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...
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Friday, 15 January 2010
Day 14 - Wainanakura to Balclutha
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 :)
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 :)
Thursday, 14 January 2010
Day 12 and Day 13
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.
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.
Monday, 11 January 2010
Day 10 – Blenheim to Kaikoura – 128km
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
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
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Day 8 - Masterton to Wellington (Awarded Green Jersey)
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 :)
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Day 8 - Masterton to Wellington
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.
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.
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