Simple Awesome

Yep that sums up the round Taupo Cycle Challenge for me. I had a ball !!!

As most of you would know I approached this race as along training Time trial ride. I had placed myself in group 7 which had an estimated time of 6:10-7:00 hours. My theory was that these people don't really ride in bunches.

So lets set the scene.

I awake early as I always do but this morning is like no other morning of a race. I don't have the nerves & my group has a start time of around 9am, so I've got heaps of time. Eventually we make our way into Taupo & down to the start-line area. Catch up with a few mates then I even headed out for a quick warm-up. Made my way upto the start-line, then it was my turn to go.

I got straight into my work & by the time we turned off the main highway I had dropped all the guys I started with. Feeling good !! For the next 60km I just flew past everyone with a couple of people trying to catch a ride. Around the Waihaha hills I was being kept company with a number of team riders. They would go up the hills stronger & I would pull away on the downhill & flats. This was making me work harder on the uphills which was good for me.

Thru 80km's & over Kuratau hills & everything was still going great. Down the steep descent flat out & down onto the flat it soon became apparent that there was quite a stiff breeze blowing & when we turned the corner at Turangi it would become a headwind. DAMN

By this stage in the race the day was getting very hot & I was going to need to get some more water, but I was reluctant to stop at any of the support stations as there were so many people at them, so I made the decision to stop in the forecourt of the Shell petrol station in Turangi & fill my bottle. A quick stop & I was off again.

Now this headwind was certainly slowing things down a little. I slogged on into it & was still feeling great. A reached the 120km mark in just a touch over 4 hours so I was very happy with that. Around this time a bunch had caught me up from behind & I then made the decision just to jump on in & rest up for a little while. I soon made my way back to the front & started to pull the bunch towards Hatepe Hill. By this stage in the race I was still loving every minute of it even if my legs were starting to tire. At the base of Hatepe I bid farewell to the bunch I was in knowing darn well most of them would fly up here & I wouldn't.

Aftera good slog up the hill we were off & there were still 3 of us from the bunch & I was off on a mission to catch some of the others & get things rolling again. From the top of the hill to the finish is only 20 odd km's so it was time for the hammer to go down & leave nothing in the tank. Had an awesome ride to the finish & I just sat at the front of the bunch sharing ( not evenly shared ) the lead with one other guy whilst the rest of them just hung on. I even was thanked by a 13 year old girl for doing so much work.

Down the finish chute & stopped the clock at 5:15:08.

Well pleased with that effort. Was looking for anything less than 5:30.

Things I learnt:

It's hard to eat & drink when leading the bunch.

When you don't eat & drink you feel like crap when you get off the bike.

Two cans of Coke & some shade do wonders for you after a long HOT race.

You must eat & drink in Ironman or you will not finish the run.

and finally that if you just push yourself you'd be amazed what you can do.

All in all I had a great day & that event certainly is well run. The prizegiving was emotional when 1 of the husbands of the ladies that were killed cycling got up on stage & made a speech. He stood there to a standing ovation & huge round of applause.

The weekend was rounded of with a lovely swim in the lake on Sunday morning.

I have now just put my race wheels on all ready for Tinman this weekend. That's another race report coming up next week.

Train Safe.

The excitement's building

Now some fellow bloggers Kate, Phil & Graham all kicked their official Tri season off a couple of weekends ago, which has left me feeling very excited about my up coming events & already counting down the days. Yep days not weeks !!!

Now with only 6 more days till Round Taupo my training has gone great guns & culminated last weekend with a hilly 150km ride down to Rotorua & back home via Te Puke. The ride itself was a mixed bag with it raining at 6am when we left, then clearing up & blowing a nice tailwind for 50kms, then becoming a very stiff 40km/hr headwind from Te Puke home. All character building...so they tell ya. This weekend just gone was another good brick session on Saturday & an easy 2 1/2hrs in the saddle on Sunday. Yippee !!!!!

So then the excitement will turn to the Taupo Half Ironman..

The course for this years race has changed a little for the bike & run legs which will make things easier on the bike I think & the run pretty much the same. The talk is that if the bike leg changes work then IM New Zealand will make the changes also.

So in 3 weeks time I will be able to sit back & enjoy a full rest week which I think the body is in need of.I'm not tired of training just in need of some sleep, infact I've really been enjoying the training over the last couple of months & are very happy with where my running has got to. Having never been a great runner it's pleasing to now feel injury free & running upto 2hr 15mins & covering 26kms. Cycling has just got easier as I've got myself sorted on the TT bike & swimming just stays the same.

So the next few weeks looks like this :

27th Nov Round Taupo Cycle Challenge 160km bike ride, 5th Dec Tinman Sprint Distance Tri, & 11th Dec Taupo Half Ironman. Heres hoping the weather is good for each weekend & I have some FUN.

Train safe & I'll give you a race report when I tick off the 1st event.

Warmer weather.

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Although winter this year wasn't all that cold, it sure is great to have Daylight Savings started & Summer knocking on the door.

A couple of weekends ago here in New Zealand it was a public holiday which in this household means only one thing, & that's to go swim in the ocean. It was great & the water wasn't to cold. A group of about 15 of us got in so it was fun.

