New Zealand Epic Training Camp

Day 15 - An Epic Final Day....and in the sun!

2010-01-19T07:10:00.000-08:00

Day 15 – An Epic Day!

Balclutha to Bluff – 191km

New Zealand certainly lived up to its Epic billing in terms of awesome scenary and weather today, with a welcome return of 20 degree sunshine and even some Easterly winds which gave us a nice little tailwind push for the last half of the days ride – all this combined with some great banter from everyone gave the camp a “last day at school feel”. Although there was still quite a bit of work to do with 3 pretty solid climbs to attend to early on in the day in The Catlins region of the South Island.
The landscape again served up a treat with first rolling landscape’s which wouldn’t look out of place in Somerset, back in the UK on a sunny day, but this then merged into some fantastic climbs which had us amongst the low lying clouds in the early part of the day, the descents were twisty and fast, with great surfaces, gave us one last opportunity to really crank the bikes over through the corners, 60-70kph wasn’t unusual on these.
The legs were behaving for most of the day too, feeling relatively fresh, the real top end has gone for the moment, due to the massive volume of training, but that’ll come back nicely over the next 6-8 weeks, as everything recovers.
Oh yeah...before I forget my gearing of choice for the camp was a 39/52 with a 12-25 cassette out back, wouldn’t have minded a 27T at times, but what doesn’t kill you will make you stronger...although at the time....???

The whole team re-grouped at lunchtime, very leisurely, as we made really good time on the final day due to the favourable conditions and we all rolled into Bluff as a Team – great stuff, and felt a little like the Tour de France guys on the final day on the Champs Elysee, no champagne on the bikes (that would come at the end), but we did have an ice cream stop due to a “flat” in the pack, amazingly an ice cream shop (in the middle of nowhere) was right next to where we pulled up – genius!
Once we arrived in Bluff, there is a famous hill called.......”Bluff Hill” , leading up to a weather station at the top, the climb averages 18% and kicks in spots to 25%, over 3km, a few of the group went up while those with slightly inappropriate gears waited at the bottom, the news on their return....the “Prestige” climb was won by the KOM Jersey dominator, Clas.....clearly born for climbing!

Champagne and photo’s ensued at the AA Landmark signpost, which is extremely cool! Although I think it’ll take a few weeks for the whole trip to sink in and 2 weeks of easy training to ensure good quality recovery of all energy systems.

We finished off the training camp in true Epic Camp style with a 7.2km trail run around to the southern most tip of the South Island (lookout point) and then the trail turned upward with a 300m climb to the very top of Bluff Hill and a run down the other side...a perfect ending really to a great training camp.

Big thanks to John Newsom, Gordo Brynn and of course, Scott Molina for being the leaders and organising everything and everyone. And of course Super-Dave and his support team for feeding us, being mechanics, direction advisors and generally being all-round Super.

Right then....job done, this training camp has certainly re-written what I thought was my mental and physical boundaries, so it’ll be fascinating once recovered to see what this seasons racing results will be like....a different and higher level....oh yeah for definite!!!

Epic Camp! There’s no easy way...

Day 14 - Wainanakura to Balclutha

2010-01-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

Day 14 – Waianakarua to Balclutha – 183km

What a day! We started out from a very nice country style hotel and while it was a little chilly, we reckon about 12degrees as opposed to the weathermans balmy 15degrees! The weather has been fantastic all day long and even a little tailwind in there for good measure, which was much appreciated.

There was a fair bit of climbing today and we seem to hitting some of those famous kiwi rollers again! Which, 12 days ago, were rollers although they did seem to take on the appearance of mini-mountains between 50-180km!

The scenary along the coastal road that we followed for the much of the day, Katiki, Karitane, Seacliff, Dunedin, Brighton (this is a much much nicer version of the Brighton we have back home in the UK!). The scenary after that as we headed into and through Waihola was simply stunning, back to the usual epic vistas that NZ is famous for. This also involves a fair bit of climbing and if anyone was standing at the side of the road selling a 27T cassette, I would have happily handed a small mortgage for it! Some healthy 15% grades thrown in there for good measure, they didn’t seem to show up on the route profile (mental note to self: have a closer look at the route profile!)

