This morning dawned fine & frosty. What better weather for riding. Luckily by 10am it had warmed up a little & it was action time. I was nowhere near the front at the start so in the 1st few km i just went all guns blazing to get up nearer the front. I think it worked.
Now my biggest problem with bunch riding is when the front doesn't work & people don't roll through. As a result the speed drops & I always think we should be going faster so head off up to the front. Another reason for being at the front is so you don't collect traffic cones that almost throw you off your bike. Yes I was near the back on 1 corner & almost bit the turf. Everyone near me did commend me for staying upright.
Anyway the race went well after that & got home safely with a respectable time of 2:07:33 for 70km.
I am now going to have a rest week which will only have a couple of swims. No running or windtrainer. Back on the bike next Saturday. Think I need to work on hills.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Race tomorrow
Sunday morning 10am I am competing in the Okoroire 70km fun ride ( race ). Hopefully the rubbish weather from this week has passed & as per the forecasters it is going to be fine with light winds.
Mid week I heard over 400 people had entered & more are likely with good conditions. This race for me is purely just something to do mid-winter & blow out the cobwebs. It also signals the start of some serious bike training for Round Taupo Cycle Challenge . I have now decided that 160km will do this year.
The 2 North Island reps from work are also doing it so that will be good motivation for training & race day.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll catch up with Phil & Kate at the race. Always good to see other bloggers at events.
It's time now to go do some family things with the kids & put the race tyres on the bike. Will be back tomorrow arvo with a small report on how the race went.
Mid week I heard over 400 people had entered & more are likely with good conditions. This race for me is purely just something to do mid-winter & blow out the cobwebs. It also signals the start of some serious bike training for Round Taupo Cycle Challenge . I have now decided that 160km will do this year.
The 2 North Island reps from work are also doing it so that will be good motivation for training & race day.
Hopefully tomorrow I'll catch up with Phil & Kate at the race. Always good to see other bloggers at events.
It's time now to go do some family things with the kids & put the race tyres on the bike. Will be back tomorrow arvo with a small report on how the race went.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Windy Waihi.
Sunday morning dawned reasonably fine but very windy. At least that was an improvement on Saturday's weather. We packed the family into the car & headed 40 mins north of Tauranga to the small mining town of Waihi for the inaugural Newmont Waihi Gold Town Duathlon.
Race HQ was the Waihi Rugby Club. After a short race brief the long distance race got under way at 9:15am. Starting with an 8km run, which was 2 laps of the Gold Mine on a gravel walking track. Before the race I had heard a local say uphill & headwind in the same sentence when describing the course. How correct he was!!! 1km into the run & bang up quite a steep grind. I just took it easy for the 1st lap then built into it for the 2nd & managed to pass a number of people going up the hill. At the top it over looked the mine & had a great view of the greater Waihi area. Each lap the family gave me words of encouragement. I don't know who was doing it tougher, me in the race or them freezing in the howling gale.
Onto the 4 lap, 20km bike leg & it started with a nice tailwind , followed by severe crosswinds then straight into the wind up the hill. By the 4th lap it was getting tough. Besides the downhills the most enjoyable part was going through town with the tailwind. Reached speeds up to 50km/hr along the flat. I started getting a sore calf when I got out of the saddle so hoped it wouldn't stop me from running.
Luckily it didn't & I got round the 4km last lap in one piece. The finish was on the soft rugby field so was no chance of a sprint finish.
Was happy with my offical time of 1:41:58 & 6th place for the long course race.
Managed to pick up a spottie ( sports bag ). Kids got a good look @ the mine & wife got to watch for once so all in all a good day.
Headed home & did the afternoon swim squad.
The rest of the weeks training went well. Now this weekend I've got the Okoroire 70km fun ride on Sunday so hoping for fine weather.
Will add some photos at some stage.
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Things are a gunna get BUSY.
As if they aren't already.
Lets start with work. We have our 2010 bike launch in Christchurch in 3 weeks & we have alot still to organise. Then when the show is on for 3 days, only 2 of us are staying in Tauranga, whilst the rest are at the show. Hope the phones are quiet.
After that we get things ready for the Jamis Day Night Thriller www.daynightthriller.co.nz/ MTB race in Taupo 12 September. We have a number of Pro teams competing so quite a bit of organisation. We have 2 houses booked for the weekend so looking forward to this event again.
Mid October we then sponsor the Bauer Express road race in Pukekohe www.pukekoheexpress.co.nz/. Whilst all this goes on we launch the new product & summer comes around, then we all go biking. Hopefully before Xmas Kathy & myself will get new TT bikes which we plan on racing in Perth.
On the home front Kathy will be back at Uni which means weekends away for us. I've got a duathlon this weekend then 70km bike race the following weekend. We'll both keep trying to train ever spare minute in between swim coaching, being a Leader at the kids Cub Scouts & watching the TDF.
All the time I keep telling myself Daylight savings aint far away then that extra light will be a godsend.
