Going to Bunnings, and painting that is …. I’m getting sick of it and there is still so much to do! I spent a good 4-5 hours again today, and actually am happy to have finished another section of painting, because to be honest with the weather forecast the way it was I didn’t expect to be able to.

Also I’m coming down with a cold I think, crappy sinuses and throat – I’m going to try and will it away – hopefully it will listen and go quietly.

I went round to see Matt for a massage just before tea and got another battering of my calves and ITB mainly.

Sarah, to answer your question of yesterday about how my legs felt running straight after the bike. Firstly, let me say we had quite a leisurely “transition”, about 10 minutes getting changed, putting the bikes in the cars, having a drink etc, so it wasn’t quite like a triathlon where you’re running on those rubbery legs, straight off the bike. Mine felt ok, until I started to get a bit crampy in the calf (a common problem recently for me, but no doubt exacerbated by the tough bike ride).

At weigh-in this morning, the downward trend is continuing with a result of 72.2kg – the first time I’ve been in the 72s since May 2008.

As Adrienne was going out today we weren’t going to the market as usual so I’d organised to meet some work colleagues for their triathlon training session. Not expecting the weather to be good we fully expected it to just be a run/swim, but had agreed to take our bikes too. Just goes to show you should never listen to the weather forecast, as after the overnight rain it was a stunning morning.

After a couple of late withdrawals it just ended up being Deb, Voj and myself who met at MSAC at 7am. As it was such a beautiful morning we decided to go for a longer ride down Beach Rd and not worry about the swim. We went down to Mordialloc and back, a total of about 54km, with an average speed of 28.7km. As usual, the trip back was harder, into the wind, and I struggled to keep up with the other two. Voj was quite happy with that, he reckoned it was the first time he’d “beaten the old man”.

To be honest, I find the pack riding down Beach Road a little bit stressful. I guess it is because I don’t do it often enough, but riding so close to so many other riders, at fairly high speeds, and the constant need to push to keep up with the pack tires me out quickly.

After the ride, Deb and I ran a lap of Albert Park Lake, the first time I’ve ever run around there. On a morning as lovely as today was, it was delightful. I did struggle with a bit of calf tightness, but a few stretch/walk breaks and it loosened up enough to run it out. 5.2km at 5:40 min/km (including the walk breaks).

After getting home, it was a shower then a quick trip to Bunnings. I also called in to First Choice Liquor to restock on red, I did alright, getting 9 bottles including a few decent ones for under $80.

Then it was painting for the afternoon (just for a change). It got a bit windy, which makes being up a ladder a bit more fun, but I got done the bit I wanted to finish today.

I think we’re having take-away for tea tonight (probably Noodle Hut), then it’s going to be the couch and TV for me I think.

Good luck to everyone running the Great Australian Run tomorrow – hope the weather is like it was this morning for you.

Casual day at work today – don’t know why, but wearing jeans and a t-shirt just makes the day seem better – funny that?

After work, a warm, windy and hilly little ride on the bike, just over 24km in almost exactly an hour.

Up at 5am this morning in order to get to the airport in time to check-in for the 7am flight to Burnie. Avis at Burnie airport upgraded me to an XR6 for my hire car, which was nice. A really long day of meetings, some of them fairly intense and stressful. I really needed the couple of beers at the airport on the way home. Arrived home at a bit after 8pm, so a long day, needless to say an exercise free one. Let’s just call it a rest day shall we, although restful is the last thing it was.

Exercise at both ends of the work day today. Started the day with my usual Wednesday morning run with Deb. BB, to answer your question of the other day, we meet at work at 6:45am, so it is a reasonably early start, but this time of year it is definitely the best time of day to run in my opinion. We ran the usual hilly loop, 8.5km at about 5:20 min/km.

After work I headed out for a short bike ride, completing just over 20km at just over 24 km/hr (just an easy loosening up type of ride).

A busy today tomorrow with another day trip to Burnie office.

For her birthday (from Jackie), Adrienne got a beautiful book called “Why Dogs Are Better Than Cats” by Bradley Grieve, with wonderful photography from Rachael Hale.

If you are a cat person this book is probably not for you, but if there is any dog lovers in your family it would be a wonderful Christmas gift!

