Since the Hammerhead things haven’t really gone to plan, as evidenced by my lack of posting. My legs were completely trashed after that race, and mentally I was also completely spent. Although I managed to go singlespeeding and do some shuttles in the week after the race my head wasn’t in a training space and I ended up not riding at all at the weekend. I did however go watch some downhilling, very cool to see Rita race, and had a group of lovely cycling women over for a BBQ (including Emmeline Ragot, a really lovely French chick who’s currently the World Cup number 4 ranked woman in downhill!!!!). The BBQ was great fun and it was really great to have a group of women together from many different disciplines of this sport we all love, talking about riding. It will have to be repeated in the future.
The following week I had 3 days in Wellington for work and couldn’t get out riding as the meetings were all day affairs. I was able to be home for Wednesday so we headed up Kennedy’s, tackling the Croc first. Bollocks is all I can say. The Croc is quickly becoming my nemesis. I know I can ride it, I’ve done it a couple of times, but it seems like if I’m tired or stressed at all it quickly turns into a nightmare ride of hyperventilating and rubbish riding. I was not a happy camper when I eventually struggled to out at the top, but luckily that didn’t last. I actually made it much further up Kennedy’s than I expected after the nightmare of the Croc and while Pete and Michelle continued up to the top I blasted back down and did some little hill repeats of the little bit of down hill singletrack. Zoom up the 4wd drive as fast as I can, race down the singletrack, and repeat as necessary. I managed to get 3 hill climbs and 2 and a half descents in before Pete and Michelle appeared and I was grinning from ear to ear again. Which makes me think, if you are having a shite day on the bike, let all that crap out – have a wee tanty, then get back on the bike. It certainly made me feel better.
After that no more riding till the weekend and then there was very fun singlespeeding in the muddy wet forest. My legs were finally working again (phew) and my brain was fully back in the right place. Yay. Monday saw me back out on the roadie for the first time in months and months. It was a great wee 30km ride and I completely hammered the wee rollers on Cashmere Downs for the first time. Yes! Unfortunately there was a rather painful side effect that appeared as a result of this ride. My poor butt, and in particular my sit bones are not used to my roadie seat anymore and the next day I woke up with the mother of all saddle sores. So no riding on Tuesday and to make matters worse it actually kept me awake during the night. Bugger, I really wanted to ride on Wednesday, but no, it was not to be. Luckily by Wednesday evening it had settled down in time for Christmas, but no riding was done.
So this has lead to some tough decision making this morning. Obviously I very very much want to do the race in Bannockburn on the 30th, however it is a long long way to drive ($$$$) for an hour and a half (hopefully) on the bike. There are other complicating factors around New Years and friends visiting from Japan so Pete and I have decided to flag the race. This makes things a lot more simple, but I’m still feeling a bit gutted, I really like this race and was very much looking forward to the measure of progression it would have given me. Now I have to wait till April to do a race I’ve done before and see that progression. Bugger. On the plus side, there will be some riding of Hanmer, Craigieburn and possibly Wharfedale or Poulter Valley to make up for it. Yay.
Finally, belated Merry Christmas all. I got a lovely new camera which will let me take much better photos of biking for my blog. Here’s a few wee shots from my play session with it yesterday. Coffee anyone??
The following week I had 3 days in Wellington for work and couldn’t get out riding as the meetings were all day affairs. I was able to be home for Wednesday so we headed up Kennedy’s, tackling the Croc first. Bollocks is all I can say. The Croc is quickly becoming my nemesis. I know I can ride it, I’ve done it a couple of times, but it seems like if I’m tired or stressed at all it quickly turns into a nightmare ride of hyperventilating and rubbish riding. I was not a happy camper when I eventually struggled to out at the top, but luckily that didn’t last. I actually made it much further up Kennedy’s than I expected after the nightmare of the Croc and while Pete and Michelle continued up to the top I blasted back down and did some little hill repeats of the little bit of down hill singletrack. Zoom up the 4wd drive as fast as I can, race down the singletrack, and repeat as necessary. I managed to get 3 hill climbs and 2 and a half descents in before Pete and Michelle appeared and I was grinning from ear to ear again. Which makes me think, if you are having a shite day on the bike, let all that crap out – have a wee tanty, then get back on the bike. It certainly made me feel better.
After that no more riding till the weekend and then there was very fun singlespeeding in the muddy wet forest. My legs were finally working again (phew) and my brain was fully back in the right place. Yay. Monday saw me back out on the roadie for the first time in months and months. It was a great wee 30km ride and I completely hammered the wee rollers on Cashmere Downs for the first time. Yes! Unfortunately there was a rather painful side effect that appeared as a result of this ride. My poor butt, and in particular my sit bones are not used to my roadie seat anymore and the next day I woke up with the mother of all saddle sores. So no riding on Tuesday and to make matters worse it actually kept me awake during the night. Bugger, I really wanted to ride on Wednesday, but no, it was not to be. Luckily by Wednesday evening it had settled down in time for Christmas, but no riding was done.
So this has lead to some tough decision making this morning. Obviously I very very much want to do the race in Bannockburn on the 30th, however it is a long long way to drive ($$$$) for an hour and a half (hopefully) on the bike. There are other complicating factors around New Years and friends visiting from Japan so Pete and I have decided to flag the race. This makes things a lot more simple, but I’m still feeling a bit gutted, I really like this race and was very much looking forward to the measure of progression it would have given me. Now I have to wait till April to do a race I’ve done before and see that progression. Bugger. On the plus side, there will be some riding of Hanmer, Craigieburn and possibly Wharfedale or Poulter Valley to make up for it. Yay.
Finally, belated Merry Christmas all. I got a lovely new camera which will let me take much better photos of biking for my blog. Here’s a few wee shots from my play session with it yesterday. Coffee anyone??
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