some days you ahve good days other days you have bad days. Today was a bad day. I just struggled from the time the gun went off till the time I got off the damn bike at the end. I had decided to stick with my friend doing the Ironman on Sunday. so we rode together from the start. He dropped me climbing the meads hill in Mossie Park.
I had decided to ride the new bike at the last minute which meant I was extra cautious around people who didn't look like they knew what they were doing (which was a fair few people) Just like last year going up Meads hill there were 4 people across the road on mountain bikes and they stopped dead right in front of me. arrgghh again I had to swerve onto the right side of the road to avoid coming off the bike.
After that hill it all started to hurt, the saddle was causing me all sorts of problems I felt like my bum bones were being worn away. I started to get numb hot spots in my feet. which I think is a result of the saddle and my hands started to hurt big time. so it wasn't much fun, but I kept riding.

I've realised that the side bottle cages that I had to put on the new bike because the frame is too msall for normal bottle cages well the one thats on the seat post downtube is almost impossible to get a bottle out of. you have to use your left hand and you can't peddle while you are getting it out otherwise your hand collides with your leg etc. So I'm going to have to look at some other alternative.

the wind was just blowing all day, not hugely strong ubt it was a head wind for all but the last 2 - 3 k's I flew on those last few k'ms with a tail wind behind and knowing i was almost finished and I could get of the stupid saddle. I think I clocked 48k's on the flat.

for some reason I thought I did this ride in 1hr 42 last year and was really really disappointed to cross the line in 1hr 46 this year. (rough time not the exact result will get that when they go up) but when I checked the times I actually did 1hr 46 last year too. Still disappointed that I wasn't faster!

Umm ride faster, get used to my new bike. Figure out a way to get the bottles on my bike. I idnd't drink anywhere near enough for such a hot day.
train more.

We rode up to a coffe shop and had brunch. then I rode home. phew 14ks in the heat was not fun. I threw myself in the ocean when I got home. brilliant way to warm down.


my riding ability! not used to my new bike yet. think I may needto adjust the saddle. I said I'd give it 6 weeks to get used to it. thats 3 weeks.


Its a great event to do! My report might seem a bit negative but I'll still do it next year. I just had a bad day.