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.

Tararua Forest Park: Penn Creek/Table Top

It has been far too long since my last post. I have not been out tramping a recently, the last time was in the first weekend of August, where we managed to get out between severe storms that created a lot of carnage in the Tararuas. Having been too slack to pen my account on this trip,  below you can find Fraser's version that he e-mailed me, and some of his friends who thought that the weather was too severe to head for the hills.

You may also like to read Mike's account of the same trip.

Fraser writes:

After eating a bowl of soup and drinking an ale in Byron's Resort on Otaki Beach (that had no power due to the storms having blown the power lines down), I set off to meet the WTMC trampers. On my way to meet the WTMC people, I found two people and their dogs wandering about in the dark on the gravel part of the Otaki forks road. I asked them the situation, and they said that they'd been wandering in the dark for two hours, that there were major slips on the road and I would not be able to continue. They also said that anyone that wanted to tramp would need spikes and be in serious trouble due to the weather. Due to their distressed state, I gave them a lift back to Otaki Beach, calling Craig to inform him what was going on. Cellphone reception was very poor, so I had trouble talking. It turned out that the people I'd picked up were very stoned from smoking oil spots in the hut, and knew nothing about tramping, so after much hero worship for saving them a long walk (and a cheeky spot!), I returned to meet the trampers. 

They were parked up just before the slip, and because I was late I had to change out of my work clothes and pack properly all in a couple of minutes. We began tramping with head torches a little before eight, and it was very hard to communicate to the trampers what I had heard from the people I had picked up due to the mild conditions and the fact that there was only one slip. Once I managed to tell them them what had been said, there was much laughter about us 'needing spikes' on the hill. Our party consisted of a dour Scotsman named Pete, (who comes from somewhere that sounds more like a cough than a placename) ; Mike from Treasury (somewhat reminiscent of the character Choo Choo from the cartoon Top Cat), and Craig McGregor, who was tramping for "red lines on the map". The first night's walk felt like little more than a walk in the park, yet we reached Field hut after eleven due to the elemental chaos that had been unleashed on the hill in the days before. Spectacular scenes abounded... At one point, more than forty trees had fallen onto the trail, which was blocked in several places. Mike and I appointed ourselves pathfinders, and used night tramping experience to find the best ways to follow the track. The other party of trampers that had gone ahead of us had become disoriented and walked half an hour in the wrong direction, meeting me coming up the hill. It seemed they had accidentally turned around only a minute or two away from the hut. In some places around Field Hut, the earth and trees looked as if a giant hand had crushed everything together, creating a huge mess of earth and trees. Everyone bedded down at Field hut that night, keen for a good night's rest. 

On the next day and after the two trampers who were going mountaineering had left, we decided that the best destination would be Penn Creek Hut to see if the river was too swollen for us to cross into the mountains. We set out Penn Creek Hut. Craig decided the river was too swollen to cross, and we were too lazy to tramp to Kime hut (also known as the freezer) so we spent the rest of the day hanging out at the hut playing cards and generally joking around. We pondered such philosophical statements as 

"You know, those who know enough to be able ignore D.O.C signs are usually competent enough to handle ignoring D.O.C signs... While there are those who are insane enough to think that they know enough to ignore D.O.C signs... They're weeded out by a process of natural selection." - Mike McGavin

I cut apart an awful feminist paperback novel to make a deck of very interesting cards, which provided such hilarious quotes as "The doctor opened his surgical bag, removed a scalpel, and began to cut away the man's pants". We ate well (Craig made Tiramisu!)  and slept for twelve hours while heavy rain pounded on the roof.

On the third day, one of the small streams we had crossed to get to the hut had been replaced by a raging torrent of white water and doubled in depth. We decided it would be best to climb through the dense bush to tabletop using compasses and maps to navigate our way. I led the way up the hill, and came upon a 'tramper's superhighway' which turned out to be pig tracks, and took us up to six hundred meters in a little more than an hour. After this, the forest gave way to dense Tararua leatherwood, which we forged a path through taking ridiculous amounts of time. We came to the trig of Tabletop in high winds and very thick fog, and quickly found the track to Field hut at around two thirty. The track after Field Hut was spectacular in daylight. Two hundred year old trees had been uprooted and blown by the winds.The track was covered in foliage, and Mike and I split off from Craig and Pete to move at a 'fast pace' to meet the other party back at the van, getting overtaken and beaten to the van by half an hour : }. The fog had cleared, and the way back to Otaki forks had some really good views. You guys missed a really good tramp. 

We tramped for about nine hours today, and I'm feeling pretty relaxed and good. Don't know about next week. I recommend tramping in the western Tararuas due to the changes in the forest from the storms. Very exciting stuff!

