last week as i was at the horse of the year show as I was looking at my emails I saw an email about the 2013 GrapeRide what is a fun bike ride that takes place on the top of the South Island each year - it's been a ride I have been meaning to take part in one day - after having to pull out of the 2012 lake Taupo fun ride part of the way though the ride .for the last 3 months or so I have not even been sure if I ever wanted to take part in any more long fun rides ( when I talk about long rides the rides start at 160 km+ and go up to 1280 km and are done over a few days riding thought the night with little sleep ) so when the email came though at first I was just going delete it with even reading it with the ride so close as I still was not sure if I would keep doing long fun rides or not..
On 2th thought I desidit to open the email and maybe read the web site a bit to see what the course for the fun ride was like as its a ride I been thinking about doing next year - just the 101 km ride - well after having a chat to some people and doing some more home work on the ride ( and after remembering what a few friends said to me after the Taupo ride ( you know who you are : ) I have deside to enter this years GrapeRide - not just the 101 km ride that I was looking at doing next year but the 505 km ride - Why - well having trained for the 1280 km ride doing the 505 km ride sounder like a fun ride to do in a nice part of nz - why dont i just do the 101 km ride -well as most of the time when I'm traveling on my bike my daily riding is around the 60- 120 km mark so doing an 101 km fun ride sounded far too easy for me - I like a good work out when out on the bike doing fun rides also I'm using what I lean at Taupo and other long fun rides ( what worked and did not work for me on those rides) to do better on the bike on long rides so I'm using this ride as a build up ride for Taupo - yes the lake Taupo ride is unfinished business for me ...
After a lot of thinking over the last few months I have decided to keep doing long rides for as long as I can
Why
Some Things I like about doing long rides
1. The new friends I have met though the sport
2. It's one of the few sports I can do - I may not be able to play most sports but I can ride a bike
3. I will never be fast on the bike but I can keep on riding and riding all day long
4. Seeing new parts of nz by bike
5. Riding though the night ( and not worrying about the hills one can't see : )
6. The people I met on the road ( and seeing the look on they faces when I tell then just how far I'm going on my small wheel odd looking folding bike : )
7. just how fit I get from all the riding I do ( the fitter I get the easier my disables are to deal with each day)
8. Setting a goal of doing a long ride then doing it ( all the planing and hard work playing off)
Some Things I don't like about long rides
1. D.N.F ( did not finish )- it happens some times
2. All the planing that goes into the rides ( some times it's fun but most of the time it's just hard work
3. Some of the training rides in the wind and rain - yes even when it's wet and cold out there I still get out on the bike and ride - that's what rain gear is for ( I'm not made of sugar. So I'm not going to melt in the rain : )
4.having to find new ways of dealing with things because of my disables as its hard work like trying to work out how to do training and do bike set up ( like the type of bike i ride and how i have it set up )
5. Dealing with people who don't know me who tell me i Wont be able do a ride because I don't do things the same way others do
6. Trying to fit in the longer training rides in when I'm busy at horse events over summer
7. The entry cost to enter the rides - lake Taupo ride was around $100 to enter 1280 km ride last year and the GrapeRide is $140 to enter this year for the 505km ride ( it's around $ 40 more to do the 505 km ride then the 101 km GrapeRide ( im not sure what the extra $40 is for as Taupo was the same cost for the 1280 km ride as the 160 km ride I seem to remember ?)
