Every now and again i find my self getting so tied up doing stuff for bikes that i run out of time to ride. I have pretty much corrected this balance over the last month or 2 taking on a couple of cool road races here in NZ. I fitted my sprint bike with aero bars and a brake, pulled on some lycra for the babes (didnt work) and got training.

The 1st event was 2 laps around lake Rotorua for a total of 84km's and one manageable climb per lap. I opted for my regular 49/16, 80.5" ratio so i had a fighting chance on the flats with the roadies. It was all going to plan until i started to cramp as we started the final climb and so lost the bunch and had to finish the last 20k solo. I finished in 2hr 20min, the winners some 16 minutes ahead. I fatally assumed that i had underestimated my carbo intake and wasnt gonna let that happen for the next 160km event around lake Taupo....

Lake Taupo is NZ's biggest lake, so big, its a long and hilly 160km to loop it. This year more than 11,500 riders embarked on this challenge on all manner of machines but for the best part this is a roadies domain. Its possible to do this event as a team relay type deal and my plan was to take the start for our Godscogs team of 3, picking up Matty at 40k and Tai at 80k but for us all to keep riding and attempt the whole distance FIXED. Check the profile, its a bit hilly so i stepped the front chainring down to 47 and rolled out @ around 76" safe in the knowledge i needed to gobble even more carbo gel shit than i did in Rotorua. It quickly became apparent, as cramp once again kicked in just after an hour, that this ride was gonna be a whole lot harder than it already was. I kind of managed it mainly by staying seated for the climbs and chewing an entire packet of anti cramp tablets, sachets of salt and anything else i could beg off people. Fast forward to the end of the event and my road riding inexperience was clear to see, I had in fact way over dosed on carbs. Every extra gulp of gel i took to relieve the pain was actually adding to it and it didn't come right until 10k from the end when i ran out of gels.... what a knuckle head.

Despite my discomfort, it was a beautiful ride around this very scenic part of NZ. I couldn't help but feel sorry for the punters on the side of the road trying to sort out punctures or whatever when i heard that horrible hissing sound that could only be a puncture on my front wheel. We couldnt find any glass in the tire so wacked my only tube in and got going again. 10k later and this time just a bang and total loss of pressure without warning. Luckily it was on the flat just after a steep fast decent. Turned out my rim tape had split under the tube, WTF, why now, why ever. Sloppy prep on my part using an old rim tape that should have been binned. We were actually fukced at that point with no tubes and no way to repair it given those deep Zipp's needing ultra long stems. Just then some friendly faces pulled over, Conrad and Guy from AKFixed who happened to have what we needed. Man hugs, all round.
Thats Tai over my right shoulder, he's like 6'4" and its like riding in vacuum when he leads, thanks mate.

Check Matty out, i only just convinced him he should wear lycra and he reluctantly agreed but insisted on 'Boardies' on top coz he felt naked. At about the 120k mark he was eternally grateful. What a dude, he smashed the climbs and made it look easy. We found ourselves yoyo-ing with a large bunch of roadies who would all blow past on the decent only to have us cruise past on the climbs. Was a sweet taste indeed, it was like we sucked a bit of life out of every roadie we overtook on the climb. It was nice to receive encouragement from those that noticed our bikes and realized our challenge, i remember one particular dude with monster calf's yell "respect from a tracky fella's".

So it could have been better but thats just a good reason to do it again next year. We all finished me 160k, Matt 120k and Tai 80k. Our total time somewhere under 6 hours, the other small problem being our transponder didn't work and so didn't receive a time!
Matt and Tai rolled original Godscogs MTB hub conversions, expect i should be able to get triples under them next year and anyone else that wants to do it hard..