Sarina Tomchin

Today it’s raining, pancakes & coffee for breakfast cooked by daughters and husband. tried to sleep in…..Last week, on the Sunday i was doing the 100km Dirtworks Mountain Bike Race. It was great. Good weather and nowhere near as hard as i thought it may be. It took me 6:45. I’d spent the whole week nursing a sore throat, headaches and feeling crappy. Fighting some bug -and didn’t know how i’d feel on the day. We camped at St.Albans below an old sandstone church that was filled with our Nobmob MTB club. Great atmosphere. I rode with Stu and Tomboy until 70kms where they stopped at an aid station 1/2 way up a hill – i thought they were behind me and didn’t realise they hadn’t followed me. I’d eaten figs and drank while we waited to cross a Kayak bridge so i didn’t need any more food or drink.
I finished feeling strong so the next race -Highland Fling i’ll try to go harder and faster.
I’m very slow on the downhills, using my brakes all the way down…which i’ve been told is a no no. The fast guys don’t used their brakes. My problem is i don’t want any breaks (bones/skin)!!! I saw a LOT of that, carnage on the tracks. Basically, i’m a BIG girl on a bike.
So, i ticked another box off. Done that race. Over winter i’d like to just enjoy running again, Super early mornings thru winter on a bike aren’t my thing -it’s OK thru summer. Next will be some funs runs if my Achilles hold up. I’ll do the Highland Fling in November (when it’s warm again) and then hopefully -XPD up in Cairns next year with my team. 700kms of mTBing, trekking, paddling and orienteering the entire way over 5-10days.
I’ve been painting more cycle imagery and enjoying it. Each one you do gives you ideas for more. The never ending CYCLE. hah!
Last week i finished Mona Lisa on a bike and this week I’m painting Adam & Eve -the Original Spinners
Have only cleaned up my studio this week -our renovations completely trashed this room and even though i’ve cleaned and dusted and put some of the clutter down in a new store room there’s still more dust. MY storage room needs an overhaul too.
Yesterday Michael and i painted our new foyer/storeroom. I’m going to go finish off the ceiling in a minute. It’s all white washed.
Our lap pool is formed up. Concreting begins next week weather permitting. We have a new balcony with pebbles and sand coloured tiles. It looks like a work site around the house with rubbish/debris/mud everywhere but that’s normal.Time flies by so fast it’ll be summer soon and it’ll be all done and forgotten. We’ll be swimming laps in our new aqua pool.