Hallucinations in Haast, Overtime and the Kiwi Hunt 1200km

I was relatively late confirming my start for the Kiwi Hunt. I wasn’t sure how the legs would come back after easing my way into mountain biking, completing the 1100km Kiwi Brevet bikepacking event only two weeks prior. With airfare booked, I confirmed I would be there, but not whether I would be riding or helping out with bag drops. Ultimately my legs came back well with mental tiredness and lack of alertness being more of an issue. Possibly relating to the amount of work I was doing between these two epic events. As crazy the proposition may sound, I often believe that in some situations an employee may be deserving of being paid double-time for time spent on annual leave to account for the additional work that must be completed immediately before and after time away from the office.

Ride Data:
Distance:	1,210km
Time:	90h19m
Elevation gain:	10,153m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect
Location:	South Island, NZ February 25-29, 2012

Randonneuring is relatively unknown in New Zealand, but with eight foreign invaders and myself we had nine starters for the first 1200km randonnee in New Zealand. This  made for the most starters I’ve ridden with in New Zealand randonneuring events.

My legs were surprisingly strong and I found myself unusually off the front, rather than off the back for most of the first 70km. While technically a false flat, I am fairly certain that this was the flattest 70km I have ridden in my entire life. The mountains were sure to come on this ride. Just not today. Preferring to chew on my food, I was dropped at the first control - the cafe in Hororata (70km/2h45m). The food was too good to disrespect it by inhaling, so I ensured that I chewed at least a few times on the way down.

After another 110km of mostly level solo riding I arrived at Geraldine (182km/8h05m) for lunch where I had a chat with Duncan who was driving the van in support of the ride whilst gobbling down half a foot-long Subway, saving the second half for later. With 182km in a fraction over eight hours including cafe stops I was very comfortable with how my time was going at this point.

As afternoon became evening, and I had ridden away from the Canterbury Plains and climbed into the more tussocky sub-alpine terrain en-route to Tekapo (270km/13h43m). I seemed to arrive just after closing for most of the local eateries so the second-half of my steak sub came in very handy for dinner.

With no moon to light the sky and no artificial light on offer a beautiful night sky overhead lead past Lake Pukaki toward the 3rd control at Omarama (358km/18h30m). I lamented the compulsory helmet laws that made it difficult to see the sky, so with tiredness kicking in and wanting to take advantage of the night sky viewing conditions I had a few short rests on my back looking at the sky along the way. It is no wonder there is a proposal to designate this as a World Heritage Site to establish a reserve for starlight. (See: “Tekapo night sky closer to World Heritage status”). On arrival at Omarama, Duncan and Bruce had setup some tents at the local Top 10 camping ground for us. The tents were easy to find with the assistance of some bicycle tail lights, and a chance for a luxurious five hours sleep for myself.

I was narrowly last away from Omarama at about 6:15am, which was slightly surprising as I thought I heard some other riders arrive a some time after me. Perhaps I would pedalling zombies on my travels? Day two began with a  90km ride up the first serious climb over Lindis Pass (971m.asl) before the descent down to Tarras. I briefly passed Paul & Els until I stopped at a stream to top up on beautiful, fresh mountain water. Julian and I spent a bit of time swapping places with each other on the way up the pass. I was quite hungry by the time I arrived at Tarras and enjoyed my brunch at the cafe, which I finished as Julian was arriving on his stainless steel Moulton bling. It was only another 30-odd kilometres into the next control at Wanaka (471km/30h33m), but I was still starving again when I arrived there shortly before Paul and Els were leaving. I was now starting to get near to the time limits but justified to myself on the basis of the amount of time I stationary and eating, with eating being one of the only things in life that is as much fun as riding a bicycle.

It was very hot afternoon riding up to and around Lake Hawea. It was only a few more kilometres up the road, well 17km actually and it was time to stop for a frozen dairy dessert. It is amazing how hard it can be to lose weight even when riding 1200km! It seemed surprisingly hilly around lake Hawea, but I think it was more the heat making gentle inclines feel like hard work. I found myself slacking and catching a quick break when ever I could find some shade. Once through to Makarora the views of lakes, and barren sun drenched grass and tussock lands were replaced by native forest on both sides of the road. Has it been a few hours earlier the shade would have been appreciated. This was a section of riding I was particularly looking forward to and I wasn’t certainly wasn’t disappointed. I would happily ride this section of road again. I briefly saw Duncan again somewhere near Haast Pass (564m.asl)  as he was driving back to Lake Hawea to camp with Julian who had unfortunately retired from the ride.

