Training Log Archive: Yak

Lovely 19 degree day so went for a lunchtime beach ride.
Joined by a couple of friends after a late night post on Adelaide female cyclists facebook page ....
Started at West Beach and Ied them down Marino, Hallet Cove and beyond using bikepaths where feasible. Leanne (RideABikeRight) hadn't been all that way before which was incredible.
No Garmin on bike so I rode hardish and was pleasantly surprised that we averaged 30kph on way out and much the same on way back.
Did some extra kms to Henley Beach and return at finish.
Lovely to be riding beach way during midweek as little traffic.

On Sunday evidently 3 women riding near Pt Adelaide got stopped by 3 guys jumping out of a car and one bashed one cyclist with an iron bar.
What is world coming to? One woman had a camera on her bike and gave the police a gd image of the suspect.

At last a decent ride on roadie ... with Michelle Soar up Norton Summit and down Montacute and a bit extra. Was a cruise up as I still couldn't breathe very well ...legs felt gd ....luckily Michelle has lost fitness since our rides together in Switz, so I appear to be fitter.
I have lost 5 or 6 kgs whilst away so that is useful.
Lovely weather at last ... sunny 16 degrees.

Was entered in a national round CX race today but decided not to race as
- 35 mins short
- cold and a niggling Achilles
- would have done it on my old roadie, so a bit dangerous going up & down Mulch hill ...thus needing to walk some

Mowing the backyard which was very high.
After working out how to get the mower going!
Luckily my neighbour has mown the front strip.
Must check whether my local mowing guy had mown at all, as asked.

Did MTBO at kuitpo - Knott hill.
Bit useless
- couldn't breathe as nose too runny
- couldn't change gears properly ...bike shop I had fix my 29er before I left had put the handlebars on at a stupid angle, so I couldn't change gears mostly as couldn't reach them. If I had got there earlier I could have fixed this but only hopped on bike 5 mins before mass start.
- silly route choice to no 1 as still trying to work out what gears I could use
- almost whole course was "underwater," what wasn't was deep sand.
- I had a thermal on underneath but was still freezing hours afterwards.

Went to see my brother Pete at home after 2 weeks in hospital with inoperable cancer in liver & bowel. Not looking gd.

Taught refugee kids at Salisbury all day ...got lots of smiles when they mastered the pedals. Wore a long sleeved thermal under my shirt and windjacket as only 14 degrees today and 5 overnight.
Then had insurance people look at roof again and say "yes we will have to fix it ..." 5 visits so far.
Still struggling to breathe with snotty nose.
Went for a nice long walk along Torrens towards the Gorge ...perhaps even 8 kms.

At work for RideABikeRight at a school today.
Very cold in Adelaide ..on;y 5 degrees tonight!
I thought staying away 3 months would have seen off winter but no.

Prague - Dubai 6hr
In transit - 3 hrs
Dubai - Adelaide 12 hrs
Waiting for bags & customs 1.5hrs
Picked up by Leeanne (Ride A Bike Right) and home at 10pm
Found study was still not waterproof as water in buckets ....home ph battery dead ...

Early morning ride before bike packing with Z.
Partially ride i did a fort ight ago with several extra big climbs and lots more exploring single tracks. Big hazy over city but lovely views from open land above. Q is whether i can pack and get under weight limit as Emirates are getting really fussy.
Got a very sore throat and headache ...

Big party last night.
Italian elites dressed up as air hostesses & flight attendants.
Gd music provided was a highlight so lots of dancing.
I got to bed about 2.30am and was awake at 6.30pm
Had to read the riot act to boys as their idea of ow clean to leave the room was severely lacking. Drove to Praque airport and then to Zdeneks place above the city.
After catching up i went into prague ...followed the sculpture trail; did a tour of old town hall inside and its basements. This incl a close up of the 12 apostles that pop out of the astronimical click. Walked heaps. Fly home tomorrow.

Sometimes the best laid plans don t work out.
Had entered Angus (junior), Chris (elite) and myself in M21 champs relay so that the boys got another top notch race. Seemed a gd idea at the time sitting in Oz without knowing that the course would be both long and ultra hilly and riding very technical.
Boys were keen and all the other coaches and my rider friends were impressed that i would do such a thing when my name appeared on start list
Angus went out first and i was hoping that the boys would do well enough to give me a buffer over lowly ranked teams.
Unfortunately A had a crash halfway around and lost his si stick which he didnt realise until getting to the next control a long hilly way away. He continued on and punched on map but was dnfed. Chris went out and rode pretty well. I was allowed to start but didnt flog myzelf much. Made some minor errors but generally happy w Ith my ride of 2 hrs.
Time also incl 30 min warmup in quara ti e area m

Rode 3kms to top of Jested and then did a downhill tk and some contouring around before back to hotel.

