Last November I entered the Wattyle Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge and
completed the ride in approximately 11 and a half hours. I told myself
then that the round the mountain was compulsory since finishing the 100
mile ride was so rewarding, and Mount Taranaki is something I love most
about my home.
On Saturday the 27th of January I entered the 'Dutch Mill Taranaki
Cycle Challenge' (http://www.cyclechallenge.co.nz/), 150km around the
Mountain.
3 weeks prior to the race I did lots of off road riding when Tony
Melton visited New Plymouth. The next week I was supposed to train but
I mostly slacked and my biggest ride was up to North Egmont where I
cleaned up the broken glass from the smash and grab in which Tony's bag
got stolen the week before. On Thursday the 25th (two days before the
race) I got a Bowen treatment from Martin at Kowhai Clinic. I'm not
sure all the details but it is supposed to make athletes perform better
making lactic acid drain better or something. I looked it up:
Bowen technique said:The Bowen- ANS (Autonomic Nervous System ) technique uses a series of
simple gentle moves across muscle and connective tissue. This process
is very effective in helping balance many muscular, skeletal nerve or
chronic conditions. By balancing the parasympathetic and sympathetic
portions of the Autonomic Nervous System, the body begins to heal
itself and to be relieved of toxins.
On Friday I put the 700c x 28mm tire on that Peter Bier gave me (and I
rode around Lake Taupo on it) but this time I decided to try 5 more psi
than the recommended minimum and inflated it to 120psi. A few minutes
later the tire started to make a noise and I took a few steps away from
it before it folded off the rim and exploded with a huge blowout. I put
on an old tire and tube and rode to my friends house to get last minute
sponsorship. Reuben from 'www.Modz.co.nz' (http://www.modz.co.nz/)
sponsored me- his business specialises in modifying Xboxes and
Playstations. I had a slow flat tire from the old innertube that I
didn't fix, so by the time I got home and fixed it and prepared for the
race and went to bed it was 3am. It was my intention to wake up at ten
to five, and ride into town by 6, but I woke at 6:20am and got my
flatmate to drive me to the start by 7am. I think Bruce (who entered
the race on a Coker) was intending to start at 5am but I'm not sure
exactly what time he left.
I took off at 7.02am, glad of the extra sleep, wearing Camo pants with
pre-worn holes in the legs. I had my MP3 player (with speakers) sewn
onto my bag for sounds along the way- Joe Satriani can be quite
inspirational for pedalling fast. The Elite riders left at 7:30am and
they came swooping past me sometime before Oakura- I remember a breeze
following their pack, the whirring of chains/gears and a handful of
encouraging comments directed at me. The view of the Mountain was
awesome- the weather was fine! At Okato the people cheered as I stopped
to drink water- they chanted as I skulled it (I had my trusty 1.5l
plastic soft drink bottle rather than the standard camelpack). I swore
as one side of my broken zip came off putting the bottle away- leaving
me to rely on four safety pins and one broken zipper to hold my bag
together. I rode off one footed to the amazement of the crowd.
I found the course to be relatively flat compared to the Lake Taupo
race- and I made quite good time over the first 50km to Opunake. I
caught up with Bruce at Opunake and stopped for a bit to chat, drink,
and smoke, but that was the last I saw of Bruce because I rode off
before him. I should have stuck around to ride with him for a bit but I
felt compelled to set the best time I could while still enjoying
myself.
The skin started wearing off from my inner thigh areas (that is a good
reason to wear non-holey trousers when racing) and the discomfort
started setting in. I persevered and kept my wheel spinning. The
comments from bike riders would always give me motivation- "You're my
hero", "You're amazing", "Unreal" and "You deserve a medal" were some
of the most popular remarks. A few people commented on my "Cool sounds"
or "Good riding music".
I noticed the lack of rubbish compared to Lake Taupo- but that was a
much bigger event so the rubbish was relative. Among the strange things
by the side of the road that I remembered were a rubber mallet, a
plastic gun, rubber gloves- and a lot of other non-cycle related [censored]-
heaps of old CDs (I wondered if any of them were Tony's- stolen from
his CD wallet and ditched by the side of the road). I passed the half
way point (Te Kiri) without even realising.
