Ballarat 3 Hour

Yippee yeehah I actually 'raced' at the Ballarat 3 Hour last week!  Finally I've got legs rather than legs that fade whenever I point them at a climb.  

The course was a great fun, flowy course.  Nothing hard or technical - just a matter of how much speed can you carry down the descents and through corners.  There was a fair bit of climbing each lap - 270m elevation gain over 12 km, with the start lap having 370m elevation gain - which took it's toll on everyone eventually.  As usual, I knew the climbs were my weakness so I hammered the descents as best I could to make up time.  Some of these were so much fun that I couldn't contain my jubilation and just had to let loose with several vocal 'woohoo'.

The first 1.5 hours was spent pushing a bit but not too much, expecting the usual nothing on the climbs.  But when it came to putting in a bit more on every climb on the 3rd lap, I actually had some legs.  Then the 4th lap came round and I wanted to finish with nothing in my legs, so I pushed every climb HARD.  The final 25 mins my glutes were screaming at me, but I just kept pushing on everything - I never gave up.  

It was so good to feel pain again in my legs - to push into the pain and actually enjoy it - rather than just having nothing on the climbs and just having to tap away while my legs just faded.  It was a HUGE step for me - it's been 2 years since I've had any legs, and I'm determined to not lose them if I can help it.  Of course work will get in the way, as it already has, but I'll do my best to keep on the bike and keep up the fun, because I love it so much.  

Rapid Assessment of the Last 4 Months

I was reminded recently that I haven't updated my blog for some time.  Not much has happened, but then so much has happened.

The 3 hour race at Moama at the end of May ended in 2 broken ribs.  500m from the finish and I crashed - a silly crash that landed me stuck on the side of the track throwing up, then in the St Johns van for an hour, the in the passenger seat of my car for the drive home while Roz drove and put up with me wincing with each breath.  What would I do without friends?  And not only did she get me home safely, the Bradley's also provided me with food for the next few days.  And congrats to Roz on podiuming with a well deserved 2nd!!

The next 6 - 7 weeks passed slowly.  Who'd have thought that brushing your teeth could cause so much rib pain!  I did the occasional indoor session cause I was sick of being in pain and didn't want to deal with the rough surface of road or dirt.  Beep was very patient with her daily walks that were very slow - she's such a good girl and was very careful and gentle with me.  If my beautiful Buzzy Boy had've been here, you could guarantee that if anyone was going to walk over the top of me or jump up on the bed and land on me and cause rib pain, it would have been him....not because he meant to, just because he never felt physical pain so he was unknowing about his actions.  This part of Buzz's character caused many moments of consternation for Beep....'How could you be so careless!!'....and then she'd tell him off, and he'd wonder why.  And I miss him for just being him.  

Anyway, moving on, there was an upside to my injury - driving was too painful for 3 weeks so I spent the most part working in Bendigo for that time, which is a rare occurrence for my role.  

So after losing any form of fitness over June/July, I started out slowly.  Again.  Then July turned into August and I was catching up on field trips and then a fire conference in Adelaide.  And more field trips.  And before I knew it the Bendigo 6 Hour was here.  With no riding in my legs.  Again.  So I entered and rode for 3 hours straight, and had the most wonderful day.  The sun was shining and warm and all I had to do was ride for 3 hours.  Alex Chng even managed to get a couple of shots of me.

Don't laugh at the tongue!

And then the Jubberland Red Bull 12 Hour.  And again I was exhausted and had no riding in my legs, so I just had a great 3 hours riding time rolling round the trails, catching up with friends, and having a great time.  And still managed to be home early afternoon to spend the rest of the weekend with Beep.  It was the perfect weekend.  

I'm on leave for a couple of weeks and timed it beautifully - warm, sunny weather to spend the days in the garden with Beep, riding my bike both by myself and with friends, and relaxing.  So much time to myself is a rarity when you work so much in a demanding role, so I'm taking in the peace a quiet and, excuse the pun, but 'loving the serenity'.

