Snuffle...sneeze...cough

After getting flattened by the 'flu, I've been left with a horrible bark for 2 weeks. I haven't been game to get out on the bike during the week - the cold temps would only send me backwards. So it's been easy windtrainer sessions, aqua aerobics and core strength sessions at the gym. Oooh, and back to Body Balance again which is sooo nice.

It's been nice to have so much time with the dogs too. With Evan in Beijing for 2 weeks, the dogs have been a bit more demanding than usual. And as you can see from the photo, work has quietened down a bit! I finally got my own emergency vehicle...

I'm hoping that some reasonable weather will hit us from now on and I can get back to being on the bike each day....and start building (again!!!).

It's been a mixed week for Evan & myself. I'm still restricted with my riding, so I've still been enjoying the sleep-ins and heading out on the bike after work. But even with the added sleep, I had been feeling pretty run down and this weekend it all fell apart and I got sick.

We enjoyed an awesome 3.5hr mtb ride exploring out Central Bucca way, and found some great, fun single track and lots of fire trail climbs. Sunday morning I was chesty and sluggish on the bike, so we restricted it to a 1.5hr flat roadie. By afternoon I was tucked into the sofa bed vaguely watching the women's Olympic road race.

And if getting sick wasn't enough, we're dealing with Beep in season this week. I feel sorry for her being stuck in the house for 2 weeks when the sunny days are gorgeous. But she's stuck with fully supervised outside time, with Buzz is being the ever-protective male, checking out any strange scents and noises.

An easy week

The alarm went off many mornings, but I just wasn't waking up. This combined with physio instructions for a light week on the bike meant I had sleep-ins all week (I was quietly thanking the physio).

So the week can be summed up with a couple of light 30km roadies, finished off with a local night race. Evan & I decided that the only way to cruise this race was to ride the long bike...so to the surprise of everyone else, out came the tandem for 1 hour of riding with fairly respectable laps. We both had a really great night.

I'm back to progressing the riding this week, and I'm looking forward to getting back in the saddle.

BMC 8 Hour...A Solo Women Win

Finally all the cold, early mornings seem worth it. A satisfying win at Yellowmundee.

I had the worst start ever - the last 30 people out 100+ which added 9 minutes to my start lap. My memories of Yellowmundee were of a relatively flat course, but 4 hours in I was strongly agreeing with Gav's statement of it being 'the hilliest flat course ever'. And all those fun technical sections that I used to ride and love, I now viewed as rugged and demanding (both climbs and decents).

The first few laps had me ridged and tense, not wanting to fall off and hurt my knee again. I gradually relaxed a little and began to enjoy the laps, aiming to keep consistency in my lap times. Gav & Evan were a faultless support crew, always ready with my food & drinks and not taking offence to me barking orders at them as I rode by at 25km/h. I managed to keep my food stops to 2, with a total of 6 minutes. I also found a great spot to store my food on the go...rice cakes don't fit well in jersey pockets, but they fit perfectly in your crop top!!! Jokes were made about alternative uses for them such as breast feeding pads, which gives a whole new meaning to the term 'breast feeding'!!!!

And of course my trusty steed, the Scalpel, was faultless. No mechanicals, no flats, no missed food stops - what more could I ask for. And congratulations to Gav, Matt & Evan on their Men's 3's effort. No photos available - Evan was busy riding & supporting me.

A much-needed week off work

Drink top-up at Coramba

After lacking enthusiasm in everything, I decided a week off work would be just what I needed. A week of sleep-ins and riding in the warmth of the day revitalised me.

Monday presented me with a windy 26 degree day for a cruisy recovery ride round Coffs. Tuesday was my first day of hill reps up my favourite hill climb - my glutes were sore until Friday!! Wednesday was a road ride with friends Sally & Brad. They turned back at the hour mark and I continued on for another 4 hours. This is the longest ride I've done since December, and totally enjoyed it. Fare enough it wasn't at great pace, but it was a good way to find out what my legs and knee were up for. As it turned out, I think I must have done something to it when I fell off a few weeks ago. Pain continued until Friday morning, whereby I conceded I may need to bring in the physio's expertise. Under instruction to take it easy until I could see him, I stuck to flat cruisy rides for the remainder of the week.

