It's training. It's meant to be hard.

I completed the Alpine Classic 140k a couple of weeks ago and with that my first goal for 2013 is done.

It was a long day, the hardest I've ever had on the bike.

There were many reasons for this I guess but its probably as simple as this - it was my hardest day on the bike because it was a bloody hard day. But more than that. I hadn't trained specifically for this event - this event was Ironman training. Training is meant to be hard.

A Tawonga Gap detour

A nice ride in the Australian bush today, up Tawonga Gap from Bright across to Mt Beauty, and then back again.

I wasn't going to ride today because I'm entered into the 140k Alpine Classic on Sunday. The Alpine Classic rides have been changed, though, due to the Harrietville bushfire. The 140k ride was meant to include Tawonga Gap, but instead it will be two laps of Mt Buffalo.

So we rode the gap this morning and I'm glad we did - it's really pretty.