-Thanks for the awesome tramp guys,
-Fraser

Tararua Forest Park: Northern Crossing

24-27 April 2008 - Northern Crossing

The trip plan declared:

One big day and two half-days - Thursday night, camp near the confluence of the Ohau and Blackwater Stream. Friday, up the South Ohau, Yeates, Arete and Waiohine Pinnacles to Tarn Ridge Hut.....

Punter responds:

Getting from there (campsite) to Tarn Ridge in a day at this time of year is a pipe dream in all but perfect weather - but I think perfect weather justifies the push

After a train journey and taxi we were soon at at the Ohau road-end where we discovered that Murray's torch did not work. Murray being from a tramping club named after such a fine range of mountains would have been perfectly fine without the sense of sight I'm sure. Regardless of this our efforts began to repair his torch. Somehow a shred of paper had managed to get jammed deep within its barrel, and as paper does not conduct electricity prevented the batteries from touching the contact points to power the torch. After trying various objects to remove the paper from keys to twigs to walking poles, a loose piece of No.8 wire was found and did the trick, genuine kiwi style. Meanwhile, on behalf of Placemakers Alistair was busy marketing his $9.95 head torch. After an amazing 25 minutes of faffing we began walking our way along the track up the Ohau river and quickly found out way to a brillant campsite in a little under an hour. It was a beautiful night so there was no need to pitch our flys and we slept under the trees to avoid any dew.


Come 5:30am, Craig instantly arose to fulfill his duty as trip leader and get the brew. We were on our way up the Ohau river by 6:30am. Our feet were wet well before 7am as we followed this scenic route up to the site of the new South Ohau Hut (currently under construction). We spent a small amount of time talking to the builders and began our ascent up the steep Yeates 500 with a startled look "Tarn Ridge tonight? You're keen".

Following a steep 500ft ascent up the Yeates track it soon "flattened" out to be merely undulating as we made our way to Te Matawai Hut and a well earned early lunch. Debate ensued as to how long it would take us from Arete to Tarn Ridge via the Waiohine Pinnacles. Estimates varied between and optimistic 2.5 hours (Alistair), we'll be there at 5pm (Sarah) and a pessimistic 3.5 hours (Craig). Meanwhile, Murray remained non-committal.

Our stomachs fully laden we made our way up the relentless climb to Pukematawai, over Arete and dropped down to the brand spanking new Arete Bivouac, which appears to have been moved a few hundred metres further south. Times for the sweepstake for the travel time from here to Tarn Ridge Hut continued to be discussed. Murray finally became committal and agreed with Alistair. Regardless of the banter we managed to make our way past Lancaster and to the Waiohine Pinnacles. In the excellent conditions we were walking in, these "Pinnacles" were only in principal as they were easily traversed with only one point which required an uncomfortably long stretch. If only each other landmark of XYZ Pinnacles were so easily traversed. As we stopped for a slight pause Alistair stopped his stopwatch and declared,

"You can only count time on the shoe".

Craig responds,

"Only if your name is Maui and you can slow the sun"

As we approached Tarn Ridge Hut the beard of Huey began to roll in. Still no sign of Huey flapping his broad, wind generating wings so all was good. And the time we arrived at Tarn Ridge Hut? 5pm. Must have been perfect weather!!

At Tarn Ridge Hut we arrived to a bench stacked full of apparently abandoned food. After some short debate about whether to have rice or fresh potatoes with our Spiced Lamb for dinner, the fresh potatoes naturally won over, especially for Alistair and Murray who set about preparing the mashed potatoes to go with the meal. With so much food around, we had no choice but to help clean up the hut so we had a few tins of allegedly spicy baked-beans for as additional sustenance while we preparing the meal. As we sat down to eat our fine meal two torches began to shine outside the hut, as Alistair received the glare from wife Sarah as she said, "I told you!!" and Alistair being left with no choice but to respond "Yes, you told me" to avoid the otherwise inevitable repetition. All was quiet as Murray, removed the three LPG cannisters that he had "borrowed" from his pack and returned them to the bench. As Alistair was ready to apologise profusely, and offer our rice he quickly realised these were not hunters back to enjoy a huge meal at all. In fact, it was his mathematics lecturer from his varsity days and his partner. Stress was over as we continued to eat our meal as were heard about the travel down to the hut from Mitre in the dark.

