Karen writes: Trip to Taupo

-
I have just done a whirlwind rush through the house, the children have clothes for the weekend, the dishwasher is on, the pantry has food in it, and I have several bags in a state of being half packed.  I have fiddled with the bike, debated lithium spray versus ordinary crc for the clattery derailer, and done an emergency wash of my favorite riding gloves.   Camera is charging.  Where did I put my helmet?

The next question is the weather...the forecast for Taupo says 'showers', but that is what it said for today in Auckland, it was more like heavy rain and the sort of wind only the mad would cycle in.  Better take the base layers, the merino skullcap, the light rain jacket, the heavy rain jacket, the winterweight arm and leg warmers, the shoe covers, the...yes, I am packing half the house here.

But it gets worse, not sure what the facilities are where we are staying, will there be towels, cutlery for vital sandwich making, somewhere to store milk for the essential weetbix...

And last but not least, Kate is planning a swim in the lake on Sunday morning before coming home.   Do I dare sabotage this by leaving my wetsuit behind?  Probably not, she is just as likely to make me swim without it!

I must check to see if I have packed the marmite.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Kate writes: never belive what Camp mother says....

-
"A HAUNTING IN HUNUA" Sunday 9th June 2013, 10:00am start, Hunua Falls car park Yes - Its that time of year that you need to get wet and dirty.  This club event has been designed to have a difficulty rating between "easy peasy to survivalistic". Leg 1: Road Cycle, 30km. May have some flat sections. Leg 2: Run, 9km. Will I stay dry? Leg 3: Mountain Bike, 20km. Pure downhill pleasure. This was the advert for the multi sports club outing. Yes I can do that I thought, no problem.  The road cycle was down and up hills, most of which I had done. That's half the battle when you know you can do it. But it was raining, well actually hailing. I was well prepared, loads of layering of clothing and a hat. So up the hills we went and I made them all. Back to the carpark and a quick change of clothes. Dry ones, even dry socks. I went off with one of the ladies who had an injury to her ankle. It was going to be a good walk.  Over the bridge at Hunua falls and ...
Read more

Karen writes: Life is strange

-
Image
This has not got the remotest thing to do with training for Ironman, but definitely is sports related. The first I'd heard of it was the phonecall from the promoter offering congratulations for the daughter winning "breakfast with the All Blacks".  Turned out the 9 year old had taken advantage of mum being off on her weekend run to enter a competition on the Sunday morning TVNZ kids programme, 'What Now'.  When I heard, I came out of my office perplexed, told the rest of the team, and there were suddenly a whole heap of self-appointed guardians over the age of 21 kindly volunteering to give up their day to go along and help out. I asked some questions when I got home, like "what did you have to do to enter?".  She said "say why I was the All Blacks biggest supporter".  "And what did you say?".   "Um...that I really, really liked them".  "Do you know anything about rugby darling?".  Silence.  Then, "but I rea...
Read more

Karen writes: 2 weeks to Taupo

-
Less than 2 weeks to the  Taupo cycle challenge .  The big bikeride with Kate on Friday did lots for my confidence though, 5 really enjoyable hours on the road, circumnavigating the whole of the Hunua ranges and covering 105 spectacular km.  This was the course followed for the SRAM Tour de ranges held in January of each year, or pretty close to it, I forgot the map and relied on the "I'm sure we just keep turning left" style of navigating. It is so much more enjoyable to do these things in company, picture us starting out by climbing the hills out the back of Clevedon until we were way above the tallest power pylons, stopping for a snack and to take in the view. Then plunging along the rollercoaster roads past Hunua, stopping for a snack and to take in a view.  Next racing along the beautiful coastal road at Kaiaua looking towards the Coromandal, stopping for a snack and to take in the view. At last, grinding up winding (hilly) roads through gorgeous bush before K...
Read more