How to run 21km on 2 hours sleep

Team Reid all smiles after our run!

You know the feeling when you wake up in the morning after a heavy night on the gas, your brain isn't working, it feels to early and every simple task like pouring a coffee seems like the greatest mission since Armstrong (not the Lance one) stepped on the moon.

Well substitute booze, and add in 4 wake up calls on the hour every hour from 11pm the alarm being a small human that has no understanding that Mum & Dad really want to run well the next day day and we're starting to find comparable situations, throw a cat hair ball in the mix and the pressure levels go up a notch.

I know when I go to bed that sleep this week is at a minimum and all I really want is to hopefully get some shut eye at the back end of the morning, say between 3-5:30am; I know at around 12-1am Z-Girl is going to grumble, as mentioned previously her brace and boogers are not helping her sleep well, how long the grumble goes on for is based on how much I want her sleeping in our bed or if I attempt to re-settle her. I played the up and down settling game for too long, giving up and taking her to bed. But wow did that alarm hurt 1.5 hrs later when it rang. The cat meowed, as he likes to be fed instantly and is under the impression I keep his food under my pillow! the baby stirred, she was lying on my chest and the wife groaned and rolled the opposite way.

Walking down stairs to prep the bags, start the kettle and put Z-Girl on her play mat was met with a squelching feeling under my feet, I jumped back hit the lights to find a turd shaped item in the lounge room.

"Has the cat poo'd in the lounge? Are we serious, Z-Girl don't attempt to play with that"

I kneel down to sniff it, yes I now sniff things before I touch them I think it's a parent thing. I look around I notice nobody else is going to mop this thing up. Lucky or unlucky I work out its a fur ball and that the cat always produces these in pairs so where the hell is the second one? Oh its in kitchen.

Good start to the morning, and the kettle hasn't even started boiling.

We are both pretty blessed with good parents/baby sitters, and my Mum making the 30 minute early morning journey with a slowly recovering broken leg to get to ours at 6:15am was a super help to make sure we could both attempt to complete this half marathon. I know she loves supporting these events by being track-side or pool side in my swimming days, but a infant and a broken leg would have made for uncomfortable viewing, maybe next year Mum.

Out the door on time had the hallmarks of potentially being the biggest achievement for the day, the Metro Train system in it's wisdom was working on the tracks the day 30,000 runners were going to descend on Melbourne so getting in the car and heading to chase a carpark was my first minor stress. In fact I enjoyed the drive, I relaxed a little, ate a banana talked to the wife on our own, without having to sing 'ABC' to keep Z-Girl from jumping out of her car seat. The MCG Carpark was not as full as I thought and we got a spot easily, the wife was gesturing the need to get some pre-race jitters out aka find the toilets.

A quick call to my training partner and friend Ivan found that he had already got rid of his pre-race jitters, and was closer to the start line than us. After making our way down and powdering our noses we got in the line to get things started, a little national anthem sing song shaking of the legs and I suddenly remembered I never did a warm up? Eek oh well nothing like the first 5km to settle your stride. I kissed the wife and wished her luck as the gun sounded and I tailed Ivan as we weaved our way around the pack, I was looking for the 1:50 pace group, my goal was to run with them and hopefully leave them with 5km to go but the rush of people meant I couldn't spot the group and it was just too busy!

In fact it was so busy I lost Ivan and then just settled into my own pace, having to jump off the road and onto the footpath along most of St Kilda Road as I didn't want to slow down to much early on, I checked down at my watch and picked up I was on 4:57km/min and was starting to feel a rhythm, in my head I was worried I had planned to run between 5:15-5:30km/min and started to think I might blow up, but I just started to feel comfortable and my stride was short and quick reducing the bashing my feet with an internal thought of running with light feet I kept this pace going as we reached Albert Park.

