Lysterfield Duathlon

Raced my first duathlon today, well only competed in one leg of the two so cant really take credit for having raced a duathlon but half of it, i did the ride leg, surprise surprise and my race partner Kate did the run. The race started with a 4 klm run then back to transition to hand it over to me for the 20klm bike ride, we started off heading across to the Red Gum trail and on to the Com games track then to the Blair Witch and back to the finish, I did the ride in 1 hour 22mins, 5 minutes faster than Jane Ollernshaw which I am pretty happy about as I have never been close to her before let alone that much faster than her, however she did it solo where as I didnt have to do the run so I would have been alot slower had I just run 4klms before the ride. We came in 67th overall out of 85 so not as good as I had first thought, seemed like we came in before alot more than that but anyway not a bad result for the first one. Had a good race as far as everything felt for me, didnt have any big stacks and knee felt great, I know I have alot of work to do on my climbing, I had a guy behind me for most of the race and I would get well ahead of him on the decents and flat areas of single track but he would almost catch me back on all the climbs, so definitely will be working on that. Overall it was alot of fun and look forward to doing the next one, well sorta, the next one is at the Youee's and considering half of the course is made up of climbling there I have alot of work to do before that one.

Some good news on the personal front for me, a couple of weeks ago I cracked the shits with my work and handed in my resignation without having another job, 2 days later I had an interview with a company close to home and they offered me the job, any normal person would have taken it but when she questioned my 'passion' for the company as we were negotiating dollars I pretty much told her to stick it, so back to square one for me, turns out it was a good decision as I didnt really like the company anyway and got a much better offer for a great company still close to home. I finish up at my current job on the 30th of October just in time to head over to SA for the first round of the nationals, worked out my resignation perfectly as I was not allowed to have any time off on that Friday so would not have been able to do that round and then I start at my new job on the 17th of November so I have 2 weeks off in between so guess what I will be doing??? Yep riding riding riding for 2 weeks, just to break it up a bit I will go away for a couple of days and do some riding elsewhere, so luckily I have a few riding buddies that are bums and dont have normal jobs so will have some riding partners during the week and plenty of racing coming up on the weekends to keep me busy, oh and the Dukemeister moseyed on home the other day too, dirty stopout must have been livin it up with the girls somewhere but glad to have him back, unfortunately nothing will bring Axel back and I am still missing him heaps but have plenty to keep me busy so not thinking about it too much now.

Anyway all seems well with the knee and riding pretty much every night now, doing the Crits at Sandown on Tuesday nights, Dirt crits at Wantirna Wednesday nights and then will do a few of the Westgate ones on a Thursday night then just some road riding and rides out at Lysterfield the other days, also have to start doing some running for the Katmandu Adventure Race next month, Andrew and I did about 3klms last week and that was about as much as I could handle for one night, not quite as much fun as going for a spin down Beach Road or around Lysty.

Thanks to Andrew at the Duo on the weekend for cheering me on near the end, had some guys not in the race annoying me and Andrew just happened to be there when it was happening so put me in a better mood after that.

That's all from me, until next time happy biking!

Kat

2nd Road Crit & Forrest ride

Well this morning's crit was not too good, the first 25 minutes was a fairly good steady pace then for the final 3 laps it was a sprint for the finish and I just couldnt keep with them so pulled out, didnt hang around to see how the other grades went, hung my head in shame and just took off straight away for my Mountain Bike ride out at Forrest which turned out to be pretty eventfull. So I meet my riding buddy for today and we head off on to the trails, about 2 kilometres in to the Marriners Run track I am riding along just lovin life and the good company trails etc. and next thing as I am exiting a bit of a berm and fair pace and right in front of me in the middle of the singletrack is a snake, so hit the skids which obviously startled it and was lucky to unclip and not end up on the ground, said a few choice words and just froze freaking out that I was about to get attacked by this snake, stood there for a minute then slowly rolled my bike back and it slithered off to the side of the track, rode off and every little stick that flew up and hit me in the legs made me paranoid thinking it was a snake biting me, so first snake since the warm weather started again, snake count last summer was 3 hopefully I can keep it at where it is at now, not the best thing to come across when you are miles from help.

I seem to be having alot of blonde moments lately, I cant really blame it on anything so might as well have fun with it and share with you. So maybe I might just have a little Confucius say thing happening rather than my usual famous quotes, so here is one for today

Kat say, (oh Kat just does not work like Confucius)

Do not press front brake while spinning back wheel and tell friend that back brake is not working, look like idiot!

