Week twelve
I’m getting new wheels for my Cannondale. I’m rather excited. Spent $900 on Wiggle and I’m waiting for the email that says the package is on its way.
After my brother’s advice, I have purchased…
Easton EA90 SL wheelset
Shimano Ultegra 6700 cassette
Shimano Ultegra 6701 chain
And my finger might’ve accidentally slipped on the “add to cart” button when I was looking at these…
My dad called me today whilst driving to a job for a chat. We got around to the topic of clients we do web hosting and site construction for and if he’d actually billed them finally. (Okay, so it was brought up by me cos I’d like the extra cash and I did do most of the leg work.) He promised me he’d bill them and once they’d paid and he’d taken out his share, pass the money onto me. It’s not a huge amount of money but is a decent-sized sum.
What am I planning to do with it?
Should I:
a) put the money into my savings account?
b) pay the money onto my credit card?
c) buy some new clothes and shoes for work?
d) fritter away the money on frivolous things like comics and dvds?
All these things would be a good and justifiable usage of the cash, especially options a and b (except option d of course). But no, I’m going to with option E…
e) buy a new set of wheels for my Cannondale.
I’ve even scoped out which ones I want. New wheels mean I can put my old Mavic Askims back on Lisa and totally ditch the crappy Shimanos. In my defence, I have been putting money away for a new set of wheels. Getting this money will just bring forward something I was planning to do anyway. It will also free up those saving to be just that – savings (until I decide to upgrade something else on my bike, like the group set). The scary thing is that I’m planning on spending more on a pair of wheels than most people would spend on an entire bike.
So this how my brain works now. Bike = #1 priority.
Yup, that’s what I scoffed down when I finally made it home after today’s Degani Kinglake Ride. It really wasn’t warm enough but I was hungry.
And entitled to be so. I managed to ride the 70kms in under three hours, which was my aim. I discovered there are some really fun descents between Whittlsea and St Andrews. I even crouched right down over the bike to see how much speed I could get up (apparently around 60kms) which isn’t something I’d normally do. But the descent was really, really straight so I could see exactly where I needed to be. It was too good an opportunity to pass up. I’m discovering a lot of the riskier activities in cycling comes down to confidence and I felt pretty good so it didn’t feel that risky even though I knew that if I came off at that speed it would’ve definitely meant a trip to the hospital.
I’m really glad I did the climb up to Kinglake before the ride. As I was climbing it became obvious that there were quite a few people who hadn’t. There was plenty of suffering going on but I actually felt pretty good. Knowing what to expect made a huge difference. I’ve had some problems with my back in the last week and it really started complaining about half way up but I was determined to not walk so I struggled on. I made a point of getting out of the saddle more often which relieved the pressure on my lower back.
They had a signs at the start and end of the climb so the riders could track how long it took them to get to the top. I was pretty pleased with my efforts – 35 minutes from start to finish. I actually overtook a lot of people and I think – once again – preparation was key in that. There wasn’t meant to be any overtaking on the climb up but I was moving faster than some people and it felt flat out dangerous to get stuck behind someone who was moving so slowly. That climb really isn’t one to be wobbling about on and I did get stuck behind a kid who was doing just that which really worried me. I preferred to take the risk and overtake. I was very careful and only did it when I could be 100% sure it was safe.
There was a nasty surprise on the way out of Kinglake. All of a sudden there was a climb of about 750m – 1km with a 9-10% grade. It was horrible, it felt like it was never going to end and my legs were like rubber. And then there was the nasty crosswinds which we were protected from when climbing up. We were getting hammered and I was finding it hard to keep the bike in a straight line. It was tough and at that point I just wanted it to be over but there was still 30kms to go.
Things did improve though. The descent into Whittlesea was amazing. The only way to handle the winds and give the bike more stability was to crouch down but of course, you do that – you accelerate, a lot. I hit 70kms (fastest I’ve ever been on a bike) and I was still being overtaken. I thought it’d be brown trouser time going at speeds like that but it was awesome. I wonder what it’d be like if it wasn’t quite so windy…
My stats…
My stats in graph form…
(The flat bits in my graphs are from when I stopped at two of the rest spots.)
