Lunchtime challenge

Pete cranking out 500 metres up !

 This is a simple idea to get people out and about and maybe doing something for their health on April the 3rd 2013. The aim is to collect as much elevation as you can in your 60 minute lunch hour. You have to stop climbing after 60 mins and head back to work !

Don't forget. If you use Instagram then take a shot at your summit and sync it with your Strava.

This is NOT a race. It IS a lunchtime ride in a CLUB. You have to take responsibility for yourself and not take risks or in any way break the law. If you are out training on your "course" already, then you are probably taking it too seriously. Use commonsense. If it is wet - be very very careful, and think about riding off-road.

You will need two things.
1. The Strava app for your phone, Android or Iphone, or an equivalent device that will let you upload to Strava.
2. A 60 minute lunch hour.

I have created a Club you can join called:
http://www.strava.com/clubs/lunchtime-challenge

It does not have the functionality of an offical Strava Challenge, but we can get a rough approximation due to the good work of a programmer in the US.

What next?
If not already a member of Strava you will need to join Strava.

When you ARE a member, follow this link and click on the Join button, you will now be in our club ! http://www.strava.com/clubs/lunchtime-challenge

Because this is just a club it will record all the rides you do, from this point on. The cool thing is, we can look at the results of the "Club" via this webapp built by Chris Davies in the States. See here:
http://clubride.cd34.com/#!/24006

Because this is a work in progress new functionality has been added even today by Chris. He has just programmed in the ability for us to look at our "Club" content day by day. How? Just append the relevant date to the end of the link:
http://clubride.cd34.com/#!/24006/2013-03-19  How cool is that?

Here is the way to record your ride on April 3rd. Either put on a timer to stop you after 60 minutes of climbing, or "crop your ride" after you have uploaded it.

Ok, now get planning your route !!
 

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Are Mcdonalds going vegan ?

People in cycling and triathlon circles in Wellington are used to seeing the Organic Athlete "Go Vegan!" kit that my buddy Matt wears a lot when on the bike.

Go Vegan !

Imagine his surprise in learning he is the new poster-boy for Mcdonalds in Wainuiomata! 

It looks a lot like someone has done a mural on the Wainuiomata Mcdonalds drive-through using an image taken without permission from my blog. So of course Matt is wearing his "Go Vegan!" kit on the side of Mcdonalds! 

Maybe Mcdonalds are planning a new Vegan range of burgers and Matt is the new face of the campaign?

Mcdonalds drive-through in Wainuiomata.

The original photo before it was flipped.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

STOP PRESS! While riding over in the Wainuiomata Trail Park today we checked out Mcdonalds and were pleased to see the offending "mural" was gone! That's great news. 24/03/2013

But wait, there's more ! Front page in the Hutt News and briefly Stuffs website front page too. 26/03/2013

http://huttnews.realviewdigital.com/
http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/8474056/Vegans-photo-promotes-Maccas

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Te Tawhio o Whanganui - not your usual Brevet

Te Tawhio o Whanganui, (a loop of the Whanganui) was the brainchild of John “Sifter” Randall. It's a very different beast from the only other “Dirt-Brevet” type activities I have been involved in, in that everyone has to stay at the same town each night, but the route they take is up to them. The starting and finishing point was in Whanganui and the towns in question were Eltham, Ohura and Raetihi.

Motua gardens, Whanganui - 02/02/2013 Te Tawhio O Whanganui.

What made these stop-overs so special were the great places we were able to stay in, and they seemed to get better as the trip wore on. The main difference in this event was that you were encouraged to take any route you wanted, there was no right or wrong way, and no incentive to get there first. This should have knocked any competitive urges for a six, but as is always the case, when you get a bunch of people together on bikes, it's not long before they will start pushing each other. The multiple choice option for routes also meant that depending on which route you took, you might use a completely different bike to another rider. There were many different bike formats involved including cyclo-cross and road. Myself, I opted for a bit of a change this time, forgoing my 26inch fully I went with my drop-barred Karate Monkey with the Freeload rack on the back. Not having to carry a bivvy sack, sleeping bag or sleeping mat meant that I had I could stow all my kit into the one drybag fastened on my rear rack.

Bill's well thought out set-up at Motua Gardens. Photo by Bill Brierly.

I admit to having limited knowledge of the areas we were going into, but with the new xmas present from my wife – a Garmin Etrex 20 GPS, I was hoping I could wing it and at least hook in with some other riders. Sifter and Bill (not-Gareth-at-all) Brierly had put some routes online so it was actually possible to just follow the dotted line if you were happy enough doing that.

