So much for 'The Plan'....

'The gods laugh when you make plans'. This ancient saying seems very real this morning as I sit here inside my comfortably warm and dry lounge room with a freshly brewed coffee.

Far more comfortable than the planned event of a 100km bike ride. The annual 'Brisbane to the Gold Coast Bike Challenge' scheduled for today was cancelled late yesterday due to 'severe weather conditions' forecast for the Queensland coast.

This is good in one sense (in addition obviously to the unplanned hot coffee opportunity). The weather conditions this morning are terrible- its been raining for days so the roads are flooded, everything is soaking wet making it very slippery underfoot and the wind gusts are strong and inconsistent. It's uncomfortable and dangerous weather for riding a road bike. I wasn't keen on taking any chances with either my health or the bike with only one week to go to Melbourne so I was secretly pleased when it was called off.

But its one more hiccup in the plan for preparing for my longest ride to date. The Gold Coast ride was supposed to be the last big hit out before Melbourne giving me a chance to ride in a large group, over a longish distance, at a fast pace. No joy!

This is just one more roadblock, which feels like the story of the last few months. It's been the wettest few weeks for years so there has been a lot of weekends when road rides have been called off. It's been hard to get long hours on the road.

The plan has been off almost from the start. My overall strategy was to get aerobically fit by training and competing in half -marathons. No problems, done. I then expected to get 'bike-fit' by participating in the 10 day Queensland 'Big Bike Ride' but I had to call this off due to my wife's foot operation. There was also a long period when I lost my motivation and didn't train for ages.

So the preperation has not been as good as I'd have liked. I've put plenty of hours in on the spin bike and the weight gym since getting my mojo back, and I've ridden whenever I can, including some great rides in the country. I'm reasonably confident I'll be OK. Not as fit as I'd expected, but still should be OK.

So much for the great 'plan' though. This journey seems to be as much about adapting to what's presented, staying motivated and being mentally strong, as it is about planning and logistics.

Planning? Who's that laughing?

Oh well, might have another coffee.

More later, journey on.....

James




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