help me plan my ride through NZ - Cape Reinga to Stewart Island

help me plan my ride through NZ - Cape Reinga to Stewart Island

as much as I have been riding around NZ for the last 10 years or so there is a few places that I have not been to yet also I have yet to do an end to end ride- Cape Reinga to stewart island I have done many loop rides of place (like when I ride from horse show to horse show helping out at the shows) back in 2007 I went down the west coast of the south island to wanaka where I got a lift around parts of southland? before having to head back to the north island. in 2006/2008-09 and in 2012 I did loop rides of parts of the middle  and the top of the south island - most of my riding has been in  the north island because of the cost of the ferry to the south island also because when i am helping at the shows most of the 4-5 months around summer are spent at helping at shows or getting to the next show (that may be 2-300+ km away from the last show)

so I have decided that when I get back on the road (Im have been stuck in Te Kuiti at my mums place  as my bike has needer some parts - they should be here latter this week of next week - A big thank you to cyclepro bike shop in hamilton that has been helping me get back on the road after I had killed most of the drive chain on the bike as well as a few other parts that I needer to replace - living on the road tends to be hard on bike parts ) I might do a few short (about a week)loop trips before heading north up to cape reinga to start an end to end ride - yes I know its winter time - I will just need to pack warmer gear and good rain gear - when I went down the  south island west coast back in 07 I seem to remember that I had 3 days when it did not rain out of the 3 weeks I was on the coast (I did have 1 day of riding in the snow- that was fun : ) 

so Im looking for nice/fun places to see along the way also any places/people that I may be able to camp/stay over night at I will be trying to stay on back roads as much as I can - gravel roads and hills don’t worry me 

What about training for the 8 lap lake taupo ride?

I will be using this ride for part of the training over the next few months doing the odd longer ride (rides over 120+ km )with out the gear on the bike (day rides) when I get my bike lights worked out I might do the odd over night ride just to add to the fun : ) I tend to do any thing from 30 km to 160+ km a day  with 1-2 days off  the bike a week when touring on the bike - as I don't know which way I'm going yet I don't know long it will take - its not like I need to be any where any time soon - its one of the up sides of how I live my life

I will be posting on my facebook page and this blog (also maybe twitter if I can work it out : ) what Im getting up to and where I am in NZ when I can (thats to say when I can find the time and where my cell phone works : )

riding 8 times around lake taupo and fundraising for catwalk trust

riding 8 times around lake taupo and fundraising for catwalk trust

between the 21th and  the 25th of november 2012 I will be riding 8 times around lake taupo on the extreme endurolake taupo cycle challenge (8 lap 1280 km ) fundraising for the catwalk trust

if you would like to sponsor me  i will have  fundraising page set up soon - i will have a link to it as soon as it is set up ok



About the catwalk trust

The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) Trust is dedicated to raising funds to support the body of scientific opinion which says a cure for spinal cord injury will be found.

By challenging the pace and boundaries of research, our goal is to enable SCI sufferers to walk again. A cure is no longer a matter of ‘if’ but ‘when’.

We want those affected by spinal cord injury out of wheelchairs and back on their feet.

The CatWalk Spinal Cord Injury Trust was founded in 2005 by Catriona Williams, formerly one of New Zealand’s leading international equestrian riders. Following a riding accident in 2002, she is now C6/C7 tetraplegic and confined to a wheelchair.

Initially a group of friends planned to fundraise for Williams herself – but a bigger picture quickly became clear. A cure for all was Williams’ dream – and so CatWalk was born.

"Only legs that work could make my days better!" says Williams. “I want to do things not have things.”

