that...well who knows what the future brings

but ...you gotta enjoy life while you still can....right?!

I've added a few more blog titles to my blog roll and brought a few details up to date

new baby

2010-01-13T16:25:00.001+11:00

So here is my new baby ...Jens. A really light Ti Baum track bike.

An empty bank balance not only gives you a light bike, it also gives you really classy welds

A featherweight Schmalke seat post

and rear drop outs that have a sort of aero covering for the nuts. Wi Ked!...Flash

With these wheels on it scrapes in as legal and so will be a bit over with disc and 4 spoke. Test ride tomorrow at DISC 8am

Training in the heat again

2010-01-11T05:42:00.000+11:00

Once again I'm up so early I'm probably the only person awake for miles. It's s'posed to be 41 degrees C today, although I've not checked for an update so yet again I'm into the hot weather training mode...get up early, train, sleep do what ever has to be done (the bare minimum) go to bed. Repeat.

I had planned to put stuff on ebay yesterday but never got near the computer.
I had planned on completing the hotel bookings for Sicily, but never got near the computer. etc etc

From all this you can ascertain that I don't enjoy hot humid days. However today is Monday so instead of sleeping after training I have to go to work..but at least its air conditioned unlike our house. Actually late in the day yesterday I checked the temp and found it was hotter inside than out!

!@#$%^&*()!! just checked and its going to be 43-44 degrees C hmmm! wails pathetically, breaks out in sweat in anticipation!

Training in the heat

2010-01-10T07:27:00.000+11:00

Up again at a very early hour to beat the heat and hopefully I'm well hydrated today. I thought I was well hydrated yesterday but after a massive failure to complete the set efforts, I drank enough water/electrolytes/juice/recovery drink/coffee etc etc etc to sink the navy (as they say) so perhaps I wasn't. ... well it WAS 38.3 at noon in town.

If I get too overheated I'll bail and take the train home, using my Senior's Card for free transport!!!..I've finally managed to put it with the other cards I take with me while out riding.

Anyhow today is a "social/easy' ride and should be completed before the temperature gets too high. We're s'posed to be in the garden dong weeding etc later today, but I suspect it will be another DVD epic as we watch the 40th -44th episodes of :Secret Army" or perhaps flick over to its spoof "'Allo Allo". Or perhaps I need to bite the bullet and put my stuff up on ebay

Any typos are the fault of my contacts..can't read with them in even although one is s'posed to be multi focal.....

Training and cat waffle

2010-01-08T08:04:00.001+11:00

All seems to be on track (pun intended) with my training with a motorpacing sessions yesterday at DISC going really well. The difference not working full time has to be well and truly acknowledged...should have done it sooner.

Last weeks power test sessions on the roads indicate that no matter how hard we've tried, my best power output which I can keep up for quite a long time is at grind cadence. I'm no Lance Armstrong (thank god) I'm a Jan Ullrich (hmmmmm). On the track I've been gradually upping the gear inches attempting to discover which is my sweet spot for the various races I do and naturally as I up the gear inch the cadence decreases..if it didn't my name would be Jeannie or Lance and I'd be a world beater at any age.

This is also important for road TT's as over the past year or two I've been going for increasing cadence but my TT'ing has been awful which I had assumed was fatigue and age..but maybe just maybe it was also as a result of changing my riding style....we'll see next TT season.

A group of us at work had half thought we might go in for the Murray to Moyne 24 cycle relay in March ..but yesterday we realised we'd left our organisation far too late. Getting the riders together was no trouble...it was the rest of the organisation that was going to be a problem. So sadly, that project has been scrapped.

My 35 day cycle from Palermo to Como (actually 28 days on the bike over the 35 days) is getting closer. This is going to be a gigantic challenge for me as I'm just not used to riding >100 hilly kms day after day after day. My racing tends to be from a 500m dash around the track to a max of 90 minutes, so this is going to take me out of my comfort zone into a world of DIScomfort.

Cat waffle..

Sometime later this year we might all be OS at the same time for a short period and so I've been trying to work out what to do with the cats. I did think of getting someone to house sit but this week's offerings/cat related catastrophes(again pun intended) have made me quash that thought......so in order of play:

1. Over the weekend ...Pippi, a cat with very long fur, short legs and a balance issue sat down in the kitty litter tray before she should...which resulted in one VERY smelly cat, a disgusting clean up for us and a visit to the vet for Pippi to have nether region fur shave/trim.

2. Monday....Flea, the other cat can't keep soft food down and so when he can't resist temptation ends up noisily and copiously chucking. The reason he chucked this time was discovered in the rumpus room...result...clear up vomit and dead bloody carcass, chase feathers over the entire house etc etc

3. Thursday...dead rat. plus wipe up result of purging grass eating.

4. Today/Friday...dead rat.

I think the cattery is the best option but too many more weeks like that and they might be meeting with a nasty accident....

New Year training and a good blog read

2010-01-05T05:58:00.000+11:00

I guess most of us have favourites amongst pro cyclists....way back in history I used to follow Big Mig, then Erik Zabel and more recently...(well for quite some time now actually, I'm not one of those who've suddenly come out of the closet since his horrific crash last year)...Jens Voigt.

So this post in a blog caught my eye and will probably loom large in my training reports from now on:

http://cyclocosm.com/2010/01/calculate-your-jens-factor/

However I think there are two items missing: rain and getting up BEFORE sparrow fart to complete your training as I have to do in order to get time training on the incredibly popular, regularly totally booked-out indoor velodrome.

I will also use it during my 35 day tour from Palermo to Como which starts on May 15th and which already has influenced my training habits. Normally if there's a hint of rain I'll train indoors, but last Friday and again on Sunday I was of a mind to bite the bullet since when on a tour from A to Z(Palermo to Como) you ride whatever the weather.

The long weekend's training therefore was a bit damp but I managed to do what I was s'posed to ie a 45min TT effort on New Years Day and a 20 min power test up the 1 in 20 on Sunday. The power test had been done before and was better, although the word grind featured rather strongly, the TT session was longer and harder than before...I just wish there was somewhere closer than near Hanging Rock to do this sort of training...long stretches of quiet roads with minimal climbing are very hard to find.

The first clear out

2009-12-27T15:23:00.000+11:00

Well, Christmas is over and once again its taken its usual course..too much rush followed by too much food and drink followed by too much stupor!

I've managed to get out on the bike each day but the efforts have been more of a holding pattern than an advancement into greater heights of fitness, although today I went out on an epic drive to get to an area without any traffic lights where I could do a 30 min big chain ring TT effort...there really must be something closer than near Hanging Rock (100km from home).

After a wild scrabble searching for my camera..many things are still "lost" after our renovations, I've managed to take a few pix of things we'll be putting on eBay soon. You get a preview and a chance to buy direct if you want.

Once back at work I'll have to start organising a team for the Murray to Moyne 24hr bike relay, I've got 3 definites already with 2 possibles..but its not the riders so much that will stretch my ingenuity as finding a back up crew and minibus.

Well that's it..gotta get horizontal again..don't want to miss my afternoon nap!

Renovations and clearing out gear

2009-12-21T08:49:00.000+11:00

Over the past few months our house has gone through a major renovation or three. As a result we've realised just how much "excess to requirements" cycling gear we have.

So we're about to have a big garage sale..firstly via this blog for friends and blog readers (tnx Bellie for the idea) then whatever doesn't go via ebay .

MTB, road and track stuff....wheels, bike boxes, trainers, rollers, TT bars (non UCI ok for Triathletes), chain rings, cogs and clusters you name it, we're getting rid of it.

Be patient though....the Xmas break will give us time to get it all together and photographed and then we're off and running. Price will be a mutually agreed figure...not giving the stuff away, but also not wanting to fleece you.

Melbourne peeps..happy to deliver to any of my usual haunts..Eastern suburbs/Beach Road/DISC..otherwise transport cost will have to be added to the price .

3 days of cycling work rather than play

2009-12-19T20:23:00.004+11:00

First there was volunteering at Hisense on Wednesday for the Revolution5+Austral..bit disappointing both racing and spectator- wise, I thought and actually I nicked off early.....

My second volunteering moment came at the Aus Madison champs at DISC on Friday night. MUCH better..full house, exciting racing, better atmosphere, although I drowned in the free large size shirt ..too big for anyone in my family...could fit 3 of us in it and there's still be room for another!

My job was to keep the hoi polloi in the back straight in order(!!!) ...no prob actually although 1 very, VERY grouchy man refused to show me his ticket "how do you think I got in" he snarled...I didn't bother to point out he could have a standing only ticket at 1/4 the price...what did I care.

Third came my club duty today...at METEC doing the start/ finish for the Eastern Vets crit event.

Enough already!

Phil's in Sydney with family, Alex going away for a coupla days to Bright (gateway to the Aus alps) with friends......."Peace Perfect peace with loved ones far away" is what the hymn says!

Arrivederci.
A dopo!

My week for volunteering

2009-12-17T06:09:00.003+11:00

I'm somewhat agin people who take heaps out of their sport and give nothing back, but how can I, me, myself give something back to the cycling fraternity? I'm not sure I want to coach, I think being a commissaire is waaaaay beyond me (eyesight, age and don't really know the rules anyway!) and so I'm dipping my toe in the volunteering pond.

Last night I sold programs at Hisense during the "Revolution+the Austral" event. As the newbie, I got the "least likely to sell anything" position, and although I got to see plenty of people I knew, without exception they'd bought their progams from someone else. I tried suggesting they take them back for a refund, but to no avail. I think I managed to sell 39 by the end of the evening. And what did I gain from all this? Positive:free T shirt, food, entry, and car parking and "giving something back" negative: sore feet, sore back. Actually the crowd wasn't very big......was it promoted enough or was it the stinking hot weather......the 39 programs I managed to sell were promoted as being a great fly swat as well as good reading value!

A glutton for punishment, my halo goes back on tomorrow at DISC for the Madison...ushering in the front straight...different shoes I think and at least my back wont get so sore...standing still is not one of the things I do with ease, so maybe next time I specify no program selling.

