Before the now infamous altercation I had with a wombat, I had entered the Graperide Mammoth which is a 1010km over ten laps of the 101km circuit, in celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Graperide event. I was confident of riding well at that time when I entered, however as I continue to rebuild strength in my right shoulder and attempt to regain fitness lost, and lise weight gained whilst injured - for the first time I will be starting an event that I do not expect to finish. It remains however, an opportunity on the long road to recovery.
I have made some bike setup changes, including a ridiculous 34-30 granny gear to enable me to climb without aggravating the injury. While I am able to stay inside the generous time limits of Randonneuring, I am sone way from being at "race" or optimum pace. With a 51hr time-limit the 1010km Mammoth's timecut is a full 24 hours shorter than a Randonneuring time limit for that same distance. It is also 9 hours less than an UltraCycling time limit set @10.5mph. As such I expect to see many DNFs or unofficial finishers among those that have entered this event as a challenge, rather than as a race.
Good luck to all the riders in this event.
There will be live tracking available at: http://graperide.co.nz/graperide/gps