taupo ride report

taupo ride report

here is my ride report for my 640 bike ride doing 4 laps of lake taupo

(there may be the odd thing that i have not got right or got mix up here as there is a lot of the ride that I don’t remember  well)

up at 5:30 am and ready to get on the road about 6 am I ride the 12 km into town  at a easy pace knowing the next few days will be a long ones  getting in to town around 7 am I get some food and a few last min things like a spear break cable before heading to the great lake center(GLC) where I pick up my riders bag and gps tracker (the gps is so people will know where I am as I do the 4 laps around the lake (the gps was not that good this year it stop working some where between lap 1and 2  ) 

 tim and Lis give me a hand getting ready I have a 10 min look around the bike expo then onto the  ride briefing  where I get a lot of pepole asking about the bike -even the radio people want to ask me suff  tim ends up having a chat to the radio for me (I don't do talking  radio because of my poor speech ) - if you what people to have a chat to you ride a bike friday. then it time to get on the road and at 10:30 we are off (there were around 12-14 people doing the 4 lap ride ) as I climb up the hill (the first of the many hills to climb over the ride I see my heart rate monitor has stop working after a bit of a play I give up on it - I was going to use it so I knew when to not go so hard up the hills (I like to keep my heart rate below 180 bmp when doing long rides) It's a windy day with some of the riding start into a strom head wind and going down some of the hills I lean the bike into the wind to stay upright (riding in the wind is some thing I am well used to living Palmerston north though it don't make it any easy to do) some where around the 16 km mark I look back and down only to find that I have some how lost my tail bag( I had 2 bags on the bike a hander bar bag and a tail bag that sits on the rear rack) the bag had my rain jacket , bike tools ,spear parts and tubes ,first aid kit spear tire and a few other things like my soft toy pony that had been on my bike trips for the last 6 years. after a chat to tim on the phone I keep riding as tim and Lis will be going for a drive to try and find it .after they chach up to me  with the news of no luck of finding the bag I bowre a few things off them and get back on the road . 

after going over some of  the many hills of the course I past the sing that says 80/80 (80 down with 80 km to go) there are sings that say how far you have done and how far you still have to go also there are sing with fun saying on them after waihi hill the road is flat for the next 40 km  at turangi I met up with my mum (with the bike)and ride with her doing 25-30 km/h until hatepe where she puts the bike on the car then up the hill that I get easy (doing all that hill work when bike touring around east cape pay did  off) after some more riding I get into taupo and stop at the motel where tim and lis are staying and where my food and spear gear is .after I full up my food and drink bottles and replace some of the gear that was lost with the tail bag (I never did find the tail bag )with lis giving me a hand  I had back on the road until I get into the bp ss check point where I sing in after doing a 9:30 lap

lap 2

as I head of in to the sun set I take one last look over the lake before getting back into the hills

some time around 11pm I find a place out of the wind between 2 trees on the side of the road for a 15 min nap  (spending about 45 min off the bike) before getting back on the road near tihoi  I see a bus stop so have a 20 min sleep inside then back on the road until I got to about 25 km out of turangi where I had one last sleep on some gravel just off the road  just after sunrise- being able to sleep anywhere is a skill that I picked up on my life on the road. the hard part for me was I was not tired well mental I was but my legs was fine - I never had sore or tired legs on the ride getting back into taupo around 10 am I restocked my food and water before heading to the bp to sin in and to start lap 3 There is a lot of lap 2 that I don't remember   

lap 3 

it’s still windy as I head back into the hills at tihoi I stop to get a ice cream and some food to help stay awake as I was having  a hard with the heat (hot weather and me don't mix well) I must of look perry bad when my mum and her boy friend came by in the car by the look they give me after some food and water i  got back on the road and keeped riding until  i got to turangi at about 6 pm where I stayed with my mum in the time shear for the night until 5 am when I got back on the road to taupo (doing the 50 km ride to taupo on a pie from the only shop open on the way) getting in to taupo around 8 am before going to the Enduro Breakfast  that was a good get together  before getting back on the road at 11 am for the last lap

lap 4

as I rode over the hills (for the last time!! : ) I had a good think about the ride -what went well ,what I still needy to work on why I was doing the ride and what I will be doing next for fun - if it's not fun why do it (of course  some people have said my idea of fun is some what odd : ) its a hot day for a ride with no wind the tar is melting on the road all I could hear at times is the sound of the bike going though the hot tar - a popping sound at tihoi I stopped next to mums car for some real food - a nice change  from the hammer food in the drink bottles  after that I get back on the road 