I'm busily harassing my travel agent to organise my flights to Italy in May as I think there are some good deals happening and once she's got that in gear, then I can book hotel rooms in Palermo for the day or so before the ride actually starts and in whichever city I'm travelling from before I fly out. I'm excited!

I'm also starting to learn Italian much to the enduring amusement of all at work. I've got a teach yourself Italian CD which I play in the car and then practise what I've learnt on an Italian co-worker. The only problem is.....by the time I get from the car park into the gym, I've forgotten what I've been listening to! So far I can order a bottle of wine (red/white/house) and bread...that I CAN remember! I can also say hello, goodbye and is everything ok! and I'm a whizz at various food items..you know them too...spag blog, pizza, espresso, cappuccino.....and I know the word for a bicycle!..bicicletta. Impressionante!

Sufferfest

2009-12-13T17:28:00.003+11:00

Today's ride was to be 3-31/2 hours and the weather was perfect for a ride...cool, bit windy with a forecast of occasional showers. Where to go?..dangerous anywhere at this time of year, but I needed to visit a friend in hospital and so a ride in towards town got the nod. I divided the ride into cruisey, then working hard along Springvale road and along Beach road up til Black Rock then cruisey up until TFM and the coffee stop. After that hospital visit time and train home.

Generally speaking it was pretty eventless apart fromthe feral traffic and being missed..and only just missed by a spitting cyclist ahead of me. As I passed I made some comment..can't recall what, but received no apology... a pig with no manners at all.

And then while waiting for a latte to arrive during my break 2/3 the way thought the ride, I noted that if you have a fair amount of wobbly fat around your glutes, wearing no underwear and moderately close fitting long tights is NOT a good look. On the other hand the grey haired Italian gentleman who was gawking so much he nearly tripped over himself would probably disagree!

Home, download SRM data, shower and doze.

OK its time to let the cat out of the bag-2010 plans

2009-12-10T19:52:00.012+11:00

2010 will see a rather dramatic life style change for me -I'm stopping regular work and will move the the "Casual" list, allowing me to work when/if required to fill in for people going on annual leave but if and only if it fits in with my plans!...as a result of this I am going to have the time to follow a few dreams while I still physically can...and rather unsurprisingly all my dreams are on the energetic side ;-) .

Early this week I got to counting the amount of days I had left to work until July 14th which is when I am going to stop part time work..yes I was bored and fed up... but somehow the ~140 days I counted felt far too many. Then I had a Eureka moment...rather than working through to 14/7/10 and then use up my annual and long service leave why not get smart and use it up before that date? Having got that far I then had a carpe diem moment (probably because I'd been talking about my will)...hey you can't tell what you're going to be fit for in 2011 can you? so why not do in 2010 what you had planned for 2011, as well as the already planned 6 week jaunt.

So what's this all leading up to?

During May/June I'm going on a cycling trip that will take me from Palermo to Como over 35 loooong days. The accommodation is mostly camping with 5 nights in hotels, there are 7 rest days (Etna, Lorica, Pompeii, Rome-2 days,Florence and Venice) and the distance ridden each day depends on how much ascent is involved..ie the days in the Dolomiti are naturally short in kms but high in effort. The best known ascent is the Stelvio. I should come back looking like a fit, bronzed skeleton and these pages should be replete with all sorts of pix and tales of triumph or despair.

Part of this trip is the requirement that I do some fund raising for OCF..the Oncology Children's Foundation, a non profit organisation that seeks a cure for childhood cancers. So I will have to arrange some event or other or go begging or perhaps sell off some of my copious "surplus to requirements" cycling bits and pieces.

So that's the big news for 2010...on top of all that, there is also the following.....

I've got a few track events happening in the early months of the year..more on that later.
During late July/August/ September I'm back OS for a week each in the Alps, the Pyrenees, Palaia in Tuscany (which is within easy reach of Florence, Siena, Pisa and the Island of Elba), Venice, Slovenia, Austria (World Masters Road Champs), 2 days in UK then time with some friends in USA.
I arrive home in time for the Aus Road champs and to be a spectator or volunteer in the World Road Champs in Geelong.
Then I think I might need a rest!

Tuesday's track time

2009-12-09T07:25:00.004+11:00

Up early as usual, I'd checked the emails/facebook/twitter, had breakfast and dragged the washing out of the machine before I bothered looking outside. I'd checked the forecast the day before and it was for "showers", so I wasn't surprised to have to hang the washing "in" rather than "out" but I WAS surprised on my journey into the velodrome to find that the "showers" in the inner suburbs were more like "rain" or "storms". Since we're just not used to driving in the rain and also 'cos commuting cyclists opted to drive, the traffic had slowed to a crawl and it took me an age to get there. Lucky to get there at all when a bus on my left went through a large puddle engulfing the car in a green wave causing me temporary blindness.

In any other velodrome but DISC, rain is not a problem, but my home velodrome has a couple of characteristics that make it unique, one of which is a leaking roof...it also used to shower the track with metal shards every time the wind blew causing many many punctures, but that seems to have stopped.

However when I finally got there I found that the previous day there'd been some work on the roof and the leaks, so plentiful during the Omnium had been reduced to just a couple over the track itself and a few more on the infield. The tradies who'd done the job were pacing around inspecting their handiwork checking where more work needed to be done...is this the end of having to cancel indoor racing 'cos of rain??!!

So the task for the session was to replicate the previous week's session using 49/14(94.5 gear inch) rather than 52/15(93.6), see how it felt and how my cadence matched up...no point in going higher if cadence drops and the end result is not an improvement.It felt ok...now I just have to look at the two sets of numbers..see if they tell me anything.

Memo to self: remember to drink more...the numbers as indicated by my heart rate are indicating (so my coach says) that I'm getting too dehydrated on long rides.....drink more! drink more!...water that is ;-)

Maintaining genuine part time hours is quite difficult and retirement or moving off permanent part time onto the casual list is looking more and more attractive but sadly the job I vacated still has not been filled. We had high hopes last week but we're still waiting and hoping.

I really can't leave them in the lurch...not after working there since 1985.. Sometimes loyalty is a curse!

Sunday's training

2009-12-07T06:40:00.003+11:00

For some reason, I could NOT get myself to go outside to ride today, even although the weather was really nice. However I did get a very good training session happening on the Tacx ergo with a Virtual Opponent..one who always has to be first across the many "FINISH" lines over the course I opted to ride and which took me 1 hr 43.33 minutes! Masochistic!

This was followed by a loooong drink, a shower and change of clothes and a sleep!

Before putting myself through this character building torture, I sorted out how to check my TT position on the bike...I'd seen some pix of me racing the omnium and noted how bad my position was while racing and decided I needed to train in a TT position a bit more. But how to make sure it was as good as it can be.

Solution...webcam. I already have one webcam which I use on Skype when chatting with my coach and assorted family members in UK, but decided to buy another one for the computer in the "training room". I dragged my camera tripod into the room, placed the webcam somewhat precariously on top, positioned the bike and it and the computer so that I was able to ride in a good position while watching the monitor. After getting all the equipment positions right I then pedalled and pedalled and checked and altered things and pedalled some more, and wore my TT helmet and ......etc etc. Perfect practise makes perfect....

The bathroom renovations are almost complete, although we need a bit of painting done to finish the task totally. I've managed to ignore most of the dust around the place for quite a while now, but (dammit!) will soon lose the excuse of "what's the point there'll only be layers more tomorrow" and so have started flicking dusters around in a desultory manner.

I'm talking retirement plans openly now, with a view to sometime mid 2010...but now I'm thinking, talking,planning it, I really want it to happen NOW!

Beach Road Scene

2009-12-06T07:37:00.006+11:00

Its a while since I've been to Beach Road and I'd not realised there'd been a bit of a change of scenery with John Kennedy's shop closing down...I think I must have been burying my head in the sand..I'm sure everyone else this side of the globe knew that bit of info.

I was planning to ride to Frankston and back, but my SRM decided to throw a nervy turn and I spent much of my time by the roadside, bike upside down trying to get the thing to work. First I had watts and cadence, then I had heart rate and speed then I had nothing and finally when I'd let the thing go to sleep totally I had everything again. What a drama queen it was being.

On the way out I decided to give the Anna Meares Challenge up Ricketts Point a bit of a try...she'd done 52.6s for the 700m and I reckoned that a WMAS8 enduro with zero fast twitch fibres should be happy with anything that was better than 100% slower. My first attempt was ~88 seconds...

I can improve on that..... and will.

I think I'll set a goal of high 70's...77 seconds maybe. I'll give it another try in a couple of weeks....anyone else?

For some of this challenge it seems I was under water!

Usain Bolt?

2009-11-30T12:46:00.001+11:00

Bonding in the face of aversity

2009-11-30T06:46:00.003+11:00

Over my competitive life (100 years and counting) the days I recall most vividly are those when merely to survive was a major achievement.... for example at an orienteering event near Daylesford about 30 years ago.Alex and I left Melbourne in sunshine and appropriate clothing and ended up competing in a howling blizzard with creek crossings roped and manned. After I'd survived my course without succumbing to hypothermia, I took 7 yr old Alex round his course and had to ford those same creeks with him on my back.

There are quite a few such days in my memory..some commemorated by T shirts telling the world "I survived.......". Those of us who were there recall them in vivid detail and still reminisce about them.

Actually looking back at that particular event we were more than a bit gung ho and I wonder why on earth I risked taking Alex out in such conditions.... "risk management" wasn't a phrase we knew back then...

This weekend's country track champs sounds as though it fits into this category.. not dangerous maybe but definitely memorable. So while metro club members were swanning around indoors on the boards, the country club members were fighting the elements and yes we're all glad to have the rain, but maybe not just then and not just there. Facebook is already overflowing with pix and comments and there's no doubt that those select few involved will be recalling the details for years to come.

New bikes-track and road
Damn! I wish I'd not forgotten to grow. With Welsh and Scottish ancestors, plus a post war diet, I ceased growing at just under 5 foot 4 inches and of course have now shrunk some.