So here we are, just one final push of 190km tomorrow to go from Balclutha to Bluff. Looking back it seems to have gone really fast, good job we’ve all been writing blogs as we’ll have to re-read them to remind ourselves of where we’ve been! Hard to think at the moment, that we’ve already covered over 2000km in 14 days – crazy isn’t it! Im sure thats why we invented cars, but that wouldn’t have been half as much fun though :)

Day 12 and Day 13

2010-01-14T23:53:00.000-08:00

Day 12 – Christchurch to Geraldine – 153km

The wet day!!

Well.....what can I say, I knew I would have one at some point and here it was on day 12 on one of the shortest rides of the Tour, it was a cold, wet, windy day combined with some of the flattest and straightest roads in the world...well perhaps in NZ at any rate....my lowest point mentally! It was absolutely freezing and was a bit of a wake-up call that Mrs NZ wouldn’t let this pack of athletes across her contours unscathed (hhmmm....good bit of prose that! Will try and work that one into a report at work at some point!)....There were incidents galore throughout the day, including a few mechanicals with a couple of the guys ripping spokes out through the rim, and in Molina’s case, taking out some of the rim with the spoke...clearly still producing power in extra-ordinary quantities!!
There was also a crash...and in a very similar way to the ones that happen during the Tour de France, they all tend to happen on the straightest and less entertaining, almost transition stages, the winds were a little blustery, cold, accumulated fatigue and a few trucks going past and a couple of the guys touched wheels and down they went. Fortunately the support crew were immediately on-hand and with some expert taping/bandaging/magic sponge, the guys were back on the road, tapping out km’s within ten mins.
As for me, the cold weather got to the legs a little, and made it much harder mentally to turn them over, fortunately at the lunch stop, a change of clothing, and the prospect of only 50km to go, cheered me up a treat. I happily admit that I did glance lovingly at the “tail end Charlie” or “broom wagon” a couple of times with misty eyes, and the thought of the heater turned to max. It’s those little moments, where the odds are seemingly stacked against you completing the goal...where it would it would be all too easy to take step off the bike and into the wagon! But then, if anything’s worth there’s going to be hard, being mentally prepared to have those moments are key in overcoming them I think and breaking everything up into manageable chunks helps loads...

At the end of the day....this is Epic Camp not easy camp!

Day 13 – Geraldine to Waianakarua – 151km

Warm, Sunny (at times) and no wind – its all aboard the DC and Tara Train!!
Whoa....what a difference a day makes, I woke up this morning and it could almost have been a different planet compared to yesterday (day 12). The legs had recovered well and apart from a slightly stuffy nose, all was well. The day was neatly split into 3 parts with the aid station at 50km, lunch at 100km and the hotel at 151km. The first 100km was ridden out in under 2hr 45mins and following lunch, the next 50km was ridden at a more leisurely 33-34kph (felt leisurely at any rate).
I’ve had a few questions on how much are I eating etc etc.... so here goes...
A typical stage see’s me burning off about 6500-7000cals ( a few cheeseburgers then!), this is replaced with roughly the following;

Breakfast:

3 slices of toast with Nutella, honey or Jam, couple of slices of watermelon, kiwi fruit, handful of strawberries and a banana. 1 small plate of scrambled eggs (Super-Dave makes the best scramble!! – that’s got to be worth an extra point surely!)
2 cups of juice, 2 cups of coffee (provided by coffees of Hawaii!)

On the bike

I’ll probably run through about 6 bottles of energy drink (more if its hot), 4 high5 sports bars, handful of nuts, couple of gels towards the end of the ride.

Lunch

Normally a wrap with a large filling of ham/cheese/carrot/salty crisps and BBQ sauce – doesn’t sound particularly tasty, but amazing whats does taste good after 4 hrs on the bike!
Couple of cups of juice or cola.

At the end of the ride.

Were straight in there with a protein recovery shake, banana vanilla flavour today! Some salty crisps, several cups of juice and a slice of cake (or several!)

Dinner

About an hr after the ride comes dinner, and this normally see’s us piling in chicken, salad, bit of pasta (strangely not that much to be honest), a few potatoes, cake and (last night – ice cream, oh yeah!!!)
....oh...and several cups of tea :) and a couple of Steinlager (Scott – great work on getting that sponsor!)
Only 2 days to go....tomorrow (Day 14) see’s us riding to Balclutha and then on Sunday (Day 15) we complete the whole cycling section of the journey to Bluff....ultimately to complete the tip to tip, we have a final 7km trail run to the very tip of Bluff.

