Only 3 weeks to go means taking every opportunity that I can to get out there.

The last 2 days have provided an un-expected weather pattern with mid 20’s during the day, but dropping off quickly as soon as the sun goes down.

Tuesday Night I did a 17km paddle on West Lakes in what is probably the most perfect conditions I have ever seen – Yes, the wind was well under 5km/h the whole way.

I did my fastest ever time for the first 5km down to the southern end of the lake, doing the 5km in 34 minutes.  the whole 11km lap around the outside of the lake, getting back to the start in 1 h 14m and finishing the 17km in 1h 55m at 8.7km/h

On to Wednesday evening, I decided to do the same 17km again in conditions that were almost exactly the same, but the wind was probably about 5-7km/h –  yeah, tough I know 🙂

I was pleasantly surprised to note that I was a tad quicker than even the day before, the first 5km, I was about 40 seconds faster, and the 11km lap I turned around at 1h 14m – or about the same time as the day before then did the final 6km and finished just as the GPS ticked over to 1h 54m @ 8.8km/h

Yes, these are only relatively short distances compared to even the shortest day of the RPM, but all things considered, it looks like I am right on track to be at least as fast as last year, maybe a tad quicker.