Had a couple of these moments today, couldnt blame it on the trauma of seeing the snake, just one of my moments.

Still missing my little man heaps, house is just not the same without him.

Until next time Happy Biking.

Kat

Axel

Well unrelated report here but my best buddy Axel was put to sleep on Wednesday, anyone that knows me knows how much I love my animals and have spent thousands of dollars on both Axel previously when he had to get some tumors removed once before and then a shitload more on my horse when he got sick too, needless to say it was a very upsetting time for me and I am missing him heaps and heaps! Axel was always with me, even if I was just a drive to the Milk Bar he was always there, not to mention him having to be my patient subject for many photo assignments and coming along to keep me company on my Landscape photography shoots, many summer nights at the beach and kicking back together on a Saturday night before a race watching Funniest Home Videos, pretty strange that a dog could rule your life like that but I even gave up going to the World Cup because I couldnt bring myself to let someone I dont know look after him for the 3 days, he got sick very suddenly and was still happy and running around like a maniac the day before so at least he didnt have to go through any pain, so no more cuddles from my favourite little man anymore:(

Also the little Dukemeister (Duke is the cool cat) went walkabout so in one week I have gone from 3 pets to just one, Mr Attitude Oscar (the feral cat) has decided to stay with me, probably cos he is too fat & lazy to be bothered venturing off in to the neighbourhood.

Missing ya heaps

Kat :(

First Road Crit

No photos unfortunately, although if there was a photographer there I probably would not have had a photo taken of me anyway, started at the back and ended at the back. Was pretty nervous for the first lap and stayed a fair way back then the Specialized boys gave me some tips to make things easier for myself which was to stay on the person in fronts rear wheel which I was handling ok on the straight but would get nervous being so close to other riders anound the corners so would back off there and then have to catch back up after all the corners, had some help from one of the spunky specialzed guys pushing me along, and I mean literally pushing me, I was nearly thinking of pulling out and then heard the bell for the last lap, what a relief, still didnt have it my legs to stay close to the group as they sprinted for the finish, beat 1 rider! next week better make it 2. I have a 3 week licence so mught as well use it and if I am enjoying it then I will keep up with it, definitely alot harder than the Mountain Biking, well more in the regard that you need a great deal of strength in the legs to keep up with the other riders, will obviously be beneficial for the Cross Country races so will try and keep it up. Anyway sized up the competition there and decided there were a few easy beats there, one being one fairly young rider who was actually really quick and had calves twice the size of mine and then a few older riders and not so skinny riders all of which blitzed me, well all bar one, good to se heaps of girls there, big difference to the Mountain Biking.

After the race I went for a ride from Ringwood up the 1 in 20 then through Olinda and back again, didnt think I would make it up the 1 in 20 had heard a fair bit about it and thought it would be too tough, not a great time though, took 30 minutes to reach the top, will do it again during the week and hopefully knock a few minutes off that, definitely had more in me when I reached the top, the descent was a bit sketchy, getting up to 70 klms an hour with a tiny bit of rubber under you is not very comforting, had a great ride though and will be using that as my new training ride, so the Mountain Bike will be having a rest for a while and the legs will be getting a good workout, lost most of the weight I wanted to lose too so my first XC race back I should be back to where I want to be, first XC race will be a National round so nothing like jumping straight in the deep end first race back.

Now daylight savings last year I had an important Motocross job on that weekend as well a Presentation night on the Saturday so I will blame the heat and tiredness for screwing up the clock and putting it back last year but this year I have no excuse, I went to bed and for some reason put it back an hour instead of forward then woke up at 3 am wide awake and stressing about being a dud at the Crit and decided to get up,lucky! as it was really 5am and I was planning on getting up an hour later anyway so had I gone back to sleep I would have missed my race.

Thank you's for today

First off to a lovely lady by the name of Karen who so kindly lent me her bright blue and yellow socks as I had left my nice black ones at home, cant say it was a good look but better than riding with no socks at all and secondly to the A grade riders that helped me along the way.

Quote for today

"At least I didnt come last!"
Me

Couldnt be bothered surfing the net looking for anything today

Until next time Happy Biking

Kat

New Bike

Well it seems I couldnt wait till January to get a new bike so decided to get a road bike in the meantime. I just picked it up and took it for a little spin down the street and nearly went arse over turning in a tight circle doing a u-turn, cant quite throw them around like the Mountain Bike, might take a bit of getting used to, better make it quick though, I am doing my first Road Crit next weekend.

