Ballarat Preparation

Going into this Sunday's Ballarat Cycling Classic I feel well underprepared in all honesty… 

My training has been a bit stagnant, it’s just been extremely difficult to gain some momentum, it seems like everytime I start ‘seeing the other side’ a wall comes out of nowhere and blocks my view….

I have no doubt in my mind I can do this however it will not be in the time I want…       I’m putting my guts on the line to go out on a limb and say 13kms/hr would be my target, anything higher great, anything lower poor. High bench mark for me and at this stage looking unrealistic…. But this might just give me the motivation on the day that I need to perform.

Only time will tell, I'll have to wait five more days to find out.

Anyway  I'm thinking of changing my training style after this Sunday, a whole new game plan.

Lost my mojo, think this is because too much of the same daily grind - oh yeah got 9000kms of it ahead!! Bugger….. 

State the stats

I thought I'd drop this line cause I haven't blogged for a while! Just a quickie though, plenty of things to do! 

Firstly I’m going booze and caffeine free for 4 weeks… started on Tuesday, going strong. The challenge will be the March long weekend, I might give in, so stay on my back like a cracking whip!  Spending the weekend at Port Fairy, no Folk Festival but the town will be buzzing anyway.  Taking the bike so I can get some kms in.

Secondly this rap song ‘state the stats’ it's about the Social Gradient and Stroke. Check it out, I reckon it's pretty grouse.  Cheers to the help from Buster and Mattricks!

Third and finally, where am I at re training?  I've really tried to get a bit more elevation done since I've been back on the bike over the past couple of weeks after the crash.  Reason for  the elevation training is I've been preparing for the Ballarat Cycling Classic, which is fifty kilometers with a lot of elevation…I said something along those lines in an interview with the Ballarat Courier yesterday.  Reckon it'll take me an hour to peddle up Mount Buninyong. 

Only time will tell if I can reach my target, either way it is going to hurt, bad!

Crash & Graze

So what happened on Thursday, the last leg of the 200km training period??

Well I started the day, just wanted to get it done. I only had to do 43km’s to go,  I was just chipping away at it you could say. By that I mean I was having a lot of breaks. Then as I was into my 3rd ‘set’ and waiting for the lights at Union Rd into Maribyrnong Rd, they turned green and away I went. 

Picked up speed because it was a decrease in elevation. I think I looked down to turn my indicator off from the left hand turn at the lights. I looked up again and there was a guy crossing the road from the right (the traffic had given way to him), there was not much I could do to be frank. I was about  5 meters away before I saw him (I’m blind in the inferior, lateral quadrant of my right eye, that's pretty much the reason I don't drive) and he was 5 meters away when he saw me. He jumped at the last minute, which was probably a smart move by him. I kind of just rolled/flipped, cause if you don't know recumbent trikes are very easy to roll to the side if you've got the right leverage. I was extremely lucky!!  I didn't crack my head, that would've meant a ‘for sure’ trip to the hospital, instead it just meant I had a scrape on my hand where I put it out to protect the side of my head and blood in my mouth which I think I got from putting a tooth through my lip/gum…. Really not that sure, it’s one of those mysteries that you can only hypothesise! 

So I was lying on the ground in a bit of shock. In the space of about 20-30 seconds I had 3-4 people around me and assisting me to get my right foot out of the cleat (my left had automatically come out on impact) but seriously it was as if a grouse song had happened on the D-floor, they flocked from everywhere!  I was truly grateful though, truly grateful!  Just for the support they offered instantly without thinking.. 

Anyway they called the Ambo’s, they checked me out, and kinda wanted me to go to hospital but I declined (heard them say I had responsible parents so it should be OK !)  No bump to me noggin, all good mate!  It’s not the first time I've done this, haha!

I was a bit concerned about the other guy.  He was okay though which was great and very apologetic! I was also very concerned about my trusty trike!  But I'm pretty sure it’s fine as well, amazing. 

So at the end of the day, it was out of my control. We were both a bit shaken up (probably more him than me) but both fine and as I said he was very apologetic, I'm just thankful it wasn't any worse!  Bit annoyed that I didn't get my last 14kms done though!!!