Leahy Track, Sedgwick State Forest

Guess what I found?!!  Yep, the guys from the DSE Bendigo Depot came through with the goods.  

This trail was the final section of trail that I rode through in Sedgwick State Forest that led to my house in Sedgwick.  I used to ride this trail from the end of my street through the unused road reserve, jump the fence and onto singletrack, that widened to this trail that was unnamed at the time.  The Bendigo guys graded the trail to open it up for fire use and when they heard that I rode it often (especially to work and back) they said they would name it after me.  When I moved back to Bendigo a couple of months ago Darryl mentioned there was a track named after me, so I've been hanging out to see it.  

Thanks Tranter, Scotty and Doosh for making me feel special by etching my name in Sedgwick State Forest for all time.

And of course I had lots of fun and a small 'off' heading out there on the One Tree Hill trails.  A great 2hr mtb on a most gorgeous day.

'Leahy Track' named after me by the guys from DSE Bendigo Depot

A return to Mt Sugarloaf

It's been no less than 7 years since I last rode from Bendigo out to Mt Sugarloaf and back, and it hasn't changed much in that time.  Except for the last pinch, rocky climb to the top and the descent back down.  Roz and I headed out in the showery weather and followed a brilliant dark blue cloud for 1.5hrs, then ended up in the cloud for 30 mins with some rain.  But what a brilliant 60km 3.5hr mtb ride.  Chatting all the way of course!  And it's so good to be free of study FOREVER....never again.  But that's what I said when I finished my undergrad.  But for now it's back to bikes and dogs - the way life outside of work was meant to be.  

I'm planning on a bigger couple of weeks on the bike in preparation for the Duael with Roz.  Better late than never.  And in the words of Bon Scott, 'Ride On' (by the way, one of my favourite AC/DC songs...you can take the girl out of Penriff - the 'riff - but you can't take the Penriff out of the girl !!).  

It's been a long time

No, I'm not bursting into Led Zeppelin's song here - just simply stating a fact.  3 months actually.  But oh so much has happened in that time.  I now live in Bendigo (again).  I now love my home (and yes it is a home, not a house).  The dogs love their new home too, and have settled in remarkably well - but let's face it, they're well adjusted to moving house since this is house number 6 for their short lives of 7 and 8.  The location of my home is perfect for work and play (both dogs and bikes).  

I did my first race a week after moving to Bendigo.  My race preparation included 3 rides with Roz in the week preceding the race.  I placed 1st Solo Female in the Bendigo 6 Hour.  I rode for 4hr 45 min - my longest ride in over a year.  I have not raced since.

Work has taken hold, then a slight mishap with my uni subject meant that the last 5 weeks have been spent completing 2 subjects.  Not much riding in the last 5 weeks.  But now I only have to finish off a 20 min powerpoint presentation, present it on Monday, and I'm done.  I'M DONE !!!  I will then be 

Justine Leahy BAppSc, Dip Mgmt, PGDip.  3 degrees....how's that for a 'Penriff girl' who dropped out after Year 10?!!!!

I was to race this weekend at the Wombat 6+6 Hour - 6 hours Saturday; 6 hours Sunday.  Well a huge work and study week meant that I finally had time to think about the race at 6pm on Friday night.  Wash bike.  Prepare race nutrition.  Pack clothes.  I slept through the first alarm on Saturday morning.  I woke with the second alarm but dozed back off to sleep for 20 mins.  If I had've climbed out of bed at that point and head straight to Woodend I would still make it in time for registration.  At this point I decided I was obviously exhausted, I was only going to be 'riding' not 'racing' due to my lack of training, and I really needed to just stop.  I haven't stopped for 5 weeks.  

So I stayed in bed with my babies; walked them for 45 mins; sat out the back in the sun and read a fantastic book I'm really enjoying while the dogs happily chewed their bones.  I lay down on the back step and closed my eyes, and realised that I was at peace.  For the first time in my life I WAS AT PEACE.  For someone who is restless, ambitious, determined, driven to achieve, this was a new and welcome feeling that was coming from within me.  

