pear shaped

After insomnia, it was holiday time. uni had finished, exams were over, and it was time to recover and plan for the next few weeks/months. Some solid riding, relaxing, good times. the next event on the horizon was the noosa enduro. I was in for the 100 and Rishy for the hard 50. I was quite excited about this.

I think i shall tell you about one of the better training rides we have undertaken for a while. Rishy and i had planned a big hit up, take the road bikes up the legendary Col du Nebo. Not being the worlds greatest climber, (and 10 kilos overweight to boot) this was going to be a good solid ride. Our friend Hubcap had agreed to join us also. It was a grey and gloomy morning when we headed out from the 'Shire' (my place) in Coorparoo, but we weren't to be deterred. we were going climbing, and that was that. The three of us made our way over to the base of the climb and stopped at the ranger station for a quick nature stop and fill up some water bottles. after that, up hill for about 17km it was. and lo and behold, the grey skies started to give way to rain. Hubcap thundered off into the distance, and Rishy and I gradually made our way up to the top. Eventually, rather damp, we pulled into the cafe at Nebo Village, for a soup bowl full of coffee. A little social time with some other keen roadies at the cafe, and then it was time to head home. With the rain coming down rather heavily now, we pointed downhill. Once we got back into the city, Hubcap speared off to his place and Rishy and i headed for ours. one flat tyre later, we made it. a good solid 80km hilly training ride, in the pissing rain. a really good outing. A short mountain bike ride with friends of Rishy for her birthday the next morning, and that was all the riding i did for about 3 weeks.

Sickness set in. I think i got some sort of virus, i got the most severe headache i have ever had, coupled with nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, and generally feeling shit for a week. couple of trips to hospital, and about 5 kilos of weight loss for the week. i felt terrible. a friday night spent in hospital means no mountain bike enduro's for sunday morning. i had to pull out of the race at noosa, very sad. oh well. I'm getting back to full health now, and i've kept a little of that weight off, so thats a good thing i suppose. i have lost a lot of fittness and training time however, so my aims for the epic have taken a little knock.

For now, i am improving, and went for my first ride yesterday, a road ride for about 25k. i felt good. my legs are a bit sore today though, they need to get used to it again i guess. I'll keep you all posted folks, catch you later!!

It's been a while...

Well, after a long absence, i'm back. Time to fill all my fans in on the ups and downs of the last month or so.

Firstly, the Insomnia 24 hour mountain bike race. Great fun.

My girlfriend and I were racing as a two person mixed team for this race, and we were hoping to do a little better than our efforts in the same event last year. Last year we managed 7 laps all up for about 122 km, and last in our category (but still a great result for Rishy, it was her first mountain bike event, her bike was only a month old, and her first night ride). this year, much better prepared, we managed to crank our 12 laps, over 210 km, and first in class!!! My 7 laps makes that event the most i have done in a single event, and i now know i can do those sort of kilometres, i am feeling more confident to be able to hit up the epic this year. Rishy rode well also, five very solid laps to make this her biggest event also. A very muddy affair, however, and the bikes needed a serious clean after each lap to keep running smoothly.

All up, it was a great event, and I'm very proud of my super teammate!! We will definitely be back in october for the 8 hour at this venue.

Training on track it would seem...