I have really been enjoying my cycling during December and have completed the Highlands 300km brevet and the Christmas Picton Ride (100k). I have also been able to ride more than I expected on a daily basis, given the various christmas commitments that occur at this time of the year and the absolutely crappy weather we have been experiencing. On average I've been out every other day with a number of consecutive days riding logged.
The Highlands 300 on the 4th December was a really enjoyable ride (see previous post) and the Picton Xmas ride two weeks later confirmed to me that I'm getting stronger all the time. The first time I tackled Picton road heading east was 3 years ago, I was a bruised, dehydrated and sweaty mess coming back. This time I was calm and spinning away nicely, despite trespassing on a construction site and a few squalls on the way home.
Since my ITB problems last May and physio and such, I am really beginning to feel like I can be a confident long distance cyclist. Sure it will hurt and I will suffer endlessly, but it doesn't seem as alien now as it did when I commenced this blog.
Now without spoiling my yearly recap post next week, I'm pretty happy to be sitting on about 9100km for the calender year which is quite a bit further than I aimed to ride, so next year I will be looking a little bit further down the road. I'll also be looking to inject some visual interest into the blog and take some photos on my rides.
Crikey, If I manage to come back from Paris without any illustrations, I will be disappointed.
Mileage in Km 9160
Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Interesting times
So I get back from Perth and find that I still have tummy trouble. It's worrying enough now for me for visit my Dr, who duly diagnoses Giardiasis. Terrific, take this medication and it should be fine. Medication is awful and a couple of weeks later the now familiar signs have returned.
Hmm says Dr, better run some tests. Turns out I have been enjoying the company of a range of critters, with the last remaining Blastocystis hominis causing the trouble. Not sure where I've encountered these devils and likely will never know, but I am now definitely on the mend after another course of awful antibiotics. The tests also indicate that I'm in fabulous health other than said bugs camping in my gut and HDL cholesterol measuring 6.1. Oops.
So much better in fact that I have recently ridden a lovely 300km brevet known as the Highlands Ride (i'd post the bikley link but its not loading) in what for me was a pretty good time of 15 hrs 30 mins.
The weather this last week has been very wet but I count myself lucky that I got to ride about 150kms in relative dryness though there were some pretty good downpours. By the end of the ride I was down to emergency rear light only as the rain had killed the superflashes and I was really thankful for my reflective vest. Descending Keira in the rain was fraught with terror as I rode the brakes and tried to stay upright.
What was really enjoyable about the ride was the number of birds that were frolicking about. I saw lots of vivid parrots, Rosellas on the way to Bundanoon, and around Wingello I spotted two Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos, as well as the usual Lyre Bird on Macquarie Pass, countless ducks and a raft of Kookaburras.
I managed to get myself into a really useful headspace during the ride. I was enjoying the riding and maintaining a pretty good pace, felt I was climbing well and was generally comfortable both in body and mind as I rode along. This was also my first long ride for sometime without using Perpetuem and I found that so long as I ate at the controles and snacked on lollies along the route I felt pretty good.
So that's the 300 and the 200 down for the PBP qualifiers. There's a local 400 in early February though I have the Tallowa Dam 200 and Alpine Classic to look forward to in January. Will need to get a few more hills in in the meantime.
Mileage in Kilometers = 8682
Hmm says Dr, better run some tests. Turns out I have been enjoying the company of a range of critters, with the last remaining Blastocystis hominis causing the trouble. Not sure where I've encountered these devils and likely will never know, but I am now definitely on the mend after another course of awful antibiotics. The tests also indicate that I'm in fabulous health other than said bugs camping in my gut and HDL cholesterol measuring 6.1. Oops.
So much better in fact that I have recently ridden a lovely 300km brevet known as the Highlands Ride (i'd post the bikley link but its not loading) in what for me was a pretty good time of 15 hrs 30 mins.
The weather this last week has been very wet but I count myself lucky that I got to ride about 150kms in relative dryness though there were some pretty good downpours. By the end of the ride I was down to emergency rear light only as the rain had killed the superflashes and I was really thankful for my reflective vest. Descending Keira in the rain was fraught with terror as I rode the brakes and tried to stay upright.
What was really enjoyable about the ride was the number of birds that were frolicking about. I saw lots of vivid parrots, Rosellas on the way to Bundanoon, and around Wingello I spotted two Yellow Tailed Black Cockatoos, as well as the usual Lyre Bird on Macquarie Pass, countless ducks and a raft of Kookaburras.
I managed to get myself into a really useful headspace during the ride. I was enjoying the riding and maintaining a pretty good pace, felt I was climbing well and was generally comfortable both in body and mind as I rode along. This was also my first long ride for sometime without using Perpetuem and I found that so long as I ate at the controles and snacked on lollies along the route I felt pretty good.
So that's the 300 and the 200 down for the PBP qualifiers. There's a local 400 in early February though I have the Tallowa Dam 200 and Alpine Classic to look forward to in January. Will need to get a few more hills in in the meantime.
Mileage in Kilometers = 8682
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)