For the first time in well, ever, this year i decided to have an "off-season" from cycling. Nothing too extreme mind, just no riding from Boxing Day til the 5th of January (and i was still working at 2 jobs, and tending to farmwork, so not what most people would call a holiday).
But it has definitely got me excited about getting back on the bike, not least as i have a few significant goals this year. First up will be the Mooloolaba Triathlon on the 15th of March. Because both swimming and running are abominable, degrading behaviours, I will be doing this in a team with an old high school friend (a talented open water swimmer) and a cross country runner i used to work with back when i was a welder.
Then there is a tentative plan to attempt the world 7 day record in late April, but that will be dependant on what hoops the people at Guinness want me to jump through (currently waiting for a response).
For now, i am taking a softly softly approach (for once!) and building up steadily rather than jumping in headfirst as i so often do.
Today actually started yesterday (which neatly explains the title of this site for any newcomers) as my job at a service station entails working from 11pm to 5am. There is far more work entailed in that than you would ever imagine, but i managed to find some time to pit my wits against a couple of feral kittens that have been hanging around. The kittens won. For the 3rd week in a row. Sooner or later, the king of beasts (or possibly me) will prevail and i will have me 2 adorable kittens (that will then need to be desexed and vaccinated at considerable cost, but then restoring bikes makes no financial sense either and i keep doing that too).
The plus side of the night job (besides ostensibly "free" kittens and drunk bimbos being delivered by taxi to buy Red Bull) is the occasional beautiful sunrise. Suitably inspired, i kitted up when i got home, ready for some riding. Problem was, my main bike had no saddle or pedals, and for the life of me i couldn't find any allen keys. This is not a particularly unusual thing, as this website will be the only thing in my life that isn't impossibly cluttered (my brother insists there are sentient life forms in my car that are as yet unknown to science).
So it was on to the only complete, functioning bike available, a Kona cyclocross bike generously loaned to me by a good mate. With a huge, "robust" frame and 33mm tyres, as a road bike it makes a good boat anchor, but i wasn't supposed to be setting the world on fire today anyway.
So i didn't. JRA as we all know, stands for Just Riding Around, so that's exactly what i did. After a bit of rambling i decided to head north to check out a gravel back road i've been meaning to ride for a while, and it turned out to be quite nice.
But it has definitely got me excited about getting back on the bike, not least as i have a few significant goals this year. First up will be the Mooloolaba Triathlon on the 15th of March. Because both swimming and running are abominable, degrading behaviours, I will be doing this in a team with an old high school friend (a talented open water swimmer) and a cross country runner i used to work with back when i was a welder.
Then there is a tentative plan to attempt the world 7 day record in late April, but that will be dependant on what hoops the people at Guinness want me to jump through (currently waiting for a response).
For now, i am taking a softly softly approach (for once!) and building up steadily rather than jumping in headfirst as i so often do.
Today actually started yesterday (which neatly explains the title of this site for any newcomers) as my job at a service station entails working from 11pm to 5am. There is far more work entailed in that than you would ever imagine, but i managed to find some time to pit my wits against a couple of feral kittens that have been hanging around. The kittens won. For the 3rd week in a row. Sooner or later, the king of beasts (or possibly me) will prevail and i will have me 2 adorable kittens (that will then need to be desexed and vaccinated at considerable cost, but then restoring bikes makes no financial sense either and i keep doing that too).
The plus side of the night job (besides ostensibly "free" kittens and drunk bimbos being delivered by taxi to buy Red Bull) is the occasional beautiful sunrise. Suitably inspired, i kitted up when i got home, ready for some riding. Problem was, my main bike had no saddle or pedals, and for the life of me i couldn't find any allen keys. This is not a particularly unusual thing, as this website will be the only thing in my life that isn't impossibly cluttered (my brother insists there are sentient life forms in my car that are as yet unknown to science).
So it was on to the only complete, functioning bike available, a Kona cyclocross bike generously loaned to me by a good mate. With a huge, "robust" frame and 33mm tyres, as a road bike it makes a good boat anchor, but i wasn't supposed to be setting the world on fire today anyway.
So i didn't. JRA as we all know, stands for Just Riding Around, so that's exactly what i did. After a bit of rambling i decided to head north to check out a gravel back road i've been meaning to ride for a while, and it turned out to be quite nice.
Even though i was taking it very steady i ended up with 3rd on the Strava segment for that road, so in due course i will need to pop out there again to give it a proper going over.
After a mostly uneventful spin back to Coolum (the one exception being a fairly close shave from Mr Ridiculously-Overpriced-4wd-Golf, sorry i mean "Audi SQ5") i headed up to Low's Lookout to enjoy the view up the coast.
And then back home. 47kms all up at a very cruisy 27kmh average speed, but thanks to Strava's new "annual leaderboards" it was still worth 2 "KOMs" and 5 "2nd places".
Now i have something of a reputation for "unhealthy" eating. As i see it, when you are burning through the kind of calories i do, getting all OCD about the minutiae of ingredients is silly. (Note i am not suggesting cola and ice cream for every meal) In any case, this was breakfast today.
Anyway the plan after the ride had been to head out to the farm to get some work done there, but getting this up and running has taken far longer than anticipated. Not to matter, there is always plenty more work to be done!
Fair Winds,
LDR.
Fair Winds,
LDR.