Cool

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

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

Taper time

• 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:

1. Check that the right amount of officials are engaged for the night
2. Check which weighing machine is being used and get Jens onto it
3. 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

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

"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

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

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

Final dress rehearsal...I hope

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

Decent weather and a clean bill of health

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

yet another character building ride and a proud mother post

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.

Work upheavals,the week's training and holiday preparations

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

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

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.

Training in the heat again

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

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.....

New Year training and a good blog read

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

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!

Sufferfest

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.

Tuesday's track time

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

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!