Karen writes: SRAM Tour de Ranges
I headed off with a dose of lemsip and extra hankies this morning, the cold I caught on Thursday is having it's effect, but I'm tough...aren't I? Got to Clevedon, people everywhere, the event was much bigger than I had anticipated and I was glad I was there a little early to get good parking. I got all ready, hopped on my bike in the parking area to test the gears and promptly fell off onto the grass. No harm done, just the pride as I lay like an upturned bug under my bike.
At the start I lurked at the back of the group, not wanting to be overtaken by every man and his bike, but came adrift with this when we hit the first big hill 5km out. There was a bottleneck of people who had raced along the flats but were still getting into their hill-climbing stride so to speak, it was a bit tricky there for a bit going round people uphill who would pass me again on the downhill, and they did.
The field thinned out soon enough, well, left me behind actually, and I enjoyed wandering along at what was for me a fast clip towards Hunua. I got a fright when there was a whoosh and a big group came chugging past me, "hop on" they said and I said "no thanks", "HOP on pinky" more of them said (my pink leg warmers got lots of attention again), "no thanks, I don't want to draft, I'm triathlon training" as I resisted being pulled along in their wake...I looked longingly at the tail end and the only thing I could do was slow a bit so as not to be towed along until the group started to break up on the hills and the fast ones took off.
Wow, what wonderful weather, sunny, mild, no wind most of the way, well actually, I didn't think there was any real wind but I did see someone complaining about a slow time because of the wind on the Facebook page, goodness knows where they were training if they thought that was wind...indoors? All pretty uneventful, just pedalling pedalling pedalling, the marmite and honey sandwiches being eaten, the frozen milk drink had thawed enough to drink at 50km, and the road just kept disappearing under my tyres. The only thing of note was on the first set of big hills before Kawakawa bay, coming down one of those wonderful narrow, winding, steep roads hanging on to my brakes for dear life, there were people frantically signalling to slow down and it turned out someone had had a nasty accident, puts a damper on things for a bit as you ponder the frailty of the two wheeled human. There was other evidence of strife in other places too so for some people the day obviously wasn't so good.
Ten points off for that nasty man in his white mitsubishi who came up behind me on the road at Kawakawa bay and hooted and yelled abuse because HE had to slow down behind me in the face on oncoming traffic. No I wont get right off into the b&&&&y gravel for impatient motorists!
Back to Clevedon, feeling pretty pleased with myself and overtaking lots of people over the last 5km, I wasn't going faster, so much as they seemed to have slowed down after over 100km of hard road. Anyway, the whanau were there cheering which was so nice, and I managed 4 hours 46, had been planning on 5. I was 86th out of 97 women, I wasn't last! Ever notice that the imbalance between men and women is HUGE in these events, I mean, less than 100 women, and over 500 men, what is that about?
I didn't go for my run off-the-bike though, and I have spent the afternoon moping around barely functional. Right now I'm trying to stay awake a bit longer because it seems a bit wimpy to want to be in bed at 8pm. Tomorrow is the test though...long run, on properly tired legs at last.
Wonder how Kate is going at Ironman camp?
At the start I lurked at the back of the group, not wanting to be overtaken by every man and his bike, but came adrift with this when we hit the first big hill 5km out. There was a bottleneck of people who had raced along the flats but were still getting into their hill-climbing stride so to speak, it was a bit tricky there for a bit going round people uphill who would pass me again on the downhill, and they did.
The field thinned out soon enough, well, left me behind actually, and I enjoyed wandering along at what was for me a fast clip towards Hunua. I got a fright when there was a whoosh and a big group came chugging past me, "hop on" they said and I said "no thanks", "HOP on pinky" more of them said (my pink leg warmers got lots of attention again), "no thanks, I don't want to draft, I'm triathlon training" as I resisted being pulled along in their wake...I looked longingly at the tail end and the only thing I could do was slow a bit so as not to be towed along until the group started to break up on the hills and the fast ones took off.
Wow, what wonderful weather, sunny, mild, no wind most of the way, well actually, I didn't think there was any real wind but I did see someone complaining about a slow time because of the wind on the Facebook page, goodness knows where they were training if they thought that was wind...indoors? All pretty uneventful, just pedalling pedalling pedalling, the marmite and honey sandwiches being eaten, the frozen milk drink had thawed enough to drink at 50km, and the road just kept disappearing under my tyres. The only thing of note was on the first set of big hills before Kawakawa bay, coming down one of those wonderful narrow, winding, steep roads hanging on to my brakes for dear life, there were people frantically signalling to slow down and it turned out someone had had a nasty accident, puts a damper on things for a bit as you ponder the frailty of the two wheeled human. There was other evidence of strife in other places too so for some people the day obviously wasn't so good.
Ten points off for that nasty man in his white mitsubishi who came up behind me on the road at Kawakawa bay and hooted and yelled abuse because HE had to slow down behind me in the face on oncoming traffic. No I wont get right off into the b&&&&y gravel for impatient motorists!
Back to Clevedon, feeling pretty pleased with myself and overtaking lots of people over the last 5km, I wasn't going faster, so much as they seemed to have slowed down after over 100km of hard road. Anyway, the whanau were there cheering which was so nice, and I managed 4 hours 46, had been planning on 5. I was 86th out of 97 women, I wasn't last! Ever notice that the imbalance between men and women is HUGE in these events, I mean, less than 100 women, and over 500 men, what is that about?
I didn't go for my run off-the-bike though, and I have spent the afternoon moping around barely functional. Right now I'm trying to stay awake a bit longer because it seems a bit wimpy to want to be in bed at 8pm. Tomorrow is the test though...long run, on properly tired legs at last.
Wonder how Kate is going at Ironman camp?
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