A few days of fun

The week started with a social ride with Sal and Nat on Monday morning. Then in the evening, I received an invite from Kiez - she had a mini Chinese New Year open house. Lots of great home cooked food - felt like I was in Malaysia again! After dinner, we played a few rounds of black jack... you can't celebrate Chinese New Year without gambling right? But the stakes were pretty small starting with 50c and I ended up with a loss of A$1 haha. Thanks Kiez and family for the invite!

Tuesday morning, instead of the usual BYL interval runs, I did the ATTA Time Trial in King's Park. The distance was 17km - 5 laps up and down Lovekin Drive, so it was a rolling hills course. I'm getting used to using the big crank while going at high speed now. I was aiming for 34 minutes (average 30kph) but I pleasantly surprised myself with a 31:33 (average 32.1kph) I guess I prefer a hillier course than a flat, open course exposed to the winds. Although I still have to improve on my bike handling skills around the U-turns.

Wednesday I joined a group for a ride led by Jason, a fellow team BYL member. It was like going into the unknown - the moment the ride started, these guns were clocking above 45kph! I got dropped less than 15 minutes into the ride, luckily one of them stayed back with me for the rest of the ride. Thanks mate and sorry for holding you back!

Thursday is Australia Day, and what do triathletes get up to on a public holiday? Extra training! It wasn't on my program, but I decided to join in a fun and unofficial triathlon of 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run at Sorrento Beach organized by my good friend and IMWA cycling buddy, Dennis. It was not meant to be a race too, but as usual, sometimes the competitive side takes over. I kept to my pace though, without getting to the red line and paced the run with a guy named Ray, who was doing his first triathlon that day. Thanks Dennis for organizing, we all had a fun day out!

*Pictures from Dennis' Facebook page*

The mercury has risen to an average of 40 degrees maximum for the past few days and looks like it will stay that way for at least until mid next week. Staying hydrated and avoiding overheating will be key for my rides this weekend.