and head over a few more hills and some more bottles of water until i get to turaing where mum joins me for a ride  so I had some one to talk to for a change(I had no one to ride with for most of the ride because of my  slow speed and the time I got into taupo for lap 3 )to hatepe where she put her bike on the car and I went over the last big hill of the day then along the flats and some rolling hills in to taupo getting to the GLC (the starting point) at 8 pm  on sunday   

 time on the bike was around 40 hours 

Last post before my Taupo bike ride

With only a few days before the ride I'm a bit worry about the ride as this is the first time I have try a bike ride this long (over 325 km - what I did this time last year doing the  2 lap ride( then aging the most I had done on the bike in a day before that ride was 220 km) so doing the 4 lap 640 km ride this year is a big test for me - training can be hard work as there is few people that have have what i have ( dyspraxia + head injures as well as a few other things like getting hit by a car when I was 13? ) and rid as many km as I do ( around 10,000 km in the last year) I have not been able to get all the training in that I would of like because of a few set backs also because of how my dyspraxia is I don't get sore legs if I over do things so I have to be very carefull  not to over do things and over train as I may hurt some thing and not know it -I do feel some pain when i hurt some thing but not as much and not in the same way that most people do so this year I have been taking more time to recover from training then what I did last year also I did a lot lest longer rides ( over 100 km) this year doing more speed work to get my avery speed up to around 23-27  km/ h ( up from the 15-20km/h avery speed that I was doing last year on training rides

All there is to do now is a few last min jobs like giving the bike one last look over , having a chat to some friends who will be helping me on the ride and a few other things- I will be picking up my ride bag on friday a few hours before the start of the ride ( the ride starts at 10 : 30am sharp on friday-25/11/2011) 

Sent from my iPhone

TDM ride

TDM ride

after waking up 15 min before my alarm went off (better then seeping thought the alarm)

I get ready to go putting my handle bar bag and tail bag on the bike (the bags are so I have some where for the extra food and spear folding tire and a few other bit and pieces ( as I cant drive I have to take my extra food and some other suff with me as  I do the ride unlike the others who can leave suff in they cars) having a look at the weather forecast i see its going to be a long and wet day out on the bike so i put on an ice breaker top .after fulling up my water bottles i head out the gate and down the road stoping after about 5 km to take the sleeves of my jacket (it's a vest/jacket) back on the road I head though town at one point as I’m wanting for some light to change about 10 drunks from a near by bar start yelling abuse at me and start coming my way so i should down the road at about 25-30 km/h to get away- I can still get up some goods speed at 2:30 am (should of gone the other way into town) at the gull service station i met up with the other riders who are doing the 2 laps and at 3:30 am start down the road .

lap one 

 siting at the back I see the tail lights of the other riders as I ride down the road .after a stop to take my rain jacket off I slowly cache  back up with 2 of the other riders  passing then a few km on the other side of Ashhurst? at the start of the rolling hills  at Cheltenham I take a 5 min break and say good bye to the 2  riders that I had passed as they are doing to 80 km loop because of the weather I keep doing the 115 km loop going over more rolling hills At one my knees start getting sore (some thing that I have had to deal with over the last few years I know what it is and it's not going to get worse so I keep riding) near h i start having some food issuers (I work out whats going on and add a few things to the to do list for taupo) as I get back to the start and mix up my food for lap 2 I take a 10 min break  before heading down the road for lap 2  

lap  2 

lap 2 is a lot like lap ones was with more wind and rain some where along the way i decide to just leave the rain jacker off and see if the ice breaker top will keep me warm (i have a spear top cycling top in my hander bar bag if I start getting cold) between the rolling hills the ice breaker top I stay nice and warm on the ride after fielding I start to pick up some speed having the ch f (that was the ride bag) to give me a some extra energy after getting back to the gull 

all up the ride was 256 km long (taking about 14 - 15 hours (I’m not sure what the time was as myheart rate comper don’t like the rain and played up) with lots of wind and rain so it was a  long day out on the bike and a good test for taupo

the plan for taupo

the plan for taupo

here is my plan for the taupo ride -some of it is still being work on 

I will be leaving Palmerston north around the 17/11/2011 taking 3-4 days to ride up to taupo going a mix of S.H.1 and back roads