My first GPS mishap happened as we tried to navigate our way out of Whanganui, me being a complete newbie, I had it on the wrong setting and the whole group of us missed the first turn! Novices. We were so full of excitement from our pre-event korero and couldn't wait to get started.

We settled down into a nice rhythm in the midday sun and headed as far off the main road as we could. There weren't too many course options for us on that first day, but as we hit our first patch of gravel that amazing feeling hit us. We instantly felt sorry for anyone not out there at that moment in time, feeling the crunch of gravel beneath their wheels. Bikes, gravel, scenery, friends - we were just getting started. There was a cool moist breeze coming off the coast at times, but by the time we got to Patea we were happy to stop for some serious refueling in the shade. It was also a chance to check in with some riders I hadn't seen since the previous years Kiwi Brevet, Stephen “Stealth” Butterworth, with two more Cambridge based riders in tow,  Matt and Michael, and Peter Maindonald who had shown me how to build some DIY fork mounted water bottle holders. On the approach to Patea I had noticed Sifter gesticulating as we passed a small graveyard, apparently the resting place of the famous Maori entertainer Prince Tui Teka. Poi E was the ear-worm of the day for those that realised the significance.

Getting close to Eltham, Mt Taranaki in the distance.

By the time we got to the days destination, the Presbyterian camp in Eltham we were really looking forward to freshening up, not so Sifter and Dave Sharp, they wanted to do another 50kms and 900 metres of climbing up to Dawson Falls on the flanks of Mount Taranaki. Myself, I was content with my 120kms, a refreshing swim in the waterhole next to our lodgings and a very large Pizza from Daveys Patch Pizza emporium. Next time I will get the medium!

Outside the Pizza shop, Ash and Pilsener were traveling mostly on the road but in no way were they afraid of the gravel.

Eltham to Ohura, 151.5kms, 3121 metres climbing.

Stealth's Cotic SSer. Photo by Bill Brierly.

If the Patea Maori Club's Poi E was the theme for day 1, then “Was not Was's” “Hi dad, I'm in Jail!” was the theme for day 2. The idea of staying in the “Ohura State Prison” fascinated me, but we had about 150kms to go first, but which way ? I could see the Sharpe Sifter express entourage might be going at a pace a bit faster than I would enjoy so I rolled out of town with a group that for most of the time consisted of Matt Peploe, Stealth, Michael Hoogeveen (all from Cambridge) and Peter Maindonald, Richard Davies, and Nathan Mawkes who was bristling with info from his recent Tour Divide excursion. These guys had a good idea of where they were going, and Nathan was kitted up with some state of the art gear recently road tested. Checking out peoples kit is always interesting, and while gears themselves are advisable, they are not compulsory. Stealth was riding his new rig, a Cotic single speed, but funnily enough, he was the only one of us to suffer from gear failure with his crank loosening off a couple of times early on day two. He chose his ratio well, either that or he made it look very easy, not once did he need to dismount over the four days. The only concession we made to him was to keep our top speed limited to 42kmh, at this point his legs would turn to butter and he would lose contact. The rest of the time he was usually at the front.

Heading in to the Bridge to Somewhere

The route we took was via Toko and Strathmore to the Bridge to Somewhere and hooking back up into the Forgotten Highway. It was the first time I'd done this kind of riding on dual purpose tracks. Hunters or four wheel drivers had inflicted their own kind of impacts on the tracks which tended to interrupt the flow a bit. It wasn't the kind of trail I'd been spoilt with from my South Island exploits, but it was different. We rode through a fair number of tunnels but were ready for a hearty meal by the time we emerged onto the Forgotten Highway at the Whangamomona pub. The pub was under siege by 4 different groups of two wheelers at the same time. A group of Harley riders, a group Japanese bike riders, a bunch of roadies who had just finished a race there, and us. A steady stream of Tawhio riders trickled in, from their different directions. We'd been warned about the woman running the pub's school-mamm demeanour before we got there, and she was true to form.

Photo-ops on the Bridge to Somewhere, Matt, Peter and Michael

Matt, Peter and Stealth.

 We refulled and ventured out again into the blazing sun. More tunnels, more gravel and eventually a fair bit of undulating tarseal. Still a relatively short day by Kiwi Brevet standards, at 150kms we were ready to welcome our new digs! I can only hope that if I ever have to go to “The Big house” its as good as this. As soon as we stepped inside the Ohura State Prison Grounds, our host Trudy was offering us numerous glasses of ice cold water. Water never tasted so good. She set up accounts for us to charge up any purchases, ice creams, drinks etc. We were given a tour and a bit of history of the place which was apparently a prison for low risk white collar criminals in its hey-day. Nice for some.

