100km

I hit the road for a longish ride yesterday, with hopes of maintaining my average of a 100km or longer ride each month for the calender year. I was running short of days in September so it was now or never. With my Surgeons warning ringing in my ears I decided it would be best to not venture too far away from home so did a few laps up and down the coast traveling as far north as Austinmer and as far south as Hill 60 at Port Kembla. This kept me at most 20kms from home and close to the train if things went bad. Happily the ride went pretty well, the foot felt fine. No pain and no numbness. I'd like to say that the rest of me felt the same way, but I was pretty tired when I finished, mostly because I hadn't fueled up properly. After climbing Hill 60 at 46kms I really wished I'd packed a banana or two, and it wasn't till about 90kms that I finally stopped at North Beach and scoffed a bacon and egg and hashbrown roll and felt much better for it. Once home and off the bike I realised that it was quite windy and the gusty SW wind was especilly awkward on my chosen route - there's nowhere to hide on the coast - so this made the ride more difficult than it would normally be. I even managed to get swooped by a Magpie (12 times - same magpie out and back), and there I was thinking I had missed all the fun. This morning I backed up for a short 18km loop, just to make sure everything was still in working order and to stretch out my tightening legs. Again, early conditions were quite gusty, however I felt good on the bike, some contact point soreness but nothing to complain about. As a plus, I'm finding that I'm climbing much better these days. In fact I managed to beat my best time up Hill 60 on Saturday, which isn't bad for someone who hadn't ridden much in 6 weeks. I plan to ride pretty steadily again from now and start the new audax season ready for some 200s and in the new year tackle a super series or two and aim for the Sydney Melbourne 1200 in October/November. Mileage in Kms = 3775

First ride back

What with this glorious spring weather, I decided I was feeling good enough to ignore the Doctor and go out on the bike. While it was terrific to be out in the sunshine and covering some kilometers the foot was telling me that he's not yet completely fixed so a slow and steady ride was the order of the day. Made about 33km which was just about right for the first ride back after a 6 week break.

Stitches Out

The stitches in my foot came out to day, but it's 4-8 weeks before I can do any serious cycling. My Doctor said it's OK to ride on a trainer though and can start that in a few days once the swelling has gone down a bit more and I can get into my cycling shoes. It's a bit disappointing, but I guess them's the breaks.