While most people were celebrating the Australia Day weekend at bbq’s & functions across the country , Leanne & myself had 3 days of cycling training. Day one was an uneventful 80km ride which we both did easy , for the next 2 days we travelled up to the Sunshine Coast for a change of scenery. The first ride there was a bit of a disaster, 50kph wind & rain, we we’re suppose to do 120km ride however it ended up a 51km ride. The conditions didn’t improve during the ride & once we had both nearly been blown off our bike we decided it wasn’t safe to be out there.
Day 3, we awoke with the plan of 140km ride while it wasn’t raining it was still blowing 40kph, we decided we couldn’t miss the ride so off we went. It was a tuff ride, first 65ks straight into the wind & 25ks of hills fortunately no rain . Having lung disease I find hills & wind my 2 worst enemies but consistent training has given me the ability to deal with them. Good news coming home, wind behind us, was a good ride back until we hit the 100klm mark & down came the rain . We decided at this point it was very slippery on the road & we needed to get home. We ended up doing 132klms no bad at all in those conditions & more miles in the bank for Melbourne & Cairns Ironman.
For those of you with any form of lung disease if you can hop on a bike, either on the road or an exercise bike & do some consistent training sessions, you will be rewarded if the form of better health. It’s low impact on your body & a good way to spend time outside, hopefully with no wind , hills or rain. A little tip, try to avoid busy roads I find the fumes from trucks makes me breathless & can take the enjoyment out of the ride.
8 weeks to Melbourne Ironman !
Russell & Leanne