Cycled in this morning (via the ferry), narrowly missing the rain! I’d been in work about 15mins when it started pissing down. Rained all day, and although it had stopped when I left, I decided to leave the bike in work over the weekend as the spray from the rear wheel woudl have soaked me anyway.

B: 26km

Another cycle in and out. Left work around 5.40 to meet up with Katie for sushi on the way home. TOm went off to Woolys biek shop. I got a text while eating but I didn’t read it. After dinner I had started cycling home, when I thought to myself that Tom had probably bought a bike, so I stopped, checked the text and I was right. Tom was now the proud owner of a Specialized Stumpjumper. Turned around and went to meet himself and Niall in Centennial Park, but the lads were on the way home. It’s a nice bike.

The hill was a little harder on the way home. Probably a combination of the messing around and the fact that I cycled yesterday as well.

This Week:

Bike: 24km

Just made it home after the first cycle of the year. Liverpool St. to Vaucluse in 29mins. Alpe De Vaucluse (Old South Head Road) wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. Still hard, but no worse than a gym session.

So, that’s a 10km cycle under the belt, and the Year Of Fitness™ commences ;-)

B: 12km

Right, the bike is back on the road. A little rusty but it’s all good. Pumped up the tyres, bought a lock and some lube. Getting into work was really easy as I just cycled down to the Rose Bay ferry (pretty much all downhill). Getting home will be an issue, as the last 1.5km is severely uphill! Still, if I stick with it, in a couple of weeks it will be no bother.

The new office in Sydney has an underground car park, which is great, as it means I don’t have to lock my bike on the street. We’ve got showers too! Got our passes from the building management today, so can start cycling in anytime from now. Might give it a try tomorrow.

Looks like Tom will be off shopping for a bike pretty soon.

Not much exercise done this week. Have spent the whole week cleaning our apartment in Canberra, packing stuff up and moving out. We should have taken before and after photos! Now it’s spotless and we’re all back working in Sydney. Will have to get used to the trafffic all over again, and will have a much longer commute into work, but, as part of ‘The Year Of Getting Fit’ the trusty bike will be dragged out and used to cycle to and from work. Should be fun.

Welcome to 2004, the year of getting fit.

New Year weigh-in: 89kg

Feeling a bit better today. Can walk & stand properly, but still have twinges in my back if I try moving suddenly. Looks like that’s it for exercise before Christmas, or at least the rest of the week. Physio dude recommends running and swimming to strengthen my back.

Great weekend. Surprised Jacqui on Saturday morning with tickets to see Duran Duran and Robbie Williams that night. She was over the moon. Concert was great. Going in I could only name two Duran Duran songs, but once they started playing I recognized nearly everything, including some that I didn’t realise were theirs. Robbie put on a fantastic performance. He’s such a showman, and a real cocky bastard. All in all, great concert and Jacqui loved it.

I lifted her up a couple of times so that she could see over the crowd. All was fine, until I was reading the paper on Sunday arvo and put my back out! It was excruciating all day yesterday. Got some remedial massage today and it’s a lot better now. There’ll be no exercise for a couple of days though! Bloody old man.

Lot’s of excitement last night. Was on the couch watching TV, when the couch wobbled. I thought it was John, but he thought it was me. Tom, sitting on the other couch, had his wobble too, so we realised it was an earthquake. Very cool! Turns out it was 4.3 on the Richter, centred on Mittagong, about 100km outside Sydney.