Check out the top speed!
So yes, the ride was good. I don’t know if I’ll do it again. $140 seems a lot of money to do a ride that doesn’t really benefit the community and is one I can do any time I want. I suppose that’s true of any of the recreational rides. I’ll definitely head out that way again.
Me finally doing a serious hill climb!
My brother and I drove to Hurstbridge and hit out from there. A few very small climbs to get into the mood and then a long hard slog up to Kinglake. Actually there was a bastard of climb just before we hit the big one. Short and sharp, which I always suffer on.
Kinglake is about 500m above sea level and it’s a 7km climb up to it. I’ve discovered I do better when the rides are hard if I have something to pretty to look at. Kinglake is still recovering from the massive fires but it’s an amazing ride up there. The view on the way up was amazing. I would’ve stopped to take a photo but if I had, I’m fairly certain I wouldn’t have been able to get started again.
I really suffered in the last three kilometres. My average speed dropped down to 12kph. It was okay at first, the grade wasn’t too bad and there were lots of twisty bits to keep me distracted. The higher up we got, the more I suffered. A few times I was certain I wasn’t going to make it but my brother was great, he slowed down and offered encouragement. He actually got in front at one point and forced me to slow down. Being a much more experienced rider, he saw the signs of me about to blow up and made me slow down enough to get my heart rate down.
It was really helpful. My brother was more than happy to explain the ride to me, where the corners were and we worked on finding a suitable tempo that I will be able to sustain on the Degani Kinglake Ride in two weeks. My heart rate monitor is turning out to be a really valuable piece of equipment. I didn’t think I’d find that much for it but I find myself using it all the time.
The descent was awesome. Took us over an hour to climb up but about 45 minutes to get down. The only problem was that it was bloody cold coming down! My brother ended up giving me his rain jacket because I was so cold. We talked about how to descend, how to take the corners, when to brake and where to look to be safe. He stayed behind me a lot of the way, shouting instructions. Heh. My maximum speed clocked in at 60kph and I didn’t even realise I was going that quickly. Of course, my brother shot past me quite a few times. I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ride like he does but I think I did okay.
It was hard going but I’m feeling pretty pleased with myself right now. I suppose it’s because I’m setting goals and achieving them. I may never be the world’s best climber but I’ve proved to myself that I shouldn’t be so defeatist. Hill climbing is definitely about mental attitude and telling myself I can’t do it is stupid because today is evidence that I can.
Me in Kinglake, in front of the restoration project centre.
About to suck down a gel but you can still tell I’m smiling.
Anyhoo… this is something my brother wrote in my birthday card which I really liked:
Bike riding is not about where you are going but what you see, feel, smell and think about along the way. Don’t try to destroy (yourself!) when you ride but create thoughts, ideas and a broad smile on your face. As you discover, make sure you enjoy!
Sometimes I really do wonder why I do it. Why, in god’s name, am I out on my bike when it’s cold, wet and miserable? Every turn of the cranks is a huge effort and I feel like I’m pedalling squares. Hands have gone numb from the cold and I stopped being able to feel my feet about two minute into the ride. It hurts to breathe because the air is so cold. It’s a torture of my own devising.
And then there are days like today.
That’s not to say it wasn’t cold – it was (4°C). And indeed, my hands did go numb. When they finally warmed up, it was time to not being able to feel my feet. But you know what? It didn’t matter.
On occasion, I manage to feel that elusive cyclists’ high. It’s something beyond the endorphins that have been released. It’s beyond feeling happy. The closest I can come to describing it is that it’s a sensation of fierce joy. Like I could take on the entire world. I want to scream to the sky that I’m here, that I’m truly alive. It’s a high unlike anything else.
