Where have I been...?! (Oct & Nov 2013 Review)

Life's been pretty busy lately - lots happening in all spheres of my life.  Don't mistake inactivity in the bog for inactivity in life - quite the opposite!!  I'm checking in here quickly to log a few stats for my ongoing record, and quickly run over what I've been doing, and what's coming up...

Firstly - updated stats:

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January - 300km / 13hrs

 February - 452km / 20hrs
 March - 341km / 20hrs
 April - 269km / 12hrs
 May - 201km / 10hrs
 June - 437km / 21hrs
 July - 71km / 4hrs
 August - 518km / 26hrs
September - 455km / 21hrs
October - 386km / 17hrs
 November - 245km / 13hrs

Year to date - 3674km / 178hrs

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Obviously things fell away mileage-wise over the last couple of months.

The main culprit has been work.  I had a sudden change of role due to some urgent priority stuff going on. This included some changes to my work location.  So instead of working 4 days/week at my usual building (and 1 day/week elsewhere) - I'm now split 3 days/wk in the CBD, 1 day/wk in Milton, and 1 day/wk at my usual location.

My cycle commuting (which has been the backbone of my mileage) thrives on 'habit' - and my new arrangements haven't been conducive to that at all!!  It took me a few weeks to get access organised for my bike to underground carparks (and other annoying administrative stuff), and then some further time for me to work out the best way to carry a lot more than usual to/from work (the new CBD location doesn't have lockers available).

Fortunately, things are starting to settle into a routine again.  I'm managing to cycle-commute at least 3 days/week, which is (probably most importantly) is making me happy...  :)

Weekends have been a bit scrappy, as my kids' weekend school sport really ramped up over Oct/Nov as well.  That's not a complaint though - I absolutely love it.  Cheering my girls on and watching them improve and grow in confidence is one of life's great pleasures.  School sport is on Christmas holiday break now though, so plenty of opportunity over the next couple of months to build up some time in the saddle.

What's ahead?

In the short-term - club racing.  A couple of HPRW club's twilight criteriums on a Wednesday afternoon (including my first one this afternoon), and a couple of my own club's Saturday morning criteriums.  I had planned to race the Brisbane Blast Open criterium on 15th December - but I waited too long to enter and Masters C reached capacity. Lesson learned...

Big News!!

June/July 2014. Northern Italy - riding the Stelvio, Gavia, and Mortirolo. France - spectating a stage (or two!) of the Tour de France.  Looks like it will happen, but I dare not write anymore in case I curse my luck...

Needless to say, I'm excited...  :)

Getting ready for 2014

Normally, I spend the week or two around Christmas/New Year off the bike.  Then in January, I'll just do some sporadic riding to slowly get back into the groove of it all again.

With some big plans for 2014 though, I want to be ready to start strongly in January.  So December for me is about trying to rack up as many days in the saddle as I can to be ready for a big first 6-months of 2014.

Ride safely!!