2012 Taupo bike ride

taupo 2012

well its time for my “little “bike ride (as some of my friends have been calling it : ) starting the day with an 12? km warm up ride into taupo - as I climb up the first of the many hills im thinking - its funny how things change over time as a few years ago the hill im riding would be what I would of called a hard hill to ride up but now its just an nice easy warm up on todays ride

the hill has not change its more that I under stand better how to hander hills and pacing on riding also my by changing my mind set towards hills from o no a big and hard hill to o good a hill to have some fun on as well as helping me get fitter on ( the more one ride’s the more one lean’s about riding (and about life as well : )

getting into town a few hours before the start of the ride - I like to have some time spare to work out any last min bugs that may come up when doing fun rides . after picking up my ride pack and having a chat to some of the other 8 lap riders (yep am not the only crazy one doing 8 laps of the lake - some of the people I know others are new faces to me ) its time for a talk by Keith and some photos before the riders head out side to the start line where the media are (hum I just hope none of the media want to ask me suff like why im riding a funny looking bike - I like to be behind the camera not in font of it : )

around 12:30 pm? its time to get on the bikes to go for an ride : ) riding up the first hill of the ride after crossing the waikato River I which the other riders pass then head out of site around the bend by the big bike knowing that I will be on my own for most of the ride as i do the ride at my pace- I my be a slow rider to most people on fun rides but I can ride all day (and most of the night when I want to ) being on my own may be harder riding then riding with other in a pace line but as I do most of my riding on my own im well used to it : )

having done 2 laps of the lake in training ( one in day light with the other one being a mix day/night ride ) I keep an eye on the bike comper and stop watch on the heart rate thing - more to help pace myseft over the hills to make sure im eating and drinking right (its more drinking then eating as my food on the ride is a mix of hammer p and gels for most of the ride). smiling as I do the only turn on the course that I may of got lost on (it one of the reasons why I did the laps of the lake in training - to fully under stand the course - where the harder hills are ,where the shops are, where I may get lost on the ride (going off the ride course - seem to happen a lot of longer rides as riders get more tired) suff like that :)

meeting up with my mum at a rest stop some where on the road (as its been a few weeks from doing the ride I cant remember which one as they tend to blend into each other on longer ride’s) I refuel my water bottlers before getting back on the road trying to keep the stops as short as I can (less time stopped = more time on the bike) stoping in turangi to send a txt to Keith to say where I was at what time (not sure if they got the txt thought) then its a nice ride beside the lake for most of the way back to taupo with only one long hill - a nice change after riding around 100 km of hills from taupo to turangi . riding up to the service station to check in at after a look at the ride map - first one I went to turn out to be the wrong one -its was the one just up the road that I had to cheek in at (just me getting things a bit mixed up (opp’s its a good thing I had the ride map with me : )

then its time to start the 2 lap - I ride into the night only stoping when I get to my mums car as my body says its time for an 1 hour sleep (i may not get sore legs on the bike but my body still needs sleep- as i was not sure when I would need sleep I did not have any planed sleep stops - the plan was just have a 1 hour sleep when i needer to (so I would not fall a sleep on the bike )
there rest of the nights ride went a long the lines of ride a few hours then sleep for an hour or 2 (depending on how things was going - sleep for me is some what odd as my mind needs it more then my body needs it ie I don't get tired in my body - it maybe just the way my dyspraxia is as my head has to work a lot more harder to get my body to do what I want it to (its just a fact of life i have to deal with each and ever day (some days are harder then others its a) why I don't try to plan to much out with my life at a time and b) one of the reasons why I don't have a job because I never know if I can do some thing un to I try(even if I have done it before - that one of the harder parts of dyspraxia for me to deal with )

at my 3 and last sleep stop for the night around 10 km from Kuratau ? I see the a txt to call Keith so I give then a call as say where I im and what the weather is like where I am- it looks like It will be a nice day with just a bit of mist in the air (from what I can tell from the sun rise anyway : ) the sun set was nice last night - might have some thing to do with a small e on mt tongriro ( I seem to remember seeing some thing on the a abolt it on the phone at one of the sleep stops around the lake) from the last sleep stop the road drops down a fun down hill where I get up to around 50+ km/h passing though pachs of mist on the way . as I worked my way over the 2 longer hills (and a few rolling hills) my eyes start to get a bit sore (I seem to remember think it was just the sun rise and the soreness world soon go away like it did on other rides when i riding into the bridge light of a sun rise (I don't have sun glass’s -will need to fix this when I can ) at turangi my eyes are still a bit sore as I send a txt to Keith to say where I am. on the ride next to the lake my eyes start getting sorer until I can just beley keep then open when riding the last 20 or so km into taupo - it feels a bit like theres some sand paper or gret stuck im my eyes causing me a lot of pain - not fun. after signing it at the service station and chatting to a few people about the eyes as well as going to the dr’s I make the hard choose to pull out of the ride a D.N.F (thats to say a did not finish ) - when one cant see well its unsafe to keep riding (at this point I could only see around 10-20% of what I see most of the time ) after letting the ride people know head back to where my gear is with my mun (an a horse event place 12 km out of taupo) and get some rest

