The Tale of Two Weeks Plus TDU

Week one was highlighted by finding excuses not to ride.

Sure, a work commitment was to blame one morning and that is almost acceptable however on 2 other occasions, I was reading non existent demons into the weather and did not venture out.

Week two, (this last week) was much better and as well as doing a 225 k’s (including 2 Coot-tha’s and 3 Gravatt’s), I added two running sessions to the usual non cycling activities of the rowing machine, weights and punching bag.

Friday was this week’s rest day as I had a dental commitment.

And it all paid off with a win in the D grade criterion on Saturday out of a field of 20 or so at Nundah Criterion Circuit. Winning margin was about a tyre and it was the same distance between 2nd and 3rd.

This coming week will be a challenge. It will be lonely as the vast majority of the bunch I normally ride with have packed up and headed to Adelaide for the Tour Down Under and to see the return of Lance to the pro peloton.

Adelaide is totally cycling crazy at the moment, every room, tent site, caravan is booked out for miles and apparently restaurant bookings are hard to come by. I know of some people who tried a month ago to make restaurant bookings in Adelaide for the coming week and could not get a seat.

Having Lance in Australia has been great for the sport and the promotion of the cancer cause.

Love him or doubt him, the guy has class and a seemingly inexhaustible energy. Most people having flown around the world would be totally spent by all his media and cancer commitments without having to train and then race a pro tour event.

A friend in Singapore sent me an SMS advising the Tour Down Under is on Eurosports in Singapore and the TV will be on in his office.

Lance = exposure = ratings = dollars for cycling and that cannot be a bad thing in the current climate where more teams are disappearing than being formed.

In the meantime, Lance has his first chance today in the pre race criterion to equal my number of wins for the year. And just as I will never win a pro race, I am willing to bet that Lance will never win a D grade criterion at Nundah, Brisbane, Australia.

Ride safe, train hard, have fun