Journey to the Northern Isle – Part the Final

Getting towards the end of the trip and the forest was getting wetter and our legs were getting tireder. Despite this we decided to tackle Hot X Buns first thing in the morning. After a decent climb to get to the top, we, well mainly me, enjoyed the fantastic view from the top and then we were on the way down. Does the phase “bitten off more than you could chew” sound familiar? Yep, that was me. Managed to ride the first 3 decent drop offs, but after that it was basically a walk down for me. It was a bit frustrating after the climb up, but I had no traction and I knew I didn’t have the skills to go fast enough to get the flow the trail needed. I got to the bottom in one piece with very tired feet and a very muddy butt after sliding down a bit of the hill.

After that it took a wee while to get my flow back on Be Rude Not 2, but I did get it back and by the end of the flowing lovely trail I was grinning again. From there we decided to try the Pig Track, which was aptly named. Some challenging rutted out climbs and messy rutty track in between, with no forest to distract you from the pain of the pinch climbs. From there we headed into Soak Hole and after going round in circles for a while headed out of the forest and back to Zippy’s for lunch.
After a delicious lunch I felt a lot like a nana nap, but that wasn’t an option. Back into the forest via the bike track through the thermal areas and we headed up the forestry road to A Trail and then Tickler. Both fantastic tracks and even though I was feeling pretty tired it was so much fun. The climb out back to the house was not good. That night we headed down to Toni and Jeff’s and had drinks and talked bikes for hours, a fantastic end to the day. Plus Toni gave me a load of Total Betty clothes to try on. They are very flattering, but being a bit poor at the moment I couldn’t buy anything.
The next day we decided to try Gunna Gotta even though it had been bucketing down the night before. After an interesting hike-a-bike shortcut to the top we headed off. The track was very wet and slippy. I could see how much fun the track would be if it wasn’t so wet, but it was so wet and again I had to walk a number of bits. Hopefully on the next trip it won’t be wet and I can really enjoy the track. Then it was into town for a last coffee at Zippy’s for hubby, some lovely chocolate cake, again for hubby and a bit of lunch. We then called in to see Jeff at the Kiwibikes shop and Pete gave him the run down on his list of problems. Result, one bike still in Rotorua, in Jeff’s capable hands. Once back at the house the rest of the day was spent lazing and laughing at the crazy sheep and cute lambs.
Watching the sheep turned out to be very useful as one went into labour so we let Toni know. The next morning there was a lovely new orange baby lamb. Cool.
The last day consisted of a long sleep in and packing. In no time I had my bike dismantled and packed and then we were off home.
It was a fantastic holiday and my skills and fitness have both improved amazingly. Only a week and a bit to the Molesworth now and I’m feeling confident of finishing without dying.

Journey to the Northern Isle – Part the Three

The Big Day Out

The third day of our Rotorua adventure brought the largest exploration of the trails in the stunning forest. We began our day by discovering the hidden entrance to the forest near our abode, known to the locals by the mysterious name “Roosters”. Soon we were freewheeling down Red Tank Rd looking forward to the greatly anticipated Be Rude Not 2. The anticipation was well justified. Be Rude Not 2 is a fantastic flowing speedy swoopy trail. I loved it. A huge grin was plastered on my face by the end and the confidence that was rocked by the previous day’s tumble was returning. From Be Rude Not 2 we were straight into Mad If You Don’t and before we knew it we were out of the forest and heading down the road into the city to pick up a rental car.
Once we had our remuera tractor, yay free upgrades, we loaded up the bikes, parked up and headed to the Rotorua icon that is Zippy’s Cafe for a spot of second breakfast. Feeling sustained by the fine food and after chatting to the manager and sussing out an afternoon route through the forest we headed home to move the sheep (yep, you read that right, a bit of everything on our holiday).
I decided a nana nap was the order of the day upon returning home and awoke feeling greatly revitalised. This time we headed up the road and ended up riding back up Hill Rd and up Frontal Lobotomy (no incidents this time). After a brief sit down(by me) we continued up the road to the start of Billy T. I was feeling a bit apprehensive about this as I hadn’t ridden a grade 4 downhill track yet. Seats down slightly we headed off. In no time at all I was grinning like a Cheshire cat, swooping down corners and riding down drop offs. This was definitely harder than anything I’d ridden before but I rode the whole track clean and I felt fantastic at the end. From there we headed up Moerangi Rd to the start of Split Enz. Best Track Eva! I flew down here. It flows so sweetly and has the best bermed corners. From there it was onto Pondy DH and Pondy New. Both were fantastic. Then onto Rollercoaster. By now both hubby and I were feeling pretty knackered and while Rollercoaster was a nice track we were both not really into it. Especially when we came across a couple of big trees down that necessitated some bike passing over. A big thanks to the fast guy on the sweet Transition that helped me get my bike over. At the end of Rollercoaster we were both ready to head home and the climb out hurt.
It was by far my best day riding ever, over 40kms, over 400ms climbing and loads of technical single track. Fantastic. I was happily broken at the end.