Here are some quotes;

• “Dogs are social, cats are sociopaths”
• “The concept of family is vitally important to a dog. A dog will live anywhere and endure anything if it means the whole family is safe, happy and stays together”
• “While cats have a keen sense of their own needs, dogs have a remarkable understanding of ours. Their devotion is pure and sincere. We are foremost in their minds in every exchange. Dogs carefully gauge our feelings, and what they learn is then immediately reflected in their behaviour.”
• “For the record: Dogs are inherently Good. Cats are something else entirely.”
• “One can only imagine how much better the world would be if more people had enjoyed the company of a decent dog early in life”
• “Good hearts love dogs, and dogs love good hearts.”
• “Dogs want love. Cats want fish.”
• “Life without dogs is too awful to contemplate. I really don’t know what would happen to the future of humanity without the dog’s example of unconditional acceptance, eager support and joie de vivre, but I suspect a great emptiness would open up where love and hope used to be.”

A superb evening for a ride tonight after dinner. 33.8km in 1:14 (27.4 km/hr).

Another very pleasant run with Deb this morning, the usual 8.5km hilly loop at about 5:30 min/km. Best thing about it? No knee or calf pain at all!

After work a loss at sandball. This week we only had four, and the other team a full six, so we were always going to struggle.

A bit of a weekend catch-up post today as I’ve been a bit slack on the blog the last few days.

Friday
A normal day at work, with the highlight definitely being going to the pub afterwards for a few “end-of-week” celebratory drinks. Then home to be chief barbeque cook for Kate who had a group of friends over for a small party. I managed to squeeze in a short home workout, which was the only exercise for the day.

Saturday
I was 73kg on the knocker at weekly weigh-in this morning, continuing the downward trend of the last few weeks (74.6, 74.3, 74.0, 73.8 & 73.0). Then off to the market for the usual Saturday morning stock-up. Back at home it was back up the ladder for another few hours of sanding, scraping and cleaning the next stretch of eaves for painting.

I fitted a new front tyre on my bike because I noticed a fairly large piece of glass in it. When I removed it there was a significant hole in the tyre. I’d bought two new tyres about 7 weeks ago and fitted the rear one then, but decided to get a few more kilometres out of the front. It had done over 4200km now so I thought it was time to fit the new front one too.

Then a very pleasant barbeque with friends Kerry and Herb. Some marinated chicken and lamb fillets, as well as my favourite BBQ fare, mushrooms. Herb brought round more of his home brew, I think I had four stubbies, then hit the red wine. By the end of the evening I was feeling pleasantly lubricated.

Sunday
This morning was the inaugural social ride of the Hume BUG. It really wasn’t the morning for it, but I sought of felt like I should go, besides I wanted to see how many other riders were intrepid enough to get out in the wet. There were eight of us, if  you include the three young kids that came with one couple. It was dreadful weather, and a very slow ride with lots of “stops to wait for some to catch up”, and whilst good to be out with a new group of people, probably not a good idea. So, a very slow 20km, getting absolutely drenched and very cold, a few detours around flooded bits. Adrienne told me I was stupid, but I told her I preferred “intrepid” – you can form your own opinion.

After lunch we headed out to start our Christmas shopping at Highpoint. Jeez, that place is hell on earth this close to Christmas. We got a few of the things we were looking for, but it wasn’t a particularly successful shopping trip. What is it with “Keep to the Left”. To me, it is a remarkably simple concept, that in my opinion is equally applicable on the roads, footpaths, bike paths and shopping centre walkways, but it is obviously too complex for about three-quarters of the population to understand?

On the way home we stopped off at Poyntons for a coffee and muffin – it just seemed so much more appealing than the food court at Highpoint.

At home I cleaned down and lubed my poor wet, muddy bike – so it is feeling loved again and looking sparkling – but I did notice I’ve got a slightly bent spoke on my back wheel so will have to get that seen to soon.

I had a day of training at work today which was a pleasant distraction, but then a late finish to try and catch up with the important things I’d missed.

There’s something really good about exercising in the cool evening of a hot day and that was certainly true tonight. A great, hard ride, 30.6km in 1:05 (28.2 km/hr), average heart rate of 145 bpm. I had that really great feeling of having sustained a good effort when I finished.

Logging tonights ride entry in my training spreadsheet finished off a big week of exercise for me, in fact the biggest for the year, both in terms of time (10.35 hours) and calories burnt (7086 kCal).

I woke up this morning with sore calves, but decided that it was just normal post-massage soreness and nothing more serious, so got up early to head into work for my usual Wednesday morning run with Deb. Deb is doing her first triathlon for the season next weekend and said she wanted to pick the pace up a bit from our usual 5:45-5:50 pace, so I said okay as long as the calf didn’t complain.