Not having a lot of distance to cover, we had a slight sleep in before Craig fulfilled his duty as trip leader and got the brew on. Our plan for the day was to walk over Girdlestone, up to Brockett. Drop our packs so that Craig & Murray could bag Mitre and Peggys Peaks and head down Table Ridge to Cow Creek. As a beautiful day had dawned Alistair proposed that we split. Craig and Murray would go over Brockett, Mitre and Peggy Peak with Alistair and Sarah heading over Adkin, the Three Kings and Baldy with us all arriving at Mitre Flats, by which time Craig & Alistair would have both completed bagging each of the peaks over 1500m in the fine Tararua Range.
Sarah & Alistair had a bit more ground to cover so Craig & Murray gave them a short head start while they swept out the hut. It also gave Murray the chance to once again fill his pack with free LPG cannisters. Taking in the views it was an easy two hours up to Mitre, and about the same down to Mitre Flats Hut. Coming down from Peggy Peak was like SH1 with party after party on their way up the hill to bag Mitre Peak before dropping back down to the hut. Surprisingly, with all these groups walking past not one of them was completing a Northern Crossing in the reverse direction to ourselves. With plenty of time to burn as we were taking the shorter route, we took the time to speak to each party on their way through. Some appeared incredibly surprised at our distance traveled but we were happy to take the accolades whether deserved or not. I think these same people would be surprised how much ground they would cover themselves if they tramped a little more regularly.
We arrived to a packed Mitre Flats Hut, with the best of the surrounding campsites already occupied. I told people our friends we arriving around 3pm and we'd probably head up to, or on the way to Cow Creek tonight. Come 3:30pm, with people asking me where my friends were I consulted the map briefly before remembering that Alistair wouldn't have left anytime for lunch. He can stop his watch, but not the sun after all. About 4:30pm, Sarah & Alistair emerged. Clearly too nackered to go any further, and a mere hour of daylight remaining we pitched a fly, and set about preparing another fantastic meal.
Having personally mixed the spices prior to the trip himself, Craig was sure not to disappoint as the beans did on the preceding evening. Shortly before the meal was ready to serve, Alistair inspected Craig's cooking and said "Thats going to have some kick to it". Craig just smiled. Sarah instantly declared herself a curry wiss, and asked for extra cucumber riata to help wash it down. A sizable Kumara chickpea curry was served. Not only was Murray from a tramping club named after this fine mountain range but, he was our guest so we could not send him away hungry. We continued to load his plate up until he was ready to pop.

Following our meal we talked to a few other trampers in the hut. Alistair saw someone-else wearing the head torch as he, and said "Hey, you got your headtorch from $9.95 from Placemakers like me". "It was Christmas present from my father". "Good value for ten bucks" said Alistair. We eventually noted this other headtorch had a couple of features Alistair was missing. Must have been at least $14.95, mate. Alistair mentioned the great value of his $9.95 Placemakers headtorch approximately another 237 times before we had, had enough and went to sleep.

As is Tongue & Meat custom, trip leader stretched a good 40cm to start the brew and by 7am we were on our way on the track up the true right of the Waingawa River. It was fairly fast travel until three of us were attacked by wasps. Meat eaters those wasps, so all three of us fine Tongue and Meats were stung, while Murray was left alone. Following a quick break with an intake of antihistamines and sugar we soon picked up Peggys Stream, and followed it away from the track back into the Waingawa River. A scramble up the bank on the other side and we were on our way up the Donald Spur to Te Mara. It seemed as though Murray has done the least compass work prior to this trip. We loaned him a map and compass and designated him as chief navigator as we we made our up to join the Blue Range Track. It was good and quick travel even without a marked route up this bush covered spur, although near Te Mara there is a lot of plastic tape and some old permalats leading back to the Blue Range Track.

The Blue Range track was broad and easy. We had a bite to eat and waited for our taxi at Kiriwhakapapa. And waited. And waited. Uh oh! We asked some campers if they could give us a lift, "Sorry, we've been drinking too much to drive" and some others said sure we're just packing up. Our observations were, perhaps by midnight. We started walking in search of phone. Every property seemed unoccupied and for sale. Thankfully we found someone working on their lifestyle block. "We haven't moved in yet so we do not have a landline". We were offered a ride which we naturally accepted. Once back into Masterton, and cell phone coverage Craig discovered he had three voice messages from the taxi company which were of little use from the valleys of Mitre Flats and Kiriwhakapapa. Still, it was a fine trip and we found our way back to Masterton rail without too much difficulty.

Approximate travel times:

• Ohau road-end -> Campsite: 1 hour
• Campsite -> South Ohau Hut site: 1.5 hours
• South Ohau Hut site -> Te Matawai Hut: 2 hours
• Te Matawai Hut -> Arete Biv: 2 hours
• Arete Biv -> Tarn Ridge Hut: 3 hours
• Tarn Ridge Hut -> Mitre Flats Hut (via Mitre): 3.5 hours
• Tarn Ridge Hut -> Mitre Flats Hut (via The Three Kings): 7.5 hours
• Mitre Flats Hut -> Kiriwhakapapa (via Donald Spur): 4.5 hours

2007 Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge

Photos coming soon but for now click here.