A Lunar Experience
Day four and it was time to head down to Taupo to Craters of the Moon. Two words. Cruise control. It rocks. A quick drive down the road to Wairakei. On the first climb out from up from the Tunnel Track both of us realised we hadn’t recovered from the previous day’s exertions. The Crater’s of the Moon tracks were lovely and I enjoyed sailing around the lower ones, but I really wasn’t up to the big climbs to the outer tracks. After a couple of laps and some fun playing on the structures (I rode my first see-saw, yay!) we decided to play tourist and then get some lunch in Taupo. On the way home we called in at Wai-O-Tapu Thermal Wonderland and it was brilliant. The day ended with us watching the new born lambs discovering the structures, maybe they’ll be hucking off them soon.

Journey to the Northern Isle – Part the Two

Children – Always Wear Your Helmets

Firmly getting into the swing of vacationing I found that my slumber had extended past 8 of the morning, quite a rarity for me. Another cloudy morning with fine periods greeted my eyes upon waking. My body was feeling a little tired from the previous day’s exertions and this was confirmed with a few laps of the lawn and structures. My dear companion and myself surveyed the map of the forest and decided on a route for today’s explorations.
We started up the road and entered the forest onto Hill Rd, which turned out to be very aptly named, as it mainly consisted of a decent sized hill. My pedalling legs were not very impressed with this early assault, but fortunately they were not in charge and I slowly rode up the hill. Early on a young woman participating in a multi-sport event of some description zoomed past me, however it was with a degree of schadenfreude that I discovered her pushing her bike a couple of corners later. I wasn’t in a mood to be racing so took my small pleasure from riding the whole way up even though she beat me to the top. Once at the top my companion and I rested and contemplated our ascent up Frontal Lobotomy. I very much enjoyed this climb. The trail was quite wide and the grade good with the odd root and slippery section to keep me on my toes. Unfortunately pride comes before a fall as they say, and it wasn’t long till I had a good one. Heading up one steep, slippery section I chose the worst possible line which caused my wheels to spin and for me to tumble head first down a bank with my bike still attached to me. Luckily a tree stopped my tumble and I was left wedged at the base of a tree, feet in the air, looking at my bike which was resting in a large tree fern. I was very very grateful for my helmet which was the first part of me to contact the tree and without it things would have been very bad. That’s why we wear them though and I was actually completely fine. Not a single part of me hurt and my only problem was that I couldn’t unclip my foot and was slightly trapped. After a few minutes yelling it was evident that I needed to extract myself from this dilemma and fortunately my recent yoga practise assisted me in this matter as I contorted myself to remove my foot from the pedal and extricated myself from beneath the bike. Once up the bank my next problem was getting my bike back. This took quite a bit of consideration. Finally I headed down the bank and managed to wrest my trusty stead free from the native growth.
Unhurt as I was, my confidence had taken quite a battering and I was very much feeling afraid of mud for quite some time after my tumble. I came across my lovely husband not long after continuing up hill and we made it to the top. The bike got a decent once over and everything was still working well so we headed down Huckleberry Hound. The map describes this as 45 small to medium jumps, hmmmm. This didn’t start well for me as I ever so slightly freaked out near the start and almost turned back. However I couldn’t bear the thought of riding all the way up the hill and not riding this track so I walked down a couple of slippy corners and continued on. The further along the track I got, the more confident I felt and by the end of it I actually managed a couple of hucks. I very much want to head back and give this another go when my head is in a better place.
We decided my head wasn’t in the right place for Little Red Riding Huck so headed down the road a bit and tackled Sidewinder which was a fun downhill, narrower than other tracks, but gave me a lot of my confidence back. There followed a quick zip through Lentil Link and we were back on Hill Rd, heading home.
Not the most successful second day, but I got to have a good rest this afternoon and am very much looking forward to a full day of riding tomorrow.