In the darkness was affecting my alertness as the sleep wombles began attacking. It turned out that the "zombie" even after five hours sleep last night was myself, which was a surprise as I am a natural nightowl. The sleep wombles were soon followed by the tarseal monsters and tree people. Then further along mailbox people as well. Regardless of my slow pace and generous time allocated to both sleeping and eating I I was now in the middle of the full ultra-cycling hallucination experiences which are more common in the RAAM than in randonneuring. Regardless of the five hours the night before, pre-ride sleep deficit cannot be caught up during a 1200km Randonnee. I fought the sleep wombles and hallucinations through to Haast (618km/42h00m) and oh dear, 45 minutes behind schedule. I had a short nap in Haast before heading for the designated overnight location of Lake Paringa.

I initially felt a little better after a short nap as I departed for Lake Paringa. Unfortunately the sleep wombles were back, along with their group of friends otherwise known as hallucinations. A more dedicated sleep was going to be required. There would be no point sleeping on my bike and riding off the road, or salmoning into oncoming traffic in the opposite lane. I called into the picnic area at Ship Creek and caught 2 or 3 hours sleep before continuing on toward Lake Paringa. I started well but the sleep wombles returned as I carefully continued in a straight(ish) line hoping for an improvement as the sunrise approached. Improved al that never came. I even stopped to call Duncan to retire for a rare DNF, but with a lack of cell-phone coverage I had no choice but to persevere. I arrived at the former pub at Lake Paringa where we had some mattresses to sleep declaring to Bruce that I was I out and would be withdrawing. I stopped for some soup after which I decided that I was here to ride, so advised Bruce that although I was well behind time and could not possibly finish, I may as well continuing riding the scenic route up the West Coast until Duncan gets back from Lake Hawea.

I was riding a lot more strongly after the soup and was making reasonable progress compared to the previous night and earlier in morning. Duncan caught up with me as I hit the hills on the way through to Fox Glacier and loaded me up with Endura, a high magnesium based sports/rehydration drink and I was good to go and set forth for Fox. Thanks Duncan! While I was currently tracking well behind time, we thought it was likely that I would be able to get back under the cut-off time-limit before arriving at Greymouth. Once at Fox I gnawed on a good sized lunch, which unfortunately came a tad too slowly for my liking during an hour long stop.. perhaps the cafe was growing the vegetables for the salad?


Now through to Franz Joseph Glacier (760km/57h20m), I was a massive 3h18m behind the cutoff time, but had 11 hours to cover 170km to get back under the time limit. I stopped very briefly for some chocolate milk before pushing on for the relative flat travel through Whatoroa, Harihari and Ross. Ross was notably warm with a distinct burning smell which I asserted must be related to the mining activity in the town. My headlamp batteries were beginning to fade so I was stoked to see Duncan and Bruce again on my way to Hokitika to collect my spare batteries from the van. They had their share of bags to drop around the country side with riders well spread by this point of the ride. I was getting pretty tired on the way into Greymouth, with the final 20 kilometres from Kumara Junction into Greymouth seeming to take an eternity before I arrived at the campsite at 0330 - about the same time Els was leaving for Otira (do you sleep?).

It had taken some effort, after having previously “quit”  but I was finally back under the cut-off times again - yay. I had a three hour kip before heading off again just after dawn. It was pretty slow start to the day. I had some chaffing irritations to take care of but getting my legs moving on the way to Moana (963km) on this morning was proving to be more of challenge than it should have been. Not even the famed meat-pie and chocolate milk at Moana could seem to resolve it. I ambled into Jacksons (995km) for a frozen dairy dessert which placed me good stead climb in front of me, firstly more gently up to Otira, before the more feared Otira Gorge and Viaduct climb with steep pitches over 16%! While this may seem absurdly step on bicycle (or laden truck)  I have previously felt vertigo tramping up the nearby Browning Pass where 19th century surveyors proposed a road between Canterbury and the West Coast could be built! I assure you that the climb up the subsequently discovered Arthurs Pass is much more attainable and on this occasion with the use of some brief pauses in the shade to manage body temperature I succeeded without using the two-foot gear. I was quite ecstatic, this been the first time I had pedalled the whole up this little slope.



I stopped for a well deserved lunch in Arthurs Pass (1029km) where I chatted to Julian who was back riding his Moulton bling, riding the last 200km or so back Christchurch. I felt I made up for slow morning with the climb up the gorge.

But, unfortunately after lunch my progress came to a halt. I should have performed better over this section but for the dual adversaries of a brisk headwind and unbelievably rough gravel (rocks?) chipseal providing no reward for effort over the undulating 60-odd kilometres to Porters Pass. My motivation was waning at this point, and ultimately this is time I should never have lost and likely cost me an official finishing time. Flock Hill seemed to have grown in steepness from what I recalled with my legs spent, I was left without enough gears and a brief section of  push-biking as I struggled through the late afternoon before finally making it to Porters Pass (1093km) and finally a nice long descent.

Back in Canterbury, I made it to the penultimate control in Oxford (1138km/87h06m) exactly on the time limit. The guy who signed my card had seen Els earlier, I didn’t ask how along ago. Was I close behind, or had he been just at the bar for a long time? I was now pretty exhauated as I ate out some miles through to Rangiora, trying to keep with 25km/h to the finish to make the 1am cutoff in Christchurch (1202km/90h19m). I didn't quite make it, arriving 19 minutes late.

