Training Log Archive: Yak

Walk along Torrens + some stairs.
Also spent time shovelling leaves and junk off my shed roof.

Checking out control sites for Belair/Blackwood mtbo event.
Was about 4 hrs out there but quite a bit of stopping & writing stuff down.
Lots of people out enjoying the sunshine.
Did some streets, then Belair park up to the top and around, then back to burbs and over to Frank Smith park & back via the forest and PS.
Knee got really sore towards the end & quads were feeling weakish from previous days big climbs.

C • Is this for July 8th? 2

Michelle dragged me out again...again we went hilly, this time on the premise of meeting Steve & Liz at Mt Lofty. Left earlyish at 7.45am but I still had many close incidents with cars. (Forgot to say that yesterday a tradie turning into a driveway in Stirling hit my elbow...I went & remonstrated with him, to little avail - reported to police)

Home - Norton Summit - Ashton - Mt Lofty - down to Uraidla...many backroads mostly down to Hahndorf. (Saw a couple of friends there whilst grabbing a drink)
To Mylor - Aldgate Valley rd - Aldgate - Stirling - Piccadily - Uraidla - Summertown - Ashton - Norton Summit - Athelstone

I was sitting on 90kms then and felt ok, so I decided I should clock up 100kms, so took myself up Montacute as far as the little PO (supposedly Australia's smallest). Met another couple of friends there (Stu & Glen) so had a chat before heading home.
Lots of climb, for the 2nd ride in 3 days. NS 33

A few little walks checking mtbo sites at Shepherds hill etc
Meant to ride around but had work in morning

Michelle said we would do a cruisey ride...I would have preferred a beach ride but we headed for the hills and did over 100kms and a massive 1487 metres climb! Longest I have done for awhile, and especially on almost 1 leg. Lovely day 21 degrees I city & 12 in hills.

Home - Norton Summit - top of Greenhill - Summertown - Uraidla - Piccadily - Crafers - Stirling - Heathfield - Leslie Creek rd to Mylor.
Then to Echunga using non main rds which were great...Glen Bold, Berry - Shepherds - Kavanagh... then back using Berry, Glen Bold - Mylor.
Up Aldgate Valley rd to Stirling - Piccadily - Summertown - Norton Summit ...home via Gorge rd & Euride bike shop.

Bal group ride.
Was raining hard when we were meant to start so waited 10mins for a break in the weather. Got 5 mins down the rd and it became quite hard again. Gerry returned to the nearest café! Rest of us went, with MC waiting for sluggish me. Came across the others later as Ricky had come off descending at 60kph+.. Not injured too bad really.

Bal - Verdun - Bridgewater - Aldgate - up to Carey Gully - up Deviation Rd - down Collins - Tiers rd to Woodside - Mt Torrens via bikepath - Springhead rd - bikepath back to Oakbank. Then I went exploring to south up a rd that didn't got thru (except on a dirt rd), so came back & went up Beasley which did a nice square loop (& 2 climbs) back to Bal.

Knee sore still...perhaps stirred up by massage last night.
Then went to physio and then to a free foam rolling class, where every muscle I rolled hurt a lot.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-04-22/hero-dirt:-h... Great landline show about Derby in Tas

2 x 7 min walks around the block incorporating 70 stairs each time.
Did to break up the computer work.
Meant to get a ride in - fail.

Lovely day of 28+ degrees so did an easy roadie ride after a lunch at Norwood. Did some confusing back streets thru Unley+ before getting to Plympton..then used the lovely 2km+ quiet bike path on S side of airport to Glenelg - Henley Beach. Returned the same way to catch up with a friend at Plympton ...bike path to Richmond Rd - Greenhill Rd - Vic Park - Norwood.

Annoying that dark is descending so quickly now...almost got caught out.

C • Dark 1

4 hr Velogaine at Dutton, just N of Truro.
Paired with rookie Ina Schapiro (a 43yr old Danish woman married to cyclist Darren O'Grady). My bike credentials & experience are much better than hers, as she doesn't like single track; rock etc but she weighs 50kgs (possibly) and is a good runner. Did 52kms skyrun up Mt Buffalo and around in freezing conditions last week.
Only had an hour to plan, which was good as I hate it when everyone measures everything to the nth degree. Disappointingly some interesting tracks were OOB so the NW section had little route choice.

I decided to do all the controls to SE as there was a heavy concentration there. However going to C3 I stuffed up by going up a largely unmarked track & was slow to realise, so that costs 5+mins. I was feeling lethargic, with headache & temp (which ive had for days) so that didn't help things but I did come better after an hour.

We motored around quite well, with Ina slightly better up steep hills & me better elsewhere. After collecting all these I had intended a big loop to top of map & back via main rd largely. However Ina suggested maybe that was unfeasible & I wasn't sure, so we did a longish run back past the start to do a modified loop. Still didn't do as much as we hoped and then we abandoned a 50 pointer 2 kms from home as it required 500m each way in and out. Got back with 5 secs to spare. Should have gone the 50 pointer and maybe gained another 20 points by being only 3 mins late?! I had basically time-trialled most of the 2nd loop with Ina on my tail.

So my course planning & nav were a bit off costing us a win in open women, but the women who won were mightily pleased as they had been doing them for a few years now. Ina was a fantastic partner - mightily well organised and loves map reading, so we could map talk as we went.
A good day out under the circumstances.
Knee was about 80% ok riding but still unstable as hell off the bike.