The time ticked on and I wanted to get a big ride in today even though I wasn't racing.  Bendigo - Kamarooka - Raywood - Bendigo seemed like a great idea.  A 90km mostly flat ride for my weary and unfit legs.  By the time I'd gotten to Raywood I was feeling okay but realised I must have had a fair tailwind, as my average speed was 30 km/h.  Sure enough, I then had 30 km straight into a head wind to get home.  It shattered me.  I dropped down to average 26.4 km over this distance.  Just under 3.5 hrs and this is the longest road ride I have done in 3 years.  An hour long bath helped my aching legs to recover, but I was glad that I had done the ride.  It used to be one of my favourites long ago because of the gentle undulations and quiet roads - nothing has changed.

I'm now going to sleep for a long time.

Dave's Bogan Biking Sheila

A ride with Dave on Sunday arvo was just what I needed, and as always with Dave, laughs that I needed came with some great mountain biking.  Dave gave me the confidence boost I needed in myself, which then turned a simple compliment into me being a bogan biking sheila....a nickname I now smile at, whilst writing this blog.  Thanks Kylie, for sharing your wonderful husband with me on some great rides.  And as always, (mud-splattered) smiles at the end of the ride.  And I'm sick of cleaning my bike after every ride!  Bring on next weekend - or maybe a mid-week night ride with Kira to keep me sane during the week's commuter riding (boring, but a good time to chill and listen to some awesome tunes).  

Great MTB Rides and Rainy Weather

Had a good couple of mtb rides over the weekend.  Saturday was the great trails of Bendigo - though only a brief 1.5hr ride, then raced off to a work do.  But sweet trails of fun, though I am still struggling for strength and fitness so the climbing wasn't as much fun as it used to be.  The rain didn't really dampen my riding spirits too much, expect for packing up the car and changing into dry clothes.

Sunday was a cruisy Dandenong Ranges mtb.  Up the never-ending Basin-Olinda Rd climb, where it started raining.  Descending from Olinda to Sassafras I had a brain-freeze from the cold and wet - not nice.  Went on a different firetrail descent than usual which cut out some climbing, but I got the brain-freeze back again.  I was glad to get back to the flats of Boronia and on my way home to dry off and warm up.

Back to a week of work, then planning next weekend's rides!!

Blores Hill 3/6 Hour Race

A week ago I committed to doing the 3 Hr race at Blores Hill, Heyfield.  I knew I didn't really have 6 hours of riding in my legs, and also it was just getting too difficult to get sorted for a night away with the dogs and riding for 6 hours.  

I hadn't raced or ridden at Blores Hill before but had heard it was fun, relatively flat, with some rocky stuff up the top end or the course.  My race plan consisted of:

1. Get to the event
2. Don't take it seriously - just have fun
3. Ride for 3 hours

And guess what?  I did all 3, and managed a 2nd place!!

It started well when a 10 mth old staffy-baby greeted me at registration.  I had to make a few gear adjustments while warming up, and I must have done something right because I had no problems throughout the day.  I lined up at the back of the pack for race start - chatting away to a familiar face who now has a name - Amber - and not checking out the competition AT ALL.  I was there for fun.

I passed a few riders in the first 5 mins then rounded a bend in the fire trail, only to find a former fire work colleague from Bendigo standing on the side of the track in Parks Victoria uniform.  I hadn't seen Cliff for 6 years since I'd left Bendigo, so of course I had to stop and chat.  Cliff commented that obviously I had backed it off a notch from when he knew me, seeing as I was stopping mid-race to chat for 5 mins.  The last rider passed me, so I thought I should probably get going again.

I thoroughly enjoyed the technical rock garden at the top end of the course - lots of rocks to climb on, to ride over, and to descend on.  I gave the 'A' line descent a shot on my 2nd lap and nailed it - so much smoother than the 'B' line, though you needed guts to do it.  The pump section was great fun, and the marshalls told me to stop laughing each time I came through working it.  After this section there was lots of easy pedalling with gently climbs.  

Transitioning for my 3rd lap I stopped to chat to my good friend Jane.  Yabba yabba and off I went.  It was at the 2 hour mark that my glutes began to burn - not just burning while pedalling, but REALLY burning while descending the technical stuff.  Obviously they haven't had to hold me upright in that position with that much demand for a very long time.  Too long.  Throughout the race I passed and was by old racing friends - many I hadn't seen for some time.  It was fantastic.  I came across Cliff again, stopped for another chat, then rolled on.  