Obviously spending more time riding and less time eating, sleeping and resting would make a great deal of difference and while I was a tad disappointed that 90h19m being over 90 hours and thus not an official finish, I felt that in the context of the adversity of exhausted, overdone legs with two massive rides this month - almost making the final cut-off after "quitting" at halfway is still somewhat an “unofficial achievement”. What I do know now, is exactly where my exhaustion and hallucination limits are, which when into future endurance rides well rested will enable me to plan, enjoy and attain some personal records along the way.

Thanks for organising it all Duncan, and driving all that way so that we could all ride our bikes and enjoy the air and the scenery.

Kiwi Hunt 1200km Results 2012
Jan Erik Jensen	Sweden	83h14m
Rus Hamilton	Australia	85h03m
Rick Blacker	USA	85h03m
Mark Thomas	USA	85h03m
Peter Heal	Australia	85h35m
Els Vermeulen	UK	89h10m
Paul Cribb	Australia	89h17m
Craig McGregor	New Zealand	90h19m (Outside time limit)

It’s just a Little Pond - The Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge Extreme Enduro

 

Why?

Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge 1280km Extreme Enduro 2011
Place	Rider	Time
1st	9907 Ron Skelton	69h39m37s
2nd	9902 Craig McGregor	90h45m
3rd	9904 Arthur Schwencke	92 hours
4th	9905 Colin-Wal Anderson	102 hours
	9903 Neville Mercer	DNF

I approached the Extreme Enduro with two simple purposes:

1. To prove that this is only a little pond to cycle around.

2. To complete 1200km in less time that I took to complete the Paris-Brest-Paris in August.

 

I had convinced myself riding eight laps would prove that it was only a little pond and that without the plentiful supply of pastries and crepes to distract me, I could surely complete this 1280km ride in less than 85h32m. Ultimately I proved this to only be a little pond, however four days of gale force winds was a much greater hindrance than the plentiful supply of pastries, flans and crepes in France.

 

 

The Startline

At the start-line for the eight lap Extreme Enduro was a small field of RAAM finisher, Ron “iRONman” Skelton; Cape Reinga to Bluff record holder Colin Anderson, Arthur Schwencke, Neville Mercer, myself and Bill Lane who was about to start his third lap of ten. Nick Dunne was already well into his third lap of ten. Ron appeared focussed and determined to win at the start-line and four days later it wasn’t so much as daylight between Ron and the rest of the field - it was almost an entire planetary rotation with a 21 hour gap between 1st and 2nd place.

 

With five others, we rode together until turning-off from Control Gates Hill into Pohipi Road. Colin Anderson wisely advised me it would be a lonely ride from here. He wasn’t wrong. I did briefly see Colin later in the lap but I certainly was mostly riding solo aside from the regular swapping places between Arthur and myself for the next eight laps. We certainly were similarly paced with the ebb and flow of proceedings having one of us the stronger than the other at different times over four days. It was mostly riding in solitude, although I had the company of endurance cycling fan and future NZ Outdoor Track 24hr record aspirant Stu Downs for about the first 40k of lap five (or was it six?). By lap seven, the main event had begun with the elite races, 160km solo and relay events all underway. I had been planning on being on my final lap at this time, but not to be with a brutal slow ride of battling the breeze. I rode amongst a number of different riders during lap seven, most of whom thought was crazy, insane or just plains stupid for riding eight laps. I felt obliged to point out it was excellent value at only $12 per lap compared to their  $99 per lap .

 

 

The Wind

 

The 2011 Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge is destined to be remembered as the year of the wind. In the case of the Extreme Enduro it was a case of an entire four days of gale force wind - making the Extreme Enduro far more extreme than I had anticipated in advance. Friday night was by far the worst. With the wind gusting beyond 85km/h there were branches flying past me, and the road became a slalom course of broken branches to avoid. There was a point of almost stopping during these conditions. After brief reflection, I was simply too stubborn to quit with only one and half laps remaining. In the light of Saturday, the Huka XL mountain biking event was cut short due to trees falling. I assure you by that time the wind whilst strong, was not as fierce as it was in the early hours of the morning! Given the branches flying past me on the road in the night, I can assure any disappointed competitors from the Huka XL,  that it would have been incredibly dodgy in the forest and I suspect impossible to run the event safely.

 

 

Mechanicals

 

Accessories - Unbelievably after thousands of kilometres of riding in New Zealand and France with an identical bicycle and lighting setup I had nothing but trouble with my lights on this ride. I think this was large the result of a chip-seal roads that had a lot of trucks peeling some of  chip-seal from the road making it a reasonably rough ride for a sealed road.  I had a few issues with the bumps bouncing the battery cables out of my Ayup lights and a few similar instances reset my Garmin 705 bike computer to zero (possibly related to my auxiliary Duracell power supply). I also lost my backup light overboard, never to be found again when descending Kuratau Hill in the middle of the night. The Busch & Mueller Ixon IQ was an excellent light powered by Nimh AA rechargeable batteries with both a good range and spread of light emitted. Unfortunately, the mounting system was not as good as the light unit itself .

