5 weeks to the taupo ride

with around 5 weeks to go before taupo the training is going ok I have been doing less km each week then this time last year and have been riding a faster aver speed this year (23-27 km/h last year I was riding a round 15-20 km/h) doing the long bike tour did help a lot to get (and stay) fit for long rides (having a bad fall out when tramping on the tour then getting hit by a car just after getting back from the tour was not in the plan but suff happens)


I also have starter doing hapkido (have a look at www.hapkido.co.nz to see what hapkido is) to help with a few things and for some thing new to keep life fun


I will have my longest ride on the bike from doing taupo last year next week as I do the tour de manawatu 2 lap fun ride (2 laps of the 116 km corse so about 255 km all up with the ride to the start doing the ride and the ride home ) with the ride starting at 3:30 am it will be a good test of bike set up and how I do things for doing long rides before the sun rise on a few hours of sleep( the ride starts at 3:30 am so when doing the 2 lap me and the others doing the ride (around 6-10 people)will be riding with people doing the 116 km ride of the tour de manawtu fun ride like at taupo where I will be starting the last lap around the lake at about the same time as the 160 km riders start


I still need to pick up a few things from the bike shop before I leave for taupo about the 16/11/2011(like a spare folding tire and the hammer suff (what I will be eating and drinking as I ride around the lake- I will be using hammer perpetuem for liquid food and hammer heed for sport drink also a few gels -last year I used nut bars+ gels and had had some problems eating around the 14 hour mark so I have been doing a lot of reading as well as talking to people and trying different food out to make sure it not going to happen this time as food problems can be a show stopper ) and a few other bits and pieces. I am planing to get to taupo about 5-7 days before the start of the ride taking about 3-4 days to ride up taking it easy so I don’t over do things and have a good rest before the ride

the taupo ride only around 6 weeks away

with the taupo ride  only around 6 weeks away I have been doing more km on the bike each week (around 265 km this week)

I also have been doing a lot of reading about doing long rides (bike rides over 200 km) and have been doing some planing to make sure that the ride will go as well as it can go on the day- my to do list is now down to 2 pages from the 10 pages I had a few weeks ago

I have been going over the bike replacing most of the drive chain on the bike as a lot of it has wore out over the last year as I have done around 7500+ km in  the last 12 months on the bike friday as well as around 1500 km on the mt bike so that bike got a few new parts as well ( I also replaced a few other things on the bike friday so I don't have to worry about then not working on the ride)as I like to have my bikes ready to ride at all times

my training has been getting back on track  after a few weeks taking it easy as my leg heal up- I don't know what took longer to get better- getting back to riding as I toured around the east coast back to Palmerston north after the fall or winting for the leg to heal after the Dr. deal with the big lump I had on the leg from the fall(falling 1-2 m on to a steel bar is not a good thing to have happen when training for a long bike ride )

I not sure how my training will go next week as I will be at 2 horse events -hasting A&P show and dressage at taupo getting a lift with a friend (back on track) so I will be trying to fit my training some where (maybe a few night rides?)

a few weeks before the taupo ride there is 230+km fun ride in Palmerston north (tour de manawatu 2 lap ride) that I will be doing before riding up to taupo about a week before the start of taupo ride I ride up to taupo as I cant drive and don’t like to take the bus places when I can ride my bike also I will be getting in the last of my training as I ride up - it’s an easy 3-4 day bike tour up to taupo  

dealing with set backs in training

dealing with set backs in training

ever one has to deal with a few set backs now and then there are some you can plan for (like wearing out bike parts when you don't have much money ) and then there is some you cant plan for (like the bad fall I had on my tour) when I was working out a training plan for taupo I knew that there would be set backs so I allowed extra time in training and when doing the planing for the ride so I would have time to deal with then so they would not become show stoppers that  would stop me from doing the ride ( a show stopper is some thing that stops you from doing what you plan to do)is only one when you decide it is one)