Another tunnel

We sat down in the large dining room to incredibly wholesome meals and marvelled at the various kitch art works on the walls, in particular the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. The staff worked like demons to get us all fed and it looked like the whole family was involved.

Day 3, Ohura to Raetihi, 172.7 kms, 3266 metres climbing.

We thought we had cheated mother nature with 2 days of scorching weather, but as predicted (a week earlier) on the third day it started to rain. I was sitting at breakfast nattering away to Simon Kennet when I looked around and noticed we were the only two people left in the dining room. Cripes, time to hit the road. I rudely terminated the conversation and headed off, eventually catching up to Mathew Peploe on his Alfine equipped Yeti Big Top and Karin on her Cyclo cross bike. We rode in a pace line trying not to eat each others rooster-tail of water. Something was leaking into my eyes causing me intense pain, I can only assume it was years of toxins being washed out of my helmet by the deluge. We got to Taumaranui having ridden on the seal the whole time and called in at the Supermarket for supplies. We were wet, but not too cold, until I went inside to make a purchase. The air conditioning was on and I nearly had hypothermia by the time I got through the checkout.

Karin on her CX bike at the top of a rise

We picked up Michael Hoogeveen and Nathan and a few others at Taumaranui and after a stop at National Park for the worlds largest sausage roll and a coffee I shipped out with Matt and Michael who had a plan to do a ride called Fishers track before heading on to Raetehi. Matt had a crude map and I had the GPS, what could possibly go wrong ? Well, a lack of signage for a start, we found a sign which proudly proclaimed “you are here” and we were, so why question it. Suffice to say that for the next hour it was the only sign we saw, and while we found some magnificent views and a wicked climb that the Alfine's gearing was struggling with, we eventually realised we were in the wrong place. Michael talked with a local farmer who pointed out where we went wrong and we eventually found the real Fishers track, although we still saw no signs proclaiming it as such. The track itself was quite nice with some lush native bush better than anything I saw on the Forgotten highway.

This was not Fishers track, but it was a great climb with awesome views from the top.

We emerged at National Park again in time for a serious downpour. It was time to bring out the lights, as although it was only about 6pm, visibility was bad. I had my first ever “Coffee in a can” from a vending machine in the gas station there. Now I know what it must have been like as Tyler Hamilton felt a fresh blood bag infusing into his veins!

Peter Maindonald's rig. Photo by Bill Brierly.

I texted Sifter from the gas station to tell him to save us some tea and we hit the seal again. We had a massive tailwind and we soon found out that the Alfine on Matt's bike maxxed out at 48 kmh! My 26/36 chain ring combo on the front with a 11-36 on the rear was handling all extremes so far. Michael's Specialized sported a 42 on the front so he had plenty of gears, although on the few occasions he got into the little ring, it chain sucked badly. Strava tells us we did the 34kms in 59 mins.

We rolled into Raetihi to the Snowy Waters Lodge with 173 kms on the clock. We were served an amazing roast meal, with pudding, with an open fridge stacked with beers for our purchase. The hosts were once again incredibly friendly and they gave us a little talk about the work they were doing and their views on conservation and how it related to farming which they were also doing. The accommodation was top notch with comfy bunk beds and the hosts kindly ran all our clothes through the washing machine that night and the drier the next morning. Watching people trying to locate their matching pairs of Ground Effect socks the next morning was pretty funny.

Raetihi to Wanganui, 103 kms, 1720 metres climbing.

Matt's Alfine Yeti Big-Top minus gear.

The inclement weather was still about, but not quite as bad as it was the previous day. There was only really the one route to get to Whanganui, via Pipiriki. A few riders had to decided to do the jetboat ride from the Bridge to Nowhere, but the crappy weather and a dirty river put paid to that idea unfortunately. Some of the riders who were coming back north, after reaching the days goal of Whanganui decided to travel light, and pick up their gear on the way back through. It meant they could go a bit faster a bit easier. I'd never been down this road to Wanganui via Pipiriki and it was a very pleasant ride. Unfortunately it was just a bit wet for us to want to dilly dally about, which was a shame given the history of the area. Jerusalem looked very interesting, so I made a promise to myself to go back one day. Matt, Michael, Stealth and myself eventually caught up to Pat Hogan who we rode with for a while, eventually stopping for a pause at a Cafe in the middle of nowhere. Pat put down his bag of nuts to take some photos of tame pigs that had come out for a look. Too slow! Nuts and plastic bag were quickly devoured in a few seconds as Pat lined up the shot.

