Long weekend and lots of riding!

It has been a long weekend of riding and kind of training. Because of the Twilight Series on Wednesday evenings, the training plan gets a little messy. That's because the rest days (Easy 25 km Rides) are a very important part of the training. Hence, a decision to do a workout on Friday and not to race on Saturday. Do a long moderate to intense long ride on Sunday (115 kms) and try to do an Easy 25 kms on Monday...

Good plan! On Sunday, I got home after the Zupps ride (102 kms), packed my bag and headed off to work to get the 115. And I did! With an easy ride home after work I would be ready for the Australia Day ride. It is a tradition in Brisbane, to go up to Mt Nebo on the public holiday. This year being on Monday.

The plan was good until I met a friend on the way home after work. As we were going in the same direction, we decided to the trip together, with onto me difference: he was in his car. The idea was to slipstream behind his car for as long as I could and as fast as I could... All I know is that everytime I looked at my computer, I saw a speed of 50 km/h or faster. The Max speed been 61.5 km/h. All good fun until we went different routes and I started the climb up to our house. I was close to being sick when I got to the driveway. Well, it was almost 6 km of the 13 km trip in E3 and a record time home.

It was fun but not recommended, specially if you have to ride (and climb) the next morning.

This year, I decided not to start with the main bunch in the city but start a little later from the bottom of the climb and watch them going pass. Sandra and I met a couple of friends and started our way up nice and slowly. My plan was to take it easy and to keep my HR bellow 146 bpm.

I did keep to the plan for a while and even resisted to jump when the fast climbing bunch went pass and I heard a couple of calls from mates in it. I had to be good...

And I was, until a second bunch went pass a few minutes later. For no reason I must admit, I got annoyed by those guys. They seemed very rude as they passed us. They seemed angry and looking down on us for going a little slower. Now, it comes to my mind that they were just struggling as they tried to chase the main bunch unsuccessfully. Nevertheless, that triggered my competitive edge sending my plan down the hill. I waited for the last one to go pass and set off in a mission to catch and pass them.

I have to say, that wasn't very hard. For the next 5 min, I attacked every rider ahead of me, passing them doing almost twice their speed. I lost count of how many they were. Then, I started to recognise some riders from the main bunch. I even tried to drag a few of them with me but they had popped.

At this stage, I looked ahead and spotted the main bunch and they seemed to be slowing down. But I could also few my legs hurt. I looked at my HR monitor and it showed 168 bpm... Shit, that's too much for an Easy ride up the mountain. I decided to back off and even stop at one of the lookouts and wait for my friends and Sandra. I found a little spot in the shade and sat there waiting and watching riders going pass. I even enjoyed been an expectator for those minutes and I deserved a rest, I thought. Even with a slow cruise start, I got to McAfees lookout in under 16 min which I thought was a good effort for an out of form cyclist.

From there it was all fun. We rode up as a group of three, passing a few riders, chatting to them, being passed by a few and encouraging them to keep going. We did a few sprints, we climbed without hands on the handlebars, we re-grouped and chatted. My aim was to do an easy ride and also, to get to the top with Sandra. And that is what I did.

We met a few friends at the village's coffee shop, exchanged a few stories and headed back down.

The ride home wasn't very pleasant for any of us. It was hot and we were tired, probably a little dehydrated also.

The picture was taken by Adam and shows Sanford valley in the background.

It is one of the best views in the SE Queensland.

So, it was a long and strenuous weekend. Today, I jumped on the bike for an easy (E1) 25 km ride in the morning, met a couple of friends for a coffee and that was it.... rest, rest and rest. Tomorrow, back with an early workout in the morning (55 km), a massage and a race in the evening.

Looking forward to all that!