Training Log Archive: Yak

waterfall Gully - Cleland night walk, via Pa.....tk on way up and Winter on return, as usual.
Others took off early, I arrived right on time and then loitered thinking there were more to come. So started up solo in pitch black and caught the others (+10 mins) half way up. Pushed on hard and got to Cleland in 39 mins. Waited for others and descended at slower pace. Lovely night, beautiful views of city.

Booked accom at Covara in Dolomites for a week of via ferrata climbing after MTBO WOC. Got 2 other women from here that I have to teach to climb harnessed in - will test my head for heights again.

Tom Kruse, the original SA outback mailman has died at 96 yrs. I heard him speak about 3 yrs ago and he was great.

Bianco company in SA has gone into recivership owing 60million.

Suburban walk.

When i retire I will have to lift my game (and fitness).
I heard an interview with Alan Jeans yesterday - former AFL footballer and coach who is 82. He gets up at 5.30am every day and jogs 5 / 6km then does 200 push-ups and a quick dip in the sea (if at home), and then 500 sit-ups of different sorts too.

C • How will you reward yourself for retiring? 2

AHills gp ride Bal - Woodside - Lobethal - Gumeracha - Forreston - up the eastern side of Checkers Hill - Cudlee Creek. It was lovely in the sun there over hot chocolate and they stayed longer than normal, so I took the short option back. Up to Lobethal, then Mill rd and up again to Lenswood, then left and a few more gentle hills to Bal.

Checkers Hill from that side is longer but not as steep initially but then has a nasty last 150m at 20%+
Beautiful autumn colours in the vines and paddocks.

walk

Cyclocrosse race at Vic park, with me in B grade mt bike race.
Cool but not unpleasant day and they got a great roll up of prob about 90.
Course had cavaletti and an uphill log jump, plus a circular maze type thing that got tighter and tighter - faster course than last time i think.

My L knee was very stiff on waking (front flat spinning ride yesterday?) and hurt initially so I didnt push at the start. Not a gd tactic as i gotstuck behind 3 / 4 less techie riders and efforts to pass were tiring. However i eventually got clear though had 1 of my main mtb rivals drafting me for a lap before my remounting skill got me a gap and she faded. Laps and timing were confusing and i thought that i had a lap to go at the end but didnt as the male winner passed me towards the end of that lap!!
Got 3rd female which was great. as got3x entry fee plus a 1 hr massage voucher, so well worth the effort. Neil Ross rode a great tactical ride to win open CX

Race was about 45 mins and i averaged 18kph - heavy grass made times slower. Time includes w/up and down.

Easyish flatish suburban ride on a blue sky day.
Home - city - Port rd - Glenelg - Darlington - Beaumont - home.

Included a few stops to check out some used cars for me and new cars/ vans etc in my hire car research into fitting 9 people, 8 bikes and luggage into the minimum amount of vehicles for Italy.

Mt bike ride from Salisbury Avanti store along Carisbrook pk towards the sea and return. Lovely still non raining afternoon.
At home my L hamstring was very sore and acheing

C • did you get my team contrac... 2

Ride from home over to St Agnes and up past Golden Grove to Snake Gully (2km climb) and then down thru TTG and home. Cold and windy.

Walk to letterbox and up past Athelstone school and then a lap of Torrens.

Suburban walk listening to book on ipod thing. Just before the rain set in.

Fox Creek 6 hr enduro
Forecast was bad but I had pre-entered...
Blowing a gale when we started and windchill factor was bad in the open sections. I started with 3/4 knicks, a thermal under my top, waterproof socks and a helmet inner. Silly me - given the hilly nature of the course I soon got uncomfortably warm, so had no great need to go faster to keep warm. Also my opposition in 40+ had stayed home or went to pairs, so low motivation. Stopped after 2 laps and changed into normal knicks and just riding top and was good, so my next 2 laps were faster, but still pretty pedestrian.

