Dragging out an old favourite

Finished mid-year exams on Monday night, which was a load off my mind. I managed two 25 minute hill sessions on the exer-cycle at the gym on Tuesday and Wednesday, with a little core work thrown in. July will be better.

Got out this afternoon at around 3:30pm, and dragged out an old favourite - basically a loop into town via Victoria Road, the Anzac Bridge, Pyrmont, the city, over the Harbour Bridge and along the Pacific Highway to Epping Road, left at Centennial Avenue and down to Victoria Road and home again. Made a point of using the road, rather than the footpaths - much quicker, indeed, I was well over 60km/h coming down the east side of the Gladesville Bridge (which was pretty hairy in the strong wind!), and down Burns Bay Road.

Managed 25.1km in 58:22 including stoppages at red lights (I was a good boy). Had one near disaster at the Epping Road/Longueville Road intersection, which I'd unclipped the left boot and overbalanced to the right, just managing to get my foot out of the right clip in time, much to the amusement of an elderly lady in a Corolla to my right.

Good to be out in lovely, if somewhat windy conditions.

A damp M7

Out again just after midday on Sunday, hitting the M7 bike path from a park at Glenwood, near Old Windsor Road. Targeted 2 hours as the session today, and ended up doing 2:06:22 for 58.82. Once again battled in the last quarter, the climbs before the M4 crossing heading north knocking me around a bit.

Track was fairly damp in places, and got some rain in a couple of places. Temp definitely dropped in the last 20 minutes. Good to get home and get into a hot shower.

An hour in the afternoon

With the weather and exams, I haven't had the opportunity to get out since last I posted.

Learnt a valuable lesson with the presta valves - don't buy cheap pumps. I've always been fussy with tyre pressures, and was trying to get the tyres pumped back up. The poor finish of the pump head managed to rip the heads off both valves, so it was off to the bike shop to buy some tubes and a decent pump.

After some mucking around, got both tubes changed over - hate doing that, I'm a bit prone to pinching tubes, so I was super-careful to make sure the tubes were seated properly in the tyres. Back on the bike, full pressure and no sign any bubbles or hissing, so good signs.

I'd picked up a couple of things for the bike - small saddle pack to hold a puncture repair kit, some tire irons, an Allen key, my phone and some money, plus a water bottle holder (with water bottle) and a pump - so took the opportunity to set the bike up in said 'touring' configuration

Got out just after 3:30 Saturday afternoon for pretty close to bang on an hour, heading out from home to Pittwater Road, over to Lane Cove National Park for a lap of the Striders 10k course (well, if you started from the top of Scribblys) and back home.

Gears were playing up a bit - I think the derailleur took a bit of a knock when I had my second tumble last ride - especially the lower gears, which was a pain in the backside on the climbs with the chain slipping. After I got home I made a quick adjustment, and the moment I released the pressure of the chain the derailleur clicked back into place, so hopefully that's fixed.

So, the hour covered 25.6km, which included some good climbs. Fitness is definitely suffering - last exam is Monday night, so hopefully I can start getting out a bit more regularly. Need an indoor trainer, too.

Darth 2 - Vat 0

Well, I've lost my cherry on the falling over with cleats thing. Twice, no less, once in the drive-way in front of home before I'd even started, when I fell harmlessly onto my right side (lesson - work out your route before you leave, rather than making it up as you go along), and again on my left side (scrape on the left knee, chain bite on the lower right leg) on Epping Road, on the lane you take to get on to Lane Cove Road.

Hadn't ridden for a week - tough week at work, exam on Thursday, not feeling great etc., so dragged Darth out for a while in the afternoon, for about 19.3k in a bit over 45 minutes, from Gladesville, up Pittwater Road to Epping Road, down through Eastwood into Ryde and back up Victoria Road to home. Falls aside, good ride, although a lady in a black Jazz needs to have a think about illegal U-Turns in front of oncoming traffic.

My tip - get something with side and curtain airbags.

Oh yeah, and big shout-out to Silver Fox, who finally went sub 3 hours in the Macleay River Marathon (2:55 something, and fourth outright!) - great job, mate, and well deserved.

The weekend

Had a big meal at La Sala in Surrey Hills on Friday night, and was still feeling the effects of it on Saturday morning. I had grand visions of riding over to the Striders 10k, but ended up driving, and only wandered around on the bike, doing maybe 6km.

Headed out at about 7 on Sunday morning to ride around with some mates, path attached. Good morning, some solid climbs and some good company. Covered a bit over 60km in three hours or so, and bumped into CR Running Wolf at Centennial Park.


Had the Garmin but lost signal over in Campberdown and it never picked back up properly again, but did see 62km/h coming off the Gladesville Bridge into Drummoyne.