Week 7

Christmas Day 2011 at  emu corner..... i-phone 

Claus at Sachs Technik did a good job of welding #8R-27502 together, the old BM clocked over 130,000 k's on the way to the OC's Saturday morning (that's 8,000 k's into the fourth lap of the globe) Yep, this bloke has some serious issues.  A cheery mob assembled (Bo & Kel had an alarm malfunction.....but happy birthday young fella) Great to have the girl power of Meags, Cougs & Kylie along, Matt motivated, an enthused Liam and the other regular lads to make up 20 in the peleton.  The southerly made for a bit of a push to Mitchell Rd, then left us alone, until the finish anyway. It appeared the Cats bunch was about to split with pace, our crew at least remained united. A puncture stopped me near the top of Mitchell, the courteous crew paused for  the cO2 fix. We gained JB to the bunch near Channel Rd (a puncture too had delayed his start) and rolled on to the toaster and emu on the longer course again (should we be flattered at the quick imitation by the earlier group?) Dave's itch for speed got too much after Doyles Rd, a brave breakaway launched  near Matilda Drive.  Daniel, Matt & Vince turned keen soon after, setting off in pursuit.  Commonsense (or little motivation?) had most stay with the pack, unity being the advantage with the Rudd Rd head wind, a decent 33.7 worth the effort.  Further up, the chase trio had caught Dave with 300 to go, Vince horsepower taking the honours, a high commendation for Dave's solo attack. Another packed house at the Butterfactory for the dose of caffine and conversation (many eyeing Meags french toast with interest!)

As always, sleeping-in escaped me Sunday. Fine, cool and sunny was just too tempting, so an early solo 30k lap before other duties beckoned. The intention was to take things easy, but a rider a kilometre ahead is nothing but a dangling carrot.  Caught him later rather than sooner, the legs kept it above 37 for a few k's before the head took over pegging speed back to sensible. There'd been a hose down at the Old Dookie Rd pigfarm, a spicy slurry flowing near the driveway awoke the olfactory nerves.  Enjoyed the company of Rufus, Oliver Tank and Kimbra (via i-pod) and a chat with Jamie, Matt, Daz (the dawg) and Ant (the Goose) back at the Butterfactory for a brief coffee. 

A big weekend of Tri training had reduced the P&W attendance Monday morning to just Meags, Cougs and i.  (Bart and a few others still keen on the TT dash, passing us in Boundary Rd) Long and strong turns by us 3 amigos, but we wait a little longer each day for sunrise. Well behaved Cats passed just before Euroa Rd, but we persisted for a good finish (Cougs making sure all wheels were humming across the line) , only missing the train by a minute.  Lots of turns today, speed down a whisker, but a solid workout in great company.      Forced an arvo off (overdoing the k's lately?) but sitting at home was about as exciting as reading Hansard (more excitement in pairing up socks)  Mythbusters the only saving grace in my dull evening.

Tuesday morning was a feeble atempt at summer weather, at least the armwarmers stayed at home.  A roll up of 16 at the start to witness Bo's change of leaky rear tube. The flag was dropped 6 minutes late, seems many were keen to make up those minutes pronto.  Nath joined in near the kinder, quite the competition amongst the young guns up front (any guesses?).  Put in a fair chase to catch the pack after the Boundary Rd turn, 43 a fair whack, nice scenery of a sunrise over the foggy fields to divert the senses from speed.  Considered an Archer Rd exit to make work ontime (boxed in anyway) , but our tempo had us catching Cats quickly. Chris  A had joined on, but concentration rearward had lapsed, a car behind suprised many at Mt Nicolaci. Soon after a small pot-hole dislodged my foggy sunglasses (wasn't going to let the next car flatten a pair of transitional Euro's)  so i turned back to collect them. Forced a big chase though, no-one noticed. Thanked Mr Mavic for the next 4k's, able to hold it above 42km/h, but not enough watts to get closer than 300 metres behind the bunch. Nath had led out the sprinters, Chris A pipping the rocket for victory.  A fairly rapid 36.7 average, back home just 3 minutes later than normal.

A 30k solo warm up prior to the hospital bunch, (getting in some longer k's for a change) out Channel, up Boundary, to the Toaster, the Emu and back west to town, spying quite a few riders out  making the most of a warm arvo. Almost back to Doyles Rd when Gools and Brendan appeared, so u-turned to roll quietly waiting for the bunch. The usual characters rolled up with the hospital group, i was rostered for duty almost immediately with Robbo at the pointy end. (everyone distancing themselves from him out front?) Squeezed in a chat with Bomber, Scotty, Axel & Nath.  Bit breezy again headed south (and west) but there's strength in numbers, 17 sharing the load. A better run in River Rd (and onto Euroa Rd) tonight, light on for suprise traffic.  Felt a bit of wear & tear on the legs as Mitchell Rd expired, bit too conditioned to 30 - 40 k laps me thinks.  I was quite content to stay mid-field as the accelerator went down, Dave had a big dip in Conrod but ran out of steam in the closing stages, Robbo took the win, my speedo showed a 35.4 average, pleased to put 75k in the bank to break the usual routine.

Summer definitely back for Thursday morning, 25 degrees at 5.45, (that's a 15 degree improvement on last week). Not sure what posseses some  of the northbound to ride without lights (front or rear) at this time of day, but it's not doing our cause any favours with motorists. From the start, the north easterly wind made Channel Rd a push, Boundary Rd was no resistance, but a few guns had hard toil in mind. A bright orange sunrise against dark blue clouds just lit up the speedo to show 44km/h, poor Steve blew a head gasket and was unceremoniously spat out the back. Henry Ford's quote " Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success" seemed apt, yet maybe unheeded. Hopefully a little consideration will prevail.  Mitchell Rd was almost as hectic, quite a few right on the rev-limiter. A proper stop at Euroa Rd was pleasing, got a brief word with Liam (along for his baptism of fire) and Ryan (missing from action recently) but tempo resumed, silencing any chat.  Into Raftery Rd and just beyond the roughness of Roubaix, Cougs punctured (with the season's first strike of Soliva Sessilis....Bindii to most) which sadly went un-noticed by the bunch, so halted with Chris to lend a hand.  Soon after the Cats then Goats passed by, but a speedy repair had us reeling in the rejects at the finish line, nice to see Jason and the Rocket waiting near Kialla Lakes to see us home.  A 36.4 gave us something to smile about, a balm for tired legs?  No motivation to ride Thursday night, storm warnings, lightning and rain showers had something to do with it.

A happy little clan at SPC on Friday morning, Stace, Choppy, Hayles, Grasshopper & Cougs to start, joined by Scotty, Meags and Guysy from the 5am lap (after their extended u-turn with traffic).  Not a trace of the TT team, the supercats had departed at 5.53, so the course was empty to enjoy. Another mild morning (18) with speed considerate to conversation. Some serious k's totalled by the Ironman entrants in past weeks, i'll bet the tapering next week will be welcomed. Dan joined in (caught on our sedate roll-out waiting for the u-turners) with long turns undertaken by many, a much improved Hayley keeping the pace strong.  A sizeable Area 51 pack swung into Mitchell Rd from the Euroa Rd just as we approached the intersection (saving the overtaking worry). We were well into the 40's for the last 1000 metres (not a lot of urge in these legs today....but it's not compusory to be flat out every day is it?) the grasshopper proving 8 months off needs only a couple of weeks to regain former glory.

Week 7    395km   14,575 calories (91 slices of French toast) at 33.4km/h average.   YTD 2853km

"Slumps are like soft beds, they're easy to get into and hard to get out of"  Johnny Bench