Day 10 – Blenheim to Kaikoura – 128km

2010-01-11T18:36:00.000-08:00

Day 10 – Blenheim to Kaikoura – 128km

Right then, here we are....the first big stage of the South Island, 128km from Blenheim to Kaikura along the coast road adjacent to the South Pacific Ocean.
Before we got to the coastal road however, there was the little matter of sorting out the KOM for the day, as we rolled out of the hotel, Gordo neutralized the first couple of km’s to allow us to get of Blenheim town.
We rolled nicely down to the road at about 33-34kph, until a couple of smaller attacks started to bring the speed up, these were neatly brought back until the big guns fired, Clas attacked like a rocket and was immediately chased by Steve, Petro, Pete O and a couple of others....Big E and I set off just a couple of seconds later and put in a massive sprint to try and bridge the gap, but they were seriously shifting....we were doing 52kph as it was, we got within about 15m but couldn’t quite get there.

I pretty much exploded at that point as the second wave came past, I pushed on at my own pace to try and salvage some of the climb a bit later on. The climb is a real power / sprinters climb, about 4km long, but not steep, averaged about 4%. About 1.5km from the top, Gordo gained and overtook, but didn’t pull away as fast, so i managed to glue myself to his wheel, we got past Rip and then I dropped off G’s wheel for about 20m, but I spotted the KOM finish (and the camera crew, hee hee...) and gave it everything to see if I could get there, Gordo could see me coming and we had a great sprint to the line, just got him with about 20m to spare (Green Jersey sprint power!), had to max my HR (178bpm) to do it and managed to cook my legs for the next 103km!
rist
Very tough, but enjoyable first 25km! The last 103km were spent pretty much chewing my handlebars in an effect to make forward progress. If wasn’t that my legs weren’t working, it was just a little windy.....how windy.....280watts = 18khp type of windy!!! Luckily I teamed up with Russ and Rob Q and they pretty much hauled me along for the last 50km – thanks guys :)

The Tour de France riders always say that the day after a rest tends to be the hardest, I definitely agree, the body almost gets that opportunity to slip into full recovery mode and shut down for a few days, bit of a snooze and then dinner and then another snooze, should see me back to normal tomorrow, hopefully with a little less wind!!!

Welcome to the South Island!

Tomorrow see's us heading from Kaikoura to Christchurch - 187km

Day 8 - Masterton to Wellington (Awarded Green Jersey)

2010-01-10T00:17:00.000-08:00

Day 8 - update - GREEN JERSEY holder for Day 9

We've just had the awards for the points jerseys following todays action. Following an early (do or die) attack at about 0.2km into a 8km climb, and holding onto to grab 7th spot in the KOM competition up the Rimatuka climb, I've been awarded the Green Jersey to wear for tomorrows short stage, 28km from Picton to Blenheim. Tomorrow is also a rest day, so all the points are neutralized for the day, so I should get to wear it for 2 days!

Fantastic! well pleased - will get plenty of photos from the Peloton tomorrow :)

Day 8 - Masterton to Wellington

2010-01-09T20:42:00.000-08:00

Day 8 - Masterton to Wellington - 135km

Right then, the very last stage before completing the North Island. All that stands in the way is 135km and a 400m + climb, called the Rimatuka, which also contains some King of the Mountains points.

The day started with the full squad rolling out towards the base of the Rimatuka, where battle would commence....really enjoyed just rolling along with everyone and having a good old chat. spent a fair bit of the ride chatting to Clas Bjorling, who is an awesome triathlete and rider.

Quick stop at the base for rules of engagment and we were off, unfortunately Lordy broke his chain, so one of the faves was out of the running only 10m into it, but thats racing, he was a great sport though and borrowed a bike from the production crew to complete the climb and get those important miles across NZ done.

The group immediately split into a select group after a few surges, couple of attacks from myself as well, but there was a brutal headwind coming down the mountain which at times, had me pushing 300+ watts, but actually going nowhere!

