2 times as fun

Yeah right!

Some of you will be aware that Stu and I took on the crazy challenge of doing the Round Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, not just one, but twice. Known as the Enduro, it involves 2 laps of the 160km course.

Work, children (Stu's, not mine!), and laziness conspired to leave us typically under prepared for such an undertaking. Though it is difficult to know how much training you do need for such an event. Plenty of time on the saddle of course, though too much training and you would only leave your legs tired for the big day. Both of us only managed one ride over 200km, and were at best riding three times a week. So maybe on a bright note, our legs were well rested. And who really wants to go for training rides in the middle of the night anyway?

Not that we could avoid it for the ride though. A 1.30am start makes for difficult preparation. Was good to receive the text's of good luck, though not so much the ones sent after 8pm! I'm starting at 1.30am people, what do you think I'm trying to do....

Alarm went off at 12.30am, after a wonderful 45 minutes sleep (that's sarcasm by the way). Bit of a surreal feeling really, trying to take down some 'breakfast') is it still breakfast at that time and think that you've got a big ride ahead of you. JT and Steve got up to see us off (well, JT didn't have a choice seeing he was sleeping in the lounge), as Stu and I headed off in our layers and lights.

Down at the start line there were about 50 entrants or so. Some crazy guy was doing his 20th Enduro, and Colin Anderson, the doyen of the Taupo Cycle Challenge was there also (he's done 48 laps of the course in all, or something like that). Blissfully, we couldn't have asked for better conditions. There wasn't a cloud in the sky, plenty of stars, and very little wind. At the start, it was difficult to know what to do. Some guys took off, obviously going for a time, and I quickly learnt that there was no point trying to look behind to try and see where Stuey was, as you were just blinded by the lights.

Stu and I quickly found ourselves in a good group (which was of much relief), maybe of about 25 riders, which pretty much stayed together for the first 100kms of the first lap. It set a good pace as well, and certainly helped the night to pass quickly. The first 20kms is pretty much a steady climb, and this quickly got the body temp up. In fact, Stu and I thought at one stage that we had perhaps over dressed. However, once we got around the back of the Lake and down into a few misty vales, the cold really started bite. Especially on the downhills, when I really rued forgetting my long-fingered bike gloves as my fingers turned to popsicles.

I did have a small problem when one of my rangi lights started to come off my handlebars. Wasn't an issue though, as I hardly needed my lights anyway. Some of the riders seemed to have attached car lamps to their bikes they were giving off so much light. So Stu and I chatted away and spent quite a bit of time at the front of the group. The only difficult thing to contend with was trying to eat every now and then - a sports gel isn't that appetising for your stomach at 3am.

The split in the group finally came down the hill towards Turangi with about 50kms to go. Stu and I found ourselves going off the front with five other riders. For some unknown reason the seven of us decided that we were going to push hard (four of us really, we did the work as the other three sat behind and took the benefit). For the next 30kms to Hatepe Hill we would have averaged 35kph - maybe it was a wave of delusion at the sight of sunlight? Arriving at Hatepe we were buggered - and we only had ourselves to blame. It was a pretty slow crawl up there, and Stu and I both felt rubbish for the last 20km down into Taupo - not how you want to feel knowing you have to do it all again.

Though going past lots of riders in Taupo as they headed to the start line peaked the spirits, especially their reactions when you explained to them that you had already done one lap. We were both very much looking forward to a bit down and a change of clothes though. The lap clocked in at 5hrs37mins - around half an hour faster than I thought we would do it in. Back at the unit, we faffed about a bit. We both had a feed and Stu had a shower (I decided to give that a skip as thought it might throw out the body temperature a bit). The couch got a little comfortable for a while there, so we didn't finally get out again until after around an hour.

The downside of all that faffing though was that we missed meeting up with Anna at the start line. That meant we had to chase her down for the first 20kms. Not what the legs had wanted. And probably not want the riders at the back of the field want, seeing yellow-capped Enduro riders going past them. It was much to our relief when we finally did catch up with Anna. We then settled down into a comfortable pace and tried to enjoy the second - much warmer and sunnier - lap.

