K2 2010

The K2 is one of the hillier single day rides that one can find, yet even as incredibly slow hill climber I find it to be one of my favourite events over a wonderfully scenic, 185km coastal course.

Ride Data:
Distance:	184.8km	9292 Calories
Time:	8h08m	22.68 km/h (87.26km/h MAX)
Cadence:	Avg: 78 rpm	Max: 144 rpm
Ride Data:	Summary data only. GPS data borked on this ride sigh
Location:	Coromandel, NZ	30 October 2010

Being a hilly course I haven’t really performed on the course in the past so I entered in the last and slowest group (9). With a three minute gap between each starting group. Approaching the start of the group 9 start a quick calculation in my head made me realise that I was going to have take a whole hour from my previous two rides in this event to be finished before the prize giving began! Today, I was delighted after taking a full an hour and half from my previous two rides in this event.

On the first hill (Manaia) I passed a rider who had the unfortunate mishap of having already broken their chain (and derailleur hangar?).  On the way up the second hill of Kerata, Brent whom I had met the previous week on the GWALoop  caught up with me. It was not a surprise for me to see him ride straight past me as we travelled uphill. However I saw him stopped as I flew down the other side of the hill with my chin on the handlebar stem. I never saw him again until the final climb over Whangapoua where I learned he had punctured coming over the top of Kerata.

I then spent most of the ride along the coast to Thames in a large group, but to be honest the rotations were not particularly smooth and at times even scary. I reached Thames about 50 minutes quicker than I did in 2008 making it my fastest ride over this leg. With the rotation of the starting towns, this first leg this year so fresh legs no doubt helped me gain the my personal best time for the leg.

Once through Thames, it was the climb up the Kopu-Hikuai Hill (425m) for the highest point on the ride. This is a gradual, rather than steep ascent and I unusually found myself near the front of the group that gradually disintegrated on the way up to the summit. I was mostly riding on my own, or in small clusters of riders for the rest of the ride from here. I reached Tairua 2h11m after leaving Thames, now 2 from 2 for personal bests for each leg. I was now on target to be about an hour ahead of my previous best time for the whole ride. Finishing before prize-giving began was now obviously not going to be an issue :).

Estimated section differences 2008 / 9 & 10	2008	2009	2010
Coromandel Town to Thames:	2:44:48	2:51:41	1:54:22
Thames to Tairua:	2:30:00	2:36:30	2:11:36
Tairua to Whitianga:	2:02:02	2:17:01	1:41:35
Whitianga to Coromandel Town:	2:21:01	1:52:19	2:21:12
	9:37:51	9:37:31	8:08:45

Improved form followed me over Pumpkin Hill and down to Whitianga, placing me another 20 minutes ahead of my previous best for this leg. 3/3 for leg personal bests. Undoubtedly, a PB for the whole ride coming right up.

With the revolving start beginning at Coromandel this year, it left the hilliest section to last. The Whangapoua Hill was far more challenging having already ridden 170km! For some reason my GPS data was corrupted on this ride and unreadable afterwards. All evidence of my use of the ‘two-foot’ gear is thereby erased forever! Finishing with the climbs of Kuotuna; Myundermans; Gentle Annie and then Whangapoua really hit the legs and this was the only sector that I did not ride a personal-best sector in.

All up, I took about 90 minutes off my previous times in this event, and had my best time for 3 of the 4 individual legs that make up the event.. 8h8m was good for me on a hilly course. The moderate climbing efforts have improved greatly, the steep climbs need some work yet. Once it reaches a certain level of steepness I am grinding it out far too slowly. This may require more strength training.

Can I find a sub-7h30m in 2011?

2009 Kuaotunu 2 (K2): Ouch, I feel broken now

 

Last year I bent a chain-link on the first hill in this event. In 2009 I was sure I could do better and get that PB. I started strongly (for me) but couldn’t say so much for the rest of event :>. This is a very hard and torturous course with all ample climbing that brings awesome scenery with it. I rate this as the best organised and marshalled event that I have entered.

