my weekend

 My mum bought me a little tree as I wasn't going to get the big tree out of the ceiling this year.... I found in Typo a box of tiny Little baubles.... perfect size for my little tree.

 I bought 2 boxes... much to my disgust I found I had to put the little hangy threads on myself!!  they do look good though.... should take a photo of them all on the tree i guess.

 Cookie had his annual shower.... should have heard the carry on!  He is really very good with water, he doesn't scratch u to shreds but he lets you know he isn't really enjoying it.

I did a ride with a group called Audax yesterday.... was the bahumbug ride... we rode 103km from Wandong to Seymour and back.  the outward journey wasn't too bad, a couple of hills.... but the trip home... oh boy.  We had headwind and hills that I don't know where they came from!  the last 10km were really challenging, the heat had turned up just to add another element.
But when we got to the finish we were rewarded with a lovely lunch complete with Xmas pudding!

my great victorian bike ride journey

 Day 1  of 9 days of riding and camping.  we claimed our sleep easy tent, hung the bunting and parked our bikes.

 I was gobsmacked to see cattle trucks arriving in the campsite.... the people that came up from Melbourne in buses... this was how their bikes came up!

 Queuing became the norm.  Queue for breakfast, lunch and dinner, showers, toilets, to wash your dishes and to leave the campsite in the morning to ride! The stats showed that 42 volunteers would serve dinner each night and 500 people each 30 mins would be served.

 Each day we rode from a new location, through the gantry to cheers from the smiling volunteers.  The school groups in the first few days learnt how to keep to the left and call out when passing and general road rules.  The rest of the rabble also learnt how to ride in big groups and the art of communication improved as the days went past.

 We rode past Bonnie Doon, over the weir wall.  We rode up mountains and down mountains. Infact I found that there was a lot more hills than I expected and challenged us daily.

 The beast did me proud.  I got my new gatorskin tyres and had no punctures.

 We had views of the mountains that we rode up and down

 I experienced ALL weather conditions.  over 33degrees on a climb with a torrential downpour for the descend complete with marble sized hail stones.  Fog came into camp that night and we had stunning thunder storms with lightening displays that caused the school kids to scream.

 The towns we stayed in pulled out all the stoppers and welcomed us with open arms.  Moyhu was the smallest but the most impressive to me.  They had bikes down the road to welcome us, a street festival with music and food and wines.

 We encountered gravel roads unexpectedly.  Sadly our first gravel road was a detour due to a tragic accident.  Our second gravel road was the rail trail just before Yarck and then all the way to Alexandra... about 30km all up.  My gatorskins did me proud..... the bike store made a killing that day with inner tube and tyre sales.

 On the second night I ate the butter chicken, bad move.  I was up from 11pm-2am experiencing something that no one should before they have the biggest mountain to climb.  No it wasn't gastro but I rode up the Tawonga Pass with no fuel in the body and feeling like hell.  My friend didn't leave my side and I made it up eventually.

 Several days later I did feel a lot better and I was able to enjoy my holiday a lot better!

 This is the SAG wagon.  It wasn't something I was going to catch, and I am proud to say that I didn't take the SAG even when I just wanted to curl up and be somewhere else.

 With the day of modern technology brings forth the issue of keeping in touch with loved ones and charging your garmin to record your riding statistics.  This was the table in the campsite each afternoon.  The volunteers had a system happening and for a few dollars you could leave your devices in safe hands.

 Mansfield was our rest day and I spent the day recharging my own batteries ready for the last few days of my ride.

The worst bit of a trip?  the massive pile of washing!!  I rode 530km in 7 days of riding, I hope to be able to do it all again!

Its time!

 Here is my home for the next week.  I am leaving early in the morning to join my friends and over 3800 other cyclists for my adventure.

 My bike is ready to roll.... my bags... well they are not looking as bad as they did in this photo!

 Cookie gave my cycling basket a 'catscan' The funny thing is that I put this basket out every week and he doesn't give it a second thought.... but today had sat in it for ages and also made himself at home on my unpacked clothing.....  think he is on to me!

May you all have a wonderful week, I shall return next week and hopefully not bore you all too much with my amazing holiday.

Nearly there!

only 3 days to go until I join the Great Victorian Bike ride.  7 days of riding and fun (with a rest day thrown in) 520km

It starts in Albury and winds its way down towards Lilydale.  We ride to Yackandanda, Bright, the tiny town of Moyhu where we will increase the population by 1600% down to Mansfield where we stay for 2 nights (might ride up Mt Buller again!)

 down through Bonnie Doon to stay in Alexandra and then through Marysville where the bush fires all but destroyed the town in Black Saturday.  We get to ride through the black spur to Healesville for our final night under canvas and then a short ride the next day to Lilydale.

I am very excited and have been counting down the days for nearly a year now.  This will be my first holiday by myself without the fisherman or the girls.  It will be all about me for this trip!

I have been sewing today, sorry no photos.

If I don't post again before my trip I shall do a GV posting when I return.

happy sewing and riding!

weekends!

 So last night I go and get my bike ready for the morning ride... I check my tyres after my rides but I hadn't realised that the rear tyre was as bad as this.  you can see the wire thread and the tyre itself is flat instead of being rounded... not a good mix when you like to descend big hills at top speeds!

