Category Archives: Bike

Going up?

April 26, 2013 18:41 | Leave a Comment |

Scan of my 7 Peaks passport with its four stamps

For someone who proclaims loudly that they hate climbing, I sure do seem to do a lot of it.

In the last six months, I have ridden up five mountains. I know, only four stamps above but I did Donna Buang as well (a week before tackling Mt Buller again – which went way better this year than last year). That’s real progress considering that until the middle of 2010, I had never ridden up anything steeper than Yarra Boulevard in Kew. Now I’ve conquered some of the bigger climbs in Victoria – some of of them, twice!

It’s taken me a long time to get in the right head space for climbing. I’ve accepted the fact that I will never be as quick as other, stronger riders but I can do it if I’m willing to plod along. Because of my prolapsed disc, I climb slowly – which can be incredibly frustrating when you’re always the last person to reach the summit. But I figure it’s better to reach the summit ages after everyone else has than be parked on the couch doing nothing at all. At least I’m trying.

I suppose I have been very slowly seduced by climbing. I get why we do it. It is really satisfying to reach the summit. The new bike helps too. I didn’t think I’d notice any difference but the stiffness of the carbon frame does make it easier to settle into a rhythm. I never really noticed any flex in my Cannondale but I have noticed that I seem to be more efficient with my BMC so the flex must be there somewhere. Both of them have Ultegra so it’s not a gearing issues (the only difference being that my BMC has electronic shifting). I dunno… it just seems a tiny bit easier. Maybe it’s a mental thing and I’m trying harder because I think the bike deserves a better rider. *lol*

There are thoughts brewing this year of tackling Mt Hotham. I have a real mental block when it comes to Hotham. It seem impossible to me. It’s such a long climb, sections of it are incredibly steep and everyone I know who’s climbed it all say how hard it is. Not exactly encouraging me to do it. But I’ve decided it must be done at some point. So maybe this is the year I’ll shove all my concerns to one side and just do it.

However! There is an upside of course. It’s a hell of lot more fun coming down the mountain than it is going up!

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: , , , ,

The mysteries of a bike fit

March 6, 2013 21:01 | Leave a Comment |

Well, not really that mysterious.

Mostly it’s get on the bike, get off the bike, get on the bike, get off the bike, pedal hard, get off the bike, get on the bike, get in the drops, get off the bike, get on the bike, get off the bike. Repeat what feels like about a million times until finally you’re done.

I had a Body Geometry fit at Bike Now. Nope, I don’t have a Specialized bike (but they were one of the brands on my radar) but it doesn’t make a difference. As they say on their site, they will fit you to whatever bike you happen to own, regardless of brand. Chris did a great job too. I’d seen him before when I bought my Specialized shoes and was having a huge amount of trouble with the cleat position. He sorted that and I felt that he really listened to what I was saying so it made me eager to have him do a fit on my new bike.

He’s good. Really good. We spent about the first half an hour talking about what I wanted to get from my bike riding (he was surprised I had no desire to race), my experiences on the bike and any injuries I’ve had. He did the sit bone measurement, checked my feet to see what my arches were like and checked to see how flexible I am (pretty flexible apparently!).

Then the whole get on the bike, get off the bike process started. At first he just watched me ride. Then he started tweaking and switched my saddle to a 143mm Oura Pro. The difference was immediate. I realised that the whole time I’ve been riding I’ve never really sat on my sit bones on the bike, especially on the right side. What’s most curious is at the bottom of each pedal stroke, there’s a centimetre difference between my left leg (126) versus my right (125). That’s a quite a hip drop I’ve got going on there courtesy of my prolapsed disc. Still, Chris thinks the pedal stroke thing might correct itself now that I have a saddle that’s the right width but it’s a big might. I’m not expecting things to change but still *fingers crossed*.

I know, I know… I’ve bought into the on-sell with the saddle and I am getting a black version of the Oura. However Specialized seem to be the only people who make saddles that are narrower than 147mm. Which is a problem for us girls with skinny hip bones. If you want a wider saddle, sure but narrower – forget about it.