Albert Park was the bit I liked the most, it's a nice place to run, the city on one side the lake on the other, the weather was just right and runners had started to thin out as we jogged in the middle of the Grand Prix Track, still I was thinking do I back off and get my pace to 5:10km/min but my body just seemed to ignore my thoughts and kept up the 4:56km/min it had dropped to (I was getting faster as we reached the 10km mark)

My nutrition plan was use all the drink spots on course, I only missed 2 of them and that was due to location of myself and too difficult to get across safely and the other one was on a uphill and I didn't want to slow down. I had a small bottle of mixed Tailwind calorie drink, a Endura Gel and my favorite Cliff Shot Blocs. The shot blocs are in a long packet reaching in after feeling the need at 10km to boost myself up I ripped the packet on the move shoved two in my mouth and thought 2 more when I get to St Kilda Rd would will carry me home, and then I proceeded to drop the remaining on the ground, looking back like a long lost lover at a train station I knew they were never coming back and hoped my gel would be the difference maker at the end.

On a little switch back Ivan saw me and gave me nice little helpful shout, the fact I wasn't too far behind him gave me a lot of confidence I was travelling well, he is certainly helps me benchmark my running, my wife even warned me not to try and beat Ivan on the grounds I would explode in a bonking mess. Getting up and out of Albert Park marked a milestone in my mind and I knew it was a pretty much a straight run home, ticking the legs I hit the 16km marker and reached to find my gel, dammit it tasted so good, sinful in fact considering I have cleaned up my diet. The placebo effect is amazing when you're running confidently and take an energy gel, my pace was still bang on 4:57 and I just spotted the 1:50 pace group! Praise be to the running gods, but like the rabbit in Alice and Wonderland I was late for a very important date, and I skipped past them.

I was now speeding up with 5km to go I was putting in a tough shift, my legs were really burning and I was worried I may of jumped to early, the Km Markers weren't coming as quick as I thought and my knee was starting to get painful, my head was playing tricks on me and I had drank all my tailwind, I was running on motivation only. The last drink stop told me I had still 2.8km to go, a splash of water shook me up and I kept trying to increase the load, I wanted to have nothing left when I crossed the line. I have a habit of holding back a little, just a little, pushing enough to do well but not great. Last years triathlon I finished but felt like I had something left, this time I wasn't going to doubt my effort.

Down the turn along the yarra and I spotted the MCG, I'm not a huge Aussie Rules fan but its a stadium that has the ghosts of athletic greats within its walls and if you can't shake a little tail for that then you shouldn't of entered, over the bridge that peaked like Everest and down to the final turns. My legs were becoming dust, and it showed in my time in the last km, it started to drop but clenched teeth go me in the stadium. You can't help but stare at the huge skyward reaching stands and rolling around the outside of the ground the finish line in sight, quick watch check and I was under, I was very much under 1:50, and I was spent.

The clock stopped at 1:42:45 - and my first Half Marathon PB, it would take some beating but I felt good for 90% of that run add in some Ironman 70.3 fatigue and I still feel I can run the final leg in under two hours come Feb 2016. I had done it, achieved a goal, the first goal of the year. Super wife followed in a time fit for Richie Benaud at 2:22 a women that has so much endurance she doesn't even have to train full time, a disrupted new job schedule along with childbirth recovery had her in 20mins slower than her previous at the Great Ocean Road Half, who knows her result if she trained!


You gotta look out and give the thanks when you get the result you wanted and some more, Super Wife is just ACE! I escape early mornings or lace up at 9pm for a run, she pushes me with her faith in me and unresolved nature to support all the crazy ideas, Mum for helping out with Z-Girl on race day, Z-Girl adding a layer of pressure and performance she is my little running partner, Cheeta Recovery for the running compression shorts and the recovery long pants post race, Tailwind Nutrition the science behind the best Endurance runners in the world for helping me out and those running buddies of mine Ivan for always getting more out of me and the group of buddies I have met at Westerfolds Parkrun.

To Taper, Train or Sleep.

Half a Marathon 21km and a bit more around Melbourne, I have not run 20km in fact I haven't even run past 16km, my training schedule and times has meant either I ride long once a week or run long and choose to ride the bike every time. Poor choice? I'm not sure yet. I have worked on Speed and Pace Setting, added some Hill Work to get my strength up and a lot of bike riding means I am confident I can finish. I have set a time of 1hr 50mins as my target, can I do it?