But as I found yesterday there are moments, however brief, when I considered it would be handy to have a hubby around sometimes.  Such a (surprising?) thought was triggered by putting a new, tightly fitting UST (tubeless) tyre to my mtb.  But I got there on my own - fully sealed and seated perfectly, all ready for a ride - so happy.  

Inter-Winter Round 1 - Creswick 3 Hour Race

What an amazing day it turned out to be, even though the start was a bit less than average.  Once I'd dragged myself out of bed, leaving a very sad Beep still tucked under the doona, my day got better once I'd gotten to the start line, stumbled across Brett and Jo, finally found Roz, and decided that all Roz and myself were up for was a fun trail ride on a course that we'd never ridden.  And what a brilliant ride we had in the warm sunshine.  I have a feeling it was one of the last gorgeous days in Creswick until late Spring.  

Roz set the pace, which also set the pace of talking.  A puffing rider behind us kindly asked if we could stop talking, because he thought it very disheartening that we were talking non-stop while he was struggling to just ride.  He eventually passed us further on and had a laugh.  45 minutes later he kindly asked us again to stop rubbing it in that we could yabba non-stop and still ride up the climbs.  He passed us and when we stopped in transition for a bottle we heard 'Aahhh, they've finally stopped talking!' - the 3 of us had a chuckle and he announced he was done for the day.  Roz and I headed out for another 2 laps.  

The course was easy but with (what felt like) relentless climbing.  At the end of the first lap I mentioned to Roz that if her legs were feeling a bit used after only one lap (she was riding singlespeed!), she had good reason because each lap had 250m elevation gain - a fair amount for each 40 min lap.  The descents were fun and the entire course flowed beautifully.  

4 laps took me to 2hr 45min with 950m elevation gain, and I was happy to finish at that point.  I still had the 1.5hr drive home, pick up Toohey for a 2 night sleep over, do a long walk with Toohey and Beep, feed myself and the 'kids', and prepare for the next week.  

I am now contentedly tired (as are the dogs), having thoroughly enjoyed not just the race but the whole weekend.  I now have a very busy 2 weeks before the next race at Moama - let's hope I manage to get in some k's so that I can actually race a little bit rather than just ride.  

Golden Triangle Epic 50km

Or as I renamed it, the Anaemia Epic.  2 days before the event I got the result of some bloods and found that I am anaemic, which goes some way to explaining my extreme fatigue.  I know that work has been stupidly busy and I've been doing some pretty ridiculous hours and travel, but if anything these results have been the kick up the bum that I really needed.  Firstly though, a run down of the Epic.

At registration I bumped into an old Albury mtb friend Jukka.  After a brief catch-up Jukka ended up crashing in my spare room for the evening rather than his van.  Lots of pre-race mountain bike and dog talk, with the only thing missing being his lovely mtb-ing wife Julie.  

The start time and race location was just perfect for me - 11am just 1 minutes ride from my house.  And guess who was last on the start line?...yep, me!  I was really looking forward to the event simply to ride my bike, socialise and do a 50km mtb that I would not have otherwise done.  The course was in the best condition it could ever have been, and although it would have been nice for the temp to be a couple of degrees warmer than 15 degrees, I couldn't complain - it was still nix and a jersey with underlayer.  

I sat with Jo Lythgo for the first 10km until I started to drop on the climbs, then catch her on the descents.  Eventually her climbing pace was beyond my ability to sustain, so I dropped back to my pace and enjoyed the ride.  I ate and drank as I should do, chatted with other riders briefly, and enjoyed myself.  

By the 35km mark my legs started to say 'no'.  No cramping, just tiredness and breathlessness.  With a greater understanding of my fatigue (anaemia) I was able to accept the level of fitness and strength I had, rather than berate myself for being so unfit.  I started on the carbo shots and continued on these to the end which helped immensely.  

