Joondalup

  I decided to ride to my fitness course course today in Joondalup.  The weather was a balmy 12 degrees and the trains were out north of Edgewater station.  I took the 'crosser as I haven't spent much time on it recently and the cycle path north of the river is so much more comfortable on the 'crosser compared to the roadie.
  My ride was progressing well, I'd warmed up quite well and was humming along at Canning Bridge.  It was here that I came across a couple of other riders who latched on whiled I pulled them at 35kph.  I was fine with that and kept it up till just before the Narrows.  I slowly rode up the hill past Parliament House and navigated my way across the city to Leederville and the path heading north.  No drama and had plenty of time for a shower, coffee and banana bread before class started.

  Today we were learning about lower body muscles and had fun drawing them on Sam with a thick texta.  Some practical sessions in the gym were quite informative too.  I learned some stuff about Bosu boards and fit balls, squatting and discovered (well it was more like confirmed) that I am shithouse at chin-ups.  The only way is up with regards to that simple exercise.

  Ride home was warm and generally uneventful.  One bored magpie had a half hearted swoop before leaving me alone and also the usual fuckwits pissing about on motos near Cockburn.  Was pretty stuffed by the time I got home though - long way from Joondalup.  Devoured a big bit lasagne and heaps of liquid before starting on the chores.

No right turns...

  Track tonight was worthwhile.  A few punters showed up including Ainsy, Kat, Carlos, Mike, Jonny and Lisa.  Nice solo silent warmup followed by some slightly faster stuff.  Nathan was doing some sprint training so I tried to not let him get more than half a lap before catching him. Did a nice stint behind Ainsy - dude is a machine.  Went round and round for the longest time at 45kph and then still ramped it up for 4 ro so laps at 49kph before pulling off.  Solid as.  I threw in a few sprints for good measure.  Jonny, Carlos, myself and Ainsy went out again as a 4 man pursuit style thing and reeled off some more solid work.  Comfortably tired at the end and managed 50km all up.

Hump day over

  I'd forgotten how much of dogs breakfast the PSP heading north from the city is. More than once I found myself channeling Obi Wan Kenobi in an attempt to choose the correct correct path. This is a result of not enough clear signage and the vandalism of the signs that are there. Some of them are so covered in graffiti that makes them almost unreadable. The path itself is far from smooth although it does improve in the newer sections the further north you go. Certainly makes me appreciate the fantastic cycleway we enjoy south of the river and it's clear to me why so many triathletes use it rather than the north section for riding.
  Saw a few commuters and plenty of idiots without helmets (or a helmet dangling over their handlebars...) One guy riding a roadie with knicks, a t-shirt tucked into them and then a generic safety vest over the top of that. Stylish.
  Despite the small hiccoughs along the way it was an enjoyable ride, always nice to ride in places that one isn't too familiar with.
  My fitness course tonight started to introduce us to some of the machines and ways of introducing them to people. I came across something I hadn't seen before - a seated assisted dip machine. Quite like it.
  Caught the train home with Tim. I was absolutely amazed at all the kiddies dressed as prostitutes on the train at 9:30pm on a Wednesday night. Don't they have parents?
  Sensibly decided to pull the pin on SPR Thursday ride. No chance I was gunna get up after getting home after 10pm, eating something, doing a load of washing, sorting out stuff for track, and getting to bed.
  Disappointed I missed Cameron Meyer in the Commonwealth Games points race. Took 3 laps from the field which is unheard of. Too classy for the competition by far.

Tomorrow had to start somewhere...

  Ok.  Didn't make it to the SPR ride this morning (despite sorting out my back brake last night...).  Not going to beat myself up over it.  Accept it and move on.  Try again Thursday.
  Started my fitness course last night.  Five people (Samuel, Kelly, Melissa, Katie and Tim) plus myself made for a good little group.  I'm the only cycling freak but three of the others are into basketball so there is a bit of common ground.  All friendly enough and I can see myself getting on quite well with them.  There might be one other person who didn't show but I hope not as six is a good number for splitting off into pairs for exercises and tasks.  Just a bit of an introduction for the first night with a bit of a foray into what exactly is your 'core' and some information about your back and spine.
Also discovered a nice bruise on my hip from when I hip checked a tree on Sunday. Tried to take a pic of it - but it wasn't coming out so good.
Physio again for my neck this evening. Hopefully get that back to being good soon.

