manfield 6 hour ride 2012

manfield 6 hour ride 2012 

a few weeks ago i saw some thing about a bike ride in fielding - a 6 ride around as many laps of  an 3 km course (manfield race track) after spending some time going back and fore trying to decide if to enter it- its not an type of ride I do with 98% of the riders riding fast road bikes in groups - as 99% of my riding is on my own with a lot of long days bike touring at some where between 5-20 km/h. in the end I desidieit to enter it  using it as a longer training ride  also for some thing differ

doing a bit of planing so i would end up in fielding on the day before -doing a day of 72 km then a day of 80 km riding up the coast on s.h.1 I ender up setting up my tent at a friends place (thanks tim for letting me set up my tent at your place) 

on the day of the ride I got up around 7 am to get ready before heading just down the road to the track for the start of the ride -after getting my ride number and tunsporder? and getting in place for the start it was time for the 6 hour ride to start with most of the riders riding in groups - as this was a training ride for me and not a race I keep one eye on my what my heart rate was. the first 10 laps I did at a faster pase to warm up before setting down to a 25-30 km/h pace keeping my heart rate below 180 bpm- using my heart rate to work out what speed to ride at doing the odd spirt now and then to see how fast I could get up to for  bit of fun : ) heart rate was between 155-175 bpm on the ride with the odd 180-190 bpm when going faster(around 40 km/h max)

most of the time I was In big chain ring in fount the  smaller 3 gears in the back - not some thing I ride in much as 85% of my riding is in middle chain ring when touring

as I was not able to pick the food I used on other longer rides (hammer) I used musle bars for the ride going though around 16 of then -having one about event 10 km of so having a drink at around the same time - at times i had to slow down a bit as my blood suigers went up and down ( around the 2 and 4 hour mark) it work ok but it would of been better for me to of used the hammer food and drink like i do on my other riders (better to find suff like on training rides then part of the way though a big event in the middle of no ware)

I did 98% of the ride on my own (not in a group like most of the other rider) as I wanter to find out how fit I was also to try a few ideas out on longer rides that meant riding at diffice speeds

taupo ride 2012

taupo ride 2012

with the lake taupo fun ride coming around in around 7? months its time to start thinking and planing what ride to do this year

last year I did the 4 lap ride (640 km)

my rides at taupo have been 

2008 my first time enter -one lap 160 km I enter the event a few weeks out from the start not doing any training having just come off a few months of bike touring around north land and a few other bits of the north island

2009 had an DNF around the 30 km mark because of a spit rim (I had wore though the rim with breaks)

2010 2 laps (320 km) I decide to do 2 lap to make up for the DNF also because it was more then I have had ever ridden in 24 hours at that point (the most I had done up to then was 180 km -I did do a 220? km ride just before the  taupo ride in training)

2011 4 laps (640 km) having done the two lap ride I though whats next so I enter the 4 lap ride having done most of my training around and though I was well prepped for the ride  - what I did not count on was the high winds and the lost of my rack bag with a lot of my gear in it part of the way around the first lap - thanks to tim Neal and others I made it round all 4 laps in a time of  57:30 with the last lap done on the sunday

so now its 2012 and time to start planing

having done the 1,2,4 lap rides and leaning a lot about life and cycling along the way 

yes I do have a few disabilities so I might need to do things a little different from others when I do things but I still get things done  and i'm still an athlete that loves to ride on they bike a lot  (around 8-10 000 km a year)

Whatever course you decide upon there is always someone to tell you that you are wrong. There are always difficulties arising which tempt you to believe that your critics are right. To map out a course of action and follow it to an end requires courage."

- Ralph Waldo Emerson"

having spent a few weeks ride around parts of the south island there is a lot of strat roads that have giving me a lot of time to think of what i would like to do with my life -bike touring gives one a lot of time to think about things  

last year as I was planing the 4 lap ride I did a lot of home work reading up on long rides like PBP by people who have done them also well as talking to some and looking at the riding that I have done in the past few years  -seeing what worked on the rides that I have done also what did not work so well when on the rides leaning more each time

its has taking me a few weeks of work to decide which ride I will be taking part in this year - should I do the 4 lap ride or just the 1 lap ride - doing the 8 lap ride this year did not even cross my mind until a round 4 weeks ago when a few people that I knew of and had seen around the odd event did things that inspire me to push my self even harder - people like sud downs doing the 24 hour out door track record   (see http://no-more-shadows.blogspot.co.nz/ )- the more I though about it and looked at what i needer to do to do a longer ride and after a few phone calls to find out which rides were happening at taupo this year and some other info the more sure I became that I could do the planing and the training that would be needer to take part in a longer ride so this year goal is to ride the 8 lap 1280 km lake taupo ride 

 I under stand it's not going to be an easy ride for me but if I only did things that were easy I would never of done  the things that I want to do with my life 

I am starting the planing (also the training) now as it will give me time to work out the many of the bugs and find ways around then (any other bugs that come up close to the ride or on the ride I will just have to deal with then as they come up

working on the training plan will be fun  as I don’t have a fixed address - I live in a tent spending my days bike touring a round nz some times spending a week in one place others time riding to a new place each day its a some what crazy and fun way to live ones life but it is a life style that seem’s to work well for me - at any rate there seems to be many ways that people train for 1200 km rides like PBP 

Why do I do long rides?

it is not an easy question for me answer 

for me doing long rides it is not a question of why  but why not

"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes, to make it possible."

