A relaxing weekend away.

After pulling out of the Highland fling Kendra and I decided to take some time out and spend it at our Friends (Shane and Sarah) farm. It was a great decision, we had a really good time. We did not do much, mainly some bush walking, and a bike ride thrown in.
Our bike ride was going to be a nice flat easy ride, but as it turned out it was the opposite. We headed off on a fire road, that was really nice with a slight up hill, rode along some single track (mainly used for horse riding, watch out for poo!!), then back onto the fire road it was all great. The fire road soon turned into a climb up Tantawangalo mountain. A few k’s into the climb it looked like it was not going to get any easier so I gave Kendra the option of turning back to ride somewhere else. But no Kendra was determined to get to the top so we pushed on. It was pretty tough and was really surprised that she kept going. We got to the top and with only 7.5k’s riddin we had climbed 430 vertical meters, that is pretty big. So we decided to head back down that was great fun nice and quick we were nearly back in no time, but we had 1 more climb. We had another 200meters of vertical climbing to go, up the drive way. This was pretty hard going and my knee was beginning to feel the pain but we push on to the top for a nice relaxing drink.
We took it easy for the rest of the weekend even though it was only a 15k ride. Our 2 dogs had a ball chasing everything in sight, by the time we got home they were stuffed.

Time to get back on the saddle

Well after a physio appointment on Friday, it is all good news. It seems as though the real problem with my knee is that my knee cap is slightly out of place. During the Scott I landed on it which moved it across slightly which has been causing me all the problems. The Doctor’s opinion at the time did not really make sense, and I am glad for the second opinion. So with some exercises to do, so I can get my knee cap across, and the go ahead to get back on the bike I was happy. Looking forward to going to the farm and having a easy spin.

Getting organised

Well it has been 24 days off the mountain bike, 17 days off the road bike, and 15 days off the trainer and still counting. With my knee slowly getting better (almost there), I have had some time off now. I am really keen to get back on and put in some good riding. During my time off I have been doing some preparing.
Next month I have decided to step out and put my body in the hands of a coach and really work on my base fitness for the nationals and then extend that base for the Worlds. It is exciting stuff, but something that is going to take allot of work on my part. Usually I just go about my training trying to fit in what I can. But I know with a coach I am going to have to fit in what he says and make it work.
At the moment I should have a power meter in the mail, with some pretty cool software. Having a power meter is pretty much a requirement of my coach he like’s to work of figures (which is a good thing). This software will allow me to check out nearly every possible detail of me and my bike ride and log it all. All the logged data can then be downloaded so I can run it through the program for some pretty graphical displays. Before I start with my coach I am planning on putting myself through some testing, so my coach will have all the information he needs to set me up with a good program.
I really can’t wait to get back out there and start working towards the goals ahead of me. But I have to be patient to get my knee right. I also know that it will be a while till I have a break off the bike so really I might as well enjoy it while I can, even if it is forced.