We completed the first 5km comfortably. The 6th km is a fairly large hill and we powered up that about 20 seconds faster than usual. At the top we had a short stretch break and noted that our average pace so far was 5:32 min/km. We decided we should get that below 5:30 min/km before the end and set off a bit faster. Well, the last 2km were run well below 5:00 minute pace, often running 4:30 ish. The last few hundred metres were a sprint, well under 4:00 minute pace. After the final 2km we had reduced our overall pace for the 8km to 5:18 min/km. Given the hilly nature of the course I was quite happy with that.

Especially happy because a lot of the last 2km was run at a 5km PB pace for me, and there wasn’t any grumbles from the knee or the calf. Felt really sweaty and satisfied at the end of the run, and have a little confidence back that the elusive 5km PB might still be possible in 2009.

A short home workout tonight, mainly my knee related exercises, stretches, physio roller and some core work.

Exercise today was a ride to work and back (27km in total) and a short home workout tonight.

I had a massage tonight. Matt, the son of some family friends is a second year osteopathy student, so I decided to let him practice on me. He was really good and gave my legs, especially my ITB and calves, a good workout. I’ve organised to have him work me over once a week for a little while. A cheaper massage for me and a little bit of pocket money for him – everyone’s happy!

Started the day off with a run with Deb, running our usual 8km hilly loop. I was very happy that there were no complaints at all from the calf this morning, so I think it’s coming good.

Ended the day with a ride with Peter who I met last Wednesday night at the Hume BUG meeting. He rang last night asking if I’d like a ride, so we rode up to Craigieburn and back, a total of just over 30km. A very windy ride and the return ride down Mickleham Rd was directly into the headwind. I think I was the stronger rider so I took most of the wind on the way home, riding in front with Peter tucked in behind. It’s a small world because Peter turns out to be the father of a boy who Kate has been very friendly with for quite a few years.

Started the day with a bike ride with Herb. We rode from my place in Greenvale to his place in Essendon, had a coffee, rode back to my place and had a cup of tea. So, a very social, pleasant 40km ride.

Todays ride also clocked up ten thousand kilometres on my road bike, which I’ve had for just over two and a half years. Here are statistics (that probably I’m the only one interested in) on those 10,000km.
- No of rides: 395
- Hours in the saddle: 394.4
- Average rides per week: 2.9
- Average speed: 25.36 km/hr

After the ride I spent another 4 hours or so on the painting project, mostly preparation of the next stretch of eaves. It got very hot and I started to feel a little woozy, so gave up – feeling woozy and being up a ladder ain’t a good combination.

We went over to DFO and I picked up another bargain – a pair of 2XU cycling bib-shorts, recommended retail $240, marked down to $50. My first pair of bib-shorts, looking forward to giving them as try.

A home workout to roundout the weekends exercise tonight.

Similar in that it started with a trip to the Victoria Market (as most do), then was primarily occupied by more painting of the eaves. I basically spent from about 11am-5pm painting, again an exhausting hot day. Then we went to Bunnings, to buy more paint, but also came away with a nice little Black & Decker sander which might make the surface preparation activities of the rest of the house a little easier. I calculated today that at my current rate of painting I still have about 12 full weekends to go – bloody hell that’s depressing.

The human brain is an amazing thing isn’t it. I listened to Tea for the Tillerman today, after not listening to it for probably at least 25 years, yet I was anticipating the next track as each one finished, knowing what was coming next, and singing along to all the songs. Where does all that data get stored?

I was down into the 73s again at weigh in this morning (73.8 kg to be exact). It would be nice to keep this downward trend going for a few more weeks to give myself a little “Christmas buffer”.

Out for tea tonight, both the kids were out so we went out for a pizza.

Exercise today was a ride to and from work again (yes, that’s three times this week) and a home workout just completed a few minutes ago.

We headed over to the local shopping centre tonight as Rebel Sport were having their “20% off for RACV members” night. My only purchase was a little spiky massage ball thingy, which I think might be good for my glutes. JB Hifi had some better-than-usual CDs in their bargain bins and Adrienne and I chose 6 albums and got them all for $40 – they were Eric Clapton, Doors, Roxy Music, Carole King, Cat Stevens & David Bowie.

I’m trying to prepare myself for another weekend of painting in the hot weather!

Edit: To answer BB’s question, the Clapton, Doors and Roxy Music were greatest hits, Carole King was Tapestry, Cat Stevens was Tea for the Tillerman and David Bowie was Ziggy Stardust. Tapestry, Tea for the Tillerman and Ziggy Stardust are all albums I’ve still got vinyl copies of but haven’t had the equipment to play them on for many years.