 

Worn out tyre induced puncture - I suffered one puncture on this ride. This was caused by wear. I should really have put new tyres on before the event began, but I was hesitant to add to my array of half worn tyres. Early during lap seven I had to replace the tyre and inner tube after puncturing with the tyre worn through to the canvas around its entire circumference. I continue to be pleased with the performance and relative lack of punctures that I am experiencing when using 700x25C Continental Grand Prix 4 Season tyres. In over 10,000km ridden on these tyres, while I have worn through two rear tyres I have only suffered two punctures, this being the second.

 

Gear cable - On my final lap I assumed I had a severely frayed the rear derailleur cable. Following the post-mortem, it turned out to be gunk preventing cable moment within the cable casing. The original casing has since been replaced by some higher quality shimano cable outers. Thankfully with a support crew in-tow I was able to swap from my Trek Madone “Black Beauty” onto my Specialized Roubaix “Blue Angel” for the remaining 100km.

 

Night Riding

 

One of the lessons I learned when riding the Paris Brest Paris was how much less tiring a little moon was, than the pure darkness that zero moon and zero sun represent. I should have checked the moon phase before entering the event. During the rain of the first night, the moon rose before the sun. From that point on, the moon was rising at or after sunrise, thus providing no assistance for night riding during this event.

 

I have climbed Waihaha Hill many times, but when ascending at night it is far more ominous than it is during daylight. Without being able to see the top, climbing a hill without corners or changes in gradient the climb to the top of Waihaha Hill seemed like it was never going to end!

 

As I am more of a randonneur than a racer I am not accustomed to having a support crew. It may have been hard work for me into the wind but I noted that this type of event is even more tiring for the crew than it is for the rider. I was thankful to have a support crew provided by Mum and Dad (thank you). It was much more comfortable riding at night with a support crew behind me – much more room given by other traffic. Having a support crew was particularly useful during a couple of particularly cold moments in the middle of the night, jumping in the car with all the heaters on was very useful!

 

 

Sleep

 

I had my first sleep a lap sooner than anticipated. With accommodation in Turangi, my plan was 2 3/4 laps, but a combination of darkness in collaboration with rain and strengthening head winds left me tired and exhausted after only 1 & 3/4 laps to Turangi. I successfully set the alarm on with my phone  - in silent mode :) and got a healthy 4-5 hrs sleep before departing for Taupo to complete lap 2 . I was now well entrenched into last place. On Thursday and Friday nights I got through two laps a day plus a 2-3 hour sleep and then rode through Saturday night. All up, this would have to be considered a luxurious amount of sleep during an ultra-cycling ride. Typically in these events, those who approach it as a ride get a lot more sleep than those who approach it as a race.

 

 

The Finish

The finish was part personal glory, part anti-climax and a few hours later complete surprise. Before the event I had envisaged finishing in 75-80 hours which would have had be arriving shortly before or during the prize-giving festivities. After battling the wind, and sleeping far more than intended I did not finish until 6:45am on Sunday morning. I rode as hard as possible from Turangi trying to finish in under 90 hours, but with no tailwind and nearly 1280km in my legs, the first 20-30km went well but it was a slow crawl into Taupo in exhaustion. Whilst I received some encouraging toots from early departing traffic carrying Taupo riders and their bicycles south, it was no grand arrival. There was no-one there and the timing equipment had all been disconnected and packed up. I recorded my time in paper at the BP station and made my way to shower.

 

 

I hadn’t realised how well I had placed until my belated arrival at the Enduro Breakfast when talking to other Extreme Enduro riders. While 21 hours behind Ron, 90h45m in the wind was good enough for 2nd place this year.  Randonneuring is not well in New Zealand and I had hoped to introduce randonneuring and the Paris-Brest-Paris to the riders that we there from the 2 lap Enduro and 4 lap Maxi-Enduro events. At the time I was so exhausted that I could barely keep my head above my shoulders and as a consequence may not have expressed this as well as intended.

 

 

Reflections

• Lake Taupo may have a surface area of 616 square kilometres, but on bicycle it is merely a little pond.
• There is much, much more solo riding in the Extreme Enduro event than in the ‘Solo’ category.
• I continue to love riding my bicycles. Even in the adversity of riding in the wind, without the benefit of drafting for 1280km I still had a smile on my face the whole way.
• In trying conditions attributes of determination and stubbornness more than made up for my lack of speed or natural cycling talent.
• Ultra-cycling events are just as brutal in the form of exhaustion for the support crew as they are for the rider.
• Stopping for numerous pastries en-route is not as time consuming as riding into a headwind for four days . Yummmmmmm!!!