Final lap and my glutes and triceps were burning worse than I have ever felt.  But I still rode the technical climb and descent, and had a huge smile at the top of the rocky climb.  During the race I had no thoughts on where I was placed - I actually thought I was 6th out of 8.  Amanda filled me in at the end that I had placed 2nd!!  Still can't believe it....all I could say was 'But I stopped and chatted all race!'.  Maybe that was the key....to have fun.

Thanks to all my racing friends (and Cliff) for a great day out.  And thanks to my Scalpel for never letting me down.

Daylesford, Smiths Gully & Lysterfield all in one week

I've had a great week of mtb-ing.  On the way to Daylesford it starting snowing, and ended up quite a depth the closer I got to Daylesford.  We were to ride out and meet 3 amazing chicks (Jane, Amanda and Beth) who were riding on the Dry Diggings Trail from Castlemaine to Daylesford.  The 3 of us procrastinated, made up excuses, dilly-dallied, then finally got out on the bike for a great ride.  Cold, but great.  I've committed myself to riding more of the Dry Diggings Trail when the weather is a bit warmer and dryer.  

Kira and Jo mid-ride (once we finally got out of the warm house)

The sun shone for my Smiths Gully ride, even though the temp only reached 9 degrees for the entire ride.  Still better than 4 degrees for the Daylesford ride!  The trails were good, the climbs were good but hard, and I finished the ride with not a whole lot left in the tank.

Kira and I decided on a night ride at Lysterfield.  We somehow picked up a lone rider in the car park named Damien, who rode with us.  He didn't seem to mind our slowness, and didn't laugh too hard when I fell off.  Overall, a great night ride mid-week.

Redesdale Race

What can I say?  It rained on the way there.  It rained during the briefing.  And it rained while I was racing.  But everyone else was in the rain too, so it was an even playing field.  

The 7km prologue was boring - lots of climbing, lots of fire trail.  But I was looking forward to the main course with lots of singletrack.  My bike had other ideas.  It started making a familiar grinding noise that reverberated through the carbon in the first few kms, and it was more than just grinding wet dirt on the gears and chain.  It wasn't doing it yesterday, but I'd had this problem with my other Scalpel late last year.  I thought it might ease so I continued on through the prologue.  My legs were feeling the climbs, but still feeling really good and I was enjoying myself, despite the rain.  

I'd ridden about 3km of the actual course (so 10km all up) when the grinding noise became worse.  It was a time to make a call - turn back while the start/finish was still within easy rolling distance, or continue to torture my poor bike and possibly cause more damage.  I couldn't do it to my lovely Scalpel so I turned back.  40 mins of riding in the rain - not much of a race.

BUT.....I got there, I got on the start line, I started racing, and my legs felt good.  I didn't feel so good standing in the increasingly heavy rain, attempting to clean my bike enough to put in the car, and then get changed into some clothes that started out dry but were very wet by the time I'd gotten changed.  

Hoping my bike will magically wash itself in the rain

Hoping my jersey will magically wash itself when I get home

Smiths Gully - Christmas Hills Girls MTB Ride

Jane's Liv/Giant girls mtb ride this month left from Smiths Gully through to the Christmas Hills trails that I had ridden last December (?) with Dave and Neil.  Lots of fun with 14 girls all up - a great choice of trails by Jane.  Some of the 'usual suspects', and a few that I had never met before.  No major incidents, and no major laughing episodes like the last one.  All finished off at the Smiths Gully cafe for some good food.

Saturday night was good fun with Dave and Kylie.  We went to see The Lone Ranger - a good laugh, entertaining, and long.  

Thanks all for a great Saturday.

Castlemaine x 2

The weekend started with Jane's Liv/Giant women's ride in Castlemaine.  The ride was on the Dry Diggings Trail from Castlemaine to Vaughan Springs, return.  And the group of 11 girls didn't let anyone down.  We rode well together and laughed well together.  It was the longest ride I've done since early February, so I was happy to pace myself and be sweeper for the most part.  The ride to Vaughan Springs was incident and mechanical free - all of us chatting with old friends along the trail and meeting new friends.  