We'd picked up Geoff Tilbrook somewhere along the way and he was riding very well considering he had a broken finger and his Dr had told him not to do the event at all. There was one last hill that seemed to be called Gentle Annie, aren't they all. It loomed up at us laying down a challenge. This is your last chance. Stealth took off like a scalded cat on his singlespeed and spanked us to the top. I am sure that one was double points!

Karate Monkey atop the Gentle Annie climb.

It wasn't far too Whanganui now so we all formed a pace line, and careful not to exceed the Stealth limit of 42kmh we whacked it in the big ring until we got there. I'm not sure what the hurry was, but that's what happened. Geoff and I hijacked the handicapped peoples toilet to get changed and I was very glad to have some dry clothes to change into. With a very nice meal and a couple of coffees under my belt courtesy of the Big Orange Cafe I walked down the road and blew 1.99$ on a fresh pair of dry socks from Postie Plus. I was in heaven.

About an hour later my buddy Dirk turned up and we rode back to the car collection point and loaded up the MX5 for the trip back. All up we covered around 550 kms in two whole and two half days of riding. Not enough to inflict any serious butt-trauma, despite two dampish days.

I had a great 4 days, met some lovely new people and got a better appreciation of life in some of  the more depressed rural areas of New Zealand. We don't realise how lucky we have it hidden away here in the capital  - all the more reason visit the provinces and stimulate their economy. I estimate I had been on less than 15% of the roads we travelled so that was a major bonus.

Te Tawhio o Whanganui loosely translated means “A loop of the Whanganui”. Sifter has promised to move the loop further north for the next time, so it will be a completely different loop.

If you are new to Brevet/Bike Packing this might be the ideal event to cut your teeth on.

Strava stuff

 Day 1 http://app.strava.com/activities/40122963

 Day 2 http://app.strava.com/activities/40123099

 Day 3 http://app.strava.com/activities/40124083

 Day 4 http://app.strava.com/activities/40131576

Check out Te Tawhio o Whanganui open Facebook photo album pages, some great shots by Stealth and Pat, among others and some good bike set-up shots from Bill. 

Yes officer, we do have a number plate.....

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Te Tawhio o Whanganui

I saw this little guy, completely wasted, about expire on the window sill. I felt sorry for him and gave him a dab of honey. In 10 mins he was back running on all engines. I like to think someone would do the same for me if I was that whacked.....

  Almost ready to roll !

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Chilling out in Tuai

Tuai

We had a great little holiday over the Xmas break. My plans to get an early start and ride up the island towards Tuai, near Lake Waikaremoana were thwarted by the crappy weather. Xmas and boxing day temperatures which were PB's from 1934 apparently, had us thinking summer was actually here.

Dave and Kathleen's bach in the ex Hydro town of Tuai was an oasis of chilled back friendliness, where everyone meets everyone with a friendly Kia ora. There was also no internet or cell coverage, or for us TV even. Not that anyone of us was complaining, far from it.

Sandy Bay Lake Waikareti

We had a couple of great hikes and an overnight tramp into the Sandy Bay hut at Lake Waikareiti. It was beautiful in there. I would totally recommend it.

Too my enjoyment I discovered that straight outside the back door of our bach was a 27 minute gravel climb up to Lake Waikaremoana, and I think I rode it 3 times while I was there. On the day we left I got away early onto the gravel road linking Waikaremoana to Murupara, with the promise that I wouldnt go past Ruatahuna. There is no cell coverage up there and I didn't want to have another one of my extended mix "early starts" where the "pick-up" goes wrong and I end up cycling from Christchurch to Kaikoura or Queenstown to Manapouri before I catch up with the whanau.

I was in Ruatahuna in 3 hours so decided that rather than waste valuable riding time waiting I would ride back in the direction I came until I met Kay. This was cool as I got another hours solid gravel climbing in on the Kite. That bike loves gravel.

Lake Waikaremoana

We went on to Turangi where we stayed with Carol and Chris and did a couple more tramps including the Tongariro Crossing. It was very busy on the track and we were glad we took a wide range of clothes. I would not want to be up there in bad weather.

