Morning Glory

Some days it’s really hard to get on the bike in the morning to go to work, it can be really cold, really wet, really windy, or I can just feel really blah and tired. Other mornings are like this morning. It was warm, a whole 10 degrees, which really helps. It was still dark, I like riding in the morning darkness and watching the sun come up. And it was still. The perfect morning for a ride. It’s been a while since I’ve biked round the base of the hills on the way to work, I’ve kind of stopped doing that in the last few weeks to concentrate on the night races (more on that later). However this morning I was rearing to go. It was still pitch black when I left just before 7:30, but the sun was beginning to rise. It really is much easier to get the legs going when it’s warmer. I found I was whizzing along easily and for the first time really enjoying to roadie. I pushed hard up the wee hills, but I’m still to unco to stand up on the pedals to really fly up them but I’m getting there. Zooming along the back roads was great and the sunrise was truly spectacular. The sky was blood red, then violet and red, and finally a beautiful purple by the time I got to work. And I got to work in record time (see the graph at the bottom of the page). Average speed of 27.5km/h! Amazing. Of course this means it only took me a teeny bit over 30mins to get to work so I’ll have to think about adding some distance to make my long morning rides a decent length of time. Hmmmm to the maps!

In other news. Wednesday night was the final of the “Bicycle Business World Championship MTB Night Race Series”. I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather lung wise since last week’s blow out and Wednesday I was feeling rubbish at work all day. I honestly didn’t know how I’d go and I really didn’t want to have another shocker like the week before last. So I got out my good bike, full suspension all the way for this race. And it made a HUGE difference. The track felt almost smooth and my legs were flying off the start line. My lungs were burning in the first sprint and when I glanced down at my speedo I could see why. 35km/h! Crikey, I knew the starts were fast, but I didn’t realise they were this fast, and people were passing me left right and centre. I really need to work on that first sprint if I’m going to improve for the next series. The race itself was fairly uneventful. I put in a good wee climb up the rubbish tip hill and passed a few people. Unfortunately after the push up the sand dunes I developed a killer stitch in my side for a while and some people passed me. I wasn’t too worried though. My lungs needed a bit of nursing so I slowed a bit till both felt better. The rest of the ride was really fun. My bouncy bike let me go as fast I liked over everything so I was able to speed along fairly well. I couldn’t corner quite as tightly as on the nightrider, but my speed over the teeth-rattling lumps (which I wasn’t feeling for a change) more than make up for that. I was planning on just cruising into the finish line, however when I popped out of the forest I glanced back and noticed a light not far behind me. So I put a bit of power on. When I glanced back again it seemed closer so I gave it everything I had left, no one was going to pass me this close to the end! I made it over the finish line with a new personal best (thanks bouncy bike) and lungs that were now stuffed. I was stoked with my 55mins 9secs, 10 whole seconds faster than last week. I think if I’d actually felt good before the race and my lungs weren’t so sore I could have take another minute or two off that time. The good news is a new series starts on the 2nd of July. Wahoo. A couple of weeks of roadie rides to get some more fitness and I’ll be rearing to go. Hopefully with my lovely husband this time! The final points for my section (Open Women) are here, I’m really proud of my efforts given the nature of some of the competitors (Gordon McCauley won and he’s very fast!).