cooper770 wrote:

happybaboon wrote:I doubled back around to the Col du Paihiatua Track on the other side of the river. I like that climb better than Saddle Rd.

got you, have to say I always enjoy the run up the Fitzherbert East Road.....

Well the other day it sucked on account of how it was hella windy. Probably rode along there at about 20-22km/hr due to the wind. Suck!

Today was similar, stupid hard winds out there. All that air blown up in there gave me a super runny snoz which is still itchy and drippy now.

happybaboon wrote:

cooper770 wrote:

happybaboon wrote:I doubled back around to the Col du Paihiatua Track on the other side of the river. I like that climb better than Saddle Rd.

got you, have to say I always enjoy the run up the Fitzherbert East Road.....

Well the other day it sucked on account of how it was hella windy. Probably rode along there at about 20-22km/hr due to the wind. Suck!

Today was similar, stupid hard winds out there. All that air blown up in there gave me a super runny snoz which is still itchy and drippy now.

well at last you ventured out today.....Im stuck at home nursing a very sore and swollen hip Might be lucky to get on my bike by the weekend. had a steroid shot yesterday arvo to try and fix the tear which I aggravated by riding an unfitted spin bike.

I got out to Eastbourne at an okay clip, only to find once I turned around into the NWer at Pencarrow that that was pretty much all I had - the ride home was something of a grovel.

Grouse to be out on a nice sunny Welli day though.

Waveback index a surprisingly high 95% today.

Oli wrote:Waveback index a surprisingly high 95% today.

And

who was the 5% ?

Some reet with about an Americas Cup boat sails worth of flapping reflective gear - I should have known not to wave at silly looking fools in the first place.

i try to overcome my better judgement and nod at those in reflective gear.... it hurts my soul though

Mr. Spinnaker probably didn't wave for fear of heading off on some sort of spontaneous tack when he moved his hand off the bars. *flap flap flap flap*

He did look like he was wrestling with his bars as it was...

happybaboon wrote:All that air blown up in there gave me a super runny snoz which is still itchy and drippy now.

OK so actually I just gots a cold

I'll hammer it with drugs and pretend it's not there. I have discovered that oxymetazoline spray + nurofen plus squooshes a cold almost as well as pseudoephedrine and panadol.

Into town in some loathsome weather. Mt Vic, Duncan Terrace, Hungerford Road, Houghton Bay Road, Britomart-Farnham, Radar Dome and a lap of Durnham St to finish off. Work might seem quite long today.

Nice work! You watch your fu-fu valve (and knees) on Hungerford....

way_downsouth wrote:Into town in some loathsome weather. Mt Vic, Duncan Terrace, Hungerford Road, Houghton Bay Road, Britomart-Farnham, Radar Dome and a lap of Durnham St to finish off. Work might seem quite long today.

Theres some nice climbs in there I wasnt aware of , excellent..will have to try a few of those out

ThingOne wrote:

way_downsouth wrote:Into town in some loathsome weather. Mt Vic, Duncan Terrace, Hungerford Road, Houghton Bay Road, Britomart-Farnham, Radar Dome and a lap of Durnham St to finish off. Work might seem quite long today.

Theres some nice climbs in there I wasnt aware of , excellent..will have to try a few of those out

It's a good loop with pretty constant climbing, which is nice.

Plan for tomorrow - find out how many times I can get from Aro to the Dome in 2 hours.

/over myself



I got out for a great ride yesterday. I haven't been riding much since the first PNP XC race, mainly due to study commitments and the weather being shithouse, so it was great to have a) a few hours free and b) some sunshine. I've also changed a couple of fairly major aspects of my bike setup/position, so slowly adjusting to that over the past couple of weeks... sheesh!

Headed out along SH2, with a gentle southerly on my shoulder. The forecast was for northerlies to pick up later in the afternoon, which would work out nicely! A made decent progress along SH2, and turned off at Haywards Hill. As I crested, I was rudely confronted by a headwind. WTF is this? Where is my southerly? Even on one of the extended downhills, I was pedalling to maintain 45kmh... poose. As I was passing through Pauatahanui a horse float eased past me, which was just too inviting! I jumped on, and was happy to hitch a ride at 60 - 65kmh, rather than battling the blustery headwind at 30 - 35! Lazy! He turned off at Battle Hill, so I moseyed up the valley on my lonesome, enjoying the sun. From there it was an uneventful ride along the flats through Pram to Waikanae.

Finally, once I'd turned off SH1 I had a tailwind. The rollers before the Akas climb can feel really tough sometimes, but not so much yesterday. I'd been fairly keen to resist the urge to push any sort of big gears for the ride, so climbed most of the Akas in 39/23 and 39/21 - still sitting at about 19 - 20kmh, but without taxing the legs as much. It's such a nice climb - if I lived closer to it I'm sure I'd manage to work it into a daily commute, or just go and do repeats for the hell of it! Anywho, I cruised down the other side, weary of slips after seeing some news footage of a cyclist traversing a pile of rubble in the middle of the road! Thankfully the road was clear the whole way down, and also fairly dry. Kept decent pace through the following rollers with the tailwind, before being hit with the mother of all crosswinds between Brown Owl and Moonshine. I've ridden this section in the past on empty, expecting a helping hand from the wind, only to be nailed by swirly cross/head winds... today I fully expected it, so didn't really mind too much. Once I got to Moonshine, the wind came round, and the pace went up. I thought it would be nice to finish the ride strongly, rather than grovelling home. The 5km splits I was getting from my little computer were good motivators, and I managed to average a little over 40 for the 40-odd km from Moonshine back to Welly.

Great to get out, and from the feeling in my cheeks (on my face) I may have even caught a little UV! Crikey!