After checking out Echunga PS for schools O (very nice) I went down to Kuitpo (Christmas Hills) for a mt bike ride.
There is a race there on Sunday but the knee is too bad to contemplate 4 hrs of single track.
Did the old trails I knew to the east & found some new ones being made & 1 dodgy very old one that I had to walk a lot of uphill as it went up a watercourse.
Thought it was getting a little dark & I should take my sunnies off but then realised I had my clear glasses on so it WAS really dark!! Rode back on easier trails by memory mostly as trails are all heavily covered in pine needles and did a quick lap of delightful easy trails to east of start point.
6.15pm finish!!

C • Where did you start? 2

Bal group ride.
Meant to get there early as knee still sore & carrying extra kilos from sitting around watching Com Games. But forgot to set alarm after getting to bed after 1am and slept in plus road diversion.

Started with M, Gerry and Mike but after 15kms or so I was happy enough to wander on alone as feeling very unfit. Rejoined them after stop at Cudlee Creek and went better on 2nd half. I stopped for a photo before Woodside and then got stung by something on the neck.
Waited next to a house for a few minutes to see if I would get a quick reaction (as allergic to bees) ...started swelling but not too bad so I did a few kms into Woodside and stopped at a friends work. Was getting a bit restricted breathing wise so got taken to a doc who gave me an injection for anaphylaxis reaction.

Back to bike eventually and rode back to Bal.

Quite a different ride to normal which was exciting ...but seemed lots of headwind and slight uphills.
Bal - diversion via back rds to River rd behind Woodside - Charlston - Springhead school - Mt Torrens - over to Lobethal - Gum rd - Gumeracha - Cudlee creek - fox Creek climb - Lenswood - Forest Range - Stengarten rd - Vickers - Swamp - ? - Tiers rd - Woodside - Bal.

in the gym ...boring as.

C • The GCN show 3

Finally managed to get on a ride again today after being slack / depressed re knee. Dropped a bag of books off at the charity bookmart in Tusmore Park.
Then took my 27.5er from there up waterfall Gully and R up Womens Pioneer to Glen Osmond. Disappointed to see that the council had put up stupid road signs on the hilltop naming the tracks. Blight on the landscape.
I impressed a couple of guys by riding up the next steep bit, which they said they didn't ...had a big tailwind that helped.

Then up Bullocks and onto Crafers bikeway where I didn't see any riders, which was unusual. At Crafers I went up to the old ruins on L side of Mt Lofty rd to look at the new house being built into one of the ruins. No-one around, so had a close look. Then down past Mt Lofty YHA, Cleland & down Chambers Gully. Halfway down it suddenly got very dark & soon torrential rain came down! I was glad that rain had come but not so happy being in it.
Knee quite sore when I got home.

Slow ride from St Peters along Torrens to Port Rd and then followed Outer Harbour Greenway to Outer Harbor - Semaphore and return.
Bit convoluted in parts, esp at South Rd where roadworks is still happening.
Drunk a whole bidon on way down as very hot, even though was still morning.

Saw physio Stan today and he had a different diagnosis for my leg (more calf related) and told me to keep riding. Knee itself is now a bit sore too.

Been seeing physio's etc re my knee and its still hurting.
Had to get some exercise in this nice weather, so decided on a roadie ride.

Home - up Norton Summit - Basket Range - Woods Hill rd - Mt lofty - Basket Range - Marble Hill - down Montacute.
Worst ride for years...leg hurt a little but also felt weak.

I also felt crook & stopped a couple of times because I was dizzy!!
Thought most riders might have been in Clare for the granfondo but there seemed to be the same number out and about.

Despite my sore leg I was keen on escorting Narelle D'Arcy the last Indypac rider into Adelaide. She started from Kapunda about 8.55am but forgot to turn her tracker on until Lyndoch, some hours later. I was worried that she was having a rest day! Had hoped to get my neighbour to drop me towards Kersbrook but she had gone out.

So rode up to the top of Kangaroo Creek dam and waited there.
She was later than expected as had stopped to talk to people further up.
Appreciated the coke & food I gave her.
Nice ride into town, later accompanied by 1 other guy.
Then did a search of bike shops for a new pair of knicks for her - BE, Giant & then Cycle Closet. Finally took her back to Hackney where she had a bed for the night with a relative. Rode home by minor roads in haste as darkness looming.

Narelle is a teacher from Buderim, in Qld ...her leave runs out on April 21st & she is 2 days behind schedule...May have to abort near Falls Creek & return to finish later.

Physio day etc

Roadie ride with Julie (from Craigmore) - Clare - south to Leasingham (17km) unfortunately on the main rd with silly holiday traffic heading home before 9am.
Then lovely quiet ride to Mintaro & then to Farrel Flat ...explored the town..pub opens at noon...sells bread & milk.
Then onward to Clare with 2 climbs ...first one long and gradual over Camel's Hump Range & 2nd one shorter but steeper with several S bends.
Pizza lunch.
Julie, being small, was quicker up the hills but enjoyed photographing same sort of things as me.
L hamstring very sore to start but mildly once warmed up, but sore when i got off the bike, so I'm obviously not doing it too much good.
Will rest & see physio.

Dirt rd ride led by local Ian North-East, with Stu & Jenny.
North...then east over the range, back up the range, to Gillentown, Sevenhill, Donnybrook ...stopped in at Ian's 2 acre place and did his 1.5km single track - quite convoluted.
Moderate pace ...fun.
Leg very sore, so didnt do night ride.