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12 days to go.
We finally did our big mock ride this weekend. Fliss and I rode down to Mandurah, stayed over then rode back on Sunday. We did 100kms on Saturday and 80kms on Sunday. We are really happy for doing this and all went well. My butt is sore but I feel satisfied. I now have every confidence of getting through this event in 12 days time. You will be happy to know that I did not have a malfunction with my cleats. Whenever I had to stop, I took no chances and took both feet out. Not quite confident enough to leave them in and look to holding a pole at the lights yet. I know I will misjudge and make a spectacle of myself with all the cars watching. Macca, you can stop calling me cleatus now :)
I will say, however, that if you see the news with Tour de France style collision with multiple riders going down, I'm bound to be in the centre of that. I am wondering with over 3000 riders, how am I going to go if someone in front of me stops suddenly. Oh well, that's easy - ride the fastest - ha ha, not likely.
A big fantastic thank you to all of you who have donated. I'm now over $3000 with less than $200 to reach my goal. I ask you all if you can forward my email and link to anyone who may be able to donate. I did get a beautiful donation from someone that I didn't know but got the email from her colleague. Thank you Andrea for forwarding and thank you Tracey for donating and having faith in me. I will not disappoint you all.
This will be my last blog before the ride but I will blog when its all over. If anyone wants to see us at the start or finish line then we will be leaving at 7am from South Perth foreshore and should be back by 12pm Sunday at the same spot. I hope to see you there. It will be a carnival like atmosphere with lots of happy people there.
by Petrina Dawson on Sun, Oct 07, 2012 @ 11:56 PM
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Well I cant believe that its only 26 days to go. Where has all that time gone?
I went to the bike shop under advice from a fellow rider and finally put cleats on my bike. The owner told me that because I am a girl, I wont fall off as females listen to instructions. I forgot to tell him that he is dealing with the clumsiest person alive. I went home all ready to go for a ride to try these out. Brad asked me if I could just go up and down the street then pull up on the lawn to make sure that I have understood the instructions. I did as I was told (almost) and went down the street, turned around and came back. I got my left foot out no problems but forgot 2 things:
1 Pull up on the lawn
2 Take other foot out.
I pulled up on the street next to my driveway and lent towards the foot that was still attached. Down I went crashing on the kerb. Brad had no problem letting me know where I went wrong. I was tangled in bike with a thumping pain on my knee where the bike hit it and an equally thumping pain on my butt where it made contact with the kerb. I calmly asked Brad to stop talking and remove the bike from me. All I wanted to do was to go inside and check my grazes and bruises without knowing that all the neighbours were watching with amusement from behind their curtains.
I needed to get back on my bike and got going straight away otherwise I wouldn't do it. I did and all was good. Every intersection resulted in both feet coming out and not taking any chances. All was good until the following week when i replicated almost identically my falling off whilst stopped. Will I ever learn?!
Anyway enough of that. I have received a cortisone shot in my knee to keep going and now I feel good. Fliss and I will be doing a trial run in 2 weeks where we will ride down to Mandurah, stay the night then ride back the next day. If we can get through that then we will be fine.
I'm sure many of you use cleats successfully so please feel free to give me directions. At the sound of this blog, I need all the help I can get :)
Thanks again for your support and I will post a new blog when I finish the mock ride.
by Petrina Dawson on Mon, Sep 24, 2012 @ 4:17 AM
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Where has this year gone! We are well into July and I have just seen that there is only 95 days left - yikes!!!
I am at least going for a ride every weekend and getting the kilometres ticking over. With a Perth - Mandurah stint under my belt as well as a Perth - Rockingham ride, I think we are slowly getting there. Am planning for a weekend ride to Mandurah and back soon but fear that may have its own story to tell. I will be travelling with our group of friends and we may need to partake in some light refreshments to ease the pain on the Saturday. Now that could or could not lead to a slightly slower ride on the Sunday but we will get there. At least we will try to stay somewhere which involves either a pool or a spa to ease the aching muscles and knees. Who said it was suppose to be all pain :)
I am away for the next two weeks though so that makes it hard to get a ride in. Fear not, I will endeavour to make good use of the hotel's gym facilities and hopefully that will have a bike in it.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and for supporting me. This cause involves everyone at some stage in their life so I'm glad you realise this as well. I know that we are making a difference and helping in that quest to conquer cancer.
Love to you all xoxo
by Petrina Dawson on Tue, Jul 17, 2012 @ 4:42 AM
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Well, I cant believe its only 4 months to go. We are well into our training and actually did a Perth Mandurah ride last week. We managed to do 80kms but the last 10 was almost at walking pace. The butt was in agony and the legs had enough lactic acid to power a small community (if we had the technology to convert this :)). Nevertheless, we kept going not only because we wanted to start training these distances but there is absolutely nothing worth stopping for on the Mandurah bike path. I dont know if you have noticed, but the turn offs are few and far between with just road and bush in the middle of it all. When we finally got there it was fun to actually get off the bike and walk around. The legs were a bit rubbery but it was great to sit down at the cafe and have a coffee. If we had gone much longer, it would have been a cool beverage but we did manage to sneak in still in the AM.
Anyway, I am slowly getting there with the support and encouragement from you all. Thank you for donating and thank you again for pushing me along so I dont get in my comfort zone.
Bye for now but feel free to email me with any comments to this and I'll be happy to put them on for you.
by Petrina Dawson on Sat, Jun 16, 2012 @ 2:26 AM
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Well, I cant believe we are into May already. The kms are getting up there but have had a relatively quiet few weeks. Went for a ride this morning expecting the heavens to open up but luckily the rain stayed away. It's not going to be too long before we cant dodge the weather but at least we are prepared. Somebody forgot to tell me that if you ride in the wet without a mud guard then you are going to get dirt ALL the way up your back. What a good look that was when we stopped for coffee and I thought I looked professional in my white cycling jersey!
Things are going well though and I'm having a blast. I would really love to see you join me in this quest so I'll keep trying as you know I do :)
Watch for my next update. We are going to attempt Mandurah soon so that should be interesting.
Take care and keep prodding me to keep me on track.
by Petrina Dawson on Fri, May 04, 2012 @ 10:35 PM
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Hi everyone. I am in training now and am getting up to 50kms in one stint. The problem is my glutes tell me they are not happy :) They are slowly getting use to it and so am I which is a good thing.
I will be doing more over the coming months so dont be too surprised to see me lob on your doorstep looking for a cold flannel and coffee (WA residents only. East coast may be a bit of overkill).
I wil endeavour to update this every couple of weeks and please keep on checking. If you want something posted on this then let me know and I will be happy to add so we can share with everyone.
209 days to go and counting.
by Petrina Dawson on Mon, Mar 26, 2012 @ 12:27 AM
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