Karen writes: Looking back at 2010 Taupo Cycle Challenge

Got such a full-on week this week.   Lots of work lined up, couple of evening meetings, and plenty to do to get things ready at home so as to leave the whanau to their own devices for a few days.  I really look forward to Taupo, it’s the annual girls weekend away, and a very brief intermission from family responsibilities…well…you never really leave responsibility, that’s what phones are for.   Anyway, every year is different, every year is great, however last year stands out in my mind.  It was great to have an excellent ride, knocking yet another half hour off our time, I also caught up with long unseen relatives and friends who were there for the event too. Last year however was significant because of where we stayed.

We had left our accommodation to the last minute, Kate managed to make a booking and in the car on the way down she said she “hoped it would be ok”, there was good reason for concern, it was suspiciously cheap!  We got there, and drove down a road which ended with crumbling buildings looking like a deserted set for a western movie.  We went into the bar with sinking hearts to get directions, it was...um...basic.  We were directed round the back down a gravel drive to some tiny units, there were a few which were derelict with plants growing inside them, but the more modern ones were connected by one long deck.  Once we had a look in our tiny room, which had everything we needed, we then went outside to see the steam rising out of the ditch along-side the driveway, native birds everywhere, beautiful bush with some old fashioned garden plant escapees and we were charmed.   We also looked up close at the derelict buildings, and it turned out that we were in a place with real history, the site had been a spa in the 1800’s and had been stayed at by all sorts of interesting people.   

What was most fun though was when the other cyclists started turning up, people from far away places, people getting ready for other events, even previous placegetters in the Taupo Ride.   I shall always remember sitting around on that deck on plastic chairs with the experts laughing (kindly) at our way of doing things, offering suggestions and encouragement, arguing about the merits of this supplement or that piece of equipment.   There was much merriment occasioned when we said we might stop and take photos, someone said we could stop and go shopping too perhaps and we were happy to report that we intended to do exactly that for our traditional coca cola top-up outside Taupo.  Great fun…then everyone went off to their beds at 9pm and there wasn’t a sound until time to get up in the morning…one of the benefits of staying at a place frequented by other (more serious) cyclists!  After the race the next day we were amused when our dinner was eyed with avarice (we'd stopped at the supermarket), and the glass of wine too, we felt sorry for those who had ‘strict nutritionists’ and were munching on bread rolls, it can be so good to be an amateur!

So we are off again in a couple of days, we left booking too late again so haven’t seen where we are staying this time. Hope it is half as pleasant as last year, whatever, we can be guaranteed we will meet plenty of new people, and usually quite a few we have seen before too.