Update on last couple of weeks

So, nothing too exciting the last couple of weeks (hence the lack of blog updates.. sorry!). No races for another couple of weeks yet so I've just been out on the bikes training away. Last week, I had four road sessions, and two MTB sessions. I spent last Saturday marshalling the Rice Mountain Classic, a road race run by PNP out in the Wairarapa. After setting up my intersection with an hour and a half to kill before anyone rode by, I started talking to the cows and sheep across the road and singing christmas carols under my breath..

Riders did eventually come by though.. Yay!

That evening, we had the R&R Sport Christmas do, where we went to Kaitoke Regional Park and camped out. Lots of fun to be had that evening, and 10 bottles of Lindauer disappeared rather quickly after Scotty introduced the crew to the "fingers in the middle" drinking game!

Last Sunday (the day after the R&R Xmas do - luckily I wasn't hungover!), I redeemed the MTB Skills Clinic voucher I'd won the weekend before at the Makara Peak Rally and went and did a Phundamentals skills course. I'd done one previously in February 2006 and the course had changed since then, but the basics that were taught were still the same. It was good to have a refresher after three years, and I hope to put the skills I (re)learnt to good use at the NI/SI XC Cup races this season.

This week consisted of three road rides and two MTB rides. On Wednesday, Charlotte and I checked out the course for the third round of the NI XC Cup series, which is to be held locally on Mt Victoria. A few changes from last year's course, and I hope to get a bit more time on there to practice the new technical descents. Not too sure if anyone is interested, but the highlight of this week's training was the three hour windtrainer session I did yesterday while watching The Sound of Music on DVD. Yup, I'll admit it. I'm a huge musical fan! Luckily for Scotty, he was working yesterday and came home from work with only 2 minutes of the movie to go, so he wasn't subjected to my sing-along renditions of Do Ray Me and So Long Farewell..

We fly out to Dunedin this afternoon for a week down south for the Christmas break. I've also got a job interview tomorrow at the University of Otago so *fingers crossed* that goes well! I've never been particularly good at interviews so I'll need all the luck I can get. Eep! Getting the job will be a bit of a spanner in the works in terms of my training for Karapoti (because chances are, I won't fly back up to Wellington to do it!), but the appeal of moving back down to Dunedin (where I spent 7 years studying for my degrees) is pretty high.

This will probably be the last post before Christmas, so Merry Christmas to everyone! I hope you've all been very good and that Santa will reward you accordingly! :-) Have fun, stay safe, be merry, ride bikes, slip slop slap and wrap, have fun in the water but do what you oughta, don't drink and drive, drive to the conditions if they change reduce your speed, etc, etc!