State Track Champs and other things

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.

The morning after

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

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.

Where did Saturday go?

With both Phil and Alex away I have the house to myself with only the cats to talk to.....not that I'm complaining, as with my people orientated job, its nice to have a bit of solitude occasionally. But I'm not quite sure where Saturday morning went. A bit of pottering around the house cleaning up, an hour on the ergo, a bit of computer time and a bit of shopping (whoops! Anzac Day and so no supermarkets open) and suddenly it was 1200.

My afternoon was to be spent doing my duty with one of my 2 cycling clubs at their road race on killer Killara road. I had requested to be on lead or follow car duty since I was racing the omnium the next day and didn't wanted to have to stand for the 2 hours the race took place. This particular circuit is best known for the number of DNF's it inspires; A and B grades do 4 laps of the out and back circuit, the rest do 2 and the last time I was working where I was at one of the road junctions I got the feeling the race had finished and no-one had told me what with the field whittling down so dramatically.

Anyhow I got my wish and was in the lead car, something I'd not done before. I'm not sure how far ahead I was s'posed to be but I made sure that for most of the race they had at least a glimpse of me and apart from the nervy 1st lap, when I didn't know exactly where the turn arounds were, it was drama free. I don't think I've ever used my rear and side view mirrors as much..EVER! and was worried that I might end up with a wry neck..but I'm fine.

However, I almost ran out of petrol. Big memo to self..don't believe what the gauge says. When I started the needle indicated just under 1/2 a tank full. The read out said I had 240 km worth left and with a 64km race and about 12 km each way to get there I thought I was ok. Silly me. The warning light went on at "60kms worth of petrol left" just before the end of the race and by the time I'd finished and got to a petrol pump it was down to 20km. Running out of petrol is just downright careless and embarrassing.

Today is the omnium and the weather is cold so I'm packing heaps of clothes and heaps of food. I know its cold 'cos the honey doesn't want to come out of the squeeze pack, the cat food wont come out of the tin and putting the HRM on is painful. I hope its not like this in Sydney where my mate Jays Austin is doing his World Hour Record attempt. He got close the last time but set out too fast and faded, this time with Alex Simmons as a coach and experience of the event, he'll get it for sure. I think he, like Michael Burke later this year is doing it within the program of a larger event. There's so much you can control and there's much you can't and the weather is firmly in the latter category and can be the difference between success and failure. The problem about aborting an hour attempt is that it is involves so much "getting your mind set right" that once you're on the tram tracks to it, veering away is downright difficult. For totally different reasons, both Jays and I had that problem in 2007.

So its time to pack up the car with 2 bikes loads of wheels heaps of food and clothing, trainers, pumps etc etc and experience an omnium. There are 13 women racing and my group is WMAS 3+, so we know where I'll be! I've got Monday off to recover.