Beijing day 3

Hi All

Today was a beautiful day to ride on a velodrome. Nice high temperatures 26 to 29 degrees from 9 till 11am, a bit cloudy/smoggy outside and a Paralympic games to prepare for. Well that is what most of the team were saying anyway. I was cursing under my breath about how hot it was and how much I was sweating.

The hotter and dryer the air is the less dense it is. So a hot dry day can make the difference between breaking a WR or not. Actually it is about a second per Km for a 10 degree temperature difference. So 29 degrees should be a pretty fast track.

We all all now into the rhythm of training and village life. Training is going well. We have started getting into our racing routines of having the alarm clock set to the same time each day. Today was the first day of using wet towels from an esky of ice cold water over us during warmup to stay cool. Tonight was also my first time in an ice bath to aid recovery since arriving at the village. We are hoping to have one out at the track for use straight after our events.

Penni has travelled to Sydney already to come over and watch the games. I am not sure how much I will get to see her but it is good to know she is here supporting us.

This morning was also my first time outside the village. I went for a light recovery ride of about 30km on a 5 km circuit around many of the games venues including the birds nest and the water cube. I was wishing that the velodrome was here too so there wasn't a 40 minute drive twice a day. Still the venue is worth the trip.

Time to sleep. It always amazes me how much there is to get done here. Maybe I am just wasting too much of it sitting around chatting.

Talk soon

MM