Chch - Ashburton via Rakaia Gorge. Left at 6am. No traffic at all along Bealy Rd to Hororata Hit major NW headwind up into Windwhistle (so THAT'S why they named it that ). Nice dive down into the Rakaia Gorge and a little climb out. Legs spinning pretty fast going through Methven. Stopped pedalling doing 55kmh and watched the speedo stay there for several k's. Very slow and ordinary coffee and muffin in Methven Not half as good as Jo Seagers cafe in Oxford, and the barista wasn't as friendly. Arrived at Lake Hood at 11:30 just in time to see my daughter's coxed 4 race (she got 2nd)

150km.
Av speed 30kmh.
4 bottles, 2 bananas and a muffin.
Dead roadkill counted: 2 possums, 3 magpies , assorted small birds, and a big road gator (=peeled truck retread).

Mr_Jolly wrote:Went out yesterday to try a new course, from Petone, up Wallaceville to Te Marua back up Wallaceville then to Blue Mtns and home. Started off poorly when I find my front tyre flat before I even leave home. Change the tyre and set off. All good till about Stokes Valley when the front goes squishy again. Get off to cheange it...no tyre levers!!!, So find the glass shard, dig it out and pump up the tyre and see how far I get. After two more stops and 'refills' I make it to BikeHutt, who very kindly lend me a tyre lever and floor pump to make the change. All sorted and just ready to start, and I get a text to say my wee man was not feeling well and "when will you be home?", So a blat down SH2 it was home. Oh and half way home the from deraileur decided not to drop into the small ring...Not what I had planned but great weather..

A little tip for you, take out your Quick release levels and use them for tyre levers..

rochie wrote:Very slow and ordinary coffee and muffin in Methven Not half as good as Jo Seagers cafe in Oxford, and the barista wasn't as friendly.

Let me guess the quaint little place on the right with a couple of tables out front as you enter from the Northern side, was there last weekend supporting the wife in the GOB event, the race damn near finished before the coffee came ........

Rode 'round the block' the Kapiti challenge route yesterday. Solo'd it seven mins slower than I did it in the race last year (and no I didn't have the speedy wheels on). Looking forward to the 21st...

dhroadie wrote:Rode 'round the block' the Kapiti challenge route yesterday. Solo'd it seven mins slower than I did it in the race last year (and no I didn't have the speedy wheels on). Looking forward to the 21st...

in it FTW then?

i must enter and sort out the race pass.

Joel wrote:

dhroadie wrote:Rode 'round the block' the Kapiti challenge route yesterday. Solo'd it seven mins slower than I did it in the race last year (and no I didn't have the speedy wheels on). Looking forward to the 21st...

in it FTW then?

i must enter and sort out the race pass.

Let's see what happens on the day

Reminds me to sort my entry as well

I rode with the Kelston bunch tonight.

Thankfully the traffic was fine even though we’re going into NZs biggest city at rush hour.
The three(five riders in total) of us who did laps made a good job of them – even though it’s supposed to be a ‘recovery’ ride there is still plenty of speed at times.

It was windy on Tamaki so a bit of a drag getting out there but coming back with the wind from the right flank we were speeding along.
A guy who we’d passed earlier passed us. We he was about 30 metres ahead I suddenly though “I’m going after him” and so I did, passing him at 46kph and then waiting for the bunch to catch me – which didn’t take long as their speed had picked up too.

The rest of Tamaki was done at 44 – 46kph.

We had a few other ‘rise’ sprints (all seated of course…) heading back along New North Road.

We were raced by a young guy on a Hybrid bike. Even the fact that he went through a red light and had no helmet didn’t help stop him being overtaken by us.
63.7kms

Rode to Akaroa on Sat evening, leaving home around 4:30. Headed up Dyers and along Summit Rd then down Bastard and Gebbies. Nice tail wind for a while, then a cross wind, finally becoming a hell head wind all the way into Little River and on up to the Hill Top. 85km avg 27km/hr

Got kicked outa bed on Sunday by Civil Defence at about 7:00am. The "Tsunami" stopped my wifes diving trip so we decide to pack up and head for home. I left on the bike at about 10:30 and saw hundreds of people parked around the hills waiting for the big one ! Took an easy ride home, once again into a head wind from the nor-west. Got home with a rather sore butt, might have to upgrade the shorts to something better

I rode up Shaw Road (some shelter from the wind) and on to Scenic Drive (the Waitakeres), up, over and down to Te Henga, Bethels Rd, Waitakere (speeding along there with a tailwind) up to Taupaki, Kumeu (stopped at mechanic’s to borrow some RTV and a tool…which he didn’t have), down to Old North Road and then the slog into the wind up to Massey, Coulter etc and home.
Nice to see 4 other roadies out too
66kms.

