Wedding – Blogged Down By Life

Training Week In Review – Weeks 12, 13 & 14

Posted on September 23, 2013March 12, 2015 by Chad Dobbs

I imagine opening the door to my garage, I walk past the two parked cars, the boxes of tools and up to my bikes; two hanging on their ceiling stand and the XTC resting against the wall. I look at my three Giant bikes, clean, serviced and facing the automatic door almost as if they are waiting to roll onto the asphalt outside. But the tyres are low and a spider has built a small but intricate web from the cold brick wall to the rear derailleur on the XTC. I look to the bench where my helmet, gloves and shoes sit; they are covered in a fine layer of dust.

My name is Chad and it has been 25 days since I last rode a bike.

It has been a busy three weeks for me. I drove to Melbourne and got married to the beautiful Carly and travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam for our Honeymoon. During that time I haven’t ridden a bike or conducted any sort of training outside of hiking around the countryside.

Before this break in training I was carrying a few niggling injuries including a relapse in my torn pectoral muscle. The time off the bike has been good and has helped me relax and focus on what I want to achieve leading up to the Battle of the Beasts and for the rest of the year.

I have lost some fitness and muscle tone so I won’t be jumping into any huge rides just yet; but with a 3 hour twilight race next weekend I will aim to spend a few hours off-road and doing a recce of the proposed course.

Our Asian Holiday – Day 0 to Day 1

Posted on September 4, 2013September 21, 2013 by Chad Dobbs

What a whirlwind the past few days has been for Carly and I. The Wedding went off without a hitch and was a huge day and night for not only us but for our family and friends. Carly spent the morning getting ready with her Bridesmaids, family and the Twin flower girls. I spent the morning drinking coffee, wandering around Elwood before finally spending some time with my Groomsmen, Mark and Evan by watching Robocop.
.:Meredith O’Shea is the most amazing photographer ever! Just do what she says!:.

Day 1: We flew out from Melbourne just after midnight on Tuesday morning and flew to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The flight itself was fairly painless and we both managed to get a few hours sleep before landing in Kuala Lumpur. The next 3 hours were spent wandering the airport checking out the duty free shopping before we spotted a Starbucks and leeched off their free Internet until our next flight.

We arrived in Phnom Penh just after 10am on Tuesday morning, 13 hours after we departed Melbourne. Sweet Baby Jesus it was hot!!! I like the cold, thus why I like Canberra; so needless to say arriving to 37’C with 10’000% humidity was a shock to the system. We paid for our visas, passed quickly through immigration and customs and were soon sitting in an air-conditioned car with our driver and guide for the day.

Our first stop for the day was the Killing Fields of Choenung Ek. In high school I did a fair bit of study on the recent history of Cambodia; in particular the Khmer Rouge regime. Although I have seen a lot of terrible and horrific things first hand over the past decade it is still quite sobering to experience something so huge that it has restructured a nation’s identity. The Cambodian people don’t shy away from discussing the days under Pol Pot’s genocidal rule; they embrace that this terrible chapter in their recent history has changed them forever and they strive to overcome the challenges of the past.

Our next destination was the Ohana Hotel across the road from the Mekong River. We checked in and grabbed a quick lunch before a quick walk through the nearby markets.

Our driver and guide picked us up a couple of hours later and we drove to the Royal Palace for a quick tour of the amazing gardens and buildings. Our guide Sam At was full of knowledge about his country, King and recent history. Sometimes he would even ask questions to see if we were paying attention.

For our final tour of the day we headed to the National Museum for a quick look around at the thousands of statues of Buddhism and Hinduism that Cambodia has amassed over the past several centuries. To be honest we were fairly statued out; but it was still a good opportunity to see how Cambodia has adapted yet kept its national identity after so many years of upheaval.

We spent the rest of the afternoon enjoying a quick siesta before heading out for a walk on the banks of the Mekong River, a stroll through the markets and quiet dinner near our hotel.

Recovery Week In Review – Week 4 (With Bonus N+1)

Posted on June 2, 2013March 12, 2015 by Chad Dobbs

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.