The first of September. Winter is officially over! To be honest it’s been a pretty good winter here in Tasmania. It’s not like we get snowed in or suffer days on end of sub-zero temperatures. We have had a LOT of rain, and some flooding, but all-in-all it’s been fairly mild, although my dwindling stock of firewood seems to disagree.

The mornings are cold, but are getting warmer day by day (and much lighter). Early morning rides still call for long winter tights, long sleeves, and full-finger gloves, but during the week I am lucky enough to be able to wait and ride later in the day when it’s nicer. Hopefully soon we’ll be able to get the Wednesday Night Hustle rolling again too!

Above: Winter days in Tasmania. Jealous?

At the moment there’s usually this beautiful “sweet spot” between 12pm and 2pm where the winter sun climbs high enough to warm the roads and I can bust out the short sleeves!

Somehow I still managed over 1000km in both July and August. That included keeping up my streak of monthly metric century rides.

I even snuck in a trip to Brisbane for some great (if a little soggy) riding with my good friend Carl. It had been WAY too long since we’d ridden together. Brisbane has changed a lot since I was last there and he gave me a good two-wheeled tour of his usual training roads.

In other news, I recently acquired a treadmill for the “Tempocyclist Performance Centre” under the house. Where I live, riding is great, but it’s difficult to get a good run from the house. I need to drive 10-15 minutes away to be able to run a “flat” course or get off the road. My thinking was that having a treadmill would make it easier to get a quick run in, or do a bike-run “brick” session.

As it turns out, treadmills are actually far more expensive than I realised. I managed to hire one on a three-month plan. It’s Bluetooth-enabled and broadcasts pace/speed data, so I can even sync it up with training apps. If I get good use out of it and feel it’s worth keeping, the option is there to purchase it at the end of the lease.

And that’s about the extent of my winter! I am looking forward to some longer daylight hours and being able to ride early without arm and leg warmers. While it is going to get warmer, Spring in Tasmania also tends to get far windier. That I am not looking forward to so much.

Keep those pedals turning!