Training Log Archive: tRicky

Event: Atwell MetrO
 

Race around the world! Well some bouys anyway. Windy and wavey for a change at Hillarys so the five laps in and out of the beach took a bit of concentration. I caught a nice run all the way in on the last lap and beat some people.

Sprints, catching swells and other random crap (including rescuing myself a few times).

Bought a new snorkel and goggles after my other pair refused to work then swam around the swimming area in the marina since it was so choppy outside.

Running late to Metro, on the MTB and into a gale force wind I barely made it on time to suit up. Looking at the GPS trace I rode right past the east side of the primary school without even seeing it. Well done.

Thanks to Boltboi for getting my act together for me :-)

Good route until I hit the SE and failed to notice a fence. Disaster after that. Made a few wrong turns early on also.

Control collecting then home with the wind, different route to my trip out to Atwell. Ground 9th gear to a pulp with the tailwind up Tonkin Hwy.

This is about as far as I got before I realised I had a flat. Tremendous, given that I'd already changed a flat in the same wheel before leaving for work on Monday (crash day). Thought I'd gotten the offending thorn out too.

Hard to believe that I can outdo my time from Wednesday on a MTB. What makes this more shameful is that I got yet another flat about 7km out from work and had to stop three times to pump it up, yet was still managing >30kph on the flat. Must have been depressing for the roadie who was drafting me though when I almost ran off the Claisebrook Bridge trying to turn on a flat tyre.

Drafted a truck on Tonkin Hwy (km 7) and hit the 60kph mark for about half a km. Fun times!

3km TT times:
Wed: 4:14 (roadie)
Thu: 4:14 (roadie)
Fri: 4:56 (MTB)

This is probably closer to the standard time to commute rather than those quicker easterly assisted morning rides. Also I tried the northern side of the Tonkin Hwy bridge today but failed to find a better route around. I ended up having to cross GE Hwy at the lights instead of the underpass.

Raised the bar on day 2, hmm. The 3km time trial (km's 9, 10 & 11 on the GPS) was 6 seconds longer though.

I give this effort a 2. Lacklustre ride home the short way (but took longer) after another long day at work. Remembered about 5km out from home that Stargate was on. Blast.

tRicky: Now 1 day accident free!

New route is GREAT. I think I set the bar from day 1 though. I get to play 'laugh at the cars & trucks backed up at the traffic lights at Kewdale Road, then watch as they all go past then laugh again as I go past once more at Leach Hwy'. Yay! I now also have a 3km time trial between Leach Hwy and the bicycle slip ramp just before GE Hwy. Think I averaged in the mid 40kph along there.

Of course, all this will change once I get a morning westerly, then suddenly I'll hate living in Forrestfield ;-)

For some reason I took the GPS cable out of my bag this morning so I'll upload the route tomorrow.

C • Yay! 2

The object of this upload is to determine which way the wins was blosing using only the GPS trace and the km rates.

Passed some dude before the Perth railway station who was just dawdling along but it turns out he was just waiting for someone fast to go past so he could hook on, which he did. Tried hammering away from him up the Midland railway line but no luck. After a few kilometres he took over and lead all the way to King William Street, where he went one way and I went the other.

Died on Tonkin Hwy.

The one thing, well two things, that bother me on this route:
-The tiered hills on the Midland railway line bike path. Riding up them you have to keep adjusting for the bumps in your cadence. It's frustrating.
-When Tonkin Hwy was last resurfaced, they forgot to extend it beyone the white line where the cyclists ride. Boo to Main Roads.

C • Tiered hills 4

A piss poor attempt at a run to see if my sore head would play up. The answer was yes. Followed the mega-power lines for a bit then ran around a bit more, found some bush and some sand tracks and ran through there then back home. Forrestfield has some comedians: "Run, Forrest, run!" I got from some hooligan.

Debated for ages whether to go out with a sore head and sore arm but went out anyway. Decided against the planned interval session due to the injuries. Head was okay on the river, as was the arm, until I decided to cool off in the river then jarred my right arm getting back into the boat, which gave me a sore head again. Slow paddle and lots of boats on the water between Ascot & Belmont Park racecourses. Tried to catch the wakes of two passing boats and failed both times.

'armless fun. Well only armless from Ascot Inn to Tonkin Hwy bridge, then I did breastroke arms on the way back. Could not do freestyle with my left arm because I could not lift it over my head. River is brown here too and yucky salt water still.

My daily commute just got commutier! It unfortunately also went off with a bang - I thought the bangs were supposed to be tomorrow night.

Blazed away down all the main streets in Forrestfield with a great tailwind then sat on the bike path alongside Tonkin Hwy then back onto Abernethy Road. From there I decided Kewdale Road was just as crap an option as Leach Hwy so went from there to Orrong, then got stuck on the path on the south side of Orrong because they haven't bothered to build one on the north side past Leach. Unfortunately got stuck on that path, which has lots of cross streets (to slow the cyclists down) then made the mistake of dodging in front of a bus stopped too far forward at the lights at Oats, only to realise too late that the turning arrow was on and a van was proceeding on its merry way around the corner. Slammed headfirst into the van at about 25kph.

Luckily no serious damage other than a sore head although I know I'm going to stiffen up tomorrow. Front wheel is slightly bent although still goes around but the gears don't change too easily and I couldn't use the big front chain ring for the rest of the trip so that'll need to be rectified too. Darn it all - my first day too! At least the woman stopped and offered to take me wherever I needed to go, although I declined many times. No-one else in the traffic seemed willing to offer assistance to a cyclist lying in the middle of the street.

Eventually got back onto the path on the north side of Orrong - much safer there. I'll have to find a new route with less traffic lights although I don't like my chances. The only roads between Forrestfield and Kewdale are main roads.

Avg before crash: 1:55min/km
Avg after crash: 2:20min/km

C • What about 4

C • Get off the footpath! 12

Stopped in at Kewdale home to pick up some gear. My sister told me I wasn't going to ride the rest of the way in my condition so I got dropped back. Head hurt over every bump.

Moving day!