The harder you work the harder it is to surrender.

With the heat set to soar into the mid 40's my early morning ride time has it's advantages. Setting out at 3am so i could get a good 8 hour ride in before the heat wave. With hilly races on the horizon i stayed in the Dandynongs to climb instead of going to the hell ride. All i can say is my knee has never felt better after draining the cyst and cortisone. This particular ride was one that i got a distinct feeling that the hard work was paying off. I could have ridden in the hills forever, i even broke curfew i was that deep in the zone. Today Terry's avenue seemed to flatten out and felt just like any other climb. Day's like these you wish you were racing and if your not you must hold back otherwise you will cook it for when you do race.

Tuesday night MTB critts and Knee update.

Well after some long and hard training today i had my cyst drained and cortisone injected into my knee. This will keep me going strong until i can fit the surgery in around the racing schedule. I am off to see the surgeon on Monday to find out what is involved with the surgery. One thing that has help keep my going is the high quality Ascend protein recovery, essential after each training session.

Also on Monday i am having an Eco Stess test at the Epworth to check on my heart. Due to its strange behavior over the years the doctor likes to keep a close eye on it and after having chest pain in Canada last year he is not going to take any chances.

Niggling physical problems like these are just events athletes have to deal with. I have learnt over the years you just have to deal with them the best you can as they are often out of your control. So take measures to have them fixed and focus on what you can control. eg Recovery and rehabilitation.

Skins are a great product to help speed the recovery process after training. Check out http://www.truespiritofcompetition.com/ for a look at skins moments in sport calendar that questions some classic moments in sport.

Riding wise i was able to get out on the Fatties Wednesday night ride. I picked my Giant Anthem up from ProMotion in North Road after a full service. It was great to hop on a fresh machine and smash along the Yarra full noise without it missing beat, giving you the adrenalin rush. If you would like to enhance your MTB skills this is the Weekly MTB ride to do. You should bring lights (Nightlightning) as it gets dark by 8:30.

Racing for me kicks of next Tuesday night at 6:30pm at the Fatties MTB critts. They are at the Eaglemont Tennis club Melway 31 K10 and entry is only $5 either A or B grade.

Knee problems.

I got confirmation today from the doctor that i have what is known as a Baker's cyst. This is a sack of fluid behind the knee that swells up when irritated. I irritated it Sunday night doing box jumps. This is good news as i now know what is causing it to swell up every now and then. It is also what happened in Canada at the 24 hour worlds. What it means is surgery at some time to have the cyst removed. I have decided to have it done in April after the Marathon champs due mainly to the down time after surgery. Until then i just have to be careful not to irritate it.

In sport and life nothing ever goes perfectly. You always have to manage injuries and setbacks. This is all part of the journey. Stay focused on the goal. Adjust your plans to accommodate the injury or setback. By accepting the setback and adjusting your plans you are still moving towards you goal and have taken action to get back on target instead of floating in no mans land waiting to get back on target.

Fast/hard, night/day riding.

This Saturday morning i was up and out the door by 3am thanks to Mitchell who had finally gotten so tired he fell asleep. This left me wide awake so instead of going to bed myself i went for a ride. Strapping on the trusty Nightlightning light, I spent the first few hours in the Dandynongs then headed toward the beach. Along the way i met the Ivan and Chris heading toward the Hell ride. We also found Bellie in his new bright yellow shoes ( the Wasp known for its repeated stinging attacks.).

The Hell ride was a spacial one with a strong cross/tail wind. When it is windy you must stay up the front or you will be left behind. So when the ride rolled out at 50+km/h and then didn't drop below 55km/h i was not surprised to find that only a handful remained by Frankston. It pretty much stayed like this all the way back as we picked up the main bunch who took a short loop.
By the time i made it back home i was toasted but excited by such a worthwhile experience.

Riding tip: When their is a cross or tailwind the bunch is most likely to split, so stay up the front. If it does split and your down the back at speeds of 55+km/h you can't push any faster so you will never see the front bunch again as it is imposable. At these speeds you also must be able to push a big gear. This requires strength which is the foundation for riding at these speeds for any length of time. Suggested you work in the gym for this followed by Ascend protein to recover faster.

Missing Ascend

This is the first week that hard interval training has taken place combined with full time work. This is always tough at first as the body adapts to the load. One thing i am noticing towards the end of the week is the legs don't have the same amount of ping. The main reason i think is i ran out of Ascend protein recovery. It probably was a bad time to see how much it helps. Anyway the way i feel right now i could do with some to get me back on track fast.

How to balance Family, work and riding.

I'm back from holidays and straight into laying bricks. What a week to start back with temperatures into the mid 30's. It was a good time for a rest from training only light riding for the week. Saturday morn was early again as other fellow MTB riders [Andy Bell, Jason Jackson Epix, Jeff Williams, Matt and Ben Randal showed up today, interesting] are now joining me for a tour of the Dandynongs. This ride is been dubbed the dads ride, due to our family commitments and unwillingness to stop riding. We go in the wee hours of the morning while everybody else is sleeping.

Tip: if you love riding and also want to spend time with your family get your arse out of bed early and have the best of both worlds.

Back to bloging

Happy new year. I am now back from holidays with the family. Due to my body being totally exhausted i have had a good month off the bike to let it repair the damage i have caused it over the last two years. Anyway i have settled back into riding again and all is going a bit to well. Since i have had some time off my body recovers supper fast. It may have something to do with Ascend's range of recovery products in fact i am sure they assist. Basically i will be training up for some racing in February and March and will then assess where i go from their depending on performance. My inspiration for the year is based on these words ' Failure is very often the fertilizer for success.'


Mitchell has developed a fetish for trains. seen here tyring to break into the Bright train museum.

My first ride back from a break was to check out the Marathon Championship course for 2009. With plenty of climbing and fire roads it is sure to be a hard fun day of racing.

Emma is now crawling. She also has started her core training.

This is Jeff trying to fix his flat. What he didn't realize was the rim had a massive dint in it. His new Giant Anthem descends to fast for him and he can't see the rocks.

Jeff was put to the test when i took him out for a 50km MTB ride. It had over 2000m of climbing and pinches that were over 25% grade.

Jeff and Brad on another challenging MTB ride off the side of Mt Hotham

Emma modeling for Skins.

The view from Mt Buffalo

Along the flat part of Mt Hotham. You can still see the damage from the 2003 bushfire's.

Looking down CRB hill on Mt Hotham it is a casual 15% grade.

Looking from Mt Hotham over too Mt Feathertop.

That is an update on what has been going on. I am looking forward to the year ahead and will be updating my blog regularly again so stay tuned for more training tips, long adventures and great products i use and test.