km's go up - slightly

Woke up feeling lousy this morning, which all but ruled out any decent riding today. However,
a small break in the weather, and a handful of Panediene today allowed me to load up car with 2 bikes and girlfriend, and head for Nail Can Hill for a bit of a leg stretch.

Great spot for a ride is Nail Can. Good varying terrain - firetrail, singletrack, hills, flat, descents, and varying grades as well, so lots of variety for everyone.

Els (girlfriend) is a rookie on the bike, but I am slowly trying to change that. Mid last year I built up a bike for her - GT Avalanche 0.5, XT drivetrain, WTB Laserdisc wheels, Hayes HFX9 brakes - but it hasn't had a great deal of use, firstly due to a lack of confidence on Els's part, and secondly due to the bike being fairly twitchy and difficult to ride. I had put this down to the XT drivetrain and user error, but have been proved spectacularly wrong. I admitted defeat last week and put the bike in for a service. The result? Chain 4 links too long, and now riding 1000% better. D'oh!

Anyway, managed about 2 hours of cruising around. Pace was quite sedate, and a few stops for Els, but a good time had, and great for Elsie's confidence level also.

The grand total - 10.8km (epic!) but who cares. It was fun.

I am however getting a bit twitchy about training for Otway Odyssey. This week isn't boding well - sick at the moment, a busy week coming up, and in Melbs for 4 days next weekend. And then only 3 weeks to go.

I am in for a world of hurt.