The group consisted of Clas, John N, Scott Molina, Petro, Tara and Pete (and myself), going round one corner and a headwind combined with an attack from the strongest riders split the group in half again, lead group gaining those vital few metres that gradually opened up. It was then a straight race up the climb between Tara, Pete, Petro and I. Everyone took a turn at the front, trying to
guess where the winds would come from, HR was maxed out for 3 minutes (long time since ive done that!). We didnt have all our own way though, and a great steady climb by David Craig (DC), and some handy local knowledge, clawed his way ahead.

I just managed to outsprint Pete and Tara in the last 30m of elevation, that was everything I had laid out on the line! well pleased with my climbing and how my bike fitness has improved.

Power profiles for the day, some new numbers too!!

1mins - 765watts
5mins - 376watts
20mins - 315watts
Max HR - 174bpm

legs felt pretty ripped apart at the end of the ride, but rest day tomorrow, with a ferry ride to Picton and then a 28km ride to Blenheim. A well deserved rest day before we attack the South Island and potentially some more KOM points :)

Also check some of the other blogs being put together by the other athletes.

http://www.epiccamp.com/blogs/team/index.html

Catch up tomorrow.

Day 7 - Wanganui to Masterton - 183km

2010-01-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

Day 6 - Turanghi to Warangi - 173km

2010-01-07T23:35:00.000-08:00

Day 6 - Turanghi to Warangi - 173km

Right then, first things first with some place pronunciations, in Kiwi, "whack" is pronounced "fack" - note, that this is true pronunciation, so not making it up :) hehe...as you read through todays blog, this kept me entertained for at least oooo..several hours today.

ok then...first off, the legs felt pretty good earlier this morning :) probably due to my extra 90mins sleep the day before....oooo yeah !!!

NO CHAIN DAY TODAY!!!

Second things next....we rolled out at about 8.15 this morning and less than 5km into it (almost warmed up by this point)...and we hit the first climb of the day (total 1985m of climbing), Papakai, which rolls through the Tongiriro National Park....absolutely stunning landscape, initially a mix of the lake district, UK style scenary and then melts into French Alpine type territory....

Halfway up the first climb....a good 10 mins climb....we got absolutely "p*ssed on", a little cool out but the climbing kept us warm.

The big climb was Whakapapa (bear in mind the pronunciation at the start!), and you have enough comedy to entertain ooooo.....3 people for at least the next hour and a half...

many variations on the theme...."where the whakapapa is that?", "whats the Mata Mata?" (from previous day)....hehe....comedy genius!

Basically the route today, was really hilly with some solid climbing throughout the day and a solid headwind for the last 20km or so. Most of the morning was spent in a great 3-up time trial stylee with Tara "The Train" Norton and Douglas "The Doctor", rolling around.

We were making great progress, when all got a bit warm (sun came out), so we stopped to remove jackets....and then THE Molina Train arrived with 2 more in tow and we formed an awesome paceline for the next 3 hours.

Legs feeling great today and mentally really on it today - getting used to the century's racking up :) (5 in a row - oooo yeah!). How'd d'ya like them apples!

Right then key place names for the day are;

Turanghi
Taurewa (next to Whakapapa - hehe....brilliant!)
Waikune
pokaka
Raetihi
kakatahi
Upokongaro
and finally rolling into Wanganui to round out about 173km of riding.

Catch up tomorrow for Day 7 - Wanganui to Palmerston - 201km.

Day 5 - Mata Mata to Turanghi (at the side of Lake Taupo) Distance 168km

2010-01-06T23:27:00.000-08:00

Day 5 - Mata Mata to Turanghi (at the side of Lake Taupo)
Distance 168km

Another solid in day in the saddle. We started with a good 40km of relatively flat stuff

which was a great way to warm up and get into the day.

Todays route took us through the following;

Mata Mata
Putaruru
Arapuni (clearly the home of corrugated iron on everything!! including a building shaped

like a dog!!!)
Tokoroa
Whakamaru
Tihoi
and then finally into the Hauhungaroa Range at the side of Lake Taupo
and finishing up in Teranghi.

The second half of the days riding was really rolling with some good solid climbs of a good

4-5mins, with a couple of them at 6-7mins.

