Training

Eating Humble Pie
OK, so since I've been here in Oz I've been pretty quiet about my training and riding. My blog has seemingly turned into a National Geographic wannabe, and for all anyone knows I've sold my bike and turned into a bird spotter wearing a long rain jacket and big thick glasses on my face. Well that isn't entirely the case... it's only half true.

Truth is I've been riding and training fairly well. That said I am having a little difficulty quantifying my training. When I first got here I had just been on my winter/off-season break and had been off the bike for a while. The first couple weeks were a bit strange as I got back into regular riding and got my ass kicked and handed to be on a platter by Craig and pretty much any other person we came across on the bike, including 60 year old ladies going to get bread in the morning. Ok, so people don't go and get bread in the mornings here, but Craig and the other Aussies sure were giving me a hard time. However I am now in my 4th week of Aussie life and I'm starting to feel ok on the bike again. I've done a couple of 20min uphill wattage tests and 1 wattage/HR step test to see where I am. I seem to be coming along pretty good, and the guys on the road here aren't making life hard for me anymore. I guess I ended the season in good form and it isn't taking long for that form to start coming back around. Actually Craig has really helped me build steady power. He's been going out and doing big gear hill reps, which is just what I need to be doing more of at this time of year. So, although he doesn't know it, and I would never admit it to him, he's been good to ride with. :)


Too much?
The Question is, am I going to be too fit too early for the Euro season? Compared to previous years I have without a doubt done more training than normal in December, but that's the whole bloody point of being here, so no big surprises there. I'm monitoring my fitness and trying to figure out what my progression curb is and hopefully I'll get it right and will be ready to fly once the season has kicked off and Iv'e got a few races under my belt back in Europe.

Of course the truth of the matter is, the fitter I get the more I enjoy my riding and I'll end up just riding regardless of when I hope to be fit... ahh.. so be it, that's ok, it's all about having fun anyway!!!

Where'da time go?

We've had a few days of rain here. Not all day type of rain but just the kind that makes snorkeling and such not great. But I've been thoroughly enjoying some nice long rides, and have even got a little more of Christmas shopping done would you believe.Christmas is fast approaching... and the last few days have absolutely flown by. I can't believe how quickly they have gone. And I haven't updated the blog or anything in quite sometime sadly. Doesn't feel like I've had time. How come? What have I been up to? Well I don't know, time must go by faster over this side of the world; I guess with us being upside down, we must be spinning backwards and hence time is probably going backwards. :-)

Anyway... Something I have been doing, is trying to get an Aussie Christmas picture for
Pezcyclingnews. We have been asked to get a little pic and write something about how we normaly spend chritmas and about how we will be spending it this year. So look our for that on Pez soon.

Oh yeah, and something else I've been doing is riding alone or with some of the local groups here... why? Well because Craig is big SLACKER and has been sleeping in and wimping out of rides all week!!! Oups, are you reading this Shep.. oh well, too late. ;-)

"Wild" life

Another one for books. The Snake Lizard thing I have since found out is a "Blue Tongue". They flatten themselves when they feel threatened. But today I came across this strange looking bird with a big flat beak. I'm sure someone (Craig probably) will tell me all about it soon, but for now I will just add it to the now very long list of "wild" wildlife.

Bit of a wet morning today, so I'm having a day off the bike. I mustn't forget it's still fairly early in the off-season, I need to build in more rest days, and probably do a little more on the days I do ride. With that in mind this weekend promises to be big!

Wednesday Snorkling

Today we got up and went for a nice ride inland towards the hills. We then had the usual coffee on the way home at the café overlooking the ocean. The water looked really good and clear, and that’s when I decided I would go home, grab my flippers and mask and go down for a paddle. It’s about a 20min walk to that part of the beach. There are closer beaches, but I’m a little scared of sharks (who isn’t?!). The water was great. Calm and clear. I saw a few fish, had a good paddle around and got a little bit red on the walk home. I guess most of my sun screen had washed off. There is a sort of pear/rock jetty that goes out into the water a fair bit at the one end of the beach. It looks like a good place to go snorkeling, but I didn’t dare got over there, or go that far out. Once I had finished snorkeling and was out of the water, I went and had a walk along the peer, and saw 6 snorkelers out there. I also spoke to a guy who said he goes snorkeling around there all the time, and it is fine. So I guess I’ll start adventuring out there a little more in the next few days/weeks. It’s just that that is where we saw the shark on my 2nd day here… Needless to say, this was a perfect morning!!!

Roo Hunt Success

Finally! I’ve been going out Roo hunting for a while and never seeing them, but yesterday evening, Craig was going for a run (he’s a triathlete) and as he’s seen kangaroos a few times while out running. So I figured I would tag along (on the bike of course), and take my camera. Once again Craig really pulled through. Seems that every time he takes me somewhere, we see some cool and exotic wildlife. As we approached the fields where I’ve been looking for them, we didn’t see anything. Then we suddenly glanced left and Craig said: “oh there you go.” And low and behold there they were. 2 roos standing there staring at us. They were actually really well camouflaged surprisingly. And with the fading light, the shots aren’t great. So we tried to get as close and we could to them, and woohoo, I have finally got my much desired pic of a Roo!!! We then carried on and went past a sports field where we saw about 6 more roos!! One of which had a little baby kangaroo in her pouch. How perfect is that?!

