wurple.net

And I haven’t made 1,000km…

Honestly, it was all working against me, with a reasonably severe bout of gastro in the middle of the month, followed by a horribly wet and windy week.

Oh well…

But in happier news… only four more days until I head to Canberra for the Worlds… should be fun :)

When I set myself a distance target, that we get crazy weather. This happened last year too. Maybe if I try this EVERY month, Melbourne’s water shortage will be solved…

So we’re about halfway through the month and I’m pretty much on track to hit my 1,000km target. Unlike last year when I did this, I’m not feeling completely toasted at this point in the month. In fact, it feels like business-as-usual with normal commutes and what not. I wonder if this means I’m just generally getting stronger.

Anyway, with the whole PB up 1 in 20 the other weekend, I’m suddenly itching to blast it again. In fact, it’s got to the point where I can actually count on one hand the number of times I’ve gone MTBing in the last month. The other day I also caught myself oohing-and-ahhing over the Orca that Fatty is raffling off.

Am I becoming roadie scum again?

It appears that I’ve come full circle somewhat, from starting out as a roadie, becoming a serious commuter type, doing the whole fixie thing for a while, then a (not-so)-hairy-legged-MTBer and now, back to being a roadie.

Then again… maybe it doesn’t matter what I decide to focus on… :)

It appears that I’m on track for another 1000km month. Yes yes, I know it’s still early in the month, but it’s good to have goals. It’s not very often that I do these, mainly because “stuff” just gets in the way. You know… Life. Responsibilities. Chores. Work.

Either way, it’s looking like it could be a good month for it, because there’s five weekends. Last year when I did my first 1000km month, I tapped out several massive rides. This time, I think I’m going to apply Treadly’s technique of riding as many days as possible and seeing where it gets me.

That should help get me well on the way to catching Norm’s total for this year…

Winter has rolled around again and with the turn in the weather, I’ve busted out the layers. Unlike last year, I don’t have the problem of being unable to carry everything.

With the build of the folding bike now all but complete, I found myself with a problem. The tiny 20″ wheels bring the rear rack just a little bit closer, causing my foot to foul against my pannier. So what’s to do? A new bag of course. (on that note, anyone want to buy a large Ortlieb Office Bag?)

So through a bit of searching and keeping an eye on sales, I found myself with a Topeak MTX trunkbag, with fold down panniers. Sure it’s a bit of a downgrade from the Ortlieb on the bombproofand waterproof stakes, but I’ve always liked the way that Topeak integrates all of their products to work together.

Having used this bag for all of two weeks now, I’ve realised that it’s started to happen…

with all of the extra space, I’ve started to carry more *stuff*, for the just-in-case scenarios. For example, last night, I looked at the weather forecast and decided that winter tights would be more appropriate for today’s ride, but packed the leg warmers just-in-case it warmed up. I’m also carrying a second set of gloves because the winter gloves I wore in are going to be too warm for the ride home.

I get the feeling that I will soon be carrying my whole cycling wardrobe with me, just so I can adjust my comfort at the microscopic level depending upon the prevailing temperature, wind condition and humidity.

It’s a worry… and I haven’t even started carrying extra tools yet…

Starting all over again…

Well… that’s what it feels like.

Over the last three weeks, I’ve hardly done any “serious” riding. Sure there was a bit of commuting and the odd RRR, but there were no lung busting climbs or pushing the boundaries of traction between rubber & dust. The first two weeks were just too-darn-busy. That was followed by injury.

BUT…

I managed to get back on the bike this weekend.

Twice in fact!

Annnnnd now I’m hurting.

Honestly, three months ago, following my 1000km November, I would have eaten these two rides for breakfast and backed it up with another 100km. Today, I feel like rolling over and going back to sleep.

Gah!

Read more…

One of the things that has generally let me down in most of my physical persuits has been my lack of flexibility. This has been a result of a number of things, but the two main ones would be injuries (shoulder & calf) and lack of effort.

Whether it be reaching that shuttle which is just a bit too far away, hiking up a hill or getting into a truly aero tuck, my general lack of flexibility has always impeded me.

So last night, I decided to address the effort part of it. While watching a couple of old House episodes, I started going through all of those things my badminton coach used to get me to do.

You know what?

I reckon I feel more tired today after doing an hour of stretches than after 100km on the roadie. Heck. I was feeling less tired after riding up Lake Mountain.

It is also somewhat reassuring, since it’s the kind which makes me know that I’ve done some hard work.

Now.

All I need to do is draw up some kind of plan and hopefully I’ll be able to stick to it. Although, I think I need to find more stuff to watch on TV, since that appears to be the only time I sit still for long enough to do this kind of stuff.

Woohoo!

I cracked the 1,000km mark for the month of November. Just in time too…

Some statistics

But as with everything, there were some interesting challenges…

• What’s a road bike? – Aside from week 1 and my final ride, I haven’t been riding my road bike. My rear hub crapped out at the end of the first week and it’s been in the shop for the rest of the month while some upgrades are investigated. I also didn’t bother getting the other wheels out until the final week.
• Wet, wet, wet – Rain doesn’t normally bother me too much. Especially summer rain. This was just a bit too much.
• Life goes on – And just because I spent all of that time on the bike, it didn’t mean that I stopped doing everything else that required effort. No no, there was still dance classes, squash and many hours of being a sound guy.
• Still racing – Okay, I didn’t have the best month, but the distance challenge didn’t stop me from racing… well… that’s when racing was not washed out.
• So very tired – By about week three, I was feeling pretty darn tired. Generally tired, not just “that was a hard race” tired.

The last ride

My last ride was rather funny. With only 125km to go and one day to do it, I dusted off the old road wheels and got pedalling. Stupidly, I didn’t quite plan perfectly and I got home with 123km on the clock. Argh! When I realised my error, I swapped over to the shopper bike and rode down to the shops for a loaf of bread. Must have looked rather strange all lycra’d up riding a Repco townie.

My rear American Classic wheel still in the shop, I rode a weird combo of the deep rim American Classic at the front and a cheap Alex rear wheel. Looked quite strange and I got quite a few questions about it in the bunch.

I also did this whole ride with only three of my chainring bolts for my granny gear sitting on my desk. Whoops. Good thing it was a flat ride and I never actually had to go for the granny gear.

Despite all things… I made it. Time for about a week of continuous sleep…