This is a major problem when getting a bicycle to fit and is one of the reasons I didn't get into racing earlier in my life...bikes in the 80 and 90's just didn't fit..too long in the top tube. Even now with the so called "women's fit" range the only solution for me to have a high end bike that actually fits me is to go custom made. Expensive? yes..especially if you go to one of the best builders..Baum but there is another problem - I'm not the only person going custom made and the wait is up to 3 months. It will be worth the wait, but the agony of waiting.....can I do this?.....yes I can....I have patience.....

Another weekend, another race

2009-11-28T17:23:00.003+11:00

This weekend its the Metro champs...country champs too but my club is a metro one, so we get to race indoors.. country champs are outdoors and the weather is a bit damp.

I entered the TT only as I have a mind to get a World Best Time/World Record..the one I ended up 6/100's of a second shy of at the Worlds.

I also wanted to explore the theory that a smaller chain ring gets you up to speed quicker than a bigger one. My normal gear for the 500m TT is 51/15 ie 91.8 gear inch, for the TT at the Omnium last week I tried 44/13 ie 91.4 gear inch and today I tried 48/14 which is 92.6.

My usual 1st lap is 25 seconds...today it was 24.8s and with a final time of 43.677s my second lap was 18.877s. I felt absolutely shot at the end and thought I'd done a 45 (I find reading with contacts in a bit difficult!) so went back to my rollers thinking WTF...I'm going backwards. Then someone came up and congratulated me and I discovered I'd won and done a good time! Sorta stopped feeling PO after that.

Soooo...I done good, although since there weren't enough time keepers and no drug testing it's unofficial, so just gotta do it again later on in the season.

My reward...a handful of choc covered peanuts and a beer...not at the same time though!

Womens Omnium-done and dusted and a new goal or two.

2009-11-23T05:46:00.007+11:00

47 exhausted women competitors struggled out of DISC late yesterday after a day's racing which had started about 7 hours before.

The Omnium is cycling answer to the Pentathlon in Athletics. We race a flying 200, Scratch, Pursuit, Points and 500m TT all in one day, the middle 3 races in the list all being shorter than usual. With 47 riders there was never any problem with the rule stating you must have 30 minutes between races.

Melbourne is famous for often providing 4 seasons in one day, but yesterday it contented itself with just 1...pouring rain, for which we are truly grateful, especially if it also fell over the reservoir catchment areas. However, although initially I thought..good I'm scheduled to ride indoors today, I'd totally forgotten about DISC's roof....AKA sieve.

Scheduled to start at 1100, that time came and went and we'd not even been allowed to get on the track to warm up as there were wet areas all over the place. Eventually, with regular dabbing with towels by a bevy of helpers we started the competition off with the Pursuit...at least the low down wet areas could be easily dealt with, there was one rather large puddle low down on the back straight which meant the start gates were placed higher up than usual. The dabbing kept on during the entire day, but once the pursuit was completed the "dabbers" had it under control and the rest of the competition flowed on.

As for my racing...there were 8 masters riders entered and after a quick look at the list of riders, which comprised 30-44 year olds, my goal became..see if you can avoid being lapped in the mass start races, and try out different gears in the others. And that's what I did.

So using 48/14 for every race except the TT...
I rode a simple appalling Pursuit ...I dunno, I've lost the plot on how to ride this race,
an OK flying 200m...def not my race...I keep having to ask how many laps I'm s'posed to ride!
I was lapped only in the final sprint to the line in both the points and scratch races
and finally after a day long "warm up" and riding 44/13 was only .2 sec slower than at the Worlds in the 500m TT.

So, having buried my watch somewhere or other at the start of the day, I dragged my sorry butt home to find Phil had already had his meal and that it was after 7pm. The car remained packed and since I haven't yet found my watch I still didn't know what time it was when I staggered downstairs this morning!

This week's training continues as before..endurance stuff, peppered with 2 gym sessions and T'ai chi and for next weekend another trial of 44/13 in the 500m TT as I've entered the Vic Metros Champs. Since I'm going to be racing for less than a minute(!) I must organise myself even more thoroughly...3 trips into the velodrome for a day's racing is ok..3 trips for 44 seconds is not ok.

New Goals

I'm a goal orientated person so when I find something to challenge myself I'm a very happy camper and yesterday I found 2 new goals, one doable, one...probably not!

I decided to do all my warming up on rollers rather my usual ergo trainer..the reason being that with the ergo I have a tendency to stay on it too long. So there I was warming up on rollers when who should park herself in front of me but Helen Kelly, fresh from the World Cup and who I know would be an ace on the rollers. Time to look and learn Liz!

So look and learn I did and as a result here are my new goals on the rollers:
Numero uno: to be able to stand up and do efforts.
Numero duo: to be able to take off a shirt while happily pedalling (and staying upright).

The first one I will be able to manage, the second one........nah!..worth a try though?

So to deconstruct the challenges of the second goal..firstly smooth pedalling cos no hands (natch)...impeccable core strength to maintain balance while dealing with the added external perturbation of getting out of the shirt plus also the momentary loss of visual input.

Hmm...I think I'll start testing for this one by pedalling no hands with eyes closed briefly, then add waving hands around to mimic the shirt off bit.......if I can get that far and not break bones, then I'll go for broke (pun intended).

And finally next Monday Phil and I will be celebrating our ruby wedding anniversary...40 years!!

sigh..I just love this country!

2009-11-20T09:55:00.003+11:00

this image will end up on the right side of the page, but just for now it's here so you can all see it....

Today's ride..what a peach!

2009-11-15T16:10:00.006+11:00

Now this was a truly great ride and is one that I'll be doing again..more than once. Part of this ride is a section of Ben's daily commute...and with a twice daily hilly ride like that who needs a more structured training regime.

The aim was to do the whole loop ie all the way home but I was getting rather sunburnt on the back of my neck and so bailed at Lilydale and took the train. I am very smug that I'd used none of the escape routes that were available should I need them and I was in no difficulty physically and could have continued..... but sun burn aint much fun.

So what did I see on my 4 hour ride......

lots and lots of boys and their toys...motorbikes +++++++++ and vintage sports cars driven by menopausal males. Plus many many cyclists...but all going the other way to me except for 2. I'm pretty certain I saw a group from one of my cycling clubs...Eastern Vets.
heaps of road kill one of which was particularly smelly
2 little rabbits, nose to nose talking to each other in the middle of the road...what's up Doc!
great views then sad burnt views

I suspect from a comment my coach made, that this may well be the last of the unstructured training rides for a while, but I think I might sneak it in again sometime soon.....

A great ride during which I solved one of life's great mysteries

2009-11-14T12:36:00.005+11:00

Today's ride in the sun was early -ish and solo, giving me heaps of time to think. No dramas about not finding the sunscreen today...when I finally hunted it down last weekend I put it in a very unsafe place in plain view and true to type, there it stayed .

What I did was a 2 hours+ out into rural industry territory. A truly lumpy area; if not going up, then going down. I only saw one other cyclist and since he was the variety with the anti Magpie zip ties sticking out of his helmet I kept well clear(!)..truly its NOT a good look and is a lot worse, I think, than being buzzed by the maggies.

Later on, as I replaced the left ear bud of my iPod for the umpeenth time, I suddenly hit on the reason for this problem (see previous post about my asymmetrical ear holes) and realised its not my earholes that are the problem ...its my brain.

You see I'm a logical person and around me is an arid zone when its comes to arty farty-ness.. Left brain logic/ right brain arty farty..you know...differently abled -can draw/paint/dance fantastically but struggles with life's neccessities.

Soooooo......since my right brain is well and truly under developed, there's obviously going to be a bit of a vacuum there..vacuum/empty space =sort of suction? right?? hence the right ear bud gets sort of sucked into my ear hole and stays there...got it?

Then my left brain is well and truly OVER developed...works all the time lots of action there thoughts and ideas rushing past..creating a sort of centrifugal force which naturally impacts on my earhole causing my left ear bud to fall out ....... ......yes?

Ok, ok...well I was struggling up a rather long hill when i thought of this, so maybe this time the left brain wasn't actually working at all!

and tomorrow? well Ben has told me where I'm going (weather permitting) so I may not be able to post for a while and I certainly wont be able to think thoughts, crazy or otherwise , going up the hills he's told me about.....!

Yay! its Friday again

2009-11-13T19:18:00.003+11:00

The week's gone far too quickly.

Monday gym, Tuesday 2 hr ride with a 20 min hill effort during which I felt strong and good, Wednesday t'ai chi, Thursday 3 x 10 minute efforts at the track (pathetic, couldn't complete and a waste of time) Friday gym and now I'm once more up for a weekend of 2-3 hour rides.....

Saturday's epic ride..or how fatigue and logic don't live together

2009-11-08T07:18:00.009+11:00

5pm Friday and with my colleagues ensuring I knew where I was s'posed to be going (strategy) I set off for the gym. Not only did I "set off for the gym", I also got there, went in and stayed for about 45 minutes. A-mazing! 10 mins sitting on
one of those awful gym bikes followed by a drift round various machines ending up with the incline leg press. Talk about feeling virtuous.

The order from she who must be obeyed for this weekend was 2 x 2-3 hr rides with the second one being a bit easier. So the plan for Saturday was home to Beach Road and around to town, then catch the train home. Sunday was to be the 1 in 20 loop plus a bit extra if necessary but as it turned out I'd more than done enough on Saturday

House renovations have left me totally bewildered as to where things are...clearly in a "safe" place..if only I knew which safe place! So my exit on Saturday was delayed by the search for this that and the other, but especially the sunscreen since it was wall to wall blue sky and with an expected top in the mid 30's.

I eventually left sans screen but with the intention of grabbing a sample daub from somewhere or other. When I got to Black Rock I realised that I didn't have too much cash on me either..enough for the obligatory coffee and munchie but not for the train trip home (for some reason my card wont work in quite a few machines..car parks, train tickets etcetc), so having got the sunscreen the next quest was a bank..preferably "my" bank since I didn't really want to pay extra for using any old bank's ATM.

