I'm Faster than 2 Fifth Graders!

So I am a little concerned.

Meet my training buddies for today. Matt and Hugh. Both have just finished the 5th grade.

I think it is really important that we don't read anything into my cycling ability based on my training buddies. I also think it is important that we don't focus on the fact that neither of them are very athletic (sorry boys!)... they are more cerebral.

I do think we must focus on the fact that I am faster than my training buddies, and that I require fewer rest breaks, and that I rode further. Good grief, I am justifying beating two 10 year olds... what is happening here?? Maybe I am just relieved... How embarrassing would it be if they whipped my cute patootie??

Anyhoo, we had a great ride today. 20km (the boys did a bit less). I wanted to do more, but it was hot out there in the sun, and since my ride will be in mild weather, I decided it was fine to stop rather than risking heat stroke!

That's my excuse and no-one can prove any different!!

Now for a refreshing beer!

Until next time!

W xx

Two Grandma's Cycle to Church

Goodness me, don't you hate it when you make a big claim and it comes back to bite you on the patootie??

So after riding with Hugh, we jointly decided that perhaps he needed a shiny new bike to keep up with his highly talented cycling Mama... Also bought him go-fast cycling pants and a high visibility shirt. Wow Hugh, you have totally awesome parents!! Shame they didn't think about this before Christmas, rather than the day after!

I should also mention, that I am finally the proud owner of "paddy-pants". It reminds me of being pregnant... no-one wants to wear those horrid extendable elastic waisted trousers or skirts, but at some point you have to give in to the inevitable... and you come to realize there is a reason they have been invented. The same with cycling shorts in my opinion. Let's be honest, no-one looks good in them, but they do serve a purpose.

So off we go for our ride!

Look, there are two perfectly good cars there, but we are using our bikes instead. Just CRAZY I tells you!!

Anyhoo, we puff our way up the really steep hill until we can start our ride. This time I even had the Magellan Cyclo100 sorted so we could measure our ride... perhaps that was my first mistake. While we had a maximum speed on our ride of 50kmph (which was zooming back down the hill to our house - which is our favorite part of our ride!!), there were many 0kmph. These followed a little voice saying "Mom, can we take a break now?". Hugh did much better on his shiny new bike. Was able to ride up more hills actually on his bike rather than next to it pushing. BUT there is no escaping on horrible fact... we traveled 18.5km (plus a bit where I forgot to turn on the Magellan) in over 1 hour with an average speed of 13.5kmph.

Oh Dear! Turns our we are two 60 year old grandma's going to church.

Better go and crochet a doily!

OK, so we are going out again soon, and this time we will do much better. I think we should target 57 year old Grandma's!

Later Gators!!

W xx

Christmas in a Parallel Universe

So who would ever have imagined... Christmas morning. Santa has been. Wow Santa, thanks sooooooo much for more lego... I mean have you seen my house? Every horizontal surface is covered with lego, or at least that is how it seems to me. I am sure he could have thought of something else!! I know the boys asked for it, but really!

Anyhoo, so the family is arriving for a swim and lunch (Fajitas mmmm!) at 11am, so I am thinking, I have time for a quick ride before everyone gets here. Good grief, who is this person?? I know, right?? Anyway, 15km later I am still on track for a 400km month.

Then comes boxing day... the day which should be spend relaxing after too much food on Christmas day... and what happens?? Hugh and I go an cycle 20km around home. On the actual road. Have I mentioned I live on a hill?? So out of the driveway we go and turn left which is uphill... are we CRAZY?? The hill is too steep for him (maybe me as well, but for now let's just blame him!!) so we push our bikes up this very, very, very steep hill so that we can go for a ride where is flatter... not flat at all, but at least not a 15-20 degree incline.

Anyhoo, young Hugh didn't much care for the uphill bits. Reminds me of someone... who could it be?? He was very happy on the downhill bits where he could just roll down really fast with style. He had to dig really deep to make it through the ride, and we had to have quite a few rest breaks, but he did an awesome job.

Made me wonder, was riding with Hugh how Josie and Renae feel like when they are riding with me? Wow, that is not a comfortable thought... but no, it couldn't possibly be!! Or at least I hope it couldn't possibly be!!

Now let's discuss Christmas presents. My brother-in-law-in-law who has done a Cancer fund-raising ride for the last 2 years (only 200 km HA!) gave me some "Aussie Butt Cream". Ha, ha, very funny. BUT he assures me it is really good, especially in humidity. Again, I would like to say I hope I never reach a place where this seems like a good idea!!

Anyhoo, I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!! Maybe just a little bit less weird than mine...

Until next time!

W xx

A Very Leaky Camel!

OK, so people in the know talk about hydration. How it is important not to get dehydrated while exercising. Sounds completely viable to me, so I decided that since every problem has a solution, I can solve this one!

I was told about "Camel Packs". Sounds nasty, no? Anyhoo, Hugh and I went out and bought such a pack each so that we can train together. As with everything, there are 100 different types which just makes it impossible for a newbie to know what to choose. But we did it... may have chosen based on the color of the pack, but surely that is as valid a selection criteria as any!

