Sunday, April 17, 2011

the country road Manawatu cycle classic

the country road Manawatu  cycle classic

up at 5:30 am to be ready to leave by 6am (as I was seeing some friends at 7 am at the start of the ride. just as I was leaving I saw I had I slow leak so I stopped to put some more air in the tires before riding into town to the start of the ride where I see my friends and get ready to start the fun ride at 8 am with me near the back of the starting group of riders and then we off around the square and out thought town by summerhill ( over the first hill of the day ) riding around 25-30 km/h over the mix of flat and a few rolling hills going though ashhurst. after raumal the hills start and just keep coming. seeing some friends of the side of the road gives me a boost as I speed up and pass a few riders. after a bit I stop to put some more air the the back wheel and eat some food then its time to get back on the bike. as I’m riding up one of the longers hill I see my back tire need more air so I stop to change the tube after I get the tire off I see the tube has I lot of small holes is it so after a good look at the wheel and tire I see that the tire is breaking down so after a bit of a think I put some duck tape around the inside of the tire to stop it making any more holes in my tubes (all ways have some duck tape on the bike  as it has a lot of uses on the bike)(taking about 20 mins to do this) after I make sure I have even thing I get back on the road. after a few more hills I get into apiti (as there are just packing up the rest stop)whereI get my drink bottles full up and eat more food. after apiti theres a nice fun down hill and a long up hill near kimbolton. the road after that is a mix of flats and rolling hills. riding around 28 km/h with the rain setting in around cheltenham  just after that I stop to put some thing under my helmet to keep the sweat  out of my eyes .after colyton I start to slow down to around 15 km/h going though? the back roads until I get to the long down hill into raumal after that I start to speed up to around 25 km/h going though ashhurst and into palmerston north to the finish line  being the last rider to finish the course (my time for the ride was just over 8 hours what is the same time I though it would take me base on how long it takes me to do lake taupo what has around the same up and down)  at prizes given I find out that I get the lantern rouge prize (It is awarded to the last person to complete the ride) 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

this weekend ride

I will be doing some of the fun rides as I do my training for taupo the first one that I will be doing is The Country Road Manawatu Cycle Classic this weekend (on the 16/04/2011) 
( http://www.eventsmanawatu.co.nz/ )


 it is a new 160 km fun ride in palmerston north (it will be around 180 km ride for me as I will be riding to and from the ride)


below is a profile and a map of the ride




week one of training for round lake taupo 2011

week one of training for round lake taupo 2011

 the plan is  to start with the same plan as I used last year (when I did 2 times around the lake) for the first 16 weeks or so before working out a new plan for latter in the year so the plan for the first week was to ride 16,19,22,day off,22,65,24,  (km)
all up for the  week 168 km. I ended up doing more km then in the plan as I did 198 km ( I did14,24,24day off,24,71,41 (km)over the week) as I had to go into town a few times on the bike (as I can't drive and live 7 km out off town)

riding 4 times around lake taupo and fundraising for catwalk trust

On the 25th and 26th of november 2011 I will be riding 4 times around lake taupo on the maxi enduro lake taupo cycle challenge fundraising for the catwalk trust

if you would like to sponsor me please visit my fundraising page at


http://www.fundraiseonline.co.nz/damianday/

About the catwalk trust


The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Trust is dedicated to raising funds to support the body of scientific opinion which says a cure for spinal cord injury will be found.
By challenging the pace and boundaries of research, our goal is to enable SCI sufferers to walk again. A cure is no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’.
We want those affected by spinal cord injury out of wheelchairs and back on their feet.
The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust was founded in 2005 by Catriona Williams, formerly one of New Zealand’s leading international equestrian riders. Following a riding accident in 2002, she is now C6/C7 tetraplegic and confined to a wheelchair.
Initially a group of friends planned to fundraise for Williams herself – but a bigger picture quickly became clear. A cure for all was Williams’ dream – and so CatWalk was born.
"Only legs that work could make my days better!" says Williams. “I want to do things not have things.”
After exploring several options, the group agreed that supporting researchers in the very realistic bid for a cure for Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) would be CatWalk’s aim. And so, The CatWalk Trust is dedicated to raising funds to support the body of scientific opinion which says a cure for Spinal Cord Injury will be found.
 the web site for the catwalk trust is at 

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

trip journals of some of my bike trips

trip journals of some of my older bike tours are up on the crazyguyonabike website - here is a link to my journals on that site

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/gypsyonabike

so have a read and tell me what you think of them