Broken Bones

But don't worry, they weren't mine.

I got home from my ride today to a bit of excitement, an ambulance across the road. My heart sunk a little bit when I saw a bike by the side of the road as well. I think I have mentioned before that we live on one of the major cycling routes in Perth, known as the River Loop. As such on Saturday and Sunday morning we get lots of cyclists coming past our house. But the road we live on can also be pretty busy with cars. So when I saw an ambulance and a bike, my assumption was the worst, somebody had been hit by a car. Nothing quite so severe luckily, but still bad enough. A cyclist had lost control all on his own and gone down. He must have fallen a bit badly because he had managed to break his collar bone. My wife had been sitting out front on the veranda at the time and so was one of the first on the scene. Like a lot of bike crashes it could have been a lot worse, although I am sure that is small consolation to the guy who is now nursing a broken collar bone.

Speaking of riding, being Saturday I was out for a longish ride this morning on the P5. The ride was 150km, which previously would have counted as a long ride. However, I have recently had to reassess what I consider to be a long ride. After last week I think 150 now only qualifies as longish. It went pretty well, the ride included lots of intervals, some of which went well and some of which didn't go so well, but I was pretty happy with the ride in its entirety. This was easily the best feeling 150km ride I have done. I still felt strong as I got home rather than just holding on. As a result my average speed over the course of the ride was significantly higher than the last time I did this sort of ride.

On my ride this morning I saw something I had never seen before. At one point I came up behind a pack and I thought  I might as well get a free ride for a few kms before I turned off. As I was sitting at the back of the pack, thinking how boring riding in a pack is, I noticed that the guy directly in front of me had a take away coffee cup in hit bottle holder rather than a drink bottle. Wow, way to conform to a stereotype. I was a little offended to be honest. Seeing this prompted me to spend a bit of time while I was spinning along what riding is and isn't to me. This is what I came up with:

Cycling is not a chat
Cycling is not a trip to the coffee shop
Cylcing is not a chance to show off your expensive kit
Cycling is not siting at the back of a pack doing 33km/h

Cycling is me and my bike and nothing else heading out and seeing just how far we can push it.
I don't stop and wait or sit and chat. When I ride, I ride.

To be fair though, that is what cycling is to me, and to a lot of other people it is having a chat and getting a coffee. I don't really mind that, at least they are getting out there. It isn't for me though.

Whilst I didn't break any bones today, I did break my goggles, which admittedly isn't as bad. It was during the Saturday afternoon Swim Smooth session. Given that Mandurah is coming up shortly, which is a wetsuit swim, I was back in the wetsuit this afternoon. I haven't worn it since Cairns 70.3 back in June, but once it was on it felt like it had never been off. I have an Xterra Wetsuit which I won as a spot prize at the Murrayman last year. Whilst it was free, it has also been a great wetsuit, fits really well, doesn't restrict. I have been really happy with it. Anyway it was great to be back in the wetsuit and a lot of fun. I love the speed. The session was really fun as well, lots of pack swimming work, which isn't something I get to practice much. Hard work, but the session was well designed so it kept it interesting. Unfortunately the goggles let go about half way through and I finished the session without them, so my eyes are a little sore now. I am not sure if I will look to replace the strap or the whole pair of goggles. I will see what I can find when I head to the shop tomorrow. These goggles have been with me for a fairly long time (years in fact), so they are possibly due for replacement. They only cost me $5.00, so I reckon I have got my money's worth out of them. Possibly new kit, very exciting (well okay probably not, after all they are goggles).

Very long run tomorrow morning. If everything goes to plan it will be the longest run I have ever done. I am interested to see how it goes.