Friday, March 2, 2012

Leaving Australia and the numbers game



Having lived amongst to-do-lists and storage boxes for the last few weeks, training for the P-R Challenge didn't really happen. However, I created my own little challenge-list for the week prior to our departure to make sure I did get on the bike.

Yes, it is all to do with numbers. And it has to do with signing up to Strava.com (Alberto AMR), the website that plots the rides and places riders on a Leaderboard according to set segments of the rides. How close to signing up to Facebook am I getting?

The challenges were on popular Brisbane roads, McAfees @ 6.5 kms, Coot-tha @ 2.3 kms and Gateway Bridge @ 1.4 kms and the aim was to set my best times for the year before leaving Australia.

No all-time PBs was set on McAfees (I didn't think I would because of my weight) but I did get a 17:32, 38 seconds faster than my attempt the week before. A few days later Sandra and I rolled out for one of our last rides around Brisbane and did the Gateway Bridge and Mt Coot-tha. And yes, I am happy with the times I got on both, 3'05", a PB, and 8'22".

Next, we managed to do everything else on those lists, we survived twenty plus hours of flying and we are now in Senftenberg, Germany.

How exciting for me is this? Well, I am a little speechless, everything has been better than I expected. I even managed to have my first Streuselschnecke before leaving Berlin's Airport with Sandra's parents. Not a bad effort, hey?




I am expecting a few numbers to go up...

Not too far into our first day, bikes got built, new cycling gear got tried on and lots more breads and cheeses got consumed. I even had a warm beer. Pretty much all in anticipation of the first ride.




Senftenberg-Lauta-Senftenberg

Beautiful ride on narrow roads, through fields and forest. Many small villages on the way, lakes and cobble roads. Not Spring weather yet.

Time: 2h 13min
Dist: 44.5 km
Elev: 141 m
Temp: 9° C
(l/s under-shirt; jersey; jacket; bib tights; gloves x2; beanie and over-shoes)

Lots more to come.

Tschüss!

PS: Sorry, I forgot to mention the rides and parties in the last two weeks in Brisbane. All very special, thank you very much!!

4 comments:

Michael Walker said...

Looking forward to following your time on 2 wheels via strava and your blog, Keep the updates coming!

Nils and Anke said...

Alberto, I'm happy you guys made it safely to Germany. I must admit, I'm bit jealous about the Streuselschnecke...! Enjoy every single second of your journey and provide us with stories from old Europe :-)

AMR said...

Thanks MW, loving the smooth, flat roads (and the few cobbles). New bike is a dream. Tell Brad Record is "super".

Hi N&A, really enjoying my first days in Brandenburg, and so much more ahead... Can't wait to try a Schweinsorh next!!

Colin said...

More about the new bike please Alberto. It doesn't look like a Cervello? Colin

 
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