2013 grape ride

2013 GrapeRide

Well beside having a DNF on the ride I had a nice ride on the grape ride

As this fun ride was a new one for me I was not sure how I would do on it with sleep( if and where I would sleep on the ride ) also what my ave speed would be on the ride ( on each lap )as well as food and water on the ride - how much food and water I would use on the ride

Well after a less then idea build up-little things like having to get the bike frame re welded the day before the ride - in the 3 weeks before the ride the bike frame needed work 3 times ( one repare on the seat mast and 2 repares on the rear frame drop out? - just got a replaced seat mast in the post from bike friday today

On the Thursday before the ride as I was heading for the backpacks that I had booked for the night I got chatting to a passing cyclises who ask me if I wanted to come over to tea so after setting up camp at the backpacks I header over to his place for tea - after tea we got chatting about the grape ride and they said I could keep my bike trailer and panner bags at they place as I did the grape ride so that less thing to worry about : )

On the morning on the ride I packed up my tent and gear and dropped it off then a short stop at a shop to get a new batter for my bike computer as it had been playing up then it was time to head to Forrest wines to pick up my ride pack and get ready for the start of the ride -
Mixing up the hammer Perpetuem that I use for food on the ride and putting the ride number on the bike. after getting the bike ready I head over to the start line where I met up with many of the other riders taking part in the 505 km ride - some I know from other rides others meting then for the first time spending some time before the start having a look at the set up of some of the other riders bikes

At 2 pm the ride gets under way with all the other riders soon leave me in last place - a place I'm well used to on long rides ( I may not be able to ride fast but I can ride all day: ) as I head to worlds Blenheim and then on to picton Im sitting around 25-30 km km/h using my aro bars to help with the head/side wind taking care not to get lost ( to go off the ride course ) as i head though the town of picton before starting on the first of the hills as I leave town on the queen charlotte drive on the way to havelock

Working my way around the bays as the roads climbs and dips passing the first 1/2 lap mark (50 km) it's a nice day for a bike ride. at link water The road heads inland? Away from the sea for a bit before the road passes the upper parts of the sounds near havelock after havelock the hills ease. With just one last hill to climb on the way to the start/finish line ( of each lap) as I get back to the start/finish cheek point around 6:50 pm I mix up more hammer p for the next lap and refill my camback taking note of how much water I been drinking before heading out for the next lap

Heading to words Blenheim I decide not to use my aro bars as much on this lap as its to easy for me to fall asleep on the bike when using then at night. Doing around 23-27 km/h until I get to picton where as I'm heading down the long hill coming into town my bike computer stops working ( low batter in the computer part I think as I had replace the batter in the part on the fork but not in the bike computer ) a few km? Out of picton I'm having a hard time to stay awake so I stop off the road to try to have a short sleep - well after about 20 min I had no luck with having a short sleep so I have a gel and some of the jelly bens (that came in the riders pack ) it helps to keep me awake as I get back on the road
Riding around the many bays of the sounds at night is a bit like being on a fun park ride - as the bike computer had stop working I'm not sure what my speed is or how far I done ( in a few places like link water I took note of how far I did on the first lap so I have a rough idea where I'm on the course ) for long parts of lap 2 I was not sure if I was still on the right roads -as I road along the long bridge I knew I was near the end of lap 2 - for the last 20-30 km of lap 2 I was having a hard time with my hands and shoulders with keeping my hands on the hander bars where and how I wanted to ( to do with my disables - looks like some thing I will need to do a lot of work on to work out a way to get around this issue )

After I check in with the safety person ( where you check in after each lap) went to try to get an hours sleep - just before I went to lay down I had a look over the bike as I had noted that there was some play? at the base of the seat mast - I decided to recheck it after an hours sleep ( well that was the plan anyway) well after a very cold hour getting about maybe 20 mins of sleep I rechecked the bike and worked out what was the cause of the play at the base of the seat mast - the welding repare on the base of seat mast ( that was done in Christchurch ) was starting to break so it was some thing to think as I did so tests on my shoulders and hands - after doing some more thinking I made the hard choose to stop the ride after doing 2 laps (after doing 202 of the 505 km )

After spending the rest of the night trying to stay warm ( at one point I seem to remember a friend making me a hot drink some time in the night - what I remember that night after I stopped riding is some what vard - after seeing some of the other 505 km riders finish and the 101 km riders start I spent the rest of the day going to the prize giving before heading to the people's place where my gear is - where I end up spending the night

with two back to back DNF's will I keep doing this type of ride?

Yes -I still like doing this type of ride and have fun doing then

So what will be my next long ride ?

Here is just some of the rides I'm looking at doing over the next few years

2013 Taupo 8 lap ride (1280 km)
2014 grape ride - maybe a 10 lap (1100 km?)

I know I have things to work on before my next long ride so that's what I will be working on over the next 6 months or so


So what went right and what needs more work

What worked

Food and drink - I used hammer Nutrition for all my food needs on the ride using hammer Perpetuem at 1.5 scoop per hour what worked very well on this ride I did take 5 gels on the ride and used 2 of then on the ride - over the last few years of doing long fun rides I had done a lot of work on what to eat and drink on the fun ride- as for water I used around a L of water in my camelback on each lap ( as well as the hammer mix in 2 of my drink bottles - 4.5 scoops in a 750 m bottle and 3 scoops in a 500 m bottle (mixed with water) I had a 500m bottle with water in a under frame bottle cage as a just in case bottle

Bike lights- I had replaced the front light (which is power off the front wheel ) a few weeks before the ride as I was not happy with the light I had ( what had stopped working at Taupo ride ) the new front light is a lot better and I was happy with it - I do have 2 small batter lights as back up lights for the front - as for rear lights I will be replacing then as I can with better lights - I had better rear lights but had to used other lights on this ride as I had lost one of the better tail lights a few weeks before the ride



What needs more work

Bike fit - I still need to do some work on bike fit like with the aro bars and handel bar set up as I had some neck and back and hand pain on the ride

Taping before the ride - need to work out a better plan for taping over the last 3 weeks before a fun ride

Help when on the ride- maybe need to find some one to help me with doing off bike suff on the ride-things like mixing up food and water bottles

Planing -Better planing with before the ride , on the ride, after the ride

Sleep - need to find better ways of dealing with lack of sleep as well as working on where to sleep , better ways to stay awake on the bike -maybe doing more night rides in training

Off bike gear -Warmer gear when off the bike when cold -find better ways to keep cool on hot rides

Training - need to work on doing better training - can be hard to train when aways on bike tours or working at horse events - might look into finding a coach to help with this?


Suff to do with my disables - need to find better ways to get around issues caused by my disables and other injures ( like when I got hit by the truck back 2008 that suffed up my shoulders and back ) not sure where to go to get help with this?

Speed - I'm not sure what to do about this - I don't ride a road bike at an ave speed 27-30+ km/h yet that what many people who run fun rides seem to think every one rides at that speed on carbon road bikes when you look at ride times I don't think the bike friday is the issue here as much as the speed and type of riding I do on longer training rides so maybe need to chat to a coach about this