I rode the second half after lunch with Nick and we had a good little tempo riding sessions

on the last couple of climbs before rolling onto the flats running around the edge of the

lake.

The legs are starting to get used to the mileage and riding day after day. Thats another

168km in the bank, which takes the distance covered so far (on the bike) to 776km in 5 days

- Sweeeeeetttttt :)

Mentally the big learning curve is that although the legs are tired, the pain/soreness

doesnt actually get any worse, so ive started to be able to play a little on the climbs and

ride tempo a little, ill experiment with this more and more as the days go by. but im

recovering well at the moment, definatelty eating and sleeping pretty too. In addition to

developing a pretty interesting set of tan lines.

The last couple of days have been great getting to know everybody a lot more and learning

about how they juggle family/work/training - some fascinating stories and some seriously

strong athletes.

I'll get hold of some of the other atheletes blog sites, which should also give a different

perspective on each particular day.

Russell Cox (full-time athlete and a 9:19 Ironman PB) is on www.trainstravels.com

most excellent quote of the day on a climb was;

- "Hey Bro, what gearing have you got?"
- "Ive got a 53/39 with a 10-speed block on the back, AND there ALL 11's!!!"

Day 6 (Friday, 8th Jan) is from Turanghi to Wanganui, 180km

Catch yer tomorrow.

Day 4 - Coramandel to Mata Mata - 150km

2010-01-05T23:46:00.000-08:00

Day 4 already, developing a little bit of a routine to the days now, and the body seems to be recovering well for the next new day as well which is great, so looking good as we head into Day 5 tomorrow.

TOday, we had a nice easy 13km ride through Auckland to grab a ferry to Coramandel and the start of an Aquathlon (1km sea swim, 5km run) - I opted out of this one, to save the legs for the riding, although the camera crew spotted me and had me running intervals while carrying a hand-held camera running alongside those taking part in the race (Gordo - any points for 1km of intervals???), hopefully some great footage should come out of those!!

The ride today was 150km along the coast line, with 2 climbs within the first 20km of the ride, legs felt reasonably fresh today, so had a nice push towards the top to see how they felt - pretty good, and then enjoyed the rest of the day in the bunch after everybody re-grouped. some great descending too.

a little tight on time tonight, 8.30pm here now and bedtime is calling, early start tomorrow.

Details on todays ride and tomorrows ride to come.

Day 3 - Whangeri to Auckland- 173km

2010-01-04T20:24:00.000-08:00

Day 3 - Whangeri to Auckland- 173km

Another tough day in the saddle, the sun was out and so was headwind - a pretty brutal day all in all!

So what did we get up to? well, the day started at about 5.30 with a light brekkie and then a short 2km run down (yep, for that read - downhill!) and 2.2km of swimming, then the 2km uphill run back to the camp for a proper breakfast and get ready for the bike leg.

Today, we rode from Whangeri to Auckland, which consisted of the famed kiwi rollers, the course itself took us from Whangeri to Waipu cove right on the east coast, which gave us a great view of the "Hen and Chicken Islands" - no photos though as I too busy chewing my handlebars at this point to really notice (big headwind).

We then rode straight across to the other side of the island, along with some tasty climbs, to Wellsford and along the coast before turning back inland at Kaukapaka (great names).

Again some awesome views, but some tough climbing.

Stats as follows;

2.2km Swim
4km Run
173km Bike

7540cals burnt today (total)
Internal Core temp: 37deg ;)

Right then, cake and sleep! :)

Day 2 - Kaitaia to Whangeri - 174km

2010-01-03T23:45:00.000-08:00

Day 2 - Kaitaia to Whangeri.

The first long ride of the camp today, consisting of some classic kiwi rollers (undulating landscape). Also on offer were the camps first KOM (King of the Mountains) points.

The day was pretty wet and rainy, although not cold which was great, and a small tail-wind which helped keep the averages up and also helped on some of the rollers.

My group consisted of Dan, Nick, Jordon, Rob Q, Big Eric (all 6ft 8inch of him, and makes a great hole in the wind!) and Randy for pretty much most of the day with everyone doing some nice turns on the front, Big E did pull a fair bit on the flat though, and very nice they were too - as they were usually between 40-45kph everytime.

legs reasonably good today, confidence starting to build nicely and easing myself into the camp, without going nuts early on. looking good so far :)

So then, that 265km of 2250km of riding done and dusted. Day 3 consists of a 185km rolling one, but were kicking off the day a 2km run, 2km swim (for me, 3km for the other guys) and then a 2km swim - brekkie and then straight into the ride.

should be a good one.

