Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Short hot run

It has been very warm and humid in town over the last few days. Plus Monday was a public holiday - Auckland Anniversery day, It was so nice to have a day off work.
The kids are all away so Deana and I had a 'game' of tennis then a swim at armour bay. It is such a neat swimming spot when the ride is right in.

I had a quick run along Exhibition drive late in the afternoon, it was so humid, I was soaked when I got back to the car. I ran at a good pace, it wasnt my fastest time ever, but close to it, and more importantly I felt Ok at the end.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

2 ride weekend

Yay - It is a long weekend in Auckland, Auckland Anniversary day is tomorrow, a day off work...Weather is cloudy, warm and very humid.

I have squeezed 2 rides in so far, I was thinking of getting a ride in tomorrow as well, but I broke a spoke today on the rear wheel of the SS and will not be able to get that fixed till Tuesday. Dom has gone away with my sister's family and has taken the Dawg until I get a new rear wheel for his bike sorted.

Rode yesterday morning, supposedly with Miles, but he bailed on Friday night so I did a quick 2 hour thrash around on the SS. I rode most of the northern block including Anaconda which I have not done on the SS before. I saw almost nobody, it was great.


I finally took a photo of the temporary sign for my track. Supposedly 1 day a permanent sign will go in.




Had another ride today, I was thinking of joining the Freeriden boys for a session at Riverhead so tye could show me the tracks, but they were not riding until 4.00 which is too late for me. I got up very late and had a quick drive to Woodill and then a hammer session to catch up with Miles, GP and DP on the Spaghetti trail. Miles and I stayed with the boys till jumpers alley in Fattachine and then we took off and rode the northern block again. I broke a spoke going up Haggis which is a real pisser. Oh Well, they were good rides anyway.

The 24 hour team event is this weekend and we are down to 4 riders and maybe a couple of ring ins doing the odd lap.

I am very much looking forward to it.

I am now thinking along the lines of trying to organise an UN-official Auckland single speed champs. Not so much a race race, but an 'fun' race. get a bucnh of SSers' together. Maybe if there is enough interest I will organise a serious event later in the year.

Monday, January 23, 2006

A good weekend.

The weather was great this weekend, quite warm, very little wind. Sadly I did not get out for a mountain bike ride, but I did get in a good run and a day at the beach.

On Saturday Dom went to Rotorua riding with Darin and Graham. There was supposed to be a single speed mobbing down there but it all fell apart and I had a funeral to go to so I did not drive it. I dropped Dom off at Darin's at 6.45 AM and then went to the waterfront for a run. I parked at Kohi. and ran back to Mechanics Bay and then back, past Kohi, to St Heliers and back to the car. The whole of Tamaki drive, not sure of the distance, but I ran for 1 and half hours. It was nice and slow.

After the funeral I took the SS for a quick strop up through Titirangi, down through Wood Bay. I want to get as much hill work in as I can before the race. Big problem was with the new 18 tooth ring on the back the tire was rubbing on the rear brake cable. The cable is broken so I had very little adjustment room. I will swap the tires out for semi-slicks anyway and will get a new cable. may need to add another link into the chain to allow the rear wheel to drift back a bit further away from the rim.

Sunday we went to Tawharanui reserve with David and Kim. The surf was really good so we spent a couple of hours body surfing and boarding. Had a good day but I am now a bit sun burnt and physically exhausted.

I think today will be a slow day.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Busted Wheel

Went out for an evening ride up at Woodhill last night with number 1 son and our normal Wed night riding crew. I rode the SS, and number 1 son had his AC 2.

The ride was going well, Mike and I decided to take the longer way to the Iron Horse track as the rest of the crew wanted to muck around on the jumps and Mike and I are not really that interested. He had not ridden up my track so it was a good excuse to introduce him to that 1.1km of goodness. The good news was I finally made the first climb on the SS, have never managed that before so I was well pleased. I am definately stronger than I was, so some of the hill running has paid off in climbing strength (maybe ?).

Mike and I finally caught up with the rest at the double jump at the end of Iron Horse where they were all huddled around Number 1 sons bike. When I go there I could see why, he had cased the landing on the jump, landing right on the lip of the wooden framing and totally smashed the rear wheel. The wheel was in 3 pieces ! fortunately he could ride the landing out, so was totally uh-hurt.


When we got the bike back to the carpark the wheel and son were the centre of attention for a while...
It looks like there is no damage to disk or the cluster - the cluster was new and installed that night, hub seems Ok so I could be up for just a rim and a rebuild...

One of our riding buddies is lending us a wheel so number 1 can go to Rotorua riding at the weekend.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

SSWC - Single Speed World Champs

There was some rumour that the SSWC06 maybe in NZ, but this is now not the case. for 2006 they will be held in Sweden.

