The past few weeks has all been about racing and as the update title suggests “gate crashing”! After our race at Fall’s Creek we chased the sun again and came down from altitude back to sea level. Pre-race we spent a very relaxing few days with the first set of family, Uncle Geoff and Aunty Lyn in the slow paced town of Mollymook. I say slow as I was informed it’s a very popular spot with the retired folk. Either way they (the vet’s / seniors’) chose a great spot, the beaches are well worth a visit. Our time in Mollymook certainly was not in the fast lane as we were recovering from one race and getting ready for the next, which essentially meant eating, hydrating, stretching and keep the volume of training fairly light. Our race was at Huskisson, Jervis bay another destination spot with wonderful beaches.
Race morning was to be an early one 3.30am the alarm went off as Ben needed to be on the start line for 6.40am. I did not start for a few hours but as we were staying 40k from the race it was an early one for both of us. We were not the only ones up early that day, Ben’s mum was down visiting her mum and her sister, Di, they had kindly signed up to be our support crew for the race.
Race report to be uploaded separately but all good, a great race was had by both of us. Ben surpassed great and smashed it he came 12th overall posting one of the quickest times, 3rd quickest to be exact for an age grouper (non pro athlete). Our support crew did very well and the cheers were hugely appreciated as it was not just tough on us out there, it was getting toasty hot out on the course.
Post-race we celebrated with a few wines, an indoor bbq (the rain spoilt the original plan) and a game of cards, “who’s the man” which kept us up way past our bed time 10.45pm! We gave ourselves a day to chill before we hit the road again. Our day of chilling was very chilled, coffee by the beach with the local folk.
Next stop on our gate crashing tour was a few days in Mittagong with Aunty Di and Uncle Ian, we also got to spend some time with Nan who is just round the corner. Similar to our time in Mollymook and post-race our days were not hectic, quite the opposite. Coffees, lunch, leisurely drives, may be a cheeky bit of cake with coffee!! From all the places I have visited in Aus. to date, Mittagong reminds me the most of home with its rolling countryside, wealth of trees, but, we were spoilt with lots of sunshine! We were also very spoilt with dinner cooked for us every night by Di.
Sydney was our next destination where we landed on the door step of Aunty Suze and Uncle Trev. Tourist sights are being left for when my mum hits Aus later in the year, June, so ….. Sunday early doors we headed south for the Royal National Parks and took the bikes for a 3 hour ride to the coast. It’s a mecca for bikes, our type of bikes and motorbikes, cars on this occasion were in the minority. It took a little while for my legs to get going who I think were still in bed having a lie in, or wishing they were!! The ride was a great mix of some flat-ish fast roads and some ups and downs. We took a little de-tour on route home to grab a drink at Cronulla, the Southern Beeches. Just purely as FYI this is where a few of the top Aussie Iron man athletes come from.
Bondi Beach was next on the visit list where we had a swim in the well known Ice-bergs ocean baths, quick run along the forshore followed before we met up with one of my girls from home Emma with her little man Charlie. Walking along the beach we certainly got to witness a few sights, this place is great if you are a fan of people watching. Pair of dark glasses and a coffee you could be entertained for hours!!!
Doing the tourist swimming pools over the next few days kept us wet at times, we hit the Ian Thorpe aquatic center and Homebush pools which is where the swimming was held during the Sydney Olympics. Other tourist sights we can tick off the list is the 3 sisters at the Blue Mountains, they are so not blue!!! We did somehow manage to dodge the rain which is drenching and flooding many parts of the South.
Like many city dwellers on Fri it was time to escape the rat race and hit the road to head out of Sydney, destination Newcastle for a wedding. Newcastle was where Ben did all his drinking and partying oh and studying whilst at uni. Time to meet more people, this time his uni boys and of course the bride. A great few days were had in Newcastle, seeing a little of the city by foot and car, lots of chatting, getting my nails done for the wedding, of course the wedding Inc. a spin on the dance floor, my only complaint….I am soooo out of practice wearing heals at the wedding my feet were killing!!!
We are now back in Coff’s and straight back to training. This week will ease us back into things with nothing over 4-5 hours per day then the training will start to get ugly!!!
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