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And no matter how hard I try, I can’t ignore it! Preparations began with my first meeting with the lovely Tip Track in quite some time. Gee, I’d missed it. Anyways, I climbed on at the 2nd gate and proceeded to cough, splutter, gasp and curse my way up. I’d never managed to ride cleanly up to the stockyards before, let alone the whole way, so I was stoked to see the top gate not a dab taken. Ha – cue one muppet moment and –SPLAT- I was on the deck, leaking from a knee. Oh, well… back on the bike, pedal to the gate, push bike to the top and collapse in a heap. 4 minutes faster than my previous best, but no land speed records today. I was just happy that the little red Jamis seemed to climb so much better than my previous steed. I was scheduled for 2 full climbs, but with my throat mildly infected feeling pretty raw I decided to aim for the stockyards and then turn around. I rode much smoother this time – who’d have thought climbing is easier when you relax and don’t fight the bike (durr) and was happy with the time it took.
The next day was a 4 hour road ride – I meet Charlotte in Johnsonville so had company for the last 3 hours, which made time go a heck of a lot faster. We then finished the day in the best possible way – BBQ, red wine and lots of bike talk!
Fast forward a week and Shane and I met up with Charlotte and Tim to have a look at the Karapoti course. The first time I rode/walked Karapoti (last year) I just about burst tears. I thought that, since I’d done Taupo, Karapoti was only 50km and would be easy. Yeah, right! I think my eyeballs nearly popped out of my head on the Warm-up climb! At least this year I was better prepared for how tough it would be. I piked on the first stream crossing (on the to-do list for later) – but was stoked to ride the whole of the Warm-up climb for the first time! Yes, it’s been graded and is the easiest it’s ever been, but I was still happy. A combination of riding, walking, sweating and hard breathing followed – I’m OK on the uphill and rolling sections, but rocky downhills have never been my strong point. Then we got to the Rock Garden, which scares me – and I confess to not really having the right attitude to ride it at this point. I’m saving my mental energy for the things that are within my physical abilities! So I walked most of the way down… next stop the Staircase. A combination of push and carry worked well, except for the initial step, where my legs were not long enough for the line I had chosen!!
I walked 3 sections on Dopers – the rut just after the stream and 2 rocky pinches – which is the least time I’ve spend off the bike on that climb, so I was happy again. Not so happy on the way down – a combination of looking where I didn’t want to go and general un-coordinated-ness left me off the side of the road in a heap. It took me a few minutes and some loud “Ow” ing to get back on my bike and catch the others. I’d managed to re-open my knee wound from Tip Track and add some nice lumps and bruises for good measure. Ooops. Anyway, back to the van in about 10 minutes slower time than my race time last year. I felt stronger and faster, but this wasn’t really reflected in the time I took.
Only 3 weeks to go. Although this isn’t one of my goal events, I still feel I have something to prove. I guess I’ll find out on race day!
The next day was a 4 hour road ride – I meet Charlotte in Johnsonville so had company for the last 3 hours, which made time go a heck of a lot faster. We then finished the day in the best possible way – BBQ, red wine and lots of bike talk!
Fast forward a week and Shane and I met up with Charlotte and Tim to have a look at the Karapoti course. The first time I rode/walked Karapoti (last year) I just about burst tears. I thought that, since I’d done Taupo, Karapoti was only 50km and would be easy. Yeah, right! I think my eyeballs nearly popped out of my head on the Warm-up climb! At least this year I was better prepared for how tough it would be. I piked on the first stream crossing (on the to-do list for later) – but was stoked to ride the whole of the Warm-up climb for the first time! Yes, it’s been graded and is the easiest it’s ever been, but I was still happy. A combination of riding, walking, sweating and hard breathing followed – I’m OK on the uphill and rolling sections, but rocky downhills have never been my strong point. Then we got to the Rock Garden, which scares me – and I confess to not really having the right attitude to ride it at this point. I’m saving my mental energy for the things that are within my physical abilities! So I walked most of the way down… next stop the Staircase. A combination of push and carry worked well, except for the initial step, where my legs were not long enough for the line I had chosen!!
I walked 3 sections on Dopers – the rut just after the stream and 2 rocky pinches – which is the least time I’ve spend off the bike on that climb, so I was happy again. Not so happy on the way down – a combination of looking where I didn’t want to go and general un-coordinated-ness left me off the side of the road in a heap. It took me a few minutes and some loud “Ow” ing to get back on my bike and catch the others. I’d managed to re-open my knee wound from Tip Track and add some nice lumps and bruises for good measure. Ooops. Anyway, back to the van in about 10 minutes slower time than my race time last year. I felt stronger and faster, but this wasn’t really reflected in the time I took.
Only 3 weeks to go. Although this isn’t one of my goal events, I still feel I have something to prove. I guess I’ll find out on race day!
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