I rode to work again this morning – contributing to sustainability and less greenhouse gases

After work I played my first game of Sandball for the year. It was a bit of a fizzer though with the opposition only having four players to our six and it was an easy 15-4, 15-3, 15-6 win.

The ride home was not quite as hot as Tuesday night and quite pleasant, although I could do without the laptop/backpack on my back.

Just did a bit PM on the bike including (hopefully) fixing a squeaky seat that has been annoying me.

I started off the day with an 8km loop with Deb before work (average pace 5:28 min/km). My calf felt okay for the first 4km, but started to get really tight and sore. I survived the run, with one more stretch break than usual and whilst still a bit tender, it doesn’t feel “injured” like it did after the run last Wednesday. I think the running might be a bit less frequent though the next week or so, I might spend some more time on the bike.

Today is Jackie’s (our darling little Jack Russell Terrier) 7th birthday, so I guess when you convert doggy years to human years, we are essentially the same age.

I attended the inaugural Hume BUG (Bicycle User Group) meeting tonight. I figured it would be good to join a group of like minded people in the area. I have managed to escape the first meeting without scoring any jobs, or committee roles or anything, but feel a bit guilty about that! Anyone else belong to a BUG?

Phew … it isn’t supposed to be this hot in November, is it?

Yesterday was a pretty normal day, work, followed by an hour or so up a ladder, followed by a short home workout.

Today I decided to ride to work. The ride to work was quite pleasant, the ride home not so much – very hot and windy. When I cooled down I decided to go out for a very short run. This was a “fitness test” to see if the calf was up to my Wednesday run with Deb tomorrow. I survived a slow 2.5km tonight and so will head out tomorrow morning and see how I go on a longer run. Another short home workout followed tea (which was leftovers from the last two nights barbeques).

Better go have a shower now – I stink so bad I’m offending myself.

Painted for most of the day, from about 9am until about 3pm. Exhausting work and I have tired legs and sore feet from being perched up a ladder all day. To make it worse, the end result isn’t looking that impressive, I’m not a particularly good painter and am hoping that the second coat will look much better.

Then Adrienne and I headed out to the local shopping centre for a coffee and upon returning I went for a bike ride. It was about 25km down the Moonee Ponds Trail to Strathmore and back, at just over 26 km/hr. Warm, but pleasant, out on the bike.

About to go barbeque a nice piece of rump steak … of course gotta have a beer while barbequeing!

Not looking forward to having to work for five days in a row this week.

Edit: Two beers with the bbq, first one was one of my mate Herb’s home brew dark ales (very nice), the second was a Grand Ridge Supershine (11% alcohol) – feeling pleasantly sozzled, which might just get finished off with a glass of the shiraz I opened last night while watching Bones. I think I might sleep well tonight.

Edit: After a few drinks, and all the good TV shows have finished, what better to do than watch the last quarter of the Grand Final again. Chappy …. Chappy …. Chappy!

The usual trip to the Victoria Market started the day and our purchases were definitely more summery. Lots of things to make salads (I love summer for this reason, I think I’m a salad person more than a vegetable person), lots of things to cook on the barbeque (we had some delicious chicken sausages tonight) and lots of nice fruit (much of which went into a delightful fruit salad, with which I had yoghurt and muesli tonight).

The rest of the day was spent painting. Well, not actually painting because the paint tin never got opened, rather it was preparation. The preparation is the worst part I reckon, cleaning, wire brushing, sanding, filling gaps – it is quite hard work, especially in 30 degree heat. I’m re-painting under the eaves around the outside of our house. If you remember I did a little bit when we put up our new deck/pergola, now I’m starting the rest of the house. So, 7 hours or so of preparation today will lead to hopefully significantly less time than that painting tomorrow.

I am pulling out of the Sri Chinmoy Geelong run tomorrow, my sore calf is just not up to it. It is vastly improved, I didn’t really notice it much climbing up and down the ladder all afternoon, nor walking around the market. I went for a short run (2.5km) tonight, including some bursts of race pace, during which there were some definite twinges from the calf. I don’t think it is up to a race. This is the first race I’ve entered and not started. Whilst I’m disappointed, I think that long-term it is the most sensible course of action. “Discretion is the better part of valour”, “Live to fight another day” – funny how those platitudes don’t really make you feel any less disappointed.