Because of the fit, I’ve ordered a new stem. The one that came with my bike is 110mm but when we did all the measuring for an ideal stem length/angle it turned out I was more comfortable with a 100mm one. So he flipped the stem and angled the bars up. He took some photos of me at the start and end of the fit and you can see the difference. My arms are so straight in the first photo and much more relaxed in the second one.

The whole thing took about two and a half hours. It really was interesting. It was amazing how much information Chris gathered from just watching me ride. He worked out I wasn’t straight on the saddle after about 30 seconds of watching me ride while standing behind me. He really is interested in making the experience of riding a bike the best it can be. He spent a lot of time working on my position on the saddle and making sure it was in the right position, especially considering that was the main reason I went to see him. It was worth it, even though my arse hates me right now. I have a test saddle (brand new, mine is the first arse to sit on it) on my bike so my right site bone isn’t happy with me at all because it has to get used to doing some work.

Perhaps though it wasn’t the best idea to try out a brand new saddle on the 105km M.A.D. ride which included riding up Mt Macedon. Now, there are two ways to get up Mt Macedon. One is relatively easy, the other is quite hard. Guess which one I experienced? I’ve discovered that 13% climbs are an all-body experience for me. The next day everything hurt. Arms, back, shoulders. Still, I passed plenty of guys on the way up who were walking, even though I was only riding at 5km/h. It got the point where I was only looking about a metre in front of me and it got done to me dealing with it one pedal-stroke at a time. Looking up was crushing because the road just seemed so steep and never-ending.

There definitely wasn’t enough down on this ride. Took me 48 minutes to get up the damn mountain but there was only 13 minutes of fun on the way down! The rest of the ride felt like a bit of a slog. There was a lot of up and the down didn’t come until the last 20kms of the ride. Still, it was a fun day out.

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You’re a handsome devil. What’s your name?

February 9, 2013 16:57 | 1 Comment |

My brand new BMC

Yup, I treated myself to a new road bike. I bought my Cannondale way back in February 2010 so I’d started seriously thinking about a new bike in about the middle of last year. But the intention wasn’t to actually go out and get one until at the end of 2013 (there are a few other things that need to be paid for first, namely a wedding!). But fate intervened and during a web search I found Bartholomew. I thought it was just wishful thinking until I saw the price. And then it became a reality. (And yes, all my bikes have names.)

Soooo…

He’s a 2012 BMC teammachine SLR01 50cm frame with Ultegra Di2. And once again, I’ve been made to eat my words after saying I couldn’t see the point of electronic shifting for a cyclist like me – a pure recreational rider who will never race. I can certainly see it now! It’s just brilliant. It’s incredibly quiet (unless you decided to suddenly change gears going up a hill) and I often find myself wondering if I’ve actually changed gear.

The experience of riding isn’t profoundly different from my Cannondale. There’s definitely a lot more stiffness to the bike but the agility feels about the same. However, the feel of the bike might be because I had my Eastons put on the new bike so I’m riding around on wheels that I’m already very familiar with (and they were better then the Fulcrum 5s that came with it – the only disappointment when it came to the bike). I’ve also gone from 40cm rounded on top bars to 38cm flat on top ones. Not sure about that. They do feel a little too narrow for me but I’m hoping to get a proper bike fit done soon so we’ll see what the outcome is from that.

Still, it’s awesome to get about on it. It’s new and shiny. I think we’re going to be very happy together.

My new BMC

My new BMC

My new BMC

My new BMC

My new BMC

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Amy’s Grand Fondo

September 24, 2012 22:15 | Leave a Comment |

I know, I know – the Fondo was ages ago (16th September). So why I am only blogging about it now? Got up the Monday morning after the ride, feeling a bit stiff and sore but generally okay until I lent over to pick up my lip balm and blam! Instant back pain. Really intense, haven’t-experienced-it-in-years back pain.

Sigh.

