Back on the Road?

Ba boom ba boom ba boom

The heart is kinda racing right now. No, I am not on the bike but certainly I am nearing the top end of E1. If I can maintain this for four hours it could possibly be a good day for me.

I doubt that though, as no one wants to be thinking about what I am thinking about for very long before going insane. Its well overdue for me to distract myself with something else so I can calm down.

But I can't!

I had a similar situation during the 2007 Oceanias (to be technical, as they were actually held in November 2006). The exact same heart rate rise while off the bike. Back then, the cause was the discovery of who I was riding against in the Individual Pursuit: Katie Mactier, Olympic silver medallist and 2005 World Champion in the same discipline. Holy crap did my heart rate go like hell! To calm myself then, I had to text everyone in my family as to who I was up against.

Of course the details...if you must know... I punctured on the rollers during the warmup, and used completely brand new front wheel as a replacement - literally it had been taken out of the bike box, tyre glued on and pumped up as a spare. With all this excitement, and my early season lack of form, it only took Katie 6 laps to catch me. Unfortunately, in qualifying, this does not mean an end to the humiliation. Oh no, you must post a time. Which means you must complete the distance. Another 6 laps was grovelled through until the body's suffering overwhelmed any humiliation I might have felt earlier.

Man, do I miss pursuiting..

I digress. The reason my heart is all-a-flutter is that I have just seen the start list for my next race. The Geelong Tour.

Completely out of the blue, I was asked by Anna Wilson to ride the Geelong Tour with the Victorian Institute of Sport (VIS). Thats pretty exciting for a couple of reasons:

1. I am not a road rider, nor have I raced much this summer thanks to being sick. How/why did they think of me? Who cares? How cool!
2. The VIS is always considered a good gig. Plus its a blue and white kit!
3. Anna Wilson, probably Australia's greatest ever female cyclist and fresh off a year as DS for T - mobile, will be directing the show. What an experience!
4. Instead of packing myself lining up against Katie Mactier, she will instead be my teammate. Very cool again.

So aside from being one excitable person, I have also been packing myself. Point number 1 above is the main reason: I don't have a great palmares on the road. And on looking at the start list, there are plenty of riders that do - on a world level. In fact its a kick-arse lineup of talent from across the world.

And I am packing myself! Did I mention that??!

The tour details are:
Thursday Feb 21 8km TT and 60km road race
Friday Feb 22 106km road race

which reminds me, I should put in a leave application eh?

****wedding talk start****

I have been blinged with a ring. Thanks to Noel Sens from Bendigo's Sens Jewellers, we have had a great couple of weeks choosing and fitting the ring in amongst Bendigo racing and climbing Mt Alexander with Noel's bunch (could there possibly be more worse pain than climbing Mt Alexander? any thoughts of the ring having magic properties were dashed during the first 500m. What an awful awful climb!). Having never been much of a jewellery person, I actually really love wearing the ring for what it means to me. I really do. Its so cool!

We have a date for the wedding: 22nd November 2008

We have a date for the engagement party also: a barbie on the farm in Yarragon on the 23rd Feb. From 5pm. All welcome.

****end wedding talk****