Fatties and 11 year old killers

Had a ball with the Fatties bunch last night. I had not really planned to go considering my previous two hard days but Neil's SMS's through the day got me all interested. Very happy with how the legs and heart performed in the circumstances.

The night was a gorgeous one and I enjoyed introducing Gus to the boys... and the Fatties style of riding. I think he learnt a lot about himself!


Neil describes his p-o-v here with a very inaccurate statement about losing his desire to attack or chase. Throughout this period of no desire I distinctly remember chasing his wheel with my heart in my throat as we screamed along the Westerfolds trails at 45+. No desire my arse!

Tonight on my rest day, my son talked me into going for a run with him. Something I'm clearly not built for. What I conceded to (a coupla k) turned into about six and I'm now in agony.

Too old. Too big. My 11 year old had it all over me.

2 days, 280 ks hard...

... but very tired.

Time to set the Alpine and Odyssey goals:

• Alpine Classic 200k - time to beat all things being equal - 6 hrs 52 min

• Otway Odyssey - time to beat all things being equal - 5 hrs 52 min

Only way to do it is maintain the same as current strength and lose weight.

Must be down to 97 by 20th Jan... we'll see.

Christmas Day and those that follow

A grouse day for the kids. They had a ball...

The one day of the year where we can not ride, eat like pigs and not feel guilty. Look at this! What a wonderful wife! What a wonderful life! ~


Karen put a massive effort into the day and didn't stop working from dawn to dusk. I can't believe how exhausted we were by the end of the day (me too and I didn't do much).

Karen's fam for lunch. Mine for dinner. No time for snoozing in between. Far out!

One learning for me from the day: Don't drink (at all) in the middle of the day if you want to make it to the end.

Boxing day was pretty much a repeat of the same with too much food and drink and absolutely no exercise.

At least I made it out onto the bike today to work some of it off. According to Brad's Garmin doozamewatchit he burned off 5750 calories on this morning's ride.

That'll fix about a quarter of it.

It was grouse to welcome Smithy back to the riding today. It's been far too long since he's been out and it was great to catch up (good luck with that first few weeks of agony mate but you'll get there).


We tackled Pigeon Bank and Clintons before an early coffee at Smith's. Smithy turned for home then the three of us headed to King Lake, Whittlesea, Arthurs Creek and Hurstbridge to home.


It's a shocker of a section along Plenty Road and traffic, especially when there's a 30mph south-westerly, but the more pleasant views along Arthurs Creek Road soon make up for it and the ride through there is just gorgeous.


A great hit-out for a public holiday. Heath did a great job of hanging on after not being too confident when I told him there was still 70 to go at KL. You can tell he's a tough-nut.

So Alpine Classic and Otway Odyssey here we come. The times will not be beat unless I change the eating habits of the last two days and that starts today.

If you happen to be watching carols tonight... I much prefer this dress...

I love Christmas Eve

A traditional day with the kids today (Christmas Eve) after a pretty soft cycling week (I'm sure that bit doesn't concern them!).

In typical dad fashion, we leave our Christmas shopping for mum right to the last minute but I really do love shopping with just me and the kids on Chrissy Eve. We had a ball.

The Donc (Westfield Doncaster) was amazingly quiet, mostly due to everyone else being so completely organised. We got a park, took this photo (creativity provided by Jack) -


- then quickly got our pressies done and dusted before grabbing lunch in the food court. Love it!

When we rang mum to say we were coming home we were very clearly instructed to NOT (come home).

So off we went to Dairy Bell. As if we need an excuse for an ice-cream?


The kids were in fine form today. Getting along, not arguing, playing nicely with each other. Couldn't really figure it out?!?

Jack was full of craziness, Lucy was totally brimming with madness and Kate was her usual totally cute self!


We had discussions about how our personalities were displayed in our ice-cream choices and eating habits...

• Jack - caramel cream - mostly gone already, very organised, neat and tidy... so Jack really.
• Dad - spearmint choc-covered with choc-fudge - very chocolate, lot's of energy, heaps of variety but pretty organised.
• Kate - orange sorbet - very pretty, lots of tang and delicately eaten.
• Lucy - bubble gum - pink, pretty, messy but well contained in her usual cup.

20 minutes and 50 thousand calories later we headed home having properly gained permission to do so.

Karen out for food shopping quickly now.... then I'll fit a ride in. Smith's here we come - and if you're out there D'Zilva, you're a gonner.

Big MTB week

This week has been a big week on the mountain bike and the discs in my back are feeling it.

Monday night I rode home via my hoot of a commute. I've wacked my head on this branch about five times and it seems to be at a height where I don't notice it in time before it tries to knock my block off.


I thought if I actually stopped, got off the bike and took a photo of it, I might remember next time that it's going to get me.