with my training for taupo  I have had a few set backs over the last few weeks as I  had to take some time  off the bike as my right leg slowly healed from that bad fall I had on my last bike tour (on a tramping trip not onn the bike ) about the same time that was finish healing I also had my dyspraxia play up (well at less I think it was the  dyspraxia  but it can be hard to tell whats going on some days with me and what the cause is because of how my disabilities are) so I took it easy for about a week as I tried to work out what was going on to cause my arms and legs not to work when  and how I wanter then to work ( some times  my legs do go on strike for a few hours i.e. i cant walk for a few hours when that happens and have to get a round on my bum if i need to go some where until  my legs start working again( im not sure why it happens but its just elso for me to deal with)   

I also had to get some more parts for the bike as I wore then out. I have done on the bike friday 7000  km from the last week before taupo 2010 (when I replaced the batter in the bike comper) until now - when I buy bike parts I get suff that I will know it will last and i can fix on the side of the road if need to be  I don't worry to much about wight of the parts as the light suff cost a lot more and never seems to last as long also when the bike has 10-20 kg of gear on it theres no point putting supper light parts on the bike I still have a few things to replace on the bike as that I will  do as I can pay for then before  taupo as I like to get the bike all set up and ready for taupo about 4 weeks out from the ride to give me time to make sure ever thing is working ok on the bike   

why I’m doing 4 times around around lake taupo this year

why I’m doing 4 times around around lake taupo this year

well it starter back in march as I was coming back from the horse of the year show riding thought the Manawatu gorge ( a friend had giving me a lift from the show to woodville)as I was riding thought the gorge  I got thinking about the taupo ride and which of the ones that I was going to do this year as last year I trained for and did the 2 times round ride (part of the resing for doing the 2x ride was because I like to see how far I could ride my bike also to make up for my DNF of the year before as my back rim spit 30 km in to the ride  in 2009 I first did the  160 km round the lake ride in 2008 I was thinking about just doing one lap this year then as I thought about it some more I desided to look into what I had to do to do the 4 lap ride as It sounded like fun I remember  having a chat to one of the 4? riders who was doing the 4 laps last year and they said I should try it one day so after a lot of homework I have desideit to go for the 4 x ride (640 km) this year as it is  a good challenge for me to aim for as the most km that I did on a ride before taupo last year was 210 km (doing the last 110 km of the 320 km 2x taupo ride last year was a bit of mind over matter for me) I had I lot of fun on the ride last year looking at the landscape as I was working my way over the hills seeing the sun rise as I went around the lake maybe in a few years I may try the 8 lap ride round the lake . I like to push my limits and the limits that other try to put on me when they say that I can’t do some thing or that it can’t be done

getting back into training

A easy week this week to give my leg time to heal ( went to the dr on wenday to get rid of the lump on my leg that was from my bad fall that I had as i was doing some tramping on the last bike tour)

My longers bike ride latey was about a week ago doing 120 km with about 2/3 of it siting around 27-30km/h with some of it doing 15 3 km loops of manfield? race track as there was a open day where one could ride around the race track on the bike

back in palmerston north

im back in palmerston north now-over the next week or 2 i will be posting the rest of my trip report as well as how things are going with the planing for the taupo ride

anzac park to Palmerston north

anzac park to Palmerston north 92 km

an early start as i would like to get to woodville before 4 pm. there is fog around as I set off on the last day of this trip. going over some hills before a down hill into the town of dannevirke where I take a break before riding to the town of woodville as I come into town I see that the road thought the m gorge is down to one lane (there is a lot of slips in the gorge) in part of the gorge.after getting thought the gorgeI head into the city of Palmerston north where I do a few jobs before riding out to tielcey park where I stay when I’m not on a trip some where

hasting to Anzac park

hasting to Anzac park 93 km

going back into hasting finding my way around the road works to get some food for the day before heading out of town going down SH 2  the road is mostly flat until the town of waipawa and waipukuran where the road start a slow climb  up to 400 m — about 2 km north of norsewood there is some where to camp that I know from past trips up this way so I go down a short side ride to a place called anzca park where set up camp for the night