Prep in the lead up hasn't been great, I have read every article on tapering and they talk a lot of slowing pace down, or getting in a long run a week out, maybe adding in some sprint and stretching workout. All these were clearly written by someone without a child or a job or potentially both! Z-Girl is on a crazy week, a new tooth has been spotted along with an attempt by myself and super wife to get her to sleep more we've been letting her cry it out a little at night to change some bad sleeping habits that have come in since the brace was put on her legs.

The poor little thing just wants to hang out with Mum & Dad all the time, and seems to only sleep when laying on my chest as she snores with her booger filled nose. Her snoring is worse than my brothers, and especially loud when its 2 inches from your ear as she lays on you. It's cute, in fact it's like a small human water bottle. The downside, I can't roll over to turn off my alarm and if nature calls in the middle of the night (I drink a LOT of water) then I wake her as soon as I move.

Training has slowed down, I did some longer bike rides earlier in the week at a good but not heavy pace, I sneaked in a little darkrun after 9pm to get my pace right and feel confident; but then from Wednesday life got in the way and my last run Thursday was cancelled. The swimming pool midweek did help to loosen me out, but its my insane need to move that makes tapering difficult I want to go for 70km ride the day before race, not to help taper but to help not jumping up the walls. Breakfast with friends the day before the race helped me forget about any activity, but I did feel like I hadn't stayed fresh enough and from my running buddies it seems everyone has a different technique.

I'm lacking rest, I always lack rest. The Super Wife is also throwing her shoes on for this one and getting rest during the week just hasn't come easy. My parenting and functioning employee skills have been put to the test and in truth I've failed. I just am at a loss as to how to get my daughter to sleep after 2am I have tried all things and maybe that's the problem, I keep changing the plan and not sticking to a philosophy but it's been a "trying week" as parent types like to call it, I just call a "shit weeks sleep" I'm happy to admit publicly I'm a down hill skier when it comes to this Dad stuff, I'm good when it's good and useless when it's bad. I fumble and forget the process and with two parents doing two different things it hasn't helped.

Blaming the brace is an easy answer when it comes to Z-Girls sleep issues, but I wouldn't blame the rain on a race day for a poor result so I need to forget looking external and sharpen my focus to the points I can change. We don't like excuses in this family it's a long standing statement from my Grandfather all those years ago as kid, the super wife hasn't trained for 4 weeks in the lead-up to this event, but she isn't thinking of excuses only finishing.

The key to my taper is more likely the key my parenting, eliminate any excuses. Tick the boxes and be confident I know my way to run, take a deep breath and forget what "they do" and focus on what "we do" I haven't been nervous for a race before but having set this up as a marker for the IM70 pace for next year it has some baring on where I am in the scheme of my training. I've surrounded myself with good training partners and Tailwind Nutrition & Cheeta Recovery have set me up product wise  for a positive day in my running shoes.

I guess only the asphalt knows the answer now.

#melbmara #running #runblog #triblog #dadathlon

Get Busy, or get boring (and sometimes get sick)

It's getting a little crazy around here; and maybe I am the only one, but I'm starting to stress about my training and trying to see my family and it's not really working. Triathletes talk about it being a lifestyle, I think it's more of a circus that has only jugglers and the odd the clown ( that's me!)

Childcare is in full swing for Z-Girl, and like clockwork so came the 'sickness' not sure what it is, a cold, the flu, avian virus but she got it, I got we all got it! The whole house is sniffling, using any source of soft paper to remove boogers from faces and noses. I hate being sick, I make a point of avoiding it all year by eating well and staying fit, but you can't avoid the now aptly named Princess Booger, as she is too cute not to hang out with.

1 week in, 3 weeks later it's still here. It really smashed up my training leading into the final Duathlon of season and in the end I pulled myself from the race. I hate quitting anything, but mentally and physically I was drained and just not in the right head space. Lesson learned, slow down with illness - I kept pushing to find training hours when they just weren't there to be had for an event like this I should have just slowed down things around me, and not taken up extra invites and just rested.

