A big week of cycling in Melbourne came to a close with a stinking hot Sunday that ended a particularly tiring weekend for me.

Why is it that when you have to get up real early you never sleep well the night before? Tossed and turned all Friday night before the alarm went off at 5.15am and I got out of bed already tired. Emily needed to be in the Alexandra Gardens by around 7am for the State final of the Vic. Schools Championships so the stress levels in the Apolito household were very high very early on Saturday!

It was a brilliant morning and a great experience for the kids. They got to race on the same circuit as the pros in the Herald-Sun tour complete with barricades, road closures, finish line marque, "professional" commentary and even a motor-bike escort with spare Zipp wheels. I joked to Emily she should feign a puncture so she could get a ride on one of those Zipp wheels!

She was VERY nervous and the course was quite technical with a hot-dog turn, short sharp climb and a tricky descent with a sharp right hander at the bottom of it. She did very well finishing midfield in about 10th place. Most of the girls ahead of her were from country Victoria and were very strong. (They probably all ride their bikes to school and have lots of quiet roads to train on!)

Emily's was the first race on the program and we stayed on to watch the fellow aboc'ers Will and Bridgette Thomas along with several more Blackburn juniors. It was a disappointing end however as Bridgette had a crash at the hot-dog bend. At the time she was leading.

We got back home around mid-day and it took a bit of coaxing to get Emily to back up for the BBN track meet. But to her credit she did so and rode very well, winning the progressive points score and placing in the other two races.

As for my races, let me just say that sometimes just finishing a race without incident is a good result! Yes, that's right- no crashes this week.  Only three of us in B grade and both Carl and I were blitzed by a young guy whose measure we had last summer. That's the problem with juniors - they make quantum improvements while us old blokes can only hope to make small gains or just hold on to what we've got. It did make me realise how much condition I've lost. Apart from the Trek match sprints these were my first races in about 3 months and I was gasping for air.

Presentation night on Saturday was good although we were all a little tired and could have done with an early rather than a late night. Then Sunday morning I left home at around 8.30am and did about 80km at a very slow E1 pace. I had intended to ride to Glenvale to watch Mick and Carl in the crits but I started from home too late and at the pace I was riding I never made it in time. What a stinking hot day and riding home into the head wind was bad!

In bed by 8.30pm last night and Monday is a quiet day at work - thank God!