 So off to the bike shop I go this morning and get some new tyres, I got a sweet deal on a pair of gatorskins,,,, (love the name of these tyres!)  I'm going on the great Victorian bike ride in 2 weeks time, I don't think the old tyres would have done so well after 500km....

 I have been sewing bits and pieces in between working extra shifts and doing all my rides.

 On Thursday night the froglet scored free tickets to go to the Melbourne's food festival at Albert park lake, so we went and tasted our way through various stall holders..... no the above item isn't a spider... its a soft shell crab in a souvlaki... it WAS good.  We had other yummy treats and the macarons below were the best... we had a salted caramel one... mmmmmm

I really enjoyed my night out with my beautiful daughter, she is moving up to Brisbane in January so spending time with her at things like this is great.

The Slog

 Today's adventure was in Pakenham.  My bestie and I rode in a charity ride called The Slog.  We did the 100km route.

 we heard there was about 350 riders doing  the ride.  There was 4 options 30km, 70km, 100km and 150km.

 It was one of the best supported rides I have ever done, and Ive done a few now.  The volunteers were amazing and seemed to be there just when you needed water or a snack.

 We rode into Drouin for lunch which was great.  For $10 they gave us a chicken and salad wrap, an apricot bar, a huge cake bar and 4 freddo frogs!  I also had a gatorade... love those drinks!

The temps were high and the winds blew hard but we got to Garfield and had a well earned icy pole.  The last 10kms were hard with the headwind but we are locking in the ride for next year!

No sewing today for me, but I have nothing planned tomorrow so I'm hoping to get some sewing done.

whittlesea show time

 Who doesn't love a show? its been many years since I was at the whittlesea show but it hasn't really changed which I believe is a good thing

 lots of lovely baked good, arts, crafts, stunning display of botany!

 music.... this was the Yea pipes and drums, I love hearing this music

 my training partners favourite animal!  Camel rides and of course pony rides

 Equestrian events, showjumping and dressage as well as showing and the small ponies pulling the little carts.

 lovely quilts in the show, I happen to know the lady who made this one :)  and she won a prize.

 of course there are show bags.

 Clydesdale's waiting to be judged

 The light cavalry was even there.

In the entrance to the arts and crafts was this stunning appliqued quilt.  I managed to get up close and personal with it to study it better.  beautiful work.

I enjoyed my visit to the show, I was actually there helping man our tent for the swim club so was able to do a little sight seeing before my turn on the stand.

around the bay in a day 5th year!

Today was my annual ride atb.

My 5th one in a row...... this year we decided to go further than Frankston, so we went to Mornington.  We did think it was going to be 130km round trip but was only 122km but that was fine as we copped  a head wind all the way home.

We had a great day as per usual, had some laughs at the Mordialloc rest stop with the volunteers and danced to the music they had playing.

Our group of 4 stuck together all the way home and helped each other take turns out the front in the wind.

This is a photo of the back of my bestie, her son is just in front and you can see my leg as I lead out the pelaton for this section of road...... my besties hubby took the photo while he was on the back... hes one of those smartypants who can ride with no hands.

I also realised tonight that this is my biggest ride that I have ever done, I'm very pleased with my times for today's ride i got 134 cups on today's ride... this is from a website that you can upload your garmin details and it shows the map and your times.... the cups are mostly for personal bests.... we had a great tail wind all the way to Mornington.

week of good stuff

 Last week we had the most bizarre weather changes... we had a beautiful weekend, perfect for riding and sitting out in the garden.... then BOOM!  I came home on Tuesday and got soaked on the way to the car and then it hailed! yes this is hail in my front garden.... many areas got heavy hail, fortunately it wasn't bigger than marbles so the damage seemed to be less.

 After my rides I'm often rather hungry..... so good old bacon and eggs with a cup of Irish breakfast tea hits the spot.... I received this lovely mug from a friend for my birthday.

 Poor Milly!  she is in her crocodile suit.... I thought she would go totally ballistic but shes tolerates it better than i thought..... Cookie also got dressed in it... he was very unimpressed.

Ive been doing some sewing for Christmas gifts...... these are scraps left over from other projects.... think they will become mug rugs.

Another stunning weekend weather wise, I managed to ride both mornings and clocked up a very respectful 163km in 2 days.  Very happy with the kms and I also improved many of my times on various hill climbs around Kinglake..... I got to do my favourite descent both days.

Hope you all had wonderful weekends too

spring is trying to peek through

 Last month I participated in a special ride, it was called the rapha woman's 100.  I joined in with 8,000 women all over the world and rode 100km, obviously I didn't ride with the entire 8,000 women haha.  But i did ride with my bestie and 2 of my other favourite riding buddies!  along with about 40 other ladies and a few of those men participants who cant read hehehehhe.  Anyway today I received in the mail this special cloth badge and some stats about the ride.... a nice way to finish a Monday.

 My all time favourite flowers are starting to bloom in my garden.  I have a heap of miniature daffodils of different colours and shapes.

 Earlie cheer smell Divine.

 Stunning little white minis.....

 I should put something beside this little beauty so you can see how tiny she is....

Lastly a little quilty thing.... this was a paper pieced block that we were given to complete at our recent retreat.  The blocks will be put together and the quilts will be donated to one of the charities that our guild support.  Didn't take too long to make but not something I will rush out to do for myself :)