I got another early start on the way back to Wellington and managed to get to Ohakune before the catch and still hook into Neils BBQ at Raumati on the way back !

Mokau Bay Lake Waikaremoana

Tuai to Ruatahuna - hmmmm gravel

Turangi to Ohakune

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The longest day

Its been the longest time since I posted anything. Life is busy. We managed to throw together a small team to do Tama's Longest Day Arthritus awareness ride late last year. Myself, Peter Reynolds, and Cleetus - who had not been on a bike for 2 months courtesy of his overseas travel agenda. There was big emphasis on coffee stops and checking out the views. It was a very leisurely day and we checked out a lot of trails we'd never been on, courtesy of Pete, who used to work on the rubbish trucks back in the day when it was the trendy thing for elite athletes to do when they wanted to harden up. There are little trails and roads all over the show in Welly-town that you wouldnt know about.

Cleetus hands out the smack to Pete, without pedalling

Cafe stop at Lyall Bay

Mt Vic closer to the evening

Some nice tagging.

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The things you see on the side of the road...

Dan's Singular Peregrine

Its been another busy month. Everyone is building new bikes. Ben has built up his Ibis Hakkalugi cross bike, waiting only on a head-set and Dan has finally finished his very classic looking Singular Peregrine.

Marco and Dave have gone to XX1, the crazy new 1 x 11 drive chain that has a rear cluster ranging from 42 to 10 teeth, the bottom 9 sprockets being engineered from a solid billet of steel.

The Bike Tech crew, Dave, Simon and myself, teamed up with Voodoo Lounger Ran for a cross bike ride a couple of weeks ago, the high-light of which was Simon falling off (NOVICE) while Dave proceeded to ride over his bald head. Lucky Dave was the only one not on a CX bike and his patented VPP suspension meant that he didn't feel a thing. Neither did Simon, but he could be head injured, who could tell ; )

Daves Ibis Mojo with XX1

Previous to that there was a weekend away where a bunch of us, Marco, Ash and Peter went up to Taupo to do the Huka Challenge. Marco had some issues with a wheel that would barely freewheel and his crank almost fell off within minutes of the finish line. The 85km course was a continuous single-track blast and the race seemed to be over in no time at all. I snuck home 1st in my age group, (as did my roomy Peter Reynolds), and caught all but two of the age-group riders that started 5 mins in front of us in the Huka XL race. Pete is 61 and finished less than 2 minutes behind me. Lucky he sconed himself at the start or I would have been "crustied!" We did the Huka Challenge which is for people without race licences.

Marcos 17 pound Cannondale Flash with XX1

After talking about racing my Cyclo Cross bike I chickened out at the last minute and rode my trusty Santa Cruz Superlight fully. I didn't regret it. I finished with almost two spare full water bottles so I'll know not to take so much water next time. I could have done with another bottle of coke though for the last hour, nutrition was great up until then as I had a bit of a bonk after catching up to Ant Bradshaw and Samara Sheppard. I got stuck behind a pretty fit guy on a 26 inch Cannondale Flash earlier on in the race but it was only a matter of time before he face-planted and I could get past. Those bikes are dangerous with anything less than a 650B wheel on the front, especially in the hands of your typical weight weener.

Ran, Dave and Simon

Apparently numbers were down quite a bit on previous years, (only 8 thousand)  maybe some people are wondering if 100$ is too much for a free water bottle?  I have only just learned that the sponsors actually have to pay to put their product in the "swag-bags".You couldn't fault the marshalling or course marking but it would have been good to know that there was a prize giving so we could have heard what happened at the front end of the MTB race. Taupo was certainly jam-packed with cyclists and we managed to sneak in two parties before the night was done and all good crusties hit the hay at 10pm. First up was the Bushlove pool-party and then later on the Roadies party with Ray, Barney and Hendi. A very nice way to spend the remainder of the day.

Paddy and I at the 09 Karapoti
Classic, his ability to live every
 day to the fullest is something
we can all aspire to. Anton Cooper

Nobody was ready for the shock of Paddy Avery's death in a short race in Rotorua last week, but it brought up the question of just how much good, or harm racing at intense levels is doing us. While Paddy was only young, there is an increasing list of people in their 50's being diagnosed with various variations on heart arrhythmia's. How much of it is genetic and how much is long term abuse? The Avery family are one of the most well known families in NZ MTBing with Clinton the "Tank" Avery being one of the first wave of Rotorua youngsters to follow their cycling passion onto the world stage. I met his equally passionate mother Mary Anne once at a coaching clinic, she was a bit bummed that the roadies had stolen Clinton away from his MTB roots, despite the response that Clinton could one day win Paris Roubaix. The Avery's all live for cycling and as the second tragedy to hit Rotorua biking this year it just seemed too much. See attached a tweet from NZ's junior world champion Anton Cooper. What an amazing photo. RIP Paddy.

