Taupo Enduro - Lap Two

Taupo Enduro – Lap Two

Or the descent into madness!!! After what turned out to be a 17 minute stop at the Caltex, a fresh bottle (I still had one 2/3 full bottle which, in hindsight, I should have swapped for a full one), sunscreen, change from merino to summer jersey, remove legwarmers (thanks Trudi!!), change gloves knock back some coffee – and we were under way. I’d hoped that this lap would be a lot more fun than the first one, and I was so right! Catherine was on form from the start, having swotted up on kiddies songs, motivational speaking and general c**p talking! We joined the main ride with the 6hr plus group, so the chance of getting any help from a bunch was pretty remote… in fact we ended up towing a bunch of our own at least once! We took the first 40k at a steady pace, passing a lot of other riders and getting an education at the same time – I got barked at by an i-pod wearing lady about staying left so that others could pass… My jaw dropped & I didn’t really have a comeback to that, seeing as though we were still passing other riders at the time!! We passed her back a couple of hills later and didn’t see her again!! This point, though, was when I realized how good it felt to “Roooar!!” out loud, something I (and Catherine) did several times during our lap – generally at the start of hills. My main focus at this stage was to stay out of trouble – which we did, while solving the problems of the world, singing the odd (and I do mean odd!) song and generally being totally un-Serious about the whole thing. An older gentleman asked us, while gasping, how we could talk and ride up hills at the same time… answer “we’re women! We’ll be putting our makeup on next!” OK, maybe a step too far, but it made me laugh!! One of the highlights of the lap was finding out about Doug. We saw lots of vests with “Doug’s Crew” on them, so, of course, we had to find out who he was. Turns out that Doug is 80 years old and his crew was there to support him the whole way around. What a legend!

Approaching Kuratau we invented a new game – loosely based on the ice-cream add that goes togs, togs, togs, Undies! Undies! Basically anytime we saw VPL the call went out! Bonus points for Skins or inappropriate socks. This kept us entertained for a fair while! There were many other silly moments, jokes and episodes of mild hysteria – most of which you really just had to be there to appreciate! As we climbed Kuratau I was regretting not taking on 2 full bottles at the start… I managed to ration what I had left until we got to the aid station at the top of the hill, where I gulped down 2 cups of water while a nice lady rinsed and filled my bottle for me. Off down the hill (slowly – I never really got my descending mojo back) and towards Tokaanu, where Shane was on his bike ready to meet us, complete with spare bottles. I chose to stop at the van anyway, to sort out my fuel and fluid for the last 50km and to re-apply sunscreen. Shane joined us for the last leg of the ride (while Catherine’s husband Rod drove the support van) – which I was very grateful for, seeing as though a rather brisk headwind had developed. He set a comfortable pace that saw us collect groups of riders, drop them, collect more only to upset them all when we made our final pit-stop not long before Hatepe. Coke and fudge (laced with coffee beans) on board and I was ready for the final hurdle. Rrroooarrr!! Shane, with fresher legs, shot up the hill, while Catherine and I met with looks of disbelief by the blokes that we rode past as we burst into a verse of “the wheels on the bike go round and round” while climbing Hatepe! (Disclaimer – you have to remember that by this stage I was very sleep deprived, slightly manic and was behaving even more oddly than usual!) We regrouped at the bottom of the hill and headed for home. Up the airport hill (charging up behind Shane cos I’d forgotten to shift into my small chain ring – durr!), up the rise into Taupo, along the finish chute, across the line with my incredible support team and it was done!!! And so was I! Hugs all round, then collapse on to the grass.

Couldn’t have done it without the amazing support I had from Shane and Catherine. I really can’t find the words right now to say just how important your support was…