So with summer just about here that also means the TRI Season.

Yep we have an Olympic & Sprint distance race here in the Mount in just 31 days. I'm doing the Sprint this year as the following week is the Taupo 1/2 IM which is far more important to me, so the sprint is more like a solid brick session at race pace.

Also with the season beckoning I have recently bought some race wheels to complement the bike. A nice new shiny pair of SRAM 60's, with a new pair of Vittoria CX Tech tyres to follow.



Now for the training side of things.

Have had a good solid October & the body is still feeling strong & injury free. I've had some great rides & probably nothing better than the 144km I knocked off in 5 hrs. This was done on a mainly flat road but so is the Ironman course.

So here are the boring stats for last month.

Bike 886km / 33hr

Run 145km / 12:45hr

Swim 22.8 / 8:15hr

I have a couple of big brick sessions coming up over the next few weekends so looking forward to those. Just can't wait to get out there & do a race.

8 weeks till Round Taupo.

Yep that's all.

This year I haven't done as much cycling leading up to the event, but I am only going round once this year & it's all just part of the bigger picture, not the 1 race I was aiming for. In saying that I am feeling quietly confident about the race.

My plan for the Contact Round Taupo Cycle Challenge is to start with the 7 hr group near the back & just TT all the way round ( apart from the hills ). Starting with the 7 hr group should hopefully give me a free road without all the bunches & I'll just get to ride my own race. Knock this off & that will be part 2 of the Cameron Brown award done.

Bike training has been going well with a 122km ride last weekend & a 135km ride just done this weekend. I must admit climbing hills on the TT bike is certainly harder but I'm getting better & think my seatpost height might be just about right now which is helping.

Last month I managed 388km total & hope to build on that now daylight savings has started & can get out after work.

All the other training pretty much went to plan for the last couple of weeks & I have managed 125km of running, 178km windtrainer & 21km of swimming for September.

Now I haven't forgotten about the City to Surf fun run. Last Sunday turned on the best day we've had all spring & the run was great. Awesome atmosphere at the finish line area & I posted a 57:34. The run was definitely not 12km but we all ran the same race & I was happy with where I finished.







All in all a great September & bring on October, with warmer weather & longer hours of daylight. Will also get into the sea for my 1st swim over the weekend of 23-24 October.

Just ticking off the boxes.

Yep that's about it.

The last week was all good & got everything done. Saturday mornings bike ride was extremely hard going as the entire country was covered in a large storm which bought about very strong winds in the Bay of Plenty. I did manage my 4hr 20 min & clocked up 105km, but it sure wasn't easy.

The rest of the week was fairly normal training & clocked up 28km of running & 1hr 45 min on the windtrainer & 5kms swimming.

On a positive daylight savings kicks off this weekend so hopefully will get some more training in after work.

Have the City to Surf 12km run to do on Sunday so I'll let you know how that went next time I check in.

Bring on Summer

Now the last few weeks have just been wet, windy & wild. I'm over it & just want warm summer & daylight savings.

In saying that I have been able to get out on the bike the last 2 weekends & clock up over 100km each ride without getting very wet.

The new bike feels fast & easy to ride. I do struggle a bit on the hills but just means I've got to work harder. ( Yes I'll get round to the photo one day ).

Once again my running has been a little slack over the last couple of weeks with only totals of 26kms. I really need to build on this but the old leg has been abit sore recently. I think this has to do with the aero riding straining the butt. Starting to feel better now though, so hope to see the distance increase again over the next few weeks.

So in total I've only been putting in 10 - 12 hour weeks. Bit slack.

Not long now till the Tri season kicks off & the Taupo Half Ironman so these times will be increasing. I also have the small task of the Taupo Cycle Challenge 160km bike ride. My way of thinking for this years race is that I will start near the back with the 7 hour starters & just TT the race. That way I hope to miss all the big bunches of idiots that can't ride sensibly.

Just had the weekend away with work at the Jamis Day Night Thriller & it was a long couple of days so this week i'm going to have to be onto it or I'll just be lazy. Also busy week at work with a number containers to unload , so it's going to tough.

Onwards & upwards though. Plenty of things to look forward to on the training front with a Half IM camp, a trip to Broadlands Rd for a training ride & I'm going to compete in the City to Surf 12km fun run.

Train safe & hard.

A good solid week

Firstly I went back to the physio this week & he's real happy with the way my right leg has strengthened up with the exercises & now is happy for me to steadily up the running. Great news.

So once again there hasn't been much running this week ( only 15km ) but time to ramp it up a little. The swimming has got alot easier this week & with good numbers turning up to the squads this week we real have started to push each other.

Now unfortunately the weather was cr@p this morning & I still haven't got out on my bike. I did instead do a 2hr 12 min hard out ( AVHR 143, MXHR 164 ), windtrainer session in the garage with another IM in training. That help bring the total hours on the windtrainer to 3hr 40min this week.

So this week I would have to give myself a big tick in the box of doing all the programme & each session was constructive.

We have the last of the Tri Cub's winter Duathlon's tomorrow & hopefully the weather is good afterwards, as I hope to take the bike for a ride up & down the Toll Rd.

Tonight the All Blacks will hopefully win the Tri Nations & the Warriors beat Manly.