Cows with Guns Local Racing

Saturday presented us with a 90km ride that took us out to Ulong. It's not Ulong that is the attraction (with a population of about 100 people and an accumulated IQ to match), but the 12km climb that gets you there. Finally it's nice to say that I love some hills, and this is one of them. 45 minute climbing, 15 minute decent.....beautiful.

This was backed up on Sunday with a local 3 hour mtb race. Little climbing and lots of windy single track kept my mind busy, trying to steer clear of the ever increasing number of slippery tree roots. I headed out with the intention of just riding - pushing the climbs and staying upright on the slippery sections.

Consistent lap times encouraged me to continue at this pace, gradually pushing harder on the flat sections for more fun. In the end I had a fantastic race, and managed to finally break what has become a routine of being DFL in 'A' grade.

Evan, of course, had to be the star attraction - not for his speed and skills, but for making the most of a broken derailleur. Instead of bowing out of the race & being my bottle bitch, he jumped on the chucker (the wrecked mountain bike that's going to be repeatedly thrown at the Mid Winter Cycle Madness weekend) and rode 3 laps on a bike that had a front brake, flat pedals and no chain!! The embarrasing point of this is that he was riding 30 minute laps, while I was struggling with my 17 minute laps....hmmmm - doesn't say much for my fitness.

Local Racing - Boggy Bucca

We started the weekend out with a light 2 hour road ride on Saturday - beautiful sun, little wind and a relatively flat ride to look after my knee. Sunday was a XC race at local race site, Bucca. Known for its fun single track with little climbing, I was looking forward to the race.

Evan and I did the 1 hour ride out to the race to get some extra kms in the legs. The plan was to race the 6 laps like I used to - none of this endurance stuff....just go hard from the start and hurt all the way.

Half the course was very wet and boggy - lots of bog holes and wet tree roots. 2nd lap into the race I slipped one of these tree roots and came down on my bad knee...AGAIN !!! I got back on and finished my lap slower than I started, but I had the fear in me by that stage. 3rd lap had me fall off in the same spot. Finishing this lap off I thought about the race as a whole - do I continue, with the risk of coming down on my knee again (high risk by the way I was riding by now), or do I take the cautious approach and consider that this isn't the race to go all out. So I piked it and cheered on the other A graders who were going all out.

Evan finished 2nd behind Geoff Gilchrist - and what a race Geoff had...brilliantly consistent, never stumbled, and trashed Evan to the point where I was doing turns up front on the hour ride home.

I'm looking forward to the night race in a couple of weeks time. Let's hope I've got my head (and knee) sorted by then.

BMC 8 Hour

Big Dog pushing out the fastest men's lap for the day
Matt Reynolds paired it up with Gav
Having a great time on the first bridge

Oops...missed the bridge
Feeding up on the fire trail climb
The race was awesome....or should I say 'half the race was awesome'. The weather was great for riders; the course was fun, flowy single track with not too much climbing; and I was feeling strong and fresh. Then I fell off : (

The first 3 hours were great for me - my legs were fresh, and considering the mad 4 weeks prior to the event, I didn't feel the ride until the 3 hour mark. I was riding relatively consistent laps, helped along by some great Sydney friends who were happy for me to sit on their wheel for 3 laps. Thanks Matt & Erica - made the time go by quickly. The course was getting harder to ride as the hours wore on - instead of drying out, damp sections became boggy and spued wet sand out the sides onto the track. What were initially fast sections turned into hard pedalling, and boggy bits grabbed your front wheel without warning.

I had a bit of an 'up close and personal' moment with Evan (check out wide-eyed photo above) - he was set up photographing riders across a bridge. I still don't know what happened, but I ended up riding off the side of the bridge and stopping upright on the bike, two foot from Evan's body. I thought it was hilarious, but Evan wasn't impressed with my riding skills : (

On my 7th lap I was passing someone and fell, landing on my dodgy knee. I panicked, the bottom lip wabbled, and then I looked down to see a suspicious looking lump. I sat on my bike for 10 mins wavering between continuing the ride, or pulling the pin. The pain subsided enough to continue on slowly to finish my lap. Gavin (my brother) caught up to me and sat on my wheel long enough to listen to my woes, and encourage me to get first aid to have a look to see if anything major was wrong with my knee.

