quite silly!

sifter wrote:

Joel wrote: LOL thats just silly

Yes, but HOW silly?

On a nice fine day with stops for coffee/refreshment - just silly.

On a cold wintry day at race pace - men in white coats will be waiting for you!!

I would be really interested to hear your plans for training and completing the event if you feel like sharing??

give it's sifter his plans will revolve around primarly riding lots

sifter wrote: It seems I've committed myself to starting a race at 1:30am a bit later this year...

Sifter, I did the enduro last year. Good times, though I was totally shagged for a good week and a half afterwards. Way more relaxed than the solo event. I am considering doing it again this year.

I had plenty of unanswered questions going into the event, no doubt you have plenty. Though with Simon you are probably pretty well sorted. Needless to say I am happy to share my experiences.

Joel wrote: LOL thats just silly


a good training loop for enduro on the road would be; City->paikak->waikane etc->akas->upperhutt->rimu's->martinborough->rimu's->city.

and would take 6-7 hours i reckon.

Yep... that'd be a good day's outing. Can always throw in a loop around Lake Wairarapa on the way to Martinborough or go through Martinborough and head to Gladstone and up Admirals Hill before turning around and heading home too.

130km tomorrow. Leaving Thorndon Quay at 8am. Looking forward to it!

What a glorious day out there! I left home about 7:30, rode to Simon's place, sifted there for about 10 minutes, then rode down to Thorndon Quay. No sign of a bunch, so we set off alone, north along the Hutt Rd. We peeled off somewhere around Belmont, and took a quieter road, parallel with SH2 until the bottom of the Haywards. At that point, Si suggested Moonshine, so we rode up the Haywards, and reappeared on SH2 about 50 minutes later. Then out to Te Marua, south through Whiteman's Valley and down Blue Mountains. We had a lovely tail-wind back down SH2 into town, at which point we clocked up 105km, and Simon shot home for lunch. I foolishly kept going, with no pressing engagements planned for the afternoon. I had a nice ride around Oriental Bay with a rider we picked up just after Petone and who's running a marathon next weekend in Dunedin (good luck!). She peeled off at Kilbirnie Park, and I continued. I started to lose interest by the time I had got to Lyall Bay, and my feet really started to hurt. I persevered though, reaching Epic Cafe on Willis St just after 1pm. Rod, the great man that he is, shouted me a coffee! The pancakes, bacon and banana slid down very nicely 5 hours riding - I think that'll do for today...

Nice work Sifter.

Hope you guys didn't find the refreshing breeze heading out the valley as nasty to deal with as I did

It's always a great ride over moonshine out to whitemans valley - but you should try moonshine the other way next time - to warm up the legs...

good old moonshine reverse........ absolute bitch of a climb, best saved for when your climbing legs are feeling good!

Joel wrote: good old moonshine reverse........ absolute bitch of a climb, best saved for when your climbing legs are feeling good!

Cheers noodles and Joel. I'm really looking forward to trying that Moonshine climb. Going down it put the shits up me though - the road was still plenty wet...

Got an absolutely classic txt from Oli while I was at the cafe:

Oli wrote:Nice little warm-up. Where will u ride?

LOL! Legs feel OK today... No biking for me though, unless Katy and I decide to ride into the Lazy Fern diggings...

i'm looking forward to a ride with you guys once the bike turns up middle of the month

dhroadie wrote: i'm looking forward to a ride with you guys once the bike turns up middle of the month

Sounds awesome bro! Simon and I had a nice ride out and back to J'Ville this morning. Akas loop is planned for Saturday morning

7:30am departure from Northland tomorrow. Picking up benw from the bottom of the Haywards just before 8:30 probably. The over the Akas to Waikanae, SH1, Paekak hill, Haywards, and then I might be on my own back into town. My cell's 021921531 if anyone wants to join us.

Had a mixed ride today. After a long pull at the front from Kaiwharawhara, I became a little inattentive with my hand signals, and Simon rode straight over a pot hole at Normandale puncturing both tyres. We only had one spare tube between us, and so it took a "little while" to get going again [anyone got any good tips for patching snakebites on those narrow tubes?] In the meantime, benw had driven to Dry Creek and rode 14km up and down the side road there waiting for us!!!!

Once we hooked up with Ben, all was well until around Karapoti Park, where Simon's eggbeater pedal flew off its axle. He decided he could continue, but the pace slackened off a bit. He did a bloody good job nursing his bike around the rest of the loop. My guess is his knee will be a bit sore tomorrow We all had different pedal systems so there was no opportunity to share the burden at all...

After a quick feed in Waikanae, we hurtled down SH1 with the wind behind us. There was a heinous section of rough chip that threatened to suck the life blood from us, but Paraparaumu to Paekakariki at mid-40s was pretty sweet. The hill climb was as lovely as ever, though the steeper section near the top had me struggling a little.

Back over the Haywards, I said goodbye to Simon and Ben, who both jumped in Ben's car, Simon clocking up 120km by riding south for a few kms. I kept going, making a beeline for Epic cafe. This week I treated myself to a large latte, a feijoa and apple phoenix, and a plate of pancakes with double banana and bacon

Then a detour to Berhampore to check in on my wonderful sponsor, Oli at Roadworks. He asked me to clean the bike, and take it back to him so he could give it a proper clean... How embarrassing!

Then down the road to see Mike and Linn, and they drove me home. Mike showed some interest in my hard drive DVD recorder, and we all enjoyed watching Julz' awesome Stage 4, TdF leadout!!!! Allez Julz.

My speedo reads 149.77km. I didn't feel the need to do a 100m lap up and down the road

Next week, Day Night Thriller, and the week after that's the last round of the Wellington MTBO series. Simon reckons we should ride out to it... Wellington to Maungakotukutuku Valley on my new MTB? Could be a goer...

[edit: song de jour was Queen's Killer Queen. Problem is, I only know some of the words... I don't know how many hundreds of times 30 seconds worth of this song went through my head today...]