Commence the week off work where I spent four days either lying in bed or lying on the couch (only four because I’d already arranged to have the Monday off). The only time I really went anywhere was to go to the physio. I just find it ironic that I made it through an entire 120km ride feeling reasonably okay – my back was hurting a bit on the first, much more difficult climb – but lean over to pick up a tube of lip balm…

Anyhoo… Amy’s Grand Fondo.

It was great! I originally set myself what I thought was the realistic challenge of completing the ride in five and a half hours. So imagine how happy I was when I finished in under 5hrs (4hr 57mins according to my Garmin). My official ride time was 5hr 36mins but this incorporated all the stops we made including one really long stop at Deans Marsh which was much longer than we intended as the cafe took forever to actually make my fiance’s very uncomplicated espresso.

My overall placing was 3110 (out of how many riders I have no clue) and I was 68th out of 88 riders in my age group (female 40 – 44). I was hoping for a top 25% finish but soon realised that was going to be impossible as I saw or passed very few women in my category which meant they were probably all in the faster groups in front of me. And they were. Still, I didn’t come last in my age group (wasn’t even close to that) so that’s something.

The climb up Skenes Creek was hard – harder than I thought it would be. My back was really talking to me about two-thirds of the way up so I pulled over to have a stretch and admire the view which was stunning. Got a few odd looks because I’d stopped but it was worth it to take in the sight of forest turning into farm land turning into ocean. I managed to get to the top in 47 minutes which is pretty decent for someone who isn’t a great climber. I actually managed to overtake a few people but I have to admit I felt the strongest once we got go into the flat bit between Forest and Deans Marsh. Had to be told to dial it back a bit otherwise I was going to exhaust myself before we even got to the Deans Marsh climb.

This was such different experience from the last time I rode the Great Ocean Road. For one thing I remembered Deans Marsh being a way harder climb than it actually was. Maybe that’s just because I knew what to expect but I really did remember there being a lot more up and a lot less respite. But I suppose this time around I was much better prepared and all those boulie laps paid off 😉

One thing that didn’t go to the plan was the wardrobe malfunction I experienced just as we started. I finally bought myself a pair of Assos bib knicks after swearing vehemently that I never would (waste of money was my usual comment – I have been persuaded otherwise now) and they have a centre strap that runs down your chest and hooks through a little holder at the top of the shorts. I’d be warned that sometimes they become unhooked and that I might like to sew a stitch or two to make the gap narrower but I didn’t have a problem on my first ride with the shorts. Weeeelll… I wasn’t so fortunate this time. We’d just rolled under the start arch and were heading for the timing start line when I felt the strap pop loose. So over to the side of the road I went where I spent a couple of minutes rearranging my clothing. At least it was before the official timing start but we lost contact with the fast riders in our start group and couldn’t catch up. Not that it really mattered as we got overtaken by a whole bunch of other riders from the group behind us.

Riding on closed roads was sensational, especially on a frankly scary road like the Great Ocean Road. I’ve only experienced it once before and that was on open roads and I was pretty much terrified the whole time. But this was great. No cars, no worrying about oncoming traffic because there was none. It made overtaking about a million times easier because there was so much space. I especially enjoyed it on the descents.

Speaking of descents I didn’t find any of them particularly dangerous although the organisers disagreed with me and had put signs out. However, there was one accident that I know of that required an ambulance so maybe I’m wrong about that. I imagine it’s hard for inexperienced riders to not get caught up in the excitement of an event like this which could lead to them taking risks that normally wouldn’t and definitely shouldn’t. Ending up in the back of an ambulance is a pretty stiff price to pay for a misjudgement. I like to descend fast and sometimes I do overstretch myself but I’ve always managed to get things under control when they do go bad. But I have to say I’ve worked pretty hard to get my skills up so that I feel confident on my bike. (I also have my former rally driver Dad to thank for some intensive lessons in the art of cornering when I was learning to drive all those years ago and couldn’t corner properly to save myself. Funny what really sticks in your head.)

It was fun and I’ll definitely be doing it again. Hopefully the next time without the back injury the next day!