It was at this point, riding into a block head wind down Beach Road that fatigue took over ...I mean really, why on earth did I keep on looking for "my" bank? $2 isn't all that much extra to pay. So...MUCH later..probably Richmond/Hawthorn area I finally spied an ATM I could use. Cashed up my next task was to find food/drink and then a train...HA! food/drink no prob, but a train?

Found one eventually..somewhere past Box Hill and in the mean time had an interesting moment or 2 being monstered by a blue ute driver who clearly didn't want to share the road and being far too close to a fender bender just behind and to my right. With a ride time of 3 hours 45 mins I finally got home to sink into oblivion in front of the TV. Needless to say Sunday's ride was just the 1 in 20 loop!

Hooning down the Mt Dandy Tourist Road from Olinda I had cause to muse over the "new" road rules that forbid cars to cross a single solid white line..at the top the road is pretty narrow and has the aforementioned single solid white line...does this mean I'm now going to be monstered into the gutter by drivers intent on following the letter of the law?

Thankfully today is a rest day and tomorrow is "put a marker in the sand" day. I have to do a 20 minute hill effort..ie the 1 in 20 done at a concentrated pace. I know where 20 minutes at cruising pace takes me to, so it'll be interesting to see where on the hill 20 minutes takes me to tomorrow.

Hmm memo to self....pacing needs to be steady.

Training, training, training

2009-11-06T07:05:00.003+11:00

Enough of this waffle crap...training is now first and foremost in my mind; the slow gear up towards the next goal...and my tasks are to increase fitness and strength, lose weight (again), sort out equipment.

Increase fitness and strength.
Now I'm working part time and have shed a leadership role I'm hoping I will have more energy for training. I've also reluctantly gone back into the gym. I hate gym work . Previously I was sponsored by Croydon Leisure Centre and was very grateful for that sponsorship but there was a problem..since I wasn't haemorrhaging from my hip pocket, there was no compelling reason to get there and justify the expense. Yesterday I joined a different gym and in order to kick myself in the hip pocket (strategy!) I paid in a lump sum so I would REALLY notice it!! Today I'll go and heave some weights around...promise.

Lose weight
Gotta get skinny again. Just need to stop enjoying empty calories. STOP ENJOYING EMPTY CALORIES LIZ!

Sort out equipment
**I am indulging in a coupla new bikes. Custom made by Baum. I'm going the whole hog - a moving into part time/pre-retirement present while I'm still earning $$$.
**I have to source a UCI legal integrated TT bar that also doesn't weight a ton. I'm checking out the following...Shimano PRO missile, 3T mistral pro, Profile Design CX3 and Alpina (?linked to Dolan)
**Gears: since the Worlds (was it only 2 weeks ago?) I've been staring at the gear chart trying to work out other gear combinations for my TT and pursuit races. For ease more than anything else, I've tended to keep a 15 cog on and just changed the chain rings around...50, 51 or 52, however a chance comment in our apartment in Parramatta during the Worlds week led me to think differently. My problem has always been what gear to use in the TT, since if its too heavy I can't start quickly but can kick on, but conversely if its too light I spin out well before the end. Somehow the concept that a smaller chain ring might possibly give one a quicker start up from the gate has totally been off my radar for ever...is it myth or fact?

Training session yesterday was 3 x 10 efforts at ~ or just below threshold on the road or track. The weather was iffy and the only place to do 10 mins uninterrupted efforts on the road was too far away, so off to DISC I went.
My TT gear tends to be 51/15 (91.8) so I decided to give 48/14 (92.6) a go to see how it felt. I changed the cog first then attempted to put the chainring on. 10 minutes later I gave up..the little bugger would not go onto my SRM thingey..the fit was just too tight. Actually my race chain rings are also a very neat fit, but this just one would not go on, tightening all but the last screw wouldn't encourage it to click into place and rotating it to see if a different combo might just work was also unsuccessful.

!@#$%!

I left the 14 on and did my 3 x 10 min efforts on a larger gear than intended..49/14.(94.5) ! Well.. no standing starts attempted but I got through the session alright and chugged into work late in the morning ready for the fray and an afternoon of 3 meetings...gotta shed these committees soon, after all now I'm just a worker bee/ant.

Rest day today apart from that promised session in the gym and I'll try and stay there for more than 5 minutes. Honest.

Ever so reluctantly back at work

2009-11-02T18:14:00.005+11:00

Work:
First day back today after a 2 week break from the salt mine.

For the past 3 days I've been on a 2hr ride up the 1 in 20, a 3hr rde into and out of town in stinking hot weather and finally a 2 hr Beach Road ride..but nothing, repeat NOTHING saps the energy quite so much as walking on the " industrial thickness" (ie not thick at all) carpet in a cement floored work place. Bummer!..thinks ...retirement plan in place..but pretty please can we speed this up? A major fly in the ointment though is that I gotta stay til at least this time next year, if only to tap into the sweet tax deal we hospital workers have for salary packaging /tax exempt holiday accommodation costs (6 weeks in Europe happening next July/August).

Grits teeth. Can I hang on. am I burnt out yet or just singed at the edges??!!

So today I went back to work and tomorrow's a public holiday (how's that for planning!) 'cos tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day. Those of us living in metro Melbourne are truly blessed for we get a extra day off work ...in order to worship the mighty horse and its race. Actually since I don't want to either wear a hat or get drunk in the car park I'll not be a Flemington, I'll be on a 3 hr bike ride. If I win anything in the sweepstake, it'll be a first after 37 years of trying! my horse is called Allez something or other, which by mere fact that I have it in the sweep has doomed it to failure.

Training:
My current training is "base" so tomorrow's ride will be 3 hours and will take in the hilly northern suburbs..I fancy a bit of masochism. I think I will try the grovel up from the Yarra river at Warrandyte and see how far I get before I wimp.

No matter what, I will NOT be "going for a ride".......tomorrow I will be TRAINING. For I have work to do; a goal has been set and I am focussed.

And finally: On how too much time using a lap top can give you a pain in the arse

After my races in Sydney I developed a mega upper back/neck pain caused, I suspect, by poor posture during mega lap top usage. I couldn't lift my head off the pillow nor turn my head to safely back the car without huge pain. Desperate for something..anything, I suffered a massage at the track..which was good but very painful. This was followed by two days of post treatment soreness but didn't get rid of the discomfort completely. Finally I managed to get an appointment with my regular masseur and now finally I can sleep .

In the time in between arriving home and having my regular masseur fix me, I was extremely uncomfortable on the bike. I seemed to be sitting twisted, putting pressure on a boney part of my pelvis that didn't like it. I checked the saddle and its alignment but all was as usual. The discomfort disappeared completely after the final massage which only goes to prove my contention that lap tops are indeed a pain in the butt.

Memo to self: lap tops need to be placed in a better position..not too low and not too high.....

Hellllp!
If there is anyone reading this blog who knows which integrated TT bars are UCI legal, I'd love to have details.....

Asymmetry ..a hardly worth reading post

2009-10-24T07:07:00.007+11:00

A while ago I was told that I was sitting diagonally across my track bike and somewhat later I hauled myself off to Steve Hogg of Pedal Pushers fame and got myself straightened out via a coupla wedges between cleat and shoe. Actually I'd seen someone else regarding it a bit earlier but an altered shoe insert had only resulted in permanently flattened toe nails as the alteration needed to take place on my bigger foot.

Bigger foot? yup..none of us have perfect mirroring of size left vv right..some of it is boney, some muscular. Personally my right foot is bigger, my right leg shorter, I am also left eared, left eyed and a natural left hander - made to be right handed. The latter being excuse for all my personality disorders!

How do I know I'm left eared? watch me on the phone..watch others who are right eared and right handed when listening and writing. Left eared and right handed is so much more...comfortable loooking.

But recently I've realised something else..my asymmetry goes beyond feet and legs..it's also got into my earholes.

And just how did you work that one out Liz?

Simple really...and not only are my earholes different from each other shape wise they are clearly also not Apple earholes! The earpieces that come with iPods just don't fit me - they fall out even when I put those little sponge covers on them. So I have had to buy sets of those teeny tiny ear bud ear pieces..you know them they're so small you stress they might disappear into your brain. Lucky they've got strings attached.

Well anyhow, the nominated R ear buds fit my right ear hole perfectly but the nominated L one falls out of my left ear hole and swapping them around doesn't work. I tried using the ear buds with the wrap around ear things like those old fashioned hearing aids, but they were just plain uncomfortable and I couldn't flick them out when I wanted to ie when I was working REALLY hard and sound of my heart beat was competing with the music.

So what's your beef? what's the point of this waffle?

The problem is I'm left eared and that's the ear bud that wont stay in....

and what I'd like to know is...am I alone in this crippling defect?!

and finally..yes I am bored..I'm waiting for brekky at the motel. Motels...pffft!..the only good thing is more complimentary soap and shampoo to add to my collection.

The morning after

2009-10-23T07:00:00.003+11:00

Yesterday, celebrations were really not on the cards. I was wasted. I didn't feel too bad in the early am but as the day wore on the effects of 3 days racing on a relatively poor build up took its toll.

I wandered into Parramatta at about 0930 to search for books, audio books for the journey home and a pair of shorts but faded fast and despite a shot of caffeine to help, struggled mightily over the last 500m home. Having arrived I stayed put until mid afternoon...comatose. And although I had said I'd be there, I'm afraid there was no chance I was going to the velodrome to spectate as I needed "me time". Which I got staring glassily at the TV and www.cyclingmasters.tv -what a great service the website is, although yet again they don't seem to have shot my Scratch race. OK, I know it's not action packed..oh, orlrite..downright boring, but I'm offended by its omission.

The original script called for me have a tootle on the road bike today......however I managed to scotch that idea by packing it up deeeeep in the car later yesterday. Sorta saving me from myself. Instead a day of packing up, moving out,spectating and moving into a motel in Bankstown is on the cards. Tomorrow I'm at an Aus Masters Commission meeting and after that start the long haul down the Hume. Groooaannnn!

Burfday girl

2009-10-22T07:47:00.004+11:00

Today is the day that I move into the twilight zone, cos today I've hit the big 65..the watershed.

