tram tracks

Today's post is brought to you by the letters T and W.

 Today's valuable lesson was in how to fall gracefully off ones road bike on tram tracks.  Yes Road bike wheels fit into tram tracks very nicely.

these aren't my actual wheels (wishful thinking there!) But they give you an idea of my wheels

 

 This is however an actual picture of my elbow that took the brunt of my fall today.  could have been much worse, my bestie who fell a few weeks ago is still nursing a sore arm, but is riding with me still. (waiting for someone to tell us that perhaps we shouldn't ride together any more lol)

So here is my garmin... shows you the time I started, how long we rode for and the distance. Was a nice ride and we missed most of the heat (36 degrees here today)

So the quilt for the boyfriend continues... strips are being sewn together, and four patches are now ready to have the next part sewn to them.

S

 I'm really pleased with the colours and pattern, I hope that he will appreciate the quilt, I usually only make them for those that I hold close to me and that will understand the time and love that has gone into them....

Have you ever given a handmade gift to someone and realised that they have no idea how much time and effort can go into something specially made?

Australia day and triathlons

I have started to make the froglets boyfriend a quilt for his 21st birthday.  I found at my guild meeting a Bali pop that seemed just perfect.  the froglet was rather delighted with my choice.

 Today was not only Australia day but it was also my triathlon and the noisy ones first triathlon!  The morning was perfect, sun was shining and the temperature spot on for a great event.

The outdoor pool at MSAC is really nice to swim in, I did the long course again with my best buddy 300m swim, 9km ride and 3km run.  I certainly haven't been running for the last 2 months with a sore foot but was very pleased with my efforts. My time this year was just a few seconds slower than last years time.

 The noisy one did the short course, 100m swim, 3 km ride and 1km run.  Of course she blitz the swim, did the most graceful dive of the day!  then looked the part on the bike... unfortunately she felt rather nauseated by the end of the ride and did the Aussie thing and had a good old fashioned chunder as she ran out of transition.  A bit of a walk and she came good to run home strongly.

I'm very proud of her for having a go, shes been my biggest supporter at my triathlons for the past 4 years I have dragged her out of bed at ohmygodisthatthetimeoclock! She enjoyed the event and I think she is considering doing the medium course next year (she will be overtaking me soon!).

I hope that you all had a great Australia day... I just popped out the front of my house to watch the local councils fireworks, lucky I don't have to travel to get a good view!

heatwave, tennis and quilts

It has been very hot here, so Ive been doing some hand stitching in the cool of the air conditioning.



I laid out what i have done so far.... yes don't panic I know that the cornerstones aren't all going the right way.....

Last year my friend and I went to the tennis for the Australian Open, her son was doing ball kid duties.  He got in again this year and we decided to go on the Thursday.... yes it was the stinking hot day from hell.  We arrived  about noon and found seats in the court that would be soon having women's doubles with the William sisters.  I watched them last year and was looking forward to this game.  But then the heat rule was set in action and all games were stopped until further notice.

So we decided to go and find a cool spot.. what could be cooler than the fountain?  Yes we got in fully clothed, shoes and all.  We shared the fountain with mostly kids to start with, then other adults seemed to decide that we looked like we were having such a good time and joined us.

 When play finally resumed it was 4 hours later and matches had been cancelled and games moved around.  We had also planned on watching Sam Stosur playing doubles in Margaret court but she was moved to an outside court, which was by chance the same one her son was working on.

We sat in the front row and could almost reach out to touch her!  She still has amazing biceps that my bestie and I could only dream of!  she and her partner won the match easily and dispatched their opponents in just under an hour.

While we watched her a storm was coming closer, we could see lightening over the northern suburbs.  Then my eldest txt me to let me know a wall of water was heading our way.  It hit us and then play stopped again... sigh.  At least we know her son can mop floors!!

we had a great day regardless!

More riding....

On Christmas morning my training partner and I went for an early morning ride at 6am.  We ended up having coffee (yes we found a place that was open!)  and was given a lovely home made melting moment... we decided we will return to this coffee shop as the service and coffee was good.  45km before the family woke!

