Got in to Wgtn a little after 1.00am Friday 29th. My brother Mike was there to pick me up , bless him. Home to Raumati Beach , cup of tea , condense 5 or 6 hours of bullshit into 90 minutes , asleep by 2.45, up at 8.00am , time to push the go button.
Big hello to Mickey boys family, bike assembled, some tasks to attend to, on the road to Taupo.
Taupos very scenic. People come from all over the world to fish for trout in the lake.
The lake we ride around - view from my uncles house .
I struggled early, losing my group. Losing your group means losing a lot of time if you can't get yourself into following bunches. I wound up doing 80k or more by myself and going half an hour to forty mins slower than I had hoped . I handled the main hills ok but struggled with the sheer number of inclines and the wind, which along with the road vibration also all combined to spell trouble for my lower back.I stopped counting at 16 anti inflamms and Ibuprofens.
Brend, my brother Mike, Todd, Mikey P and Abdi all did 4.26 or thereabouts which was a fabulous time.The winner did 3.46.
Abdis missus Verity did 5.25 on six weeks training which was pretty spectacular.
As is often the case following events like this the aftermatch was lots of fun as everyone is in pretty good spirits.
Back to Wgtn via my uncles for breakfast on Sunday. Mum and my nz based sister there also so very pleasant morning.
Golf On the Monday with a couple of Mikes mates - $10 the front nine, $10 the back nine and $10 the match. There is no more fun than 18 holes of good natured niggle if you have an appetite for a little niggle.
The match went to the 18th which equates to the setting on the banterometer up at maximum.
Bit of controversy on the 17th only heightened the fun. A couple at the Waterfront Bar on the way home with the sun setting over the ocean. Dreadful day.
Up at 7 this morning and on our bikes up the Akatarawas (the Akas). It's a hill range Mickey and the boys train on. It's just on a 7k climb in all.Hard work but huge fun.
We did 25.50 for the timed 6.1 k section from where they start their clocks - they've done 19 minutes! They're not easy blokes to warm to!
All the nz boys have had a fantastic seasons and improved drastically on the bike - as has Brend.
Having had a couple of bottles of pop the night before we needed a wholesome breakfast so stopped for a pie and hwfw on the way home .
Here's a couple of pictures from the top of the Akas.
I'm standing 30 m from the road to get this snap with the water in the background and couldn't persuade anyone else to join me in the picture .
They stayed exactly where they were. Mickey, Abdi and Dave.
Mickey boy and yours truly.
That's it from the current series.
I have a fairly ambitious project I'm contemplating for the first quarter of 2014. It's a change in direction. If it proceeds the plan at this stage is to post once a week for the 13 week period 1 Jan to 31 March.
I'll outline the plan last week in December.
Happy Xmas
