Scarlett and Other Projects

Andy and I now have a beautiful baby daughter, Scarlett Dawn Patterson. She was born a little late on 21 July, weighing 3.6kg (7lb 15oz) and is now nearly three months old. She is growing bigger each day and is already very long for her age, so no doubt she will be tall like her Daddy. She is a fit and healthy little girl and we are feeling truly blessed (and just a bit smug!).




Having a new baby changes everything, and I am quite content now to put my full-time training days behind me. She is sleeping through the night, sort of, and I can get out on my bike for a couple of hours if I express a bottle of breast milk and leave Scarlett with her Dad or her Nana. I'm now trying to claw back a bit of fitness, and am getting out on the bike a couple of times a week. I had a bit of a setback a couple of weeks ago, I ran headlong into a Pukeko (native swamp hen) that rushed out from the curb into the front wheel of my carbon Cannondale Synapse road bike at full speed down a country road. It pitched me over the bars and ripped all the spokes out of my Mavic Ksyrium. The bike is a write-off, but luckily I escaped with a sore head and some road rash. Once again, my helmet saved my life.



Andy has a number of projects, the biggest of which is the building of new MTB trails up at Pukeiti. This is a huge native forest reserve, and Andy has convinced the regional council that mountain biking is an ideal recreational use. He is now working with NPMTB club and a bunch of volunteers to cut in a DH run and an XC loop in time for MTB week from 19-27 November. This will be a huge coup for Taranaki if we can pull it off, as it will provide us the ideal platform to start building trails in neighbouring Egmont National Park. To find out more, check out Andy's Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/groups/EgmontMTBTrails

We'll have some pics and reports up from Pukeiti soon.

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The Next Big Endurance Event

Today I pulled out my old Powerbar team bag, and packed it with electrolytes, gels and bars. I cleaned my bottles, packed clean clothes and a towel. For the first time in nearly two years I have an event to prepare for, an event I've been working towards since October last year. There are many unknowns. I don't know exactly when this event will start. I don't know how long it will last for. I know it will be tough - it might just be the longest and toughest event of my life.

Training for my latest adventure has involved more time off the bike than on. In many ways, being pregnant has a lot in common with being in training for mountain bike racing. Taking naps, watching my diet, avoiding alcohol and having plenty of quiet nights in has been no challenge at all for me. The process of gradually getting bigger, slower and clumsier has been harder to get to grips with. Now I'm finally past 37 weeks and into the final days, and I feel like I've been pregnant forever. Our baby girl has dropped into position is ready to join the world. This is our girl at 20 weeks.




I managed to keep mountain biking up to 27 weeks, until my bump got so big that my pedaling form went right out the window. Where my knees used to arc neatly over the top tube, they began to poke out at odd angles. By the time I could no longer see my top tube, I knew I had to call time on the cycling.


I've managed to keep my fitness up with plenty of walking and a bit of yoga. Of course I started out with all the best intentions of keeping up a full training agenda, but the tiredness that comes with pregnancy was something I hadn't counted on. All my good intentions of daily workouts quite often have resulted in a brisk walk followed by a nap. Now even a brisk walk is a chore, as baby has "dropped" and is sitting down low in my pelvis, making my joints creak every time I stand up.

I shouldn't complain. Everything about this pregnancy has been textbook so far, and I'm still working 8:30 - 5:00pm, and will be to the end of week 39. Andy and I are both quite excited now, and looking forward to meeting our little girl. Will she be rangy and strong like her Dad, or small and hardy like her Mum? Or something in between? The next few years will be a real adventure, but for sure she will be a cyclist of some sort!

More on our new family soon. It could be any day now!



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