We were all excited, so came home and tested them out. Hugh's worked just fine.. after it had leaked all over the parquet floors while he got it figured out. Mine, not so much. I put it on and went for a ride on the TdF trainer. Noticed that I have a very wet patootie... then I noticed water dripping all over the floor, which maybe is slightly problematic while riding an electric training bike. So it was not the most successful outing but at least it was cut short due to faulty equipment rather than tired legs!

So, based on that extensive market research, I can now share with you the following:

1. Leaky camels are bad!
2. Non leaky camels are good!
3. Black and grey camel packs are just tickety boo!
4. Black and green camel packs (they didn't have pink!) may leak which kind of defeats the whole purpose!
5. Having purchased your child a camel pack, you may find it in the most unlikely places as your child can now increase their utilization of technology time by hydrating from the pack rather than walking into the kitchen to get a drink of water! 

BTW, a record TdF training day on Saturday... completed 3 stages! Not in record times, but managed a total of 52km.I can totally do this! 

Until next time.

W x

Eat my Hat!!

76 Days to Go!!

OK, so maybe I am getting a leetle bit nervous... the days are just whizzing by... but I can totally do this!!

It is lucky the weather on our ride will be mild, because this week it has been over 100 degrees F 3 days in a row! Turns out that I don't much care for cycling in the heat!! I know, right!? Who would have imagined!!

This has ruined my plans for a big cycling day today since I can't see getting heat stroke is really a necessary part of preparing for our adventure. I have decided that having friends over to play, swimming in the pool and eating Greek food will be much better training! So I guess that means the heat is a good thing!!

Got a quick 15km in this morning before it got too hot. So my tally for the month is now 175km and a total of 677km since I started training. I have done a total of 31.35 hours of training in total! More than a whole day! Wonder how I managed to find all of that extra time in my schedule!!?? I didn't think I had any time to spare!

Yesterday we had friends over for a swim and pre-dinner cocktails. They were asking about the ride and I was explaining my 'plan' of hiring a local man to ride me on rickshaw while I sit in the back relaxing under an umbrella possibly drinking a cocktail! I was maybe not completely serious... but they offered me an extra $100 donation if I do it... definitely food for thought!!

We got more information from the charity regarding the ride this week. It was kind of de-motivating.

Given that I am very obedient... stop laughing now please... no really.... now would be good!... I have taken the advice of my many friends that I need to build up speed, strength and endurance. I am proud to report that I have completed a number of TdF stages at an average speed of > 25kmph... just, but still!! AND they have hills!! Sometimes really BIG ones!!

Then I see that we will be doing the ride at 15kmph... good grief... what are we, 60 years old?? Little Grandma's riding along on a Sunday to Church??

OK, so I might be setting myself up for disaster... may in fact have to eat my hat if it turns out the 15kmph is too hard for me... but it sounds kind of slow. Anyhoo, I have decided to keep with my current plan and training schedule. Then hopefully the ride will be a doddle... or at least not hell on earth!

Helpful Hugh just offered to get me a very BIG hat ready to eat! Bless his little cotton socks!!

Until next time!!

W xxx

Fajitas and Champagne

So it seems to me that more people read posts with outrageous titles... so that is now my objective!!

Training has been going great!! I have now done a total of 614km of which 116 has been on an actual real bike and 114km so far this month.

On Saturday I rode with Josie. Remembering my experience from last week with Renae, I decided to limit myself to 18km in the morning on the training bike. My hope was that having an extra 2km in my tank (and legs) would have a significant impact on my performance in the afternoon. Wouldn't want to disgrace myself...

I am not totally sure if it worked, but we rode 26km in the evening before having Fajitas and Champagne for dinner... two of my favorite things in the world.

I thought I should share with you a couple of notable things from our ride...

Firstly, I said to Josie that I thought maybe she and Renae were being a bit kind about my cycling ability! Josie pointed out that Renae was never kind about such a thing!! (Sorry Renae!). She then pointed out that if she and Renae were riding their racing bikes rather than mountain bikes then I had absolutely no chance of keeping up with them. I asked if her comment related to the people or the equipment. She laughed... quite a lot actually... but I noticed that she did not actually answer the question... I know right?? I choose to go with the equipment, but we all know that this is not entirely accurate!

Secondly, we passed a man when we were nearly home... he calls out to us that we had ridden a really long way as he had passed us miles away. How cool is that?? People recognize our patooties while we are riding!

Lastly, on our ride we had the opportunity to admire so many houses with wonderful Christmas decorations. The time and effort people put into this is amazing! The highlight had to be the house with the snow covered lawn. Very authentic in 100 degree temperatures!!


So yesterday was our wedding anniversary! I don't think anyone should read anything into the fact that we did not realize it until about 4pm! Hamish and I were going for a swim when he told me there were 17 days until Christmas. I was thinking 25 - 17 generally = 8... which is my anniversary!! We had a lovely relaxing day... cycling, working in the garden and hanging out by the pool.

Life is good!


Until next time!

W xx