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A few Dams, a bad start but worth the early morning wake up.

So I felt ok heading into the day, actually a bit excited as this week was the hill week.  It started out ok I felt reasonable.  Turning down Brookton Highway I thought the head wind was a bit of a killer.  

I was starting to blow up, which was surprising as we were only 8 minutes in. I kept telling myself that I was just being weak due to the fact that I had put in some early morning and late nights during the week.  

At about the 20 minute mark I practically exploded.  In one of my why the hell am i doing so badly I looked down and saw an almost flat tyre.  Bloody slow leak  I jumped off and repaired it but the damage was done.  Mentally and Physically I had given up.  It didn't help that there was nothing but hills in front of me and I am probably the worst climber of our group.

Fortunately for me Rob is an excellent coach and pushed me over some sticking points and I managed to find some enjoyment and some speed.  Crosing over Wungong Dam had a nice view.  I have never been there before.  It is quite spectacular.   

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Ended up being a worthwhile ride.  As Steve says these are the km's that count.  The ones you don't want to do.  

 

Accidents Happen - The Cleanup not so fun

For an initial moment I thought I had witnessed a death on a bike this morning.  Thankfully it wasn't that.  Still pretty horrible crash.  

 I was riding along behind two strong riders in my group.  We had just moved out past a Broad rider.  (Around 43km/h)   After probably what felt like twenty minutes but was only probably about 30 seconds I was at my limit.  I bonked and moved off the back.  The others in my group moved past as did the accident victim.  

The pace eased off slightly and that is when the carnage happened.  A rider contacted one a rear wheel of one of our group and got speared off into the oncoming riders.  It was a head on impact by my estimate the combined impact would have been 60 km/h plus. 

Sickening to watch and I was first there and thought I just witnessed a fatality.
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The Rider moving in my direction (North) was unconscious for a good 40 seconds and had quite visible facial injuries.  The other rider was conscious but suffering from major shock and was having breathing issues.

Did my best to sort them out until the ambulance came.  Btw don't give someone with a concussion anything to eat or drink.  

So the ambulance took the rider heading north away.  The other rider managed to stumble home.

 Not a fun morning.

Injuries
Rider Heading South 
 2 Cracked Ribs
 Bark off shoulder

Rider Heading North 
 Broken Nose
 Fractured Bone in Face
 Bark off Head, Face and Hand
 Sore Neck
 Sore Back
 Major Headaches

 

Queue Mission Impossible Music

Ok I have decided I am going to attempt to do the Five Dams Ride in April of Next Year.  That gives me very little time to prepare for it.  So I need to up my work ethic and get some km's in to my legs and some decent km's not all flat rides as I am used to.

The Five Dam Rides is BWA event that covers 234kms.  It is way out of my league and I should probably start with something like the 3 Dams Ride.  So step one set a realistic goal I have already failed.  Thats ok I will work out a plan and try and get there.  If you don't try you never achieve.   

I am going to ride with the http://www.armadalecycles.com/ team so I need to do some work so I don't slow them down too much.

You can stalk me on strava if you are keen to watch the build up to it on strava.  I have also signed up for the Rapha Festive 500 on there,  I imagine I am going to kill myself in 2 days and not finish that but hey its worth a shot.  

Anyway I will keep this updated here for my 2 intersted readers.  So 2 big goals with no plan yet.

 

A Day of crashes - Home and abroad

Firstly abroad some heavy crashes at the Tour with a few having to abandon. (Vino by all reports is pretty knocked up)

Surprising one would have to be the French Media Car taking out Juan Antonio Flecha who then hits Johnny Hoogerland

Also here it is the other big controversy was Contador pushed or was it just a touch of wheels.  Probably better video to come on the cycling sites soon.

On the homefront I took the kids to the skate park today.  There was blood, skin loss and sore legs.  

At least after every fall they got back up and tried again.  Gotta be proud of that.

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Saturday Riding - One just wasn't enough.

In my usual effort of poor planning and leaving everything to the last minute.  I got everything into the car to go for my usual Saturday morning ride and turned the car on.  The Low fuel warning come on.  Shit I remember the night before that I was low on fuel and was going to get up earlier.  

Oh well figured I might still make it.  Nothing worse than having to fill up your car with the early saturday morning crew who are their to collect their smokes and coffees standing around in nothing but lycra.  

In the end I didn't get there in time.  Quick phone call I found out the route.  Ended up mis-interpreting the direction and doing a solo ride. :)

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/98000598 

Need to work on the hills my heart rate starts to peak when I even see one.  In my defence they were quite big at least 3% Grade :)

Here was my second ride from Upper Swan to Carine.  My GPS was trying to kill me.  Riding down Wanneroo road was not a good plan but fortunately I didn't have to play chicken for too long.

Here is that ride.