Autumn

It's been a couple of months since I've updated this. It's been relatively uneventful from a cycling point of view. After recovering from the broken ribs, I got into a nice routine of daily commuting for six weeks or so. 

I've built up a commuter bike out of parts I had laying around. I was commuting on the Giant CRX2 but we had a change of bike storage arrangements at work - I had always stored my bike in our storeroom but we received a memo advising that bikes being brought into the building apparently constituted a safety hazard and it could no longer happen. The bike racks out the front of work don't have a great theft record so I was disinclined to leave my fairly expensive Giant out there all day, every day. I had an old Avant Montari mountain bike frame with rigid forks hanging in the shed along with some 26" wheels with skinny road tyres, so I built it up as a 7 speed (no need for the front derailluer) with racks, mudguards etc. for commuting. Anyway it's great fun - nice and light and easy to chuck in the back of the car every day and I dont have to worry much about it getting knocked about. All the bits I used probably cost no more than around $140, so I'm fairly happy with that. Here it is...

I'm less happy about being off the bike yet again. I injured my back three weeks ago - I'm still not 100% sure about what happened. I think it occurred when I picked up Ruby's heavy schoolbag one morning and twisted a bit while I did it. I didn't notice it at the time but when I dropped her at school and got my bike out of the car, it was pretty tender. However, I rode to work regardless which, in hindsight, was not wise. I could hardly move when I got off the bike at work, it was spasming so badly. I bought the bike inside, hobbled slowly down to the nearest tram stop and went straight home. As I've probably mentioned before here, I've been prone to lower back issues since having a herniated disc around 12 years ago. I used to tweak it on a fairly consistent basis but it's been better since I've taken up cycling - I suspect it's because my core has strengthened. Anyway I haven't hurt it for around 18 months now, but I certainly made up for lost time  - I was so sore I had to take four days off work. From past history, it takes around four weeks before it feels better. Anyway it's still not 100% but it's improved enough to jump back in the saddle and start commuting to work again today.

We're staying down at Port Elliot in the school holidays (three weeks away) with our friends, the Kelly's, and I intend to do some rides whilst there. My fitness level has dropped over the couple of months, so I  need to start putting some work into my legs between then and now. I haven't been a total slug - I've done a couple of decent rides since I last wrote. We stayed at Mannum for a week in the last school holidays and I did a nice ride out to Palmer. The road out there was straight and not wildly exiting but the climb up Palmer Hill was good fun and a fairly reasonable work out. Beyond Palmer Hill the road stays quite windy through to Birdwood/Mt Pleasant etc or back towards Adelaide through Lobethal/Norton Summit or Woodside/Balhannah. It's all looks like pretty good riding through there but on this occasion I was conscious of not disappearing on my bike for 5 hours when were on holidays, so I reached the top of the hill, turned around and headed back to Mannum. Here's some pics...

Cometh the pipeline, cometh the bike - heading towards Palmer from Mannum

Heading up Palmer Hill

...further up the hill...

...and heading back down

The other notable ride was a run down to Willunga and back last month. I had another shot at the big hill and tried to focus on pacing myself better. I'd always tried take it easy early on in the climb, fearful that I'll run out of puff at the end. However, I've been feeling like I've been leaving a bit too much in reserve, so I'm trying to go out a bit harder on climbs. On this ocassion the first km was relativley quick (for me) - I did tire towards the end of the climb but I still managed to knock a bit off my best time, despite being in noticably worse shape that the last attempt.

While I was at home recovering from my back injury (and in a slightly valium induced haze) I started day dreaming about riding the Mawson Trail. The Mawson Trail is a series of connected and signposted tails, fire tracks, back roads etc. that stretch from Adelaide to Blinman in the Flinders Ranges - a total of 900km. I started reading a bunch of blogs and stories about people who've done it and it's fired up my imagination. It won't happen in a hurry - there's a fair amount of planning and training involved and I'll need to allow three weeks to do it, which will mean taking long service leave. I'll need to spend a fair amount of time on my mountain bike (which I hardly ever ride) and do some shorter two or three day trips, maybe even on some of the Mawson Trail segments closer to Adelaide. There's also the Kidman Trail which runs from Willunga to the Barossa which, at around 250km, might be be good to try first. Anyway, that's the plan.