It is now Saturday 19th January.

Norm is at Wild Side doing the mechanic/support driver thing with a group of 8 or 10.  He told me today it is fun and tiring and he said I would love the racing.  Oh well...I could not be bothered with it, sounded fun, and like a lot of organising.  Good luck to those who did enter, and yes, I am jealous that I could not be stuffed making it happen.

I raced at the Dirt Crits at the You Yangs western Plantation track last night.  check out www.gmbc.com.au  for more information.  there are many more events scheduled.  It was awesome to have a hard hit out knowing that it was going to be a max effort lasting less than 1 hour.  I think I came in 4th or 5th overall out of about 25 entrants.  It was hot, humid and dusty and whilst I decided not to wear my clear sunglasses, the eyes were fine, but the taste of dirt in my mouth was very strong.  There were a few guys in front of me who were awesome with their sheer power and strength on the flat connecting fire roads, but as soon as it came to single track I would catch them within seconds again.  I wonder now if I had made the effort to pass in single track could I have stayed in front?  anyway, awesome fun and awesome training ride on a Friday night.

Saturday, being today, woke up to the alarm at 6am.  Meant to go on a bunch ride from the Grovedale Pub on Torquay Rd at 7am.  Had a glass on wine last night and slept like a restless dog.  Decided to get out of bed at 8am and race at the local summer series with Geelong Cycling Club.  Only about 20 people turned up to race.  Probably due to the light sprinkle of rain.  It never eventuated to anything out on the race track and it was actually still very humid the whole time.

So a / b grade started together and did 4 laps of the 11km circuit and c / d grade did 3 laps.  I entered C grade, although I think it will be time for me to grace B grade and suffer some more soon.  We were told to ride the first lap controlled and stay together and then we could 'race'.  Strongy and I were doing it very easy on the first lap(we were the C graders) and the rest were sort of doing their own thing and even dropping off a little.  At one stage whilst waiting my HR got down to 88 and it was time to move!  As soon as the first lap was over we kicked.  I think we dropped 2 instantly and another 2 ( who will now be in C grade) hung on for another 1 1/2 laps.  One guy, Ross, who is a Vets racing member and is 61, was cunning and sat back the whole race.  In the end we all got a bit narky and made him sit on the front if only for 30 seconds.  He was a good sitter and a Vet rider, what more can I say!  After numerous attacks they still hung on, but not doing ANY work.  I felt like saying, "cant you see we are trying to drop you?  If you cant work with us, nick off!"  In the end, Strongy calmed me down and worked some awesome tactics into play and got the 2 who were slacking off to lead us up the first hill, by the time we got to the little flat in the climb, I could see him start to move for the attack and I was up out of the saddle powering along with him.  We hammered it for 1km before turning around for a look at the damage.  We had put 250 mt into them.  Unfortunately it had sapped Craig of a bit of zest for a bit and we had a normally minimum 40kmph straight to greet us.  I had to dig deep and try to average 40km on my own with Craig on my wheel until he recovered enough to take a turn.  The chasing pair were pulling us in a little and I kept looking back.  I told Craig to go hard now, just remember that they are suffering just as much as us, if not MORE!  We did it!  We worked as a team, pulled away, and Craig gave me the sprint finish due to my hard work he says.  Thanks mate, great ride! 

Tomorrow, being Sunday, I am planning on a bunch ride leaving from Ocean Grove.  Hope the weather is nice.  I am trying to get out there and ride with others more, and also people who are of similar or better ability than me so that I am pushed to perform.  it is doing wonders!  I still do like the solo rides though.  Its not that I dont go hard on my own, just you seem to settle into a one pace fits all sort of thing.

This previous week I have been on a great hills ride out the back of Ceres on Tuesday, Loved it !  Will plan to do that again with the bunch of guys who meet at Waurn Ponds Bunnings on Tues and Thurs at 6:30am.  They just do about 35km flat out hills.  It is a real heart starter and the kind of training you would not do on your own.

Wednesday, I took Paul out for a 3hour MTB mini epic around the You Yangs.  Park at Western Plantation, ride a 12 km warm up lap, head up the link trail to Stockyards upper car park,  ride the XC downhill with the wooden berms, ride the lower loop xc, ride the boulder down hill, ride UP the Cressy climb, the back along the very SWEET link trail the flows like a sweet flowing something or other...and then back along the last part of the link trail home.  About 35km of demanding but fun single track.  Chocolate milkshakes and chocolate truffles at the Lara cafe for us afterward!

Friday, we did a Torquay, Barwon Heads, Ocean Grove, Drysdale loop, about 65km all up with a coffee at B.Heads.  Nice to finish off a week on the road bike on the flat!

will let you know what the week brings...planning on a ride to Lorne on Monday,hope the weather is good!