Vaughan Springs lunch stop - the 'footy' shot

And the 'girly' shot

We rode into Vaughan Springs for lunch and I spotted my nemesis....the Vaughan Springs slippery-dip.  I've been to Vaughan Springs on rides over the past 10 years and have never had the guts to ride the slippery-dip, like the guys did each time.  Today was the day I would try.  I tried to get sorted at the top but was finding it difficult to balance myself upright while preparing to descend.  The platform was only just long enough for my bike, but there was nowhere to lean my knee on to stabilise myself.  There was a family picnicking in the park and I heard a guy say 'I've always wanted to do that.'  I looked up and they were all watching and had the video camera on me!  I balanced myself up enough to start, went a bit off line but managed to get it back on straight, and down I went!  So so happy!!  

SUCCESS !!!

First flat tyre - turns out it takes 5 degrees and 15 years of study to put a tube in a tubeless tyre!!

The ride back to Castlemaine was a long slog for me, not having any fitness at all.  But I chugged away slowly.  Beth flatted on the way back, which was a bit of a laugh to put a tube in the tubeless tyre.  Not hard, but a laugh non-the-less.  But the final touch was the 2nd flat for the day, 10 minutes riding from the cars.  The following photos pretty much tell the story.  2 tubes, 4 cartridges, 2 cartridge adapters, 2 pumps, a pulled laughing muscle, and sore stomachs all round pretty much sums it up!!

A simple change-tube scenario ended up nearly 30 mins of continuous laughter.  An opportunity for the flattee to change her first mtb tube (many road, but no mtb).  After a premature cartridge release it was found that the tube had a short valve for the deep-dished rims.  Tube number 2 and a pump was tried (which did not work with the little bit of valve that stuck out).  Cartridge number 2 was tried with little success.  Jane thought this would be an opportunity to practice using her cartridge and adapter.  Cartridge 1 prematurely released, then realising that the adapter had a 'Close' label that was obviously not closed.  Cartridge 4 successfully gassed the tube with enough CO2 to get a pump on the valve.  Except as Jane removed the adapter, she also pulled the valve out of the tube!!!  So our only tube, Jane holding the adapter with the valve still in it, and another girl holding the wheel with her finger plugging up the hole where the tube should be!!!  You can imagine how, at this point, we lost it.  Completely.  All work on the wheel stopped while we laughed so hard our stomachs hurt...tears rolled from eyes, and we couldn't stop.  Jane finished it off beautifully by looking at Kira with the cartridge in hand, saying 'You're the engineer Kira....fixed it.'  Valve successfully screwed back in, and the old and faithful (but slightly odd) pump was put to action.  We were back on the trail to the cars all smiling the whole way and chuckling still.  

How many tubes, pumps and cartridges does it take to change a tube?

The laughs were enough to pull a laughing muscle

RESULT !!  Tube changed - finally heading home after way too much hilarity 

 This day of fun riding and laughter was backed up by another trip to Castlemaine for the Inter Winter Series Round 2....back to the Pineys.  I was disappointed in the Super D being on before the XC, mainly because it delayed my race 2 hours.  I wanted to enjoy the race, enjoy the social scene, and get back to the dogs by mid-afternoon.  The Super D was okay - my legs were still tired from Saturday so I rolled everything that I didn't have to peddle for, and enjoyed the descents.  

By the time the XC came around I was hungry and psyched out.  So I enjoyed 1 lap of my 2, started getting angry with numpty riders who can't climb or descend singletrack, and decided to pull the pin.  If nothing else, the XC was the drive I needed to get fitter so I can out-climb the numpties at the start and get into the singletrack before them.  But overall, a great weekend of riding and laughs.

Got out of my bath to find both the dogs sharing the beanbag in front of the warm fire

June Long Weekend - Part 1

I had been looking forward to the long weekend since April.  It was a goal to work towards during long hours of study and work....a 3 DAY WEEKEND!  Though the details were scant, I knew it involved lots of riding, relaxing/reading, and time with the dogs.

Weeks ago I'd lined up to ride with Roz in Bendigo at some point.  I couldn't wait.  In arranging an overnight stay I overlooked a minor problem - no roof racks on the Impreza (I still hadn't had time to swap them over with Dave who bought the Outback).  So it ended up a day trip with the doggies as well as the mtb.  The dogs loved running round new places and new smells in the Crown Land parcels near Roz, and they became suitably tired enough to sleep while we went for a ride.  I realised after the ride that the dogs had been in the car with a bag of dog bones in the footwell of the back seat - the dogs were there for 1.5 hours, only 6 inches from the bones and didn't even touch the bag!  I'm so proud of my well-behaved babies.  

