A wicked SE wind

A wicked SE wind this morning kept me cool and slow. In fact after not feeling wonderful last night, I planned on an easy trip. Altogether it took 1 hour 7 minutes door to door but having said that I did detour to go down to the lake at Commonwealth Park and have a short photo session on the opposite side of the pond.

Despite my lack of sleep and apprehension over riding my HRM readings showed no extra signs of stress on my body and I actually did feel really well when riding (except over one or two of the bumpier bits of path).

After a busy Australia Day (which seemed so much like a Saturday) I am very relieved that today is Friday. Bring on the weekend and ... my week off! 5 appointments with the children plus all the back to school preparation it won't be relaxing but not getting up at 4.30am will be wonderful! After that though, the routine starts up again in full swing with all the after school activities that go with it.

A glorious sunrise over suburbia

A glorious sunrise but doesn't "Red in the morning" suggest shepherds take warning? Regardless, I enjoyed admiring the beautiful colours in the sky whilst pedalling along Gungahlin drive. Not quite as pretty from Commonwealth Avenue Bridge, but still some colour in the air.

Cool with mist on the hills

A beautiful morning this morning with mist over the fields. The sun didn't appear at all until on Northbourne Avenue - sunrise may change by only about a minute a day, but it does make a difference over a week or so.

9 degrees, quite cool, but only a slight breeze. Saw 5 bikes before getting to Northbourne - that must be a record. A most enjoyable trip to work.

The holiday is over :(

I can't believe our long awaited holiday is over. No more sunrises at the beach - at least not for another 12 months!

Good thing though is that I am back on my bike :)

It was lovely to be back on my bike Saturday morning for a local ride, and then today back to the normal morning commute.

It's amazing how in about 10 days the mornings can be that much darker! The strong southerly wasn't exactly fun but a reasonably respectable 55 minutes.

I did plenty of cross-training over the last 10 days: running, swimming (finally made 1km in one session albeit very slow), skating and Pilates. Lots of fun! I would love to keep all of these up but where does one fit it all in. Skating where does one do it once Skate in the City is gone and Oak Flats is not exactly a 10 minute drive as it was last week.

Anyway, back to reality although it is a short week this week. Bring on Australia Day!

3 degrees – is it really summer?

A freezing morning – well almost. It was 3 degrees at 6am. I dressed appropriately and really enjoyed my ride. There was mist rising above the ponds and "dragon breath" as my kids would say. A delightful ride. Clear blue skies, very little traffic: pedestrian, cycling or cars. Just a lovely ride. My last commute for 10 days as we head on holidays tomorrow. I am so looking forward to getting away. I will miss my bike though L.

Windy Wednesday

A very windy Wednesday with westerly winds sitting at around 35kmph. Often a cross wind for me, but as I approached Northbourne Avenue and then again coming along the lake it was a great tailwind and I enjoyed being blown along.

I skated for 90 minutes last night including doing a number of teapots and my legs (particularly knees) were rather sore even before I left home so I had been concerned about how long my cycle was going to take. Should I even be cycling or should I rest? Well, I cycled and the wind was generally kind. Now at work, my legs are a bit stiff but generally very good.

10/1 Another Tuesday

Just an ordinary day. An ordinary commute. Nothing exciting to report but the agapanthus by the lake do look pretty.

Monday again

A beautiful morning to ride to work today. I was whizzing down Northbourne at around 31kmph. Very fast for me. Going along LBG I had averaged over 25kmph which is very good. The whole trip took me 48 minutes. Again a good time, but amazingly a cross wind, not a tailwind. How fast would I go with a tailwind?

Even while cycling I can't help thinking about my skating on Friday night. I want to go again. I think Tuesday night might break the week nicely. Just a quick dinner at home then into town for our skate. I so want to be able to do all my fancy things again - particularly the spins which I always loved. I always used to love salchow and flip too, so maybe I can get up the courage one day.

The sunrises are noticeably later these days. i didn't put my sunnies on at all although I will admit I could have quite easily along LBG but certainly not when leaving home. It is actually quite a nice time of year although I would be happier with slightly warmer mornings.

Thankfully Friday!

A chilly start to the day with 14 degrees and a strong southerly making it feel much cooler. Is this summer? The ride felt sluggish today. Probably as I am tired after staying up too late trying to get my dress to a wearable stage. It is! I did it! So tonight I will have the little pink number on – skirt anyway. The bodice still need finishing so I will wear my black shirt to cover the multitude of sins.

Checked out the roller rink again this morning with the girls rolling off at 9am. I am so looking forward to tonight I could barely sleep. My big issue though is with the uneven surface and now not just trees and poles in the middle, but umbrellas as well. My favourite skating backwards around the rink in the normal direction will be so much more difficult with the hills up and down. How are beginners going to cope? I just want to be able to land my waltz jump, do a 2 foot spin and hopefully an IB upright. That will keep me happy for night number 1. It is a full year since I have skated but watch out Canberra – here I come.

Back to the bike ride. Overcast and miserable with the odd spit of rain. Frustrated to hear my Facebook friend lost one full dress size walking 20 minutes a day for a month (with no dieting). Here is me cycling 150km per week, plus walking, swimming, tennis and the other things I have been doing and is there any difference – no. Aargh!