Walk with Anne Robinson from near Turnov in Bohemian Paradise area of rocks. Very big rocks with walking tks between them and lookouts above. Visited 2 castles too. Would have prefered to have been on my bkke.

Token training add. Just to and fro mtbo champs sprint arena.
Took bike with intention of racing the public sprint but after Angus came thru as the gold medallist in M20 I thought it better to arrange a victory dinner outing instead!!

I had been at start quarantine for 3 hrs so missed seeing Angus come in but saw later male elites. A was up as 2nd initially but just after i arrived a Czech official let me know ahead of the public announcement that he was world champ as the faster French guy had been dsq'ed.
Thus i had the pleasure of telling Angus that he was world champion. We had a lot of other nations & the IOF President congratulate us on the win which was nice. Especially as there was only 4 Aussies there, one of which was Anne Robinson. Would have been nicer with a bigger team to celebrate.

Out to the Black Horse ...an Irish pub with gourmet food and then bowling with other teams. Luckily its a rest day tomorrow.

C • yay! 3

Long day out with mtbo woc. Angus Robinson rode well for 12th in jwoc.
After the heatwave it has turned into a rain deluge. Mostly just drizzled for WOC but i rode the womens course later in the predicted torrential rain and its still raining. When 300 riders have gone beforehand many tracks were a mudbath so i slipped and slid cautiously at times.

Had my start changed so i could get back in time for coaches meeting but got given wrong time so missed start by a few mins. Not worried as i wasnt racing as such. Had just done a skilful ride thru the spectator loop obstacles and climbed a big hill when my handlebars came loose! Aborted back to finish and borrowed an allen key to tighten them up. As i had caught and passed FeminaI ...the Turkish woman giving me a ride home i decided to climb the hill again and finish. Did so and recaught and passed her.
Rode ok despite little food since brecki.

Pretty much a rest day...
Did a short but steep walk up and down to Jested ...a big tower that was built last century on top of a nearby mt. Won architectual prize as best czech building of the 20th century. Was a bit foggy.
Then quick lap around botantical gardens which included, to my suprise, an alligator, several stingrays, and various other marine specimens. Perhaps tbey escaped from the zoo across the road.

Then had to buy a stovetop and pot for bike boys who insist on pasta for breakfast. Then a professional opening ceremony inside a gigantic sports hall, 90 minute coaches meeting, and finally a meeting with boys to translate new info to them.

Annoying that in 3 months in Europe the only place that has had bad wifi is here. Best place for it is sitting on my disabled toilet, which is higher than a normal one. Seems that disabled cant hang clothes as no coat hangers.
Cleaners didnt seem to appreciate me hanging my towel on bike handlebars in cavernous shower + toilet as they moved it into my room.

Czech has a fairly high crime rate. So far 2 cars outside the hotel here have been broken into and small items taken. Then tonight a Latvian rider had his bike stolen from his car roof while at tea.

Model event on U Kaplicky map on outskirts of Liberec past the zoo.
Rude intro to hilly nature and nasty ditches and waterbars.
I almost came to grief on one ditch ...top Russian Ruslan Gritsan did and had a big hole in his knee.
Quite dangerous with Russians, French & Finns all going at top speed while i was out and about. Little tracks hard to pick up as pine needles obscure them. Some grey on tracks are rock slabs and outcrops which may require getting off.

Picked up Anne Robinson at bus station at 1pm and in afternoon went to Krystofov doli, a small viĺlage nearby. Saw 3rd of czechs horologe clocks with wooden moving partts. 17 century church and we went up the bell tower and i got to ring the bell for about 2 mins of the 5 min session at 4.15pm to announce a catholic service. Bell is 400 yrs old but originals were taken away in WW2. Bought the present one in Hamburg. Saw the Novinsky train viaduct ..built in 1898 - 1900 and is 230 metres long. One of 2 nearby.

Rest day for guys so i went on an early morning ride from Pension Jitka at Simonovice. Up the mt thru many s bends to Rasovka (661m) following bikepath 14. Then steep up on 3007 path to 785m and across on green path to Horni
Hanychov passing Jested cable car and bike park. Got drink there.
Did some of single tracks on offer on pine needle tracks thru the forest.
At every main junction there are signposts ...on offer are different grade trails, singletrack, and even kickbike routes. Quite often there are large detailed topographical maps of area showing all trails. Also seats and small eateries along the way. Easy peasy and fun times to be had.
Back contouring via quiet streets on edge of forest with detour around road works at Pilinkov. Really fun time.