The schedule in the house isn't clear cut, childcare have Princess Booger for 2 days and the occasional casual day (till next year) while Awesome Nan (Mother In-law) takes control the other days, I was worried about Awesome Nan getting burned out as Z-Girl becomes a handful, but I think she loves it more than Z-Girl! With this sort of routine the monthly training plans are out the window, it's down to weekly sit downs with Super Wife and pre-planning my week.

Planning in this way is actually more fun; it means Super Wife and I chat more, which can fade when you're running out the door in different directions and outfits; her's being more corporate, mine being of the Lycra variety. I set up a pretty simple template* of Morning, Noon & Night blocks during the week and just scribble in when works. I stick this up in the garage turn pain cave near my bike trainer so I can read it every time I leave the house.

As the weather heats up I'm keen to get out more, and the early morning rides I suffered in Winter now feel like a gift in the morning sun. Awesome Nan has not only been Awesome, but also pretty supportive of the whole bike, run, swim thing. Which didn't surprise me, but then kind of did. I've said it before I find Triathlon to be the most selfish team sport in the world, it's only you (unless you're in a club) carving out the kilometers, the sprints, the laps but in the end you need the support of your team at home, the wife, the kid and when you need back up support sometimes an Awesome Nan to be on sickness call if Z-Girl can't make childcare, as we head closer and closer to Geelong IM70 I know I will need it more than ever to keep me sane.

Melbourne Half Marathon is the next stop; under 2 hours is the goal. The training has been good to fair; I have lacked any runs over 15km opting for short multiple 5/10km instead. I'm positive I can crack the mark, but feel pressure internally - all the top age groupers in IM70 break 2 hours for the run, and that's after the ride & swim; and I know I will need to add 10 maybe 15 minutes to my time to factor in fatigue potentially.

They say pressure makes diamonds, well with the our schedule of Childcare, Grand-parents, the odd social and busy weeks/ weekends ahead I started to feel like I wanted to slow down; and then I remembered how bored I get when I have nothing on. So the new Reid House Slogan is "Get Busy, or Get Boring" and at least repeating that when I really want to sleep instead of going to a flower farm on a Sunday tends to do the trick to get me out of bed.

* Happy to share my template with anyone who interested, it's nothing whizz bang but does the job

Not to pro to say hello

How does the ocean say hello? 
With a little wave!

Classic Dad joke and something I think I need more of on this blog to be honest, and with a large back catalog of bad jokes to dispense I'm not holding back anymore (you've been warned)

But this is not so much about jokes but more about manners, or maybe just being a nice guy. A recent clip on youtube was doing the rounds and getting all the 'likes' from cyclists by a TV show The Weekly, a bit of light hearted and fact pointing segment on the relationship of Cyclists and Cars, Cyclists and the public. Now as guy who gets his training hours in on my commute to work each day (no time for pro hour 10am spins) I have encountered my fair share of dickheads on the road, and not all of them have been cars - I can also add in other cyclists, scooters and pedestrians to this list.



We all have a horror story, one we won't tell our better halves on the fear they will lock our bikes up, or sell them for less than we bought them for. The near miss, the bonnet flop or the angry motorcyclists who attempts to run you off the road. But I think the worse is between other cyclists, we need to get some love for each other.

I remember reading of the "Hell Ride" that took on the form of its name when a large group of racing cyclists crashed with a training pod of triathletes, causing some serious injuries, worse than the crash was the lack of responsibility to stop and make sure people were ok, instead flying past and ignoring those clearly in need of help.

We are a daring bunch the weekend warriors in lyrca, whether a coffee ride with friends, epic event in search of vert, or than early morning wanna be pro trying to get the hours in the legs before the real world begins. Its a brethren, a sub-culture in its own form with its own language, hand signals and fashion. Yet do we really look out for one another?