This isn’t to say it doesn’t hurt. It does. The cold seeps into every part of my body and to breathe is like breathing in ice. My face hurts, my teeth hurt, my nose goes numb but I am alive in that moment in a way I can never be in my everyday life. My heart pounds and my whole body shakes from the effort. It’s cold, so cold, but somehow that makes it even better. In the moment, I feel like I’m best version of myself that I can possibly be. I’m strong, in control, capable, fierce and utterly blissed out. I rise above all monotony in my life and everything is so clear. All that matters is the moment, the joy I feel. It’s truly living in the moment.
“The bicycle has a soul. If you succeed to love it, it will give you emotions that you will never forget.”
– Mario Cipollini
Umm… well, right now I’m off the bike. I’ve got a bung knee so the physio I’m seeing has asked I do no long rides this weekend. I’m allowed to commute to work but I have to tape my knee.
My knees started hurting about a week after my bike fit. My seat was put down and it turned out to be too low. I didn’t exactly rush to put it back up which was a bit stupid. The right knee has sorted itself out but the left is giving me grief. One trip to the physio later and it tuns out my patella has been scraping the tendons underneath it and the muscle on the outside is pulling it off-centre with every turn of the crank. The inside muscle isn’t doing its job of creating equal tension so my patella doesn’t move from side to side.
Kate – the physio – said she doesn’t think it’s too bad (she said she’d seen a lot worse) but it does need correcting. So now I have to flex my quaddie 100 times whilst tapping the inner muscle. Weird huh? Apparently the tapping sends a message to my brain to grow the muscle. I also have to tape my knee if I’m going to get on my bike. I’ve been cleared to continue riding to work but I’m not allowed to do any long rides at all. *pouts* She also thinks I may have a Baker’s cyst. These aren’t dangerous at all as it’s just a pouch of fluid that’s formed at the back of my knee. There’s not a lot I can do about it anyway except rest it and take some ibuprofen to get the inflammation down. I’m sure all will be revealed and hopefully resolved with treatment.
I have a sneaking suspicion that both my patellas get pulled to the outside of my knees but it’s never hurt before so perhaps it’s being pulled a little further than normal.
I chose a sports physio this time as I figured my knee is a sport-related injury. Knees are tricky too so I thought it’d be better to see someone who was more likely to be familiar with their problems. But lordy, did she hurt me or what? She did a thing called a muscle strip from my hip to my knee and I nearly cried. Basically, it’s her running her fingers down my leg as hard as she can right over over the bone to break up the muscle fibres. This forces the muscle to relax but holy crap, It was painful!! I’m also sporting a rather lovely bruise at the moment where she did the most work. Haven’t decided if it helped or not as it still hurts. I’m supposed to roll a tennis ball down my leg as hard as I can but I decided I’m going to wait until the bruising heals.
The scary thing is that she said she wasn’t even doing it that hard. The pros would get it done infinitely harder than what she did to me. I also think I detected a note a slight note of satisfaction in her voice when she said that. Perhaps I should be worried…
As for the house hunting, well lets not talk about that. Every time I think about it, I end up with this slight feeling of PANIC!! Looked a place today that was okay and am about to go see another. This one I think I really want so I’ve already filled in the application form. Hopefully that will put me at the top of the pile.
It’s 9:15 on a Sunday morning and I’m not out riding my bike. What’s wrong with this picture?
I have zero motivation to do so at the moment. I’m actually still lying in bed. I pulled my blind up a little so I can see that it’s not raining and probably won’t rain but I just can’t be bothered to get up. Plus there’s this whole thing of having my legs squeal in pain every time I move after yesterday’s heavy-on-the-legs group training session.
Whinge, whinge, whinge.
What I should be doing is remembering that it’s okay to not get on the bike every single weekend. That I am allowed to have a rest. The weather also isn’t helping. It’s hard to get motivated to get out of bed when you know it’s only around 6 – 8°C and if there’s any wind at all it makes it feel even colder. I am looking forward to the day when going for a ride doesn’t involve putting on multiple layers of clothing in an attempt to keep warm. It’ll also be nice to not have to ride in the dark so much, although it is pretty amazing to see the sunrise. I’ve seen a few where the sky looks like it’s on fire. Still, not going to miss the numb feet (even with fleecy overshoes) or the cold ears.