Lots of old trails that we used to ride up until 2007 - they've changed a bit, but are still there.  I was horrified at one section that is now 15 feet wide - an off-camber corner that clearly no-one could ride so they just made it wider through lack of skills - very annoyed indeed (LEARN HOW TO RIDE, PEOPLE...DON'T JUST MAKE ANOTHER LINE).  But the ride was great fun with undulations, rocky pinch climbs, and LOTS of talking!  Yes, we talked the entire 1.5 hours.  It was great.  

A beautiful Roz special home-made Yellow Lentil Dahl for dinner went down well with lots more conversation.  

Old friends out for a ride (Roz made me feel so welcome when I first moved to Bendigo - nothing changes)

Bendigo trails (and a gorgeous chick)

Formatting Failure

Not sure what happened with the formatting of my previous post, but I'm sure you got the gist.

BIKES ARE BETTER THAN STUDY !!!!!

It's over.  After 18 months of personal time being taken up by study, I handed my final assignment in on Monday morning.  I ended up curled up on the floor at work and had a chuckle with one of the other girls.

Study finished, I curled up in the foetal position for some down time and a laugh

Never in my life have I been so sedentary.  Sunday afternoon I had the guts the look at my training calendar for 2013.  It was looking as miserable as I was feeling.  I sent an email to my always supportive riding friends - it went like this:

"I've just downloaded my Garmin and was actually game enough to look at my exercise files of 2013.  The black lines are days that I have been on the bike.  January (raced mid-Jan) was looking pretty good - 4 days a week.  Then look at that....I did a subject in Feb and I went down to 2 - 3 days a week.  March was assignments - 1 day a week.  April was a subject and assignments - 4 times in the entire month (2 of those were stress relief whilst at uni).  May....well, what can I say - half my May training was this weekend just gone (the end of my assignments and the start of my life again).

But the good thing?  See those green lines for the next 3 months?  They are races that I AM GOING TO.  And of course all the rides that go in between them.

But for now, I still have another 2 - 3 hours of assignments to do.  But this is just a screen shot of my 2013.  I will NEVER take on study again whilst working full time.  I WANT MY PERSONAL TIME AS MY OWN.  And I want my body back, too.....  And I don't want to fall off my bike as many times as I did today.   Nor get that close to Wire Grass again....it tastes funny, and made the bottom half of my face itchy."

So my life begins again.  And it started with a good 2.5 to 3 hr ride in the Mt Dandenong Sylvan Trails.  Lots of climbing, lots of fun descending.  And more than my usual share of falls.  All slow and stupid, but falls none-the-less.  And I realised that mountain biking is hard.  I guess you take it for granted that, when you ride on and off all the time, you've still got a fair bit of fitness.  But starting from scratch is HARD.  And I also realised that you can go out on the road bike and do an easy ride, but riding the type of fun, technical trails I like, there is no easy.  It's long steady climbs, then a pinch climb that you just don't have the legs for but refuse to be defeated by the climb.  So it's all hard.  

I was purely exhausted after the ride and would have liked a nice nana-nap, however another 5 hours of study had to be done to complete that assignment.  

I promised the dogs I would not touch my laptop for a couple of nights, and instead spend the time walking and playing with them.  They have been such good babies throughout all this, and if there was any way I could thank them more, I would.  And they have helped me through all this too.  The laughs they give me without even trying - I took them for a long walk Saturday morning, beginning by going past the tennis courts where they get very excited about all the dozens of tennis balls flying around and rolling on the ground.  They always look for holes in the fence to try and get the balls.  In this case there was a competition game being played - the ball went astray and ended up rolling next to the fence where the dogs were.  Beep stuck her head under the fence, pinched the ball, then ran off down the path waiting for me to throw it to her !!!  The people playing tennis obviously wanted their ball back, but had a good chuckle at the same time.  Beep was well put out when I returned the ball under the fence.  

It's taking a while to get used to not having study to do all the time.  I sat down to watch a couple of Big Bang Theory episodes on Monday night, and 3 times during these I thought it was Friday night because that's the only time I turn on the TV when I've been studying.  Seconds later I realised that I shouldn't feel guilty for not studying, and unfortunately I had to go to work the next day.  So a brief feeling of pleasure followed by a sense of doom that it wasn't yet the weekend.