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Introducing…

August 23, 2012 17:52 | 5 Comments |

Jayne!

CBoardman cyclocross bike

As in Jayne Cobb, which will mean something to Firefly fans.

Jayne: Well, as a rule, I say, girlfolk ain’t to be trusted.
River: [grinning] “Jayne” is a girl’s name.
Jayne: Well, Jayne ain’t a girl! She starts in on that girl’s-name thing, [reaches into his pants] I’ll show her good ‘n’ all, I got man parts!
Simon: I’m… trying to think of a way for you to be cruder. I just… it’s not coming.
(Trash, episode 11 Firefly.)

Ah, Jayne. Probably one of my favourite Joss Whendon characters ever. I was riding to work thinking about names and all of sudden The Hero of Canton popped into my head and the name has just stuck. I think it’s appropriate. The bike is big, burly and carries the heavy stuff.

The MTB pedals and bottle cages went on last night, the pannier rack was added last week. I have some nice bright red Ortlieb bags to go the rack but I couldn’t be bothered to put them on for the photo (you’ll just have to use your imagination). The MTB cletes/pedals are interesting to say the least. I’m perplexed by the decision to tension the pedals so much. I couldn’t actually clip in at all at first. Even after winding them out as much as possible, it still taking a huge amount of force for me to actually clip in. It’s like having to learn how to use cletes all over again. But I shall persist as they’re about a billion times easier to walk around in. So yes, Jayne. Once I said it in my head the name just stuck.

The name is why I’ve had this stuck in my head for the last few days…

(If you haven’t ever watched Firefly, I strongly recommend it. Brilliant show that should’ve never been cancelled. Stupid TV network!)

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Ooohh… shiny!

August 14, 2012 15:35 | Leave a Comment |

Perhaps a story best told with photos, so, uh… pic spam warning!

Boxes of wiggle goodness
Boxes full of Wiggle goodness.

They be wheels
As if those reflectors stayed on… And yes, that’s a 11/32 cassette!

Frame emerging from the packaging
It emerges! Eventually… after I worked out how to get it out of all the packaging.

Crappest pedals ever
No. Just… no!

Nearly completed bike, only missing pedals
Tis almost done. Except for the pedals which are kinda important.

Now with pedals
Now with pedals!! And you can see a sad looking Lisa in the background minus her pedals *sniff*

Maiden voyage complete
Maiden voyage complete. All locked up in the bike cage at work. (I know, I know – most cable locks are just a visual deterrent but if someone wanted to steal it they’d have to work out how to break into the cage first and deal with the security camera. And there are bikes with thinner cable locks then mine anyway.)

Garmin edge 200 on bike
Yup, that’s Garmin Edge 200. Totally unnecessary for a bike that’s going to spend most of its time being a commuter but it’s my money that I’m squandering.

Flooded bike path
And what do I do with my bright and shiny bike? Ride it through about a foot of water on a flooded bike path after totally ignoring the “Path Closed” gate that had been half dragged across. And my, didn’t the brakes sing after that!

The bike is in the shop right now having a pannier rack fitted and the brakes tuned. On my first commute home, the rear brake was rubbing so much that it made the entire bike shake. Which scared the crap out of me. This is my first experience of disc brakes so I have no clue how to tune them properly (not that I really know how to do it with caliper brakes either). I expected a little squeaking as they bedded in but not rubbing as badly as they have been. Figure it’s a job for a bike mechanic, someone who really knows what they’re doing.

I’ve already bought a pair of MTB shoes and my MTB/flat pedals, bottle cages and pannier bags should turn up this week. And then I’ll be done. Turned out to be a rather expensive birthday present to myself.

Getting on my Cannondale is an experience now. This bike comes in a hefty 10kg (22lbs) when my roadie is a smidge over 7kg (about 16lbs). If nothing else I’m going to get a lot stronger pushing this bike around. My roadie felt insanely light when I hopped on her on Sunday and this morning riding up the hill on Barkly St seemed so much easier than normal. The Boardman also has SRAM double-tap gearing when I’ve only had Shimano in the past. Took me awhile to get my head around that one!