Bit shitty that boys werent ready to go when i got back.
Harder managing 2 than 10.
Doing rego had to solve the problem of 2 x 6 foot + boys sharing a double bed!! Actually i think they now have the best room (an apartment) in Hotel Arena ...lounge room and a big balcony. I have a disabled persons room which at least has a big shower +toilet.
The Arena area is huge and is a sport park ...caters for sporting groups. Hotel.+ hostel = 270 beds. 19 roofed sports halls and 16 outdoor sports grounds incl a full aths track catering for 26 sports. We can "regenerate in a salt cave."
Though at 4 x the cost of our pension that had kitchen access. Is event centre.

Then went to a big tobbagon run near here and did 1 ride.
Had a great meal at an Irish place called the Black Horse in central Liberec.
Heatwave was supposed to stop today ...had a few raindrops but still 32.

Rode mens elite relay training today. They had 3 mass starts 20 mins apart instead of traditional relay. i rode 3rd leg so a bit lonely except for sev eral chinese guys who were less competent riding wise in sand than me and some girls as their last start was 5 mins after me.

I actually rode ok except for several dodgy control exits but need new glasses as hard to read the map whilst riding. Only tòok 2 photos on course.

Warmup (only 37 degrees) and ride afterwards to and fro the glorious small waterfall on the map. Water was really cold.

Walk from near rathaus in town centre to botantic gardens and zoo and return. Not enough time so hope to do gardens sometime in coming week.

Womens middle distance training at Mimon.
Another brilliant area although quite a lot of stick debris on the ground.
I mucked up no 1 despite supposedly being careful ...took a bend and went off the tk i was supposed to follow ...and was slow to imagine what i had done. Then hitti g a big bump on way to no 2 my seat moved to point upwards more.
Rode on regardless needing to stand up sometimes and did pretty well over last 18 controls ...even beating some girls with route choice decisions.

Did a couple of excursions near to Mimon both of which required walking and climbing albeit in thongs.
Vranovske skaly was up to some sandstone rock pillars and then to a carved out rock waterhole with a stunning lookout....Julina Vyhlidka. Above Vranov.
Prurva Ploucnice was a river flowing out of a manmade 150 metre rock tunnel which is 6 metres high. Originally an underground drive for an iron mill. Known as Devils throat or Thunderbolt locally. I walked the other side of the hill and waded upriver before finally floating thru the tunnel and having a swim in the swim hole after the tunnel.
Very hot again so refreshing. Did so in bra and shorts!

Long training event warm-up. Fail 1. Went by map memory and had to return to event centre to get the map showing start area. . Includes ride back after race.

Long course on a very hilly and sandy area but with a great variety of tracks i cl a bitumen bike path right thru the middle.
Map reading mistake to no 2 and slow to relocate so that was shitty.
Had 1 leg the length of the A3 map which incl an insideous amount of climb up a valley. Then lost a lot of that climb on a short next leg where the obvious route was on an ultra steep single sandy almost non existent track. I had difficulty even walking some of it ...reminded me of Kapmahunga foot o terrain in NZ in the 1980's. Organisers were keen to know how i found it!

Midcourse i passed both a lake (rode over the wall) and an incredibly pretty waterfall and was so tempted to jump in. Did take 8 photos as no sheep stations on this event. This may have caused my lack of concentration leaving czech point 1.

Aus boys rode well and even left me a roll and choccie milk in the car when i returned. They had gone to the lake as arranged.
Tonight we had dinner out at a fancy restaurant in Liberec.
$30 in total for 3 meals (salmon, steak & pasta) and drinks.

Some swimming in the glorious lake as a cool down and about another 20 mins standing around.

Training camp sprint event about 30 kms from accom.
Great area with a myriad of diff tracks but all bumpy or with sticks on them so it was difficult to find time to read the map. Had difficulty finding where i was on the map often and repeatedly got passed by Emily Benham (one of best) who was doing the course as sprint intervals, shadowed by her boyfriend.
45 mins for course us 15 warmup.
Visited 3 bikeshops in area during afternoon after Chris & Angus had a lake swim. About 37 degrees. Met some of the US team who had gone to 7 electronic shops searching unsuccessfully for fans as they are staying in typical czech very basic camping cabins ...not what they thought. With a heatwave in summer they have all been sold.