Having some computer problems tonight. For some inexplicable reason Outlook and Firefox both seem to be having issues on our home computer. I’ve spent the last few hours trying to fix things but have managed to fix neither. I have managed to clean up a whole lot of crap off the computer though, at least it does seem to be starting and operating quicker. I removed Firefox and now it won’t re-install, so I’ve just installed Chrome, Google’s new browser – it is working and seems quite clean and fast – definitely a better prospect than IE. Outlook is still playing up, but at least I can retrieve email via Mail2Web.

My calf is still troubling me. It is improving, and I don’t really notice it when walking now, but am still doubting I’ll be right for race on Sunday – we’ll see how we go, but I think I might do further damage if I push it. So, no exercise yesterday, and just a half-hour home workout tonight.

Drinkies at the pub after work tonight was a pleasant end to the week. I wish all work weeks were three days long!

I went for a run with Deb before work this morning, our usual 8.5km loop. About 5km into the run I had some pain in my calf which got quickly worse. Some walking and stretching didn’t seem to help much, so it was a very slow trot home for the last few kilometres. Still sore now despite lots of icing and self-massage. Doesn’t auger well for the race on Sunday without a miraculous recovery, does it?

Another dratted teleconference tonight, 12:30am-2am (actually I guess that is tomorrow morning isn’t it, not tonight)

I can’t say I’m a big follower of the horse racing, but am always happy to have Melbourne Cup day off (for those reading from overseas, I think we in Melbourne are probably one of the few cities in the world to have a public holiday for a horse race!).

Started the day off with another bike ride with Herb, rode down the Maribyrnong trail into Docklands for a coffee then back up the Moonee Ponds Creek Trail – about 26km all up. There were a few nicely frocked up young fillies (of the two legged variety) walking around Docklands! I must say that I really can’t understand how they can last a whole day at the races wearing those high heels though – gonna be some sore feet by days end I think.

Then later Adrienne and I went into Williamstown with Herb and Kerry for lunch (a very nice pizza for me with a glass of pinot noir) and a nice walk along the waterfont. Walking back to the car we came upon a young couple who had found a “gentleman” passed out in the car park and were calling an ambulance. The young lady who was on the phone to the ambulance was trying to relay questions and asked him if he had a history of heart problems, his response was “No ambulance, the only f$%*’ing history I’ve got is not paying my ambulance membership”. It was about now we sort of worked out that he was just alcohol over-indulged, had been left in the car and had tried to get out and had fallen over. Anyway, the ambulance was cancelled and hopefully he sobered up okay!

Just finished a home workout, again to my new Quo DVD, which is brilliant!

I saw these two young Australian singers on Rockwiz on Saturday night. I loved the song they sang, very catchy and these girls can really sing. I’ve just downloaded their album and a few other tracks from EPs from iTunes, I really like them, hope you do too.

Check out their performance of “Painful” on Rockwiz.

Even though I wasn’t working today I arranged to go in for a run with Deb (who was working). When I got there Deb was in her running clothes but looking decidedly seedy and saying she thought she might have gastro so had decided not to run. So, I did our usual 8.5km loop on my own, the first time I’ve run the loop on my own. I did it at a reasonable pace, 5:15 min/km (it is quite hilly), but must admit that I did walk a couple of times up the big hill. Shows you how weak-willed I am, I never do that when running with Deb.

Adrienne and I then drove down to Geelong and had a little trip around the Bellarine Peninsula. We checked out where the Sri Chinmoy run is next weekend on the way through Geelong, then headed down and had a coffee and cake in Portarlington followed by a walk around the shops and down the pier. Then off to Queenscliff and a look around the shops and to The Rip lookout. Next stop was Ocean Grove for some lunch, a walk around the town and a walk along the beach. Then a quick stop off to visit my mum & dad in Geelong on the way home.

Upon return home I headed out for a little 20km ride on the bike, then we had a nice slab of steak on the BBQ for tea.

A short home workout to round out the day.

Is a good description of my ride this morning, during which I only fell off my bike once!

I met Herb at his place is Essendon just before 8am and we headed off down the Merri Creek Trail, planning to do the Capital City Trail / Moonee Ponds Creek Trail loop. It was foggy and a misty rain was falling, neither of which are good for a cyclist who wears glasses. It was a constant decision making process to decide whether I could see better with my glasses on or off. The trail was quite slippery, especially where there was muddy wet spots on the path, or leaf mulch debris, and particularly the wooden bridge surfaces that were wet and mossy. None of these go well with skinny road bike tyres. There were a few near misses where I felt the bike slide sideways.