Still, I think the Boardman (doesn’t have a name yet!) and I are going to get along just fine.

Posted in: Bike | Tagged: ,

Breaking up is hard to do

August 7, 2012 20:39 | 1 Comment |

I know it’ll sound like a cliche but it’s not you, it’s me. I feel like we’ve grown apart in the last few months and that we’re just not as close as we used to do.

I sincerely hope that you don’t take this personally. It’s hard for me to imagine my life without you. It’s been a great few years and you’ve been such a huge part of my life. A whole new world has opened up for me because of you. I have so much to thank you for. You helped me get in touch with the person I used to be and that’s such a gift I can never repay you for.

But you have to admit that things have been a bit rocky lately. The closeness that we once had feels like it’s gone. We just don’t fit.

So I’m sorry to say that I’ve found someone new. Someone who will hopefully fit my current wants better. It’s time for a change. But I really am sorry, I hope you can move on and find someone new.

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The cobbles broke me

June 26, 2012 12:33 | Leave a Comment |

I’ll say from the onset that doing the Melburn Roobiax ride wasn’t my idea. I don’t like riding over cobbles at the best of times but I got signed up for it so I went along with it. And hey, the time I’ve been as an observer, it has looked like a lot of fun.

I was a little apprehensive as the day drew closer but I decided that I should just go with it and have some fun. Really, how bad could it be?

Uh… bad. Really, really bad.

I managed to get about 100 metres into the first section before I panicked. I was going too slow and the cobbles were really, really slippery after three days of heavy rain. There were people all around me and I could hear so many unfamiliar voices saying “wow, it’s so slippery”, “it’s a bit muddy!” etc. I totally freaked out. I managed to get my foot down but it promptly slipped out from underneath me. Then I cracked myself in the left shin with my pedal as I struggled to maintain my balance. Got my other foot out and somehow managed to whack my right shin with my pedal so hard that it broke skin. I have no clue how I did this. Of course I was in a bit of a state by now, verging on what felt like a full-blown panic attack. I stood there for about 10 minutes with people careering past me, adding to my fear.

I couldn’t move. I couldn’t go back and the idea of riding out of the lane filled me with a terror that had me frozen to the spot. So I did the only thing I could. I got off my bike and walked to the end. On insanely slippery cobbles. In cletes. How I didn’t fall over I have no idea.

The second section was worse. Again, I was way too slow and I simply didn’t trust myself or my bike on the cobbles. I panicked and stopped as soon as I could. It was awful. I haven’t felt that way since the first ride back from my fall last year.

And that’s the thing isn’t it? What did I fall over on last year? A bluestone gutter. I really thought I’d gotten over the whole bike accident thing. I’ve been happily riding on the road for months. Hell, I’ve ridden up a mountain! (Okay, so on occasion I get a bit skittish in large crowds and I don’t like when I feel that other cyclists are getting too close to me but I think that’s normal!) What happened Sunday was totally unexpected and I think that’s what made it so scary. I didn’t even think of that there would be a subconscious connection between my accident and the cobbles on the Roobaix ride. But wow, my brain made it pretty damn quickly.

I feel kinda dumb. I mean, there were kids doing it. Not to mention people on old bangers of bikes that must’ve been absolute agony to ride over the cobbles. But me, in my expensive Rapha kit and road bike? Nope, I freaked out on the first section. Still, I should remember that I did hurt myself well beyond the normal “jump-up-and-laugh-it-off” injury. I hit the ground so hard that I cracked my helmet.

After two sections, I gave up. If I persisted with the cobbles, I knew I’d be in for a terrible day on the bike. It was obvious I wasn’t going to be able to get past my fear and if I kept trying, I’d end up hurting myself and probably the people around me. It was just easier to skip the cobble sections and simply ride around them and meet my other half, who was doing them, at the end. I did manage to complete one section though so I’m rather proud of that as it was considered one of the more difficult bits (had three stars).