As I pulled up to our tent at transition, Evan had already been worded up by Gav. Evan thought I was being a girl about it, until I got off the bike - one glance and he announced that I wasn't going back out on the bike. One positive was that I was able to spend more time with Gav between his laps. Gav & Matt finished 10th in the Men's 3's (their original 3rd rider was seconded to a BMC team), with some pretty hot laps between the two of them. Great work, guys.

So in summary, I was having a fantastic ride - I was coming 2nd behind Katrin Van der Spiegel. I ended up finishing 5th out of 9 - not bad for half a ride I suppose. It's now Monday night and the knee has improved substantially, has a general swelling, and looks like it might just be bruising rather than completely stuffed, which I'm greatly relieved about.

The 'kids' at the beach

Finally I've included a piccy of the little darlings, Buzz & Beep.

Buzz is our brindle boy - a big boofy clumsy boy who delights in teasing Beep, always up for some fun to make you laugh, and has the most beautiful, loving personality....he's forever happy.

Beep is the sweetest thing - she loves to be close, sleeps with her body under the doona & shares my pillow, but can be a right little cow sometimes with other dogs.

A hard day training...???

Well, what more can I say but life is good. For those who wondered whether the move to Coffs Harbour was the right thing, I think this piccy says it all. My training now involves longer rides, and this was a new route for us - a 75km round trip to Urunga and back. The traffic along the 20km stretch of Pacific Highway is quickly forgotten during our food break at the beach.

A WIN @ Lunatic Fringe 6 Hour

Let me set the scene....driving for kms on end with no houses in sight, then drive some more. Upon arriving at the race site, the Coffs guys concurred that this was definately banjo country, no doubt with a nice 'crop' of the whacky tobaccy not far away. Amongst the non-stop laughing, there were concerns that each lap of the course would entail each rider to sample such crops in order to complete a lap and transition. So it was no surprise that a total of 33 riders showed up for the 6 and 12 hour events.

So, a 'win' would indicate that there was some other female competition, however I was the only Solo female. So my competition ended up being the men, where I managed to place 2nd overall (teams and solos). The Coffs guys (2 x mens pairs) cleaned up in the 12 Hour - 1st and 2nd placings sown up.

Due to the lack of competition the pressure was off, which was a really nice feeling for my first race back from injury (and first race in 7 months). I headed out at a pace that I knew I could sustain for the duration. The course was a combination of 3km open motocross track, which had a couple of nasty steep climbs and a brief chance for some air time, with the remainder of the course being fun single track.

With my knee still in repair, I was reluctant to push myself too hard - the last thing I want is setbacks due to my impatience. I was also having a few issues with the rear hub, so at the 3 hour mark I made a conscious decision to stop for an hour. With 2 hours to go I headed back out to finish off the day. With half an hour to go I realised that my legs were still feeling fantastic...I was just sooo surprised, and it was exhilirating !!!

Back on the MTB

A longed for return to idillic Mt Beauty, North East Victoria
Riding the water race at Castlemaine, Central Victoria
Evan & I enjoyed 2 weeks travelling south, and all of it pretty much involved bikes. Canberra for Alex (read below); Castlemaine for some awesome water race riding with friends, and to catch up with my in-laws; then on to Mt Beauty for a weekend of technical single track and climbs, and catching up with friends.

This holiday coincided with me getting the go-ahead from physio and surgeon to get back on the bike. I was very tentative initially, not wanting to push the knee too hard, but after a couple of hours I was feeling more confident and back to enjoying the technical single track. I don't have any lateral movement yet, so I was stuck pretty much upright on the bike - this made tight cornering pretty much non-existent, and the Mt Beauty switchbacks a definate challenge - I think I found the straight line on a few occasions!

Australian 24 Hour Solo Championships

Alex enjoying a well deserved beer at the end of 24 hours of racing

Alex Kiendl rode a hard race, placing 2nd behind Katrin Van der Spiegel.

With my racing put on hold, supporting Alex Kiendl at the solo champs was an experience that I would not have passed up. Andy (Alex's very dedicated boyfriend) was the main man, with evan on mechanics and myself as emotional support (apparently being a girl made me more qualified for this role!!).

Alex rode like a demon even though she'd been sick for the weeks prior to the event. The first 7 or 8 hours was really exciting, with 1st - 4th within minutes of each other. Night time saw the placings begin to set in, and Alex kept pushing Katrin with her strong night riding.

