Training Log Archive: Yak

Time a bit of guess as i hadnt reset time on computer.
Spoiled for choices today - xc race (only 75 mins), roadie gps and then Stu said he had a mt bike ride going.
Stu, Jonathon, Sam, Eric, Marty, Nicole and David & me.
Started at Waterfall Gully and went up it and turned off to R and contoured to beginning of PWTrail. Climbed up to Mt Osmond golf course - I am always amazed at the beaut views from here over Adelaide. Then up to Crafers, Stirling and then many little tks and trainline to Mylor. (Including past Lake Woo... where about 20 toy boats were "racing.")

Up Aldgate Valley Rd, with Nicole and me pushing the pace (she won by 50m) to Aldgate and Stirling and a stop at Organic Cafe and then Crafers and back down PWT. Note: Sam, a gd young road racer, gave us a biggish "start" on AVR and failed to catch us!

A really pleasant ride and i pushed reasonably hard. Nicole (knew to town) wants me to ride with her more, so will when i find time.

Glad I dont have shares in Qantas or any flights booked with them at mo.
Talk about both sides killing the brand!

Slept in and did a suburban tour again.
Started at Vic Park with a few laps to guage the wind direction (quite windy from SW) and went to Glenelg via Turtur bikeway and then up to Marion Sw centre and UP biketrack next to Expressway. Two guys started up just in front of me and were soon out of sight but 1.5kms further on I came across them walking ... Then went on to end of expressway and turned R on biketrack to Hallet Cove and then detoured down to Kingston Pk C Pk cafe. I always get funny looks when i stop for a sandwich there as i imaagine few cyclists access the caravan park, as it doesnt look like you can get thru.

Then along the espanade with the water looking very rough, esp for the 2 surf carnivals i saw. Thru Glenelg and down the coast to West Lakes and back streets to River Torrens at the beg of Pt Rd and back to vic park

C • I'll come with you some time 1

Quick ride up the Gorge to Cudlee Ck. Started with Michelle and David Couche, who were going on to Birdwood - I would have loved to do that but had too much work to do at home to meet a deadline tonight. Lovely 25 degree day.
Legs felt better than Tuesday but still felt heavy as riding faster than normal.
Michelle and I led while David rode shotgun watching for trucks.

I thought this was a gd chance to get a decent time up the Reservoir climb, as David went ahead and Michelle was slower. Lost a few seconds when about 4 big things passed me on a tight corner but otherwise pushed quite hard. Still seemed to be using granny much more than usual. Got 8.10! Not so gd...
Excuses - slight headwind, 5 hrs only sleep ...mmm

Said hi to the vets at Cudlee Ck and they tried to entice me back into racing crits ... I would love to but the "blood" risk is just a bit high me thinks.
Homeward run was very nice. Picked up 2 punnets of strawberries for $2 on way.

Yesterday a friend, Mark ... (works in education staffing) suffered severe facial injuries riding to work as a result of a wire across biketrack near old North Adelaide train station!! What is the world coming to!

Commuting.

Bal gp ride - av approx 25kph

About 40 out today - cold and windy.

Started near front of fast / long gp but felt horrible from start.
Only stawberries for tea last night and about 5 hrs sleep might have contributed but I certainly aint fast at the moment due to lack of pack riding / intervals

Legs didnt want to go fast and felt no energy - dropped off to last at Woodside!
Rode by self to Mt Torrens where i picked up Ron who was talking on phone! Only just managed the hill out (only 1.5km or so) towards Tungkillo. We rode mostly side by side though there was a strong headwind. From Mt Pleasant road back to Birdwood for coffee = 45km
Home via Gumeracha, up to near Lobethal, over to Charlston. I felt much better onmost of this (after a coke) though Michelle did more of the leading up the hill. I diverted onto bikepath for Charslton to Oakbank

Dropped in on Firle supermarket on way home to extract $ from bank.
Strange goings on .... Little ol lady (at least 80) in a wheelchair near entrance cradling a baby doll. Just nearby a homeless sort of guy with bright blue hair and a red shirt quietly singing. Had they escaped from somewhere?
I would have mentioned this to the police in the carpark but they were busy removing a guy from an old car and handcuffiing him. Wouldnt happen at Burnside!