Journey to the Northern Isle – Part the One

Our journey did not start in the most auspicious fashion as having almost finished packing, my companion and I found ourselves out of doors with no key and an inopportunely snibbed lock. In fear of missing our booked passage to the north, a locksmith was hastily summoned forthwith and with wallets slightly lighter we were happily indoors and completing the preparations for the journey. Carriage to the airport was booked, though this too was more troublesome than I would have liked, as the operator seemed not to understand that my baggage necessitated the procurement of a van, not a hatchback. When the taxi did arrive it was touch and go as to whether our vast boxes would fit within its narrow confines. Fortunately they did and our journey was begun.

Our travels were incident free, although we did manage to escape the need to pay an additional fee for our luggage as the electronic payment system went down. Hurrah! Upon arriving in the sulphur scented city we secured portage to our dwelling in a shuttle and were soon lugging our luggage up the gravel driveway to a lovely cottage. Later in the evening we journeyed back into the city with the aid of the proprietor’s vehicle to provision ourselves for our week long adventure. Exhausted but happy my lovely companion and I tumbled into a deep slumber, excited by the prospects of exploring the forest on the morrow.

The new day dawned slightly overcast and my companion set about building our lovely bicycles and I set about lazing in bed reading trashy magazines. As the morning wore on I eventually dragged myself from the warmth of the bed to the deck chairs and commenced a session of intensive sitting and watching my companion riding on the structures provided by our hosts. Eventually the lure of the structures became too much and appropriately attired I mounted my cycle and had great fun playing on them myself. After an early, but substantial, lunch we set off down the hill to acquire a map of the notorious Whakarewarewa Forest (or the Redwoods as the locals call it). Map successfully acquired and anticipation running high, we planned a route which I hoped I would be able to tackle, not being sure of the difficulty of the various grades. Also it has been quite a long period since I rode anything particularly technical so I was slightly nervous of how I would find the grade 3 tracks and thought that grade 4 would probably be beyond my skills on this first ride.

Our ride began with a short climb up a forestry road and then we entered the forest proper on Genesis, a Grade 3 track. My concerns were not allayed by the necessity to push a short distance up this entry track. However soon after I was sweeping through the prehistoric forest and grinning with joy as I rode past the boughs of the mighty redwood trees. This first track was fantastic and flowed beautifully. I found that everything was within my abilities to ride, and even managed a couple of rather good hucks along the way. Once we exited Genesis we found the entry to another Grade 3 track, Challenge, which was also great fun. My confidence was slowly rising as I rode over wet roots and down drop offs. Soon we came across the entrance to an easier Grade 2 track, The Dipper, which was basically flat and flowing with some very nice berms. We agreed that while this track was most enjoyable it did not bring quite the same level of pleasure as previous tracks.

Next we came to the Rockdrop track. The entrance sign said Grade 5 (!!), but the map said Grade 4 so we sallied forth and were soon enjoying some lovely switch back climbs, rooty descents, drop offs that were larger than any previously encountered and lovely flowing corners. I loved this track. I almost rode it clean and for me it really showed how far my riding has progressed over the past six months. My climbing skills have improved immensely, as have my descending skills and confidence. I rode things on this track that in the past I would have got off and walked round and I was controlled and comfortable on all of them.

Unfortunately we managed to get slightly lost on this track and missed the last section by ending up on a road so we shall have to return. Finally we exited via Exit Trail, another good test of my new found confidence as I rode down the fast flowing trail and through deep ruts and bumpy wee drop offs with the greatest of ease (well a lot of grinning anyway). Happy and impressed with our first foray into the forest my companion and I headed into the city for some much need sustenance before tackling the hill climb back to our dwelling.

So our first ride in Rotorua was a 3 hour ride and I felt really good, and pretty tired at the end. I am most intrigued to see how my body copes with another such ride today. And today we will endeavour to ensure our photographic device is in working order to capture the glory of the forest.

Vegas Baby!!! Yeah!!!

Flying to Vegas tomorrow!

Las Vegas ??? you say.

No! Even better. Rotovegas (or Rotorua for those not in the know).

Can't wait to ride that sweet sweet single track for 7 days.

