bike riding

Last Sunday I rode 74km, was a lovely day to ride.  
Then on Thursday I rode 72km, it was ANZAC day and before we left we stood and had a minutes silence in memory of those who fought for our country.  We had our Less We Forget bands on our bikes for the duration of the ride.

The route we took was challenging, we rode up through Arthur's Creek and around the back up to Kinglake... there is a hill called Mad dog (or something like that) and you have to be mad to ride a bike up there.  Then I got told there was more....  8km of pure climbing.

Here's the profile, as you can see it just goes up and up... and up.  of course what goes up must come down!

I clocked 62km, what a massive rush!  Instead of sitting on the hard shoulder which isn't a bike lane but a nasty skinny lumpy piece of rubble I came out on the road itself... what a difference!  I shot past my bestie which put a massive grin on my face and I think I startled her!

Next time I will come out onto the road earlier.. make sure you aren't in a car behind me! I have one more saddle to test out before I make my decision...

some cooking and sewing

 the noisy one is doing junior bakers at school this semester... I was treated to a Delicious Monte Carlo for my afternoon tea today. was bloody good too!

 Last night she decided at 9pm to make choc chip cookies for her friends at school, I managed to snag one before she packed them into brown paper bags and hide them in her school bag.

 I decided I would try and be all arty farty and stacked them up for a photo...

 She also made hazelnut choc muffins with a chocolate ganache icing... my work colleagues thought they were Divine.... I must say she is pretty good in the kitchen with baking goodies, specially chocolate stuff.

 Today is my besties birthday. I bought her a yoga mat as the ones at the gym are rather yukky, I got her a mat with cherry blossom design and I got myself one with koi carp (they were on special after all!!)

 So then I had a brainwave, I needed to make a bag for us to cart them into class.  I found some lovely fabric that another friend had made for me a while ago.  Then I decided that the bag will be a little neat so needed some slippery fabric to line it with.... I was very thrifty!  I popped into savers and found exactly what I needed for a whole 99c  then I decided to find cord or ribbon, nothing in savers but a few doors up is one of those cheapo Asian shops and I scored a reel of ribbon for $2  and the best thing was the lining and the ribbon matched well!

There was a flour explosion in my kitchen.....

weekend stuff

 One of my friends at the gym has been diagnosed with breast cancer, she would run every day to the gym.  Her daughter in law created a team for her for the mothers day classic.  My partner in crime and I are going to run 4 km for Lynne... I'm not a runner but I will do it for her.  Then we will join all our friends from the gym and our little girls and walk 4km for her.
We are getting T-shirts organised and the gym is going to do a fund raiser for breast cancer with a mega class.  I am blessed to be part of a wonderful bunch of women (and men!) who rally together when times are tough.

 The noisy one made garlic rice (was bit more like risotto in the end) and had BBQ chicken to go with it.  was quite nice, she needs to make a few more things, zucchini slice is next, she keeps pulling a face but I think she will be surprised.

 Tomorrow is club championships.... 4 hours plus poolside, timekeeping, running around with timing sheets, marshaling kids and conning parents into coming onto the committee for the new year!

I also managed to ride just under 100km on Thursday and Friday morning with my friends, we did a new route with a couple of nice hills (yes I hear you laughing or choking).  I scored myself 2 QOM's... now I have you all wondering!!  Queen of the Mountain.  When you ride the fastest up a hill you get the title of KOM or QOM... its what many riders strive for... yes I do have a competitive streak in me.  OH  the saddle testing is going well, I have tried 2 similar saddles both are so much better than the above one.

 Milly loves to garden with me, today I picked up the secateurs and she went bananas!  I butchered the climbing rose as the rose hips were dragging it to the ground... she was tossing them in the air.. loon!

And Mr Cookie???  well.... the little b$#(@(#ered  escaped last night from the house at about 11pm  I was sick with worry as he is a house cat and has very little outside experience.  He returned at 3 freaking AM!  I was able to sleep.  He was exhausted by his adventure and I hope he hasn't acquired a taste for travel.

adrenalin rush

 The noisy one has to do some baking for school and take photos so she made banana bread...

 then a custard teacake... was rather tasty!  She needs to make some savoury stuff too, hope its on a work day so I don't have to cook dinner!

 The adrenalin rush today was brought to you  by the Victorian BJJ championships.....

 The froglet competed in her weight division and scored herself a Silver medal.... she was so disappointed with herself for loosing the gold but she knows what she needs to do next time.  I'm proud of her regardless of her placing and I said later you will be less disappointed in your loss and proud of your win.

 The noisy one had a 15th birthday and has been banging on for the past 2 years about getting a onesy.... these are her feet.

Mr Cookie Cat happened to get in the way of the camera and got snapped.... hes a handsome man.