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