Wind tunnel testing for Brevet

Well I know I said I wasn't competitive about this thing... but there was a tunnel, and it had wind in it...

I left work at 4pm on friday with the idea of a getting a longer ride in, leaving the weekend open for all the other stuff like, house maintainance, market and veggie shopping and as it turned out, BBQ prep. 

I loaded up on batteries and a cookie time, with the idea of heading to the top of the Rimutaka Incline summit, travelling as much as I could on the gravel. Unfortunately I always get lost at the bit up the Plateau road, so I bypassed this and had to do some tarmac from Moonshine North. Next time I will sort it out.

I was testing my new home modified aero bars and I was rapt with the way they felt. Actually more comfortable, more aero and lighter than the Profile T2's that I used in the Brevet last time. The position is a bit more extreme than the position on the T2 as the pads are ON the handlebar rather than BEFORE the handlebar. I was amazed at how much control I had when I had built up my confidence, and that was with the narrow CX tires on. Unfortunately it was quite a short ride, with a tail wind on the way out, and downhill on the return, it was a little bit over 3 hours and not even dark when I got home. Maybe next time I will drop down to Cross Creek to make it a bit longer.

Its great getting out on the gravel river trails, no stress from the traffic and quite relevant to XC or Brevet riding. I have tended to completely ignore them in the past but no more! People don't tend to think of the Hutt Valley as a Picnic/River destination but its as good as many other places in NZ that people rave about.