Farewell adulthood hello senility, increasing frailty and apparently almost if not total invisibilty to anyone belonging to the y and z gen.

Might delay the frailty bit.

A couple of us celebrated our advance into that zone with a lunch yesterday at the Handlebar tavern which was very nice..thanks to those who joined us and to Fran for the dips and table decorations and Dennis for the flowers.

Alex joined me at the velodrome yesterday when I raced the last of my 3 races and watched me scoring a silver in the scratch. We did a swap of gear..guitar, bars and seat to him, wheels for me to take back.

This time every year, after the Scratch race I promise myself I really have to race more of them as I have yet to work out what I'm s'posed to do in them...never get round to it though. There's a possibilty that I positioned myself better this time round but what would I know!

The race after ours was somewhat dramatic with a couple of big crashes resulting in broken ribs and a leg injury. Crashes are the downside of bunch races on the track just as they are on the road and become inevitable if someone in the bunch struggles to hold their line and there are quite a few racers who fall into that category. My age races tend to be somewhat polite..all too leary of falling I guess.

Anyhow, that's the worlds over for me this year and since its moving over to Portugal next year for quite a while, maybe forever. We're thinking we should try to establish an Oceania or Pan Pac Masters Champs now, just like they created the European's after the worlds moved from Manchester.

Word Masters Pursuit

2009-10-21T07:28:00.004+11:00

Early on in the year I told my coach that I really wanted to get the World Masters Pursuit title as it had eluded me while in Manchester and for a variety of reasons I'd not raced it the previous 2 years. It was a gap in my palmares I wanted to plug.

I had sort of forgotten that conversation, but she hadn't so, when about 2 months ago I was struggling to do any training at all and was bleating that maybe I'd not race it , I was totally ignored. Wise coach!

There are so few old ladies still racing track that the beauty of the timed events is that the place on the podium (or not) is only one factor we look at, the other is our time ie we keep an eye on how our times are dropping as we age.

My very best pursuit is 2min 49 point something, but nowadays I'm in the 3 minute zone. I had hoped to set a World Best Time for the pursuit but for some reason, although she raced it in Colorado Springs in August, Marsha Macro's time of 2 min 52.7 seconds wasn't listed as a record. With this in mind and not wanting to claim for a record that was somewhat slower than one that might be in the pipeline (plus all the kerfuffle that goes with it..ie drug testing), and since I'd been fairly close to doing that in the Qual round, I decided to try and catch my oppponent rather than go for steady lapping.

Baaaaaad move! I blasted out of the gate..25 second first lap (same as my best ever first lap)..stewpid stewpid 19s second lap then 20 then 21 then 22 then died, fried and blurred final 4 laps with my coach's husband asking later how on earth had I managed to free wheel on a fixed hub..rude bugger(!). Hey I was riding with legs that wouldn't bend that suddenly weighed >3 times their usual, with lungs and heart protesting and with tunnel vision. I kept going ovally but only from instinct. I was TOAST! Time slower than the qual round, but first across the line.

However mission accomplished and with more races to come this season, time to get into the high 2 min zone again.

Scratch today and tomorrow I enter the twilight zone ie its my 65th birthday!

World Masters Track Champs-TT

2009-10-19T19:15:00.002+11:00

Well I won but sadly missed the World Best time by 6/100 second..which is held by Marsha Macro, an old foe from Manchester pursuiting days. Her time was done at altitude.

With our season just starting, I have a few more time to go for it.

Pursuit tomorrow

On NOT being house proud, training and proud mother boasting

2009-10-12T06:49:00.006+11:00

Apart from 2 sessions of training on the ergo, this weekend has been one of doing the unthinkable...cleaning the house. One thing I'm not is "ars prard" (house proud said with an Aussie accent), but after our idiot painters had finished painting the inside of the house, I just had to get down and dirty. I kept finding dollops and specks of paint on the carpet, wooden floor, toilet, wooden wall, window panes and even on an antique light fitting and as a result I'm urging Phil to express our annoyance at their sloppy work by docking a part of the bill.

Anyhow after 2 full days of labour, the house was briefly, ever so briefly quite clean although the moment I turned my back more grub seemed to arrive from nowhere. I blame the cats, Pippi the long haired princess for the clumps of fur I find everywhere and Flea the hunter for his habit of bringing his kill and associated dirt indoors for me to admire. Whatever, I'm just grateful I'm not one of these people who obsessively need to have a clean house...its far too exhausting and time consuming.

My two training sessions this weekend could well have been done outdoors since the weather was perfect, but they were very directed sessions and so were best done indoors. As my coach noted they were "boring but necessary" a comment that no doubt is as a result of one of my reports that pointed out how "mind rotting" and "exquisitely boring" I found ergo sessions.

This week brings with it a couple more sessions at DISC, a couple of easy days and the beginnings of a long drive up to Sydney.

Finally proud mother time again..Ben and his mate Andy Bell won the pairs version of the Scott 24 hour up in Canberra. Riding as Mavic/Pedros, they were so far ahead (2 or 3 laps) that they were able to stop at the earlier of the 2 finish times. As I understand it, Ben was 1st rider of the 2 but the Le Mans start was a disadvantage for him since he's not a sprinter (none of my family are) so they just had to race hard until the first timings were broadcast at the 6 hour mark whereupon they found they were a couple of laps in front. Congrats guys..legendary! I'm looking forward to more pix.

Lead up to the masters track worlds

2009-10-10T19:05:00.005+11:00

Am I tired or am I tired?

Everyone knows there are difference types of tiredness, I mean for the last say 18 months
I 've been experiencing a BAD sort of tiredness..the sort that comes from stress at work. So, when the opportunity arises I decide to go part time as a retirement plan..move to .5 EFT +.2 of Workplace Wellness and look to retiring after a year or maybe a bit longer.

And how do I feel after 1 week of this change?

Shattered. I mean really exhausted, right down on the base line or perhaps below.

So what's gone wrong? Have I made a really bad mistake?

Hell no!

This is a goood sort of tiredness, this is the sort of fatigue you get when you're training hard and has NOTHING to do with the sort of tiredness you get from work and its stresses.

Training this week has been at the track x 3 or was it 4?and next week it'll be x2 on Tues and Thurs then I'm planning to leave work early on Friday in order to get further than the usual Albury stop...Goulburn perhaps? which will then get me to
Sydney in time to do some Dunc Grey Velodrome training on Saturday.
So its a joke at work...Liz has gone part time and she's still exhausted...and she's going to work for a rest!

The weird way my brain works or my optician is an alien

2009-10-09T05:07:00.005+11:00

Getting up close and personal to the mirror the other day while putting in my contacts, I worked out a way to tell if they were actually "in". If I have fair hair and smooth skin then they're not in whereas if I have greying hair and wrinkles, then they are correctly sited!

That little moment led me to thinking more deeply about my glasses and contacts. And worked out that quite obviously my optician is a man on a mission...the bastard ...'cos evidently he is selling me products covered with a grey haze and with wrinkles painted on them.

On the other hand, maybe he's an alien..my glasses do keep disappearing (and its sooo hard to find them when you can't see very well(!) ) but would he be the same alien that causes my phone to send messages from my pocket or my car to speed over the limit, or cause me to forget to add interest earned from a bank account 3 years in a row resulting in a letter from the tax man???

Life's full of interesting things to think about once you become part time and have a spare moment.

Part time/spare moment/time to think? yeah, right!

Planning 2010 holidays

2009-10-07T05:27:00.003+11:00

Some things are guaranteed to make me giggle and one of them is quaint literal translations, nowadays probably via Google translator. So while trawling through hotel and B&B ads in Bedoin, at the foot of Mont Ventoux (guess what I'm planning to do!) I came across this beauty, which has left me scratching my head:

"Vain apartment of village, joint with the owner, in calm dead end. Stay corner includes/understands cooks, corner living room".

Sooooo ???, part of the owner's house in a cul de sac. Then??????? !

Suggestions invited!

The weekend's training

2009-10-05T06:34:00.004+11:00

The aftermath of having your house painted is total dusty chaos resulting in what can only be described as a massive spring clean. Our painter was extremely badly organised in that we were left with ALL our rooms in chaos ALL the time, rather than just a couple at a time. I dunno, we've had the painters in twice and both times have been less than impressed.

I have never claimed to be "house proud"...far from it and so the clean up has been huge, not only dust from the painting but dust that has been in residence for an embarrassingly long time plus a general getting rid of stuff that has sat unused and unnoticed for a looooong time. Last weekend we took a trailer and van load to the tip and this weekend another load emerged from the depths so that what with the stuff Ben took home with him, the house looks alot less cluttered. Once Alex returns from Sydney, we'll get him to attack his stuff too and the end result will be a whole load of bike things on ebay.

So both days of my weekend were cleaning, training, cleaning, dusting, vaccuuming, cleaning, dusting, sweeping..you get the idea! I'm not sure why I'm bothering either 'cos in 4 weeks time we're gutting 2 bathrooms which will cause even MORE dust!

My training program this weekend was to have motorpacing on Saturday and a 2 hour cruise on Sunday. What actually occurred was 2 sessions on the TACX trainer, both alot harder than anticipated because the damn thing froze resulting in the brake remaining on even when going downhill. I've worked it out that it freezes if I stand up on on the pedals in a butt relieving manoeuvre which must cause more side to side rocking than it likes. Anyway on Saturday I was planning on a long session - warming up on a flat stretch then climbing alpe d'huez but aborted after an hour of laboured uphill grovelling and eerily the same thing happened on Sunday when I was "cycling" the Tour of Lombardy. So mega wattage was outputted which wasn't the idea at all. Memo to self...do NOT stand up in future.

My desktop count down gizmo tells me its just 14 days until the Worlds...guess I'd better do some specific training.

Part time starts today and I've filled in the form for my Senior's card!

I'm in the throes of organising next year's hols in Italy so if anyone knows of a good place to stay in Tuscany, not too far from civilisation, central for touristy things but also good for cruisy cycling, I'd love to hear of it.