In taupo I will be staying at the nation equestrian center out at Aratitia (or maybe at Reids farm - I will decide where I will be camping when I get up to taupo) I will be spending the time that I am in taupo before the ride to have a good look around and do some riding (just short rides so I don't over do things )

 my plan for the ride

I’m looking at getting in to taupo around 7:30 am on friday so that I have a few hours before the start to do the last min things like picking up my riders pack I’m looking at being ready to go around 9:30-9:45 am with the ride briefing at 10:15 am and the start of the ride at 10:30 am - so if any one wants to see me before the start of the ride come and see me before 10 am

as for support crew my mum may be able to help on the first lap(I will know for sure closer to the time if she can still help me with that) with 2 of the laps some friends (one is  doing the 2 lap ride) said that they should be able to give me a hand ( still working on that part of the plan) I do have other plans if my mum or friends cant be there to give me a hand-when doing planing I like to have a few back up plans for if  things change  

food and drink

I will be using hammer perpetuem and heed (+ some gel’s ) for fuel and drink - I have room for 4 water bottles on the bike (for the perpetuem and heed) on my back I will have a camelback with 1.5 L water in it (if it is a how day I will full up my camelback with water in taupo and turangi)   my back up plan for refueling is mixing the perpetuem and heed in taupo at the start of each lap

sleep

It this point in time im not sure where I will have a short sleep I will decide that on the ride as I see how I go on the day (last year before the start of the 2 lap ride I only had a hour of sleep and did ok on that- when I start to get tired I will  start to look for some where to sleep then : )

gear

if I have the time before the ride I will do a post (on the blog ) on what gear I will have on the bike with me and what I will be wearing as I ride around the lake

fixing suff on the bike

in case some thing stops working on the bike I will have some tools and  a few spare parts with me on the bike and will work out a way to keep riding (as I do a lot of bike touring I am used to fixing the bike on the side of the road )I will also have a small first aid kit on the bike

This is the plan as of 03/11/2011 - some of it may change once I get to taupo and also on the day (weather and other people and suff like that) so if any one would like to ask me some thing to do about the 

plan or other suff to do with the ride just leave a comment or email me

5 weeks to the taupo ride

with around 5 weeks to go before taupo the training is going ok I have been doing less km each week then this time last year and have been riding a faster aver speed this year (23-27 km/h last year I was riding a round 15-20 km/h) doing the long bike tour did help a lot to get (and stay) fit for long rides (having a bad fall out when tramping on the tour then getting hit by a car just after getting back from the tour was not in the plan but suff happens)


I also have starter doing hapkido (have a look at www.hapkido.co.nz to see what hapkido is) to help with a few things and for some thing new to keep life fun


I will have my longest ride on the bike from doing taupo last year next week as I do the tour de manawatu 2 lap fun ride (2 laps of the 116 km corse so about 255 km all up with the ride to the start doing the ride and the ride home ) with the ride starting at 3:30 am it will be a good test of bike set up and how I do things for doing long rides before the sun rise on a few hours of sleep( the ride starts at 3:30 am so when doing the 2 lap me and the others doing the ride (around 6-10 people)will be riding with people doing the 116 km ride of the tour de manawtu fun ride like at taupo where I will be starting the last lap around the lake at about the same time as the 160 km riders start


I still need to pick up a few things from the bike shop before I leave for taupo about the 16/11/2011(like a spare folding tire and the hammer suff (what I will be eating and drinking as I ride around the lake- I will be using hammer perpetuem for liquid food and hammer heed for sport drink also a few gels -last year I used nut bars+ gels and had had some problems eating around the 14 hour mark so I have been doing a lot of reading as well as talking to people and trying different food out to make sure it not going to happen this time as food problems can be a show stopper ) and a few other bits and pieces. I am planing to get to taupo about 5-7 days before the start of the ride taking about 3-4 days to ride up taking it easy so I don’t over do things and have a good rest before the ride

the taupo ride only around 6 weeks away

with the taupo ride  only around 6 weeks away I have been doing more km on the bike each week (around 265 km this week)

I also have been doing a lot of reading about doing long rides (bike rides over 200 km) and have been doing some planing to make sure that the ride will go as well as it can go on the day- my to do list is now down to 2 pages from the 10 pages I had a few weeks ago

I have been going over the bike replacing most of the drive chain on the bike as a lot of it has wore out over the last year as I have done around 7500+ km in  the last 12 months on the bike friday as well as around 1500 km on the mt bike so that bike got a few new parts as well ( I also replaced a few other things on the bike friday so I don't have to worry about then not working on the ride)as I like to have my bikes ready to ride at all times

my training has been getting back on track  after a few weeks taking it easy as my leg heal up- I don't know what took longer to get better- getting back to riding as I toured around the east coast back to Palmerston north after the fall or winting for the leg to heal after the Dr. deal with the big lump I had on the leg from the fall(falling 1-2 m on to a steel bar is not a good thing to have happen when training for a long bike ride )

