I started cycling in January of 2008 (a month before my first Triathlon). Prior to that, the only cycling I did was when I was a kid around the neighbourhood and to and from primary school until I was 9. Growing up in New Guinea, there wasn't much of a chance to do much cycling due to the safety issues.
When I started training (I use that term very loosely) for my first triathlon, the furthest I would ride would be 10km. Why? Because 10km was the distance for the cycling leg for my first triathlon. Why would I need to cycle for more than that?! Ludicrous! After my first triathlon, cleats were added to my cycling gear. The furthest I would ride would be 40km from Modialloc to St Kilda (slowly) but I would always come home from those rides exhausted resulting in a nap for a few hours. Cycling was halted for many months and was only resurrected when I decided to get back into triathlons.
Fast forward February/March 2010 when I joined Tri Alliance and this is when the whole cycling took a very sharp turn. Cycling is no longer just getting there and just ride the distance of the race. Before joining the squad, I don't think my speedo had seen 30+km/hr as I would be just riding rather increasing my heart rate and pace just to keep within the Tri Alliance Train. Over the winter months, cycling moved from Beach Road to Studley Park in Kew. Ohhhhh Emmmmm Geee! It was only during these hilly rides did I learn how to use my gears properly and the difference the large and small chain ring made. Before that, I had never been on the small chain ring, I stayed on the large one as the rides I was doing were just flat (Beach Road). The rides grew from 30km...45km...50km...90km - Beach Rd, Studley Park, Great Ocean Rd. I became a more confident cyclist and it was evident during the next season of triathlons where my cycling time improved greatly. It also helped that I upgraded to my Wilier Imperiale for my road bike and bought a Felt B2 TT bike for triathlon racing.
The longest ride to date for me would be Sept 2011 Genovese Kinglake Ride of 120km through rain, hail, shine and a touch of hyperthermia.
Commuting
I then tried commuting to work in 2010-2011 with some success and failures. Commuting to and from work would require much planning on advance as I would have had to pack 3+ bags (fail) as my plan was over Wednesday-Thursday:
Pack bag for swim in the Wed AM, pack bag for work Wed, pack bag for Wed cycling home, pack bag for work Thurs and pack bag for running for Thursday PM run session...That's a lot of packing and organising! I did this once successfully.
One commuting experience was a major fail! It was the day before Ride to Work Day 2010. I had packed my bags ready the night before and cycled home after work. Rain came that afternoon. I had ridden in the rain before during training and thought nothing of it but cycling in the rain during peak hour traffic?! Fail. Heavy rain = visibility of zero! I had to cancel the plan and asked someone to pick me up from South Melbourne and drove me and my bike back to my car.
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| Squeeky - My first road bike |
Cue present day. This morning I commuted to work for the first time in 2012. Instead of using the main road, I rode the bike paths along Beach Road (using the IM Melb run route), through to Port Melbourne, Docklands route and getting into work avoiding traffic and having to go through the CBD. In total, it was a 33km route (initially I thought it was 37km) which took about 1:30 or so. I rode the paths casually (didn't go beyond 26km/hr) as the bike path was twisting and turning, you had to avoid shrubs, rocks, pot holes, glass, dead possums, pedestrians, (live) animals and I was also riding my old "Squeeky" road bike. I only had to ride on the roads where necessary (road works, bike path ends) but generally I felt more relaxed than I anticipated.
There was also a slight moment this morning when I woke up at 6am - that maybe I should just throw this commuting thing out the window and just drive into work instead as I was slightly nervous.
I didn't do much packing of the bags as I carried my backpack (with work clothes, wallet and phone) on the bike (my bag wore a high-vis safety vest too - safety first!) and I am still in recovery from my surgery (no running yet) --> no need to pack running clothes. The weather this morning was also perfect for commuting - no wind, no rain and the temperature was cool as I only had arm warmers and a cycling vest over my normal knicks and jersey. It is forecasted for a chance of THUNDERSTORMS this afternoon/evening....fingers crossed that I am still able to commute home. If not, it will be a looooooooong train ride home.
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