I look forward to writing of my riding exploits and my training, like life used to be.  Only different.  

Bikes are Better Than Boys...and girls on bikes descend faster than boys too !!!

I recently purchased not one, but three pair of bright pink cycling socks with the slogan 'Bikes are Better Than Boys!'  What better way to enjoy getting dressed on a cold day than to look forward to putting on those socks.  And as I proved today, girls on bikes descend faster than boys too!

A brief break in the weather and study on Sunday prompted me to get out on the road bike, even for just an hour.  I was climbing slowly and a rider passed me early on.  Numerous riders were tentatively descending while I climbed, obviously scared with the wet road.  

While climbing I was assessing each corner as to how wet it was, and whether I could carry normal speed into the corners or slow down a little.  As I was nearing the top the guy who passed me on the climb was descending.  At the top I turned round and wondered whether I'd catch him or if he was long gone.  It's always good to chase someone down - a great feeling!

About 1/3 of the way down a car passed me but got stuck behind the rider in front on a windy section.  I sat behind the car and slip-streamed, enjoying the rest for my very unfit legs.  A couple of corners on a car behind me tooted its horn at me.  How rude!!  Even if I did pull to the left, where was he going to go???  So I stuck to my slip-stream line, didn't even look back at him, and kept on descending (even if it was slower than I'd hoped).  Eventually the roady guy in front pulled off to the road to let the cars go by!  What a stupid move, even if he was descending like a girl.  So I stuck to my slip-stream line and passed him, leaving him far behind me very quickly.  I was very happy to be wearing my pink jersey, just to make sure he could see it was a girl smoking him on the descent!!  The rest of the ride went to plan, cornering beautifully and only having the 'tooting' car pass just before the final corner - goose.  

I returned home with a big smile ready to continue studying.  And speaking of that, the dogs have been amazingly good over the weekend, even though I've had to spend so many hours in front of the computer.  Between walks and games with the ball, they have been content enough to snooze for the most part of the day, especially Saturday that was miserably rainy and cold.  All was great until 5 mins before I was going to pack up and Buzz decided it was time to get some attention.  The 3rd photo below was the result - I didn't mind him treading on my fire prediction map, but it was treading on the keyboard with 2 feet that had me concerned, followed quickly with UNDO UNDO UNDO.  But how can I go cranky on such a beautiful boy?  Thanks to the boy and girl for being such good babies.

Buzzy being sleeping in the warmest spot on a cold day

Yes there is a little girl in that blanket - can't you see her head?

'But mum....I've been sooo good all day...can't we play now?'

Hhhmmmm....Another 24 Hour?

Mid January 2013 I had the realisation that the World 24 Hour Champs was just not going to happen for me this year.  I may have been able to handle work, dogs and training, but throwing nearly 4 months of study in there between February and June as well was just a recipe for stress, disappointment, and training and riding because I had to and not for the love of it.  

Instead, I was thinking of preparing for building up to the Summer National Series and a few enduros, maybe planning for hitting up the Australian 24 Hour Champs in April 2014.  But maybe my return to 24s may come a few months early.....  The Wombat 24 Hour in November at Woodend is looking pretty good.  I may have to throw out the feelers for a support team though.  I wonder if brother Gav is up for a flight to Viccy?  Followed by a drive to Canberra at Easter?

A Few Rides To Keep Sane

I've been on the bike a few times this week while at uni, certainly not because I have time, but to put all lectures, learning, assignments and work behind me for a short while and let myself be free from thoughts.  Tuesday was late by the time lectures finished, but I didn't care - I was brain dead, mentally exhausted, cranky, sick of people and just wanted to get away. 

Once I got on the bike I didn't want to stop.  It was dark in the single track and hard to see, but I didn't care - I kept riding cause I was enjoying it so much.  By the time I rolled back into uni it watch pitch black, having done the last section of climbing from the lake back up the hill in the dimmest of light.

It was a bit dark in the Oak forest, but this was only the beginning of my ride

Thursday was much the same - only one day to go of my subject lectures (and 4 weeks of assignments), but I was out of there by 4:30pm and free on the bike.  I went exploring seeing as I had some extra daylight - found this great view, some really fun fast, rocky fire trail, a couple of girls from uni out walking, and a really nice trail bike rider named Gavin who also has a Cannondale and rides the trails around Creswick. 

