Road to Beijing

Monday, August 21, 2006

Cycling or health?

The past week has been slow. I feel a bit burnt out. I guess part of it is the cold and the fact I have had to train in it 6 days a week. Last weekend was a good one thopugh. Hopefully a sign of things to come. I cannot wait for the summer when we can wear short sleeve riding shirts and no leg warmers and ride till 10pm! It's gonna be great! Anyway this down period of mine has coincided with my foot operation. I had the pin removed yesterday and have a couple of days off before I will start training again. So it's kind oh a blessing in disguuise. Hopefully this will freshen me up!

It's funny, I think during my degree I put off a lot of things as I was too busy to care. Anyway now all that ignorance is coming back to bite me in the bum. On sunday Annaliisa and I had planned to do a long ride around the gorges. However on saturday night my wisdom tooth got a horrible ache in it. It lasted all night and hence I got little sleep and could not ride the next day. My dentist tells me he wants me to get all four of my wisdom teeth pulled as there is a very large filling underneath one and it is making a hole in the molar in front of it. As there is a 3 month waiting list at the surgeon this is going to have to happen close to nationals. I am starting to get fed up with all this medical stuff. This blog is starting to sound like a health blug, not a cycling one! I want to get all my health stuff over and done with so I am healthy to get to Beijing.

Oh yeah I forgot about the race Annaliisa and I rode 2 weekends ago. It was Sefton, it was hilly and there was a strong wind which seemed to be a head wind about 90 percent of the time! Annaliisa and I ended up riding in the middle of two bunches by ourselves. We had no one to draft off and there were so many little hill climbs which knacked me. By the end of the race both Annaliisa and I had very warn out legs. During the first lap there was a horse. Now I didn't realise horses were so scared of bikes, but apparently they are. The horse went mad and whinnied and jumped around as the bunch came past. I didn't expecxt it so I paniced a bit too!

Anyway spring is getting closer with every passing day, so it can't be too far now.
Hopefully we can start to wear knee warmers soon!

Neelu

Sunday, August 06, 2006

Down and out...

I have been sick. I had a viral cold which kept on dripping and dripping and dripping. It made me very tired and short tempered. It also meant my training sessions were not very intense.

A lot of psychological issues came into my mind (i guess as i had time to think about them).

I was asking myself questions like 'Why have I chosen to give 2 years of my life to a hope that I maybe able to get to compete at the paralympics in Beijing?' It seems pretty crazy to me to give so much time and effort to the chance that you may get to do something. And how can you rationalise cycling as a pastime that you will focus on? I mean, even if I do get to the paralympics and cycle, what is it going to get me in later life? A medal is not a qualification that will enable me to get a job? So I thought about it and talked to some people. I guess I have realised why I have this dream. For me personally I want to find out how far I can push. After the brain injury people didn't think I could do a lot. I guess going to Beijing (if I do) is a way of proving to people, and myself, that I am still capable of big goals. Why cycling? It feels like cycling was meant to be. I have had so much support and met all the right people to help me achieve the dream of cycling- so I took it on.

Oh yeah, I am going to have more surgery on my foot. I think I told you that I broke my foot last year and had to have surgery on it? Well I haave been etting more pain recently and when I went back to my surgeon he advised me to get the pin removed. I am a bit nervous as I want ACC clearance to come through asap so the pin is not removed too close to road nationals. The worst thing would be if I ignored it and the pain manifested in my foot when I was at nationals. I want to do really well at these nationals so the New Zealand xompetition is not a threat.

Annaliisa is back. She was in 35 degree heat in France and now she is in 5 degree heat! She is finding it cold! She saw some of the tour, and even got pics of the riders! We went for our first ride on sunday. It only lasted about 60 km as it was raining and I had a very uncomfortable saddle. I have tried about 5 saddles and cannot seem to find one I like. My poor prosterior is so sore from having to sit on all these foreign seats! I guess I have no choice but to keep trying them though...

Oh yeah, two weeks ago Tracy and I went for a 120km ride. We did long bays and also went to purou. I couldn't believe it! In the past I used to get tired from a 40 km ride. Now I am doing three times the distance! Annaliisa is stoked with me. Now we have some sort of base to build on, so as soon as Annaliisa and Gary get my training plan sorted, it is only onward and upward from here!

Will keep you posted,
Neelu