Training Log Archive: Yak

Morning ride with V from home to Anstey's hill and up, around and back via side streets and linear path. (Nice ascent on 4WD tracks, to summit lookout, small singletrack, N lookout, and across the top next to Range Rd Sth, single track, down past Newman's nursery ruins.) Ideal riding temperature.

Evening ride around Athelstone with O map, trying to "train" for coming events. Left training a bit late before NZ.... Slow on map reading and decision making..

A tough ride in hot and blustery conditions. 30 degrees when we started and it seemed to get warmer.
Met Michelle C at Athelstone and we went up the Gorge, Cudlee Creek, up again to Lobethal, across to Woodside, Balhannah and then the 10km+ climb up via Carey Gully - Uraidla - Summertown, up to near Greenhill rd.
Then across via Woods Hill Rd to Norton Summit and down and home.
8.25 for Gorge climb ...so so

We were aiming to have the "Ride Like Crazy in Reverse" group catch us but they didn't do!! Waited at Lobethal bakery for a few minutes and then continued on. Michelle creamed me on the earlier hills but fell in a hole about the 50km mark.

Rode from Goolwa to Bluff at Victor and return via bike path. (bit boring 2 days in a row..)
Started out with the Gadbug fast group from Goolwa and gunned it to VH leading or being up the front most of way dodging peds and dogs.
Then while others stopped for a coffee, my friend from Middleton, Kate Logan and I rode on to the Bluff but missed them on the return by just a minute or two. Return was hugely windy and I led Kate as she is just getting back into riding after o/s holiday.

Stopped at Middleton to visit a fellow teacher from Marryatville days, Jay Trimboli, who has a lovely new house overlooking Middleton surfing area.
However her rates are $4,000!

Home after more organising of Dad.

Sad to hear of 48 year old woman cyclist killed on Inman Valley Rd this morning, on a completely straight, clear bit of road!! Traffic was very busy and in large numbers going towards Victor thruout the last few days.

Conquered the Crows Nest Climb - previously I had done this on my mt bike in an adventure race!
Rode from Goolwa along bikepath to Pt Eliott.
Then rode the 4km Crows Nest Rd climb to the lookout, which is very steep and daunting though I think the main climb was only 11-14%. Luckily I met Ritchie from Murray Bridge at the bottom and we started up together and that was great motivation to keep the pedals turning. I got to the top first by 20 metres or so and then we rode the next 5km to the main MtCompass - VH rd and as traffic was bad turned around and went back to Pt Eliott.

I then went to the Bluff in VH via Waterport rd and some suburbs and back along the bikepath to Goolwa. Very windy going down.

Another evening walk to beach etc. Quite cool so less people on the beach but the kiosk with its covered in seating was doing good business.
I will miss the sea visits when my Dad gets into the nursing home and we have to sell his house.

Afternoon spent trying to empty Dad's shed of a lifetime of items he had squirrelled away "because they might be useful." Found 2 books in German from 1899 & 1901and my collection of redhead matchbox tops and footy cards. There were a number of things he insisted I should keep that vwere put aside, for now.. Bit sad really.

Evening walk to and along Goolwa beach. Many people out and about.

Early morning ride around Goolwa.
Some fast sections to Barrage and out to North point caravan park and then played a game odf going up and down every street in North Goolwa. Had a map but my mini mapboard didnt fit on my handlebars very well.

Walk around Goolwa and across to beach and along.
Lovely evening. Kids playing beach cricket, people cockle searching, red sunset.

My 2nd ride with the Cobblers Creek amigos. I call them amigos because they all seem to wear black. Again a good work-out and a lovely group to ride with. Did 3 ascents and 3 descents this week. Again I was midfield on the climbs but towards the end on the descents.

I talked to Gav about my feeling that 29er was slow on the climbs and he said it was most likely all in my head! Suggested I trial the 2 sizes on climbs, which I'm in process of doing.
Managed to gain an egg sized lump on my shin bone sliding out on a nasty steep section.
relatively short ride and slow km rate but mostly its uphill and all single track. Will definitely make this a regular ride.

Spent most of the day in queues for various things - most of which I could have done earlier!!

Evening ride from Waterfall Gully up Pioneer Womens trail. Did 2 ascents (13.40, then 13.30 from spur start) trying reasonably hard. Rode down first time via Glen Osmond walking trails to near toll gate and then up Caithness rd to spur. Explored some hilly streets. Did single trail out and back around Glen Osmond golf course once. Had lost my water bottle on the first descent so went down halfway and found it.
Last descent was down PWT to waterfall Gully. Went fast but forget my start time by time I got to finish!

Lovely views over Adelaide with dark blue-black clouds against straw coloured bare hillsides)

Was on 29er, trying to like its climbing but still feels cumbersome and slow. Dopey again when I stopped to change the rear suspension having forgotten that my 29er is a hard tail (no rear suspension).