Walk to postbox got extended because of nice evening. Ended up going thru now defunct market garden area - this area used to be mostly market gardens when i moved in about 30 years ago, and there was no linear park then (and less dogs).
Interesting facts on historical show on radio.
Colonel Light had a wife who had 3 kids from the same ship's captain but they were given Light's surname. Meanwhile Light lived in Adelaide with Maria? Gandy who also had kids (his?) and when Light was dying no priest would visit because he was living out of wedlock. And people used to think Adelaide was a very churchy straight laced place!

shops and around

went to MTBO at Fox Creek just to support the organisers as I had a very bad headache which only got worse with exercise.
Was 20km or so course for course 1 and was planned for simple nav for the newies, who unfortunately were absent. Nav was so easy that several times i was away with the fairies and had to stop and refind myself on the map. Mostly on 4WD tracks, which was a pity with so much single tk on offer. One "newish" leg towards the end had us descending a long way and then had to climb back via weed (and bee) infested tracks.
My hat went off to Anthea Williams who did a short course despite still struggling to walk after breaking her leg very badly in a windsurfing accident in Hawaii 3 months ago. She has 6 months off work!

What a frustrating day! Up to 2am doing stuff then woken at 5.30am to be told peaks road race had been postponed.
Had been asked by a friend (Kate) to do the 3 hr mini foot rogaine from 4pm. Busted a gut to get there after dropping things here and there. Meant to meet at 2.45pm .....Stood in a queue for 20 mins to get maps ... still no sign. Could have gone in a team of 5 but wanted some nav practice not just a stroll... Had bike but no helmet or shoes otherwise i would have cycled it unofficially. Pulled the pin and went home very annoyed - Kate had thought it was Sunday, despite the fact that she read the blurb and entered us...

Early morning cycle seeing I was up!

Completed my tax and other boring stuff.

Lawn mowing again! Before the promised rain.
Just see that I have double booked myself for Saturday - 5 peaks road race from 7am and 3 hr mini rogaine from 3pm. Theoretically possible but I may be still tied to my computer with an overload of stuff to get done for OA.

Hurt R achilles - either as an "accelerator foot" injury from the long drive or in the Friday middle event. First felt it pushing bike up a gully - still sore.

Stayed at Elsie and Tim's at Glenrowan West last night - very nice mud and stone house on hill.
Interrupted my 900km trip home with a 50 km ride. Rode rail trail from Axedale to Bendigo and around and return - was good. 9 new bridges including one swinging one, 13 gates of which 10 needed to be opened.

9am Mt bike riding, mostly single tracks around Bright.
Up Bakers Gully, then lookout and great tracks in pine forest off Mystic lane and then some along the creeks. Lovely - not techie.

4pm Rode with Andrew Campbell from Oxley on rail trail into Wangaratta and played around on some single tks near river.

Another "go" at Rowdy Flat with 15 NZers.
Pushing bike up erosion gullies was stilll bloody difficult.
Still had to stop often and read the map.

My Beauty Mt Bike park with Davo.
Pretty techie and hilly as I remembered it from about 6 years ago.

Long distance race at Stanley on 1:20,000 map
Finally a better race.
I adapted to the map scale better than the other 40+ whom mostly mucked up the first 2 controls in the tricky area near town. So, starting last I rode thru most of the field early on. Planned RC's on rd to 4 but suprisingly chose wrong ones for 3 or 4 of them. On one i changed my mind but in the others i didnt even see the better choice. I was suprised as hell to see my competitors again in the middle and settled down and looked more closely at the map over the last third. Won by 8 mins.
Really gd course planning with tricky bits around the town at beginning and end.

