Three weeks into the New Year already

Three weeks in already. No cycling last week thanks to having to do some business travel to the UK. Heaps of bike commuters in London thanks to the congestion charge. Mind you I think you either have to be born there or just HAF to like riding in the pissing rain with the mercury showing 2 degrees.

So back home and head back in this time zone. Got my the spokes retensioned and hub serviced on the rear wheel - seemed to have developed a bit of a pinging noise as the spokes had slackened over the last 8 months. Lets hope it behaves and doesnt crap out.

The legs could feel their outing on yesterdays 5.45am NRR - according to the program I need to be getting into the working group a bit. Well maybe in a while as the legs were saying not just yet thank you very much.

Out to the ABOC dinner last night where Monique Hanley gave us a run down on the Race Across Amercia from the perspective of a diabetic cycling team. Very interesting how they organised themselves. I do wonder about the sanity of the solo riders who think riding 3,500 miles aiming to spend 22 hours per day in the saddle is sport.

In other news after the last three crits at SKCC being a bit of a mess thanks to lower grades continually catching the higher ones they have now moved to a B&D, A&C format. Lets hope that solves it and cuts down on the worryingly high number of crashes that occur each week.

Hot, windy and generally not nice to be outside

We are "enjoying" a nice pair of 40deg plus days at the moment. So not conducive to doing much in the outdoors department. Decided to do the NRR again yesterday - felt a lot harder than Tuesday - probably on account of being on the back and therefore in a cycle of hard accelerations and rapid slowdowns all the way.

I was comparing the pace of recent NRRs to those over winter and the average speeds have picked up by 3-5kph. It doesnt sound a lot but when 50kph is not enough to close out a gap it is.

Going to St Andrew tomorrow morning. I think its currently my favourite ride - mostly because the terrain has a few hills and the roads are typical of what you get in a road race. Glenvale crit this Sunday and then a week off to do some business travel.

1/52 of 2008 gone already!

A week into the new year and three weeks into the schedule. Looking at my stats I managed to rack up 1,060kms in December. Not bad considering the festive interuptions.

This last week was ok other than a serious visit from the puncture fairy. One on the way home from the NRR, one at Kew Crit circuit and the last one six laps into the SKCC criterium on Sunday.

I'd checked the tyre properly before putting the new tube in and even changed the tyre before the Sunday crit. So as they say stuff just happens.

Been a mixed week so far thanks to sleep disruption so focus is on getting a good week of km's in before I jet off for a business trip next week (where no cycling will get done).

Got the max cadence up to 176rpm and can crack the mid 160's consistently. Hill sprints going ok but E3 sessions are a pain - its actually hard to generate the required intensity outside a race/fast bunch ride situation.

Seems to be working as the HR on the fast part of the NRR has dropped back a few bpm.

Six13 reborn as SystemSix

I noticed that my clearcoat Six13 developed the joint corrosion that afflicts this particular variant. Mostly it was around the cable bosses but was starting to show up on all the joints. Cosmetic only but not helpful to the price when it came time to sell the bike.

I took it into the LBS I bought it at for review and after inspecting it they were happy to do a replacement. They did point out that now that the Six13 is no longer top of the Cannondale range the replacement frame would not be quite the same. That was a good enough excuse to "upgrade" to a System Six. So after waiting on some new bars to replace the FSA Wing Pro that has been annoying me all year it was done in a day.

On the top right is how she was as a Six13 (with the as yet unused carbon tubulars)


Below is the reborn blue SystemSix. Its almost like having a brand new bike. Took it for a spin on the 5.45 NRR this morning and as promised it was a fair bit stiffer than the Six13 but still relatively smooth.

Christmas Week!

Training and Christmas holidays are not a good mix. That said I did rack up 280kms for the week thanks to the visit to the relatives in Gippsland, a couple of drill sessions and a big effort out to Kinglake with one of the guys from the BV forum.

We went resonably solidly at it and I could feel the legs and arms/shoulders (from all the climbing)the next day.

Back on track mostly this week with a 70k E1 to shake out Kinglake. Day off for New Years day and at it tomorrow.

Bikes in the shop for frame replacement tomorrow but more on that later. Meanwhile I will stay inside in the aircon while the 40deg C weather continues.