Karen writes: 101 kilometers
Busy day yesterday. Kids to school, me off to work, then I took annual leave from lunchtime, dropped the spin bike off for repair, went home, and got on the road-bike with 4 hours before I needed to collect the kids again in time to begin their evening routine. It could have been worse, poor Kate was sitting an exam.
So I headed off towards Clevedon, my new tyres felt good, and the worrying noises had disappeared, just like the nice people at Avanti Plus in Botany said they would. I entertained myself doing loops of various roads out the back of Manurewa, Takanini and Papakura, the km clicked up slowly. I wasn't too bored most of the time, even though 4 hours is a long time by yourself on the road, I struck several sets of roadworks, chased small planes and had a sheep slalom. The Ardmore airport is worth a few circuits to watch the planes go in and out, and if you time it right you can cycle underneath (briefly) as they fly along some roads. One came in to land when I was riding perpendicular to the runway, it sounded like it was almost on top of my head and I had to hang on as the bike rocked in it's wake. I wouldn't let that happen with a bigger plane!
The sheep...by 93km I was tired and grumpy, craving for water instead of powerade, and thinking about the last hill of any significance which is about 8 km from home. A sign for 'livestock' by the side of the road made me groan, with my luck it was likely to be cattle and they are really scary when you are on a bike. I have visions of being accidentally sandwiched between two big beasts, I usually stop and wait for a car and tuck in close behind it, warily eyeing huge heads and powerful legs and heavy swaying bodies. But no, I came round the corner and the road was blocked with sheep. The farmer signaled me to just go ahead so I slowly made my way up the hill weaving across the whole road, going round skinny flanked ewes and their fat energetic lambs, it was neat, I was smiling by the time I got to the top of the hill.
Next week the programme says 110km, that's going to be hard, I might have to slow the pace down a bit because yesterday's effort left me feeling pretty stiff and tired, I slept for ten hours last night.
So I headed off towards Clevedon, my new tyres felt good, and the worrying noises had disappeared, just like the nice people at Avanti Plus in Botany said they would. I entertained myself doing loops of various roads out the back of Manurewa, Takanini and Papakura, the km clicked up slowly. I wasn't too bored most of the time, even though 4 hours is a long time by yourself on the road, I struck several sets of roadworks, chased small planes and had a sheep slalom. The Ardmore airport is worth a few circuits to watch the planes go in and out, and if you time it right you can cycle underneath (briefly) as they fly along some roads. One came in to land when I was riding perpendicular to the runway, it sounded like it was almost on top of my head and I had to hang on as the bike rocked in it's wake. I wouldn't let that happen with a bigger plane!
The sheep...by 93km I was tired and grumpy, craving for water instead of powerade, and thinking about the last hill of any significance which is about 8 km from home. A sign for 'livestock' by the side of the road made me groan, with my luck it was likely to be cattle and they are really scary when you are on a bike. I have visions of being accidentally sandwiched between two big beasts, I usually stop and wait for a car and tuck in close behind it, warily eyeing huge heads and powerful legs and heavy swaying bodies. But no, I came round the corner and the road was blocked with sheep. The farmer signaled me to just go ahead so I slowly made my way up the hill weaving across the whole road, going round skinny flanked ewes and their fat energetic lambs, it was neat, I was smiling by the time I got to the top of the hill.
Next week the programme says 110km, that's going to be hard, I might have to slow the pace down a bit because yesterday's effort left me feeling pretty stiff and tired, I slept for ten hours last night.
Comments