With 9km to go I heard a rock hit the front rim - not a good noise when you're running a tube on the front.  I monitored the front tyre and at the 7km mark I noted that it was slowly deflating and started to panic.  With 6km to go I thought this through - I didn't want to stop and change a tube at such a late stage in my race unless I really had to.  So the only thing to do was put in everything I had to try and get as close to the finish as possible before it went down too much to ride.  I decided at this point that if I had to stop and pump it up enough to get me there I would, but I'd try and get as far as I could before this.  So I passed two people who I'd been pacing, then passed another one in the last kilometre.  The front was gripping very nicely in the corners!  Though I had to take it easy in the rocky sections.  I pushed with everything I had in that last kilometre and right to the end.  The tube hung in there and so did my legs.

What was I laughing at? Beep wanting to join me on the podium - a few seconds later she did!

3 hrs 13 minutes and I was done.  I hung around chatting to friend, rode home on an almost flat front tyre, showered, ate and walked Beep back to the event for presentations.  And in a huge surprise I was called up as 2nd Womens 40-50 age class!  Did not expect that at all - all I did was ride!

A great day - thanks to Bendigo Mountain Bike Club for their time and effort - the volunteers for giving up their riding to make the event happen - and the sponsors for supporting the event.  And to all the riders that were a great, patient bunch out on the course.

Enjoying myself at the GTE 2015

  

When you're in Ballarat for work.....

What else would you make time to do, but ride up Mt Buninyong.  Gorgeous sunset ride - only a short one after a days work and travel but just what I needed to entice me to get on the bike.  Legs pretty slow and sluggish after racing last weekend and not being on the bike since, but the warm evening fresh air and views made the most of a trip away with work.  

Australian National Mountain Bike Championships

My race nerves quickly dissipated  once we'd gotten halfway round the start loop - I was at the back of my age category by this stage after a good start off the gun (very unlike me).  So my race was MY race.  I enjoyed the toughness of the course - the climbs were short, hard climbs and the descents were mostly technical, tight switchbacks.  The fast, flower middle section was so sweet.  3 laps was plenty for me!  Yes, I could have done another one if pushed, and I would have likely caught a minute on 3rd place in front of me, but I was definitely happy when the climbing was completed on my 3rd lap and I knew it was all downhill and flat.  Only one 'off' when a Junior fell off on a drop-off switchback in front of me and I had to quickly make a decision to either ride over the top of her and her bike, or stop mid-switchback and fall off because of the steepness of the corner.  So I gracefully fell, managing to not land on the poor Junior who was still lying on the ground.

I've had a fantastic social few days in Bright with some good riding, good (slow) racing, and after racing I could relax stress-free for the remainder of my time in Bright.  And I was so proud watching my protege (even though she's not mine anymore) Emily Parkes win the Under 23 Australian National Championship title by 0.1 second!  Both Em and myself were teary as we hugged and celebrated her win.  Em has worked so hard over the last 4 years, and I get great pleasure in seeing her grow in the sport and herself.

Finished the race - thanks Hel for the photo

Quick National Champs Update

I'm in Bright having a lovely relaxing race prep. The course is not what I expected but I'm getting used to it. Not too much climbing each lap, but the climbing there is is hard climbing. Nothing too daunting technically, but I did have to rethink my entry speed Into one of the drops. Looking forward to tomorrow's racing.

I RODE SLATEY !!!!!

I know this doesn't look much in a photo, but 'Slatey' is a Castlemaine Piney's legendary section of trial.  Though I haven't ridden this trail many times, I have (until today) only ridden it twice.  Today is the third.  

I actually thought that we'd missed Slatey - that it was further up the trail and we hadn't come across it.  I was having an awesome technical day and didn't think anything of it as I rode into this, and looked for a line as I approached it (yes, there is a line there!).  It wasn't until my front wheel rode the first section of slate that I realised where I was, and that I was riding it!  I had a brief moment's thought of 'Don't fall off and hurt yourself 'cause you're racing next weekend' as one of my wheels slid a bit, but I didn't falter and made it though seamlessly.  

