101k and a sore....

Had a phone call late yesterday afternoon from a mate (who runs Riverside Fitness at Milton, behind the Regatta Hotel) announcing he had made his comeback ride after a fairly comprehensive stack at the right hander on the road under the Queensland Art Gallery) and asking if I was riding early on Saturday. We teed up meeting at 5 at his gym, on the proviso that it was dry (we have both suffered recent good sized bike crashes and have little appetite for slippery conditions) and that we would text advising abandonment should it be wet. We would then ride for an hour or so before meeting the main group in St Lucia at 6 for the usual ride to South Bank for coffee.

So, up at 4, and it was with some surprise given the forecast that I drew back the curtains to find the roads dry. Quick check of the BOM's weather radar showed no nearby rain, so started preparations. Out the door at 4:20am to a very humid and overcast morning with a touch of light coming through, and the nasty little climb out of the estate to Sumners Road showed the legs were as dead as wood after four days of reasonably solid effort.

Made my way to Milton via Seventeen Mile Rocks, Oxley, up Oxley Road through Corinda, Sherwood, Graceville and Chelmer to the hilarious assortment of four bridges that cross the Brisbane River into Indooroopilly, right to head down into St Lucia, and up and over the ridge into Toowong and Milton with a couple of loops to kill some time. Arrive at the gym with a minute or two to spare before five, and my mates not there.

Pull out the mobile and send an SMS. Get a fairly prompt reply that he slept in but would meet me at the group start at six, sent a mildly abusive respsonse and continued on my way, heading into town via the Coro 'bike' path, over the Victoria Bridge, and worked my way down to the green bridge over to UQ via Montague Road, Highgate Hill and Gladstone Road. I then made my up Sir Fred Schonell Drive to St Lucia, back over the ridge past the St Lucia Golf Course and made my way down to Long Pocket and then back up the hill to St Lucia for the group start.

The group ride basically follows the bottom half of the fairly well known Brisbane River Ride, heading from St Lucia to South Bank via Tennyson, Yeerongpilly and Yeronga West to the Brisbane Corso which takes us to Dutton Park and that wretched double climb to Gladstone Road and up Highgate Hill. You then have the high speed section down Dornoch Terrace down to Ganges Street and the fast left hander to the ferry stop to Orleigh Street and then right into Montague Road, past the West End Markets (which provides no end of laughs with inattentive traffic) into Brisbane South and the cultural district before finishing up at the cafes at South Bank.

The ride was pretty fast this morning with a couple of the quicker guys pushing each other along at the front. I slipped off the back of the lead group through Tennyson as we worked our way through another group and some traffic lights, and worked hard with another fellow to get within sight of them. I had to work hard by myself through the climb from Dutton Park to keep in touch, and then really pushed hard down Highgate Hill to the river before finally getting on to the back of the group just after turning into Montague Road. As always, they started a sprint just after I got on to them, but traffic lights seemed to favour me and another guy and we stayed in touch. I think I finished fourth or fifth out the group of fourteen, in a time of 39:22 for the 21k (which includes a long climb). Always pleased to be under 40, especially having already done a bit over 40k before the start.

Had my sole cup of coffee for the week (trying to cut caffeine out at the moment) before heading home. I had about 37 to 38k to make up to crack the ton, so followed my usual route home, pretty much the reverse of the group ride to Chelmer, where I head south to Oxley, over to Seventeen Mile Rocks and Jindalee to join the Centenary Bike Path and then home. It got pretty ugly over the last ten k or so, every time I'd squeeze the quads to get some more speed or to clear a hill it hurt and felt like the last one they'd give, and the whole bike seat region was, well, to quote Zap Branigan, "the spirit is willing, but the flesh is spongy and bruised". A legacy of the prior four days, I guess

Figures were as follows:

Date		Distance (km)	Time	Avg (km/h)	Calories
Saturday		100.98	03:36:35	28	4529
04:19:00		17.73	00:39:07	27.2	743
05:01:00		24.51	00:54:21	27.1	1108
06:04:00		21.02	00:39:23	32	992
07:11:00		37.71	01:23:44	27	1686

Neat - I just worked out how to copy from SportTracks into OpenOffice Calc! I learnt a new thing - I wonder what old thing I forgot as a result.

And here's what it looks like in Google Earth:

Given the current mix of activities, I'm using calories burned as a measure of how much work I've done during the week. I've had good progression each week this month, so hopefully I won't be too beaten up to get out for an hour's run late tomorrow.