Some work training days on Wednesday and Thursday meant that I got off a bit earlier than normal and was able to head out and give Han's Loop a blast a couple of days in a row.

Three days in a row on the hard-tail have me walking around with a stoop like an old man!

Thursday arvo I took the road bike the long way home via Lower Plenty, Mt. Pleasant Rd, then Kangaroo Ground-Warrandyte Road for a bit of a hoot down my favourite bit of bitumen on my own (a bit like the last couple of times with the 6am-ers Horny!)...

Then this morning I've been out to Smith's Gully with Mick and Al for a rip around the magnificent single track of Smith's/St. Andrews.



I was determined to find and arrest that cop-stabber D'Zilva today out in the middle of the bush but he aluded us again. What a hoot that would be!

Al on the Rob Roy loop

My legs were a bit tired this morning after a pretty big week but it was a fantastic ride on some brilliant trail. Great company with Al and Mick and a fantastic morning in beautiful country-side.

This weeks summary:

• Sunday - 3.5hr road - 6am-ers beach run
  
• Monday - 1.5hr MTB - Hoot of a commute
• Tuesday - 2.5hr MTB - Mullem and Hans's
• Wednesday - 2.5hr MTB - Bulleen and Hans's
• Thursday - 3hr road - into work and out via Lwr Plenty, KG and W'dyte
• Friday - 45min road - into work
• Saturday - 3hr MTB - Smith's Gully
  

An all important week for Alpine Classic and Odyssey prep.

Fellowship extraordinaire

It was a privilege this morning to be joined by the Tour of Bright Sprint King, Jeffrey Shaw. We were a sight to behold as we cruised down Nepean Highway and back for coffee in Black Rock.

Mostly a sea of blue and yellow but speckled with a bit of GREEN.



Shawie's tales of the Tour tell a story of someone actually willing to have a go and chase some success rather than sit in the bunch and simply roll with the rest of them. All his points came in attacks and breaks. Nice work mate!


About 20 of us had a nice cruise down to Mt. Eliza this morning. A flat and easy roll - something a bit out of the ordinary for the 6am-ers.

It wasn't until we'd got nearly all the way around the Two Bays loop that the hammer went down...

Suddenly the boys were chewin' on the handlebar tape as Mrs. P came over us and started sucking us along on the back of her semi-motorised scooter thingy (without the motor).



You can see she was really cranky to have Big Gus breathing down her neck...


and the whole group 'strung out' behind her!..


It was good to be joined by some not so frequent 6am-ers in Darryl, Back-cracker and Rocket.... oh, that's right - Rocket never turned up! But these rides will become at least bi-monthly in order to gather together some of the old hats that don't seem to join us too regularly in the hills.

A great 6am-er day of cycling and fellowship extraordinaire.

Bloody work!... Bloody rain.

Nice warm start to the week

A nice cruisy hoot-of-a-commute into work on the SS yesterday.

2hr MTB - solid

A hard hit out with the Hurt Box this morning. Very admirable win to Horny in the sprint. I set him up big time and he still took me by half a wheel. One lesson learned!

2hr road bike - hard

What a wonderful day... from beginning to end.

From super trails to Christmas Trees to gorgeous children. Today had it all. Up at 5 and non-stop to mid-night.

At 5:15am this morning Mick Ritchie and I were out the door and on our way to Smith's Gully (St. Andrews) for a MTB exploration morning. We had never ridden these trails before and were looking forward to finding out how good it really is.


As we cruised north the weather was absolutely beautiful. Sunny skies and warms temp. From what we currently understand, that's not how it's supposed to be on a Saturday. We should be getting at least 30mm of rain!

My enthusiasm got the better of me as I texted Bruce in Bright to say how pleased I was that they had such a beautiful day for the tour (big road racing weekend this weekend for the Tour of Bright - 15 6am-ers in attendance). I heard later it was raining up there... he must have thought I was taking the piss!

Anyway, we discovered what a delight it is to ride the trails of Smith's Gully. It was absolutely as good as it comes. The single track is extensive, well maintained and heaps of fun. The scenery is wonderful and the coffee at the shop at the end is as good as anywhere. The whole package really.


Towards late afternoon we headed out to Wandin to choose our Christmas tree. This is the one...


And later, Karen headed off to a 50th birthday and the kids and I went out for some tea. We had one of those treasured nights that are never planned but just happen. Jack's wish for quite a while was to go to Formosa House Chinese restaurant so I sucked it up and went (I'd much prefer Thai or Indian... maccas for that matter).

The kids felt extremely special simply because of the fussy waiters, white table clothes and candles on the table. They absolutely loved it and couldn't hold back their appreciation (I reckon each of them thanked me twenty times!). Funny!... I never get that at McDonalds.

We had to finish off with a massive ice-cream each from Dairy Bell and home to bed by 10, yes - 10.

Grouse!