Training ride 67 km 27/08/2015x

Training ride  67 km 27/08/2015

Today's ride was my first training ride as I get fit for doing the 4x Lake taupo cycle challenge ride thought first up a had a little job to take care on the bike - well a big job taking around a hour or so to do - the job was taking apart the rear hub to service it and replace the ball bearings also the cones that was getting badly pitted so they needed replacement and the was not the most easy part to track down  (it took 2 trys and a few weeks to get the parts) after cleaning the old gress from the hub I regressed it and put in the 18 new ball bearings (9 each side) before putting in the new axle (could only get the parts I needed to replace by getting a new axle set) and setting up the rest of the hub/wheel before putting it on the bike and checking to make sure it's set up right. Then it's time for a bike ride : )

After getting changed in to my bike gear and putting a few things on the bike it's time to let my friend know I'm heading out on the bike - once I'm out the gate and on the road I reset the bike computer and start riding - today's ride starts with a mix  of flat and up hill riding for around 12 km (stopping a few times to get pictures of me on the bike : )  before I turn off the road I'm on - I then take the road that leads down hill on to spa? Road and into the town of taupo  - once I get to the round about at the end/start of spa?  Road I stop for a min or so before deciding to head down to the boat harbour as its such a nice day after getting a few more photos I decide to keep heading along the pathway that leads its way along the lake (the pathway leds all the way to 5 mile Bay around 10 km of track away) as I look over the lake at a rest area (that happens to be on top of the water treatment plant for getting clean drinking water for the town of taupo from the lake) I see a sign saying 5 mile Bay 9 km away so I decided to head along the shared pathway out to 5 mile Bay stopping ever so often to take some photos of the lake and other landscape keeping my speed down as there are many people out enjoying the path way around the lake edge today (it's a nice sunny day) and I'm not in any hurry on today's ride : ) I keep riding along the path way until I get to the other end at 5 mile Bay when I stop for a few mins to set up my bike lights and put on a jacket as the sun sets for the day then it's time to start the ride back to my friends place. On the way back along the pathway I can get up a bit more speed as there is a lot less people on the track - I don't go to fast on the track - partly as many of the people still on the track are hard to see as they are not wearing any lights and darker clothes (even spot a few bike ninjas - ie people on bikes with  no lights and dark clothes) and partly so I don't miss a turn on the track and end up in the lake : ) back at River side Park?  I head up the hill and cross the road to the supermarket to get some bread - after getting the things I need I spend a bit of time redoing the rear lights mounting before heading back up spa?  Road climbing up hill to I get to the high point on today's ride then is mostly down hill riding where I sit on around 25-30 km/h most of the way back to my friends place for the night - after putting the bike away I take my things inside and make a start on cooking up some pasta for dinner - after dinner and a shower it's time for bed

I ended up doing 67 km on the bike today today so had a nice Stat to training  - keeping in mind that the taupo ride I'm training for is 640 km or around 10 times as far : )