I went for a ride with Peter Reynolds on Sunday on the cross bikes, me on my Singular Kite and Peter on his BMC. Poor Pete was hampered with the most debilitating fork shudder I had ever seen. There is some work to do to make that bike safe! Last night I took off my rear XTR cantis which were effectively useless, and replaced them with some very old-school over-length cantis which were ex Marco's spare parts bin. What a revelation. Pad clearance is still massive and they really work. This what they look like, on the right.

Peter Reynolds

I tested the new rear brakes out on my Belmont Road Moonshine River Trail commute this morning and they rocked. I was listening to a podcast at the time from Kim Hill's interview with Kathleen Sharp on her new book "Blood Medicine" which talks about the drug EPO and the corrupt ways it was pushed by the companies that sold it and the many deaths it caused.

The author commented how she thought it was ironic that while watching some Tour de France coverage she saw an advert for Johnson and Johnson's version of EPO, Procrit. What would she have thought if she knew that Amgen sponsored the biggest race in the US, the Tour of California, and knew that the UCI, effectively the world franchise for cycling wouldn't allow USADA full control of the drug testing process for the event? How many elephants can you fit in the one room?

On a weirder note, a couple of weeks back, on my morning commute via Belmont road, I came across this guy in the middle of the trail. At first I thought I was hallucinating, he waved his one good arm at me agressively so he still had plenty of fight in him. What the hell a 6 inch Koura (freshwater crayfish) was doing in the middle of a gravel road was beyond me, so I stuck him in my backpack and liberated him a couple of hundred metres up the road in a stream I knew of in the Kilmeister Block. He seemed pretty happy at that point.

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Flying Kite at Wainuiomata Trail Park

I have had an inkling to do Taupo's 85km Huka Challenge on my CX bike next weekend, but before I commit to it I thought I better get out onto the most similar terrain I can find on my own back yard. That would be the WTP (Wainuiomata Trail Park). Taking the "long way home" was the plan, and although the direct route of going straight up Summit road was the closest to  my work, it would have been a bit of a push with only 34-25 gearing. Its usually granny-granny on my MTB. WTP has some great smooth trails, and I'd heard a lot of work had been done on their most recent one "Towai ". The last time I rode it was in a race (before I got lost) on my rigid Karate Monkey, and although it was a handful, it was a fun but demanding trail.

The Towai track

The recent work had taken a lot of the rough edges off the trail and made it 99% rideable on my Singular Kite. There were just a few bits that had me stepping off for a pace or two. The Kite continues to amaze me with its forgiving nature. I have got into a few slides on it, but never crashed, and the lightness, compared to a fully or heavier 29er really starts to be noticed after a couple of hours.

I was happy to be using an overbuilt Thomson stem when I whacked into a hole at the bottom of the Snail Trail but that was about the only moment I had. Jungle Gym and Labyrinth were all sweet as was the wetlands track. I wasn't going to hit 491 just yet : )

I noticed something else which was completely unexpected. While riding at WTP I am often skidding my rear wheel when riding my drop-barred Karate Monkey or Santa Cruz Superlight. The relative "ineffectiveness" of rear cantis put paid to that! I am convinced that the mini-vees on the front though are the best thing next to discs and I was very impressed with how well they handled the Summit road descent, up to 23% in places, according to Strava. I only had to get off once at the very bottom where the deep rain ruts directed me into the bush. I am still not sure whether to ride it at the Huka at the moment. I might head out to WTP one more time.

The view from the Pylon road across the Harbour

Coming down Summit road, 23% in places, according to Strava.

Another view of the ride, going to WTP via the Wainuiomata Hill, and back down Summit road.

A screen grab of WTP with Towai high-lighted.

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Weekend Warrior Spring update 2012

PNP MTB round 5 November 11th 2012
Its been a good while since I've posted on my blog so I have a bit of catching up to do. Last sunday we had the final race in the PNP MTB series calendar and it was a goodie. Very old school with a rocky downhill (Red Rocks) and a 25 minute granny gear climb (Tip track). My plan to ride into Wellington and back for a bit of extra training was put on hold as the light rain didn't really look like abating, so I headed to the train station. I felt like Alex Revell, riding to a Cyclo-cross race somewhere in Belgium, using the public transport system. Unfortunately while on the train I had forgotten to turn off my Strava App, and upon upload, 7.5 hours later, I got a Strava comment from Joe Cooper commending me on smashing the 51kmh KOM along the motorway with a 68kmh ! Who would have known the trains were that fast.