There’s also no rule that says I have to go for a ride in the morning. Maybe I’ll feel motivated later in the day to go out and that’s fine too. At least it’ll be a little warmer.
I suppose there’s an obvious answer to what’s causing my lack of motivation – this being that I have to find a new place to live as the owner wants to move in. If I’d decided to move off my own bat I think I’d have a much more positive attitude about it. Having a deadline by which we must be gone is more than a little intimidating. However, my brother put it best when he said I was looking at this the wrong way and I should embrace it as an opportunity for a fresh start. And I think he’s probably right.
Right now I think a fresh start would be an excellent idea. I’ve found myself feeling angry so much of the time and I feel really dissatisfied with the direction my life has been taking. I’m not a fan of the person I’ve become in the last few months so this is an opportunity to do something about it. To a degree I feel that I have very little control over what happens in my life and going out on my own again is a way to wrest that control back. New home equals new opportunities and a chance to work out what I’m doing at my own pace without any outside pressure or influences. Financially it’s going to suck as living on your own isn’t cheap but I’m choosing to think of it as investing in my well-being.
My first reaction was to panic. Two months seems like such a short time to find somewhere to live. But panicking serves no one and I need to have faith that everything will work itself out. It’s happened before so there’s no reason to think it won’t happen again. I just have to keep telling myself that I will find somewhere to live and that there’s no need to freak out. Chances are it won’t be my dream home but I’m sure I’ll find somewhere that’ll be okay. Also, if I’m honest, as much I love this house, there are some thing I will not miss about it – like the rather loud religious chanting in Greek that’s being played next door right now.
This whole growing up thing sucks. It’s not fun when you realise you’ve actually made a bit of a mess of your life. Still, helps to remember that life is nothing but progression – gotta be with the whole moving forward.
I did manage to get up on Tuesday and go for a ride. I even felt like I’d achieved something as I managed to ride the entire length of Yarra Boulevard for the first time in ages. And best of all, I ran into my brother. Not literally because that would’ve been bad. Apparently he also rides Yarra Boulevard every Tuesday so I may be seeing more of him. He, of course, can totally kick my arse on hills so if he does ride with me he’s going to have to slow down. Or maybe I could attach a rope to him and he can drag me up the hills 😉
I also went to cardio boxing on Wednesday night. Everything was going swimmingly until it came to doing some kicking with the crash pad. I don’t know what I did about about half way through I was hopping around the park, grimacing in pain. Somehow I managed to strain my left calf muscle. At first it felt like a cramp but the pain wouldn’t go away even when I stretched it out. So much for my plan. I optimistically set my alarm for 6am Thursday morning but simply moving my leg while still lying in bed told me I wasn’t going anywhere. Which really sucked because it was a perfect morning for a ride. Oh well, hopefully there will be other perfect mornings that I won’t have to skip.
Funnily enough I woke up this morning at 5:45 and thought about getting up for a ride. But I decided I should rest my calf and not risk damaging it even more because as far as I can tell, Yarra Boulevard isn’t kind to injured bodies. I have the weekend to rest up and my calf does feel better this time today than it did yesterday. Hopefully by Monday it’ll be all good as I have plans to ride to Black Rock. What better way to spend a public holiday? Get up early and jump on the bike!! Sleep in? What’s a sleep in?
Weather permitting:
Right now I feel fat and lazy, schlepping around the house doing little or no physical exercise. This must change. I have a gorgeous new bike that needs to be ridden. I am ill-disciplined but I have goals I want to achieve. I want to break 100km in a single ride. I want to be able to do the 120km social rides. I want to be able to do hill climbs without feeling like I’m going to die.
I lost two kilos when I had gastro two weeks ago. However, I ate barely anything for three days so that probably has something to do with my rapid weight lose. Of course, I’m eating again so I’ve put most of the weight back on. Sigh. I’m tired of doing the body test on the Wii and having minimal changes (the last two have been gains). I feel like I’m not achieving anything. I’m tired of seeing this disgusting gut poking out the front of my bike gear. You really can’t hide anything in lycra so all my flaws are out there for the world to see. Any wonder I don’t like looking in mirrors when I’m dressed for a ride.