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?

OTB ITT: “Surf to Summit” (Makara Beach to Johnsonville)

With a beautiful day to open the first Saturday of spring Frank kindly organised a time-trial from Makara Beach to Johnsonville.

 

Ride Data:
Distance:	14.12km	861 Calories
Time:	35m 25s	23.9 km/h (46.6km/h MAX)
Elevation:	Ascent: 274m	Descent: 59m
Cadence:	Avg: 91 rpm	Max: 111 rpm
Heart rate:	Avg: 86% est. max	Max: 95% est. max
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect / RideWithGPS
Location:	Wellington, NZ	4 September 2010

 

Not being a strong climber and with a net ascent over the route I was a tad apprehensive about the distinct possibility of riding badly but registered for the ride anyway. 

 

While not a time to set the world on fire, with the benefit of competition I rode up to Johnsonville in 35m27s, a remarkable 8 minutes faster than my previously recorded training times over the same route.

 

We began our time-trials in reverse, seeded order which had me 7th out of 21 riders. Not sure whether complaints of net ascent aided my seeding or not. I started strongly into the wind and after a few kilometres began passing those that had started ahead of me. At 10km (of 14km) I was up to third on the road (if I counted correctly) but any possible thoughts of being of first being to the line soon evaporated as a succession riders whizzed straight pass me between the 11th and 12th kilometres.

 

Had a great afternoon and am looking forward to finding more improvement. Thanks again for organising the ride Frank :).

 

No doubt we’ll have more ITT’s over the same route. Have a target to beat to find the PB now. Now, if I only I can get riding up those hills a bit quicker…

 

Kapiti Cycle Challenge 2010

I was feeling exciting heading into the Kapiti Cycle Challenge. This is one of, if not my most favourite course over which annual fun ride events are held. With testing hills that will not  completely destroying your spirits, intertwined with the fast flat sections down the Kapiti Coast and up the Hutt Valley in-between it offers a bit of everything.

Ride Data:
Distance:	91.17km	4,649 Calories
Time:	3:09:30	28.9km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 1,096m	Descent: 1,087m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player
Location:	Wellington, NZ	21 March 2010

I went into the ride encouraged with improved hill climbing the previous week during the HospiBikeRide. It had been some while since my last cycling personal best, surely today I could manage one?  My nephew, Jordan had been staying for the weekend. After watching his two consecutive 800m personal bests at the North Island Secondary Schools Athletics Champs he kindly calculated his improvement over the previous twelve months and gave me a time to beat to the nearest second. From memory that was about 8 minutes faster than my 2009 time of 3h31m5s.hew, nailed it with an almost 22 minute improvement in 3h9m30s YAY!!

After the pre-ride safety briefing the mass start went on time at 8:30am. Unfortunately, we came around the first corner and it it was a large peloton hard on the brakes and trying not to make contact with other bikes and riders. The north-bound Overlander train was running a few minutes late. Once the train was through it was over the railway and a brisk pace in the peloton down State Highway 1 to the Paekakariki township before turning left up the Paekakariki hill climb.

This year when ascending Paekakariki there were not masses of riders passing me. I was actually gaining places! Wow! Even on the steep sections. This was a most unusual situation for me and usual lead balloon like approach to hill climbing. The training is paying off. Awesome :). I reached the top of the first climb in a shade over 40 minutes. Wow! 12 minutes ahead of last year in only 20km.

With the help of one other rider we had about a dozen riders in tow from Pahatanui. No amount of encouragement could seem to bring any other riders forward to share the lead. They were just holding on and were only interested in drafting today. By the Haywards Hill summit the rest of the group drop off with just the two of us left for the rapid descent down into the Hutt Valley.

Once into the Hutt Valley we found ourselves in a larger group. Once again lacking in ambition to lead and build good pace. The guy I was riding with up Haywards seemed to be tiring and I found myself oscillating between the front and peeling off to the back until frustration at sub-25km/h pace going straight back to the front. It was difficult to establish any consistent speed along this section as shown in the speed and altitude profile below. I possibly did a bit too much work in this section but my personal goals related to time and not placings. Sitting back and having a rest at 25km/h was not going achieve a significant personal best time. Fortunately shortly before turning for the climb up into to the rides highest point over the Akatarawas a very strong rider in wearing a Marmite jersey took a long strong lead.



The ascent up the 440m Akatawara Hill begins with natural terraces offering short climbs followed by flattish travel. It doesn’t get very steep until the final push for the the summit. During the climb as is usually the case the group we were riding in broke up. Some strong riders that had taken a ‘breather’ earlier took off from the front. A few of us were left around the middle while those that were just trying to hold on to the group up the Hutt Valley disappeared behind.