Ninja’s rock – McLean’s Island 12hr Race

My first ever 12 hour race, and I guess my first ever “sponsored” race (and by sponsored I mean that my entry was paid for by work). I was up bright and early on Saturday morning, before 6am – horrific, packing food and making sure I had everything loaded into the van for the long day ahead. Swung by work at 7am to pick up 2 more team members and their gear and headed off to McLean’s Island, where we were meeting our final team member. With Iron Maiden and Metallica blearing from the sound system at the venue we scored a primo corner site close to the loos (very important) and in no time had a very comfortable site put together, complete with changing room, chairs, indoor hammock, comfy napping cushions, more food than you could shake a stick at, tools galore and most importantly, heaps of shade.
The team. A fantastic team it was too. Leading out (because we told him he had to) was Andy. Experienced 6 hour solo and 12 hour team racer, fresh back from completing the Whaka50 in Rotorua and IT systems genius. Bravely volunteering to go second after the cracking pace set by Andy was Liv. Elite women’s downhiller, cross country speedster and crazy, fabulous, fun chick. After a furious rock/paper/scissors battle it was deemed I would be the third rider, followed by Marty. Veteran of the CatEye Moonride in Rotorua, international jet-setter and hammock owner. Our team wasn’t out for prizes or glory, our team was there to have fun and with the help of the fantastic weather that’s exactly what we did.
The start was managed chaos and I was feeling extremely glad to be on the sidelines cheering Andy on. He blitzed the first lap and in just over 28mins Liv was out on the course. She was back only 5 secs slower than Andy and then I was off. My lungs protested as I got up to speed through the tents and took off across the field towards the stop-bank. In what was to be a theme for my day (and not really an unexpected one) people streamed past me. Sorry guys! By the time I got into the forest I’d found my legs and my lungs had settled down and I was, da-da-da-da-da loving it. All the practise had paid off as I pinned it down the stop-banks into the tight corners without braking. A big silly grin was plastered on my face as I kept pace with the fast guys who’d just passed me. Of course as soon as the swoopy sections finished they disappeared into the distance, but I was having a great time and didn’t care. Unfortunately it came unstuck when I left the forest and was on the last section of windy singletrack before the 4wd drive track slog back to the camp site. A rider called to pass and against my better judgement I moved to the left thinking he’d whip past on the little straight, but he didn’t make it past and I was forced to take the next corner wider than I’d like and my wheels disappeared from under me in the loose gravel. My left leg didn’t unclip and I had the very unpleasant sensation of the ligaments on the inside of my left leg being stretched way further than they like. It didn’t hurt at the time, but I knew things weren’t going to be good in the future. I was back on my bike straight away and pedalling furiously to keep my knee warm till I could get some Anti-flamme on it.
I trundled through the timing tent to beeps and then accelerated into the chicanes of the campsite. Our site was on corner 8 and those 7 other corners leading to it sucked. I blew into our transition area and flopped down into a chair as Marty sprinted off through the tents and out over the field. I was pretty happy with how my first lap felt, but I was under the mistaken impression that I’d done it in 45 mins (eeep!). I’d actually done it in 33.29 which was fantastic for me over the 12.5km distance. Unfortunately I hadn’t cleared my speedo after my warm up. This lead to a little confusion on the next lap I did when I arrived 10 minutes before anyone was expecting me after a fantastic feeling lap of 33.40. Marty was relaxing in a chair as I pulled in and looked pretty surprised. Ooops, my bad.
The day got warmer, the music was good and the cold chocolate milk rocked. Being on the bike felt great, but my knee was getting sorer and sorer when I was off it. Luckily my lovely hubby showed up with my knee brace and that helped a bit between laps. My third lap felt great, but I was held up a wee bit by a few people (yep, I did actually manage to pass some people!) and my time was 34.16. Still pretty damn consistent. My fourth lap was probably the windiest of the day, and didn’t feel too good and the sun was at an awful angle, but I pushed as much as I could and managed to get back in 33.53. My fifth, and what was to be my final, lap was the last lap without lights. It was pretty gloomy in the forest and I managed to past a few more people who weren’t so confident in the corners. My legs were really starting to burn in this lap and it was the first time I felt my knee hurt on the bike all day so I knew it was going to be my last. Climbing the stop bank for the last time was not fun. Especially when the guy I’d been chasing through the forest and finally caught mere minutes earlier, went past me again along to the top. I pushed for all I was worth across the paddock and back through the tents, damn it hurt, and am proud to say finished my last lap in 34.27.
So all up I did 62km, just under 3 hrs of riding and there was less than a minute’s difference between my first lap and my last lap. Yipeee. Also I managed to do a tiny huck down one of the ditches in the paddock (very important achievement). It’s the longest distance I’ve ever done competitively so I’m pretty stoked with that.
For a team that was out to have fun we did great, getting 19th out of 36 in our category, completing 23 laps and finishing in 11:45:39. It was definitely one of the most fun days I’ve had on the bike and that’s mainly due to the fantastic team I was in. Cheers guys – bring on Hanmer!
Unfortunately things weren’t boding so well for my knee. I could hardly walk by the time we’d packed everything up and getting home to discover there was no hot water didn’t aid matters at all. Luckily we had some Voltaren pills from when Pete hurt his back so I was able to get some sleep. Surprisingly the next morning my legs felt good, and my knee was much better. I’ve made a physio appointment for Wednesday to get it sorted as we’re off to Rotorua this weekend. Yeeeee-haaaaa. My legs felt tired on the ride to work this morning, but they also felt stronger. With the Molesworth now only 4 weeks away I feel like I’m in pretty good shape to finish it in under 6 hours.

