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) 

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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