.. make Trace a tired girl.

Totally self-inflicted of course, but F. I'm tired. Tired and lethargic. Normally it takes more than an 85km bike ride to knock me off my blogging, but I've been unaccountably too stuffed to come up with anything remotely blog-worthy this week - even to do some sort of recount of our ride. No amount of coffee consumed seems to have helped. And as for more 'worthy' pastimes that a SAHM should be doing? Apart from a few loads of washing... pffft....

So, yes, I guess.. the cause of all this... We went. We rode. We conquered. An 85 km ride that actually seemed to tally more on our various bike computers. The ride itself was no doddle - we rated it harder than the Sydney to Gong ride. While 'Loop the Lake', and 'riding around Lake Macquarie' conjures up images of a leisurely pedal around the edges of a lake - the reality took us out and around, and up and down, and up and bloody down... ie. it was fairly hilly. (And we actually didn't get to see that much lake.) For some reason there weren't that many rest stops - or if there were, noone was stopping at them, and so you felt this imperative to keep slogging away. They were supplying a light lunch at the finish - and even though we made that around 1.00pm, a bit of fuel half to two-thirds of the way through might have stoked the furnaces a bit.

The real culprit though has been too many early mornings! I'm not a natural at getting up before the sun, and this early rising lark for bike riding is starting to take its toll. After a 4 hour plus drive on Saturday afternoon, we were up by 4.55 so that we could dress, eat, and leave by 5.30 for the hour or so drive to the ride. (Estimated journey time was probably overestimated - should know that we never take as long as the mother-in-law's estimated driving time.) It only took us an hour, so we were there, and prepped to ride by 7.00.

Next morning we were up at 6.00, and dragging reluctant children up so that we could get back home by about lunchtime. (Then I did a one hour swimming squad... just to punish my body a bit more.)

I was looking forward to a relative sleep-in. School days we can afford to get up as late as 7.30. But Tuesday morning the phone woke me at 6am... one of the kid's friends who had been lined up to help with the paper run (usually done by the older two) because Cait was going to stay at a friend's place. Said friend had apparently turned up with her Dad in tow, to find the house in darkness. Thing is, the paper run is WEDNESDAY. Don't ask me how they got their wires crossed on that one.

This morning we set the alarm for 6.00 again, to make sure that Alison was able to get herself up. She was, but, as I discovered when I got up to go to the bathroom, and peeked out the window, the friend hadn't turned up, and because of daylight saving being extended this year, it's a bit dark and spooky now at 6.15 am, and she was too scared to do it by herself in the dark. I suggested she wait and start at 6.30 - which she did, but then only got 2/3 of the run done before having to get ready for school. (I finished it off for her...)

[A big WTF on the friend, who won't get asked again. They all had had a high school disco the night before, and apparently her mother had said she shouldn't get up early (again). Well, ok, but gee, thanks for letting us know!]

I know many people get up at sparrow's you-know-what on a regular basis, so I know I'm sounding like a complete wuss having a great big whinge here. Problem is I'm hard-wired as a night owl, and if I got myself into bed before 10.30 it's nothing short of a miracle, and I'd probably not fall asleep for an hour.

So, candles burning both ends perhaps?

And so, here's some pictorial proof of Sunday's early morning at any rate. I really really should head for bed now, so I'll upload some more photos of our riding tomorrow.

Labels: bike riding