Upon arrival at race HQ we were told that because of poor visibility and rough conditions we wouldn't be doing the Tip track and Red rocks. Bummer. That was the main reason I came in. I wanted a longer tougher ride in preparation for the Huka 80km race in Taupo on the 28th. A compromise was met and the Elite riders were allowed to race the full course as long as they took a jacket. The choice of what class to race in was made for me! In the end it wasn't cold, or overly windy, but it was a bit misty, so it was probably the best call to make, given the diversity of abilities at the race.

This course had a particularly brutal start on tar-seal and gained a lot of elevation through the depths of suburbia very quickly. Thankfully we were spared the sight from the weekend before while pre-riding the course where a person of non-determinable gender wearing no underpants flashed us several times as they bent over to move boxes around their garage. Hiskey said he had trouble sleeping all week and the rest of us marvelled over how the brain can blank out things that it thinks are harmful to us.

In a race similar to last years, I ended up dicing with my 50+ age-group compatriot Geoff Notman on his singlespeed as we hit the top of the Red-rocks descent. Lack of local knowledge and generally poor skills had me braking when I should have been pedaling down to the coast and by the time I got to the bottom Geoff had a good 200 metres on me, and Trevor Woodward had just caught me from behind. I really felt my 26 inch wheels bogging down the deep sand a few times as Trev seemed to float past on his 29er. We hit the Tip track and I gave it a nudge as I knew I would catch Geoff pretty soon pushing his singlespeed Niner up the granny gear climb. I got a bit of a gap on Trev in the first half, and as is usually the case, my over exuberant pace caught up with me in the second part of the climb and Trev passed me as my wheels spun on some loose stuff and I had a short dismount.

I did the timed Super-D segment with Trev, better to be behind him watching his line than slowing him down from in front! It was very foggy at this point with only about 20 metres visibility. I managed to hold onto him for the whole segment and he only started to fade as we headed back over to Wrights Hill.

I had a little gap as I came into the part of the course where Elite were to go down the Deliverance track, and everyone else was to go down Salvation. I don't know when I last rode Deliverance, maybe 10 years ago. I wasn't even sure I had ridden it until I recognised a few bits of it. I knew Trev would catch me, but there was a chance I could hold off Geoff if I kept my head down. Within in a minute I had crashed twice. Once a small one, the second time my undercarriage took a full impact from the back of my seat, and I was reduced to a hobbling gasping wreck. Trev turned up a short while later and had a good laugh. Ian Paintin tells me he stayed clipped in the whole way. Impressive. It will take me more than 1 ride a decade before I approach that level of competence. I alternated between running and riding through the slippery root infested creek-bed and eventually made it through to the finish. My fitness felt good. I had no real speed to speak of but considering it was my first race since Karapoti that's to be expected.

A big thanks to the organisers and marshalls that stand out there in the weather so we can have our fun. More details on the PNP site.


Martinborough Fun Ride, 115km October 28th 2012
I finally hooked up with my Voodoo Lounge buddy Neil for our first event in the team strip. The 115km Martinborough fun ride. The ladies had a free pass to hit the shops while we valiantly did battle on the country roads of the "rappa". Despite a crappy day in Welly, it was all good over the hill and was in fact great weather for racing. What I wasn't prepared for was the old start-stop nature of road racing. Luckily my wednesday worlds rides had meant that I could at least fake sucking a wheel for a while. I don't think I had done a "road race" since around 2009, so it was hard at first. On the first lap I foolishly did a few turns and found myself cashing cheques my body wouldn't honour as I went out the arse on the last climb of the first lap. Luckily I was not alone and the group managed to work together and catch the front bunch. Phew. That was close. How the hell was I going to keep in touch for the next longer lap and its extra hills!

I have no idea who owns this photo, I just borrowed it off Facebook !

Fun rides seem to be made up of two sorts of people. 3% good riders who can take a turn, and 97% of the rest of us who are faking it, sucking wheel and hanging on by the skin of our teeth. On the last hill I tried to stand up to throw in a little sprint to stay in touch, but my legs were cramping so badly I had to stay seated and spin like crazy. I was still moving through the bunch, and hanging in there.