Morning Ride

This morning I went out with a group ride from town. It was a good ride and I’m glad I went on it. They went up a 6 or 7km mountain that is about an hour’s ride out of town. I was a bit nervous about riding with a group up this mountain, as the groups here seem to go all out all the time and spend their time attacking each other. But once we hit the climb I fell into my rhythm and felt like I was (almost) back on form and racing in the Pyrenees. Needless to say I couldn’t help but play the game a little, and I wasn’t too shabby (much to my surprise considering my current form). It also gave me the opportunity to do an uphill threshold test, the results of which were much better than I had expected. So that’s all good news. Then we rode home, and I extended the ride a little bit to get in 3.5 hours.

Beach

Over the past few days I've been settling into something or a routine. Ridding in the morning with Craig, sometimes prolonging the ride alone for a bit, then settling down to an afternoon of work, starting on preparing the Tour de France trips already.

I have also found out that internet use here isn't like back home. You are actually limited in your consumption... and I have already overused the allowed amount. So from now on I will limit the blog posts, and the pictures (if there are any) will be lower definition. In other words, I'll be brief (like the Pelican) :-).



Today I jumped on the bike and went for a "tourist" spin to the beaches and lighthouses of Mooloolaba. I'm still having a bit of a hard time getting used to being obliged to wear a helmet, even when I'm just scooting around in shorts and t-shirt using the bike to nip from here there, going to the beach, or riding on sidewalks. It's a really strange feeling. To me it feels a bit like walking down the street totally naked, but with dark dress socks pulled up the knees with very nice shoes on. It just doesn't feel right. What a pain taking it off to take photos, putting it back on, sweat running down my face as I pootle around town. Anyway, that's just the way it is... and it is the ONLY thing I would change about Australia if I could, because everything else is just flippin' PERFECT! Oh, except for they drive on the wrong side of the road. :-)

I went to watch people surfing, watched the boats come and go, and watched the endless jet skies do just that... "jet"... across the blue water. There is so much activity in the water you never get "board" (unless you are surfing of course...). ;-)

I sat on a bit of grass overlooking the bay and listened to waves crashing against the rocks below me. Very soothing.


I also came across a very strange looking lizard. It looked like a cross between a snake and a lizard. It was flat (as if someone had stamped on it) and was actually quite long.

I have been noticing a few of these massive container ships on the horizon recently... and this one is huge!

Riding and Roo spotting

This morning was back on the bike for some big gear hill intervals with Craig. After making the legs burn at 45rpm for about 1.5 hours we were at the coffee shop having our traditional morning coffee overlooking the blue waters. After that beautiful moment of relaxation, I headed out for a further 2 hours on my own while Craig went to work.
All in all it was a good day of riding. My wattage and numbers and what have you showed that I am not in quite as bad a shape as I thought. We'll have to see what the numbers say over the rest of the week, but I might have just been a bit tired from the traveling and not having ridden for 6 weeks... that might be why I hadn't been feeling too good. Either way things will come around with some solid miles in the legs, so it's all good!

PowerTap sent me a new USB download so I can now download my rides here in Aus. Once again the guys at PowerTap have been really great and helpful and have really helped me out. So another BIG thankyou to them! And specifically Jereme Nofke.

Roo spotting
As I was just taking a little break from doing some work (at home on the computer) Craig called me and told me someone had seen some kangaroos just outside of town. So I grabbed my camera, hopped on the bike and wound my way through the housing estates to this "prime Kanga' location." Just as I got there I saw a big roo gently bound off into the woods. Then 3 kids on bikes came round the corner on the patch of grass the Kangaroo had been grazing on. So I guess the kids scared him away. I am both very excited to have seen a real, true, free roaming Roo, and also very very disappointed not to have got him on camera. :-(

Oh well... I still have time, and I WILL get one!

SouthBank Crit

(Click on pics for larger image)




Sunday was a pleasant day. The Southbank Crit was on in Brisbane just up the road from Lawrie's place (Lawrie is the owner of Bikestyletours and it is he who put me up while in Brisbane, Lawrie actually started the big criterium in Brisbane many years ago.) Baden Cooke won the race and therefor the Australian National Crit Championships... a national championship that only seems to exist in the US and in AUS... sadly for Baden he will not be able to wear that National Champ's jersey in any actual races... but hopefully this is a good sign for the Baden's 2008 season with Barloworld.





A crash in the women's race


The day was plagued with intermittent rain storms which caused a few crashes and what have you. It was cool to see all those riders racing during the off season, even if at the end of the day it's still a boring round and round crit (or "washing machine race" as I like to call them).
Rain soaked the peloton more than once, but the roads quickly dried up

It was also really good to catch up with Dave McKenzie who was there commentating, and I'll probably go down to Melbourne and stay with him in the new-year. Maybe in Feb or something. Matt Heyman leads the peloton through the start finish

Brisbane Botanical Gardens

After a couple of days of morning rides and afternoon in the Bikestyle office starting to knock out some details for the 2008 Tour de France, Saturday was a day with a little more time to myself. The day started off with the usual 5am bike ride. Then I went into Brisbane, got myself a Subway (my first one since I've been here) and ate it on a park bench in the National Botanical Gardens overlooking the boats on the river.

I then meandered my way back to the house, via the Botanical Gardens and along the river the twists and turns through Brisbane.

Today (sunday) is the Southbank Crit. A "bike race" (not really a bike race, it is actually a Criterium, meaning a loop of about 1km they go around a million times). I had thought of riding it, but I'm no where near fit enough, and I hate those kinds of "races" witha vengeance anyway. So I will be going to watch, take some (hopefully) good photos of some of the big names who will be here, and catch up with some people I haven't seen for a while.
Once again, photos have been added to:

http://webphotos.aol.fr/galleries/green.simeon@neuf.fr