Return to the Hills

It would be fair to say it’s been a decent amount of time since I last went for a ride up a hill. In fact it was back in July and it wasn’t very good. With that in mind I was pretty sure that this week’s return to Kennedy’s Bush was going to be “interesting”. I hadn’t planned going anywhere near the hills on Tuesday, but after making a deal with myself that I could have some of the extremely delicious (and healthy) Cyclops Chocolate Yoghurt if I did 2 hill repeats of the Kennedy’s Bush road I headed off. Hmmmmm. Things did not go well. Unfortunately much as I expected. My lovely road bike has 2 chain rings up front, meaning my choices for gears for hill climbing are somewhat limited. Even in the very lowest gear I’m still about 5 gears higher than I would be on my mountain bike. It was bloody hard from the word go. I quickly reassessed my goals for the ride and decided that if I could get past the stone wall ¾’s of the way to the second corner I would be happy and anything past that would be extra good. First attempt. Past the stone wall, and about 50m short of the first corner, no standing, but very sore legs and lungs. Second attempt. Crikey! Legs screaming right from the start but manage to make it to the end of the wall, but only just. So all in all, a little bit disappointing, but I still felt I’d earning my yoghurt.
The next day I rode my lovely full sus bike to work as it was heading in for a service at The Hub. They did a fantastic job on it, sorting out my rear derailleur issue and fixing my brakes. So after work Pete and I headed up Kennedy’s again. After the previous day’s effort I was keen to see how my legs would actually go on the MTB. Amazingly they went freaking brilliantly, yay legs. I got up the road in my fastest time ever and didn’t get down into the easiest gear once. The first time ever that’s happened. In fact once I hit the single track climb and then 4wd track up to the first down hill I still hadn’t got down that far and my legs were feeling really good. Fun blast down the little bit of single track, but I had a couple of guys right behind me which I found quite unnerving so not as flowing as I’d like, but it’ll come. Then back up. My legs were beginning to feel it, but it was still better than any other ride up here I’ve ever done. I didn’t quite make it to the top, Pete was freezing in the nasty easterly, so I turned round when he went past me going the other way, but I did get almost to the top and I felt really good. Back down was great. Brakes felt good and I was getting used to being back on my “real” bike. Back up my favourite bit of single track and my legs were working great. Down the techy single track by the 4wd climb and I was a nana. Sun in my eyes, track full of ruts and nasty (fun) wee drop offs (I’m sure Pete didn’t even notice them) and I was taking it easy. Fantastic fun though. Blasted down the last swoopy section and lifted my bike onto the cattle stop to head down the Croc for the first time. It was exciting. Lots of work has been done to smooth it out after winter, but it’s still rougher than I’ve ever ridden it before and the sun was in the worst possible place meaning in some place sI couldn’t see anything. After the first couple of switchbacks I remembered how to ride them and found my flow. I managed to avoid the first gapping chasm I came to and stay on the bike, but I had to walk round the second one. I couldn’t see the bottom and the hole was large enough to completely swallow a wheel. As usual I wussed out on the rocky bit. I’m going to have to bring my pads up one day and session it till I can get it. Bloody thing scares me silly. I was happy that I managed to ride all the switchbacks, including the 2nd to last one where the track has been narrowed significantly on the exit and it would be all too easy to head down the bank. The climb out of the valley is just silly hard at the moment and even pushing up wasn’t that easy.
It was a fantastic ride and made me feel a lot more confident about the Molesworth. Which is lucky as Pete and I have entered the Moa Beer Moa Hunt in Kekerengu, just north of Kaikoura on the 29th of November. The fantastic news about that is Pete won the early bird prize of a case of Moa Beer, a case of Allan Scott wine (mmmmmmm) and a free entry to the Rainbow Rage. The bad news is the profile for the race. Have I bitten off more than I can chew?

