Kamikaze Butterflies and the Long Ride

Mt Henry Bridge

I am glad its Sunday .Its a rest day and my body needs it.Its been a busy week work , training and otherwise.

I had my Friday easy run in the evening and watched the aquathon and the spectacular sunset.The ocean was calm and great for an evening race. I got the bike ready for the long ride down the freeway . I do get a little too familiar with these rides and preparation tends to suffer. Didn't pump up the wheels as they looked firm enough. for fuel I had 4 gels , a concentrate of Gatorade 6 scoops worth, dates and jelly beans , 1 fruit bar and a banana with 2 bidons and my aerobar mounted water container.

That was about 2 litres of water and  420 to 480g of carbohydrates which should be enough.

Got up late and started off from the narrows after 6.30am .The wind was already blustering about and I was averaging just under 30 till Mt Henry Bridge.I could not get my HR monitor to work so I stopped my garmin but that did not seem to fix the problem. Hence two maps below. The ride down was great and I averaged about 33.8kph to the end of the freeway bike path with most of a tailwind. It was the ride back that was hard.It did not relent for the whole way back .I had a detour to the Caltex station on Safety Bay road and had another two bidons of  water and had my fruit bar and a short rest watching the weird people at the station. There were heavily tattooed guys , biker characters , a driver with a stretch hummer .It was a busy intersection of people travelling south or coming back into Perth.

I had also passed lots of cyclist riding I believe for make a wish and they blocked  the whole cycle path so it was a little hard going getting pass a stream of cyclist . As I headed back , the winds would from time to time become gusts and I could feel my bike move across. It was on the way back when a orange /black butterfly came tumbling straight into me and it looked like it had no control over the gust of wind carrying it like a car rolling many times and then splat . Its gone. I am glad I am not a butterfly on the cycle path just a crazy cyclist.
At that point I was seriously contemplating why I was cycling in this headwind .It was hard work to keep focus.








I got back to the narrows in pretty good shape . I actually managed to keep up with a cyclist from canning bridge and then passed him as he hung on to me till the narrows. But the legs felt like jelly.As I forgot my running shoes , I had to drive home and then do the run .It was already noon and warm. I had not had anything to eat or drink and unfortunately about 3 km into the run got really lightheaded . Managed to jog back slowly and get some food into me quickly but didn't do an hour easy run. Lesson learnt , keep eating even after the ride. I was starving by the time I got home.

I had a short break and nap before getting ready for the NCTC Info night . It was a great afternoon and hopefully the new members got something out from the session.

Run  54 km or 5 hrs
cycle: 280km or 9.15 hrs
swim ; 6.8 km or 3 hrs