conquering the 7 peaks

 Been a little busy recently..... I completed the 7 peaks with my hubby and help from my friends.

 This entails you, the cyclist to ride up 7 peaks in Victoria.  You receive a passport which you get stamped at the top of each peak.  The season starts in October and finishes at the end of March the following year.

 There is Mt Buffalo, Falls creek, Mt Buller and Lake Mountain. Dinner Plains, Mt Hotham and Baw Baw.
We only got rained on (and sleet at the top) on Lake Mountain.. the rest of the climbs were with perfect cycling weather, for me that equals not too hot and a gentle breeze.

 My favourite climb and descent was Falls Creek.  This is a beautiful 30km ride with undulating hills.

 I also Loved doing Mt Hotham as that was also 30km and very challenging.

 However  the shortest climb was Mt Baw Baw and this was by far the hardest with nasty short pinchy climbs. my fisherman/mamil has decided he doesn't want to do this particular climb ever again and I don't blame him as on his first attempt at descending (after a successful but long climb) he had a nasty fall and was airlifted to hospital.  He was fine, how he didn't break a bone we don't know but he did bring a fair bit of gravel with him on his butt... we laugh now, but his helmet definitely saved his life.

 I hope to climb some of these mountains again next year.... perhaps even Baw Baw....  don't worry though I'm not going to descend on my bike, I'm not that mad hahah.

hand piecing

 The down side of feeling sick, is that you feel like crap, you cant do what you want to do. You don't feel like going out to get basic daily needs ie: milk and bread and  something for dinner.... mind you, cooking is the last thing on my mind.

 An up side?  well I have sat and watched TV and done hand piecing of the double wedding ring.

 I have sat and cheered on Orica Green Edge cycling team as they ride in the Giro D'Italia... well I have seen the highlights as its on at an ungodly hour of the morning. OGE are the Aussie team for the non cycling fans and they are doing extremely well!

 Milly has made the most of me sitting still for such extended periods and is either on my legs as above or curled up, don't you love the way they curl up into such a small tidy ball.

 I have managed to get a fair bit of stitching done which has helped cheer me up.

 I recently saw a photo on face book of a bride who had wrapped herself in the DWR quilt her mother made her for a wedding gift.  It made me smile and have tears of joy thinking how lovely the picture was and how much the mother of the bride would be delighted.

 I showed the froglet the photo, (she is the recipient of the DWR I am making), she told me she wants a photo just like that one of the bride wrapped in her quilt....  my heart nearly stopped with joy!  I have quite a few years before I need to worry but its given me an incentive to make sure it is finished on time.

Cookie also decided he had to get a little lap action tonight too and sat on his 'mummy' he isn't a big one for doing lap time, so we all feel rather privileged when he chooses one of us for a cuddle.

My most amazing day

Today was the day that my team partner and I competed in our first triathlon. This was a special one just for women and proceeds go to breast cancer research.
the day started very early at 5am... yes you read correctly I was up at 5am and by the time I got the girls up, my support team arrived and we met up with my partner in crime.

Now no event is possible without coffee and this guy was making a killing!!

We registered and received a really nice singlet top, sun visor and swim cap. You can see here my timing chip that I had to wear on my left ankle (note the pink toenails and fingernails!!)

I have big black numbers on my right calf and right arm... in permanant pen!
The order of a triathlon for those who don't know, is swim, cycle and run. Our distances were 200m swim/6km ride/2km run. Quite doable we thought, this was the medium course. My partner and I have been training for months and felt really confident that we would do well and have little or no problem with the distances....

We were partly right... Swim was pretty good, I did get stuck behind a couple of ladies on the last pool can (floating thing to swim around!) so lost a few seconds and also at the steps waiting to get out... Then on the bikes and away I went.. need to work on those transitions! the ride itself was good, but I was puffing a bit and could see the running track.. it seemed MUCH longer than 2km.

My family and friends had placed themselves along the course at intervals which was great as I was cheered on not once but up to 4 times! They really kept me going.. and the thought of my team mate who had a big head start lol.

When I got back to transition I couldn't find my position on the rack for my bike and lost valuable time (lesson to learn!) this kinda threw me off my timing and I struggled to keep going. We had to do 2 laps of the running track, I felt that I ran twice as far as I was supposed to! The weirdest thing is that running is usually my weakest leg and I beat my partner in this and she beat me on the bike which I usually blitz her on... I think I better at hills than her lol.

At the end of the event we received a lovely medal and a huge sense of achievement.
I placed 43rd overall (out of 129) and 8Th in my age group out of 15. I have to tell you though that I placed 3rd in the run leg!!6Th in swimming and 9Th in cycle. My team mate really did well and came 22ND overall and 4Th in the age group. she came 4Th in swim, 3rd in cycle and 7Th in run.
We can now call ourselves triathletes and will be doing this again!