Feeling Daunted

Slowly but surely I feel like my legs are coming back to me. After finishing my course of steroids my energy took a wee nose dive, but I was feeling back to normal pretty much the next day. My legs were feeling all good but my lungs are well and truly far from 100% and hammering the shit out of them on Thursday after work probably didn’t help matters.

I had a couple of really good road rides at lunchtime last week, although one of them resulted in me getting pelted with nice big bits of hail for 5 minutes, and I even managed to get back to the gym once during the week. Not so good at the gym. Very weak and feeble still and left feeling quite light headed. Will try and get another work out in this week and see if I’m feeling any better. Thursday afternoon I finished work early and headed to McLean’s to see how fast I could do a lap in. Ouch. Sprinted my lungs out and managed to do the 10kms in 28.29mins. Yay. I was happy with the time, but I paid for it big time. My lungs felt shredded and I crawled round the first half of my second lap like a cripple.

On Saturday I went out to McLean’s again to see how my endurance is going. My plan was to do about 3 hours and hopefully 6 laps. I knew I’d be hungry as when I got back from this so I put a nice big roast in the oven and set the timer before I left. Unfortunately the best laid plans, as they say. First lap felt fantastic. I nailed all the fast corners down off the stop banks and had great flow which meant no braking, yay. Got round in just over 30 mins but didn’t feel like I was pushing so that was great. Second lap and I was feeling even better now that my lungs had warmed up and I’d got my lines sorted the previous lap. I felt like I was flying, but didn’t feel like I pushing at all. Then things went a bit wrong. About 2 kms from the end of my second lap my back end went all wiggly. I knew that feeling, flat tyre. I still had a fair amount of air in the back wheel, I knew I had a couple of spare tubes and my pump with me so at the next junction I pulled over and flipped my bike over to do a quick tube change. HA!, as it turned out. Plenty of lovely people offered me help, but I didn’t think I needed it. After persisting with my pump for 30 minutes (30 incredibly frustrating minutes which left me in a bit of a strop) I finally gave up, put my wheel back on my bike and started walking back to the start along the walking track. It turns out its best not to take that fact that your pump works for granted when you haven’t used it for months and months. 30 sandblasted, cursing, and grumpy, minutes later I was back at the wee shop by the carpark borrowing the shop pump and inflating my tyre in about a minute flat. Unfortunately it was only a minipump so I couldn’t get enough pressure in my tyre to make it bead properly, but beggars can’t be choosers. The lovely man in the shop said I could take his pump with me to do a couple more laps.

I’d lost an hour and had to be home before 3 as we had people coming from dinner so I headed out to do 2 more laps in the hour I had left. With my back wheel feeling a bit wobbly I wasn’t flying down the stop banks anymore because I didn’t have much faith in the back wheel to not let go at a crucial moment. I ground out 2 more laps and will freely admit that the last one hurt. Quite a lot. Worrying.

I say worrying because that morning my lovely husband downloaded the Google Earth map of the Molesworth course http://www.bluedogevents.co.nz/document.aspx?id=433. This picture does not do it justice. It looked like a really loooooong way. With the race now only 4 (eeek) weekends away I’m beginning to feel quite worried about doing 80kms on my MTB. And spending 5 or 6 hours on my bike is really scary unknown territory. I know I’ve done a lot of training for this, but its getting really close now and I’m going to have start having some really big rides and start working the hills, but I just don’t know if my lungs are going to cope.
This coming weekend is the 12 hr race so that will give me 3 hours of split shift riding, hopefully that will help. And then the following weekend we’re off to Rotorua for 2 weekends so I’m sure I’ll clock up so big hours while we’re there. I just hope it’ll all be enough. Gulp.