It didn't seem to take long for the 160km Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge to come around. For those of you in the know, this is the premier recreation road cycling event in New Zealand which all of us "recreational hack" cyclists aspire for the PB each year. Heading into the event for the second time I had no idea I fit I was compared to last year because every training ride seemed to be a struggle into a gale force breeze. As much as tried to actually "train" this year it never quite got there so the jokes are about a slow buildup of commuter cycling with a late surge (on race day) were not all that far off the mark. (Besides I do have a 150m altitude gain up Ngauranga Gorge every night - good hill training?)

The forecast for race day was excellent but the sound of overnight rain disturbed my sleep. Frustrating, as I left for the start complete with spray jacket. Thankfully shortly before the start of the race the rain stopped and the sun came out. Threw my polypro top and my rain jacket to my father who standing on the sidelines of the starting box. All set now. No rain, no extra layers wahoo!! Then that dreadful sound BAANNNGG spiiiiissssssssshhhhhzzz. I looked back and bugger, thats my tyre not someone-elses! Dad found a floor pump at the mechanics tent and I quickly had the tyre and wheel off. First brand new spare tube had a dung valve. On goes my only spare. Hmmm, long ride without a spare so Dad kindly races back to the mechanics tent for some over-priced inner-tubes Back in the start blocks ten seconds to go. Stuff the spare tubes in my saddle bag. Ready to go! Phew made it!

Somehow found myself on the inside of the front row and led out the second bunch for Group 3 for the only cycling moment of glory in my life. I'll need to watch the highlights on Sky TV in a few weeks. For some unknown reason at the crest of the first hill after a whole one kilometre I felt searing pain go down my arms to my fingertips and right through my legs. I was just all set to jump off my bicycle and roll around in the grass and screaming like a baby, however, having only been one kilometre - not exactly kosher! Only 159km to go! The rough and jarry roads that form the first section of the race were slow and painful. Only 25km/h for the first 40km seemed really slooooooow - sub five hours was looking hard from there. The pain finally subsided as I hit a comfortable 45km/h cruising in the middle of huge bunch on a nice smooth straight - certainly being in an event with 10,000 other riders meant huge bunches and not too much time out front taking the wind. The bunches did tend to dissipate at an accellarating rate on the way up each hill as the race progressed - especially the three larger hills in the race - Waihaha (60km, 125m gain), Kurutau (84km, 100m gain) and Hatepe (particularly brutal at 140km with a 150m gain).

Lake Taupo is a rather large pond to cycle around, with the first 100km very much undulating before a long flat 40km section that abruptly terminates at the foot of Hatepe hill. This flat section is about he only time you see much of the lake itself travelling bum up, head down on your bicycle you don't exactly take in the full splendor of the scenery! I was feeling pretty jaded after 100km so was pleased to get in a small bunch to drag me through Tokaanu and onto SH1. I struggled up Hatepe which seems so much bigger after 140km of riding and what seemed an eternity making the last 20km to the finish. I eventually finished within my five hour goal - just at 4:58:36. This seemed to be aided by someone who passed me near the end and well, I wasn't prepared to put up with that no matter how broken I felt. Strong finish to come in 1075th place. Top 1000 next year?

Wind-trainers vs "Wind-Training"

4 November 2007

Spring cycling in Wellington is often a tale of woe. Possibly never more so than this year when it has been persistently wet and windy. Personally, I have found it battle to stay on my bike at times let alone travel at great speed. Journey's around the bays dropping to 9km/h on the flat into a headwind come to mind, let alone the northerlies as I've struggled up Ngaranga Gorge over the past two months.

Almost defeated, I finally succumbed and bought a wind-trainer. I have to say it is nowhere near as exciting as battling the elements. Wind-trainers seem best used in front of a good DVD. As a recreational road rider the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge is the event that I look forward to each year. I was planning to do a few events in the lead up, but the first event was cancelled due to wind. I am to this day not sure if I wasted more time driving to Featherston and back, or, if I stayed home and watched a certain rugby game.

'twas a blustery morn'
Da wind buffeted each and ev'ry way
Ride is on, Rain, Hail, Sun or Wind they said
Two ruggered bloke drove to Feathers
Only to find da stupid race was can-celled
Too dangerous they sayeth
What ya mean too dangerous thought Craig
For I've been riding in t'is crap all week
Oh bugger, the World Cup's been cancelled too.
All da way back to the bright lights of J'vegas for us
And bright were the lights
With bolt after bolt falling from the sky
As did our 15 demi-gods of national pride

Alas, two weeks later the 115km Martinborough Charity Fun Ride did in fact take place on a cool day with a medium southerly blowing. Back to the wind-training thing, I was absolutely gobsmacked to find myself easily gaining a 500m lead on a bunch in the slightest breath of wind. Still, just a recreational rider, but I did manage to take close to 20 minutes off my time from the previous year. Being out there battling the elements seems to be the perfect training.

So, I think its going to be wind-training for me all the way. Wind-trainer anyone?