In hasting with only 2-3 days left on to go on this tour

In Hastings tonight with only 2-3 more days of this tour to go I have done around 1728 km so far and have just around 156 km still to go on this trip then it's getting ready for the taupo fun ride and working out which horse shows I will go to this year

lake tutira to hasting

lake tutira to hasting 74 km

 after I nice sleep in i slowly pack up and head down the road with the road rolling over some small hill  before a  130 m down hill an 1.5 km then up the big and only hill of the day with a flat bit going though a hairpin bend called devil’s elbow  before climbing up some more before the  top of the hill then it’s a fun 15 km down with a few 35 km bends hitting around 60 km/h a long the strater bits of road and around 50 km/h around the 35 km/h bends (don't try this unless you know how your bike will handle at speed going around sharp bends - I have a lot of expers with riding my bike with a load on as I have done a lot of touring on it)at the coast the road is flat into Napier. I see that there is a walk way/cycle way a long the beach so I cross over the train track and rid along it into town ( i see that there are building some more off road walkway/cycle way in places) in Napier I spend some time in a internet cafe playing on the laptop before heading a long the cost pathway then back on SH 2 to hasting where I head out to a place that I some work at when I help with the horses shows for the night

wairoa to lake tutira

wairoa to lake tutira 80 km

As I am leave ing the camping ground I see that I have a flat tire  on the front so I stop to fix it ( a old patch had a spit in it so I put a patch over the old patch to fix the flat) I head to the supper market to stock up on food for the next 2 days. about 25 km out of town the big hills start   with a good up hill climb fower by a fun down hill to the mohaka gorge  passing under the mohaka viaduct as I climb out of the gorge  after some more hills I pass in to the next gorge hitting 60 km/h going down into it (who put the 35 km bend at the end of the down hill  I think I went around the bend a bit fast as i did at about 45-50 km/h)  the next gorge they have built a new bridge over it next to the rail bright ( and rip up the old road that I liked ( I like to old way better as it was nice to look around the gorge  as one rides thought it ) going over some rolling hills I get to lake  tutira  where there is a doc camp site where after taking some photos I set up camp for the night

some where to wairoa

some where to wairoa 77 km

after packing up i head down the road slowly heading up the first hill of the day.As I ride along I see a torch on the side of the road so I stop to have a look - it looks ok and still works so i put it in my bag (it can be fun what you find on the side of the road when riding along) after getting to the top of the big hill of the day i take a break before going down the hill-a mix of some up and down with a fun 11% down hill to morere where there is some hot pools where I get a ice cream. after morere the road  for the next 40 km mis mostly flat with a short but steep hill near the end to get into the town of wairoa  where there is a old light house on the main road after going to the info center I head to the camping ground for the night

some where to some where

some where to some where 70 km

after packing up I get back on the road going over rolling hills until i get to the coast. riding along the coast  passing though some small towns until i get into gisborne where I do a few jobs before stocking up on food and water  as I am leaving town I see a sing to a m so I stop I have a look around for a few hours before getting back on the road riding until near sun set  when i knock on some ones front door to ask then if they know any where I could put up my tent for the night and person said that I could camp on the front lawn so I set up my tent and played on my laptop for a few hours before going to sleep

tokomaru bay to some where

tokomaru bay to some where                          50km

after a late start (wanting to to my washing when ever one in town seems to want to use it to day) i head down to the shop where as I am paying the till’s working as some one is working on the power - suff happens - after about 10 - 15 mins its all done . out side I have a chat to some of the people who live in town before starting on a climb out of town. near the top of the hill i stop and have a chat to some road workers and fix up my  trailer flag  back on the road i ride over some rolling hills  to tolaga bay where there is an old wharf that is around 600 m long and was built to serviced to coastal shipping after getting some photos I head down the road until I find some where to camp down a side road for the night