*I’m nearly at my goal weight too – I’m aiming for 68kgs (ok, I’d really like to be at 66 but not realistic) and after my ride I was 69.6kgs

Rode over to the shops to buy my son some poweraid as he had the spews last night. Rode pretty hard to Govnors for a new PB from my house. Straight onto a 12:50 up Dyers. Bought said drink turned around came home. Dyers Colombo to SOK managed 16:53 (5:10 split to the cup. 7:50 to SOT) into a headwind with fatigued legs. But don't know what was going on with the wind as it was a headwind up Teddington straight biking into town, so I expecting a nice tailwind up to the SOK on the way home. But instead got a bloody headwind.

Nice warm night to go for a bike ride though

Nice cruisey ride with my Wife around short bays this morning, not too hot and pleasant conditions for a coffee at Mudfish on the way home

I rode with the shop group again but on my 904 as my SS needed work.
They split us into faster long group and slower long group.
Funny that at the top of the first climb there was myself and two other guys all on Merida bikes a long way clear of the rest We should have done an add for Merida
The pace stepped up today and by our stop at the top of Annandale climb my average was 28.9kph.
I went off to collect something (up a friend’s VERY steep, concrete drive – bottom gear with chest heaving… ) and left the group to ride back.
I managed to catch the slower group later and ride with a couple of them until we stopped to help a woman whose rear spoke had broken.
I pulled it out of the wheel, reset the brakes etc = nice to help
I then rode home down Crow’s, Swanson etc home.
61kms

Went around the block - Akas loop from paraparaumu. PB on the Paekak hill climb, was feeling good out there. Came to Haywards which is the part of the ride that I just don't like, only to face the hill with a headwind and rain. Slow careful descent. Heading up SH2 there were lots of cars passing with MTB's on the back heading to Karapoti. More ominous clouds were on the way...

A little more dampening down up to brown owl corner, including being passed by a mate who yelled a gidday. then around the corner I got to see this:

Then it was off past Karapoti where the traffic was just a mess!!! Lots of cars, lots of people, and lots of these funny bikes with suspension and wide tires.....Not far up the road I came to Jock Aitkens falls, and had always intended to stop and take a pic one day, and today was that day....it kind of sucked, but the waterfall is actually really pretty if you ever feel like stopping.

Then it was off the the final climb to the top of the Aka's. It was an eventless ride, but once over the top I got a pleasant surprise...near the top on the way down the Waikanae side there has always been about 1km of pretty rough road. This has now all been resealed with hotmix tar and at the moment it is all perfect, flat and smooth. Should make for some quick descents on the Kapiti Cycle Challenge on 21st. If you haven't signed up yet....then get on with it. (www.kapiticyclechallenge.co.nz)

Got home having done 100km in 4 hours, had drunk less than 1 bottle, and had only take 1 bite of a bar. It suddenly hit me, kind of like bonking badly only after stopping riding and it's taken about an hour or so, and about a litre of drink to come right.

What a day !!!
Our Sat bunch ride was a full LeRace run to Akaroa, with everyone doing an individual sprint from town to bottom of Gebbies and then re-grouping for a full bunch to Little River, then again doing your own pace to the finish.

But on the decent down the bastard one of our group had a horrible crash on the middle cattle-stop, resulting in a complete KO, with the helmet destroyed after nasty head impact After what seemed ages he came round but was not well. Pretty scary moment for all of us seeing an unmoving friend in the middle of the road. The Ambo staff on the end of 111 got us the chopper which was awesome and our patient was air lifted to hospital.

We decided to finish what was started and regrouped at Little River for the final assault. Let the legs loose up the HillTop and mashed my round to the finish in under 1:30 from Little River. At hm now and the legs are stuffed, God knows how I'm gonna get up tomorrow and do the Dyers TT. Got a txt and the patient is now home but pretty sore.

Oh and the driver back from Akaroa... 6 of us and our bikes on the roof of a ..... Hummer, quite poetic I though after all the news regarding bikes and hummers !!

Rode the Le Race course from Little River to Akaroa for the first time. Climb to Hilltop not too bad. A bit depressing to see Akaroa just down over there (points) and the road you're taking going wayyyy up there (points in the opposite direction). Endless hills. Decided I can cope with 10-11% gradients OK, but 13-15's are not good. Then there's Long Bay Rd, definitely sphincter puckering. Don't want to be around anyone on that downhill. I read on my computer (before it lost the data) that there was 1100m of climbing. Think it took me 1h48. Was cool on the tops there, so knees were a bit sore. Might be knee warmers for Race Day. Stopped at the Little Akaloa to put armies on and eat a Banana. Couldn't bring myself to do a "sifter" and eat the bit that fell off and landed on some cow poo though.