Early Morning At Mt Stromlo
Tag: Cycling
Soldier On Jerseys
With the blessing and assistance of SOLDIER ON I went and procured a set of one-of-kind SOLDIER ON cycling jerseys to wear before and during this year’s The Battle Of The Beasts. These great jerseys were made by local Canberra business ON THE GO SPORTS.
At some point before the Battle Of The Beasts I will be holding a raffle for the opportunity to own one of these jerseys!
Recovery Week In Review – Week 4 (With Bonus N+1)
Once again Recovery Week didn’t go to plan. Week #4 saw my chest cold take hold and a day off work. Some ordinary weather kept me off the bike and I finally got to go for a ride on Friday afternoon. This week I rode total of 14.7km; well below my average of 200-250km a week. I was planning to put another 20-30km on the tally today but due some ordinary weather Round 2 of the CORC XC Series was postponed.
But the week itself wasn’t a complete bust. I have been looking at acquiring N+1 for a couple of months now. It was my plan to buy the new steed in Victoria before the end of June as my preferred bike was a lot cheaper interstate. I have been holding out hoping for a local bike shop to have a sale or negotiate a good deal. As luck would have it I was able to abide by Rule #58.
I’ve had really good service at Onya Bike in Civic since I bought Zooey last year. I was able to pick her up at a mid year sale and was impressed by the service I received. I had heard mixed reviews from over riders in Canberra, but to date I can’t fault them. It was them who told me about The Berm which ultimately changed my life in Canberra and planted the seed that grew into an obsession with mountain biking and complete change of lifestyle.
So when I went into Onya Bike on Saturday afternoon after looking for Wedding suits around the corner I was surprised to see the bike I’d been lusting over on sale. I spoke to the staff member (whom shall not be named) and I was promptly taking a medium sized Giant XTC Composite 29er 1 for a spin around the wet Canberra CBD. After a few seatpost adjustments I was parting with some hard earned cash for a deposit on what will soon be my new XC racing bike.
For what was supposed to be a quick trip to buy some new bike tubes I ended up getting a great deal on a new bike and even negotiated some component swap outs to suit my needs and riding style. My Father, Brother-In-Law and Girly were in attendance and I don’t think any of them expected me to buy a bike. But a great deal coupled with the chance to support my LBS couldn’t be passed up; so my plans of N+1 have been brought forward by about a month. This time there was no buyers remorse, just excitement over the impending acquisition of N+1.
TGIF
I haven’t been on the bike for ten long days. I’ve been sick and nursing my injury; so getting better has been my priority. In the interim I have been aggressively fundraising for Soldier On and acquiring new parts for N+1 (which is a few weeks away at best).
Today didn’t start off too well; cycling-wise. While driving to work I heard a rattle on my windscreen which I assumed to be the missing plastic tyre lever I most likely placed on my bonnet while fitting my tubeless tyres the night before. Oh how I was wrong. When I turned on my wipers I saw a black object fly across my windscreen and onto the car next to me on Northbourne Ave.
It did not dawn on me until I was at Sparrow Hill this afternoon that the black object was in fact the 15mm thru-axle that secures my front wheel to my forks; Rookie_Error indeed! Three bike shops later and quite a few phone calls I tracked one down at Bike Culture at O’Conner.
Two hours after I left work, I finally arrived back at Sparrow Hill for my first ride in ten days. I intended to ride a couple of laps of the course for this Sunday’s CORC XC Race; but after one lap I headed across the highway into Kowen Forest. I was not disappointed. The free-flowing trails spoke to me as daylight quickly faded and night-time set in. I switched on my lights and had the entire forest to myself for a brief moment in time. Just me, my bike and the trails. All of my troubles disappeared into the pine trees.
Today I was reminded why I started riding mountain bikes… Because it’s fun to ride.
Soldier On/Battle Of The Beasts 2013 Video #1
Later this year I will race in the 2013 Battle of the Beasts MTB enduro & try to top last year’s amazing $5’702 raised to help wounded servicemen & servicemen. Please take a minute to watch this video and share it with your friends. Every dollar donated helps those that have been injured serving Australia.
Recovery Week In Review – Week 2
After a massive 277.4km the previous week, I went into last week with a lot more confidence and renewed vigour for spending time in the saddle. But after Monday’s short commute to and from work I felt that familiar twinge in my shoulder and neck; my injury was flaring up. So Tuesday as a riding day was a scratch. I wore my brace to work under my business shirt and took my painkillers and anti-inflammatory drugs.
By Wednesday I was still sore, so still no riding… and Thursday became SSDD. I was getting a little anxious to get back on the bike; but Friday was spent driving to Melbourne for some Wedding planning and a going away party for the future in-laws. But in the back of my car was Zooey.
Saturday was a typical Melbourne morning; cold and raining. I drove to Lysterfield Park for some muddy MTB fun with a friend from my Army days. I followed up with another couple of solo laps after a quick bite to eat. Lysterfield Park is a great MTB park, but I didn’t get to experience it’s full potential with all the mud and the many, many slower riders who just don’t understand the concept of moving out of the way.
With the next CORC XC race on 2 June, I’ll be putting some more kilometres down to build up more fitness and hopefully keep my recovery in check.
Road(ie) To Recovery
Today I got back on the road bike for the first time in almost a month. I haven’t ridden a lot since I crashed at Mt Stromlo on the 14th of April. Not counting the 35km’s I rode to get home after I crashed; I have ridden a total of 40km’s since. This is not a good thing; I went from riding 200-300km’s a week to not riding at all. I was getting into a good training and nutrition regime that stalled abruptly, well the training side of it did. In just under 4 weeks I managed to put on an extra 4kg’s by continuing to eat massive amounts of carbohydrate and protein rich foods.
I debated at length with family and friends whether or not I should race last weekend in the first round of the new CORC XC Series. Well stupidly I entered and started the race. Predictably I didn’t finish. At around the 8km mark I clipped a tree with my left shoulder and decided I needed to pull out before I injured myself any further. Luckily I pulled up all right and my ongoing recovery continues.
End result: Round One: Rider #266 – DNF.
Which brings me to today’s commute. I decided not to ride to work this morning when I walked out into my courtyard and felt the chilly Canberra air. So Sara got packed into the Girly’s car with the intention of riding the long way home. Well that intention got left by the side of the road along with my confidence.
Today I felt something I haven’t felt since last September when I did my first mountain bike race with no lead up training. Today I felt my quads. I felt every single metre of the ride home as a deep burning pain in my legs. I was out of breath very quickly and drank too much water which caused stomach cramps. It is important to note that this was a 20km ride on tarmac with only a few moderate length hills to climb. I have done a 100km mountain bike race and felt better afterwards.
Stupidly I thought getting back on the roadie would be as if the last month didn’t happen. I had psyched myself up and honestly believed my ride home would be full of Strava personal records. But alas it was not meant to be. I came home quite disillusioned and somewhat angry at myself; I even managed to break the zipper on my Giant cycling jersey.
It wasn’t until I was in shower stretching out and enjoying the hot water on my aching legs that I realised what was going on. I’m not as fit as I was a month ago and I’m still healing from a fairly substantial muscle tear. I’m not ready to start training yet, I’m still in recovery mode.
Blogged Down By Life 