- T.E. Lawrence, 'Seven Pillars of Wisdom,' 1926

Palmerston north to eketahuna 50 km

Palmerston north to eketahuna 50 km 

after doing the few last jobs in town (and one job 12 km out of town) I get back to where I have been staying and start pack up my gear - by the time I leave town its around 3 pm - as I have a place in mind for where I’m staying the night I keep riding. working my way up the long hill I find it easy after all the hills that i had been doing down the south island. at the top I stop for some photos before riding down the other side of the hill. as the sun starting to set I stop to put on my bike lights for some night time touring as I am doing that the rubber O ring the holds my front light on breaks so I end up using a cable tie to hold it on (all ways carry a few cable ties when out riding as there are good for fixing thing on the bike) back on the road heading down back roads until I get to S.H.3 - there not as many cars at night time and the seem to give me more room then in the day time. it's a nice night for riding with no rain and not much wind In a few places there some road works like on one of the longer up hills where my back wheel starts to slid around a bit in the mud. passing though the town of eketahuna on the way to the camp ground ($5 a night) I get a few odd looks by some of the people in town.coming down the last hill into the camp ground I see some of my friends around a camp fire so after setting up camp I head over to the camp fire chats to friends for a few hour before heading off to bed for the night having done around 80 km on the bike for the day

The Manawatu Country Road Cycle Classic Ride 2012

The Manawatu Country Road Cycle Classic Ride

ride report for 160 km fun ride

getting up nice and early to get ready and at the start line by 6:30 am I have a chat to some of the other people doing the ride (nice to have some other people to ride with for a change as 98% of my riding is on my own ) and doing a few last min jobs like mixing up the food for the ride (for food I’m using hammer perpetuem in 3 drink bottles (2 750 ml with 6 scoops in and one 500 ml bottle with 4 scoops in ) I add water only just before the start of the ride so the perpetuem don’t spoil and full up my 1.5 l camel back with water. at 7:30 am the ride gets under way.


enjoying the ride though town riding though the red lights (getting wave though in one big grop of riders. a few km into the ride after the first hill of the day I note that there is an odd sound coming from the bike looking down I see that the bb cups have come a bit unsecured I try riding a bit more but the drive side cup comes out to the point the  cranks will not spin anymore. looks like my ride is over only 12 km into the ride - not what I was looking for word to for the day after about 20 mins suck on the side of the road one of the ride motor bike stops to cheek on me .after saying what was wrong I got the phone numbers of the 2 bike fixing vans - giving the first one a call I find out there don't have the tool I need (about the only tool I don't yet have for the bike) I give to other van a call - its seem that they have the tool i need only to find out 20 min later when they drive up  they don't have the tool.after playing with the cranks a bit I work out a way to screw the cups back in ( the idea of having to walk back 14 km is a good incentive to try new things to get the bike running) so after spending an hour on the side of the road I get back on the road keeping a eye on the bb cups. at ashhurst I have a chost of A. ride back to palmerston north by S.H.3 ? and have a DNF or B. to keep doing the fun ride making up lost time when and where I can - well to me there is no real chose so it B. for me( I don't take the easy way out )  


keeping an eye on the bb cups as I ride over the many hills that make up the first 80 km of the ride having as I fly down some of the hills staying to my plan for food and drink I even start passing a few of other rides its a nice day for a ride riding down some nice back roads to the mid way point at atipe? where I have a hammer bar just for some thing to eat. siting at around 25-30 km/h from atipe all the way back to Palmerston north only slowing down going up a few of the hills going though fielding I pass a few more riders (yep there are time I like to go fast on the bike )some of the looks that i got from some of the riders I passed were fun about 15 km from the finish i had to do a bit of map work to make sure I was on the right road (as the ride signs were being taking down around 2:30 pm) getting to the finish I was some what surprise that there were still people behind me (about 5 or 6 riders came in about 15-30 mins after me) nice not to be last rider in like I was last year .after heading to the squire for prize given (no i did now win any thing this year : ) before riding back to the place where I was staying

this ride went well as even think in the ride plan work out as planed 

the food drink plan I did for the ride work out as I planed it - as well as the hammer perpetuem in my drink bottles I had 3 gel’s to help with the hills as well as a hammer bar(some thing to eat at the 1/2 point)

part of the ride plan was to ride the 2th 80 km faster then the first 80 km what I did - its the first time on a fun ride that I have been able to go faster then most of the riding I do - with my dyspraxia I can only ride at one speed but I can do that the speed all day as I don’t get sore legs but I have not work out how to get my legs to change gears so to speak-ride faster for a shorter ride time -on the ride was the first time I got my legs to work like this (more speed on a shorter ride so it's a big deal for me )

the weather was nice with only a bit of wind near the end (where did the head winds come from?) no rain on this years ride

ride time-

my ride time was around 7:50 with the hour lost on the side of the road with lose bb cups that makes an on bike time of 6:50 - about the same time it took me to do the round the Mt ride that was 10 km less. it took me around an hour less to  the ride this year (somer thing to do with being fitter then I was a year ago having just come off a few weeks of bike touring around the south island)    

break downs

I had no flat tires this year the only proline I had was the bb cups being lose -I had change the main frame over a few days before (as I had creak the frame down the south island) -It would seen that I had not got the bb cups tight - as I was looking over the bb cups a day latter the drive side cup fell apart in my hand (i'm some what surprise it laster the 150 km of the ride after i got it back in on the ride )i did note a small wobble?in the cranks as I was riding a few days after the ride I swapped over the bb cup from my old frame and picked up the tool that I needer for the bb cups from the bike shop is it's a tool that I will use some times (as I do a lot of my riding in the middle of no where far from any bike shop I take some bike tools with me on the bike)