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.

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.

2nd Day of 100k

After the Patuna Chasm walk this morning – check it out here: patunafarm.co.nz/ then go walk it – We had lunch in Martinborough then played at the Skatepark for a while. Once done with that, N drove home with the 2 boys who had come on the adventure and left me to ride home.

The problem was it is only ~75km home. So I took some longer paths and a couple of loops to hit 100km for the 2nd day running:

28 Days Done 😬

I finished my 28 day challenge (no I didn’t go to 30) and was surprised. Surprised at how you can keep going despite not feeling great. Surprised at how I kept a reasonable speed and in the final days were still getting consistent times and occasionally a top 3 time (compared with myself). On day 23 or 24 I rode a ~40km loop at lunch. After dinner I repeated it with Alastair and the time was within 90 seconds!

I was also surprised how I was able to manage saddle soreness. It wasn’t until well into the 3rd week that I had any actual discomfort to manage. My theory is that this was because I got the Spark back and was changing bikes. However, a little cream and nothing came of it.

Whether or not this will be possible over the 28 (maybe 30) days of the tour remains to be seen. I will be spending longer on the bike, and riding further everyday than in my little 28 day challenge. 3 times further to be precise! In my 28 day challenge I covered just under 1000k, in March I will need to cover 3000 😳

Day 22 of Consecutive Rides

I’m knackered and sore but still 8 days short of the 30 I’m aiming for. This week is been riding twice a day but today I only managed once as I walked the Paikakariki Escarpment this morning.

Surprisingly it keep on moving and loosen up on the bike. I’m even still getting good times (thanks Strava) on lots of my regular routes. I’m not wondering if this is how I’ll feel, rather when I’ll feel this way!

The mileage I’m doing isn’t close to what I need to do daily on TA, but I’m riding faster than I will then to hopefully compensate somewhat. I remember Mark Beaumont doing this before but first around the world bike ride and it worked for him!

Biggest lessons from riding everyday:

Even when I’m tired and sore you can crank out miles.
Midway through a ride you can switch from survival into full on fun without knowing why or how!
I might actually be able to physical finish the 3000km if I eat enough each day, get good sleeps, and look after my body.
I need to think more about my approach to each day, breaks, and eating!
Wearing Lycra is far more comfortable, but I’m still taking shorts to wear!

I’ll post again on this training regime when it is finished to see if I learn anything different.

Training Update

I know rest is an important part of training, but I’m in the middle of a long stretch at home so riding as often as possible. I haven’t had many long rides, but have been out everyday for the last 14 days! Distances have ranged from 11km to 45km so nothing too strenuous or long.

Presently in fitting them around family outings because everyone is on holiday. While this is working well I do need to get some longer (time and distance) rides in as there are only 63 days left before I start!

Tomorrow I’m getting up early to get a 50-60km loop in before morning tea. As we’re holidaying in Taupo I’ve worked out a loop that takes in some of the ‘Great Lake’ tracks instead of Craters of the Moon, Spa Road, and the tracks linking the 2 areas.

I’m not sure how I feel about my fitness level at this stage. 14 days off riding everyday has my legs feeling a little fatigued, but I’m not struggling with hills (they’re not particularly strenuous here in Taupo). I guess I’ll have a rest day or 2 soon enough, maybe after 30 days riding everyday to see what happens!