After winding up the Akatawara Road and over the summit I was greeted by nice, smooth new ‘hotmix’ tarseal on the descending side. Very nice for riding on compared to the usual ‘chipseal’ style road surfaces on most New Zealand. With a narrow and twisty descent to Reikorangi although nicer to ride on and rolling smoother the turns and in ability to see around corners did not exactly allow any speed records on what is a rapid descent.

I crossed the line reasonably strongly showing improving fitness and durability compared to the start of the cycling season in spring. The remaining question being, can I find sufficient improvement to find a further 9m30s time saving to break the 3 hour mark for the third running of the Kapiti Cycle Challenge next March?

The Hospi Bike Ride 2010

The Hospi is a charitable bike ride that raises funds for the Wellington Children’s Hospital. The route starts from Kenepuru Hospital near Porirua, and travels via Ohariu Valley, Tarakau Gorge, Makara, Brooklyn and Island Bay en-route to Wellington Hospital. While I am very familiar with most of this course from my regular training rides I almost always done these routes in reverse.

Ride Data:
Distance:	47.39km	2,481 Calories
Time:	1:43:34	27.6km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 729m	Descent: 735m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player
Location:	Wellington, NZ	14 March 2010

The pre-ride briefing emphasised that this was a “fun-ride” and not a “race”. Of course, we all had electronic timing chips attached to our bicycles lol. On at least one occasion during the safety briefing there was a Freudian slip in referring to a “race” instead of a “fun ride”.

The ride began with a 4.74km controlled section from Kenepuru Hospital through Tawa until turning right into Willowbank Road. Then it was on with the gas with smooth road seal with the ramping up from the 25-27km/h controlled start to around 38-40km/h. I felt well placed a little behind the lead bunch on the way up the hill from Churton Park to Johnsonville when an awful sound came from my rear derailleur. After stopping briefly, and pulling out a broken spoke which had fallen into the jockey wheels. I was unsure of whether to continue or not. I decided to push on and re-gained several places on the way up Ironside Road. This steep section was not far from home, so I decided that if the brakes were not rubbing at the top of the hill I would keep going. Without brakes rubbing on the rear wheel I was on my merry way down through Takarau Gorge regaining a few placings including a few familiar jerseys from before the brief stop for the spoke. No sign of the main bunch however.



Given my recent, okay past two years of climbing form it was pleasing from my perspective to pass a more riders on the way up the Makara Hill than were able to pass me. Recent efforts on improving my hill climbing must be paying off? The descent from Makara Hill is always fun and quick, no matter which side you travel from and today was no exception.

Now riding through the suburbia of Karori and a couple of small bumps before descending Raroa Road. Having climbed this road many times and never ridden down it I have to say it is much more pleasant in the downhill direction :D.

Approaching Te Aro it was a sharp right hand turn into Ohiro Road, and a deceptively steep little 80m climb up to Brooklyn. Unlike Raroa Rd behind me, and Happy Valley in front of me, I had ridden down this road many times but never up it! It seems a handy candidate for hill repeats in off-season training. Once again non-hill climbing me was in the unusual position of gaining places as I went over the crest of the hill with a clear run over the intersection with Brooklyn Road thanks to the Police supervising the intersection :).

It was surreal riding down through Happy Valley at 50-60km/h when I was so used to grinding my way up the hill at 17-20km/h. Unfortunately after turning left at the bottom of the hill at Owhiro Bay it was wall of wind in front of me. Thankfully the guy in the Telecom shirt that I had passed up the previous hill caught up to me and we shared the effort of leading into the wind.

With two sets of traffic lights in the last 2km, which I was able to time well enough to slow down but not stop and unclip my cleats I was able to catch-up to and pass a couple of riders that passed me up Makara Hill. I sure didn’t think I would be seeing them again! A little sprint to the line and I was at Wellington Hospital in 1h43m34s (10th male 26-40yo). While this event only covers a short distance there is a relatively high proportion of climbing on the route. Had a great ride and hopefully great preparation for next weekends hilly Kapiti Cycle Challenge.

The Rev120 in 2010

The Rev 120 is a 120km cycle event, following less used roads around a loop to the east of Hamilton.  Whilst the state highways 1, 26 and 27 servicing Hamilton, Cambridge, Matamata and Morrinsville form a wider loop just outside the The Rev 120's perimeter on very flat roads the area in the middle is very undulating and forms an interesting ride on roads with very little traffic.

Ride Data:
Distance:	118.97km	6022 Calories
Time:	4:21:14	27.3 km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 1253m	Descent: 1251m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player
Location:	Hamilton, NZ	20 February 2010

With an almost flat opening 30km it makes for a fast start in large bunches. I started on the "second wave". There seemed to be much more than normal levels of middle-of-the-bunch braking. This seemed to mostly be occurring from fellow cyclists moving forward, but not to the front of the bunch. The result was some interval work with the speed of bunch making sudden changes 38km/h / 44km/h / 38km/h / 31km/h / 43km/h without changes in road surface, nor incline. I wasn't quite getting on the gas as other riders and was slowly drifting backward among the large bunch with each rapid surge. While this surge and hold approach was not my preference I remained with the whole bunch at the base of French Pass with an average speed a shade over 35km/h - a good speed for very average me at my current fitness level.