Congratulations both Alex and Katrin - and thanks Alex for the learning experience of being on a support crew. I must admit that I came away from the event motivated, but also a little deflated - seeing what level I need to get back to came as a real shock.

International Women's Day Ride

This is an advertising photograph that Evan created for an International Women's Day ride. Is there anything familiar there?...helmet, Carbon Rush, LEGS!!!! All I can say is "nice legs, shame about the face..."

It's now known as a 'bogspot', not blogspot...

I was just riding along...

BIKE PORN…..my new ride is awesome

Well, I can’t ask for anything more. My new Cannondale Carbon Rush, in combination with my Cannondale Scalpel, proved just the bike for the Scott 24 Hour. A rugged course (that would have given even a well worn hooker a sore back) proved to be nothing to the Rush. Its maiden voyage, the Rush performed like a dream. Even after 18 hours of riding by myself and in a state of complete delirium, I couldn’t fabricate anything wrong with the bike that might stress me about maybe not being able to complete the event. Everything was effortless – cornering, breaking ruts, shifting, even climbing (and that’s saying something after 24 hours of riding Mt Stromlo!).

But wait, there’s more! Recently I was also treated to a 2008 Scalpel. And can I just say OH MY GOD…. I thought my 5 year old Scalpel was light (total bike weight of 9.8kg) and well suited to endurance events, but the new carbon/aluminium composite frame just makes for a bike that wants to GO!

My ongoing thanks to the guys at Panther Cycles – you’ve always steered me in the right direction and supported me. Also, many thanks to the guys at Cannondale. And lastly, my brother Gav – sorry that mum still hasn’t forgiven you for getting me started on mountain biking! Riding means more to me than you’ll ever know….

Hi and Welcome to Juzzy's Blog

For those that have noticed, I have been absent from the racing scene for several months. A very inconveniently timed knee injury in early December 2007 sent me on a journey of devastation, frustration and, believe it or not, learning. Initially I would have said that the first two feelings would have been prominent, but as time drags on I’m finding that learning has been an unexpected positive of an unfortunately situation.

The injury: I came out of the Scott 24 Hour with the same niggling knee pain reminiscent of the Kona 24 Hour 10 months earlier, however this time it impacted on my performance, with me having to settle for only doing enough laps to keep 2nd place. First lesson….LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!

After the Scott I gave myself some (what I believed) well deserved recovery time. The Australian 24 Hour Solo Champs were in 5 months – heaps of time. As the weeks wore on I realised that I was beyond ‘recovery’ and just being down right slack! Lesson two….HAVE SHORT TERM GOALS.

After spending a few weeks with panic building in my head, it was time to get serious. Normal training resumed, and two or three weeks later I was stuck on the couch with a very painful and swollen knee. How it happened? I still don’t know. What it meant? Torn medial meniscus (cartilage) which would require surgery to remove the torn sections.

Over the next 7 weeks I attempted to remain active as much as the pain allowed. Minimal resistance wind training sessions, walks on the beach and core/upper body strength were the extent of it. Lesson three….I HAVE A VERY UNDERSTANDING PARTNER, EVAN. This was a difficult time for Evan and myself – no exercise does not make a happy Justine.

And this is where I’m at now – surgery over, good outcome, LOTS of physiotherapy rehabilitation exercises. Today (23rd February 2008) I had my first ‘real’ ride – we drove to the velodrome and I did what I thought I would never do….ride round and round in a circle and really enjoyed it!

The learning part didn’t end here. Not being able to ride I got pretty bored, so I’ve gone over in my head nearly every training week leading up to the Scott, where I needed improvement, what worked, when and why was I fatigued…the list goes on. So although this has been the worst possible time, I have taken some positives from it and focussed on these.

Where to from here? The 24 Hour Solo Champs are out, but my planning still involved some amount of riding at the event. So although I won’t be competitive (I may be able to ride for 6 hours all up), I’ll still be there for the event and to cheer on my friends who, ironically, are also my competitors!

Over the next few months Evan and I might make some joint appearances as a team at endurance events. It’s been a long time (the last was the 2005 Mont tandem effort), but it will be great to still compete and enjoy these events while I’m getting my endurance legs back.