C • Congrats 1

9am Sprint O at Lake Sambell in Beechworth and ride to and from accom
Again started well but thought course had little RC so hurried more and missed seeing a bitumen RC on one whereas I was tackling numerous unmapped steps (up and down). This was a 2 min mistake and i lost by 25secs.
Also lost 1 min + on not going down a rough open embankment, which we normally cant ride on in SA

Relay event at Indigo winery
Teamed up with Steve Cusworth and Graeme Cadman
I did the medium leg - 2nd leg. Lost time initially as couldnt orientate map!!
Lost 1 min on mistake going to 2 and some time when my bike got stuck by barb wire around the chain in a fence! Numbered vineyards was fun.
All up this event was done and dusted in 2 hrs - brilliant.

Warmup a fast 7km to start, as first start and running latish.
Middle distance event at Rowdy Flat.
Started well but made major stuffups later on, including forgetting to use the blown up piece of map for the really detailed leg Was a 1 min leg that took me about 13! Very intense O Only 1 person got close to the winnng time (Steve Cusworth) but suprisingly few dnfs. Luckily weather was good.

driving to beechworth - 3 days of rain forecast for races!!

Commuting ride while car having a service.

Suburban walk with friends from Hazelwood park.

Off to Beechworth for mtbo tomorrow. Annoyed that my class is the only ones with 1 min starts in sprint, most have 2 and elites have 4mins!!!

C • 1 min ? 2

Finally got back out on roadie.
Had trouble getting out of my warm bed into cold house and cold temp outside (10-17) after rarely having under 36 degrees for last 2 months.
Rode up the Gorge to meet Bal group (about 30 today) at Cudlee Creek.
Was very lethargic and the climb was about a PW as legs had nothing from the start. The Vets group were at the top, so stopped for a chat.
I had started off with 4 layers of clothing but hid my vest at base of Gorge climb.
Bal group was going up Fox Creek - only about 2km climb but about 18%.
Feared i may do badly but after the initial grunt I went quite well

Continued on with them to Lenswood and then on Lobethal - Norton Summitt rd until they turned off on Deviation. Ian (who was riding back to Rostrevor) joined me for the big hills and they seemed to go quite quickly with a chat.
I detoured via Marble Hill and down Corkscrew to Gorge bridge (pick up vest) and then home.

walk to shops to relieve stress of doing income tax - a bit messy this year and will be a huge headache next year given teaching retirement and uptake of 3 other jobs.

Took mt bike down to Kuitpo, supposedly to practice some MTBO. Started off the map at Chookaloo and rode to Prospect Hill where i played on the single tk.
The track fairies have been busy putting in new log ramps, so i best learn to master them sometime. Did some O on way back. Then drove to Goolwa.

Busy working. Also stomach still very sore still!!
Ramble along the Torrens to the east.

Had 8 hrs of severe stomach pain and some vomiting from midnight to 8am!!
Food posioning? (Had strawberries and porridge for tea and baked spud for lunch.)

suburban walk

Bal gp ride that started at Kersbrook.
Was keen to see if my slow plodding on mtbike up 17,000metres of climb in Sardinia would translate to better climbing on the road!
Unfortunately this wasnt a really hilly ride and there were only about 30 starters.
I sauntered off towards the end but soon realised that the 10 faster guys were getting away. Thus i led a 2nd group and maintained about a 100m distance behind to near Williamstown. Thought they would regroup there, or at the next turn-off (for shorter option) and relaxed getting about 250m behind.

They didnt stop so i made the decision to try to get across via my big chain ring on a flatter section heading to Lyndoch. Just caught the tail end and then noticed that the 2 guys in front of me were falling off the pack with the gap widening. Cranked it up again and got the safety of the gp of 8. Nice tow along for awhile as we headed towards Gawler. Then we turned L back towards Williamstown and the guys (I was only woman in the front gp) decided to race! I did well up the next hill passing several but they killed me off on the descent. Everyone slowed down over the last 2 km uphill into W and dribbled in 10m or so apart. My legs were shattered!

