Amy's Ride

Amy's Ride has been and gone for another year. It was a warm last Sunday, around 33 degrees and pretty windy. We (me and the kids) started at Majors Road, avoiding the uphill bit from Darlington which the kids weren't too keen on doing. The run down the Southern Expressway was pretty cruisy and was made even easier by a tail wind. It seemed like we freewheeled most of the way down the Expessway which was great fun. We ended up doing the 25km to McLaren Vale in a leisurely 90 minutes. We love doing this ride together every year (this is our third year) - it's just such a hoot to be part of the big community ride thing. Here's some pics from the end of the Expressway:

After having some lunch at the McLaren Vale visitor centre, Karolle took the kids off to Alison and Troy's place while I trundled off towards Willunga. Climbing Willunga Hill was hard yakka as it was now getting towards midday and warming up. I was a bit annoyed because I got up most of the hill okay, but had to stop about 200m from the top for a couple of minutes because I was feeling a bit dizzy.

With the heat and the wind, it wasn't the most pleasant of riding days. The wind was more noticeable when we turned onto Range Road and headed north. Range Road was okay initially but I found the last part after the Penny's Hill turn off was pretty hard going. I eventually made it to the Wickhams Hill decent - the road was closed to traffic which made the run down the hill great fun despite the head wind. I even managed to catch up to some of those who'd gone past me along the top of the range.

I eventually made it to the final refreshment stop but my legs were tiring and I was feeling the first signs of cramp. I had a break and some food then headed west back through the hills towards Rosemout where the family awaited. The next five or six km's were a continual battle with cramp every time I had to push hard - I had to walk up one particularly nasty hill. Anyway, I finally nursed my failing legs back along Chapel Hill Road towards Rosemount and had just enough in reserve to have a final blast down the hill where Karolle, Miles, Troy and Allison were cheering me on. It hit 73km/h down that hill which is my fastest speed - so I at least had one milestone for the day.

The ride was only 70km in total but, with the fairly unpleasant conditions, it was a pretty challenging ride for me. I was completely spent by the end of it but satisfied that I persisted through the cramping and got there eventually. The main thing I took out of this ride was the need to prepare. I hadn't really ridden at all for the two weeks prior to the ride and my lack of training showed at the end. The other thing I need so sort out is the cramp thing - evidently magnesium is the go, so I'm giving that a try.