Bike Cleaning Day

Time to clean the bikes I think. They have taken a little bit of abuse this week with the storms we have been having, so I think they have earned it. They haven't copped that much rain, but the constant spray off the road has left them a little grubby. Time to get the chain cleaner out.

Not much rain, but constant road spray, more or less sums up the ride this morning as well.

Being on the tail end of the unload week, I only had a pretty short ride this morning. The usual mixture of hills and intervals thrown in. I must say that the Saturday morning ride is hurting a lot more than it used to in Darwin. I am not sure if it is the effects of the new, steeper, longer hills I have been using down here. Or me just being soft. Haven't figured that bit out yet. I am hoping it is the hills thing, rather than the me being soft thing. Can never really be sure though.

I had the cycling equivalent of a laundry day today. With the weather we have been having I haven't been able to get any training gear dry. So I was down to my last, bottom of the barrel, jersey this morning. It is big and loose and flappy. And it owes me a pair of sunnies. I lost a pair of sunnies out of a back pocket once, on account of the jersey being so big and loose and flappy. It has been in my bad books ever since. On the plus side, it is bright orange and quite warm, but that unfortunately isn't enough to make up for a lost pair of sunnies. Oh well it was either that or riding in only bib knicks and arm warmers. Trust me, nobody wants that.

I had another old person experience this morning, although this one wasn't as unpleasant as being told off by a little old lady. This time I was about to go under Canning Bridge, which is quite a blind underpass, when I caught an 'older person' cycling group. You know the sort, usually riding along pretty slow, all wearing bright yellow, high viz tops. I sat behind the group to go under the bridge, since the corner is blind. As we passed under they were all ringing their bells to let people coming the other way know they were there. All these different bells going off at once. It was pretty in a way, and made me smile. I thought it was kind of cute, I am not sure if that sounds condescending, it isn't supposed to, but that is the thought that went though my head. Cute.

Results from Busso 70.3 are streaming in and it looks like it might have turned out to be a been a pretty glorious day in the end. I haven't heard any reports yet, but the times are all pretty slick, which would indicate some good conditions. Some big PBs by some of the Darwin boys and some big achievements. Big Russ went under 4 hours 30 (well under) for the first time and Berky broke 5 hours, which is also a first for him. Both very nice efforts. As usual when races like this are on and I am not there, I struggle not to look at the results and try and picture how I would have done. A fairly pointless exercise if ever I have seen one, but one I find myself doing every time. Oh well.

We have had a very nice afternoon of blue skies. I am hoping they hang around for a little while.