Bathurst Day

I spent the day with the TV on in the background, watching super cars fang around Mount Panorama. My muscles had pulled up pretty well after yesterday’s ride and I’d even been doing some physical stuff during the day involving a trip to the tip.

Dressed in my GCC jersey, I was feeling motivated for some speed, but had no plan of where I would go. None of the kids were interested in joining me (possibly the lure of some last minute tech time before the end of the school holidays was too great), so I stood alone in the drive way and mounted the bike. As soon as my skin felt the seat, I knew it was probably a mistake. My bike seat is a nice wide commuter seat, slightly padded, but definitely much better for comfort than the seat that originally came with my bike all those years ago. I wavered for a moment, putting a foot back down on the earth, but I’d already started the app to measure my time and distance, so, reluctantly, I made my feet contact the pedals and I glided out of the driveway.

I’ve never been so glad of some driveway prep over winter where we’d filled in a few of the potholes at the end, giving me a much smoother entrance to the gravel and then the road. I turned for the slight downhill, and with as title pedaling effort as possible, tried to get some momentum. My Bathurst aspirations were short-lived, as I contemplated turning for home without even a kilometre ridden.

Gingerly, I rose off the seat and stood for a few pedals. Sweet relief, but not sustainable, especially with speed bumps up ahead. The problem wasn’t power in my legs, but the soreness that was accentuated with every movement on the seat. It was a head game - I was debating whether to ride a kilometre away and then turn for home. In the end I decided to push on a bit further.

There have been heaps of emus around lately - I was the first foraging near some stables, with what looked like an audience of amused horses. An uphill, which I chose to stand and pedal for, and then cruise down the other side.

One of the beauties of bike riding is that it’s slow enough that you can take in the environment around with a little more intentional notice than you can in a car. There were flowers, ground cover, flies, roast dinners smelling like Nan used to make, and a pretty nice looking kids’ bike that I thought was game to be leaving resting against a trailer instead of locked inside a yard.

It was mostly uphill on the way back. I’d stopped whinging in my head and was thankful for the lack of traffic and lack of wind. Approaching my house, I had a little bit of momentum and was able to stop the bike at the top of the driveway without falling off.

I wasn’t puffing when I entered the house, but feeling sore and cranky. I was greeted by “Short ride today?”

I kept my response to myself.

Ride with Lachy

I love extra afternoon daylight we have at this time of year. After a pretty lazy day today, Lachy decided to join me on a ride. I’ve been on my bike a few times earlier in the year where I was trying to make some good habits by riding to work. This worked well until the days where I had to bring a lot of things with me, or had meetings across town. My bike has also been the kids’ spare when their bikes have needed repairs or servicing. My bike today had an adjusted seat, a missing drink bottle holder, and the lights on it were flat. I decided to jump on anyway - luckily my GCC jersey has a pocket in the back that fits a drink bottle and my helmet has a light at the back. I felt I was dressed brightly enough for the cars to spot me.

We headed towards the sculptures, and I thought I was doing pretty well for the first part of the ride - A slight breeze at our backs and I was leading, but not setting too much of a cracking pace. Lachy asked a couple of times how far we were going and I felt a little superior when he said one of his legs was getting a bit sore, and my much older body seemed to be holding up ok.

We had to slow down for a trio of emus, which scattered back into the scrub as we approached - probably a good thing, as we were soon passed by a convey of cars who didn’t seem to slow down as they passed us. Today’s weather was beautiful, and there were a few families out on the flats next to the road with their dirt bikes. In past years, the bikes have annoyed me as they’ve passed my with the amount of dust that they’ve stirred up, but today they were fine.

We arrived at the entrance to the Living Desert complex and we took a quick photo, had a drink and then started the return to town. I let Lachy lead and thought I was doing ok. My knees were a little sore, but nothing to unexpected. He seemed to find his rhythm on the way home and although we weren’t sprinting, there were a couple of times where I had to stand to get the power in my legs to catch up to him.

I was the one requesting a couple of “drinks breaks,’ which were really feast breaks on the way home. In the last kilometre and a half before we were home, there were times where Lachy was a hundred or so metres ahead of me. The slight uphills were hard and I was feeling like I had nothing lef tin the tank to catch up to him. I was content to let him ride ahead and I’d see him at home.

As we turned into our street, the gentle downward slope gave me a bit of momentum. My pedals were a bit easier, and I caught up to Lachy. I sped past him, had enough power to get up the driveway, but not quite enough to stop with the pedals in the correct position. With Lachy following close behind and 2 cars int he driveway to dodge, I stopped awkwardly in front of the garage and almost fell off the bike as I tried to find my footing. Walking through the back door, I was puffing and hopped into a cold shower, hoping it would have a similar affect on my muscles to an ice bath, but without the intensity.

A couple of wins today.- no major injuries, and some good quality time with one of my kids.

Kick Cancer’s Butt Day

It’s been a slow start to riding this October. Knowing I was going to be away for half the month, I’d ordered a bike rack number plate for my new car. Leaving home early in the morning in late September, I had my bike and the kids’ bikes ready out the front, and then tried to removed my tow bar to attach the bike rack… to no avail. I’m not sure what’s gone on, but I couldn’t slide the tow bar out. A 1000km drive ahead of me meant I didn’t have time to drop down to the dealership and sort it out. I made the decision to head away from home without a bike. On the first of October, I sported my GCC t-shirt, but didn’t have access to a bike.

Today was the first day I haven’t been travelling big distances between towns, so I borrowed the too big bike belonging to my brother-in-law, left the kids under the supervision of the teenager, and braved some of the slopes close to their house. Their street backs onto a fairly main road, which is relatively flat, but narrow, so I avoided this as much as possible. The surrounding streets are quieter, but sloping away, so the downhill is easy, but the uphill is not so great.

I’m not the world’s most confident bike rider, even into my 8th year of the Great Cycle Challenge, and I haven’t been on a bike in a couple of months, let alone an unfamiliar one. Needless to say, the ride was challenging - I was off the bike walking up the last bit of some of the slopes. In hindsight, I probably should have done some laps of the cul-de-sac.

Anyway, I’m off the mark, and after a massive driving day planned for tomorrow, I’m hoping to be back on my own bike, chipping away at the modest total distance I’ve sent myself for October.