An awesome, awesome day at the Piney's with Roz - lots of hard descents, hard climbs, off-camber tree roots all typical of the Pineys.  So nice to ride some hard, physically demanding singletrack that keeps you moving on the bike with the need to read the trail and technical bits with speed as you approach them.  SO GOOD!

Roz struggling to climb up Slatey

I Love You My Buzzy Boy

It's taken me 2 months to be able to put this blog together - to put down in writing saying goodbye to my Buzzy Boy.  

He was big in every way - size, smile, teeth, heart, life. He made me laugh hard every day for 9 years, just being himself.  He didn't try to be funny - he just was.  Right up until the end, Buzzy lived to the fullest of life and didn't hold anything back - if he had energy and he was awake, he would play and have fun.  

The photos capture just a small party of who he was and how much he meant to myself and Beep.  Buzzy Boy you have left a huge hole in our hearts and our life - the house is so empty and quiet without you - I realise that although you were only one of my two babies, you were 3/4 of my two babies.  Beep has lost her best friend and big brother and is now a very different dog without you.  You will always have our love Buzz, and thank you for giving me so much in life.  

Two of a kind - so different in personality but so reliant on each other

Buzz's  tongue poking out while he slept always made me laugh

Buzz feeling vulnerable and in need of a hug

Christmas Day 2014

Buzz's funny, sleepy face - and Beep close as always

Even towards the end Buzzy's tail was still wagging whenever he was awake

Buzz in Coffs Harbour end of 2011 (6 yrs old and very handsome)

Buzz 12 months, Beep 6 months - Busted having a hug (really they were playing but it looks so cute)

Bendigo Summer Series Race 2...or 3...or something like that

I really can't remember a lot of what's has happened over the last month or so.  Work was stupidly busy beyond the first week of December, which is when I calculated that it should slow down.  

I'm pretty sure I missed a teams fun race end of November while I was in Traralgon with work.  I spent the next week in Mallacoota with the amazing Veg Management Officer Chris Lewis.  Though Chris shared storms, rain, sunshine, beach, coastal vegetation, wonderful landholders, and ticks with me, I didn't get much bike time!  And after traipsing through the bush all day it was difficult to get enough energy to hit the road.

I made it to Race 2 of the Summer Series.  I was SHATTERED even before the race.  But I turned up, I got to the start line, and I rode 5 laps of the course.  I was hoping for 3 laps.  All the laps were simply 'ridden'.  No 'racing' occurred bar the last half a lap.  My legs had a certain amount in them to ride each lap, but I didn't have anything more than that!  With 4.5 laps down, no-one had passed me for a while so I thought I'd better put a bit in.  Thankfully my 'bit' was mostly flat or downhill.  I commanded the fast line on the final descent from a guy that was desperate to pass me, due to me going so slow, but I knew I had the good line and that I would nail it.  Sure enough he followed me through my line and congratulated me at the end on such an awesome run down the descent.  I'm not sure who this guy was, but he rode a mighty fine descent too.

A week later was the last race for the year - a teams relay short course of 3 laps each.  I was teamed up with a guy I didn't know, and next time I will make sure that I take more note of what he looks like so that I can recognise him when he's coming through to transition!  I was climbing up the long paddock climb slowly, but then I got into a rhythm on the windy, rocky single track.  I unfortunately (stupidly) flatted on the last lap and had to run the last few hundred metres.  There's a reason why I ride a bike, and that's cause I can't run.  But my new Shimano mtb shoes were perfect (for the ride, not so much the run).  And I was very happy that mtb fashion has gone back to black-styled shoes rather than the silly idea of white....who thought white mtb shoes would stay white for long!  Next lot of racing photos will show swanky black/pink mtb shoes.