First lap was very slushy as it had rained lots yesterday, but the track got better, thank goodness, drying off somewhat. Had a team guy fall into me 500m after the start as I was letting a group pass, then another guy pushed me into the blackberries and later on a stupid guy tried to pass on a tight corner (30metre before a 4wd track..) and we tangled up and i swore at him. They wonder why few women ride!!

I only did 4 laps as rain was about to fall and I took the opportunity to be a bit sociable, which solo riders rarely experience. Jacqui, Tom and Darius - all ex-students from MHS were racing too, with Jackie winning elites.

Walk to shops etc

Night walk from Waterfall Gully up to Cleland and return with Susan's group. Normal way - winter tk loop. A bit chilly but rain held off until our return. One woman was Christine O'Keefe's sister!

Laps of local streets including the 80 stairs six times = 480 steps up.

morning ride, half of which was with Wazy's group.
Did all the trails next to Melrose (and some twice), except Hellrose.
Was fun. Ran into Darrin O'Grady at campground and then at saddle - he was suprised that I beat him (I took a shorter route). I was suprised that he could ride at all given his session in the pub last night.

Afternoon solo ride Melrose to Wilmington and return.
Down by "railtrail" . Return first 13 km on road and then railtrail and thru campgrounds. Was getting cold.
The new railtrail is a basic model, with just a grader track and a few bits of gravel on small climbs out of gullies, as no bridges built.
From Melrose the first 7km of railtrail is very scenic and rideable - this is on the West side of road. After it crosses to the other side it got very bumpy, more flat, slow and unscenic.

I had taken off hastily after just an apple after previous ride, aiming to get a sandwich in Wilmington. The cafe, general store and petrol station were all closed though the toy and puppet museums and antique store were open! I could have tried the caravan park but decided to ride faster home via mostly the road.
There was quite a good looking dirt tk next to the road under the phone lines.

Near Melrose I came across a ewe in a small gully that diddnt even blink when i rode past just a metre away. Was sitting and alive though. I saw a farmer in his ute roaming his paddock (with 100's of sheep) and caught him a kilometre or so later at his gate. I reported my sheep sighting and remarkably he said he was looking for "her" - as had been seen on the railline!!

By the time i got back to Melrose I was very hungry and eat just about everything in my car. Note: the general store has little these days as it is closing down - cant seem to get a buyer!!

Cold night ride around Dodging Bullets etc

Long O state champs at Iron Barron (Casaurina Ridge), 50 kms from Whyalla. 2 hr plus drive up from Melrose in morning and again afterwards.
"Ran" W45 just to fly the flag for the country organisers.
5.1km - course was a bit basic i thought, giving 2 track route choices and some open ground.
Area was good though and elite courses were well set and liked. (susanne Cas and Blair won with Simon U leaving out a control!)

I did amazingly well given my lack of O'ing and inability to run much at all.
Almost did a 180 at the start but map didnt make sense after looking up and I hastly headed off towards 1 taking a silly route choice. Initially I went to go around the hill forgetting that not being able to run meant its generally quicker to go straight. Saw Erica Diment at 3 (started 2 mins ahead) and lost a minute due to rock reading. She bolted away but luckily i later saw her near the 2nd last control. I was so excited that i almost forgot to go find the control first before chasing her!!

So came 2nd behind Robin U and relatively close in a field of 6 or 7, - best I could hope for.
I tried to hobble sometimes but there was a lack of nice ground to jog on, with fist sized rocks everywhere. Ended up with blisters not suprisingly.
Amazed that my knees didnt complain too much - L knee was the most sore afterwards and hamstrings got stiff.

Melrose "Epic" ride led by local Richard.
Out with advanced group going to Bartagunyah and return.
Out on road and then mostly single sheep tracks. Initially I was the slowest of group but 2 punctures, a guy getting cramp and Mark Gare (ex student) having 14 spokes break in his back wheel going down a hill at speed all allowed me to keep up. Visited a lovely hut. On the main tk exiting Bart... I convincingly beat 3 or 4 of the guys on the 1km and 10% hill as it was a firm surface. Was a good ride. We saw the moderate gp and they were big and quite disparate in speed, so I was happy to be in the fast moving elite group.