So sad when icons disappear - nostalgia post

2009-10-03T05:37:00.006+10:00

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/trading-post-newspaper-to-fold-after-42-years/story-e6frf7jo-1225781173430

Future generations of Aussies watching the film "The Castle",which like parts of the opening ceremony of the Sydney Olympics leaves non Aussies totally bewildered, will no longer fully understand the "Jousting Sticks? Couldn't be worth more than $250/tell him he's dreaming" series of comments.

ebay and clones have clearly got rid of print ads, but somehow its not quite the same..even The Trading Post on line didn't match up to dashing out to the milk bar on a Thursday morning to be the early bird for the bargains and how irritating it was when your milk bar never seemed to get the "Post" early enough. Actually even "the milk bar" is a dying aspect of Melbourne suburban life too, my local one is still there but I will mourn its closing when it eventually does...where else can I buy 1 Python and a $1 or $2 bag of jellied lollies? not the supermarkets that for sure.

Same deal will eventually happen for job and car ads I guess..but I can't say I'll be sad to stop getting the forest load of paper "The Age" feels compelled to sell me each Saturday.

All this from a no longer fully employed geriatric looking back fondly on life as led during the 80's, 90's! Memo to self- must get that Senior's Card.

Wind tunnel session

2009-10-02T05:39:00.003+10:00

Yesterday evening I had a session in the Monash Uni Wind Tunnel to see if my position on the TT bike could be improved aerodynamically, bearing in mind that it also had to be comfortable and as I stiffen up with age, that is rather a large factor.

One memory will last for a long time and one I wasn't aware of...its very very cold! Actually the person before me, with less fat to keep him warm, had to get a coat on after each test whereas I didn't but maybe I should have as 3 hours later I was still feeling hypothermic. A long shower and a session of hugging a hot water bottle dealt with the problem.

The result of the session was that my position was already good and so although there will be no magical improvement to be able to pin to the experience, at least I can be confident that it's well and truly dialled in correctly.

Today is my last official day of full time employment...yay! I'll continue working a 4hr/5 day week(=20hrs/week), but what my hours are will depend on me and also I have to factor in 8hrs/week Workplace Wellness hours. The first week's hours are a total dog's breakfast of a mess and I'm going to have to brief all my patients about the variety of times they will get to attend the gym for a Physio session. Hmmm! so much for "patient centred care"!

Today is Walk to Work day..so I'm off for a walk!

Part time here I come!

2009-09-30T06:29:00.003+10:00

This week is my last official week of full time employment...yay! Since I have to either use up or get paid out my excess ADO hours, I'm really part time this week too as I arrive late and leave early. I have 15 hours and 23(!) minutes to get rif of. How on earth I clocked up 23 minutes is beyond me and I'm not bothering to find out as the explanation will be waaaaaay beyond me.

This week my training is gradually increasing in intensity, so as I write this I'm sitting in full cycling gear waiting to go to the track for a motorpacing session and tomorrow I'm off to the uni wind tunnel to fine tune my TT position. No more cruisy rides until after the Worlds. its .all mega effort and recovery now. Not sure I'm up for this.

Cadel's win the other day was an inspiration for keeping on and on trying though. Proud to be an Aussie. What a great effort by the team. Doesn't it make you wonder what Cadel do with a really great team behind him and doesn't it make you wish we could have an Aussie sponsored pro team..we've got the talent, but I guess there aren't many Aussie enterprises global enough to benefit from advertising in Europe.

Cold hens

2009-09-27T08:04:00.004+10:00

Actually its cold hands...but I'm an Aussie now so I'm obliged to pronounce it hens ;-) and I now I remember why I never really took to skiing or other snow sports. With single digit temperatures both today and yesterday my weekend's program of motorpacing and a long road ride has gone down the tubes. So instead, yesterday I spent a boringly mind rotting 20 mins on an ergo program followed by 45 minutes chasing a virtual reality cyclist on my TACX Fortius followed by another 45 mins spinning on the rollers while watching the AFL grand final. Well actually I only managed to really WATCH a few minutes of it, the rest was just a noise in the background.....Aussie rules....pffft the round ball game is so much better....more skill less brute force required.....

So when not cycling I started on the clean up the house which has been in a mess after the painting. We're taking the opportunity to chuck out a heap of rubbish..camping gear from 30 years ago and a whole heap of other no longer used stuff, so today will be cycling plus multiple trips to the tip.

The aliens have not only been here in malevolent mode..see many previous posts(!) but also in generous mode as today they found my long lost arm warmer which disappeared after one wear. I discovered it in the dryer snuggled up against a giant zip tie...can't imagine why either of them decided to hide there!!!! Actually the dryer had been put outside while the laundry was being painted and left there, forgotten, while it rained and rained. Finally realisation struck this morning and after having to tip out rather alot of water the 2 runaways were discovered...not sure if the dryer will ever function again though!

Road runner legs

2009-09-18T18:50:00.003+10:00

Motorpacing always leaves me feeling like the cartoon road runner, with legs going round in circles.

As a grinder rather than a spinner, anything > 90rpm is a mega achievement for me, so while today's top of 120rpm may sound pathetic to some(maybe most) for me it was a world record. When I peeled off the effort, it wasn't for cardiovascular or muscular reasons, it was 'cos the cadence was waaaaay over my comfort zone and holding it for as long as I did was a real struggle. And I'm walking real funny now too ;-)...stiff in the hip muscles....

So today is the last day of my holiday (not counting the w/e as holiday days) and unless my coach tells me differently, the next two day's rides are going to be long and moderately paced. Guess I'm gunna hafta start the spew-worthy sessions soon, dammit.

What the last week has told me is that working part time is a really wise move if I want to stay competitive and considering I am defined by my sport and not my work.........

A week's holiday is far too short!

2009-09-18T05:40:00.003+10:00

So its Friday already, dammit! my holiday is all but over but I've had a ball and have re-ignited my cycling persona, which was getting battered into nothingness by work related fatigue and stress.

On Wednesday I did an hour's personal training at Westerfolds park ..in the sunshine, working not only on fitness but also my tan lines. The session was good, but the extra running made my legs rather stiff, especially my calves.

Thursday I did the work spin class at 0630 followed by a rush into the CBD to get to Ben's bike shop before the traffic go too feral, followed by an hour at DISC doing laps after which I struggled to walk at all. Today I'm at DISC again doing an hour's motorpacing. Hmmm...guess I might have to go back to work to rest the body! Each day I've been retiring to my bed for an hour's nap sometime during the arvo which has not only been pure bliss but has also allowed me to recover in time for the next session.

The only downside of being off this particular week has been that the house is being painted which has necessitated mega furniture moving each day. I *know* I don't have a house proud bone in my body, but the amount of dust and cobwebs is just a little embarrassing! Hey! working full time plus training leaves me with little time and zero desire to do housework......actually the cats and the ducted heating are in the cross hairs as the culprits for so much dust(!).

Soooo...31 days to go. I've been tossing up whether to compete in the road nats, but have cast that aside...and now I'm thinking, should I enter ALL the track events..just for fun? Actually prob not, I'd never hold up for the entire week, but I'm seriously thinking of staying on til Sat and doing the points race...I wonder how many other 50+'s have entered.....

Dare to dream again

2009-09-15T17:04:00.003+10:00

A weekend plus the first 2 days of my holidays are over and I'm feeling that perhaps I can dare to dream again.

On Saturday I rode the 1 in 20 loop, Sunday was a one hour spin in front of the TV, Monday was 1 hr on the track doing laps followed by 1 hour on the Boulie and today all of a sudden my legs are unblocked and for most of my 4 hour ride I felt really good. Tired but good.

I'm not expecting to suddenly become a winner, but a least I now don't feel so full of unwarranted fatigue.

There's also a possibility that the service Ben did on my rear wheel, plus changing the jockey wheels around to where they were REALLY s'posed to be, made a bit of a difference! The jockey wheel thingo was the reason why I had a mechanical on each hill during the state road race..every time I changed from big to small chain ring while going uphill the chain wouldn't engage on the rear cogs straight away and I lost touch with the group. Actually I wasn't gunna be up there anyway, but as it was I lost touch going up and then had to TT back to the group on the descent and flat..until my legs totally gave up the ghost on the last ascent.

So for the rest of the hols, I have an exercise session tomorrow, a spin class on Thursday, motorpacing on Friday then long rides on Saturday and Sunday before going back to the salt mine on Monday.

33 days to go..will that be enough time?

I'm off work for a week

2009-09-12T07:10:00.004+10:00

I've managed to find someone to do my patient load for a week and so I'm away from the salt mine until 21/9. Luckily for me the weather looks to be favourable, so not only will I be less tired but the opportunities to ride in the dry are also present...yay! up to 26 degrees today which is whole heap better than around 13. So today I'm off up the 1 in 20 and around the Mt Dandenong loop...not a long ride, but a whole longer than I've been doing recently. If there are any wet days I'll do laps at DISC..the track is free most mornings.

I hope to get some semblance of fitness happening before the World track champs, but will definitely not be "on song" and WRT any other competitive plans..seems to me that I'll have to wait and see how working .7 ie 3.5 days a week helps my fatigue/stress level. I've certainly lost my way this year. I was warned there would be a period when progress halted and I would take a dive, so maybe this has been it....

I'm booked in for the next years road worlds already and am happily planning for a 6 week hol in Europe around that , so maybe THAT will be my new major focus......guess I'll find out this next month as it all depends on energy levels.

Alex is back from Queensland after cleaning up with wins on both days of their State MTBO champs and is busily earning money before he shoots off to Sydney where he has about a month's work of labour, training and fun. Phil's thumb is now enclosed in a little thermo-plastic splint so he's able to help with the housework including doing the washing up! ;-)! The drama part of his recuperation is now hopefully complete.

Mind you the place is in an uproar as we are redecorating the whole house and plan on gutting the main bathroom completely ...well Alex and I plan to, Phil's not so keen, but it IS 30 years since it was last done. Currently we've got 3 downstairs rooms almost finished and the smell of paint is strong. The painter wants to move into the main lounge room next..but he can forget that until he's completed the 3 rooms...got nowhere to put all the gear if he insists on that plan!

