Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge
This weekend my flatmate Conor and I did half each of the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge - 160km in all. His partner Steph (no relation to my sister) came along for support.
So the day started out very early. As we were staying in Ohakune with a 1:40 trip to Taupo we left at 5:20. Early start but we saw a nice sunrise.
After some mucking around at the start in Taupo I eventually found the correct bus to get on and off I went to Kuratau. It was a very cold day so I spent time sorting my bike out and reading my book. Conor had told me he was expecting to do his half in 3 hours so I was just starting to get ready when I started seeing riders come in the gate. So I hurry my preparations and see Conor coming in the gate while I'm still only halfway ready and a long way from him and my bike.
After a bit of rushing around I got the transponder, got to my bike and got on the road.
The first half went fairly well. I was passing lots of people (mostly solo challenge riders who started a lot early than the relay riders). There were a few nasty hills but getting the top and getting the view across Lake Taupo was amazing. The resulting downhill ride down to Tokaanu was very fast. I got 55km/h at one point!
From that point it was pretty much flat going but I got left by my lonesome without a bunch to call my own - which was pretty hard work especially when my shoulders and neck started telling me how hard they were working... It was at about this point that Conor caught up with me, and then took off at great speed.
Fortunately I found a nice bunch I could keep up with and drafted off the back of them for while until I decided it was time for me to do some pulling so I went up the front and dragged the lot of them into the next bunch along. Using aero bars at the point was really useful.
The next part was the dreaded Hatepe Hill. That thing is well known in the Taupo course as being the hardest hill. The thing is basically the steepest hill that is actually cyclable and goes on for 2.5km of pain. At one point I was doing 6.5km/h and wondering if I would actually fall off. I heard from a fellow rider that he did see a guy simply stop and fall over into the grass!
Fortunately I managed the hill without stopping and then had the downhill to worry about. It starts easily enough which was alright but I was in a lot of pain and going rather slowly. Eventually things recovered and at the bottom of the hill I was going 63.6km/h (no really!). Then it was just pure pain and determination to get to the end. The last 16km were rather rough - somewhat leavened by signs that said "This is the last hill." Then the next hill along said "This really is the last hill." Then the rise just before the finish line had a sign, "This hill is a bitch.".
It was very, very nice to finish. Final result: 140/546 male relay teams, 230/1804 all relay teams. Conor's time for the first 80km was 2:20 (unofficially) and he finished in 5:01. I did the second half with a ride time of 3:18 (ignoring the small amount of time my speedo wasn't working). The official time was 5:45:31.
Overall, it was a great event. The support you receive from people literally just sitting on the side of the road cheering you on is amazing.
So the day started out very early. As we were staying in Ohakune with a 1:40 trip to Taupo we left at 5:20. Early start but we saw a nice sunrise.
After some mucking around at the start in Taupo I eventually found the correct bus to get on and off I went to Kuratau. It was a very cold day so I spent time sorting my bike out and reading my book. Conor had told me he was expecting to do his half in 3 hours so I was just starting to get ready when I started seeing riders come in the gate. So I hurry my preparations and see Conor coming in the gate while I'm still only halfway ready and a long way from him and my bike.
After a bit of rushing around I got the transponder, got to my bike and got on the road.
The first half went fairly well. I was passing lots of people (mostly solo challenge riders who started a lot early than the relay riders). There were a few nasty hills but getting the top and getting the view across Lake Taupo was amazing. The resulting downhill ride down to Tokaanu was very fast. I got 55km/h at one point!
From that point it was pretty much flat going but I got left by my lonesome without a bunch to call my own - which was pretty hard work especially when my shoulders and neck started telling me how hard they were working... It was at about this point that Conor caught up with me, and then took off at great speed.
Fortunately I found a nice bunch I could keep up with and drafted off the back of them for while until I decided it was time for me to do some pulling so I went up the front and dragged the lot of them into the next bunch along. Using aero bars at the point was really useful.
The next part was the dreaded Hatepe Hill. That thing is well known in the Taupo course as being the hardest hill. The thing is basically the steepest hill that is actually cyclable and goes on for 2.5km of pain. At one point I was doing 6.5km/h and wondering if I would actually fall off. I heard from a fellow rider that he did see a guy simply stop and fall over into the grass!
Fortunately I managed the hill without stopping and then had the downhill to worry about. It starts easily enough which was alright but I was in a lot of pain and going rather slowly. Eventually things recovered and at the bottom of the hill I was going 63.6km/h (no really!). Then it was just pure pain and determination to get to the end. The last 16km were rather rough - somewhat leavened by signs that said "This is the last hill." Then the next hill along said "This really is the last hill." Then the rise just before the finish line had a sign, "This hill is a bitch.".
It was very, very nice to finish. Final result: 140/546 male relay teams, 230/1804 all relay teams. Conor's time for the first 80km was 2:20 (unofficially) and he finished in 5:01. I did the second half with a ride time of 3:18 (ignoring the small amount of time my speedo wasn't working). The official time was 5:45:31.
Overall, it was a great event. The support you receive from people literally just sitting on the side of the road cheering you on is amazing.
posted by Edward Sargisson at 8:35 pm
2 Comments:
Way cool. Congratulations on surviving.
Steph
Your account keeps mentioning pain. I'm a bit worried about you, laddy.
Post a Comment
<< Home