Tag: Lake Ginninderra

Training Week In Review – Week 3

Posted on by Chad Dobbs

Week 3 started off well.  I commuted to and from work on Monday; the short way and shortish way respectively.  Tuesday saw an early start at work and the need for me to drive in.  I put the XTC in the back of the car in the hope I’d be able to hit the trails after work.  Thanks to be oh-dark-hundred start I made my way out to Sparrow Hill for some quick fun on the immaculate trails.

I cheated on Wednesday and put the roadie in the back of the girly’s car for a quick commute home.  The ride itself was fairly standard except for the now infamous bike pump versus car bumper incident.

Thursday I strapped on the Shimano MTB shoes and took Kate in with the intention of taking her for a spin around Bruce Ridge on the way home.  The weather was a bit ordinary with 80km/hr wind-gusts that tried their best to knock me off the bike and into Lake Burley Griffin.  So I rode home via Belconnen and around Lake Ginninderra.

Friday was meant to be a medium length ride around Kowen Forest and Sparrow Hill on my Giant Anthem Zooey.  But alas it was not meant to be thanks to a single phone call.

Saturday was a rest day/bike maintenance day spent preparing my XTC for Sunday’s CORC XC Race.  I replaced the standard Shimano rear derailleur in favour of a Shimano XT Shadow to reduce the annoying chain slap.  This didn’t quite go to plan and I was left with about four non-slipping gears for the race the next day.

I wasn’t feeling the best before this race.  My heart wasn’t in it and my head definitely wasn’t.  I woke up early and decided I’d give it a go.  I’m glad I did.  I managed to pull in fifth place and pushed myself further than I had before on a short course race.  I went out fairly easy at the start and picked up the pace quite considerably for the second lap finishing almost 3 minutes faster than my first.

At the end of the race I was 149.9km for the week… 100m short of my 150km target.  So after my shower I took out my single speed flat bar and rode a quick 500m to reach my 150km goal.  At the end of Week 3, I had some ups, plenty of downs and one hell of a good time at Kowen Forest racing.

CORC XC Rd 3 #02 CORC XC Rd 3 #01

Training Week In Review – Week 2

Posted on by Chad Dobbs

Week 2 was never going to be a big week for the numbers.  The weather was very ordinary early in the week, work was fairly busy and I was interstate over the weekend.  I set a goal of 150km and achieved 121.4km for the week.

My first day on the bike was Wednesday afternoon.  I rode from work to Mt Stromlo and relished in the chance to push my Giant XTC up the switchback climbs.  I’m not the fastest rider downhill due to my aversion of death by bike; but I do enjoy being able to climb quickly with confidence and endurance.  As sunset approached I headed home and covered 65.1km with a vertical gain of 656m.

Lake G Sunset

Lake Ginninderra at sunset

Thursday afternoon I took the roadie home and was feeling a little bit of pain in my quads (more training needed).

Friday I took the XTC to work and managed to chase down a few roadies en route.  By lunch time I had packed Kate into the back of the car and was driving down to Melbourne for some wedding prep over the weekend.

Saturday I had the chance to ride Lysterfield Park with a good friend and although he suffered a flat and we had to walk back to the carpark it was a good ride.

Week 2 of my planned training regime didn’t go to plan, but with a few quality rides and a good catch up it wasn’t a total loss.