 

in a nutshell everything is perfect aside from the fact that I am no good at it. 

 

Broken me, was 8 seconds quicker than I was last year when I bent a link in my chain. Lets call it work in progress :). I think that even for slow climbing me, sub-8 hours is achievable. That said, I am still a long way from that! My average speeds are well down on my PB’s in most events at the moment and something I need to prioritise rectifying!

 

Ride Data:
Distance:	185.01km	8,919 Calories
Time:	9:37:32* (New PB by 8 seconds)	19.2 km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 2,559m	Descent: 2558m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player	MapMyRide
Location:	Whitianga, NZ	31 October 2009

With the annual town rotation in this well organised event, the 2009 edition started from Whitianga.  Undoubtedly the hardest quarter of the event with three categorised hills over this 43km on the way to Coromandel Town:

• Kuaotuna (150m, category 2)
• Myundermans (145m, category 1)
• Whangapoua (380m, Hors Categorie)

There was a nasty looking crash that was being cleaned up by St John on the descent of the category 2 Kuaotuna Hill. It is never to nice to see riders off their bikes and spread over the terrain - especially this early in an event.

 

Even with all this climbing I did manage to find myself riding mostly with riders in the group that started just ahead of me. I was very happy to be passing through Coromandel Town in about 1:52. Some 28 minutes ahead of the time this section took me last year and I was elated to be well on track to finish under my stated goal of under eight hours.

 

When thinking of the Coromandel – Thames section there may be a tendency to think of the flattish, long coastal section around to Thames. However, the first 20km of this section begins with what I must describe as the “forgotten hills” of this event. The innocuous hills of

• Manaia (141m, category 3)
• Kereta (228m, category 4)

can be felt in your legs following the hills of the previous 43km.  This collection of hills certainly could not be described as “gently rolling”.

 

Unfortunately I  must have leaned too far or done something weird on the ascent of Kereta. I have never ever been so sore on my bicycle before. I pinched something in my back, just above my right hip and was barely able to move. Still not sure how I managed this. I couldn’t help but think how I climb an equivalent hill on the way home from work every night!! Many brief pauses were in order as I struggled on. As Lance Armstrong said:

Pain is temporary
Quitting is forever

And this was to be motto rolling through my head for the next several hours as I still had 120km or so to ride on. In agony, I found myself isolated from bunches and while very scenic it did seem like the headwind the whole way back to Whitianga from here.

 

As I look to improve my time in future events this is the section that I am sure I can improve on. Get in a bunch, and knocking off 30-50 minutes from this section should not be too difficult!

 

Estimated section differences to 2008:	2009	2008	Difference
Whitianga to Coromandel Town (43km):	1:52:19	2:21:01	-28:42
Coromandel Town to Thames (53km):	2:51:41	2:44:48	+7:04
Thames to Tairua (53km):	2:36:30	2:30:00	+6:30
Whitianga to Coromandel Town (43km):	2:17:01	2:02:02	+14:59

 

Now my sore back was not in quite so much agony, a further 30km of flatish riding down the road at Thames. The small bump of Kopu – Hikuai ahead of me to ascend before dropping into Tairua.

• Kopu – Hikuai (425m, category 5)

Although sore, this bump seemed far easier to ascend than last year. I put this down to a 425m hill when you have already 160 kilometres is going to feel harder than when you have only ridden 100! I certainly had a heavy head wind on the descent, with my maximum speed only getting  to about 70km/h. A good 30km/h down on last years rapid descent :(.

 

Feeling tired, the area known as Broken Hills sure were breaking me. This is a section of innocuously tiny hills that are easily forgotten about as you dream of a fast descent straight into Tairua, but no it is about another 30km/h from the bottom of Kopu - Hukuai into Tairua.

