Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Mother's Day...

What a weekend! The best training I have done in a long time and don’t my legs know about it. A stunning ride on the dirt up to Mt Nebo on Saturday it was nice to fall in the door feeling quite spent, have a feed and collapse into bed. South Boundary Rd on the way to Nebo is quite a busy highway on the weekend with riders of various paces making the trek. Some were have a leisurely spin, stopping for views and others were just on a mission – including the woman who recently bought my last MTB…looks like she was putting it through its paces.

Mothers Day was celebrated with a 5am wake up, fumbling around for coffee and breakfast and my flatmate and I wishing each a good day as we headed off for a ride while our kids slept. I think we may have missed the point of the celebration! I decided on a trifecta of river loops as I wanted the flattest possible ride after so many hills the day before. The first was solo, the second with someone called ‘snake’ and the third with a roadie named ‘horse’. The circles I move in…

It was very nice to be sitting in the autumn sun at Garage café mid-ride, watching the remnants of the Mothers Day Run searching for food and coffee. I returned home to a big bunch of flowers, hug & kisses and a demand for pancakes. Whose day is this anyway???

Monday, May 4, 2009

Up for the Challenge

I considered entering the Anaconda Challenge in Alice Springs so long that I actually entered and just booked the flights! It’s nice to be planning another race to another part of Australia I’ve never seen. A 5 day stage race, the Anaconda has got some rave reviews and features up on everyone’s “Must do before I die” list.

Had a bit of a surprise with a second at the State Criterium Champs a couple of weeks ago. My legs didn’t explode so that was a signal that I’m ready to start training again – starting very conservatively though as am now quite gun-shy. My coach, Warren MacDonald, is pretty easy-going which is a nice balance to my neurotic obsessive-compulsiveness. Ah, the ying and the yang!

My riding is the one part of my life that’s well under control at the moment with work, while enjoyable, always challenging when you’re the only one driving the business. My daughter’s social life is more hectic than mine and playing taxi in Brisbane traffic is breaking me. As a last hurdle our washing machine broke down…on the Friday before a long weekend…with 4 kids and 2 adults in the house…who all do sport. Ironically we have 9 bikes, 3 fridges, 2 clothes dryers…and now no washing machine. What’s the line from that Alanis Morrisette song – “it’s like 10 thousand spoons when all you need is a knife…”.