I can't believe it...Friday again!

It was an unusual training week as I had company for most of my training rides. That does help a lot when I am a little tired and lacking a bit of motivation.


I got the new program from my coach, Iain Bowman, who had it ramped up at first. I then, reminded him that my first "A" event for 2008 was coming up quickly so he made a few minor changes... The Tour de Tablelands starts on the 3rd May and I feel that I should be ready by then. In fact, I feel ready now!


On this post, I will mention a few names (some very famous), people who are not just riding partners but also good friends so the rides are always fun as well.


On Monday, the ride started with coffee first (pretty good, hey!). Kris came over and after our home-made Latte, we headed off for an easy ride. We rode along Wynn Road and came back via Bunya Road, perhaps my favourite stretch of road in Brisbane. Kris is a friend from our days in Cairns, we met at the bike shop where he worked and he has now moved to Brisbane with his young family and is working at our local bike shop, Velo Cycles.


We had the usual chat about things in general but the subject always returned to racing, bikes, training. It amazes me that Kris still doesn't mind talking bikes after racing and working in the industry for so many years. Lucky me as I am always learning something from him.

Total: 59 km; Average speed: 25.7 km/h; HR Max: 148 bpm and HR Av: 113 bpm

Next day was back to strength training with some hill repeats. I met John Flynn (yes, the TdF reporter!!!) and Stephen Lowe, a mate from work and "new cycling fanatic" (We also met John in Cairns and he has since moved down here to set up his business). Being originally from the North side of Brisbane, John knows a lot of the good roads in the area and yesterday he took us to the back of Ferny Grove. He introduced us to a new "hairy"climb, Lochivar Road.


The climb is about 800 m long which is a good for the repeats but it does get a little steep at the end. I had to get off the saddle at the end of the last two repeats to get up on the big chainring. And they did hurt!!!

Total: 48 km; Average speed: 24.3 km/h; HR Max: 166 bpm and HR Av: 125 bpm

Rode to work on Wednesday which was great with exception of the mud on Airport Drive created by the trucks coming into and from the new road development site. After work, I met Stephen at Nundah for a ride to Nudge Beach on the bike path and some "spin intervals" with a couple of sprints added to test the legs. All good fun.

Total: 70 km; Average speed: 26.5 km/h; HR Max: 166 bpm and HR Av: 112 bpm

A lot of cleaning up after that!


Thursday, I rode again to work, this time on my old bike, the 370 Trek without minding the mud too much.


Got home around 3:45 pm with the intention of heading out for the last workout of the week. Guess what? I could not get myself motivated to ride. The workout was going to be really hard and I was feeling my legs sore from the previous days. A good excuse, I thought. I bought the Feb issue of ProCycling, got in a warm bath with it and dreamed of riding some of the 50 rides they featured in the special edition of the magazine.

Total: 27 km and Average speed: 26 km/h

Today, it was River Loop & Raisin Toast recovery ride. This time in fantastic weather. Unfortunately I couldn't get Sandra out of bed as I wanted her to enjoy the beautiful morning. I met Adam and Daniel "Whitey" at Velo, around 5:05, and we headed to town straight away. This time a little faster than normal. Fun, apart from my rear derailleur playing up which ended up being a bent drop out. Nothing that I couldn't fix with a little force... (already ordered a Ti one with Kris).


In town, we met Petrina, her friend Sueanne, Shaun and Scott (Sev) for our easy recovery River Loop. Again, the pace was a little higher than normal but without any attacks or sprints up the hill on Fairfew Road. It was a good ride and we ended up at the 19 Juice Bar a little earlier than usual. Good, time for lots of laughs and a couple of coffees (and the raisin toast).


Mark was a late show, coming straight from home. As I didn't have to get to work till late, I decided to join him for a few more kms after the others left for work. A stop at Velo Cycles and I was home at around 9:45, with another few kms in the odometer.

Total: 68 km ; Average speed: 26 km/h; HR Max: 146 bpm and HR Av: 108 bpm

At home, not much time for a rest. I had to prepare the bike for tomorrow's race, the Bike Week Open, which I will race in B1. It will be a criterium event on the Nundah circuit (45 min + 2 laps) and they have combined Elite B and Masters A, with a total of 40 riders. Unfortunately, we will be racing at the same time as B2 (Masters B and Elite C combined) which has around 60 riders, it might be messy!


We will see!