Back from the wilderness

Good times in Alice

Me and AJ on a dirty weekend in Melbourne for my first cross race

The Sentinel and Watsons Crags

The Sentinel

My birthday party

Cross

Strezleki Creek, Sentinal and Carruthers

Cross

Watsons Creek from Tenison Wood Knoll

Having been racing a riding pretty solidly for the past 3 years, I felt that in 2011 I deserved a rest from structured training and racing bikes. It turns out that it was also a break from blogging!

Finishing the season with a win in the Red Centre Enduro stage race at Alice Springs was the perfect way to transition into my break and I did so with contentment, satisfaction and relief. Since then I have been catching up on my life. I did a fair bit of skiing, including a few back country trips and a brief jaunt over the the NZ club field of Craigieburn for a life changing long weekend of skiing steep narrow gullies. I have also got into racing cyclocross, something that has been on my list of things to do since I first my first taste of frites & mayonnaise. The trouble is that cross is quite an intense sport, so trying to do it on the break means that it is rather punishing. Still fun though, and the crew at Dirtydeeds in Melbourne certainly put on a good show.

The past month or more I have started rolling around again and getting into Anytime Fitness to build a bit of leg strength. I have a new bike too....the new Felt Edict Limited. Getting back on a dually again is a bit crazy after 3 years a hardtails. The Edict is like my bad conscience whispering in my ear, it encourages reckless abandon on descents and says: "get off the brakes you pussy, I want to go faster". The result was some fun riding, culminating with a big crash and the subsequent removal of a large portion of the skin from my face. Lucky I am a bit of a goldfish.

So I am now super motivated to get back on the bike properly. With the Dwellingup 100 in Perth only a few weeks away I am anticipating a bit of a shock to the system. But with a race calendar that includes the Highland Fling, Scott 24hr, Cape to Cape, the new look National Series, Oceanias in Rotorvegas and Wildside I have plenty to look forward to and don't feel any rush to regain my form too quickly.

Happy riding (and enjoying whatever snow is left!)