 

Heading into Tairua I start swapping places with a rider from Auckland. Once we were over our final major bump

• Pumpkin Hill (240m, category 3)

we tried to give each other some drafting as we rode like crippled old men I am sure it didn’t look too classy. Thanks to the volunteers at the water stop with the jellybeans at the top of Pumpkin, and for stopping with some more as you drove back to Whitanga :). Much appreciated!!

 

I am not sure what was the most depressing as I struggled to the finish line:

• Feeling sore, broken and slow?
• Watching all the cars with bicycles on roof, or towbar already heading home?

But then, the number of cars I saw travelling from the finish with empty bicycle racks made me question if anyone behind me was still going to make the finish. The fear of being the Lanterne Rouge kept me going.

 

In hindsight, a ride as hard as this it could be worth adding a Lanterne Rouge award for this event in the future.

 

Will have to be a full year of training before taking this on again next year!

 

 

2008 Kuaotunu 2 (K2): Twisty Hills; Twisted Chain

Summary: Sloooww; broken chain link
Around Lake Taupo seems easy after this one!

Activity Type:Road Biking

Event Type:Race

Total Time:09:18:43

Distance:177.97 km

Elevation Gain/Loss:2,801 m / 2,608 m

Calories:9,033 C

Data from connect.garmin.com

Correction: There was 18:58 when I bumped the Garmin freeing the chain. My real-time was an even slooooooower 9:37:41 :(

Okay, so that was an absolute disaster. The race I had been so looking forward to and it was essentially over after a mere 8.51km the summit of the Pumpkin Hill, which seemed appropriate for the first hill on the day following Halloween.

Everything started so well. I was comfortably in the middle of a well paced bunch, ascended the first category hill up the 240m Pumpkin Hill without any difficulty. I felt like I was set for a good day. My bike was running beautifully. Awesome.

"If anything could possibly go wrong, it will"

Murphy's Law

At the crest of the hill as I changed the gears for the downhill the chain jammed. After easing my way out of the way of the bunch, I had the chain in two loops and needed to remove the back wheel to free it. There went the bunch.

"Murphy was an optimist"

O'Toole's Commentary on Murphy's Law

I was soon on my way again, only to have the chain bouncing everywhere. I'm sure the gears were in tune before the race and even at the start I thought to myself. After stopping once again, I noted the twisted chainlink.

It seemed a long way to come to pull out after a mere 8.5km, so I perservered to personally assess the magnitude of the famed hills of this course. Perhaps I can find a friendly bicycle mechanic on the way I promised myself. Not to be.

Over the only slightly undulating hills to Whitianga I went, up and over the Kuaotuna Hill (170m), not so bad I thought. Yikes bad looking crash there I thought as the Police waved me past what looked like a multiple cycle pile up and a truck. Then it was over Myundermans Hill (145m) and a few more undulations before the famed Whangapoua Hill. It was starting to seem like I was the only one without a puncture, so at least something was going my way! Did I contradict Flannagans Precept?

"Nothing is that predictable.", interpreted as "You cannot use the inevitability of Murphy's law to avoid its consequences"

Flannagan's Precept.

The Hors Categorie Whangapoua Hill sure felt like a climb, and I have to confess to stopping for a breather and a banana on the why up. With an gradient of 18% I could see why one of the corners in the upper reaches of this hill was signposted Cadiac Corner for the event.

"Hors catégorie is a French term used in cycle races (most notably, the Tour de France) to designate a climb that is "beyond categorization", an incredibly tough climb. Most climbs in cycling are designated from Category 1 (hardest) to Category 4 (easiest), based on both steepness and length. A climb that is harder than Category 1 is designated as hors catégorie. The term was originally used for those mountain roads where cars were not expected to be able to pass."