Then Boxing day we decided to find some more hills to climb and rode out to unexplored territory (at least to us it was).  We did 47km today.  Some great hill challenges.... some people will know the area we rode..... Bannons Lane to Hurstbridge (awesome decent) then back around the back road  through Nutfield (so apt!) to climb back up Arthurs Creek road, along Yan Yean Rd and up the gorge road accent.... short but sharp!  When we got to the shops in South Morang we high fived each other grinning like loons and saying how far we have come with our riding in the last 18 months.

I have my big ride up to the top of Mt Buller in 12 weeks so my bestie is going to help me with my training rides.... gunna smash it!

Christmas riding.... two types!

 Here is a few pictures of how I decorated my beastie for my Christmas ride the other week.  I got rather excited when I went into the cheapy Chinese shop and found bogun Christmas balls!

 They swung (is that a word?!) from under my saddle... my friends behind riding behind me said they looked a bit wrong hahahha.  I got crafty and converted a pair of dangle Christmas tree earings that flashed into front and rear lights by ripping off the earing bit and sticking double sided tape to it.  I wrapped a necklace that flashed around my top tube.

 I was pretty impressed with my efforts and won the price for best dressed bike.  A pair of socks!

 Then on Sunday I did a little riding of a different kind.... yep horses!  I have ridden on and off for most of my life so am comfortable on horse back.  I took the noisy one as she really enjoyed riding when we went to Scotland a few years ago.  I used to come here to Uncle Nevs and was delighted to find Glenn (above adjusting the noisy ones stirrups) was still here and remembered me!

 We stopped halfway for a drink and a bickie and had lovely views of Melbourne... if you look closely you will see the skyline of the city.

 and then the hills are the Dandenongs.  The day got rather muggy with all the cloud cover, but didn't rain so we didn't complain.

 My trusty stead for the day was speckle on the far left.  He is a new horse to Nev's crew and was a joy to ride.  To those who know horses, his trot was smooth and easy to rise to, and on our final canter up the hills he took off like a rocket and overtook all the horses!  very responsive little horse, I will be asking for him again.

The noisy one did very well on her first ever trail ride, she sat well in her canters and is looking forward to riding again next year.  I had sore inner thighs (think my butt is used to saddles due to cycling!)  but the noisy ones butt bones were also tender!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and spent it with those they love.

Grinch time...

 So the quilt continues, I started it weeks ago and thought it would be done in a weekend!

 I laid it out on the floor and was pleased with its progress.

This one is a little dark but I considered putting boarders around each of these larger blocks.

Then I laid it on the bed and discovered that I was 2 entire blocks short... So had to cut a few more bits, sew them etc.

Im nearly there, have them in 2 rows now... just need an hour or two to get them done.

 My best friend and I call ourselves team coffee, I was able to get these pendants made in Bali for us both (no I did'nt go, but another gym friend goes regularly and is kind enough to get them for others).  I was going to keep them for Christmas but could'nt wait that long.

 my eldest, the froglet turned 19 on Monday, she bought me these flowers last friday as I went into hospital for a day procedure, all seems to be fine so Im hoping when I ring for results tomorrow that I will be given a clean bill of health and can get stuck into training for my next event.

Cookie was christening my new ironing board cover that I bought at the market a few weeks ago.  I was getting a bit desperate for a new cover as the old one was getting holey  and the middle was crunchy!

The only problem with the new one to start with is that it was like ironing on top of a pile of pillows.

I have my christmas ride with my group on Sunday and we have been told that the 'best' dressed for christmas will win a prize.... always one to jump to a challenge I have as you can see put antlers on my helmet.... I have much much more but will reveal after sunday.... I am so pleased with my shopping skills and how I have adapted certain items to become 'bike bling'   I dont always get into the full Christmas spirit but my beast will certainly be looking the part this year!

Cup weekend

My next challenge!  I will be riding 100km.  Done this before but not up to the top of Mt Buller!  15km climb at 7% gradient.

Today the girls that I will be riding with and I rode to Strathewen, I did a nice 64km it took us 3 hours as we had a nasty headwind on the way home and then got rained on several times.  I even copped some hail on my last bit home.

I'm hoping to get a little more done of my quilt on my day off tomorrow but I am working on Cup day.

Here in Melbourne we are in our spring carnival for horse racing  and on Tuesday the entire nation stops for this race (so they say!)  Bit like some of the big overseas horse races, I'm not going to complain about the extra money!

A lot of people have taken Monday off as an extra day to extend their weekend to 4 days, the roads have been empty and Cole's was incredibly empty, so good!