But there’s no getting away from it – the cobbles broke me.

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Things to do on a Sunday when you’re in France

April 14, 2012 00:21 | Leave a Comment |

When I slipped my beanie and gloves into my suitcase I felt a bit silly. Surely it wasn’t going to be that cold. But when I was standing on a Paris street on Sunday 8 April before the sun came up and it was about 1°C, it didn’t feel like such a stupid idea!

It was only last year that I told myself I had to get to the Roubaix velodrome at least once in my life. Strike one thing off the bucket list!! It’s an experience I think I’ll always remember. The roar of the crowd as Tom Boonen edged closer and closer to the velodrome, only to reach an amazing intensity when he actually entered. Not something that you easily forget.

Start line of Paris Roubaix 2012
The start for Paris Roubaix

Pave at the start of the race
They even have to start on pave!

Pros of the future
Future pros perhaps?

Stuart O'Grady's shoulder
Stuart O’Grady’s shoulder…

Stuart O'Grady's ear
Stuart O’Grady’s ear…

Stuart O'Grady adjusting his helmet
Look! It’s Stuart O’Grady!!

Pro at the starting line for Paris Roobaix
Contemplating what’s to come.

Australian flag
It’s not a bike race in Europe if there’s not at least one Australian flag.

Sign for Paris Roubaix route
Ya gotta go that way!

Pave
Our first cobble section at Inchy. I had enough trouble walking on it, couldn’t imagine what it’d be like to ride on it.

Pros come past our corner at Inchy
All that standing around and they go by so quickly!

Pros going by at Inchy
There they go!

Entering the corner at Haveluy
Breakaway group entering the corner at our second stop, Haveluy.

Pros in the corner at Haveluy

Thor Hushovd in the peleton
Thor!!

Georgoe Hincapie
George!!

Peleton making its way around the corner at Haveluy
These are not happy faces. Stuart O’Grady tucked right in the middle. From what I can gather, GreenEdge did not have a good race.

Breakaway group at Orchies
Breakaway group at Orchies.

Peleton at Orchies
Peleton coming through!!

The Roubaix velodrome
Roubaix velodrome.

Tom Boonen entering the velodrome
And he’s arrived! Tom Boonen entering the Roubaix velodrome.

Boonen receiving a congrations hug
I think he deserves a hug.

Posted in: Bike, Travel | Tagged: , , , , ,

At it again!

March 21, 2012 19:06 | 4 Comments |

Yup, this could be titled dumb things I have done – part two. Doing things that I shouldn’t be doing because I can’t hack it physically.

This time it was the Scody High Country Challenge. Signed up for it ages ago and was feeling pretty positive about it all. The challenge of Mt Buller seemed appropriate after conquering both Mt Buffalo and Mt Donna Buang. But then it happened.

Six weeks ago, I dislocated my right thumb.

This meant two weeks with no bike riding at all. I couldn’t even tie my own shoe laces, let alone get on a bike. It was over two weeks before I started riding again. But I could only do short distances before the pain in my hand got too bad – damn bumpy road surfaces! I knew there was no way I’d be anywhere near prepared enough for the weekend. But I did it anyway, with about 10 hours proper riding time. My longest ride was an 80km pootle around the Bellarine Peninsula the weekend before. (I do ride to work but that doesn’t really count when it’s only 10kms in the morning and 10kms in the evening.)

Not prepared at all!

Still, I lined up with everyone else on what was a very foggy Saturday morning, wondering if the new battery in my garmin’s speed/cadence sensor would stop the auto-pausing problem I’d been having (answer: yes and no – no because it still happened but yes because it didn’t get stuck paused like it had been). And then it began. We left Mansfield behind and made our way to the base of Mt Buller. At first it was okay. Actually, it was okay for about the first ten kms of the climb. I definitely wasn’t going to set any records for a blistering time but I was still turning the cranks over and I didn’t feeling like I was pedaling squares.

