With the Australian summer well and truly underway, my heart goes out to all the farmers who have lost stock and huge amounts of healthy pastures from all the rains in our last summer.
Once the summer begins the racing evaporates and so do the blogs. If a mountain biker wants to race where does he go. Well he goes on strava. Something I had heard about but until you start logging rides you have no idea how fun or addictive it can be, having not ridden my bike today because of the heat, I sit here writing this blog so I'm not out trying take some poor buggas KOM in the dark. I'm better off resting and saving my legs for the spin class I have at 745am. The segments will always be there tomorrow right?
My thanks go to Magellan for supplying me with a multisport gps unit called "switch up" a device to track your every move and heart beat while swimming, running and cycling..
So my journey begins via the satellites high in the sky. I was having a great old time ripping up any climb I could find doing so with a 11-32 cassette has defiantly been a battle but for the first time in a long time my riding mojo is burning deep with, yes the hills hurt and some days have been tough but all the while I am having fun. So what does one do when the challenge of strava has a challenge. With some peer pressure I sign up for the RAPHA 500. Simply put 500kms from Xmas eve to new years eve. With not going home for Christmas I thought this will be a good week to keep me busy.
I got off to a very rusty start with coming down with flu symptoms just before Xmas eve. I taught on Xmas eve to a packed spin room then headed out that night for some shenanigans. Xmas day well was the wettest one in 70years, boxing day comes around and with a class in the afternoon I had to start doing some Kms fast. I looked at the wind and jumped on it as it blew me north to Norah head lighthouse, I was hoping to do a lap of some sort but I was short of time so I just turned around and rode the soul destroying headwind for the 30km ride back to base.
Day 2 had a lot more fun factor riding with mates to dubbo gully. It was great to have my close friend Paris there as the last time any of us did this ride was together maybe 6years ago. The ride took in the most technical parts of the CONVICT 100 race. Sheppards gully spat us out near st albans, we ride all the way to wisemans ferry. To where we reach the western commissioners track. From what Wayne had to say its a brutal climb. I bid everyone farewell and good luck and I set to work on the climb, this climb was truly a monster, finally I reach the top near the powerlines oh but so wrong it goes up again. As I begin the descent the reward all thoughts of returning to the others rudely skipped my mind and I soon catch up to other riders from the central coast, after a quickly learn there is more riders ahead and good friends of mine. I switch to seek and destroy mode and close the gap as fast as I could, we get to all descend into dubbo gully together. They all ride on, while I wait for the rest of my party. We carry on back to mangrove shops to get 89kms done.
Day 3 I get up pretty early and head towards yarramalong valley to crank out some Kms, I made it back home for lunch with another 80km but that's just not enough I really wanted 120 for the day. So I did a loop of Brisbane waters before my 530spin to make it to 120km.
Day 4 being a Saturday I have spin at 745am then I set on my strava mission I no longer can handle easy road Kms I head to the bush I suffer all of the first 60km but as each km went by my spirits lifted as I was getting closer to the 120k mark. I went every where I could but always staying in touch with civilisation so I could refill my water bottle. 5hrs, 2100m later I made it home and into the ice bath I soak.
Day 5 I get to ride with a mate bryce and show him some trails he has never been on and before a late breaky 40km was done. I head out again in the afternoon and I only fitted in another 45before the sun went down.
Day 6. So close now needing only 20kms to finish it off I take a cruzy ride to terrigal for breakfast then back to Erina for my new years eve 915am spin class.
500k 8200m of climbing.
Now that was the perfect way to end 2012.
Just chops.