After my chats I decided to do another loop of the fun stuff, then climb back from the lake to uni feeling much refreshed and ready for another 5 hours of assignment study.

 

A Quick Update From Creswick

Well, I'm back once again at Creswick for uni.  Thanks to my super mum for living at my house for 2 weeks and looking after the babies while I'm at uni.  

My final subject - YAY!!  And of course, in true Dr Kevin Tolhurst form, it is nothing but intense.  But I guess we got to burn stuff today, so that's always fun.  A humorous thing happened during our burning experiments - the DSE group had a doozy of a burn going (as one would expect) which ended up in a firebrand being caught in a convection current, rising 4 feet above the fire and gently heading our direction, where it fell slowly into our already extinguished burn experiment !!  A perfectly executed example of a backburn performing its role in a bushfire.  A good laugh was had by all.  

I've only had 2 opportunities for rides - one by myself on Monday morning before my first lecture, and one this afternoon with Shauna.  And although the weather has been less than desirable, the sun came out for most of our ride this afternoon - just in time to get a piccy of Shauna in the sun after the final climb (and she certainly does look happy to have that climb behind her, after tackling a quad injury that was screaming at her the entire climb).  I had no excuse for going slow - just unfit and fat.  

I felt relaxed and content after the ride - not because it tired me out, but being out on the bike is such a pleasure and puts me in such a good, healthy space.  After dinner at pub, this enabled me to do a few good hours tonight of my previous subject's final assignment.  

I'm hanging out for 5 weeks time - all assignments finalised, only a year long project to complete at work - when I can ride all I want and get back into racing again.  National XC Series, Endurance, here I come.  Well, soon....

March - the month of travels

I can't really recall what I've done for the past month, other than travel round the state for work.  And getting my babies back which also involved 15 hours of travel.  It is only the photos on my phone that remind me of what I've achieved in work and study.  So let's have the piccies tell the story.

Some time since my last post I've spent a week working in Bendigo and Cape Otway, a week at Mallacoota, and finally a week at home.  

View from Mallacoota accommodation

Don't think I'd trust that bridge to hold a tanker - might have to find alternative access

Now I know why this landowner doesn't bother getting dressed and meets DSE staff in his white y-fronts....you wouldn't expect anyone to come to your property out here.  Chris and I were lucky - he was fully clothed for us.

A quick stop between properties for a phone and email catch-up...reception is rare in the areas surround 'coota

Playing with the DSE guys and big machinery getting a good setback to burn off the highway

While the babies were staying at Puppy Hilton (mum's place) for 6 weeks I replaced one of their beloved beanbags with a new one.  As predicted, it was a hit.  I'm so proud of my babies that they can have something as potentially disastrous as a beanbag and not chew or destroy it.  

Buzz and Beep enjoying their new beanbag

I caught up with Lauren who owns one of Beep's babies.  Puddy is so much like Beep, and she is given endless amounts of love from her owners and staffy-buddy Fonz.  Lauren and Dean ended up having to buy a king-sized bed so that everyone fitted in and all could have good nights sleep....now that's dedication and love.  So glad that Beep's sweet little white girl went to such a good home, and is being treated just as her mum and pseudo-dad are treated.

Puddy - Beep's white baby girl now 2 years old

 I am babysitting Dizzy this weekend.  Dizzy is such a sweetie - so gentle and peaceful.  And although my two aren't happy about sharing my time with another stafford, they are tolerating Dizzy's presence.

Babysitting Dizzy - Erica's 8 month old red girl...Dizzy found her head fits through the cat door

 I finally got on the bike after a week of nothing, though it was on the windtrainer.  I wasn't weather-restricted, just time-restricted.  I managed to read 2 journal articles during the hour session, and the dogs slept peacefully during my ride.

Fitting some exercise in around study - yes, that's a scientific report on the effectiveness of planned burning on my bars that I was reading while riding

My Amazing Life of Work and Study

Riding has been put on hold as a priority while I work through yet another subject of my post-graduate studies.  I still managed a couple of great rides around Creswick after lectures and on the weekends, but they were casual and fun 'brain down time' rather than anything that would be considered training.  Any serious riding will have to wait until June when I have finished my final subject.