After exploring several options, the group agreed that supporting researchers in the very realistic bid for a cure for Spinal Cord Injuries (SCI) would be CatWalk’s aim. And so, The CatWalk Trust is dedicated to raising funds to support the body of scientific opinion which says a cure for Spinal Cord Injury will be found.

 the web site for the catwalk trust is at 

http://www.catwalk.org.nz/

time off the bike

time off the bike

Im still waiting for some bike parts - the last i heard was I might get then some time next week-I have replaced the bb so all I need to get now is a new crank set -I did a few test rides by reusing my old crank set but as it has some grovers cut into it from when the bb died on me ( as the bb came apart some of the bits cut into the spindle? of the crank set) I don't trust it not to fall on me in the middle of no where so until I get a new crank set i’m stuck in te kuiti staying at my mums place

on the up side its giving me time off the bike to do a few other things as well as giving the bikes a full over hall that i have been meaning to do for a few months I can and most of the time I will do the work on the bikes when they need work done on then Im slowly been getting the mt bike set up for off road touring - just need to work on a better bike fit (I had been getting sore hands when riding the mt bike over 50 km) and work out what to do about the front rack ( I may do a bike-packing set up using a frame bag and handle bar set up)

I also been slowing working thought my pile of books to read - its nice to not have to have lots of books to take up space on the bike when having to do a lot of reading ( most of the time I seem to have some where between 1-6 books on the bike when touring)

getting an hour of swimming in this week I did a lot of work getting my arms and legs to move at the same time in the pool -in the past it's not some thing that I have been able to do 99% of the time from what I can remember ( there is a lot in my life that I can only remember bits and pieces of I think I am starting to under stand why that is - not that it makes it any easier to deal with) so it looks like i’m slowly getting better at doing some things- a lot of it has to do with all the time that I have been spending on the bike over the last few years as well as the hapkido that I did for a few months last year what was a nice change from just spending all my time on the bike (doing hapkido is a good  core body work out )

some of my reading lately has been as I work on my training plan for taupo also putting together a plan for the ride - because of my dysables (ie my dyspraxia and other thing I deal with each day) Im having to do things my way - people who dont know what I have to deal with each day just to be able to ride and do other things each day tend to find my way of doings thing some what odd  or some say it cant be done that way- I have been  getting that a lot from people lately- not that I would let a little thing like that stop me from doing what I do in life : )

 as I don't get sore legs or tired the way most people get tired I do get more mentally tired then most because of all the extra work to get my body to do what I want it to do (dyspraxia suff mostly) I don't seem to get physically tired like most people do as  I seem to lake the feed back from my body (IM not sure how it should be as i have had dyspraxia all my life so I dont know whats it like for most people ) so a rest off the bike or sleep is more to rest the mind more the any thing 

 when I was doing the taupo ride last year I did hard a hard time keeping the bike going with the high winds- my legs was fine just all the work to keep the bike going where i wanter it to go was very hard mentally ( keeping the bike upright on a good day can be hard work for me any way) so I was burning thought my food faster then planed ( some thing to add to the ride plan for this years ride in case of bad weather) yes I could of giving up and stop the ride ( a D.N.F) but I don't give up that easily - every thing in my life I try to give it at lest 110 % that is to say I try to give it ever thing I can - yes I could have an easier life and not do much with my life but thats not living for me -Im aways looking to see what my next goal is and what I need to do to get there 

a week off the bike

a week off the bike

Well, I'm now in te kuiti having got the train up from Palmerston north. I'm staying at my mums place for a bit as my bike is off the road as the bike needs some parts (this time the bottom-bracket and maybe the crank set replaced) so i have been spending the days reading and starting the planing for taupo (working on the big plan as well as starting to work out how to train better and have a better plan for the ride also working on back up plans for when thing don't go to plan in training and on the ride) i don't used a coach for my riding because a i don't have the money to hire one also finding one that can work with me would be hard- i tend to do thing my way as most of the time it's the only way i can do things 

 not having much body awareness as well as trying to deal with the other parts of my disables as I do the training and planing for the events that i do - things tend to take me longer to learn as well as the fact that i tend to um mis place the info on how to do things - some time i find the info latter other time I need to re lean it because of the dyspraxia -have a few head injuries don't help as there are big parts of my life i don't remember as well as the other thing i have prolings  with because of the head injury and other disables I have  