Catch up tomorrow.

Day 1 - Cape Reinga to Kaitaia

2010-01-02T20:43:00.000-08:00

Day 1 - Cape Reinga to Kaitaia

...and there off....

We headed out early for the coach ride up to the very northern tip of North Island, Cape Reinga. On arrival we headed across to the lighthouse for a bit of a photo-shoot and take in the stunning scenary.

Everyone was resplendant in their new Epic Camp kit, and right next to signpost with London being about 10 000 miles away!! There are some great photos of the Cape, so ill upload those on another day.

The 20km (reads as 20, but i think nearer to 23km) run consisted of a couple of hills, haha...in fact they were massive, a bit more like the Lake District in the UK, but incredible to look at. The run was split between a first 13km warm-up on asphalt and then a 10km race for the second section to sort out the jerseys and get the Day 1 points on the board.
It was pretty tough run as the sun was heating us up a treat and humidity around 70%, although that somehow didnt stop us from going a bit faster when the camera crew were about - gotta look fast for those bits!!!

There's some seriously talented athletes on this camp, knocking out some pretty impressive times!! I'll come back to that as the camp continues, as ill introduce some of the guys/girls. The camp is brilliantly organised and the support crew amazing :) even with a mobile aid station on the run section for water!

A quick stop for lunch and then 90km on the bike, which had a very nice tailwind for the majority, enabling us to hit and sustain a very tasty 40+ kph for reasonable periods of time, no real climbs as such, but Healthy kiwi rollers. The ride was split again into 2 sections, with an initial 60km section and then finishing off with a 30km Time Trial back to the hotel, with everyone starting 30secs apart. A fraction dehydrated by this point, made it pretty tough going.

Total riding for the day, no records for the riding (but a fair way to go), so playing the tactical game and making sure I get to week 2 (south Island) in good shape. Hoping to use the first week to build fitness and strength and then see what happens in the second week (Gordo - dont read that bit, as im giving away my secrets!! hehe...)

No data for the run unfortunately, as my watch battery has run out of juice - doh!

Ride Data though as follows;

Distance 89.19km
Energy used: 3240cals (probably about the same for the run!)
Avg Cadence: 84rpm
Max Speed: 76kph
Total Ride time: 3hrs 2mins

Catch up tomorrow for Day 2

HAPPY NEW YEAR from NZ 2010

2009-12-31T17:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2010....

What a fantastic way to see the new year! according to the pilot of NZ1 earlier this morning, my flight (NZ1) was the last plane to leave Los Angeles that would be crossing the international date-line, which means we were the first people to see 2010! How cool is that :)

Flight's were nice and uneventful (just how i like my flights!!) and I was entertained by Peter Kay's (comedy genius) new book.

The other athletes are now starting to arrive throughout today and early morning and then tomorrow we'll be making our way by coach to Cape Reinga, where we'll properly kick off the camp with a 20km run. Now, as everyone knows its a pretty long way to go, but you get 24 athletes together in the same place at the same time, and yep, pretty much it'll turn into a race!! :) brilliant.

Im sure we'll settle into a rhythm by day 2, so everythings shaping up to be a great trip. Some quality banter already taking and shape and incredibly cricket hasnt been mentioned once as yet by the aussies!! :)

So far not falling asleep which is good, so just need to make it to 9pm this evening and I should be set for tomorrow's early morning easy run, just to stretch the legs.

Oh yeah, techy bits;

Resting HR this morning: 39bpm (hhmmm...very rested then)
Bodyweight: 72.5kg

Be interesting to see how these change on a daily basis.

Production Crew

2009-12-29T14:06:00.000-08:00

Just found out that our training camp will have a documentary production crew in tow throughout the trip. Exciting stuff! Don't fancy cycling or swimming with those big heavy cameras though.

Pre-Flight Checks

2009-12-29T09:48:00.000-08:00

Pre-Flight Checks!

