Two rides this weekend and two early starts, firstly carrying a Marshal for the bike leg of the Wellington Triathlon, then the club ride today was a Dawn Ride to Castlepoint. Oddly enough, I haven’t been inspired to do much riding over the past couple of weeks, since the TT. It even took a week and a half to get around to cleaning the bike and that was only because of the rides this weekend, but it was great to get out. A group of us have been riding for the Wgtn Tri for several years now and it’s a bit of fun, blatting around on streets that are normally restricted. It amazes me too, that the competitors know the rules, they must know when we are hovering behind them and yet they continue to draught, or block, thereby inspiring my man to blow his whistle and send them to ‘the box’. We assembled at Chaffers Marina/Waitangi Park from 0700, then spread ourselves amoungst the competitors once they started at 0730, slipping between groups to watch for errant behaviour. The course took us out on Oriental Parade, around Evans Bay, Shelly Bay, back through Seatoun, past Breaker Bay to Moa Point and back, with my man pinging about 10 riders. After that, three of us were required for the elite events where my job was to follow the last girl on the U19’s, then the last in the ladies event. With the U19’s only doing 3 laps to just past Balaena Bay then back and throwing in a scoot up Carlton Gore Rd, it was unlikely the last was ever going to get lapped, but the last lady wasn’t far off on their 6 lap event. With that over, it was home to do the lawns, get some supplies for the Sunday ride and blob out for the night. With dawn at 0714 I had to be up at 0330 for a quick shower, get away by 0400 for a fill-up and scoot to Brown Owl. I had packed the portable bar-b-que on the bike last night along with the Meth’s for fuel, pre-cooked sausages, loaf of bread, margy, sauce, tongs, plate & knife. After Ken gave a quick brief to the riders, I led out at 0500 (after putting an extra skivvy on and putting the glove liners in), maintaining a steady pace over the hill and up to the Nth End Mobil in Masterton. From there, Ken led while I went on ahead to set up my bits, enjoying a sub-fang, but quickish pace in the dark. When I got to Castlepoint I checked up by the church but decided that it would be better back in the carpark by the lagoon, so returned to get ready and was just lighting up when the other riders started to roll in.
Dawn came and went, sausages got cooked and were eaten with bread, chats were chatted, then we headed for the Wild Oats in Carterton. I was amoung the last of the 20 odd bikes to leave and returned in a group of four bikes at a leisurely pace, deviating via Stronvar Rd, Lees Pakaraka Rd and Gladstone, enjoyed a too big ‘Carterton Breakfast’. After breakfast we headed back and I enjoyed a good fang over the hill, finally getting home a bit after 1100, having done 354Km for the day at an economy of 18.5K/Ltr, now having 112,504Km on the bike…. I needed to relax.
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Old Blog?
These blogs were posted on the KiwiBiker forum but I decided it was time for a change. Archives
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