Tour of NZ - 2 days to go!
As you know in 2 days starts the Tour of New Zealand: 8 days of cycling through the most scenic places of South Island. The last days before the race were bit of a mission!
It all started with a bit crazy plan to have a family road-trip to Auckland on the long Easter weekend. Riding the Timber Trail on the way!
Accidentally in Auckland I was lucky to pick-up my race bike from the great team of Bike Barn. They have provided me a bike just when I needed one when my old bike turned out to be not race-proof. Look at this beauty!
http://2014.lapierre-bikes.co.uk/road-race/xelius-efi-400-cp
In order for me to get to race start on the southernmost part of South Island, Bluff I have to do a one stop flight from Auckland - Invercargill with a hop in the capital, Wellington. The bike needs careful packing and even in the semi-hard case I decided to use a lot of bubble wrap.
The weather in Wellington is not looking promising.
Wait, there is more - the forecast for the Queenstown on the weekend is snow in the night!
The aircraft is a propeller Bombardier Q300.
The cloud line is lower than the Southern Alps.
When you arrive in Invercargill you get a feeling you are in the middle of nowhere. A tiny airport.
Luckily both my bike and stuff arrive safely.
Chilly outside - in the morning it was 4 degrees but now got warmer - up to 10! This is nothing like the weather in the spoiled north part of the North Island (you know what I means, jafas!). Luckily I grabbed my warm cycling gear with me!
After quick check-in I get to the interesting part. Assembling my bike for the first time. I was shocked how light the bike can be!
Now I need all my extras on top of it.
Even all the bells and whistles and cherries on top the bike feels much ligher! Actually the bike is a she, french Lapierre, we are just starting to know each other. She is taking a special place in my room :)
I could not wait to try her outin action though and I go for 1 hour easy warm-up ride.
The terrain around Invercargill is really flattish ...
..and farmish...
...so I focus on the new bike experience. My first impression is that the carbon frame is light but reliable; the full Ultegra groupset is precise and smooth. Can't imagine going back to aluminium and Tiagro level components already! Very promising and exciting to see how the bike will behave in the race condition. Today was just a first-date ride - getting to know each other sort of speak.
When I got back to the hotel the Tour participants started arriving - my flatmate Mike joined me. He flew from Whangarei to Queenstown and took a shuttle from there. He was there joined by american girl Katty who accidentally forgot her front wheel in the States (!). It took only a couple of phone calls to get Mike's friend Richard who lives nearby to bring a spare wheel. This is why I love New Zealand: everyone is so friendly and everybody knows everyone :)
Carb-loading routine prior to the race.
Big plans for tomorrow - Race Prologue on Steward Island awaits!
Highlight of the day: Riding my race bike for the first time & commuting to the grocery. Thanks Bike Barn!
Lowlight - still fighting the leftover of the cold, hopefully will get over it prior the race!
Everybody who wants to support me please donate any amount to Heart Foundation on my race page http://www.tourofnewzealand.co.nz/rb.php?team=193
It all started with a bit crazy plan to have a family road-trip to Auckland on the long Easter weekend. Riding the Timber Trail on the way!
Accidentally in Auckland I was lucky to pick-up my race bike from the great team of Bike Barn. They have provided me a bike just when I needed one when my old bike turned out to be not race-proof. Look at this beauty!
http://2014.lapierre-bikes.co.uk/road-race/xelius-efi-400-cp
In order for me to get to race start on the southernmost part of South Island, Bluff I have to do a one stop flight from Auckland - Invercargill with a hop in the capital, Wellington. The bike needs careful packing and even in the semi-hard case I decided to use a lot of bubble wrap.
The weather in Wellington is not looking promising.
Wait, there is more - the forecast for the Queenstown on the weekend is snow in the night!
The aircraft is a propeller Bombardier Q300.
The cloud line is lower than the Southern Alps.
When you arrive in Invercargill you get a feeling you are in the middle of nowhere. A tiny airport.
Luckily both my bike and stuff arrive safely.
Chilly outside - in the morning it was 4 degrees but now got warmer - up to 10! This is nothing like the weather in the spoiled north part of the North Island (you know what I means, jafas!). Luckily I grabbed my warm cycling gear with me!
After quick check-in I get to the interesting part. Assembling my bike for the first time. I was shocked how light the bike can be!
Now I need all my extras on top of it.
Even all the bells and whistles and cherries on top the bike feels much ligher! Actually the bike is a she, french Lapierre, we are just starting to know each other. She is taking a special place in my room :)
I could not wait to try her outin action though and I go for 1 hour easy warm-up ride.
The terrain around Invercargill is really flattish ...
..and farmish...
...so I focus on the new bike experience. My first impression is that the carbon frame is light but reliable; the full Ultegra groupset is precise and smooth. Can't imagine going back to aluminium and Tiagro level components already! Very promising and exciting to see how the bike will behave in the race condition. Today was just a first-date ride - getting to know each other sort of speak.
When I got back to the hotel the Tour participants started arriving - my flatmate Mike joined me. He flew from Whangarei to Queenstown and took a shuttle from there. He was there joined by american girl Katty who accidentally forgot her front wheel in the States (!). It took only a couple of phone calls to get Mike's friend Richard who lives nearby to bring a spare wheel. This is why I love New Zealand: everyone is so friendly and everybody knows everyone :)
Carb-loading routine prior to the race.
Big plans for tomorrow - Race Prologue on Steward Island awaits!
Highlight of the day: Riding my race bike for the first time & commuting to the grocery. Thanks Bike Barn!
Lowlight - still fighting the leftover of the cold, hopefully will get over it prior the race!
Everybody who wants to support me please donate any amount to Heart Foundation on my race page http://www.tourofnewzealand.co.nz/rb.php?team=193