Regarding the recent uproar in Athletics about the South African runner whose gender is in doubt, check out the blog Science in Sport (link on the right) for a sensible, science based, non inflammatory series of posts. This blog is well worth following; check out the archives for great posts on hydration, cramps, fatigue to mention a few.

I'm totally OVER Phil's thumb saga!

2009-09-06T06:52:00.003+10:00

Geez, how long ago was it that Phil returned from a trail bike ride nursing a broken thumb? July 12th to be exact. The rule of thumb (pun intended) is, or was when I was learning these things, 6 weeks for bone union, 12 weeks for consolidation...give or take of course depending on health, type of fracture etc etc.
So here we are 8 weeks later and where are we now precisely in the healing process? nowhere near where it should be. Phil's back in hospital on an IV drip for 48 hrs of flucloxacillin (an antibiotic).
To recap, the saga goes like this...# 1st metacarpal and is referred to hand surgeon. I assume that his motor biking trip to Alaska (travelling there 10 days later riding at 3 weeks post #) will be delayed/postponed/cancelled. However Phil doesn't want to cancel and the young surgeon (YS) agrees, so he goes into hospital the next day and YS puts in an industrial strength titanium plate and 3 screws and says yes, no probs go on your holiday, ride your bike, it'll be fine. Ha!
Phil tootles off to the US of A, land of hideously expensive health care, does his ride and returns weeks later. I ask how his thumb is and he shows me his hand with a red, swollen and misshapen thing sitting where a thumb should be. My response is unladylike.
An xray shows that his thumb has crumbled under the plate so, despite the fact that he reports no specific trauma, instead of 1 clean break, there's now quite a few breaks held together by the plate. YS takes out the now useless plate and screws and puts in a U shaped piece of metal as a traction device which is then attached to via a pair of elastic bands to a plaster back slab on his forearm(see pix in previous post).
Phil struggles with this device; it's uncomfortable and the bands and wires stick out and are easy to knock.
At the beginning of this week, YS tells him to unleash the traction for a day or two, which he happily does, but when it goes back on again the problems re-surface even more. Once away from the confines of the plaster shell his hand will have swelled and when the device went back on again it was too small causing a major constriction around his wrist resulting in odd sensations in his hand plus increased swelling causing the holes where the wires poked through to gape... a major infection potential.
A phone call through to YS Friday night at 8pm found him still operating and since he was going to be be there til at least midnight(!), Phil was directed to come in to his rooms yesterday prepared to go into hospital for a course of IV ABS's +/- taking the wire out.
So, with Phil being a patient in a bed, instead of racing the State TT titles today, I am the hospital visitor. Actually I could have made it up there, although driving up and back on the same day (5hrs+) plus racing would have left me exhausted. Also my last TT was raced during the weekend Phil was having the plate removed and I discovered I don't TT well when distracted, so I decided a DNS was the only option. In cycling, racers having a bad day say they've had "un jours sans" (a day without), I think I'm in the throes of "une annee sans" (a year without)..and I know there should be an accent there but can't work out how to do that!
PS Do I sound irritated and annoyed? Yup?..well, I think its justified and if there was an "irritated and furiously annoyed I told you so" font I'd be using it. But despite that, I have managed not to say the actual words "I told you so, you should have listened to me" directly to Phil (said it to everyone else!). Nevertheless I think he's got the message! Actually I'm more annoyed at YS since he really had the final say.

Finally posted ...Yukky pix

2009-09-01T06:51:00.005+10:00

Phil's thumb as it is today:

I'll post the xray when I can get it to an xray viewer, although they're hard to find nowadays since we've gone electronic.

Despite this he's up and about and doing things, although managing to steer clear of doing the dishes! and regretfully has found a spare part for the stove top.

While discussing the topic of broken bones he reminded me that about 10 years ago he'd broken his other thumb too, but hadn't realised it until much later....

I dunno..????no sense no feeling?!

My weekend. Stiff fingers and a bung stove top

2009-08-31T06:31:00.003+10:00

I've always thought it was handy having an engineering husband who could "fix" things. However on Saturday I changed my mind!

The automatic lighter thingey on the gas stove top wouldn't stop clicking and I was delighted since I hated that particular stove top and I could see a new one being bought...yay! WRONG! Directing from the side, since with his thumb out of action he can only be a foreman and with Ben's help, the top was stripped down and the problem found and...dammit...it looks like its fixable.

Not happy Jan.

My normal Monday groan is to do with the after effects of a weekend's riding. Today my groan is all directed at my hands, which are telling me that 7 hours weeding was about 6 hours too much!!!

The plan was to ride in the morning then garden in the afternoon. However it was a bit cold and a bit windy first thing so instead I rugged up, plugged in the audio book into the CD player and went outside to do some weeding (we have a ~1 acre garden).

Accompanied by my cats, who love it when we're in the garden, I got down to the task. Checking my watch some time later I realised it was after 1pm, so lunch was the next task. Then out again to clear up the heaps of weeds, thinking I'll just stay for 1 more CD...then another...then another and finally it was really was time to stop and it was much too late to ride anyway.

Looks like I'm starting my rest week just a wee bit early!

2010 holiday plans

2009-08-24T04:28:00.004+10:00

Nothing like planning next year's holiday in Europe to chase away winter blues.

I've just paid a 200 euro deposit for accommodation in the Pyrenees in late July. It took a bit of soul searching before finally parting with the brass as the cancellation fees are truly horrendous. Actually we wanted to be there a week earlier but it was already booked out due to a certain rather large and well known race that will be there then.

My lead up plans for next year's foray into the Masters World Road Champs include riding (with Alex) the cols d'Aspin, Tourmalet and Peyresourde, followed by Mont Ventoux and Alpe d'Huez (although been there done that once already). I'll probably not do all of those but if I do and if I'm still alive, I'll then really enjoy some rest and recuperation in the north of Italy with my sister. The original plan called for hiring a campervan to give us flexibility, but that's been scrapped in favour of leasing a station wagon and hiring apartments for a week at a time.

Now to look for apartments and to decide which French city to pick the car up from. Of all the things I've learned from my European adventures, 2 stand out...never hire a car in Austria as its wickedly expensive and never, ever fly into or out of Munich airport ...it runs a close second to Heathrow in the " avoid at all costs" stakes..Salzberg and Manchester being good alternatives to those two.

RR

2009-08-23T18:50:00.003+10:00

60km race.
Probs with tyres losing air and rattly clusters before the race..so had to use training wheels
Weather was windy as.
And now I'm wasted.
Dropped on steep hills and then TT'd back.
Faded at the very last hill.
Tired.
Dehydrated.
Heavy legs.
Realised that the World Masters Road Champs are on this week...sob....I should be there...!

Driving home I saw Alex's car parked by the side of the highway...he was fast asleep (powernap not Nanna nap !)..he'd just done 5 hours of a 6 hour enduro. So another Randall wasted!

Need food
Need rest.
Roll on part time.
Roll on no distractions so I don't forget pumps and HRM's when going to a race!
Oh and must check which powerbar gel I had...it was DISGUSTING!

TT race

2009-08-23T06:32:00.004+10:00

Everyone has to have a bad day..a "jour sans". I had one yesterday.

The ride out and part way back was fine, but then I fell into a black hole; I lost concentration and slowed. Somewhat later ??how much later? I realised that I wasn't breathing heavily..ie wasn't at threshold.

I haven't looked at the power read out, but I think I was 1-2 minutes slower than the last time I raced the course. Disappointing.

Alex came up late in the day and we went out for a meal...and got forgotten...luckily, when it finally arrived it was tasty and like all pub meals the serves were extremely generous.

Road race today..60km and the weather doesn't look too bad..6-16 degrees and no mention of rain.

this is a rant post

2009-08-22T06:19:00.004+10:00

I can say it here 'cos he wont read this..."but I told you so. I was right, you should have listened to me.."

44 years experience as an orthopaedic Physio trumps a young ortho surgeon and a husband who just doesn't want to change his holiday plans. Yup..that's right Phil's thumb is a disaster...see a previous post to get the original story.

I was so involved in packing for this weekend's trip to Castlemaine that it took me a while to ask Phil how his thumb was..and clearly he was not going to volunteer the info..not about to risk the "I told you so"(!)..but when I finally did ask and saw the mess that was his thumb I let out a string of @##$%%^&'s and opined that it looked infected..it was red swollen and misshapen.

Transpires I was wrong..not infected... the titanium plate had broken and the bone now fractured in 2 places! I'll post the xrays when I can. Needless to say the surgeon(who knew that Phil was going on a motorbike holiday) immediately thought he's re-trauma-ed, but Phil says not and I suspect it must have been caused by 7 days of sustained gripping of the motorbike handlebar.

Anyhow...you may well have heard a loud commotion at about lunch time yesterday...that was me venting my irritation, frustration and negative opinion about a certain person's lack of common sense...egged on I'd have to admit by a young orthopeadic surgeon who has now learned a lesson about the strength of titanium plates.

Soooo a coupla hours after his ortho review he's back in hospital having his thumb re-operated on and that's where he still is...they kept him in overnight. Hopefully this time they've plastered him into immobility for a bit longer and lectured him into not being so ...so...cavalier about his well being....thumb mobility and strength being somewhat important to life in general and motorbiking in particular, especially the trail riding that Phil does.

As a rehab and ortho Physio I have seen many worst case scenarios in my loooong career and it's those scenarios that are always at the back of my mind when I see injuries..lets face it I don't get to see the real successes...I get to see the ones that dont go as the surgeons would like or that are really slow to recover. So if you think my ranting is a bit harsh.....think this through....worst case scenario...poor grip/no grip=inabilty to control a bike on rough ground=no more motorbiking.

Couldn't have chosen a worse weekend to do all this as I'm in Castlemaine(freezing), Alex is coming up tonight and Ben is in NSW...luckily we've got a few cousins around the place to call on.

and we're racing again

2009-08-21T05:25:00.003+10:00

This weekend sees me racing again. I don't think I've raced so much since I started being coached and was told not to race so regularly 'cos the resultant fatigue got in the way of a structured training plan. The reason I'm racing so much this year is that FINALLY there are enough road TT's in the State to make me want to race.

