Back on the Bike, The Three Gorges - 128ks

With no running for the past week or so I decided to get back on the bike today and after putting a call into Irish ace POD I arranged to met up with the BRAT/Hardmen/Sparks Elite boys for the lovely and  spectacular ride north for the Three Gorges that takes in Galston, Berowra Waters and Bobbin Head.  Early start catching up with Irish boys Evan, Paul Hanley, POD, The Laughing Policemen (Samsy), Angry Man Clyde, and Kroney.

It’s a long ride this one and certainly not the easiest for my first ride in months so was a little nervous at the start especially cycling alongside Clyde, whose not known for his patience and small talk on such mornings.

Travelled well out of town and it wasn’t long till we hit Galston and the first big downhill of the morning that we flew down and in turn meant a good 4ks of climbing on the other side, pretty much managed to stay with POD on this one, before heading out to Berowra. Again flew down the winding bends to the awaiting ferry then another 4ks of torture that saw the Laughing Policeman carry me to the top for this section. Happy to sit with POD on the freeway over to Bobbing Head before the team had its own ‘King of the Mountain’ race for the final hit out of the day. Managed to survive that before the final 30k or so cruise back home along the Pacific Highway. Was feeling pretty good in general although once we hit Chatswood I was starting to struggle and was more then happy to get back into town still with the boys. Made our way back into the park for a much deserved coffee and Bacon & Egg Roll before adding the extra 6.5k back to home solo.

128ks all up for me and certainly the longest ride I’ve done for months – Very happy to get through it and realize that my overall fitness can’t be as bad as I first thought.

Angry Boy Clyde sent me the stats for today’s ride (I know Master Sweeney loves stuff like this) – I have to add an extra 13ks on to the total for getting to/from the park as well.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/372229412

Thanks to the boys for the ride, really enjoyed and 3 things of interest to come from the 4 hours plus of riding as a result:

1. Think I managed to understand a record 6 words that come out of Paul Hanley’s mouth with his broad Cork Accent he has J
2. Irish Evan has the weakest bladder in history with a record 17 pee stops for the morning (4 before we even crossed the Harbour Bridge) J
3. 128ks for the day and Angry Boy Clyde didn’t shout at me once ( I must have rode OK) J

Out for the much deserved arvo beers then up in Newtown – ahhhh bliss.

Well as I briefly touched on the subject last week, I have unfortunately had to pull the pin on my Berlin Dream due to injury. Very disappointed to be honest, but injury has got the better of me with a hip injury that seems to have come from nowhere?  Haven’t posted all week as trying to get my head around it, but hopefully all OK now and there will always be more races to come in the future but in the more immediate future I need to get myself fixed up.

As for still going ‘On Tour’ …. I’m still undecided on that as well, Don’t want to make a drama out of it but there are one to two things I want to sort out before making my mind up come the end of the week. I know the boys will still have a great time even in my absence and with Enda leading the charges around I will hopefully be kept in the loop of all the shenanigans of what goes on in Berlin and Munich.

Although no running last week I still managed to keep up the Monday and Friday swim sessions and will be back for more tomorrow to start the week with.

Had a cracker of an evening last night – Got a gig on the radio talking all things English Football for 2 hours, Talked everything from Champions, Transfers, Stoke in the early days and teams I’ve tipped for relegation (yes Crystal Palace even got a mention) Was paranoid at one point that someone I knew maybe was listening and attempted to phone in ………..But happy to report that all went well, and I will be making a return again in the not so distant future.

 Cheers

Back in the Park after 120 odd ks on the bike with (left of table) POD, Evan and Cork Paul Hanley, (right side) Laughing Policeman Samsy, Kroney, and Angry Man Clyde.... Cheers Boys.