I not sure how my training will go next week as I will be at 2 horse events -hasting A&P show and dressage at taupo getting a lift with a friend (back on track) so I will be trying to fit my training some where (maybe a few night rides?)

a few weeks before the taupo ride there is 230+km fun ride in Palmerston north (tour de manawatu 2 lap ride) that I will be doing before riding up to taupo about a week before the start of taupo ride I ride up to taupo as I cant drive and don’t like to take the bus places when I can ride my bike also I will be getting in the last of my training as I ride up - it’s an easy 3-4 day bike tour up to taupo  

dealing with set backs in training

dealing with set backs in training

ever one has to deal with a few set backs now and then there are some you can plan for (like wearing out bike parts when you don't have much money ) and then there is some you cant plan for (like the bad fall I had on my tour) when I was working out a training plan for taupo I knew that there would be set backs so I allowed extra time in training and when doing the planing for the ride so I would have time to deal with then so they would not become show stoppers that  would stop me from doing the ride ( a show stopper is some thing that stops you from doing what you plan to do)is only one when you decide it is one)

with my training for taupo  I have had a few set backs over the last few weeks as I  had to take some time  off the bike as my right leg slowly healed from that bad fall I had on my last bike tour (on a tramping trip not onn the bike ) about the same time that was finish healing I also had my dyspraxia play up (well at less I think it was the  dyspraxia  but it can be hard to tell whats going on some days with me and what the cause is because of how my disabilities are) so I took it easy for about a week as I tried to work out what was going on to cause my arms and legs not to work when  and how I wanter then to work ( some times  my legs do go on strike for a few hours i.e. i cant walk for a few hours when that happens and have to get a round on my bum if i need to go some where until  my legs start working again( im not sure why it happens but its just elso for me to deal with)   

I also had to get some more parts for the bike as I wore then out. I have done on the bike friday 7000  km from the last week before taupo 2010 (when I replaced the batter in the bike comper) until now - when I buy bike parts I get suff that I will know it will last and i can fix on the side of the road if need to be  I don't worry to much about wight of the parts as the light suff cost a lot more and never seems to last as long also when the bike has 10-20 kg of gear on it theres no point putting supper light parts on the bike I still have a few things to replace on the bike as that I will  do as I can pay for then before  taupo as I like to get the bike all set up and ready for taupo about 4 weeks out from the ride to give me time to make sure ever thing is working ok on the bike   

why I’m doing 4 times around around lake taupo this year

why I’m doing 4 times around around lake taupo this year

well it starter back in march as I was coming back from the horse of the year show riding thought the Manawatu gorge ( a friend had giving me a lift from the show to woodville)as I was riding thought the gorge  I got thinking about the taupo ride and which of the ones that I was going to do this year as last year I trained for and did the 2 times round ride (part of the resing for doing the 2x ride was because I like to see how far I could ride my bike also to make up for my DNF of the year before as my back rim spit 30 km in to the ride  in 2009 I first did the  160 km round the lake ride in 2008 I was thinking about just doing one lap this year then as I thought about it some more I desided to look into what I had to do to do the 4 lap ride as It sounded like fun I remember  having a chat to one of the 4? riders who was doing the 4 laps last year and they said I should try it one day so after a lot of homework I have desideit to go for the 4 x ride (640 km) this year as it is  a good challenge for me to aim for as the most km that I did on a ride before taupo last year was 210 km (doing the last 110 km of the 320 km 2x taupo ride last year was a bit of mind over matter for me) I had I lot of fun on the ride last year looking at the landscape as I was working my way over the hills seeing the sun rise as I went around the lake maybe in a few years I may try the 8 lap ride round the lake . I like to push my limits and the limits that other try to put on me when they say that I can’t do some thing or that it can’t be done

getting back into training

A easy week this week to give my leg time to heal ( went to the dr on wenday to get rid of the lump on my leg that was from my bad fall that I had as i was doing some tramping on the last bike tour)

