Country life throws some curveballs at cycle champ

by Pip Read, Australian and National Masters Cycling champion

Hi, from the life of a full time cyclist. That does sound quite idyllic but in reality the 'new life' is not working out quite as I planned, well at least so far.

During the last two months of commuting to work I had to spend two and a half hours of driving a day, something my body was definitely not used to. This resulted in back and neck pain as well as sore legs and noticing that it was taking quite some time to walk comfortably in the morning. I was also suffering with very stiff ankles. Now that I've been away from work and the consequent commuting for a bit over three weeks, I'm feeling a lot better. Mind you my riding has suffered with the time off the bike, but I've been having fun discovering some challenging riding roads and meeting up with some great bunches in the local town.

I have also been re-discovering some very quite country roads, where in general the only thing that I need to worry about is the occasional farmer on his tractor, the occasional snake, which have all been dead so far, and the odd cow. Just the other day saw me sailing down this great down hill section that I'd discovered a few days before. I'm talking a serious but short downhill. The next thing I knew I was looking at the back of a very big, black bull. I yelled as he went right and I was going left! I am not sure if I prefer dodging cars or wild life and not being a country girl it did make an interesting ride.

I have completed a few club races since moving up here and while it's a bit of a drive from my point of view it's worth it. Last weekend we had a team time trial which was fun. I entered a team under the SheSpoke banner but I'm afraid I forgot to tell one of the other girls to bring her SheSpoke jersey. I hade some of mine but all were too small. I think we confused the course commentator. I must remember to be a bit more organised next time. The team finished third and had a great race especially as two of the girls were quite new to racing and were a bit surprised at how fast you can actually corner at speed.

Later this week I'm of to Bright for another training camp. This time it will be the Bright Boot Camp which is run by some friends of mine. To be honest I'm not sure how I'll go but at least it will give me something to base my training on. I have installed a 12/27 cassette on the race bike and will see what happens; if all else fails I can hit the down hill bits a little earlier. In a few weeks we have the Victorian Masters Criterium Championships and I've just gone up an age group. As far as I know they have chosen a new course so look out Castlemaine!

Stay safe everyone and don't forget come up and say hi if you see me around the traps.

Bye for now

Pip