My bike is made from Sugar

Every man and his umbrella are taking to myface/twitbook with complaints of rain in Brisbane of late (reminds me of this time last year perhaps?). I personally dislike rain due to the church of single track riding BUT... I don't despise rain like most. I find waking up to a rainy morning very pleasant. I even enjoy driving in the rain with the window slightly down so that I can feel the temperature outside. With more recent (well, more recent then mountain bikes) purchase of a road bike it has allowed me to venture out in the rain on two wheels. 

(I could say without the guilt of riding single track in the wet, but I despise the hoards of uneducated wankers who feel that riding single track in the wet makes them so freakin awesome that they just can't possibly imagine the damage they are infact causing to the hundreds of riders whom actually appreciate the hard work that goes into managing a forest, without even mentioning the way they screw up riding for the next 2 weeks by causing massive drainage issues for all involved meaning even more time off the mountain bike for myself)

So when I chose not to ride for 3 days earlier in the week, none of my LORE's (Lack of Riding Excuses) were to do with the weather... unlike most!

Did you know in Amsterdam, around 63% of the popular ride their bikes more than 3 times a week. Out of those people, only 18% choose NOT to ride on wet days.

By Helen Olney - AmsterDame Blog

Lack of Riding Excuse 1: This week was a big one for me. I have only 1 year of study left and I will then, most probably, never study again. This meant the assignment due Thursday was one of importance and needed to be attended to most nights this week. 

Lack of Riding Excuse 2: Also this week, I started a new role at work. I am now a full-time Health and Physical Education Teacher. While for some this sounds easy, I have taken on a number of other responsibilities at work to co-inside with my masters degree mentioned earlier. I have also never taught PE so although there is basic planning, it's all brand new for me and very time consuming. 

Lack of Riding Excuse 3: Last weekend I hurt my thumb somehow and I was not able to put pressure on it until midweek.

So, Australia Day I was able to sneak out for about an hour and a half  and I was able to miss any real rain. Friday I was also lucky with the weather.

On Saturday however, I found out that I am harder than my bike. I took off on the roadie in pretty good conditions which soon turned to poor conditions as a mountain of water fell from the sky. Sticks and other road grime littered all the roads and the bike paths were covered in slime. I road out to Jindalee and on one of the bike paths I hit a stick with soared into my bike's downtube. One of those sticks you hit and you are watching in the exact moment so it appears you are watching it in slow motion...

I think nothing and continue to ride. Few moments later I notice my bike isn't shifting properly. I excuse this as gunk in the trunk (i.e. shit in the derailer). Turns out the stick that hit the frame damaged both gear cables that are routed underneath the downtube. 

The cables are beginning to unravel and are therefore slowly letting out cable, so in theory, are changing gears further down the cassette. I continue to ride with my bike in 'automatic', by Dutton Park I am in the 39 ring up front and the hardest gear at the back, with a crossed up chain that is rubbing the front derailer so loud it sounds like my bike is eating the road rather than rolling over it.

I made it up Dutton Park and back home to South Bank..... Talk about resistance baby!!!!

Heads Down Thumbs Up

Ho Ho Ho..

Wow everyone seems to mention how fast this year has gone. This year for me has included moving into the city, doing the least amount of riding for the past 7 or so years, starting some more uni study (idiot), and enjoying time spent with my wonderful girlfriend Lauren (who reads this blog..) and some great friends.

As mentioned in an earlier post, I had some goals to set in the past week or so, and one of them is to get myself onto a structured training plan for next year. After jumping from coach to coach for the past couple of weeks I have found one I am happy with and am willing to give him a shot.... meaning, just do everything he says and hope for the best!!

So what does the plan look like? Secret!.... no not really, just detailed. The focus for last week and this week coming is basically to get some fitness back before a long slog of base training over Jan and Feb. I have also put on about 6-8kg so this 2 week interum was also used to kick start some weight loss.

In short, 2 weeks of riding with a high cadence and distances of around 2.5-3.5 hours on the bike. For me, high cadence means high heart rate... so trying to keep a balance of watching my Cadence at 90-120 and my heart rate sit at about 150-160, but trying to ride non stop for 3 hours.

 The road bike is the easiest tool for this job. This is where the saying Heads Down Thumbs Up comes from. The cool little game that kids love to play when their stressed teacher needs 5 minutes to organise the next literacy or numeracy activity. I'd throw in a picture of my 27 year 2's playing away but it's not appropriate.

Whilst riding on the road bike and keeping cadence/HR set, I seem to change gears alllllllllllllllllllllllll the time. Hence using my thumbs constantly!!!! I did 3 river loops this week, one of them extending out to 65km and sent me riding from my unit at South Bank out to Jindalee and back. That's alot of Heads Down and Thumbs Up.

I woke up to a beautiful morning earlier in the week and set off for a long slog, but this time on the mountain bike. Keeping a high cadence the mountain bike is all about fire road... and usually ones that head Up, Up, Up... Head for the hills...

River loop from home, over Cootha via channel 9 trail, up Mt Cootha Road, down Highwood Road, 30km of Gap Creek fire road (with a few sneaky single tracks to break it up), back up highwood road, down Mt Cootha on the road, round the rest of the river loop, cafe stop, home)

I get xmas and boxing day off, then back on the road bike again for a couple of days. I am doing a big Southside Epic with Derek on Wednesday and will probably shove my rest day in on Thursday. More high Cadence riding this week then I start my Base training. How exciting!

Merry Christmas!