Some Vorbers and I have started muttering about getting our shit together and maybe trying to get them down here in 07 or 08. Could be an interesting project.

First Hog run of the year

Went for my first Loaded Hog 5km run for the year and the first since September. As always I went too hard too early, the last 2s were very tough and I was passed by a lot of people. Still I recorded a 22:29 which was better than I expected and inside my target of doing 22:30 so I was happy. I came 77 out of 164 runners so being in the top half is always good.

It was very very hot with a lovely hot damp breeze to keep us company, next week I will go out slower I promise..

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

42nd Traverse ride

Well it now looks like the single speed mobbing is off. It is unlikely that I can go now and quite a few others are dropping off as well. Bit of a bummer, but there you go. I will try and re-organise it for later in the year, after the regional and national champs have finished and before the N-duro 3 race series starts up in June.

I am now looking at doing the 42nd Traverse ride on 1 April. This was the date of a trail run I was interested in, but I have been talking of doing the 42nd for years now and it looks like there will be a good group doing it so I shall not pass up on the opportunity.

Monday, January 16, 2006

Damn Damn Damn

Well I didn't get a mountain bike ride in at the weekend for family reasons. I did get out for an hour long ride on the road on the SS though. I do not know why anyone in their right mind would take a single speed jump bike running 32:16 for a road ride but there you go. I enjoyed it.

It now appears like I will not be able to go to the single speed mobbing that has been organised for Rotorua this weekend. Sadly a friends mother passed away after a long illness and it seems the funeral will be on Saturday when I should be thrashing around the wonderful wonderful Rotorua single track. Oh Well...

Please God let me attend the N-duro 24 hour then !!!

Friday, January 13, 2006

Short but good ride

On Wednesday night I took the SS out for its first spin since the crash. I was slightly concerned that it would hurt a bit as I do use a lot more upper body when riding the SS, espcially on the climbs. 5 of us went out and we rode link, cookie, spaghetti and SPCA. We were only out for an hour and half but it was dark by the time we got back to the carpark. It took me a while to get into a rhythym that suited riding a hard tail and I had a couple of close moments when I lost the front wheel in sandy bends.

Finally on Spag, when GP stepped up the pace a bit on his new Reign and I dug it in to keep up it started to flow. We raced through the first section of Spag at a good pace, with me being able to keep up in most places, a nice set of disk brakes would have hepled me keep up on the shor downhills though.

We ended up with a quick run down SPCA, and this time Dom managed to catch me, I was a bit hesitant as it was quite dim in the forest by that stage and the ruts and lumps in the track were quite indistinct, so Dom on his 6 inch traval AC was able to push it a bit harder than me, plus he was behind me as well, but it was the first time I have been caught going down that track...

we got back to the car fizzing with adrenaline, a good ride.

I am definately doing the NZO 24 hour Nduro in a SS team, seeing as it is in 4 weeks time I will get some SS work under my belt.

Monday, January 09, 2006

and back on the road

Took the chance on Saturday afternoon to get out for a short run. Drove up to Exhibition drive and did a lap. I took is slowly for probably 6 of the 6.5 Kms and only wound out the pace at the end. It wasn't too bad, I could not have run 21kms like that though, it only hurt as I wound it out at the end and was breathing heavily into my chest. It was a good first run and I will get out for another as soon as I can.

I had another ride yesterday, went out with the bigger group, so it was not a quick ride, as the lads wanted to sift around on the jumps. Miles and I decided to leave the group in the end and took off for a quicker longer ride. Rode Charlies Angels for the second time, it is still a brutal trail, I do not think i will ever be able to stay on the bike for the entire track, it is too steep, both ascending and descending.

I cleaned the SS on Saturday and found all these pine needles wedged between the tire and rim from the crash a couple of weeks back. Surprisingly, the impact didnt pop the tube or bend the rim though.


I aim to be out on the SS on Wed night for a test ride to see how my ribs feel.

The work team did the Tauranga Half Ironman at the weekend, enjoyed it and kicked the other team from works ass. I wished I could have been running. I have also pulled out of the Kaweka run as I have not been able to do the training miles needed. Bruce has pulled out as well as he has had a knee injury. Next year for both...

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Back in the saddle

Got out for a ride on 2nd January, first ride after the crash and banging the rib.

I did not ride the single speed as I wasn't sure how things would go and wanted the option of being able to spin where necessary if things hurt too much. On new years eve I gave the Dawg a good clean and lube as it hd been sitting in the shed for a few weeks now unloved but not unwanted.

Rode at Woodhill with Miles, had a great ride, 2 and half hours, slow paced, did a few tracks but took it all nice and easy.

My track is riding very well, 1 of the corners I thought would cut up quite badly has remained in very good condition which is good. I have decided to take a couple of days off work in February and add another few hundred metres to the track as well.

Listening to The Stone Roses - I am the resurection. Love the lead break in this song.