Bus drivers always have that nod, the one as they cross paths, a friendly little tip of the imaginary cap or maybe a little salute to say hello to a passing colleague or even just to acknowledge another bus and its drivers good work to deliver its human parcels safely and on time. If you search the internet every cycling club etiquette page mentions acknowledging other cyclists, I can tell you its rare.

I set out on a standard 50km + up Plenty Road on a Saturday morning, don't normally see too many people coming the other way at this time (6am) but as I turn around at Whittlesea I will always see morning club rides or social groups coming through. Now when I'm riding alone sometimes I have too many thoughts going on and other times I just like to chat to whoever I encounter on the road, be it runners, cyclists, morning walkers etc. Normally with a greeting of "good morning" or "bit brisk but great to be out" general chit chat that gets a similar response or a reply wishing me well. But not from other cyclists. In fact despite what you read I would put most rather than less cyclists in the rude brackets than car drivers. Maybe we are defensive having been honked at and almost run over, or are we're always on the attack due to constant media comments about banning us from the roads.

For a 25km return , not one reply. Ok maybe 1 or 2 but I must of past 20+ Groups or singles going out to Whittlesea and further. I know we are in the zone when we're out on a training ride but come on people! Say hello, tell the world you love riding your bike!

Let's make cycling a community, and I know there will be exceptions to this rule and I have had some great encounters of people spotting me on my bike from reading this blog or having seen one of my images on instagram, but lets be a big family no lyrca clad loners. You see me on the Boulevard say hello, if I'm in TT mode say hello, if I'm pulled up at the lights lets have a chat.

My Summer Resolution is to interact more, bring a community together without a facebook request. Going to use my mouth piece and a friendly wave.

#cycling #dadathlon #nottopro #sayhello #trilife

September Training - Let's Get Serious!

Time to start carving up those stats! 

Let's get real!

Spring has sprung, I felt that warm sun on our ride in Mornington, the time is here the schedule starts to get thicker and it's not just racing events. Super Wife returns back to the 9-5 or the 8 till 4pm job and Z-Girl goes to childcare, this presents a whole range of big changes in my training and life schedule to factor in.

Up to this point things have been going well, been feeling stronger and fitter than ever and with some events now once a month leading into December means I'm busy and super excited!

The biggest challenge is finding the time to get my bike rides in, where I have been riding to work most days now in September I will have to do the morning Childcare drop off. With Z-Girl not being big enough to put in the bike trailer and the timings I will have to get the train afterwards cutting out 3 days of riding.

A 7:30am drop off does open up the possibility of a morning session pre-work, but will need to get changed and showered to take Z-Girl. With two free mornings Mon & Tues when the Diamond Mum-in-law will take Z-Girl means I will ride to work these days. To maximize this time I will stretch these rides out to long 40km+ spin.

My evenings will now include a trainer session on the bike, along with swimming still on Friday nights.Adding in a 7km running loop and using Friday mornings as a rest period before swimming leaves me not much choice regarding finding a rest day. Recovery will key along with being prepared with meals & lunches. I have some great fast breakfast recipes I will get up on here soon.

With early rises the fuel is going to be realyl important and making sure I get my rest; I had moved to grabbing a couple of extra beers out of the fridge recently, and I'm happy to admit it did effect training slightly, I also had come down with a little man flu for a few days which is always a concern for over training, I backed off for 2 days and everything got back to normal.

Not to forget my Personal Training business - yes I am the guy with so much time on my hands I thought I'd run a business on the side; and yes you can be trained by the Dadathlon at Zen Fitness Personal Training is also starting to get busy (up to 3 sessions per week) as I try to convert this business more part-time than casual, the idea I can hopefully drop the 9 to 5 grind and get paid doing what I love, training and impacting people full-time!

Training Plan:
Mon: Long Ride AM 40-50km
Tues: Long Ride AM 40-50km
Wed: Morning 7km Running Loop
Thurs: Evening Bike Trainer Session and Strength Workout
Fri: Swimming after Z-Girl is in bed
Sat: parkrun 5km, will incorporate some extra running KMs & Brick Sessions on this day
Sun: Group Ride 35km

Let's do this - I still rock only gathers Moss!