so on the bike training  is on hold until i get the bike back on the road some time this week or next week - it odd not riding on the bike most days as most of the last few years have been spent riding 3-7 days a week - about the longer that I can re member  having spent off the bike from the time that I got my bike friday would of been the 3 weeks or so after i got hit byBtu the truck back in 2008 only because i could not lift my hand up to hold the handle bars (as soon as I could do that I was back on the bike : )

just a note on word used and spelling

out of the words that I under stand i can only say around maybe 15-20 % of then so that most people can under stand what I’m saying. with my spelling its about maybe 5% of the words that i under stand - looking up a word can be hard work as if you don't know how to (or just can’t) sound a word its hard to find it in the dictionary ( the spell checker on the lap top helps a lot when doing the blog) each post on the blog takes around an hour to type up (some times more) i have been adding a lot of words to the spell checker like place names of where I have been

so if my blog or other typing has odd words used it maybe because i could not work how to spell the word that that I would of like to of used

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)

doc camp to doc camp by port under wood road 35 km

doc camp to doc camp by port under wood road  35 km

a short day in km but a long day in hills - after packing up camp I start riding up the first hill of the day with the road tar seal to the next bay then the road is gravel (hard back dirt with lot of wash board +a very bumpy ride with some parts of the road muddy from the rain a few day ago so the wheel slid road a bit as i ride up the hills)the road climbs up then drops into the next only to climb back up and over. some where along the way one of my drink bottlers is lost (would of came out its cage with all the bumps) In a few of the bay there is a bit of tar seal for about a km of two then its back to gravel . riding into the last bay the tar seal starts and keeps going. the climb out of the bay is a long hot one as it climbs up to a saddle? high over the bays finally getting to the top i get some photos before heading down the other side (a steep 5 km down with lots of tight bends) at the botten back at sea level theres a doc camp where i set up camp and dry out some of my gear and cook some food before getting into my tent to keep out the sand fly s. 

peddlers rest to doc camp 80 km

peddlers rest to doc camp 80 km

after saying good bye to the people at pr I ride back the 1 1/2 km to S.H.1 where the hill start away and keep going with just a few rolling hills and the odd flat bit between the larger hills passing by some small towns stoping to look at the old road/rail bridge (the rail is on the top level with the road under on a lower level - there is a new road bridge to replace the old one lane part of the road bridge - the rail still is on top of the old bridge) after getting to the top of the last big hill of the day I get some photos before enjoying the nice long down hill into blenneim as it is getting dark I put my lights on after getting some food back on the road I ride along until I get to the town of spring creek where I desidet to go to picton by the port under wood road so after a bit of hit and miss map work i find the right road where after riding along for some time I get to a doc camping ground where i set up camp for the night

im still here

im still here just been a little busy with life to get much typing done on the laptop -I am slowly typing up about a week of blog posts and going though photos and should have them up some time this week or next weeks

some where to pedals rest 137 km

some where to pedals rest  137 km

a long day on the bike with an early start and a late finish(after dark) leaving the place where I stayed last night I ride by a few small towns before starting up the first of the many hill of the day. getting over the first big hill theres a down hill then these a few small rolling hills before the big hill of the day where after a quit stop at the top I have a fun down hill ride back down to sea level where I ride a long the coast until I get to the town of kaikoura passing 2 one lane tunnels along the way .after a look around town i get some food then get back on the road until i spot some seals so after getting a few photos I ride to i get to a walkway to a waterfall where there is some seals playing in the stream then its back on the road only stoping for photos and to but my bike  light on as its get dark riding until i get to the tune off to pedals rest where i'm spending the night. after setting up my camp i have a chat a lady (who is also on a bike tour) for a few hours before going to bed for the night