Gale force winds saw my planned morning hills group ride called off.
Did a ride with Stu at lunchtime when wind had died a little. Home - Norton Summit - Marble Hill - Montacute - Hampstead - home.
Did a goodish time up NS (27.40) though faced headwind over last several kms. Stu wasn't much help, as he climbed much better than me! Still felt hard and time to first corner was same as normal (8 mins).
Gd time to Marble Hill too - 44.40mins (from bottom of NS)
Hamstring quite sore.
Another dopey action - didn't realise that I had put my knicks on inside out until almost 2 hours into the ride! Perhaps I shouldn't dress in the dark?

C • I do that surprisingly often :) 1

Had a great Xmas present when, after 2 previous dentists had said I needed a root canal the specialist did his tests and said not needed!! I just about shouted from the rooftops. Spent the day doing jobs that created new jobs in their place.
Evening ride bypassed after gale force winds came to town.

Decided to ride before it got hot but left it a bit late with an 8.15am start.
Rode up the Gorge to Cudlee Creek, stopping to talk to vet guys who had left at 8am.
8.20 for Kangaroo dam ascent without going hard - climbed quite well sitting down as hamstring soreness more prominent today.
Then onto Gumeracha Weir and L turn up the hill to Chain of Ponds (6.10 ascent slowed down by quite a few trucks passing me) Worked hard on this climb as getting hot - 36 degrees.
Back to Gorge and to Athelstone and home - 41 degrees according to Mr Garmin (in shade). Iceblock was nice!
43.4 degrees today - hottest December day in over 80 years!

Evening mtb ride around Torrens, Highbury, Black Hill & Wadmore Pk
Would have gone swimming again but L shoulder very sore.
Went out about 7pm -lovely sunset from Black Hill park. R Hamstring a little sore.
Who would have thought that I would get my feet wet on a 38 degree day? Rounded a corner to cross a wooden footbridge on The Torrens at some speed, ignored sign I saw on the side, and woosh ...riding in a foot of water flowing over the bridge!! Letting our precious water out from reservoir to provide look good fresh water for the Torrens lake in middle of city!!

taught kiddies again today in 32-36 degrees - all were successfully pedalling now.

2nd swim of the summer, at Payneham again.
Water is always quite cold here which makes it a nice swimming temp.
felt ok, except L shoulder pretty sore and restricted in movt.
Included 400m of kick & pull.

Had to borrow the neighbour's lawn mower as mine has "died" again.
Anyone with a spare mower out there going cheaply let me know.

Cowandilla PS - Glenelg - Hallet Cove & return in afternoon.
After Bike Ed (day 1 of 3) for newbies in holiday program.
Highlight was seeing 2 kids high fiving each other in a corner after they had both pedalled 10 metres or so for the first time!

I had just got home from roadie ride and Gav (from Salisbury Avanti bike shop) rang and reminded me that I'd said I'd start doing their mtb shop ride this year and the year was just about done.... (that wasn't the only thing he rang about)
So changed bikes and off I went for a 6pm start. Amazed to see about 25 riders turn up but only 2 women, with Karen being the only one besides Gav that I knew.

Had a great ride - I actually rode uphill really well in about the top third and got many compliments. Put myself near the rear for the descents, which was wise. Amazed the boys by doing the scary rock berms without even a look, but I had seen it before the rock reinforced the berm. My track "career" means that I quite like berms. Went on a new trail that the boys were doing as a group for the first time, and I hadn't ridden ...lovely bendy descent and hardly much climb out.

Was reminded why riding with a group is so beneficial. Will do this one more often. 30 degree at start.

Hamstring was "feelable" but ok.
Did hit my R calf with a erroneous pedal, so hope that doesn't cause a clot there.

Ride partway to Brompton for Bike ed work alongside Cycling SA race. Easy work and got given free yummy lunch too ..South American ...and smoothie care of "Smooth Revolution - the pedal powered food company."

Didn't do hills ride with group as hamstring still sore.
Thought I'd do a flat beach ride.
Vic park - port Adelaide - North Haven - Semaphore - West Lakes - Glenelg - Marino bikepath to Hallett Cove train station - Glenelg via beaches - Turtur bikeway to city.

Didn't realise it was windy until I struggled into the wind from North Haven - Hallett Cove (36kms), so that was a bit of a worry with sore leg.
Had bite to eat at La Mussette, at Glenelg ...nice.

To Oakden and return for street O and picking up some controls.
Officiated at the finish.

Hurt R hamstring in my 3rd silly injury of the year.
Slipped on water on floor in the kitchen and almost did the splits.

At long last got to check out the new "Core loop" at Fox Creek.
Had Vanessa for company and she hadn't ridden there before.
Bad start when I had forgotten my socks and water bottle.
Then was riding "dougie" for the first time since Alice Springs, and soon remembered that I hadn't tightened everything up when I put him together after the flight! During first loop my handlebars rotated and I almost had a nasty spill when I couldn't reach the brakes and had to run into an earthbank to stop. Luckily I had allen keys in the car, so that was soon fixed. But my front brake wasn't working at all (needs bleeding), so I rode just using the back one.

