Race for Victory 2010

At the start - 2010

What can I say except smiles all around.  I was looking forward to the race this year.  It is definitely one of my favourites.  It definitely was not as chilly as last year (see below) but the surprise in store for us was going to be the wind and boy did she blow.  I kept telling myself that it was good Argus training.  There were times it felt as if I was going to be blown off my bike but I held on tight - really tight.  LOL

Remember : At the start 2009

 

Crossing over the start line 2010

  Up until around the 40km mark I was having my best race ever.  My pace was good and best of all I was feeling great.  Ready to conquer the cycling world - the races ahead of me were not going to be that bad.  Then the wind let herself be really known and the worst was it was a headwind.  My word!!  The legs just don't get a break - you have to pedal your heart out if on a downward slope.  Ugghhh!!  Thankfully I'd done the route last year and smelt the finish line and just pushed myself.  I was not letting myself down.  For the first time in a long time I nearly burst into tears crossing over the finish line.  I was just grateful to be finished.  But now the thoughts in my head were not good and all of a sudden I wasn't feeling so confident about the 2 big races ahead of me.  The Jacaranda Satellite Classic is next weekend - 97km's.  I'm still wondering what I was thinking when I hit the enter key.



Thanking the heavens above!  The finish line 2010

 

Legs are tired!!

 We waited for my friend Sandi to come in and then went off to find Harry.  Harry wanted to watch the prize giving and all I wanted to do was head to the car. 

I look forward to doing this one again next year.  Guaranteed I'll be lighter even at goal if I play my cards right.  :-)  Heck, I might be brave and do the slighly longer one.

I finished in 2hrs44 - an improvement on last year.  Last year was 3hrs26

Race for Victory : Photos

Race for Victory : 4th October 2009

Tired ='s I don't want to.....LOL

Alrighty then, off we go. Hey!! Bonus - I'm not right at the back...Woohooooooo

Members of the support crew - aren't they cute???

For the last 1km or so I had a friendly chat with this guy - it was great not going over the finish line alone for a change. Woohoooooo!! He had done the longer race.

Hey!! I'm smiling - I did it - all 54km's or was that 56.7 Km's or something like that...hmmmmm

'Tired' catches up quickly.....'let's go home James'

Cool Medal!!

And on a much lighter note - YES!! I had a flat.....about 7 km's from the finish. Working on it, working on it.....LOL

over and out...

Puncture Girl

p.s. wondering if I should change the title of my blog to 'Puncture Girl' LOL

Race for Victory - this weekend's race (Sunday)

This Sunday's race is 54 km's (33.55 miles) long. It is also thankfully alot closer to home this time around. As I have my no., chip and everything else means we do not have to be there at the crack of dawn - yippeeee!! Those early mornings, especially the 4am wake-up calls can be hell.

This race had a little goodie bag. We got a t-shirt and some samples - almost all repeats of the last goodie bag. I'm collecting toothpaste here - great for camping and travelling. :-))

Here's my number. I'm in the middle batch and not right at the back. Will I end up riding all by lonesome again? Who knows?? Thankfully it doesn't bother me that much. I'm sticking to the gels that I have used for all my races: Enervit Sports Gel: Enervit Sports Gel I have also bought the new Energade Sports Jellies - I snacked on these in the last race with no ill effects.

For after the race I got myself some Antistax Leg Cooling Spray : Antistax Hoping it will refresh the legs after the long ride. :-)

I also got a little jar of this badger balm (sore muscle rub). Now to convince hubby to rub it in for me. :-) I like this product as it is Certified Organic - it's costly but I'm hoping well worth it. :-))

When I collected my number they also handed me why timing chip - woohoo - so once again I will have an official time. If some of you are wondering why I bother with a timing chip, I like it because I can keep track of what I am doing and how I am doing.

It has not been a great week training wise. I only managed to make it to the track once this week with everything going on. Tonight we are going to Yoga - I'll take it easy and I'm looking forward to a good stretch.

Well, I just got a call to say my gloves have arrived, as well as an extra bag for my bike. I've taken to calling myself 'Puncture Girl' - I want to be in a position to carry more than one extra tube with me - especially on long-ish distances. I'd better be off.

Have a super weekend - keep active.

Hugs

Mich Puncture Girl