from what I can tell I pick up some ash from the mt in my eyes when riding down the long hill in the mist after my last sleep break - just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time -around 1/2 latter i would of missed the ash in the mist as the mist brunt off and it would of been fine but that life

on friday my mum and I headed into taupo to look around the ride expo and get some food - at the ride expo I see some friends and have a chat to one of then about bike touring and long rides - back at the horse event place his worlds get me thinking so after a few txt’s I decide if my eyes are up to it I do a lap of the lake to see hoe things are doing it as part of the fun ride (knowing that if my eyes play up I will have to stop riding )

at the start line I see Keith ( one of the team who run the fun ride) and have a few words before its time to start (as there is 9,000 + rides on the fun ride the start is done in waves of 50-100? rider’s) it's a nice change to ride with others as I head up the hill not even pathing( I keep an eye on the heart rate thing on my handlebars to make sure i don't go over 175 bpm- my max heart rate is some where over 200 bmp from what I have seen in training : ) keeping an eye on my pace I let people pass knowing that as the ride gose on i will be passing many of then (because they went out to fast at the start so tend to slow down the 1/2 way point ) some times I do pass people on the hills (having low gears and knowing when and how to use then ) as I turn off the longer of the 2 course that the relay riders (and the more then one lap rids do ) some of the riders as we ride alon over the hill’s see that a) Im doing a full lap on my funny looking bike and as they read the ride number they see it’s not my first lap (when I get ask about it I say what happened and that im on my 3th lap of the lake for the week ) some of the riders don't seem to happy about getting passed by me (as I know where the hills are and with the low gears tend make of most of the hills I start passing people on racing bikes ( here is a little hint- get some lower gears on that racing bike for hilly rides like taupo as it tends to be better on your knees and lest work when climbing :) I just wish I knew that years ago as my knees as some what stuffed from pushing too big gears from when i first starter bike touring over 10 years ago )

other then stoping at the odd drink stop I keep riding noting that some of the riders should of lean how to ride safer on the road ( knowing that many of the riders around me may of never done much riding in a paceline I tend to like having more of a gap between me and other riders then most of the rider’s - just like riding in a city with lot’s of cars its best to keep an eye on what is happening at all times) on the way back to words taupo riding up the last long hill - h (its a hill that many riders don't like and I see some riders walk up it )as im chatting to a rider beside me (him pathing me not even working hard ) i see some friends from the bike shop I used when I was staying in palmerston north - one of the runs up the hill beside us saying some thing like I can run faster then you can ride - i said to the rider next to me (who is on a bike that around 1/2 the wight of mine (mines around 15 kg as its set up for touring with lights ing panner racks , his bike wight around 7-8 kg as its a road racing bike ) i would of case down the person from the bike shop who was teasing up by running up the hill but it might up set then some what - the rider looked at me and said “that would upset me if you did that “ so I said with a smill “ is that all you worried about “then I shot up the rest of the hill at a much faster speed (low gears and 20’ wheels make hills fun for me as my lowers gear is round 16 “ that to say I have very low gears (great for climbing with a full touring load) a few km down the road the rider chaches back up and asks me how I got up that that hill so well so I told him about my low gears and knowing how and when to used then and its was my 3 lap of the week so i know the hill well : ) after some more chatting about bikes I desist to speed up to see if I could do a fast lap (yep I can go fast when I want to : ) going down the road to the finsh line i felt my back about to lock up from all the jarring from the rught road so after i got to the finch line i found a spot to lay down and ending up having a short nap before prize giving before heading back to the horse even center i ended up riding a round 500 km on the ride

Will I be back next year? I just don't know at this point time as there are many maybes that I will need to work out over the next few months like just what I will be doing for the next 6-12 months