Ready to Go!

Actually I’m not sure that I am, but it is too late now to get any fitter or stronger. It is only a few days until I head back to the ferry and again start riding the South Island. I know the first ~200km and perhaps 10km of the Crown Range I rode while down there with the family 2 weeks ago.

Perhaps it was unwise, but I have made a couple of changes to my bike setup. Nothing was wrong (except the drink bottles getting dirty), and I solved that by getting caps for the tops! I have swapped out the handlebars in the name of handling. The Jones bars were really comfortable and let me mount everything I wanted. But the altered cockpit has much better handling and provides 6 different hand positions.

Reflecting on Training

It isn’t long until I start TA and right now I’m on a work trip, without my bike! Honestly I’m worried about whether I’ve done enough training, but hopeful I will be OK because of the training I’ve done! In the continuing series of videos where I speak to my future self wondering what my response will be in a month or 2’s time, I reflect on my training approach.

In a hotel room taking resting, recovery, and tapering seriously (not by choice)!

Tapering

With 3 weeks left before the start of TA my calendar had me head overseas for 12 days. In terms of training it didn’t seem ideal, but people who know more than me and everything I read insists backing off in the weeks before a big ride is essential. So it is I’ll have an almost compulsory 2 week period with little riding.

I’m halfway through this period and have jumped on an exercycle at the hotel in currently at twice. Both times I only rode around 10km because of the discomfort. All I can adjust of the seat up or down. Everything is too small except the seat that is so wide there is constant pressure on the top outside of my thighs. I don’t think I’ve ever been as uncomfortable on a bike, even when riding one of the kids small bikes!

Hopefully when I arrive home in a little under a week I’ll be fresh and and to spend the final week before TA starts for me with light rides to ensure everything is in place on the bike and working.

Resting

So it is my forced rest is upon me. I’m traveling and have 12 days away from home without a bike. Assuming there is an exercycle at the hotel in staying at, I may do some light rides. The challenge is I don’t know how much or little to do (I guess I’ll Google it when the jet lag has me staring at the ceiling bored with podcasts)! In saying that I really want to arrive in Cape Reinga on March 6th, fresh and fizzing to get underway.

1000m Challenge Over 😢

After feeling great for over a week I rode today and it was a disaster! After heading down the hill and hitting the river I was totally toasted from the beginning!

Interestingly my phone – using ridewithgps – showed 1286m when my GPS Lezyne showed 795m. Now looking online ridewithgps says I did 903m! Whatever the case I think I failed at riding 1000m a day on the 9th day.

I think part of this was I left riding too late (I don’t go out until 7:30pm). There are lots of reasons but in reality I felt rubbish before riding, worse when riding, and came up short.

This is probably going to happen on the tour so I need to prepare mentally for not reaching the days target. Coming up short one day shouldn’t be a problem unless it happens repeatedly. How I’m feeling will undoubtedly have highs and lows and, like this evening, I’ll have to press on and just ride the bike.

Tomorrow I’ll be out again and I’ll be interested to see how the body feels. After tonight I’m not overly positive so perhaps it will be a good mental exercise!

One Week of 1000 Metres

Actually, tomorrow is will be one week, but I’m surprised by how I’m feeling. I’m less tired (currently) than in the 28 day and the 4*100k challenges. Maybe the training is paying off…

Right now I’m starting to think I’ll be able to manage the 3000k physically. So I’m going to have to start sorting myself mentally!

1000m Challenge

Having returned to work and not having as much time to ride, I’ve decided to challenge myself to ride 1000 vertical metres each day. I understand this is the average everyday on the tour so it seems like a good idea.

As of today I’ve managed 3 consecutive days 😬 Monday I didn’t ride but Sunday I did and it was 1200m of climbing. I should be good to get another 1000m tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday so will aim to do the same on Monday taking me to a week of 1000m a day.

If I continue for another week (making this a 14 day challenge) then I’ll complete it before leaving for my work trip. Likely I’ll be completely wrecked but will then get some good recovery time on the work trip.

Lessons from 4 days of 100km

Well, 3 days of 100km and 1 of ~85km … Some things (hills in particular) are psychologically more challenging than physically. As we rode from Paekakariki towards Pukerua Bay we had ~8km of being able to see the Pukerua Bay hill. I was dreading it and seeing it rise up in front of me as we approached psyched me out a little.

As I changed down gears and began riding it I wondered how long it would take and how much it would hurt. This was all pointless because the hill rolled under my cadence and wheels and after a toilet stop (not for me) we were rolling downhill on the other side.

Lesson 1: Figure out a way to not let what is ahead not get in the way of the stunning coastline, views of the South Island, and incredibly clear water washing over rocks!

Lesson 2: Slowdown! Everyday I rode the distance in between 5 & 6 hours. During the tour I’ll have 10 – 12 hours (easily) each day to complete the distance.

Lesson 3: Check saddle width. It wasn’t horrible BUT with another ~24 days it could be.

Lesson 4: There is plenty of time during each day to dry the tent – unless it is raining – so you won’t have to sleep in dampness!

Lesson 5: Take another couple of dry bags to keep clothes and other items isolated and dry!

Overall the 4 days got me excited about the tour and the shape I’m in as I approach it. I’ve got 43 days to maintain my fitness, freshen the legs up, and finalise the faffing of the setup.

Day 4 of 100km

I was awake early, drinking coffee and eating breakfast before the other two came out of their tents. It wasn’t that I hadn’t slept well, just that I woke up and was more inclined to get moving than lay about dozing!

The tent was really wet from dew and it made me wonder what I’ll do when that happens on the tour! Packing it wet is alright for the day, but if the inner gets wet then I’ll be putting my mattress, sleeping bag and myself into dampness at night. Surprisingly they dry quickly when there is a little bit of sunshine on them. I also realised while riding that assuming it isn’t raining I’ll be able to pull them out to dry during the day. Any break of 20 or 30 minutes will provide good drying time and if that isn’t enough the longer break over lunch should suffice.

We took a minor detour to ride this suspension bridge

To get to 100km I turned off ~2km from the start point and where I had left the car. I then had ~4km of down hill before ~12km of flat with a tail wind. Then up my hill home stopping at 104.6km 😬

That isn’t 100k 🙄

Day 3 was already planned to ride to Otaki Forks with everything, camp out, then ride home. There were several options of routes to get there but we couldn’t leave until early afternoon due to commitments both Keith and Alastair had. This meant we took the most direct route:

I had ridden ~6km earlier with the boys, but still well short of 100km

We were all loaded as if this was the tour although I was testing the seat pack and still don’t have the full frame bag (another week or 2 before that arrives). I also rode without the phone holder on my handlebars – I think this was a mistake as having it visible and usable is better than tucking it in a bag or pocket – definitely going to ensure I have the option of it on my bars next time.

We stopped at the Te Horo Fire Station for a break and to fill up with water which was around the 65km mark. As we left I found it difficult and the average speed dropped several km. Every hill had be changing gears sooner than I normally would but not really getting left behind.

One of the gravel sections of the Otaki Forks Road

I was left behind on one of the downhill sections (unheard of)! This was because some how my tent fell out! Nothing else came off from the handlebar harness and I hadn’t noticed anything move. The straps were a little loose either from the ~70km or not being tightened properly at the start!

We pulled in, swam in the river – delightful – then made dinner and setup camp before settling in to sleep. Day 3 of the challenge kind of complete!