We did the Thomas Hill loop and out to lookout first and return..

Then the Core loop - down Green Smoothie right to the bottom carpark and back up "middle Earth." This is a moderate difficulty course and it was amazing how well Nick Bowman and friends had managed to contour us back up the hill, tough it took a lot longer than the descent. This loop isn't yet signposted and must be ridden the way we did it.

Then back into the normal xc course in the pines for quite awhile.

Finally I did the Green Smoothie descent a 2nd time while V drove to the bottom ....nice.

Read Sally Pearson's book "believe" ...so, so Best pages 205, 245, 250
At age 7 she was doing 30 hours a week training as a gymnast.
Her coach of 14 years had only done 1 hurdles event ever in her life.

Easy along the Torrens ride.

Read 2 goodish book today.
-The hard light of day - Rod Moss ..about aboriginal life at Alice Springs by Centralian art teacher.
-Also he had published (many art pieces in it), One Thousand Cuts ...this year
-Amber Road by Boyd Anderson - about life in Singapore in WW2 ..fictional.

Easy paced Norton Sumit - Marble Hill route.

Been marooned at home and hospital with thin blood and nose bleeds last few days!!

Joined the Mishmash group for a roadie ride today from Birdwood. Louise gave me a lift up and I rode back after.
Their long ride was quite flat - to Williamstown, Lyndoch, Cockatoo Valley and return. Roads were very busy except thru Cockatoo Valley.
About 12 of us .. I sat in on way out but did a lot of leading on return, as they don't rotate as normal. A few stops on hilltops to wait. Then back home - Birdwood - Gumeracha - Cudlee Creek - Gorge. Was warm for the return. Quite strong headwind to Lyndoch and for ride home.

Another Epic.
Slept little last night for no apparent reason.
Left Fadden at 7am with Ann Scown for a quick 20km trip to Scrivener Dam end of lake where we met the others for a "granny" ride. Bit of a slower 20km around the N side of lake, then the dirt path around Parliament House and then some dirt tracks in Yarralumla, including seeing plaques for Westlake (?) original settlement. Back to Scrivener and then UP Dairy Farmers Hill to Arboreteum, where we had a drink and carrot cake.

Then I went off by self headed for OA office at Hackett to collect a shirt - this is on the N side and I was staying far south.. Got there to find shirt too small and JH nowhere to be seen. Took a work ph call for 20 mins, which got me behind time a little. Headed off via Ainslie single tracks to War Memorial where I saw JH about to conduct the Ainslie run-up! Also saw Trevor Jacobs for 2nd time in 3 days.

Decided to do a different route S than what I did a fortnight ago. detoured near Manuka to find a café for a Gatorade and got lost in the Parliamentary circuit streets, as had no map. Met Ben Chifley (statue). Seeing a sign to Cooma meant that I was going 180 degrees wrong so relocated and found rd leading up Red Hill. However error 2 occurred when I took the wrong track and ended up down in Deakin not Garran!!
Eventually got around to the famous tunnel under Hindmarsh drive, where the Triple Tri last bike leg finishes. Got thru it with just 2 scrapes of helmet on roof! Back thru Issacs Ridge on dirt above and followed Centenary trail to Fadden. Was 33 degrees or so, and I felt hot and hungry by finish.
A gd outing though.

All on one piece of carrot cake, as forgot $ for lunch. Then had an hour to pack "Barbie" the bike who had been residing in ACT thru 3 trips, but my friend had got me not 1 but 2 midget (too small) bike boxes. Spent a few frantic minutes cutting the end off one and taping part of the other one on...all good

Took off later than planned.
Cook - Bruce Ridge - Gungahlin - Forde - onto Centenary trail to do the 15 km to Hall anti-clockwise, which is different to what I did last time. Had quite a fun time, despite the fact that my shocks seemed to lose all air and it became a hard tail bike, Stopped to walk up to summit of One Tree Hill, which was a 7 min walk up in bike shoes. Back to Hall and a toasted sandwich for lunch.

Got a ph call from JH to pick up a shirt at "the office." Easy, right nearby at Jamieson on way home. Wrong, I went to ACT O office not the OA one miles away in Hackett. Home via Gold Ck, Lake Girrandarra, Jamieson Centre. Got "home" with 5 mins to spare before Ann Scown relocated me to Fadden.

After conference I rode from AIS out to Harrison to see my niece and then back a longer way via some bush tracks. Was nice to get out and about on a nice sunny day. Ran into Maree England & Ian Richman who were acting as "sweeps" for the Pedal Power ride on the Centenary trail, N side.

A quick ride home from the AIS home but with more weight as they printed off the 200 pages of the conference papers!! So didn't need my laptop!