It’s tough getting out in the morning when it’s so cold but I managed to drag my butt out for Alan’s first ride since the baby. Nothing interesting this ride, just a good ride from Abbotsford to Murrumbeena to Mordialloc and back. I think it was just under 90km for the morning for me.

Somebody tell me how he does the hand trick at the start.

Keith Barry: Brain magic

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conditions – brief light showers
distance: 49km
avg speed: 33km/h
avg HR: 150/min
max HR: 178/min

Today was a slow-slow day; a good day to take the Tarmac out for a test ride, and see if it needed any tweaking.

The difference between this frame and the Giant is amazing. The ride is smooth. I’m so used to feeling every single vibration through the aluminium frame, this frame feels like I’m running semi-soft tyres it’s so different. This bike is light. It just surges forward with every pedal stroke. I think the Ksyriums help as well, because I can spool up to cruising speed pretty quickly now. Despite the lack of weight, this bike does feel very well planted though. The carbon dampening really helps to keep the tyres in contact with the ground, rather than skipping across bumps, as some light bikes do.

HR data is for the actual NRR component only. Avg HR of 150/min looks more realistic now. Although this was meant to be a slow-slow day, someone decided to kick up the pace from Black Rock onwards. I don’t have a computer installed yet. Avg speed at this point felt like about 35km/h into headwind. I managed to hang on, but had to work pretty hard to do so.

distance: 51km
ride time: 1hr 46min
max speed: 50km/h
avg HR: 133/min
max HR: 179/min

My 2nd attempt at this. Much easier this time around, since I knew what to expect. I made a point of trying to clip-in faster, accelerate faster and roll a bit closer to the wheel in front. I knew today would be a “slow going-down and fast coming back”, so I mentally prepared for this. I tried to ride efficiently going to Mordi and conserve my legs. I didn’t get caught out by accelerations this time, and I think it paid off. By the time we got the roundabout, my legs were just about nicely warmed-up.

Of course, I’m still near the back of the peleton as we clear the roundabout. I anticipated the pick-up in pace, so when it happened, I was ready. I latched onto the tail of the bunch and just powered. In fact, I was powering along so well, I had to keep hitting the brakes to stop crashing into the guy in front. I’m not sure what the speed was at this point, as I was busy concentrating on not crashing into the wheel in front of me. It felt like about 40+km/h. My computer max speed says 50km/h, but I don’t know if that could have been on a downhill at some other point.

The adrenaline rush, cruising at max speed was awesome. I was taking deep inhalations to maximise my O2 intake, but I didn’t even feel tired. I felt like I keep going for ages. (as opposed to last week, which was a slow return, and yet I was still feeling quite tired). I was cruising along in this kinda Zen state for a good few kms, until the bunch hit a red light at Beamaris. About 5 guys ran the red light. I prefer to obey the law so I stopped, with only a few other fellow stragglers rolling up behind me. I tried to set the pace for a working group to catch up, but nobody else was interested. Eventually I just sat up and cruised home. Man! Once you get dropped from the bunch, there is just no way of catching up. I could only just see the mass of red tail-lights ahead of me for a few minutes, and then they were gone.

I kept up the pace going home, to about 35km/h, dragging a couple of other stragglers with me. I think I kept the pace up, because I didn’t want the humiliation of getting caught by the 6am bunch. At least, I managed that goal.

I’m annoyed because I don’t really know how long I would have lasted, because my run was stopped prematurely. Oh well, until my next attempt then. Wow, this is seriously addictive.