Since my last post, I've made a pretty speedy recovery from having all four wisdom teeth out - I spent a couple of days feeling puffy and miserable (and hungry!) but was pretty soon on my track bike for motorpacing which was a good feeling. After a week or so I was back onto normal but softish food and pretty soon after that I was able to eat the most important of the food groups. Of course I mean chocolate... :-)
After three years away from track racing, I was itching to get back onto the track and back into racing form. I jumped back on my track bike - an Avanti Pista Pro which I love to ride! - in October, and have been training several times a week at the track as well as club racing on Friday nights which has been fun! Gotta love the constant headwind coming into the home straight! The joys of outdoor tracks. I think I've mentioned my new nickname in an earlier blog, so I won't repeat it here...
So while I'm nowhere near back to the form I had when I stopped racing, I'm feeling better on the bike each time and have been trying to improve my times each week in training. I've got a good year of road work ahead of me to get my fitness back, but I've had some encouraging results which are a great incentive.
Somehow this time round I've managed to steer clear of a lot of the 'silly season' stuff, i.e. corny Christmas carols in crowded shopping centres, but I've made up for that with some busy days working back in JT Cycles, Adelaide. You can pick the look on someone's face when you know they are looking for a bike for their child's Christmas present, and have left it until three days before to buy it! Panic time...
It always gives me a buzz to be able to help someone to choose their first bike since they were a child, and I'm almost as excited as they are when they jump on the bike for a test ride and can't stop grinning. I love the fact that there's a special women's only section of the store, and that the Avanti range - with Specialized and SUB - cater so well to women. It's great to be able to show women the gloves and shoes and helmets and most importantly the bikes, and be able to explain what makes them women-specific.
I was lucky enough to have a new bike come my way this week, thanks to our partnership with Avanti Bicycle Company, and I love it already. The SUBrosa 2 is a full carbon road bike from the Sarah Ulmer Brand range of bikes, and I'll let you know more about it in the coming weeks and months. But for now I can say it's a wicked orange and white, with Ultegra components and women's specific saddle and shallow drops which will suit my hands perfectly.
I hope your chimney is big enough for your Christmas presents and much more than that, I hope you have a chance to relax and ride your bike over the new year as well as spend time with those close to you! Even better if you can spend time together on your bikes :-)
I think that's what I'll be doing...
happy riding.
emma