Wikipedia

It was a particularly twisty descent with corners marked for cars with 25km/h signposts demanding respect. The most caution is probably required at a double left-hand bend, that has two sharp corners in a row, of which the second and unseen bend certainly had a nasty kick to it. Thankfully this was well marshalled with a the marshals reminding the descending cyclists to slow down.

I stocked up on Banana's at the transition in Coromandel and over the Manaia hill (181m) and then Kerata, which was not steep but a 228m climb that seemed to last forever!. From there it was a wind blown, flat coastal ride. This was the point at which I was really missing the use of all of my gears. A friendly small bunch invited me to jump on. This was great, but ultimately brief - without the use the small sprockets in my cassette, which cause the chain to jump and derail I could not hold for long.

After a toilet stop along the way I soon found my way through Thames and on my way up the long and arduous 425m Kopu-Hikuai Hill. I thanked Newton's Law of Gravitation and freewheeled at breathtaking speed on a straightish descent with only a few shallow corners before being caught behind some traffic.

During the last 20km or so, I was able to spend a bit of time talking to my fellow back markers in the race which was nice. I sure had been cycling a long way by myself!

I finally made the finishing line in about 9h18m, as the timing equipment was packed up. A pretty disappointing time but I have now done my "requie" of the course and hope to be back next year and about two hours quicker.

Overall, this was probably the best organised and most well marshalled race I have participated in.

Then as if to rub salt into my wounds, I open my e-mail up on Monday morning to a newsletter from the organisers of the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.

The most important thing is to check your chain for wear and replace it before it's too stretched.

Yep, I learned that one the hard way!



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Training in the Equinox / Almost time for the K2

Again I find myself as a typical masochistic Wellington cyclist. With the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge being the goal for most of us recreational roadies, we find ourselves on a bikes again and beginning training at the spring equinox. In most places this would be fine, but in Wellington we find ourselves persistently blown about by the breezes that the equinox brings. Heading out on our cycles, and noting the slow times on our regular routes, and unsure of how much to allow for the breeze. It is not until the actual races come around that we finally find out, are we faster? Fitter? Stronger? than last year?

With confidence from the improvement in my time in the 160km Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge last year, I was silly enough to enter the 192km Kuaotunu 2 (K2) cycle race in the Coromandel. It is sure to be a fine challenge with seven classified hills to climb. And goodness me, it is now only just over a week away. Yikes!

The training began with a broken axle. Could someone explain how one breaks two rear axles on a road bike in twelve months? It seems insane!! As a result, I splashed out on some new wheels - American Classic Hurricane. As these are wheels are for use in cycle cross and have a traditional 3-cross, 32 spoke setup I am planning for it to be a far too challenging task for even I to damage these babies. Regardless of the full 32 spokes, I have still saved 400g on the Mavic Aksium wheels I have swapped out. First ride out I whizzed downhill at 93km/h, so speeds good :).The K2 organisers suggest the race includes a 100+km/h descent, so we'll see how these babies go next week.

"This is followed by an exciting downhill section with a few turns to begin with followed by a 100km per hour straight. This downhill section will probably give you enough momentum to get half way up the next uphill."

Thankyou Mr Newton, I think your law rocks. 

The race organisers have been very good at sending out daily e-mails to those who have entered, generally being kind enough to remind us of how brutal the race is and the magnitude of the hills to be climbed.

"The 200km RoadCraft K2 has been described as one of the most brutal rides in the Southern Hemisphere and is a real test of how good you are on the bike. It is certainly one of those inspiring challenges for both Elite Cyclists and the weekend warrior."

Great, thanks for reminding us! What masochistic moment made me enter ths race anyhow?

"The tyre had split. Descending these hills at speed puts a lot of stress on the bike, the brakes get hot and my tyres were probably a bit warn."

Could Newtons Law might save me? Sure going to need a rest on those descents.

So, how does one assess a realistic time goal for a race the harder and further than they have been before? Can I finish before the prize giving? Will I be able to walk afterwards? All to be revealed in my next posting.

Craig.