Lawn was long and tough but it got me warm, after I started off in a beany.

too little too late for SA O Champs this weekend.
L knee hurts...

Bal gp ride from a start at Gumeracha. 2nd thoughts about going as weather looked dubious so abandoned idea to start early and ride there.

Amazingly about 20+ people turned out. I took off with fastest of the long fast group and stayed with them thru Birdwood and until near Mt Pleasant where a trio got away when i had a bit of a daydream - had been timetrialling at 35-40kph.

Fell in a bit of a hole climbing out of Mt P on the road to Williamstown and did the rest solo. Hill out from Warren reservoir seemed to have shrunk, a gd thing. Then towards Kersbrook and turned off up Hill / Norsworthy rd that goes over to join the Gum - Williamstown rd. I stopped to put on my rain jacket so the lead gp got away and stayed tantalisingly out of reach for the remainder. This is 1 of the King of the Mt climbs in the TDU next Jan and is the public ride day, so everyone was keen to see it. Being a local to the area I knew it well and quite like it, as it has 3 major hills in it but not a grunt.

The down and Up again on Martins Hill rd, all in torrential rain. My map memory then proved poor and i kept going straight ahead to Lucky Hit (instead of turning R) and up the 3 hills on Cromer rd (I like this rd) into Birdwood. I had thought the others had short cut the ride by now, so cruised back to Gumeracha. Very wet and toes quite cold.
Rode a lot on my own but wouldnve have got out without the group mentality.

Had parked next to the Gumeracha library, where i had been a regular borrower in my primary school days, as we couldnt afford to buy such things. They had a history room and half a dozen people were there sorting thru things, so I dropped in and 1 old lady remembered my folks and me from the 60's! Asked a question I had wanted to know for ages, as in where the old racecourse had been, in the early 20th century. was on the east side of the rd on way out to Forreston.

3 lots of steps (252) and a wander around the steeper bits of Highbury.
Amazing how you get warm walking but not cycling in the cold.

C • maps 2

Today was supposed to be shocking weather but it was pretty good all day, lucky for me.

I joined the Cancer Voices 8am group from St Peters, Stonyfell. Found that they have shortish up, down rides! Went from Waterfall Gully up the steep Beaumont hill, then UP and UP the rd to Glen Osmong golf course. This is about the steepest I have ever ridden, esp lately. Have done it often years ago before knee troubles. If I wasnt in a group I would have had a rest or two.. Was only doing 6kph for most and L knee was getting a bit sore.

Then an icy descent and then UP the bike path, struggling with my excess kilos, about another 9kms, to Crafers. I decided to go it alone then and went east of Mt Lofty to Summertown and up to Woods Well rd near the top of Greenhill Rd Back to Norton Summit and down. Then decided to do a climb up Norton Summit with high cadence and did suprisingly well, with 16.5 to 2nd main corner, 26.5 to top and 29 to the pub. (note - my "climb" is different to the official timed climb - mine is much longer...)

Then down past the "taylor blend" coffee shop where some of the group were still indulging. Over to Hazelwood Pk to drop in on a 6yr old b'day party!! Heather Smith's oldest - I have never seen so many littlies in one place (on the new playground complete with hill and flying fox).

Then on downwards to Glenelg via back streets and Glenelg-city bikeway and back much the same way to Stonyfell. I love this bikeway!

Legs may feel it tomorrow but seem ok at the moment.
Av was only 19+

C • Bikeway 2

Cobblers Creek mt bike ride after work with half in the dark.
Very nice - many walking tracks. Did 2 "laps" of lower bit and climb to top of southern side.
Had flat rear tyre - pumped up and it survived!?

Mt bike ride in dark with Wazy+++. Time a guess. waterfall gully to wazys at Glenunga and UP old mine tracks to Mt Osmond and then down PWT to W Gully. all good but tough