Walked around small event village and climbed up to a small church.
Saw an old 3 story army building which is being renovated with the family living in bottom floor.
Driving to and fro was along windy narrow hilly country rds which is difficult for me in a long wide mercedes van.

Had a lovely early morning ride on a course suggested by Katerina and mostly remembered from looking at it on Mr Google. Left the most relevant map at home so had a few strays offcourse. Found myself at the top of an unfenced 50m+ quarry at one stage where i was heading for the gully below by a more circuitous route...Lots of small microtracks and a lovely cool track along a creek ...all within about 5km of central Praque. Many many bikes out along the creek so its obviously a favourite local area.

Rushed to get back in time to subway across Praque to pick up a 9 seater minus 3 seats ...then drive thru central P incl tunnels to my accom to pick up bike etc. Then out to airport to pick up 2 mtbo guys and drive back thru the city on 130 km trip to Liberec...

Our accom is in a lovely quiet village about 5 km out of Liberec ...really nice.
Joy at having my own big room for next 6 nights.
Paying local rates in Penzion Jitka ... 6 nights, 2 rooms, 3 people = 18 nights accom for $375 total!

Got up early and used my borrowed bike to do some exploring and to take photos of the villages around Wehrsdorf.
Then on my return Berit, the 2 boys and I rode over to the ski jump area and i went a longer way home escorted happily by the oldest boy Per.
Time is guess at riding time ...was out longer.

To top of Soland ski jump and to the Czech border marked by flagstones in the forest. Blair et al may remember that we ztayed in the Soland ski club house for training before jwoc 91. They also may remember nettles and being injected by a large German doctor to counteract the reaction.

Train ride back to Praque from Dresden.
delayed...no communication of stations coming as szstem down ...
4 carriages had no aircon in 35 degree heat so they closed them and told those people to sit in the aisles... was chockers ....guys took shirts off, some girls stripped down to bra ...train people distributed free water.
I was happy to be in my reserved seat in reasonable aircon and managed to delay a toilet visit for 2.5 hours until arrival in Praque.
Got home i semi darkness again.

Happy to have just 1 last currency and language left in my 6 country trip and only 3 different beds to go. Must count up how many beds i have slept in ... its been a lot. Relieved that all my complicated arrangements have worked out.
Pick up car and bike guys tomorrow for MTBO WOC. Still quite a few things to sort out per usual.
Hope accommodation options booked work out ok.

C • JWOC 1991 3

Slow ride on a borrowed old commuter bike with Berit around Wehrsdorf, Soland and the region. 37 degrees.
Would have loved to have done mtbo but i hadnt expected to seeing that my mtbo contact Harold Mannel was away at the beach.
Also went to pool and threw a footy around in it with the kids for ages.

Katerina went to work at 7.15am so i went riding early but it still felt hot.
Great to be back on my mtb. Just followed my nose over to a greenish hill and found some great singletrack and old rds going thru what was an old army base. Still a small part left at top complete with menacing dogs and razorwire.
One of the old buildings had people living in it which was a bit scary as i rode past. Had to hurry to get back in time for train to Dresden and Wehrsdorf to catch up with a friend from 1991 Jwoc.

In 20 mins i showered, washed hair and clothes, finished packing and secured the house! Next 30 mins saw me walk for 10 mins then catch subway for 7 stops then change lines and go another stop to the main train station. Only to find train delayed by 35 mins.

Not every day one cycles in Czech and later goes swimming in Germany.
In wehrsdorf pool which was quite chilly. No lane ropes so just cruised some breastroke in 50 m pool which was well populated.

late up and then went with Katerina to book ticket to Germany.
Managed to leave my Praque map at home so relied on my memory which worked out ok. Visited Vysehrad walled area hich was a former military area and has a big church and many old graves of prominent people,
then to main station and Museum area and finally to the main square and my favourite astronomical clock. Created in 1410 it has 12 apostles that pop out on the hour and other igures that move. Went up te Old Town hall tower and great old photos and explainations along the walls on waz up.
Also went to a photo exhibition of a famous Russian women showin Russia from 1970's to now. Quite revealing and conroversial Im sure.

Paid my regards to Charles Bridge and then saw water zorbing happening just down from it. $10 for 15-20 mins so i dived in literally. Bloody hard work and i had a little lie down in the middle of my allotted time and floated. River activities seem to be a theme in my tourist activities so far.