Climbing non-performance is certainly something I need address. Although steep, French Pass is still only 170m high as I saw the bunch disappear over the hill in front of me. I'm not sure how it is that I seem glued to the road when climbing hills recently. Living in Wellington provides plenty of practice after all! Surely I should be better than this? Now isolated and riding alone, I had a lot of time to mull over the significant improvement needed from me uphill.

I was in a small group again at about the half way point but fell 200m behind them trying not to choke on an insect that I had swallowed after about 64km. For some 30km or so I was almost exactly the same distance behind and never caught them. Heading up the last hill a small group caught up to me and and we worked together toward to the finish. As we caught up to other riders the group expanded a little before increasing pace with 5km to go saw us dwindle to just three as we reached 3km to go.

Aaron (also from Wellington) pulled in front of me with about 1km to go. I was appreciating the breather as I contemplated the best time to dash for the line. Eyeing the left-hand bend 300m from the line I bolted out of the corner pretending I was a sprinter and crossed the line traveling around 42.5km/h, and five second lead built over that final 300m. Thanks for the lead out Aaron :).

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!

 

 

Craig vs The Tour – Stages 1 to 5

The Tour is well underway with five stages completed. I have also completed five stages in the Versus-MapMyRide RoadID Le Tour Challenge. It has been a lot of fun and has certainly seen my mileage suddenly increase regardless of dark and cold of the southern winter.

 

It is always nice to find some sort of measurement in which you succeed. At this point, and before the Tour de France hits the mountain stages I am exceeding the tour on an altitude gained per 100km travelled basis. Ahh, the gently rolling Wellington hills :).

 

Craig Vs The Tour Stages 1-5
	Distance	Total time	Ascent	Ascent/100km
Tour de France:	511.55km	15:07:49	3,422m	669m/100km
Craig (Le Tour Challenge):	96.59km	3:47:46	805m	833m/100km
Craig (All riding since July 4):	269.48km	11:27:03	2,921m	1098m/100km

 

Surprisingly only 36% of my total ride distance has counted towards the Le Tour challenge so far. One instance of MapMyRide not liking the XML file data from my Garmin Edge 705, although Garmin Connect had no problems with the same data. Last Sunday’s ride also did not count, because it was still Saturday in the EST timezone in which the contest is operating.

 

I have been having a lot of fun in the Le Tour Challenge, currently placed 117th out of 9000 or so riders. I have no idea how their virtual model works out the results, but enjoy checking the results every morning :). But best of all I am having lots of fun spending more time out on my bike – even if it is winter.

Sunday Ride: Round the Bays (Mt Crawford), Wilton, Khandallah

Ride Data:
Distance:	51.79km	2475 Calories
Time:	2:21:17	22km/h
Elevation:	Ascent: 758m	Descent: 752m
Ride Data:	Garmin Connect Player	MapMyRide
Location:	Wellington, NZ	21 June 2009

This morning, I broke with my solo training traditions and for the first time, went for a group ride with the Onslow Tarbabies. The Onslow Tarbabies are a road-cycling group based in Wellington which focus on fitness and riding technique rather than super-competitive racing.

I signed up to their Yahoo group which then started sending me e-mails about their rides. On Friday morning, I received the details of the weekend's ride.

Hi People
I am down to lead the ride Sunday. Plan is around the Bays option Makara. Route plan is set out below for your information. Forecast look ok'ish possibility of some minor rain.
...
If you are new to the Tarbabies please stick with a Red and green jersey and learn the Tarbabies ethos, please.
...
See you Sunday (if its not pouring with rain).

cheers
Gary


City & the Bays, OPTION Makara
... followed by detailed route description ...

Thats easy enough. Just turn up. Oh, and make sure my alarm is set for the earlier than usual start. I woke in a brief moment of panic as I checked my tyre that had tyre for cuts after being punctured in the dark the previous night. And, still plenty of air in the tube - yay :). Raced through the supermarket for a couple of snacks on the way, before heading back to the starting location in Khandallah. I listened to the obligatory safety briefing and raised my hand when asked if anyone was along for the first time. The group leader (Gary) introduced hiimself and the group was split into fast, medium and slow bunches. As my first time I naturally opted for the slow bunch. There was also a first-timers rule that we do not have to lead the bunches until they see how the group works. I presume this is to make sure that the emphasis is on keeping the bunch together and having fun, rather than pushing the bunch or shooting out in a breakaway. This of course suited me fine as we set off into a stiff ~45km/h southerly and I would get to hide in the bunch for the entire ride. Excellent :).

