FLATULENTFRIEND wrote:When I get back from a ride my wife always asks me “Did you see any other riders ”

I’ve ridden everyday since the 25th and Boxing Day was the only day I’d seen any other road riders.
That is apart from our group ride on Saturday when there was 1 other guy for me to ride with.

Ok, it’s been windy and there’s bee rain most days but it’s sad to see no other
riders out

I did the Akas loop yesterday as well and only saw a couple of other riders. But I did see a shiteload of cars with bikes on the back.

60 k's on the flat today. That was something different. On the way back I saw LOTS of other riders off out all over the place. Most on recreational type bikes, but still great to see so many people out.
I tad disturbing to see one pair who were, admittedly totally legally, riding side by side but were struggling to stay on the left hand side of the road and had already held up one car prior to me catching them. I guess they were just out for a general chit chat doing about 20kph (I may be exaggerating that speed) and think they got a shock when I passed them doing just short of 40. I did at least say good morning on the way past.
Legs were toasted after the ride, but I still managed to follow it a few hours later with a 1km swim.
I guess I've earned the fish n chips we're apparently having for dinner.

nzmatto wrote:60 k's on the flat today. That was something different. On the way back I saw LOTS of other riders off out all over the place. Most on recreational type bikes, but still great to see so many people out.
I tad disturbing to see one pair who were, admittedly totally legally, riding side by side but were struggling to stay on the left hand side of the road and had already held up one car prior to me catching them. I guess they were just out for a general chit chat doing about 20kph (I may be exaggerating that speed) and think they got a shock when I passed them doing just short of 40. I did at least say good morning on the way past.
Legs were toasted after the ride, but I still managed to follow it a few hours later with a 1km swim.
I guess I've earned the fish n chips we're apparently having for dinner.

Tomato sauce is full of Lycopenes which are good for you
(you didn't think to tell the couple that they're riding dangerously?)

Good solid block of training for me lately which is finally paying dividends. Did a solo 40km low cadence (<70rpm) flat-ish loop with an avg speed just topping 35kph. Still 5kg to lose to get back to race weight, but some evening racing coming up soon should burn that off with the decent base I have now. To do this today after smashing myself yesterday in the hills shows that the recovery is good too.

Will be interesting to see whether this base translates into good racing legs next week. I might be lacking some speed but the diesel engine is running efficiently at the moment. Hoping to convert the diesel into 96 octane soon!

Big one today.
Paraparas up to Raetihi, over to Waiouru, down SH1 for a bit then backroads home to Palmy.

352km, 5am to 10pm.
Report later....
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138800725

znomit wrote:Big one today.
Paraparas up to Raetihi, over to Waiouru, down SH1 for a bit then backroads home to Palmy.

352km, 5am to 10pm.
Report later....
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138800725

Epic . . . but you missed some of the North Island! Nice work. Give that man a Tui!

znomit wrote:Big one today.
Paraparas up to Raetihi, over to Waiouru, down SH1 for a bit then backroads home to Palmy.

352km, 5am to 10pm.
Report later....
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138800725

That is epic! Good job.

EoinC wrote:

znomit wrote:Big one today.
Paraparas up to Raetihi, over to Waiouru, down SH1 for a bit then backroads home to Palmy.

352km, 5am to 10pm.
Report later....
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138800725

That is epic! Good job.

Tru dat! Nice one!

Ohakune loop.

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/138800725

Was planning this for the longest day but couldn't get off work.

Up at 4:30 after a restless sleep, out the door just after 5.
Nice run over to Whanganui. Trying to find a good endurance pace I kept the HR between 150-160 and cadence around 90. Shed my warm clothes in the first hour, stopped a couple of times for water and had a bag of nuts and a muesli bar for morning tea.
Took the backroad through Fordell to avoid the narrow highway/trucks, but got lost coming into Whanganui so missed my shortcut. Weather was pretty good, very light southerly and just a few spits of rain.

Nice ride up the river and stopped for more water just after the first hill at 110km. Mixed up some perpetuem too. Feeling pretty good at this stage. Was a hard climb up to Raetihi from here, a few steep hills and temperatures near 30. Turning towards Ohakune I had the wind at my back and enjoyed the climb, thoughts settled on a nice ham and cheese sandwich.


Arrived at the BP in Ohakune (175km, halfway!) a little later than expected. Disappointed to find it devoid of any fresh food so just grabbed a bag of chips and a couple of drinks. Tummy was starting to feel a little uncomfortable which often happens around 6-7hrs. Couldn't taste the salt on the chips but they helped to clear the sunscreen taste out of my mouth. I really really really should have found a little cafe and eaten something more substantial here.

On to Waiouru at a good pace and then down the hill to Taihape. A headwind sprung up coming into Taihape but didn't hang around long. Had a muesli bar for afternoon tea. Was feeling more than a little queasy now and I had a quick look at the food cabinet at the BP and had to look away or I would have lost my lunch! Grabbed a small bag of lollies and a Mizone and headed over the huge hill (bigger with a tinge of cramp) to Mangaweka (250km) where I had a lazy 15min stop for a coffee and recharged the GPS. They make awesome toasted sandwiches here but couldn't face anything solid

Off again down the highway. Knees started playing up right away, front of left knee and back of rt knee... 100km to go still. Eased the pace off and they seemed to come right. Plodded on and was happy to reach the turnoff at Ohingaiti. This is a nice 15km backroad climb up to Rangiwahia but was a real slog today, seemed to go on forever. Finally got onto the highway and then endured the rolling hills through to Kimboulton (are we there yet... maybe just one more little hill). Stopped at the top and put on my warm gear again then headed down the hill towards home. I stopped a few more times for water at schools (couldn't fit my bottle under the fountain at the first one) and my tummy was bad enough that even water wasn't agreeing with it. Had a couple of lollies for dinner and struggled through the last 15km home.

Spirits perked up when I rolled into town and after a nice cup of soup a was ready for a beer. Epic Pale ale.

Great ride Znomit

I thought I’d do some hill repeats on SS today. I rode up a local road that I’d been thinking about riding for years.
Got to the top, bugger this, I’m not doing that again….rode home

Thanks for writing it up. It's inspiring

Wow 350kms, 3700m, respect znomit.

A nice sifty hour and half around the back roads of north canterbury, there are a surprising number of ones that actually aren't straight if you go looking a bit. Lovely afternoon for a ride.

Having a nice taper week . . . (car) rolling up to the Mount Friday to ride in the Half Ironman Saturday . . . .90 km on the TT bike. Got to love it.

Great ride Znomit; great ride report! I can see three very pleasant rides being fitted into that ride, but all on very different days rather than in one 352 km shot! Well done. It looks as though your training is coming along nicely. Roll on the Grapevine Ultimate!

My own effort today was a 200 km, 8.5 hour ride doing all the beaches from Paraparaumu to Foxton, then straight down SH1 back home. It was meant to be a steady-pace ride, but the wind ruined that plan. I did the same ride last Wednesday, and also fitted a 150 km ride on Sunday (Paraparaumu-Paekak Hill-Moonshine Rd-Akatarawas and back again). It's all proving a bit too much for the old body, so I've got a lot more work in store to get ready for Marlborough. On the other hand, someone has to make everyone else look extra good