Caned

The Rice Mountain Classic is one of the ‘big’ races for the PNP Cycling Club and I was keen to give it a go.   I nervously entered B grade - 140km (C grade’s race was much shorter) as my cracked ribs were still giving me issues.

Surprisingly the pace early on was easy going, in fact too easy as C grade which started 3 minutes behind caught us like we were standing still.  The pace picked up with some of the young C Grade kids taking off and having their 5 minutes of glory.

On the first major hill the real contenders went to the front and set to work.  Hill climbing has never been my strong point so it was a matter of survival.  I hoped I would be able to catch them on the down hill – wrong!  As soon as I crested the top the skies opened up and it poured down.  This neutralised my plan and actually slowed me down as I hadn’t spent much time on my road bike and wasn’t prepared to take any risks.

After a few agonising kms along the flat, a few of us formed a group and managed to rejoin the lead group.  We stuck together through the turn around point and were making our way back, when I experienced a low patch around the same time the bunch started a long steady climb into a head wind.  Slowly, ever so slowly, I drifted off the back.

Once I lost the bunch I eased up to wait for the next bunch.  Unfortunately an experienced triathlete named Peter Kane caught me before the bunch did.  He asked me if I wanted to do a 2 up TT with him for the rest of the race – 60km.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep up with him but the idea of riding alone into a strong head wind wasn’t appealing, so I decided I would give it a try.

I took my turns when I could and we slowly ticked off the Kms.  The rain eased up but the headwind remained relentless. Peter and I stayed together until the finish line even though he towed me near the end. I ran out of fluids with about 20km to go.  What surprised me the most was I consumed 4 bottles of fluid and needed 1 more, Peter did the entire race on 2 and finished with a few sips left.

Once I crossed the finish line I gingerly made my way into town, bought a nice cold bottle of Coke, sat in the shade and cherished every single drop!

Note:  In New Zealand, caned means to be beaten by a large amount, in this recount, I was caned by Peter kane.

Three Races In Three Days - 21st,22nd & 23rd September 2012

Friday Night (Race One)
Okay, the first 'race' wasn't technically an official race. Greg and I decided to go for a spin up Cannon Point and take it easy on the downhill, the perfect way to get ready for the duathlon the next day. Once we started going down, neither one of us wanted to come second so it became a 'race'




Saturday morning (Race Two)
This was my second duathlon on the same course in as many weeks but this time it was the Ironmaori. I was very impressed with the atmosphere, great support for all the athletes. Full results here

Sunday morning (Race Three)
As we seem to do every year, whether it's for the Vets/PNP four up or two up time trial, Kevin and I paired up for this year's two up time trial. The weather was absolutely perfect!!! Sadly I don't have a video but our goal was to go under one hour and we achieved that. Full results here

Someone forgot to read the script!!!

Someone forgot to read the script and when I say someone, I mean EVERYONE else!!!!-:)

I have parcipated in this race for the last couple of years with the same script. We cruised to the bottom of Wainui Hill, the odd Pantani attcked the bunch going up while the rest of us groveled to the summit.  As it is  a slight downhill to the coast,  those that got dropped would work together, catch the riders out in front and then we all worked together back up the valley into the head wind.  Once we got to the rubbish tip enterance the odd attack would start but the real contenders wouldn't start sprinting until leaving the dip with 100-200 metres to the finish line.  Sounds like quite a pleasent race, doesn't it?

(In the Balfour Pennington Series, the bunches are handicapped with Scratch being the fastest and Break four being the slowest.  The powers to be put me in Break two).

This year 'that script' was thrown out the window on the start line! All it took was for one person to jump on the "Go" and the bunch was all fired up, dropping people before the start of the hill.  For me, I was able to hang on along the flat and limit the damage going up Wainui Hill. A gap of 50m opened up quickly which slowly became 100m.  Any hope I had of rejoining the front bunch before the top was dashed about 3/4 of the way up on one of the steeper corners.  I tried to bridge the gap but my legs had nothing in them, leaving me to look around and join forces with three others.  We worked well together down Coast Rd closing in on a few riders just ahead of us.  WOOOSH, about half way down, Break 1 caught us, we worked  with them, caught Break 3 just before the turn around.  A few kiometers later we caught Break 4.  I never saw what happened at the front as I was tucked in neatly near the back of about 40-60 riders.  The pace suggested that we were riding into a very strong head wind.

It was a good day out, my first raod race in about 8 weeks, didn't crack or crash and I was able to bank a 4 hour ride.

I'm cooked*.....and I've got 26 more weeks of this!!!!!

I've now completed three weeks of my training with 26 left and I'm done like an over cooked Sunday roast. 

I had this great idea, I would forget about my training programme for swimming and biking which are currently low miles and train for the whole time available.  Since I am in the 'Endurance' phase (low slow distance - LSD) I thought it would be easy but unfortunately it's not!  I am feeling like I have been hit by a large dump truck several times over, my shoulders feel like they could fall off at anytime, legs are so full of lactic acid it hurts to walk up 4 stairs in to my house and I can't stop eating.

I will stick with this new plan/idea for a few more weeks, hoping body adjusts quickly and I don't pick up any major injuries.  If I can't handle it, I will go back to my original plan.

This Saturday should see me racing my first club road race in 8 weeks.  If there is one course that doesn't suit me, THIS IS IT!  The race starts in Eastbourne, goes over Wainui Hill,out to the coast and back.  AHHHH,I can hear the dump truck picking up speed already. 

*After a quick search on Wikipedia to see how overseas readers would interpret "buggered" I decided to use the term 'cooked' meaning 'stuffed.'  In New Zealand "bugger/ed" is a common word and made famous in this great add.