The pace in this group was generally what I would probably describe as a good recovery or intro pace, depending whether you are new to road cycling or not. I understand that often they have Fast, Medium, Slow and Development bunches - with the latter catering for people new to cycling or, training for their first ride around Lake Taupo. What I really noticed how much effort I put in when hill climbing in a group compared to when riding solo. I think when riding by yourself you may not realise how gentle you can be on yourself in such situations. On the way up Mt Crawford, the first significant climb of the ride I saw my heart rate shoot for the sky.

I was pleased to have a chance to catch my breath at the top of Mt Crawford while the whole bunch completed the climb. One down, two ~150m climbs to come. A steep descent into Worser Bay, around to Seatoun and through the Pass of Branda. As we went through Branda we were greeting by a wall of wind from the southerly directly off Cook Strait. But, it was a marvelous view down to the snow capped mountains of the Kaikoura Ranges in the South Island. Tempting to get my tramping boots and head for the hills!

On our way toward to Lyall Bay we lost two members of our bunch, seeking repairs to one bike after its front wheel briefly jammed in a drain gate. This resulted in a broken spoke and thankfully no crashes. Only a bruised wallets, not bodies.

In the camaraderie of riding in a bunch, rather than solo it seemed to take no time to get around to Owhiro Bay and the steady climb up to Brooklyn, a quick descent down Owhiro Road before the slightly more demanding climb up Raroa Road. Pretty soon we found our way to the Monteith's Pub in Khandallah for coffee. Well, not all of us. I resisted my coffee addiction and with a hot chocolate. 9 days since coffee and counting!

Had a great time riding in the group. See you all again soon :).

Cycle: 2009 Le Race - warning: Mountainous

Knowing I needed to work on my hill climbing I entered Le Race to get some more practice. And yes, there was hill climbing. In fact, at one point I did actually dismount and walk. I have never done that during an event before.

The even began with a controlled start, and a green wave to get us through the traffic lights in Christchurch. The controlled section ended abruptly with the first climb of the day up the aptly named Summit Hill. In thick fog, I took the descent cautiously due to limited visibility.



From here there was a long flat section to Little River in which I had the support of a large bunch. That said it was one of those large bunches where the rotation at the front was not working as well as it might for optimum speed. That said, I was pretty happy with how things were going until the ascent up to Hilltop where I twinged my back slightly. In most cases this would not have been a problem, but for the steepness of these climbs needed 100% commitment. Yup, I ended up walking and having some short rests. Duvauchelle Peak, near killed me I tell you!!! Most of those around me were able to make it up these hill on this day either. I have never, ever seen so many cyclists walking during an organised cycling event before.




I would like to improve on my 4:37 next year and make it up all those hills. It was a tough and challenging course and one of the most scenic I have ridden. These are serious hills, you need to be ready for mountainous climbs to do well in this event.

I also have Garmin data for this ride, but Garmin Connect doesn't provide options to embed ride stats yet. You can find my full Garmin Connect data of this ride here.

2009 Kapiti Cycle Challenge

2009 was the year of the inaugural Kapiti Cycle Challenge. It was an enjoyable and well organised event that I am looking forward to entering again next year. The course includes some of my favourite road cycling routes in Wellington. I love riding the Akatarawa Road, even though my hill climbing is so often found wanting - especially lately.

This is a great course, starting with 18km along the flat before the dramatic climb over Paekakariki Hill, with a long descent before a less dramatic climb up SH58 over Haywards Hill. A quick descent into the Hutt Valley and another flat 12km, before the long climb over the Akatarawa Hill and a technical descent back down to Waikanae. Click here to fly over the Kapiti Cycle Challenge course in Google Earth.



This report is from the back of the bunch. You can find an excellent write up from the front of the bunch at roadcycling.co.nz.

We started in the sun in Waikanae on the Kapiti Coast, a rode into a southerly to Paekakariki with plenty of bunch protection. The climb up the Paekakariki Hill is steep and arduous, and at on the ascent of this hill most of field rode straight past me. Many thoughts about if I lost some weight and why are so many cyclists entered my head as I approached the summit.



We hit a damp, drizzly wind tunnel on the decent into Pauahatanui, which saw me get past a some of the underweight anorexics who didn't like riding into the wind much. Soon I found two helpers and the three of us worked into the wind together, past two sizable bunches before the ascent the Haywards Hill. Unusually, on this occasion it was the two riders that dropped off the pace rather than me. This was refreshing for me, but we had been working so well it was a shame they could not hang on.

It was raining as I rode up the Hutt Valley and the Akatarawa Road. Once again as I neared the summit of the Akatarawa Road I had a number of other riders come past me, although I picked up a couple of them on the twisty descent back down to Waikanae. It was a pleasure to be back on the sunny Kapiti Coast.

As usual, I would have liked to have gone faster, especially as in comparison to my training rides over the same course without drafting or traffic control. All the same I thoroughly enjoyed the days riding on a great course.

Garmin Connect doesn't provide options to embed ride stats yet. You can find my full Garmin Connect data of this ride here.