Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Flyer, Highlander & a trip to the Tour Down Under

On the 4 & 5 May it was doublewhammy time again - 100km Flyer roadrace from Rotorua to Taupo on Saturday followed by the 75km Highlander MTB race on Sunday...this time it was my own idea, not even Coach Satan's!

The Flyer was rather non-eventful and weird. I don't like the new course, even though the Waikete hill is hard, it was nicer riding through Waikete Valley and not riding singlefile along the State Highway. A staggered start meant no big bunch, in my case no bunch whatsoever until Adam the Bungy Marshment came up and I had someone to sit on. Apparently by that time I had a bunch of guys hanging off my arse - funny that, I asked the guy that was sitting behind me if there's a bunch behind us (hoping I could drop back) and he said ... naaaaaaaa. LYAAAAR. At some stage we were finally in Taupo, I had popped my lolly about 20k's before Taupo and wasn't too stoked about my ride.

But then there was prizegiving. And YEA BABY, I took home one of the major spot prizes - a trip to next years Tour Down Under!!!! Woooooohoooooo. Sexy muscly, shaven, hot as pro cycling legs, here I come! The race wasn't so bad after all!

Sunday was Highlander time. Organized by my buddies from NDuro, Dr. Kat finally took part in one of their races instead of sitting in the timing boot, sipping coffee and looking important. Check out the race here http://www.n-duro.co.nz/run/
Again, a rather 'interesting' race - this time as we bumped into an injured rider rather early into the race. With my NDuro hat on I stayed with the poor fella and his poked out shoulder until someone came to look after him - which meant by that time I was the last person on the course!
Oh well...I pedalled off and did my own thing, ended up picking up a few spots and actually really enjoying my ride. The Highlander is a wicked course and the highlight was defo the ride on Mossy track down to Green Lake - a stunning view!
I was feeling pretty good even though I did the race the day before, until my back started playing up about 20ks to the finish. The crash a few weeks earlier had not only left a scar on the knee, but my rather solid impact on the ground and the bruise on my thigh had screwed up my body...Yoda's massage assessment a week ago was 'your as relaxed as a fencepost'. Obviously my gluts and back were still not sorted, and I ended up with spasms in my back - not good on the downhill parts, especially on No Brains...good thing the First Aid guy was waiting at the end of No Brains and I managed to score some rather pink looking pain killers. The pills, a heap of lollies and my coke did kick in about 20 min later and I was back in happy Kat world...
Didn't do the ride in a stellar time, but was happy with how I felt that day - until the back thing...

Talkin bout crashes - oh yes, there's more. Where Kat is, there's always more...it's pretty bad and embarrassing, but yes, I came off again...again on gravel and yes, on the same side!!!! My elbow looks rather interesting at the moment, but thank god the knee got a hiding a bit above the stitched up scar!

Soooo, I'm off to Queenstown for the weekend, to do the Lake Hawea ride with my mate Seano the Porno. 120km of Gravel...wonder how often I'll crash on that? ;-)

Over and out, may the force be with me and let me stay upright!

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