Hence the plan.
I will find the discipline I once had. I will get out there and ride. I will work hard. I will try to eat less of the bad stuff and more of the good. Every day I will try to remind myself that I’ve already accomplished a lot. Going from a 36 inch waist to a 29 one isn’t something to be sneezed at. But most of all, simply enjoy the riding. It’s as close to flying we can get.
Two days until I head overseas and there’s been nary a peep about my trip on my blog.
So yes… two days until I fly off to America for the third time. Whoo! I’m visiting the same places as I did last year (LA, San Fran and Seattle) but that’s because I loved them so much I had to go again. Part of me hopes it’ll snow but part of me also knows it’ll be a huge hassle if it does because I’m totally unprepared for it. It’s going to be really weird to go from very mild, warm weather to the cold. And it’s going to be cold in Seattle, probably in San Francisco too.
I called V Australia about seats on my flights and managed to get window seats on empty rows. Everyone must cross their fingers for me that it stays this way as that would be totally awesome. I love, love, luuuuuuuuuuurve the idea of having an entire row to myself. Being able to lie down would be blissful. On my first trip, I slept much better on the way home because I had an empty seat next to me and was able to sprawl a lot more. So, wish me empty rows ‘kay?
I’m heading off with my usual minimal plans and waiting to see what happens once I arrive. A few things have been arranged but mostly I’ll be deciding what I want to do once I’m there. I’ll definitely be seeking out some bike shops as I have a hankering for some new bike shoes and have been taken aback at how insanely expensive they are in Australia. Plus I want to see what jerseys I can get my hands on. And some new gloves wouldn’t go astray either. Hhmm… at this rate, I’m going to be spending all my money in bike shops and not on comic book art!
Speaking of comic book art, there’s only a few artists I’m actually interested in getting pieces from. In order of wantedness:
1. Phil Hester
2. Skottie Young
3. Dean Trippe
4. Joelle Jones
5. Joe Kelly
6. Dustin Nguyen/Derek Fridolfs
7. Francesco Francavilla
I have my fingers really crossed for Phil Hester and Skottie Young. Hester was my favourite artist on Green Arrow and I’m hoping I can get a GA sketch from him. I don’t have that many hopes of getting anything from Skottie Young but I figured I’d try my luck anyway. If I can’t get something, I just hope he’s got a a print of the awesome Amazing Spider-Man cover he did that features Deadpool. Every time I see it, I chuckle. Hopefully Mr Sale will have finished inking the page I bought last year and that’s the only thing I want from him. I got my 10 minute ink wash last year so I’m set there. Plus Tim has been extraordinarily generous with me and I have more pieces from him than I thought I ever would.
I am slightly worried about how I’m going to go on the flights with torn rib tendons. 14 hours in a seat is a long time. But my doctor did give me drugs that will knock me out so if nothing else I’ll take some mersyndol and pray I venture off into the land of nod.
My ribs are healing nicely and sometimes I actually forget they’re anything wrong with them. Until I stretch and then it’s a world of weird pain. It doesn’t exactly hurt, it feels really tight and constricted – like I’ve reached the maximum amount of flex they have. I am looking forward to the day when I can stretch my arms above my head without it hurting.
Ten days off the bike has really affected my riding. I’m at least five ks slower than I was a few weeks ago and I feel like I’ve lost a huge amount of power. I think my fitness levels have crashed too. I feel slower and heavier on the bike. But at least I’m back on it. I’m riding far more cautiously at the moment and I’ve noticed I’m taking far, far fewer risks than I was. This isn’t to say I took that many risks beforehand but I’m definitely backing off whereas before I wouldn’t have. Maybe that’s a good thing though. I’m sure I’ll live a longer life if I ride with more caution.
And finally, two stories from The Age website that caught my eye: Number of peak-hour cyclists soar and 14 cyclists injured in spate of accidents.