Then the nausea began. My stomach was churning and it got worse the further up the climb I got. In the last four or five kms of the climb, I stopped four times. At one point, I simply stopped. My heart was hammering in my chest and I just couldn’t turn the cranks over any more. I had to stop, I just had to. I forced down a bit of an Clif bar and contemplated the fact that I wasn’t even at the hard bit yet. That moment was a tiny bit soul destroying and I contemplated just turning my bike upside down and waiting for the sag wagon. Yet I didn’t. I clipped back in and suffered my way to the top. And my, did I suffer. My partner stayed with me for the final two kms and as we came around the very last corner, he heard a very little voice behind him squeak “Is that it?” in sheer desperation that it be the truth.

I got the blue “You are here!” sign and promptly got off my bike, fighting the desire to puke up my guts up all over the sign that two seconds ago had been a blessed thing to see. I walked for a bit but hopped back on my bike so I could ride across the finish line. Couldn’t be seen walking across the line!! Then we sat in the town square on top of Mt Buller in glorious sunshine as I chugged down a can of coke (rides are the only time I’ll drink it) and burped my head off. Slowly I started to feel better, my stomach unknotted and I relaxed. I acknowledged that fact that I was totally underdone for the climb. I had no clue just how hard it would be and my lack of knowledge of the climb made it even more difficult because I had no clue how far it was to go.

But I am proud of myself for not packing it in. I might’ve been in last group of people who completed the ascent but I bloody well did it!! I wanted to quit, I thought I should but I didn’t.

The descent was quite fun. I really didn’t like the first bit which is incredibly steep with a hair-pin turn. I was working the brakes the whole way down that bit, probably holding some people up but I didn’t care. I’d already seen what could happen if you crashed and I had no desire to put myself in hospital (one guy did – last I heard he has broken ribs and he cracked a vertebra). It was a much quicker trip back to Mansfield than it was going out. Simple fact is that there’s a lot more down than up on the way back!

Unlike when I climbed Mt Buffalo (with a cold no less!), I had a real feeling of achievement when I crossed the finish line in Mansfield. I had suffered but I had prevailed. I conquered Mt Buller on my first go.

Sunday was meant to be the 125km ride to Whitfield but my dislocated thumb put paid to that idea. It would be a 55km jaunt to Tolmie instead (the first water station and turnaround point). And my, what a tricksy little ride that turned out to be! What I didn’t know at the time was that you essentially start climbing as soon as you get out of Mansfield. Sure, it’s nowhere near as steep but it’s just as long as riding up Mt Buffalo! The “Welcome to Tolmie” sign appeared about 2.5kms before the damn water station!! It seemed to go on forever!

As we stood around the water station, I was eternally grateful that we would be turning around and heading back to Mansfield. And it was one of the funnest descents I’ve done it quite awhile. No real need to brake at all, just lots of big sweepers for corners and the feeling that you’re really in control because it’s not that steep. It was a lot of fun.

Will I do it again next year? Yes. I know it sounds like I had a terrible time but I really didn’t. I got to spend a long weekend in a gorgeous part of Victoria with my partner, doing what we love doing – which is riding our bikes.

But next year, I intend on being waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better prepared.

In other news, I’m heading off overseas next week for a grand jaunt. It goes something like this:

Depart Melbourne 12pm 27 March > arrive LAX 8:30am 27 March (love that whole arriving before you left thing) > Santa Monica 27 – 29 March > fly to Seattle 29 March > Seattle 29 March – 2 April > fly to New York (yay!!!) 2 April > New York 2 – 5 April > fly to Paris 5 April (very late at night too) > Paris from 6 – 12 April > fly to Hong Kong 12 April > Hong Kong 13 – 15 April > fly home to Melbourne 15 April. Arrive home 6am (!!) 16 April.

What’s missing for that is a day being bussed around for this year’s Paris-Roubaix. I think there are three stops along the way and then the tour company we’re going with will take us to the Roubaix Velodrome for the finish. It’s going to be very exciting.

Paris! I’m going to Paris! Mmmm… macaroons.

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