Cheeta Recovery - Review

You've heard me talk about it before on here, recovery. Finding those rest days or moments to let the body rejuvenate so it can put out it's best performance every time you train. What's good for the body is good for the mind as well. Recovery isn't always about sitting on the couch and watching Friday Night Football, you have add in diet, stretching & foam rolling and some sleep. 

I've told you about investing in a good foam roller and my next encouragement is recovery garments, or tights, or leggings depending on how you view them. Short ones or long ones it doesn't matter. 

Medical compression stockings have been used in the treatment of poor venous blood flow for more than 50 years. These medical compression stockings are usually worn over the leg and foot and are adapted to create a controlled, gradient compression force on the leg. 

Recent research with athletes has shown that compression garments may provide ergogenic benefits for athletes during exercise by enhancing lactate removal, reducing muscle oscillation and positively influencing psychological factors. Research has also shown that compression garments may promote blood lactate removal and therefore enhance recovery during periods following strenuous exercise, other investigations have suggested that the use of compression garments during recovery periods may reduce the symptoms associated with delayed onset muscle soreness and we all hate the dreaded DOMS after a hard workout. 

This brings me to the fine products of Cheeta Recovery; when I line myself up with a company it has give me benefit first, it has be what I need to perform at my best on and off the training track, and having sore legs after a big ride when you have to push the pram around the next day is not my idea of fun! 

Great range in traditional black for Men & Women

Cheeta Recovery are an Australian compression garment company, the kind of company you may not of heard of, but now you have you won't shut up about them. They have heard the screams from gym users about the outrageous cost of other leading retail brands and the need for a top class product to assist with recovery, cold morning runs, chaffing as well as fitting like a well known label.

By cutting out the middle man and working as a small independant company Cheeta Recovery have succesfulyl created a range of garments that suit all requirements, from the footballer needing some extra support with a shorter cut, the morning athlete needing some much needed the warmth, the long garment for the post event recovery walk as well the active female looking for something just as stylist out of the gym as in the gym. 

My experience having been dropped of a pair of long and short garments, firstly the fit is snug. The sizing chart is sport on based on height and weight and makes picking your size easy. I tried the CR Long Pants after coming back Friday from a long day in the office and a long ride in the morning, slipping into them for a night of TV and relaxing, with plenty of flex and thickness they were warm but not too hot. I like to sleep in compression gear overnight when I have had a heavy day and these worked great! 

CR Long Pants Retail at $60 

The next day getting out to my local running group, I have had some tightness in my hamstrings and wanting to make sure I kept them warm for the 5km medium/slow pace jog the CR Shorts were just the ticket, a little bit longer than most compression shorts, meaning they cover the full hamstring finishing just at the start of the knee, this coverage keeps the area warm and supported with no real issues getting around the track. 

It's great when your out and people notice your outfit; and popping down to the coffee shop that day with the CR Long Pants on with a nice set of shorts over the top for some extra recovery time I had plenty of people asking if I was wearing something new! 

Get yourself in contact with Cheeta Recovery or myself - I will be sorting out some great bulk order discounts for all supporters of the Dadathlon & Zen Fitness Personal Training and feel this affordable garment range starting at $40 is a bargain for the product you're getting in return and literally half the price the big brands, and its Australian! and we all love a good Aussie doing well! 

Contact myself directly, or keep your eyes peeled on here up coming deals on Cheeta Recovery and in the meantime keep active and get ready as Spring is here!! 

Sommerville AU Hillfest

Sommerville Sports Crew Re-grouping mid ride

Things are moving pretty positively heading into Spring & Summer for Sommerville Sports Australia; the further Brand Ambassadors had been named and a fresh official Sommerville AU kit had been released with plenty of compliments.Yet a cycling crew is only as good as the rides it takes; and after this weekend the bar has been set pretty high. A trip down to the Mornington Coast heading up the famed Arthurs Seat and out towards the back roads of Red Hill.