Monday-itis

  Woke up this morning with two dogs and another warm lump, which I assumed was Max cat, pushed up against me.  Could've slept in for another two days but must go to work.  Whilst I'm enjoying the resumption of my mountain biking, I'd forgotten that it works the upper body more than just cruising on the road.  Struggling to get through the day now.
  I'll need to perk up this evening though.  I start my personal training course tonight and I'd like to be awake at least.
  Thinking ahead to the SPR ride tomorrow - assuming I can fix my back brake that is rubbing rather badly - was thinking I need to have something right by the bed for when I wake up.  Maybe an apple.  Just something that can kick start things fairly instantly without me having to re-locate the espresso machine or a small fridge full of Red Bull to my bedside table.

WA State XC Championships - Murray Valley

  I'd decided to enter Sport as they had 9am start time.  The other category I was eligible for, Masters, didn't kick off until almost midday and I had other commitments.
  Arriving at the venue, I had time to manage a sighting lap - pretty cool course, lots of up but all rideable.  I'd estimate 90%+ singletrack with just a few bits of joining fire trail.  Rather tacky too, none of the usual pea gravel!  I decided to put a little bit more air into the tires too.  I know I get a bit lazy when I'm tired and didn't want to pinch flat.
  Sport class was being combined with the U/17's due to there only being one punter in that category.  So I think there were about 12 punters all up.  Straight off the line there was a short and steep fire road climb and I settled in behind everybody else.  One keen customer managed to knock wheels and veered off the track before remounting and rocketing up the incline.  Turning off into the uphill singletrack I encountered a phenomenon that all cross country bike racers are familiar with... the 'get off and walk because some hubbard has stopped and not moved off the track'.  I was forced to stop and walk which sucked but at least it gave me a moment to get my breathing under control.   I was rather enjoying the rest of the rocky and rooty singletrack until I smacked my hip into a tree on one of the fast sections.  No damage but I was concerned I'd smashed my glasses that I'd put in my jersey pocket.  Shortly afterwards at the base of a steep bit of track I managed to drop my chain off the front chainring AND inside off the rear cogs.  A short bout of swearing, yanking and reefing ensued before I realised one junior rider who had stopped on the climb was watching me intently. Whoops.  Chain re-aligned, I checked my glasses - all good - and continued on.  Wasted about a minute and a half stopped.  The guy who I'd been chasing was gone.  Getting to the end of the first lap I could hear the leading sport female rider approaching and set about trying to reel in the guy I'd let get away.
  Second lap was uneventful.  Caught and passed Bruno (super Grandmaster old dude mountain biker character).
  Third lap was mostly uneventful too.  Caught a few dudes from other classes (think Veterans) and was lapped by three dudes (dunno what class they were in).  Managed a few Scott Specials (shoulder-to-tree interfaces) whilst flying about the singletrack but again, no damage.  Heard a couple of guys about 30m behind me and was getting ready to let them pass when I heard a fairly abrupt stack by one of them.  That was the last I saw of them.
  Didn't quite catch the guy I was just behind before my chain issues but he came in 6th so I reckon I must of got 7th or thereabouts.
  I enjoyed the track but I'm glad it wasn't a part of the Dwellingup 100 from the other week.  I don't think I would've appreciated the technical and steepness of it on top of the challenges of that event.
  Another great event from Tony Tucknott and the Perth MTB crew.

Course map and other boring details can be found here or here.
Results can be found here.

Start / Finish / Rego area

PDCC Casuarina road race

  A decent turnout for today's race despite the 'footy' grand final rematch.  I was sticking to C grade after already having been for the SPR bunch ride this morning.  8 or 9 punters headed off around the course in quite windy conditions.  We settled into a rough version of rolling turns and this was the order of the first couple of laps.
  I think it was about lap three that Blair took off on his own and had a gap of about 150m.   It took us around three-quarters of a lap to reel him in.  T'was around this time that our little group was reduced to five with the others disappearing off the back somewhere.  Back to rolling turns with a few little spurts that didn't dislodge anyone.  Young Jamie was doing a lot of work and the more experienced Daryl also very strong.  Blair was recovering from his efforts and then there was me and Carl, not skipping turns - but not the strongest riders in the   group.  All was going well until with about three kilometres to go Blair took off again.  I couldn't latch on and if it wasn't for Daryl then I would've dropped off right there.  As it was he towed me back and powered into the headwind on the long finishing straight.  It was Blair, Jamie, Daryl, me and Carl coming over the line with about 25 metres between each of us.
  A well deserved win by Blair and a hard ride in windy conditions.

51km
35.5kph avg
Further details here or here.