Casual ride at Creswick with my awesome 80mm Scalpel

The new year of study brought a whole new group of students starting the Masters program, with most of them international students - Indonesia, China, Equador, and the usual suspects (from last year) from Botswana, Ghana, Indonesia, and the a few of the Aussies.  Charles form Ghana pulled an absolute ripper of a laugh, intentionally taking the mickey out of the very pale blondes being myself, Shauna, Luba. While we were plastering on the 30+ sunscreen for our field day ahead, Charles reached out to grab some (which caused a good laugh in us all), and then proceeded to put it on the palest part of him - the palms of his hands !!!!!  Thanks Charles, just rubbing it in that African's have it all over us when it comes to melanin !!  Charles, you're gorgeous, and we all take our hats off to yourself and fellow international students who leave their young families for 2 years to undertake studies in Australia that will help progress forestry, fire and climate change initiatives in your own countries, as well as you being able to provide a good education for your children.  

And then there was the lecturers....  What a cocktail of personalities they were - Dr Chris Weston and Dr Luba Volkova.  Between the small group of mature, working students and these 2 lecturers, the 2 weeks flew by with laughter that got everybody through field trips, lectures and forest net primary productivity calculations.  

The Russian peasants - Luba, Richard & Gus (who'd have thought Luba's KGB background would bring her to this?)

Some usual suspects (Mark, Dave & myself) and the great fun students from Indonesia & China

Then back to Bendigo for another week of work.  And a few easy but great rides, including an early morning roll with old friend Roz.  Our legs did a bit of (easy) work, but our mouths went non-stop!!!  

The weekend brought sleep, washing, house duties ready for another week in Bendigo and the Otways, before the return of my babies on the weekend.  I miss them so much - my house isn't the same without them.  But they have been very well behaved for mum and Tegan, and provided them with great laughs and company for Pippa.  

Not much riding, but a whole lotta busy

Working out of Bendigo for a week was all I'd hoped for, and some.  Great people, great location, and lots of work accomplished.  

Staying with Erica and Paul was a treat - great conversation and 3 loving staffords to come home to each night for hugs and laughs.  Erica was showing Toohey and Dizzy at the end of the week, and commented that Toohey had lost a bit of weight and needed to put a bit more on.  However I don't think she meant 2 rows of chocolate, an entire tube of bees wax lip balm, and a tube of hand cream !!!  Toohey got into my room and pulled everything out of my bag - books, registration papers, Road Worthy Certificate, wallet...everything.  He didn't damage any of it, but consumed all the tasty bits.  The only tasty treat that remains is some hand cream, however I don't need to pop the top off now, I just squeeze tube and it squirts out in 4 directions !!

Erica showing Toohey at Bendigo Dog Show

Erica showing 7 mth old Dizzy at Bendigo Dog Show

Always the laugh at work, Terry didn't fail to entertain.  Spilt the sugar, got caught, and the photo goes viral around the state to CFA and DSE within minutes - you can't get away with anything when so many people know you.  

Terry being resourceful, but he could have chosen a better spot to be resourceful...

Back to uni at the School of Forestry, Creswick.  Shauna and I had decided on taking the mtb for cruisey post-lecture rides.  Lots of exploring, talking and laughing.  

MTB at Creswick in the oak forest with Shauna

Uni field trip was to the Central Highlands of Vic - Healesville, Marysville, Toolangi, Kinglake - looking at different forests and their responses to fire.  Fairly basic stuff in general, but the real gems are in talking to the lecturers and picking up snippets of information that don't form part of the curriculum.  

Good laughs with the lecturers over an evening bbq - Chris, Lubov and Rohan.  Again, lots learnt and stories shared.  The following day didn't exactly go as planned, and resulted in Lubov, Shauna and myself getting a $300 cab ride from Kinglake West to Creswick !!  One of the buses ended up with a 3" branch through the radiator in the middle of a logging coupe, so some quick thinking by the lecturers had us still on track for the remainder of our field trip, with 3 of us getting a comfy trip in the cab instead of the buses.  

Alpine Ash burnt in 2009 Black Saturday regenerating - the 4WD gives some perspective to the height of the trees

Regeneration density of the Ash is incredible - can you believe that there are 6 people in the photo within 3m of me  

How do they grow so quick?...look at those leaves - huge photosynthetic potential (nice leaves, Shauna!!)

4 year old Ash regen with 1939 regrowth now dead - in scale with human height 

Standing among the giants - not really a safe place to be