Well Sigma has been vindicated. After 4 (that's four- one more than three and one less than five) successive weeks where my Max speed was 54.77 km/hr, the speedo has just proved that I was having an extremely consistent period of cycling.
Yesterday's coffee ride had its little sprint down to the Casino (as it does every Saturday) and I thought I was going to see 54.77 again. About a dozen of us headed onto the straight with me tucked back about 4th wheel. 75 metres in was about time to give it all and so I did.
As I went past Mark (and I should qualify that by saying that Mark was on his "fixie"- otherwise I'd see nothing but the Assos tag on the butt of his knicks), I glanced down to see 53.5 on the speedo. I thought that was a pretty good sign as I was still cranking it pretty good but didn't dare look again until we had made the turn and started back to the cafe.
Imagine my surprise when I thumbed through the readings to get to "Max Speed" and there, "lo and behold" was 54.77 km/hr. I was, as they say here in the Land of Oz, "absolutely gobsmacked!!!". But I hadn't rolled 10 more metres when the numbers just sort of rolled like a slot machine (if LCD numbers can do such a thing) and there was a new Max Speed of 56.23 km/hr.
So Sigma, you have been spared a spray in my blog- not that you would have anything to worry about as something impacting great numbers of consumers. I guess for four weeks, my PB was truly my PB.
And today, Sunday, was a race day- but I didn't race. Officially the season is over, but just to keep interest up, the local cycling club holds a few "off-season" crits. Well, that and the fact that in a few weeks time, we're going to have some of Australia's top pro circuit riders here in town for a criterium where some of the local elite riders will get to test their legs against the "real deal".
Add to that, the fact that we had a bit of a "social" last night entertaining some cycling (and non-cycling) friends and a young lady newly arrived in Townsville from Halifax with many curries, barbecued prawns and several "refreshments"; I suspect that the racing legs would not have been able to put forth their best effort.
As it was, I joined some of our regular group for a ride to"the Dam"- a ride which Dee often mentions- and then onward for coffee. We had a rider from Cairns join us for yesterday's and today's rides. Trevor is 70 years young and is currently here in Townsville undergoing radiation treatment for cancer.
He rides a 20 year old "custom made" steel-framed beauty and had no problem keeping up with the group- even when we were getting up around 40 km/hr. He's been here for 4 weeks now and has three to go and if his determination to beat the "C" is anywhere near his determination to ride, that cancer hasn't a chance.
Oh and I'll throw in one more little serendipitous item for consideration- his radiation therapy nurse is from Halifax, Nova Scotia and just happened to have been our guest for the curry night......."Six Degrees of Separation???"
Cheers- ride safe
BoaB
No comments:
Post a Comment