FRESH KIT - get yours in the online store

Heading from Melbourne meant an early morning catch-up, and I mean early, so early my daughter hadn't even woken up for the 3rd time that night. 6:15am out the front of The Captains house, the cold air had revealed what was looking like a cracking day out on the bike, the famed Benny of Benjamin's Patisserie (finest donuts in Ivanhoe, if not the world!) Faz another member of Sommerville and of recent Instagram face fame. A packed out Sommerville Team Car, complete with all 6 '2 of me relegated to share half my seat with Benny's Felt speedster and we were on our way.

Car journey's bring a team together, the banter, the poor choice in music, the Captain again not waiting for people who were following him and general discussions that will neither enlighten or save the world all rolled into a good hour and a much needed coffee stop.

A monster crew was there to greet us, including a few resident Sommerville Ambassadors that are based down the coast. Personally I was pretty excited, as a Northern suburbs rider I don't venture to far from home so this had the air of a great adventure. With close to 50 riders of various levels and abilities also joining us we had split them into lead groups of 10 or more, making sure we had a couple of locals in with us knowing we would get lost at some point.

Typical Tourist Photo

Early pace out of Mount Martha was great the rolling tight roads running high up along the clifftop made for a great scene, and it didn't take long to warm-up and get into a good rhythm early. Keeping the group together was always going to be tricky but plenty of chat and slow down sections made it possible. Grouping up as we came to the bottom of the first challenge of Arthurs Seat set a great scene as everyone was keen to set a PB. I knew it was steep, I knew it was short (3.5km) and I had heard and seen the switchback corners.

I went at it pretty hard keen to get under 15 minutes, thanks to Benny for nice little lead up the first few kilometers and then the Captain went past me on his way up, and that just ignited my competitive juices so I jumped out to stay with him. Captain Ivan the loveable leader of this band of Sommerville Studs & Wannabe Stars can climb hills, in fact I'm pretty sure he sleeps on a 10% gradient at night. If I could stick with him it was a clear improvement, if I challenged him I'd half impress myself. I did a little early flexing jumping out of the saddle on a turn to jump in front, I opened up a bit of a solo gap but being my first time up I hadn't checked how far to go, feeling like I was being stalked I just kept trying to turn my legs but seeing him slowly closing the gap. Having a little finishing stoush as we got to the top of the climb made for some early fun and set the tone that this was going to be as much about smiles as it was about training.

Once re-grouped we headed out and down, weaving our way up and over beautiful quiet back roads of Red Hill, with blistering down hill sections weaving through tall forests and rolling hills with vineyards to our left and right as the sun started to show itself. I honestly can't think of a nicer place to get out and ride with such a mix of views and scenery just made this region so wonderful. The group stuck together pretty good and continued to set good pace numbers and every climb gave everyone a chance to flex the chain rings a little.After 40km in we had found our rest point, reloaded with some great coffee and cheeky little breakfast burger before the final 30km back Mount Martha, heading up the backside to Arthurs Seat meant a white knuckle descent around the hair pin turns which was giving me flashes of that horror crash in Utah just recently, and then onto the flat rolling finish up to our start point.

Sommerville Sports Team Car Aftermath 

Closing out the day strong my legs felt great considering the punishment of 1,444m of climbing (and at a good pace mind you) the groups didn't split too badly even after the breakfast stop. This ride identified what I love about Sommerville Sports Australia, great riders, great scenery but more important great adventure. Meeting new locals that have the pleasure of calling those hills home, the discussion of coming down on my own and catching up with them for a ride, meeting the remainder of the Sommerville Crew and testing myself around strong riders only adds to it.

The great looking Sommerville Sports Australia exclusive kit is still available for sale and includes a great fit and vest for those cool mornings. The colours represent a nice blend outside of the normal Melbourne default fashionable black that most riders seem to wear. Stop us when you see us, ask me directly or get yourself to the online store and order. REMEMBER all custom kits are 5 Garment minimum, perfect that pro-look to the latte lap team on a Sunday!