Big rush to master the subway and get home before dark, as i had to walk thru a steep park for 1 km or so on map memory and hadnt noted the house number but thought i would recognize it. I had been entrusted with keycode to this zillion$ establishment and had a mild panic as readin the code thing without glasses was impossible so relied on memory of no placement.
Writing this feeling somewhat lazy as the pet hamster next to me has clocked up many kms over the last two hours on his wheel.
Time is a bit random.

One last ride to Richmond Park for a final look ...couldnt resist.
Got to bed late after searching everywhere for my Czech money that i had successfully hidden in a safe place 4 or 5 weeks ago.
My maths will be challenged over the next few weeks as $1 is 18 czech koruna.
Next few days are a bit social until i meet team on aug 10th.

More work today sorting and posting shoes for my niece's vegan shoe business. www.bboheme.com
then out to buy some presents for 2 girls at Richmond and to visit several bike shops and to explore kew and chiswick etc that i hadnt ridden in before.
Big push to get back for haircut and out to theatre to see the Mousetrap.
The latter was excellent...in a small theatre full of character.
Almost didnt make it as read my directions wrong and found myself needi g to do 2 more tube connections.

Walk (and jog as late) to and fro Mortlake train station and around London.

Organising day ...washing, thinking how to pack... etc
Then caught trains to Camben Town ...many markets and 100 stalls selling same logos on singlets. Big varied food markets too. Too many people.
Thought about going to Sherlock Holmes museum but a 90 min wait to enter
Hired London Bike from one of their thousand pods around the place ... basically for £2 you can hire the bike for 24 hrs, as long as you redock it every 30 mins. Bit painful doing this. Bikes are very heavy with strange seats.

Went to regent park but bikes were only allowed around the outside ...
went over to Hyde Park where there was more riding to be had and visits to historical places. Serpentine lake in the middle is where they swam for Olympics for the triathlon

Timed homeward travel badly at 6pm. Got squashed in like a sardine tin on te first tube train.

Wow ...finally a mostly sunny day above 20 degrees.
The 26,000+ riders in the public 100 mile event set off from 6 to 9am and went in to Richmond park 100 metres from my abode at the 20 mile mark.
I went in to the park early and rode around ....it was lovely as no cars were allowed in so the deers were wandering across the roads in half the park. Where the event went they had put up barriers on both sides to prevent deers interfering. As people had to walk in the middle part of the park was quite empty so i illegally cycled to Pen Ponds.
Between 10.30 and 1pm and after 2pm heaps of people cycled on the empty courze. The pro guys rode thru as a group about 1.30pm. Of course car drivers didnt like the traffic jams that the road closures caused.

I cycled early and then went home and then went out again to see the pros and continued on to Bushy Park ...the 2nd biggest park. Lots of deer, quite a few cricket games happening, a statue to Princess Diana and 6 to 8 foot high bracken with numerous si gle tracks going thru. Also no "No cycling" signs at all unlike Richmo d park.

My niece and family have gone o/s so its just me and the nanny (Beatrice) here. Got up late and did some food shopping and reading the paper i found that there was a cycling festival in central London today.

Hopped on Alicia's bike and 2 hrs later i was there albeit a convoluted route in and out of the River Thames bikeway. Came out at some stage and there were 20 police standing in my way. I said something like "has there been an accident?" "No but there's sure to be a few later on" I was riding past the Chelsea footy stadium just before kick off and there were at least 80 police that i could see. Was advised to ride home a different way.

Found the ride festival at St James Park ...just next to Buckingham Palace. Actually there were 5 different venues with activities happejing. However the main activity was a Ride London free cycle on a closed rd 8 mile circuit past all the iconic institutions....Buck palace, trafalgar square, kings college, royal courts, st pauls cathedral, guidhall, westminister houses of parliament, and over and back on waterloo bridge. This was from 9 to 4 and one could do as many laps as possible....though it was a slow ride due to enormous numbers.
I was wearjng my Aus mtbike top and heard my name called and it was Andy Conn a British mtbo rider and friend!

At 5 pm they cordoned off the rd around St James Park for races. About 2kms around and went by Buck Palace.
First up was a 30 minute crit for the foldable Brompton bikes with most in fancy dress. Funny as. Then a pro womans race that was televised live ...first time ever. Then junior women and men's races.
(On same day the womans FA cup soccer final was played for the first time at Wembly)

Rode home amidst a plethora of double decker buses.
Tomorrow there is a 100 mile ride with 25,000 riders which i had known about but one gets in by ballot or fundraising a heap. It goes right past my door and into Richmond park so i will look see.