Voodoo Lounge Teamsters in first team outing

With 20kms to go, Pro rider Joe Cooper and crusty Craig Lawn rode away as the shagged remainder of the bunch were powerless to do anything. We tried to form a paceline and bring them back but most of the riders were in a similar state to me. I thought I was being clever sucking the wheel of this giant of a guy in a Roadworks Jersey, but he went to the front for a turn, down a very big hill, at a very high speed, and I was next in line to come through. Just holding his wheel was putting me in the red. I managed a short turn then pulled over, sure I was gonna float out the bum again, but somehow I hung on.

 I finished with the front 25 strong bunch, Lawny and Joe 2 mins up the road, and waited for Neil's arrival. He had had some problems, a slow puncture and stopping to help another ride in distress. The ladies had not managed to max out the cards so it was a successful mission all round !
http://mcfr.org.nz/

Image courtesy of Owen.

Revolution Bicycles 11 Peaks October the 6th 2012
The Revolution Bicycles 11 Peaks event was something I had been meaning to do for a while, so I had to turn down a chance to ride with Voodoo Lounge member Neil for the Vets  fun ride in the Wairarapa. The main problem I faced was not knowing where the hell any of the "Peaks" in the Peaks race were, or how to best get to them. I accosted Brevet buddy Owen Hughes online the night before and managed to cadge a ride with him. I didn't realise that he was actually riding with Voo Doo Lounger Andy King and UK MTBer Callum Chamberlain. All of these guys were showing recent good form which was a bit of a worry.

The plan wasn't to do the fastest time, but to ride the funnest way, and that was cool by me. I was on my 29er drop-barred Karate Monkey, Owen (and I think Callum) were on 26er hardtails and Andy a 29er fully. We went off at a crazy pace and shot straight to the top of Makara and then along the Skyline trail, to where ever the Skyline finishes. I'd only been along there once, and in the opposite direction, so it was a great new ride for me. The only other time I rode it was with Cleetus and it was so windy I had no inclination to ever do it again. Taking this route probably cost us a hell of a lot of time, but it was new trail as far as I was concerned.

Callum, Andy, myself, Pat Hogan and Owen Hughes taking photo at the end of Skyline?

We criss-crossed Wellington for the next 5 or so hours and the only other peaks that I had been up before were Hawkins Hill, Wrights Hill, Mt Albert and Mt Crawford. Awesome. There were some amazing views on what was a lovely day with a slight southerly. Coming through Mt Vic Callum got a puncture. Being as always, over-prepared, I had a spare 26inch tube in my back-pack. I'm not sure why, maybe because I know you can make one fit a 29inch wheel if need be. I told Callum to make sure he changed it as soon as he got home. He didn't, and punctured the next weekend in the PNP race : (

We carried on through Mt Crawford and came down the Jail-break track, once again, probably not the quickest way off the hill, but definitely the coolest way down! I had a bit of an off when I rode a bit high on one of the banked turns. We stopped at Hataitai and debated whether or not to have a sit down meal or just grab some buns and run. We ran.

I couldn't tell you where we went next but it was steep, and hot, and I was getting tired. We popped out at the bottom of the tip-track which by now I was not looking forward too. Callum was forced to attacked it hard as his single front ring didnt give him much of a gear spread. Andy's form was showing through and he let it rip, never to be seen again.

I had a granny gear of a 22 on the front and a 36 on the back, which is absurdly low, by anyone's standards, but I actually used it. I could have sworn it took me 50 minutes to get up that climb, but Strava tells me it was only 30. I had a small lead on Owen at the 2/3rds mark but he came back at me just before the top. We carried on and took in some cool trail that came out by the entrance to Zealandia and in my blithering state I clipped my bar on the bank and only a nearby "safety-tree" stopped me from dropping into a rather unfriendly looking gorge.

The finish at Revolution Bicycles was welcoming with a burger and ginger beer outside the shop and very friendly debrief. Heaps of our old Brevet buddies were there. There were a wide range of bikes being used and for the serious people, a CX bike or a hard tail 29er seemed a good option. With his current bike shortage Dave Sharpe chose the duathlon option of road-bike/running and wasn't too far off the pace. A really fun event and its quite impressive that you can jam 2650 metres of climbing into just 69kms !
Thomas Lindup took out the honours on his shiney new High Ball and the next 3 riders were also Revolution teamsters!
http://www.vorb.org.nz/wellington-peaks-race-2012-t119959-15.html

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