Have been using MS Word to post the blog yesterday and today. I loved the photo effects I could have. What a pity that the pic didn't work. So here I am editing manually. Now my pic is in!

A great commute but skating story again

A late start today as my car is in for service. Got my bag packed, put the bike in the car, grabbed my drink bottle and headed to the mechanic. There was this nagging feeling that I'd forgotten something. Hmm. Bag, bike, lunch, work clothes … what could it be. Turning into the mechanic's street … ahaa, my helmet. So back home I had to go.

Second time around all went well dropped the car off, no waiting, jumped on my bike and headed off on an almost normal commute. So many more cyclists at 7.45am as compared to 6am. Northbourne I got caught behind a couple of buses but still very pleasant.

Took the turnoff at Civic to check the skating rink again. Lights up, plants in place, looking good – except of course for the uneven surface. Still no railing so I thought I would ask, just out of curiousity. There was a guy in a Stars on Ice t-shirt who said he could answer my questions. We ended up talking skating for around 15 minutes. I also briefly met the young guy who will be teaching Erin and Kathryn tomorrow. I am so excited about skating again. I just hope it is not too crowded. Can we go again Saturday morning? I wish my skating dress/skirt was finished. If I can just get the bottom half completed I will be happy. A t-shirt will cover a multitude of sins. The guy also ended up asking me if I would be happy to be involved in media coverage – of course. Then I left without leaving any details. Oh well, he knows I am coming tomorrow night and he knows the girls are coming to the 9am tomorrow and have lessons booked in.

I then continued on my very happy way along the normal route to work. Arrived feeling great and very excited at the prospect of skating tomorrow night. Gee, this is becoming almost a skating blog! You can see my heart continues to be with skating after all these years.

What's new - a skating rink of course

A detour this morning to theck out Skate in the City which opens Friday. The new skating rink is in place but not quite ready. Although I am excited about skating, I am disappointed at its weird shape, small size and uneven ground. There is a ramp at the far end, a dip in the middle, plus poles and trees. As you can also see, the tiles don't all lie flat. Let's hope there are some major improvements before opening night on Friday.

I know it's only temporary but they managed to get the ice on a level surface, why not the roller. It will leave only a very limited area for any artistic skating. Oh, I long to get on and skate but security is in place. I actually can't imagine it being good for anything much, too narrow in the middle for roller derby and certainly not anything near an oval shape, for roller soccer the ball will roll to the middle where it is lowest, roller hockey - not even mentioned but same as for soccer and artistic you are really only able to use the bit closest to the camera which is what we will do, but hopefully it won't be too crowded. Quite a quandary here. We don't want many people so we can practice and experiment etc, but on the other hand if it is packed every session then it might just prove that Canberra can support a roller rink.

Although for practicalities it is much easier for me to go at night, realistically for a quiet session the 9am would be quietest. Hmm, maybe a Saturday morning, or Australia Day?

Apart from that, an enjoyable ride. The agapanthus are out in full bloom now along the lake and look beautiful. A lovely 17 degrees, short sleeves and very comfortable.

In the office now and already freezing cold. Aah, this air-conditioning. Within the next half hour I will be in a jacket to keep warm and yet outside it will be 34 today!

My beautiful bike will also be getting serviced today, so a trip to town in the middle of the day to drop it off is going to be lovely.

Back to work and the normal commute

After 10 days of holiday and recreational riding back to the normal commute this morning.

A lot of glass on the road today but a warm morning, 18 degrees. I had a lovely ride and enjoying the slightly later sunrise meaning no sun in my eyes until the lake.

A beautiful way to start the day. My only complaint this morning is that the cafe downstairs is closed, so I walked up the road to the next one, also closed, so headed for DFAT, open! Hooray! Problem is the Hot Chocolate was horrible. They used chocolate topping and no froth at all. Urgh. Perhaps I shall have to walk to Lachlans but that is 3 blocks away. But at least I know it tastes good.

2/1/12 A beautiful morning to ride

Had originally decided to go to Lake Gininderra again but somewhere between getting dressed and heading out I decided to just do the normal two ponds. On getting to the top of Yerrabi I decided to follow the water/creek upstream through Forde. And I kept going, and going until the creek bed dried up and the fence for Mulligans Flat Nature Reserve blocked my path. The bikepath/footpath however kept going around to the left so I followed and this huge hill loomed ahead. Oh well, it's either go up or go back ... so I went up. Steep hill! Coming down would probably have been good were it not for the sharp left hand turn near the bottom so I did use the brakes a lot to keep my speed under control.

I got down to the carpark where the scouts start on their night bushwalks and lantern stalks so I turned right again and followed until I got to the Road Closed sign. Oh well, time to turn around.

Made my return trip home via Amaroo and Ngunnawal. A fun ride, with lovely bushy countryside.

Happy New Year!

What a beautiful way to start the New Year down at Gungahlin Pond with Kathryn. Cycled down just before 5.30am to see the pre-dawn colours in the sky. The pink in the clouds is just not depicted as well in these photos. Then at 6.01 the sunrise over the lake.

A short ride around the lake and home via the schools. Would have loved a longer ride, but with Kathryn the company made up for the short distance.