Time started dragging on and I just wanted to reach Stratford- since
that is a place I had ridden to before. I was a bit disappointed to
only reach Eltham but the next leg was very short so I kept going with
the thought of Stratford being 2/3 of the way there. Along the way a
bike rider seemed to recognise me and stopped to chat. It turned out
she met me when I rode to Stratford in my training for Taupo. She had a
flat tire (back then) and I stopped and talked to her and offered help
which she didn't need. After she said where we met I remembered her and
it was kinda cool cos we had our training ride in common even though
our vehicles were so different. I stopped in Stratford for another well
deserved smoke break, and calculated that I was in good time for
finishing before prize giving.
I was approaching a bridge near Midhurst when I decided to take the
side-path to keep out of the way of traffic on the narrow bridge. As
soon as I left the road and went onto the gravelly footpath, I heard
air rushing out of my tire, I pulled over and sat down slightly
disappointed that my prophecy had come true. Well it was not quite
true- I had thought I would get punctured by the sea of broken glass
that fills the shoulder of many Taranaki roads, but it was an old glass
wound that had left a gaping hole in my tire. After 120km of riding the
road just rubbed it's way through my inner tube. I fixed the hole in
both the tire and the tube. I pumped up the high volume tire for ages
with my little Pocket Rocket pump- knowing that without decent pressure
long rides suck!
It started spitting a bit and I put my MP3 player away in my bag- the
battery almost dead. The support van came up behind me not too long
afterwards and followed me for the rest of the ride- I think I was the
last rider who hadn't given up at that point. I stopped at an Inglemud
petrol station for a dump, and tried to use their stupid digital air
compressor but it kept turning down the PSI when I calibrated it to 70.
I filled my water bottle at the last support stop, got out my MP3
player and headed off again, enduring the stinging pain of sweat in my
leg abrasions.
Egmont Village came soon enough where I was able to put a few more PSI
into my tire to see me through til the end. It was the home stretch!!!
Familiar territory. There was only two small hills which they saved til
the end, and they didn't manage to make my legs tired. I put on a burst
of speed over the finish line and they showed me my time of 9 hours 24,
which just now as I think about it could have been 10 hours 24 or
something. 7:02am til 5:26pm. The crowd cheered loudly when I arrived.
I went amongst the riders gathered for prizegiving and I was inundated
with people congratulating me, shaking my hand, and asking how long I
took (to which I replied 9 hours 24 which they showed me on a digital
screen when I finished). I claimed my free Ham Sandwich and Low-carb
beer, and handed a few 'Modz' (http://www.modz.co.nz/) cards out while
I waited for prizegiving. I got no prizes and wasn't even acknowledged
for coming in last- they claimed a Japanese rider did.
I rode to Burger Fuel and got a free burger before doing a bit of a
victory lap in town to visit friends who were not home before riding
home (slowly, painfully) to Bell Block. It was good to get home and
have a shower and all the other luxuries that come with being home. My
legs were not too sore- more saddle sore than muscle sore. The muscles
in my back and legs were sore a bit, but nowhere near as sore as after
Lake Taupo. Back then I could barely lift my legs, but this time I
could do knees up mother brown without fuss. The next morning my calf
muscles cramped up one at a time after I woke up. 30 seconds of pain
each leg. My flatmate told me afterwards that walking on cold linoleum
fixes cramp- maybe I'll try that next time if I can walk when it
happens.
Two days have passed and I'm feeling fine. A day of rest put all my
aches and sores behind me, and I went into the Midweek (a local free
paper) to tell them my story today. They took some photos and hopefully
I'll appear in Wednesdays paper with mention of my Sponsor. Apparently
there was nothing about the race on the national TV News on Saturday. I
did a rolling interview during the race but I think it was footage for
the event organisers to play at next years event.
It might have been Te Kiri when Hugh Johnson took a few photos of me
and I gave him my email and the wrong phone number (my mind was foggy),
and he sent me the photos of which I have attached a couple. I hope you
have enjoyed reading my long winded writeup- the writing is short
compared to the race. Everyone who likes long distance unicycling a lot
should try a bicycle race event- it's surreal! The unicycling world is
so relatively small compared to the bike world that you can be a
champion of your class even if you are what you consider to be a
mediocre rider.
Thanks to my sponsors- Modz, Missing Link, and Kowhai Clinic!!!
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Rowan
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