The fall however was due to none of these, but rather another balance/cleat related incident. We were pulling up to some traffic lights on St Georges Rd, almost stationary, and my wheel just caught in the gap between the concrete gutter and the tarmac road surface, I just sort of turned the wheel, leaned to my right slightly, but unfortunately I had unclipped on the left, so down I went. Fortunately, I managed to get my right foot unclipped as I went down, and I fell into Herb who had pulled up beside me. So it was a fall, but not one that did any damage to my bike or my body, just my pride.

Oh, and Herb bought me a cute little black bell for my bike too, which I never had before – so now I am legal and can “ting” the walkers on the paths in front of us. A job previously he always had to do!

And don’t ask me why I bothered to clean my bike yesterday, it got filthy again this morning!

Anyway, just under 40kms, with a stop for coffee at Federation Wharf, then another coffee and muffins back at Herb’s place with his wife Kerry and Adrienne.

Then it was off to Ian’s (work colleague) place for his 50th birthday celebrations. I took a bottle of Bethany Merlot (2004) that Ian had given me for Christmas a few years back, it was divine.

One job I also did today was a little bit of surface spraying of our outdoor furniture where we found a red-back spider yesterday. Oh, and a rough clean of my bike again, just to get the dirt and mud out of the important places.

Well, I managed to lose those 2kg I put on in Lorne last weekend, 73.4kg at weekly weigh-in today. I think I have this weight thing pretty much under control now

My first trip to the Victoria Market for a few weeks this morning.

Too hot for me today to do too much, no exercise yet, but I might do a home workout tonight if I feel energetic.

Went shopping this afternoon for a 50th present for a work colleague (party tomorrow). Ended up buying myself a DVD too, “Status Quo Live At Montreaux”, a new concert, only filmed a few months back, of the same world tour I’ve got a ticket to next March at the Palais. No prizes for guessing what I’m watching tonight if I do go workout!

Gave the bike a good clean and lube this afternoon, including cleaning the chain, which is still really messy even with the chain-cleaner thingummy-bob.

That’s all – a pretty average, except hotter than average,  Saturday.

Edit: I did the workout, the same as last night, then when entering it in my training journal also realised it was the end of the month, so here’s the summary.

Monthly Summary
Running: 83 kms at 5:28 min/km (YTD 694 kms at 5:36 min/km)
Cycling: 284 kms at 23.5 kms/hr (YTD 3351 kms at 24.6 kms/hr)
Other: 12 home workouts

Another okay month, again without a swim, interrupted by some knee niggles and an exercise free weekend away.

An unscheduled (normally Monday/Wednesday) run with Deb this morning was a pleasant start to the day. I thought for a little while we were going to get quite wet, but the pelting rain stopped just as we were about to start out, and it just turned into a very muggy run with a few sprinkles of rain. Our usual hilly, 8km loop, with a detour through Gowanbrae due to bike path closure, at 5:44 min/km.

The day at work was business as usual, nothing exciting or particularly bad about it.

A hot and sweaty, one hour workout at home tonight including some exercise bike and treadmill walking, upper body free weights, core work, vmo exercises and lots of foam roller massage and stretching – all to the accompianment of some loud Status Quo on the headphones. Just what the doctor ordered to blow away the cobwebs.

Today has been a pretty blah! day – you know one of those where pretty much everything just sucks.

Does anyone have a gun, or maybe a grenade launcher, or something I can borrow, I’ve got some neighbours who deserve to be on the receiving end of said weapon. Moving house appears to be firming as a likely outcome – I’m just concerned nobody is going to want to buy next to these idiots. Moving is not something I want to do, they say it is one of the most stressful things you can do, and I’ve only ever bought one house in my life – but it seems like it might be the best course to some quality of life.

Oh, and then there is all that having to deal with real estate agents!

A ride to and from work, including an extra little 8km loop this morning, because when I got to work, an extra little ride just seemed more attractive than riding in through the gate. So, about 34km on the bike today.

Not too much to report today. My exercise for the day was riding the bike to work and back (about 28km total). A little late to work and had to attend the first meeting in my lycra (only slightly embarrassing because most of the other attendees were on the phone).

I just entered my first two events for 2010;

• Amy’s Ride – 120km – 3rd January, 2010 – Geelong & Bellarine Peninsula
• Great Ocean and Otway Classic Ride – 145km – 27th March, 2010 – Torquay & Great Ocean Road