Right then...only a day to go before the flight and its FREEZING in the UK!! no change there then :) but we've had the shortest day now so its all good.

Xmas was fantastic with the family and managed to get in a couple of solid back to back 10milers in on xmas and boxing day, more just to check out the fitness and the legs really. No more gains can be made in the fitness department now, so just ticking over nicely at the moment.

So then....packing! the tricky bit of deciding what to take....after a few false starts the bike is in the box. When im back at work, I'll start designing stuff using the same threads as my pedals - im sure they are self tightening!!! never to be loosened. Fortunately an allen key with a 1.5m long aluminium broom handle seemed to loosen it nicely! :p

Im just chilling now, having a little think as what I want out of the training camp...after a lot of deliberation, I think i have the following aims;

1. Have fun and do something so far out of my comfort zone, I cant even see the horizon. Based on the fact that its fascinating to find out what happens when we go up and beyond normal physical boundaries but with full support from a team of helpers...interesting to see how i handle it :)

2. Train with some of the best endurance athletes in the world and see how i stack up, competitive edge starting to overtake the initial nervous anticipation that i had earlier today :)

3. Have fun (did i mention that already!?), get some top photos, some quality banter with people on camp and some quality pub stories for the next year or so :)

4. Play at being a pro for the next 18 days and experience what they actually get up to - apparently, despite popular myth, its not 8hrs training on the Wii!! - although the Wii Fit is pretty hard!!!

Haha...oooo....nearly forgot, also get to spend 18days chatting about bikes/training/carbon and whether Team Sky will dominate cycling season, without people glazing over, hehe...

My next update should be when i arrive in NZ on the 1st Jan, a couple of days before the start of training proper. Ill try and describe the training, food intake (massive) and a few general stats and comedy notes about the guys im training with.

Have a great New Years Eve.

2009-12-23T05:47:00.000-08:00

Morning, well then....its all snow and ice here in the UK at the moment, -4deg when I stepped into the car earlier on... hoping the temperatures are significantly warmer the other side of the planet.

Right then...the boys have sorted the stages out for the riding, so here's a breakdown of the cycle distances pencilled in for each particular day. This dont include the swimming and the running sections!!! Hhhmm...think Gordon might be saving those as special end of the day treats????

ISLAND STAGE DISTANCE (km)
North Island Stage 1 - Cape Reinga to Kaitaia 89.7
Stage 2 - Kaitaia to Whangarei 199.33
Stage 3 - Whanagarei to North Shore 172.06

Stage 4 -Coromandel to Matamata 143.91
Stage 5 - Matamata to Turangi 181.91
Stage 6: Turangi to Wanganui 170.05

Stage 7: Wanganui Masterton 197.19
Stage 8: Masterton to Wellington 133.58

The Cook Straight

South Island Stage 9: Picton to Blenheim 28.2

Stage 10: Blenhiem to Kaikoura 128.11
Stage 11 Kaikoura to Christchurch 180.5
Stage 12 Christchurch to Geraldine 149.27

Stage 13 Gerladine to Waianakarua 147.58
Stage 14 Waianakarua to Balclutha 184.04
Stage 15 Balclutha to Bluff 181.35

Tickover training is going well, although I think ive almost stared through the backwall of the garage, seems like ive been in there for hours, in reality probably only a few minutes, seems like hours though!

Getting excited now and raring to go, trying desperately to avoid the urge to go and do some nuts last minute training - fortunately xmas cake and snow is helping me prevent that.

A week and a half to go

2009-12-19T12:52:00.000-08:00

Hi, only a week to go till christmas, which only a week and a half to go until the big flight to NZ - kit list is now complete, so just the packing and keeping tickover on the training side of things.

Starting to get my head around the task of riding 2300km from the Northern tip of the North Island to the Southern tip of the South Island. Really looking forward to it and catching up with some good mates ive not seen in a while.

My weapon of choice for the training camp is a 2008 Specialized Tarmac Pro SL...mmmmm....super comfy, but brilliantly stiff for climbing and going for those extra little points at the sprints to keep me high on the score board. Im also taking my Powertap SL+ to track power and chart progress throughout the trip.

My aim is to try and upload notes and photos at the end of each day, so you can all keep track of where I am and how im doing.....and more importantly record the cake consumption.