My longers bike ride latey was about a week ago doing 120 km with about 2/3 of it siting around 27-30km/h with some of it doing 15 3 km loops of manfield? race track as there was a open day where one could ride around the race track on the bike

back in palmerston north

im back in palmerston north now-over the next week or 2 i will be posting the rest of my trip report as well as how things are going with the planing for the taupo ride

anzac park to Palmerston north

anzac park to Palmerston north 92 km

an early start as i would like to get to woodville before 4 pm. there is fog around as I set off on the last day of this trip. going over some hills before a down hill into the town of dannevirke where I take a break before riding to the town of woodville as I come into town I see that the road thought the m gorge is down to one lane (there is a lot of slips in the gorge) in part of the gorge.after getting thought the gorgeI head into the city of Palmerston north where I do a few jobs before riding out to tielcey park where I stay when I’m not on a trip some where

hasting to Anzac park

hasting to Anzac park 93 km

going back into hasting finding my way around the road works to get some food for the day before heading out of town going down SH 2  the road is mostly flat until the town of waipawa and waipukuran where the road start a slow climb  up to 400 m — about 2 km north of norsewood there is some where to camp that I know from past trips up this way so I go down a short side ride to a place called anzca park where set up camp for the night

In hasting with only 2-3 days left on to go on this tour

In Hastings tonight with only 2-3 more days of this tour to go I have done around 1728 km so far and have just around 156 km still to go on this trip then it's getting ready for the taupo fun ride and working out which horse shows I will go to this year

lake tutira to hasting

lake tutira to hasting 74 km

 after I nice sleep in i slowly pack up and head down the road with the road rolling over some small hill  before a  130 m down hill an 1.5 km then up the big and only hill of the day with a flat bit going though a hairpin bend called devil’s elbow  before climbing up some more before the  top of the hill then it’s a fun 15 km down with a few 35 km bends hitting around 60 km/h a long the strater bits of road and around 50 km/h around the 35 km/h bends (don't try this unless you know how your bike will handle at speed going around sharp bends - I have a lot of expers with riding my bike with a load on as I have done a lot of touring on it)at the coast the road is flat into Napier. I see that there is a walk way/cycle way a long the beach so I cross over the train track and rid along it into town ( i see that there are building some more off road walkway/cycle way in places) in Napier I spend some time in a internet cafe playing on the laptop before heading a long the cost pathway then back on SH 2 to hasting where I head out to a place that I some work at when I help with the horses shows for the night

wairoa to lake tutira

wairoa to lake tutira 80 km

As I am leave ing the camping ground I see that I have a flat tire  on the front so I stop to fix it ( a old patch had a spit in it so I put a patch over the old patch to fix the flat) I head to the supper market to stock up on food for the next 2 days. about 25 km out of town the big hills start   with a good up hill climb fower by a fun down hill to the mohaka gorge  passing under the mohaka viaduct as I climb out of the gorge  after some more hills I pass in to the next gorge hitting 60 km/h going down into it (who put the 35 km bend at the end of the down hill  I think I went around the bend a bit fast as i did at about 45-50 km/h)  the next gorge they have built a new bridge over it next to the rail bright ( and rip up the old road that I liked ( I like to old way better as it was nice to look around the gorge  as one rides thought it ) going over some rolling hills I get to lake  tutira  where there is a doc camp site where after taking some photos I set up camp for the night

some where to wairoa

some where to wairoa 77 km

after packing up i head down the road slowly heading up the first hill of the day.As I ride along I see a torch on the side of the road so I stop to have a look - it looks ok and still works so i put it in my bag (it can be fun what you find on the side of the road when riding along) after getting to the top of the big hill of the day i take a break before going down the hill-a mix of some up and down with a fun 11% down hill to morere where there is some hot pools where I get a ice cream. after morere the road  for the next 40 km mis mostly flat with a short but steep hill near the end to get into the town of wairoa  where there is a old light house on the main road after going to the info center I head to the camping ground for the night

some where to some where

some where to some where 70 km

after packing up I get back on the road going over rolling hills until i get to the coast. riding along the coast  passing though some small towns until i get into gisborne where I do a few jobs before stocking up on food and water  as I am leaving town I see a sing to a m so I stop I have a look around for a few hours before getting back on the road riding until near sun set  when i knock on some ones front door to ask then if they know any where I could put up my tent for the night and person said that I could camp on the front lawn so I set up my tent and played on my laptop for a few hours before going to sleep

tokomaru bay to some where

tokomaru bay to some where                          50km

after a late start (wanting to to my washing when ever one in town seems to want to use it to day) i head down to the shop where as I am paying the till’s working as some one is working on the power - suff happens - after about 10 - 15 mins its all done . out side I have a chat to some of the people who live in town before starting on a climb out of town. near the top of the hill i stop and have a chat to some road workers and fix up my  trailer flag  back on the road i ride over some rolling hills  to tolaga bay where there is an old wharf that is around 600 m long and was built to serviced to coastal shipping after getting some photos I head down the road until I find some where to camp down a side road for the night