Another Madison.... and The Hitching Post

Australia Day (Jan 26) Madison at Blackburn was a little different this year - a new event for the women was introduced: a womens madison. Following on from the success of the Maryborough entry onto the womens madison circuit, this was very welcomed. Unfortunately, Blackburn had scheduled their event on the same day as the 'Open' classified Wangaratta Track Carnival, so numbers were significantly down despite the interest from the women. Carly McCoombe, an U19 star from Bendigo, had asked me the previous weekend to ride with her at Blackburn, and despite me avoiding the track to build up my road base fitness, I welcomed another opportunity to ride a madison. We ended up racing the men's event as well, which was an interesting experience. I don't know why they worry so much about the safety of women in madisons: women listen and learn about the protocols, and from my experiences so far, are very diligent in applying proper protocol. Men, on the other hand, assume they know the protocols and therefore do not accept feedback of any kind (god forbid from a woman racing in the same event!!!!). This makes for some dangerous situations. Really dangerous situations. But despite a few nobs in the bunch it was nice to hear on the commentary how smooth Carly and my changes were, and the fact that we hadn't missed a change (well, we did miss one but the commentators must have missed it!). To all those that think we can't handle the heat in a madison: get bent. We can, and they are great fun.

The other news:
Ewin and I spent the remainder of the long weekend (Australia Day warrants a public holiday) camping down in Port Campbell on the west coast. This is where we decided that we wanted to spend the rest of our lives together. And to formalise this further, Ewin popped the question! My response was that I would love to.

It just seemed so natural. He is The One for me. Nothing else to say, really.

Except when I do say he is 'The One', I keep thinking of a Flight of the Conchords episode:

Jermaine: She was The One
Bret: But I thought you said Sarah XX was The One
Jermaine: She was.
Bret: You said Clare XX was The One too
Jermaine: She was too.
Bret: Well, how many The Ones can you have?
Jermaine: Five.

I guess many people don't know that we have known each other for a long time and in a way this has been a long time coming. It just wasn't all that obvious from the outside. In future I probably should also tell people that I had started seeing the person that I know I want to spend the rest of my life with. Come to think of it, I did tell Phil exactly that back in California. He reckoned I should be careful as guys will tell me anything to get into bed with me!! But that's Phil. He should close a deal soon. But here is Ewin at the Blackburn madison:

Some more pics from Port Campbell:
Training ride after getting engaged

Testing the blood sugar. I wasn't low when I said yes.

Great Day on the Great Ocean Road:

Out on the Road on a brief respite from tourist traffic:

So we conclude our time in Port Campbell and make the drive from the western end of Victoria to Gippsland in order to let both folks know. Ewin is originally from Newborough, only 20km east of Yarragon.

We also let the rest of the family know. Here are their responses:

Emma: Fuck Off!

Luke: Fuck, eh!

Jo: FUCK!

Marcus: Who to? (admittedly we woke him up to tell him)

Mum and Dad were interesting, but have since warmed up to the concept and are now pretty excited. Ewin's folks have also been pretty excited.

It is exciting!