So this weekend I'm back up to Castlemaine to ride the penultimate race of the Masters TT Series on Saturday and the State Masters Road Champs on Sunday; the weather is apparently going to be a "iffy". I always struggle to travel light, but this time I've gone overboard, packing for absolutely every weather possibility except hot. I just hope its not too windy.

The TT is over the course I rode a couple of weeks ago and which also forms the early part of the 30km road circuit - I have to go round twice. As usual there are few older women entered in the road race...did I say a few...actually I mean 2! We start with the 50 yr olds who will no doubt spit me out the back over the first hill, as I'm not climbing well at the moment, and then I'll be solo TT'ing the final 50km. I may have company of course - depends on how Shirley is climbing.

Alex will join me in my cabin on Saturday night as he has entered a 6hr enduro MTB race being held somewhere in the area on Sunday. Meanwhile, Ben is off up to NSW to race the "3 ring circus", riding for AyUp and Phil has returned from Alaska, and San Francisco looking extremely tanned but with a thumb that doesn't look too good, its still very inflamed....a visit to the surgeon is planned for today. Looking at the pix of Ben in the link above, for the first time I am struck by the resemblance to my father and brother...apart from the side burns(!)

My training has been going well this week and I've also managed to shed a bit of excess blubber. The stress of making a life changing decision is behind me and I'm much more relaxed and able to focus as a result. The ad for my old job hit the website the day after my last post; news travels fast and I have been approached by many people from all parts of my campus and the easternhealth network commenting/congratulating/teasing me.

Now we wait to see if anyone is interested in applying for it.

C'mon!

2009-08-19T05:28:00.004+10:00

It's all very well for me to make my life changing work related decision ie moving from full to part time work, its another thing for it to actually happen.

I've made my decision...I want it to happen NOW!

But...and there's always a but...the change has to be approved by my manager, his manager, her manager and finally THE manager. Somewhere amongst that list it has to get past a bevy of financial people and finally HR gets into the act. So about 7 people have to be at their desks, agree to it, sign off on it and finally insert an ad into a website or 2 and the local rag (The Age).

In the meantime, I'm hopping up and down on one foot wanting it all to happen NOW!

Currently its stuck at HR 'cos HR, which is well and truly understaffed ie there's only 1 person there and she's about to leave and is busily using up AL and ADO hours, is an empty office.

So approval has been asked for and given, the ad is almost but not quite out there and still there will be a delay for the usual how ever many weeks the ad has to run, plus interviewing time, plus allowances for the preferred candidate to hand in their notice.....always assuming someone applies for the job.......

and I want it to happen NOW!

So what this all means is that while my training is vaguely back on track, I will not be able to feel the benefit of my yet to happen extra recovery/training time this year.

Next weekend is a double wammy race time...another one of the Masters TT series on Saturday followed by the Masters Road Champs on Sunday. So its off to Castlemaine again on Friday straight after work..no passing Go! no collecting $200..at least this weekend I'll know how to work the heater in the cabin.

Retirement looms dimly on the far horizon

2009-08-14T06:08:00.004+10:00

I have been at my place of work since 1985, since before there were any patients and of those of us who were there at that time there are only 2 left.

I'm now at the centre of a string of jokes about growing old/seniors cards/returning as a patient etc etc. And what really cracks me up is people are "congratulating" me about my new soon to be downgrading from full time grade 3 to part time grade 2. As I tell all who ask..I just couldn't come at cold turkey retirement...so I'm easing my way out.

Today I have downloaded 3 things...an application for a Senior's Card(!!!!!) and 2 new pix to the right hand side of this blog. Potty humour of course.

What follows is a poem by Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people's gardens

and learn to spit.

You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat

and eat three pounds of sausages at a go

or only bread and pickles for a week

and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.

But now we must have clothes that keep us dry

and pay our rent and not swear in the street

and set a good example for the children.

We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?

So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised

When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

ok..break out the purple!

Less work, more fun

2009-08-12T19:08:00.004+10:00

So finally the bullet has been bitten and I'm moving from full time employment to half time ie 40hrs/week to 20hrs/week clinical load plus 8 hours/week for the Workplace Wellness and Communications Group.
I'll be working Mon-Fri..arrive late/leave early.

I'm happy with my decision and grateful the half time position was available when I needed it. I'm also very happy to have the Workplace Wellness hours too.

Now how do I apply for my Seniors Card!

Navel gazing

2009-08-08T07:36:00.003+10:00

Introspective moment....momentous decisions.

During our lives we all have moments where our decisions are really VERY important and we know it at the time. Other times you sort of just roll into decisions; they're not something you have to spend time over, they just happen.

I've had many of the latter type, but only just a few of the former.....41 years ago it was "is this man someone I want to spend my life with, cos if I do I'll have to leave UK and live in Australia?" ( a bit of a double wammy decision) and today it is "do I want to keep working or do I want to retire".

No, that's not right, 'cos yes I do want to retire as work is definitely getting in the way of the things I really want to do(cycling/racing/travel), but the $$ allows me to be indulgent about what I really like to do (cycling/racing/travel).....the question is more how do I want to manage the situation and WHEN do I want to stop working.

Currently I'm fast approaching my 65th birthday (and a 40th wedding anniversary) and have worked as a Physiotherapist since I was 21 with time off for good behaviour (travelling round the world on a Merchant Navy ship with my Merchant Navy husband and during 2 pregnancies).

Maybe, just maybe, its time to call it quits.

Aftermath

2009-08-05T05:16:00.002+10:00

Bridge to engine room....
Bridge to engine room....

Yoo! hoo! anyone there?

Bridge to engine room....

Where the f*%k are you?

A weekend's torture - self inflicted

2009-08-03T06:38:00.009+10:00

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.....

Mistakes..I've made a few

2009-08-01T20:57:00.003+10:00

..and some of them I keep making..but not this one.

Warming up pre TT I did as I regularly do on my track bike,,,I held my hand over the front tyre to brush off the gravel I'd just ridden over. Then I reached down and did the same with the back wheel.

UN-fortunately on this particular bike that is a no-can-do since there is virtually NO gap between frame and tyre.

What happened was that my fingers immediately became a very effective brake, the back wheel locked up, and skidded and for one moment I thought falling off was next on the menu. However I managed to stay upright and extract my fingers.

So what to do? the race was 10 minutes away..should I take my gloves off(TG I was wearing gloves!) and expose them to the cold or leave the gloves on to contain the swelling.

I kept them on. Raced and then made a dive for some ice. I now have 1 very bruised and blackened middle finger. I wont be testing anyone's grip for a while and shaking hands is just not an option!

This is one of those mistakes I will NOT be repeating!

Raced well despite having a bit of difficulty with brake and gear changing. Tail wind going out..since I'm also racing a TT tomorrow, I didn't quite go full gas.

It's that dementia time again..or are the aliens just having fun

2009-07-26T14:04:00.003+10:00

Yesterday while having a shower I noticed a humungous bruise on the inside of my left ankle. I stared at it in a dumbfounded manner for quite some time as I couldn't recall any action that would have resulted in such a large wound.

After musing over the problem for a while I came up with the following:

Bruise..what bruise...I am an amazon. I feel no pain. On the other hand...maybe I've got spinal canal problems and have lost sensation..or a neuropathy from some disease I've suddenly developed.
I've not done anything to remotely cause a bruise. On the other hand maybe I DID get a knock but my dementia/short term memory problems are arcing up again or perhaps I've suddenly developed a life threatening disease which causes hideous bruising from minimum cause.
OR finally something I always have ready when "things" happen.....maybe I've been taken over by aliens again. After all they've had fun with me before...like when I lost my glasses for 3 or 4 days and they turned up in the garden...or more recently when they stole 1 of my new "only worn once" arm warmers......

Well what ever the reason.its winter and being well rugged up no-one is gunna see it..but I have a really story ready just in case. With my work colleagues.....it's important to have a good story ready....!

A busy weekend and my track SRM

2009-07-26T05:42:00.005+10:00

Last weekend I stayed up to watch the TdF live. This weekend I'm too busy racing and motorpacing to be able to "enjoy the moment", watching instead a recording of the stage. Actually the lights went out on Le Tour for me a bit when Cadel cracked. Actually they went out a long way back..to the day of the TTT. Such an unfair concept in a tour IMHO.

My Saturday motorpacing date was shifted from 1200 back to 0830 which suited me fine...getting up early is no hardship to me. I lost the ability to sleep when Alex was born and haven't managed to re-discover it.

Coburg track is nice to ride when its not windy. It was windy. I struggled behind the bike as riding into the wind the motorbike lost up to 2kph when I suddenly was up his backside and then on the opposite side had to spin like mad to catch up as he roared off into the sunset.

One things for sure..my startle reflex is gold standard:
most laps as we turned into the head wind I'd find myself almost riding into the exhaust pipe
whereupon the reflex kicked in and I shot out to the side, into the wind, losing far too much speed
whereupon I had to accelerate to catch up
which I managed to achieve by the top turn
whereupon the tail wind kicked in and...........
so on and so forth.
Character building!

Today was another road TT...this time at the Boulie. We were last there in May when I cranked out a REALLY slow time...almost 2 minutes slower than last year. I rationalized that last year I was in a different phase of my training, being on the verge of leaving for the World Masters Road champs and so was really well in tune with hills! However that was actually just me rationalising. I just rode really badly.

Today I did alot better..not as quite good as last year but alot better than in May. The temp was freezing and for the second TT EVER, I wore gloves, arm warmers and an undershirt....as well as the skinsuit (!!!). The post race shower at home was more to warm up than get clean.

My track SRM has bedded in nicely. I use the same powercontrol for all 3 bikes..version 6..ie wireless. I have 2 durace power cranks and also magnets hanging off odd places on all 3 bikes. The road version is the usual durace one but the track one is a bit of an enigma since I can't find it on the web site and I'm not sure if its very old or very new. Logic would lend towards new since it is wireless... more detail next week.