After a brief stop at W bakery it was back via the big hill out near W caravan park (even has a bike hill sign on it) , past the resevoir and Mt Crawford Forestry HQ. I let the speedsters go in the interest of not cooking my legs totally. Had only Phil Davill for company as we headed towards Birdwood (rest took the shorter option) and the long haul up a gradual hill was slow, then R (martins Hill rd) and another hill before getting to Forreston and taking Hill / Norsworthy rd to connect over to Kersbrook. I thought the climb this side would be relatively easy, as it was short, but i was very wrong. The last 100m is very steep and i had to really work hard to keep the pedals turning.

Havent felt this buggered on a road bike for ages. The law of specificity bit me again! Going fast is exactly what i havent been doing for the last 10 weeks or so and "muscle memory" only was good enough for about 30km!
Av speed 26+ but would have been much higher on first half.

Took to the knee high "lawn" and it took me longer than usual and really raised a sweat.

Beach run Glenelg- Hallet Cove - Outer Harbour and return in afternoon.
All my friends had escaped town for the weekend, thus a solo ride. All other Adelaidians appeared to be at the beach (23 degrees) and the people and car traffic was extreme. Av 22, including much weaving between dogs, kids and skateboarders on North Haven path.

Spin the legs ride along the Torrens in the evening.
Felt lovely to be riding again after a frustrating few days In Dubai and on plane.

Travel home from Dubai took 30 hrs longer than planned!!
Got booted off my flight as it was overbooked. My mistake (and about 20 others) was in not printing off boarding pass thru internet - not available at Dubai YH! Thus we were the suckers that got booted off.

Seemed ok to me initially as they were giving us all a free return flight to Dubai (to be taken anytime in the next 12 months), although Dubai is definitely not on my list of wished for cities to visit again.
Then I spent several hours convincing various Emirates staff that they had to rebook and pay for my Mel-Adel flight as well. "All will be ok - just see the Emirates staff the other end." No - give me something in writing... eventually I got a copy of a new Qantas booking. Off to their airport hotel, free meals etc for next 22 hrs .. I rode the metro and various buses again for some hours.

Next day the 10am flight got delayed for 45 mins. This meant that it arrived into Melbourne at 6.15am, along with over 2,000 people from other flights!! I have never seen such queues - the baggage - customs line was over 300m long!
Didnt like my chances of catching planned 8.10am flight.

Spent 30 mins in Qantas enquries line and then got told yes I had a booking but it wasnt paid for. The Emirates staff member from the plane who had promised to appear here didnt show. I dragged myself and my luggage to the far end and depths of the airport admin and rapped rather hopefully on the Emirates office, having already been told that there was no-one at international check-in for them. Eventually I guy turned up and was quite the diplomat and rang Qantas and okayed me - now for the 9.10am flight.
Back to Qantas check-in line - another 45 min wait and by the time i got there it was obvious that I would miss the planned flight, so the I got offloaded again to the 10.10am one.

Headed to the security area only to be flummoxed by the sight of several 200m long queues waiting and no movement at all at the front. There had been a security breach and the rest of the airport was being cleared .... Shit, this could take hours. About 10.30am the line started moving ... I went thru 30 mins later hoping that the 10.10 flight was still sitting on the tarmac. It was - I was one of the last to board at 11.20am. It was packed full, mostly with lots of little grey haired octogenarians who were on an excursion to Adelaide courtesy of cheap tickets as the AFL grandfinal had caused incoming flights to be full and outgoing ones not so...

Of course things werent that easy - many many airplanes had been delayed, so we sat out there for another hour waiting our turn to hit the runway.
My planned 8.10 flight ended up leaving at 12.20 pm. Got home in time to see the last 3 quarters of the footy and thankfully a Geelong win.

Also tried to watch the Oceania foot o tracking on the net but it didnt work and not even results appeared until the next day!!

C • Welcome back 2