And it was enjoyable. Stu and I both could have gone faster - but we would have felt pretty average to have done so. We often found ourselves riding at the front of a group and a comfortable pace, ensuring Anna was getting a good draft. Admittedly, towards the end of the second lap the backside was getting pretty tired - but it had spent 12 hours on the saddle by then, so it is fair enough.

The final near mishap came just before Hatepe Hill. I had noticed since Turangi that my back wheel seemed to be sliding around a bit. It got worse and worse as I approached Hatepe, but I wanted to ignore it as the only thing I could think it might be was a slow flat, and replacing a tube was the last thing I felt like doing (it was sticking hot by now). But I eventually had to stop and told Anna and Stu to go ahead and I would catch up. Sure enough, the back tyre was pretty flat by now. But with 25km to go, I decided to just try and pump it up and hope that it was just a slow leak. Jumped back on and chased Anna up Hatepe Hill. I felt surprisingly good (the flat coke was kicking in now), and I must have passed hundreds of riders up the hill (they must have been thinking "what the....!"). Meet up with Stu and Anna at the top of Hatepe and happened to see someone with a floor pump. Hooked it up to my back tyre and it was only inflated to 40psi! Managed to pump it up a bit more, but no more than 60 psi, and decided to hope for the best.

And it all worked out. We enjoyed the final 20km down into Taupo (apart from some little kid who kept on trying to take us out), by now all three of us were high on flat coke, so we probably felt the best we had all day. We crossed the line together, Stu and I clocking up 13hrs19mins - though with only around 12hrs of actual riding.

And Anna - she clocked in at 6hrs36mins, an awesome time for her - I had been thinking around 7hrs. She didn't enjoy the first half - but then no one does the first time, those hills just keep on rolling - but by the end she was wanting to come back. Brad also did awesome for his first time around, at5hrs15mins. And looks like we have a few more interested for next year - with Sharon and JT on the look out for road bikes.

And will I be doing the Enduro again? Well, definitely not next year. I actually enjoyed the ride, though I wouldn't half done so half as much without Stu's company the whole way. It is the training that is tough. So will be pack to the single lap next year, train with Anna to get her under 6hrs, and maybe look to go under 5hrs myself for the first time. At the very least I'll be looking forward to getting up at reasonable times for training rides.

Paparazzo Posso

You might remember our trip to Motuihe Island back in June. Not long after that trip, I saw that the Motuihe Trust was running a Photo Competition and I entered a few of the photos I took from that day. Well, it turns out that this photo of ours won the Landscape category. And it was only taken with our small Canon digital.

Apparently we have won a Ricoh digital camera - a funny prize considering we obviously already have a digital camera. But pretty cool to know that a photo I took was selected.

U17 Women's Football

On Saturday I took the opportunity to attend a game of one the more significant sporting tournaments to be held in NZ...the inaugural U17 Women's Football World Cup. And well worth it was.

The NZ girls were playing their second match against Denmark - after narrowly losing 1-0 to Canada in their opening match. And after having 13000 spectators turn up for that game, there was an incredible 12000 turn up for this second match. Amazing numbers when you consider that recent rugby matches haven't been able to pull anything near those numbers. And the girls didn't disappoint.

Considering these girls were under 17, the skill level was very impressive. They may have not had the speed or the weight on some of the shots and passes, but there was a lot of skill on the ball. But most of all, it was enjoyable watching athletes who were playing their game for the love of their sport. There was no theatrics, no show-ponies, no prima donna's. The game was free-flowing and competitive, not based upon constantly-changing and over-complicated rules.

Unfortunately the NZ girls lost the game 2-1, though they were very unlucky (as in their first game), not to tie it up in the frenetic final 10 minutes. The only disappointment was on the final whistle when - as after their first game - most of the NZ team broke down. It wasn't so much the tears that disappointed me - these girls are only 16 after all - but the lack of congratulating of the other team. But again, this probably just reflects the passion these girls had for their sport, something we don't usually see on our rugby fields these days.

So a very enjoyable afternoon of spectating - and I walked away think rugby could learn a lot from this tournament - both in terms of the quality of sport on the field, and also the treatment of the fans (a game played in the afternoon, and tickets only $10). For those of you who bothered to watch the - from all accounts - boring rugby test later that night, you should have switched your TVs on 6 hours earlier.