1/1/2012 Red Carpet race at Forest.
Headed out to the race with Alex. We decided to get there early & get some extra riding in before the race started. We ended up riding for a bit over 1hr before we headed to registration. Got to ergo  only to find start time had been moved up, so it was a hard effort to the top of the hill to the start line. We made it for Alex's start with about 40sec to spare. My first run was good with me passing the 2 riders that started before me & kept everything together. Soon as I reached the bottom we headed up to the top for the next run.
Run 2 was seeded & I found myself as rider No. 2, so the pressure was on. All was going great until I hit the nice new crushed rock section & decided to let it all hang out, which was fine until I got air & came down on the edge of the crushed rock that was off camber & down I went, managing to rip the front tyre off in the process. Pity as I was almost a minute up on the first run at that point. Fixed the tyre & cruised to the finish.
 Now I was getting hot & tired, so I took the soft option & caught the bus to the top of the climb. For run 3 I took it easier, as there was enough of my blood already on the trail & was 30sec down on my first run.
Overall had a great time and managed 3:04hrs with 1230m of climbing 49km with an ave temp of 35C on the Single Speed

6/1 Apollo Bay holiday time
Got out for a nice ride up Killala Rd. It's a great climb on the single speed. Just the right gradient to virtually stay seated all the way. A nice 1:48hrs with 571m of climbing over 40km. The climb to the top was 2min faster than on the old Anthem. The down side is the decent wasn't steep enough.

8/1 Tuxion Rd climb today. On paper this looked like a good climb to try, so I road over and did the 5km climb twice. The first 3km was the best part of the climb. 1:18hrs with 650m of climbing.

9/1 Today ride was to do 1 new climb & an old favourite.
First off was up to Marriners Lookout. Not a long climb but with 205m climbed in 1.8km it was brutal on the Single speed. Max gradient hit was 20% & that wasn't 33 x 16 gear ratio friendly.
Next it was up Wild dog Rd onto Busty Rd & the highest point on that Rd (Hard climb that now didn't seem as hard anymore). Rode for 1:19hr with 607m of climbing.

14/1 Today was an out & back, up Wild dog Rd onto Busty Rd & back onto Wild dog Rd to Skenes Creek Rd and back. 1:55hrs with 780m climbing.
Had a great break with the family, got a bit of riding in & the Deck Squats fell in a heap. will need to start again.

16/1 Commute 41min




17/1 Commute 39min & 45min KB class
10min OALCCJ 16kg 148 Reps
2 x 10:30min Circuit no rest
19/1 Commute 42min

20/1 GMBC Friday night race at the You Yangs. First time I've done this race, so wasn't sure about what to expect. They had over 60 riders on a 3.5km flat loop. 33x16 turned out to be under geared for this course, but it's the gear I'll use on the Otway 50km, so I need to get some hard racing using it. Newbies started right at the back which meant trying to get past as many  riders as possible in the 250m before we hit single track. Got a good start for me & just rode hard for 47min. Need to do more of this as it felt like I just couldn't push hard, felt like I could have done another 2hrs +. Hopefully doing some more of these with bring the speed back up. It was a fun ride & the people were great.