A year in the life of a wannabe racer- Season 10

[ldrcycles]

After an absolute flop of a year in 2023, it's time for another crack!

Number one priority as far as cycling goes is the Warwick-Brisbane record. It's been an albatross on my back for 6 years now and it has to go. The current record is 6hr16m33s for the 164km, with the form I had last March I was confident in taking at least half an hour off that, but then bad weather postponed the attempt and I got covid for the first time on that very weekend

Once that's done, the next target is the 236km Kingaroy-Brisbane. I've had a crack at this one back in November 2020, but had to pull the pin with cramping after about 90km in very cold conditions.

The form test will be the Toogoolawah 25 Mile TT on March 10. The Toogoolawah Wheelers club has been basically defunct for a couple of years now, but I really like the course so I just keep doing it myself. A club meeting to either get some new people to revive it, or wind things up, is on the cards in the near future.

2024 started with an easy 37km around Kin Kin, and luckily the weather played nicely for me.







Yesterday and today were just the usual 18km to the top of the Kin Kin range and back, I'm conscious of building things up gradually and not getting overenthusiastic.


We all know this series is no longer just about cycling though, so on to the farmwork!

November 22 to October 23 was one of the worst droughts ever recorded here, but it broke in the last few weeks of December and now there's mud to deal with. I didn't have a ripper for the tractor to direct the water from our driveway culvert, so I had a think, cut down a tree (no matter what the problem the answer almost always involves cutting down a tree) and strapped a log onto the slasher.







It didn't do a good job, but it was ever so slightly better than nothing, and it did prove a huge success in that I finally found my missing snigging chain! That meant I could finally deal with a dead tree covered in lantana next to the driveway, and that job turned out just dandy.










Onwards and upwards!

[Imwit]

Hope you find plenty to write about this year. Look forward to reading it

[ldrcycles]

Sunday is the one day I can squeeze in longer rides (without waking at midnight), but in the spirit of gradually getting back into shape I was only aiming for about 70k. The first 30km went well but after that my back started tightening up and I had to stop about every 10km to stretch it out. I still managed to hold onto a pair of riders at 37kmh after they passed me on the old Bruce Highway. The ride as a whole was a good example of where things are at, not super strong, but careful and prepared.

Monday sees me at the sawmill at 7am, too early to fit a ride in beforehand, so it may as well be my rest day. Tuesday was just the 20k top of the range and back, with some excitement injected thanks to a well timed quarry truck appearance. Having chased him down the range (those things can be surprisingly nimble when they're empty!) I held on at 60-65 for a decent while given how unfit I am.

This morning it was off to Boreen Point for 30k, and the temperature was just mild enough to make the sky high humidity reasonable. I was particularly happy to get a photo that did the view justice.

[am50em]

Nice!

[ldrcycles]

My day job of repairing robots has been absolutely flat chat, hence the lack of posts here. Between work, weather, family issues, and my recalcitrant body there's been a distinct lack of miles on the bike, but I've still got my eyes on the prize.

Youngling number 2 has now started school, and while he has some issues as expected (bit of a highly strung sort) he's doing very well.








I finished building the fence around Mrs LDR's cabin to stop the cows eating her flower garden









And I bribed the kids with chocolate milk to get them to help paint it








A couple of weeks ago I had a day trip to Brisbane with Winnie, stopping at the Wild Horse Mountain lookout at sunset on the way back










The object of said day trip being to pick up a 2014 Fuji Roubaix, my first road bike with SRAM.









I can see why people wouldn't like the SRAM shifters, but I'm happy with them, and the bike as a whole. It's a very different feel to the Fondriest, where that is very relaxed and loose the Fuji (like my Kuota Kebel) feels sort of uptight, it doesn't like to be thrown around. Once my legs have some semblance of fitness back I'll get a better idea of pace, but it does feel a little faster than the Fondriest.

Number one priority this month is working on Peanut the tiny house. I started on it in August 2022 and the floor and framework was mostly done by mid September. "I'll have it ready for sale by Christmas", I said, and didn't.

Christmas came and went, so I moved the shell from my parents place to my driveway so I could have a crack at it with any spare few minutes I got. That has worked, albeit slowly given the million other demands on my time (not least completely rebuilding my parents crumbling ~70 year old verandah). As work progressed it became clear I had stuffed up the design, the roof height in the loft is way too low for any adult. For small children though, it's just grand, and I've got a couple of those, and an empty block I need family accommodation on...

So we're now keeping Peanut for putting up at Builyan, and I've set the absolute last, final, unbreakable deadline of this Easter. It sure as heck won't be easy, but I've got to get it done and out of the way to get other jobs happening (such as building a new bike shed to replace the one the Boxing Day storm took).