On a real high note for us at Jamis, it was awesome to see Richard Ussher podium at Challenge Roth. For Kathy & myself it was also pleasing to see Elina finish her first triathlon. A very small one but we all started somewhere. She really admired that fact that Kathy had done IMNZ & we wouldn't be surprised to see her on the start line sometime soon. Watch for Xterra next year.
After spending a bit of time with them back in May, Richard said his goal was to go hard with Normann Stadler. Well he did that & grabbed 3rd place on the podium.
The training went without a hitch this week & I got a good 92km bike ride in on Saturday morning.
Onward & upward. Remember,
Beer makes you fat & wine makes you lean......
Against thing
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
Absolute Madness
That's about the only way to describe what happened this morning when entries opened for the 21st Port of Tauranga Half Ironman.
If you managed to be one of the lucky few who wanted to do the event & got your entry, well done . What this does mean for me is I'm now the swimmer for a team, so I will be a small part of this event.
I find it staggering that every year people moan & bitch about drafting, to many people, blah, blah, blah but for the last few years the race sells out within 1/2 a day. Is it the venue, the Long Distance champs, it's flat & fast, or is it the only 1/2 IM race in NZ you get to compete against the worlds best whether in a team or individual. Maybe it's just Tauranga & you guys all wish you could live here.
Whatever, congratulations to Sport BOP & the Patter Group for making this event.
As for me you'll see me at Hooksie's 1/2 grinding up them HILLS.
On that note I had better go & get the windtrainer out for my session in the morning. Might TT against the TDF teams. Go the Kiwis. Let's have a Kiwi win a stage of the Tour.
If you managed to be one of the lucky few who wanted to do the event & got your entry, well done . What this does mean for me is I'm now the swimmer for a team, so I will be a small part of this event.
I find it staggering that every year people moan & bitch about drafting, to many people, blah, blah, blah but for the last few years the race sells out within 1/2 a day. Is it the venue, the Long Distance champs, it's flat & fast, or is it the only 1/2 IM race in NZ you get to compete against the worlds best whether in a team or individual. Maybe it's just Tauranga & you guys all wish you could live here.
Whatever, congratulations to Sport BOP & the Patter Group for making this event.
As for me you'll see me at Hooksie's 1/2 grinding up them HILLS.
On that note I had better go & get the windtrainer out for my session in the morning. Might TT against the TDF teams. Go the Kiwis. Let's have a Kiwi win a stage of the Tour.
Sunday, July 5, 2009
Another good week
Not much happened this week.
The week rolled by with the normal gym sessions after work, windtrainer sessions before work, swimming, running & a long Saturday bike ride. The long bike has been going well over the last few weeks & am now looking to increase the distance ( probably up to 90km ) then get into them hills & get some good strength.
I know there is still 24 weeks till the Rotorua 1/2, but that's not many long bike rides left, when you might not be able to get out every weekend. Also in the back of my mind is the long goal of IMWA so the more of a base I can get now hopefully next winter will be easier.
This week I had a day off work as one of the boys was sick. As I sat there during the day I thought about how cool it would be not to work. Drop kids off at school then go out & train when your ready. Only deadline is to pick them up on time. I know it's great to work, to interact with other people but it would be good especially in the summer.
Right time to stop dreaming because Kathy would want to be the one who doesn't work.
Today was going to be some running hill reps but I just felt lazy. The weather certainly didn't help. Instead I went online & checked out dates for some of the summers events. Ocean swim series, Contact Tri series, Across Lake Taupo swim & some bike races. Want to do some long swim & bike races this summer to help the training & as many Tri's as one can afford.
Once again the forecast for this week looks dodgy so here's hoping next weekend is fine & we can all get out & smell the fresh air.
I think the next few weeks are going to be busy with the Tour de France on. Thank goodness for My Sky & a windtrainer.
Train safe.
The week rolled by with the normal gym sessions after work, windtrainer sessions before work, swimming, running & a long Saturday bike ride. The long bike has been going well over the last few weeks & am now looking to increase the distance ( probably up to 90km ) then get into them hills & get some good strength.
I know there is still 24 weeks till the Rotorua 1/2, but that's not many long bike rides left, when you might not be able to get out every weekend. Also in the back of my mind is the long goal of IMWA so the more of a base I can get now hopefully next winter will be easier.
This week I had a day off work as one of the boys was sick. As I sat there during the day I thought about how cool it would be not to work. Drop kids off at school then go out & train when your ready. Only deadline is to pick them up on time. I know it's great to work, to interact with other people but it would be good especially in the summer.
Right time to stop dreaming because Kathy would want to be the one who doesn't work.
Today was going to be some running hill reps but I just felt lazy. The weather certainly didn't help. Instead I went online & checked out dates for some of the summers events. Ocean swim series, Contact Tri series, Across Lake Taupo swim & some bike races. Want to do some long swim & bike races this summer to help the training & as many Tri's as one can afford.
Once again the forecast for this week looks dodgy so here's hoping next weekend is fine & we can all get out & smell the fresh air.
I think the next few weeks are going to be busy with the Tour de France on. Thank goodness for My Sky & a windtrainer.
Train safe.
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