So here it is, just a cheapy of all the Trek models but will do me for what I want it for. So Beach Road here I come!

Well tomorrow will see me and Max Adventure partner Andrew Liu heading out to Lysterfield for some training in the Kayak, then a MTB ride after, Sunday will be out on the roadie, will be good to mix the training up a bit and get off the dirt for a few rides a week.

Knobby Sports Crits are back starting 15th October, cant wait, will be good to see how my times have changed from last year, although with the amount time I have had off with the injury I might come back slower.

Stuff up of the day goes to my idiot accountant, I spent an hour there today getting my tax sorted and after signing off on my $2000 return and feeling pretty happy with it all I get a phone call 2 hours later saying they had stuffed it and I had to come back to sign off on the ammended amout, which when I questioned was not quite the answer I wanted to hear, 2 bucks! yep 2 lousy dollars is all I will get back, fantastic!

I cant thank Mick and the guys at Croydon Cycleworks enough for all they do for me, I rocked up there today with the MTB for Mick to get me fitted properley and after mucking around with me, my shoes and MTB for ages we did it all again for the Road bike, Mick really looks after me with all my gear and bits and pieces and I am really lucky to have that, oh look out for the old school Croydon Cycleworks knicks Mick gave me today, I dont think I need to explain them you will know when you see them, will be saving these ones for the training rides, hehe.

Anyway that's it for me tonight, until next time, Happy Biking!

Kat

Bike wont be here till Jan 09 :(

Well after getting excited about my bike and being fairly happy to wait until November to get it I have found out that I will most likely have to wait until January now to get one, Croydon Cycleworks will do what they can to get it in earlier but probably wont be able to. Anyway I couldnt deal with a pink bike so I am getting the mens Top Fuel 8, still not keen on the colour of this one either but unless I want to fork a few extra thousand for the 9.8 or go for the Fuel X 8 I will just have to get over it.

Here is a very full on race schedule in the coming months

25th Oct - Surfcoast 6 Hour

1st Nov - MTB Nationals SA

8th Nov - Gravity 12 Hour?

15th Nov -Maximum Adventure Race Lysterfield

23rd Nov- Rd 1 VSS XC Bendigo

29th Nov- Kona 24 Hour Forrest

13th Dec- MTB Nationals You Yangs

21st Dec - Rd 2 VSS Upper Beacy

18th Jan- Rd 3 VSS XC Youees

31st Jan - MTB Nationals Mt Buller

8th Feb- Rd 4 VSS XC Castlemaine

15th Feb- HDATO 8 Hour Eildon?

21st Feb -Otway Odyssey

28th Feb -MTB Nationals Tassie?

8th March-Rd 5 VSS XC Albury

22nd March-Mt Beauty 6 Hour

29th March -Big Hill Marathon

1st April - Rd 6 VSS XC

Plenty of racing ahead, can hardly wait, hope all the work I have been doing on my knee will pay off and I can get through it all without any dramas.

Until next time

Happy Biking

Kat

Whacking on the weight

Well after nearly 6 weeks off riding I have started putting on a bit of beef, cant really blame the lack of riding too much as I was not riding much before the injury but in the last week I have only been home for dinner once so I think all the good meals I have been having out lately are catching up.

Anyway the knee is feeling good, just got back from an hour and half ride along Eastlink and also had a quick spin around Lysterfield yesterday so 2 rides in 2 days is a first for me, although I am only supposed to be riding every 2nd day at the moment.

I am pretty sure I will be right for the Surf Coast 6 hour (will only do the 3 hour) on 25th of October although there is a big Supercross on at Geelong so not sure if I will be at that yet, then after that there is 4 weekends in a row of racing in November so I hope I am going to be ok for that, definitely wont be missing the first round of the State XC 23rd November, have a big weekend before it though with the Max Adventure Race at Lysterfield the week before. Can hardly wait to get back in to the State XC Series and soooo happy to be out riding without my feet and face going numb from the cold, only crap part about this time of year is the magpies, hadnt started riding yet this time last year so have not had any probs but got swooped the other day on a main road just a bunch of guys drove past and obviuosly thought it pretty funny so were beeping at me and yelling stuff out the window, tried to look as cool as I could when you have a magpie swooping you, hopefully pulled it off, it actually chased me for ages but never actually hit me, came close but didnt.

That's all from me today, better go throw up now, just joking but will cut back on all the pub meals or at least order a couple of salads instead.

Quote for today

Food has replaced sex in my life; now, I can't even get into my own pants!

Happy Happy Biking!!

Kat