Tour of NZ - Day 5 Methven - Oxford
Day 5 followed the rural New Zealand route alongside the Hutt mountain ranges.
May be I'm spoiled already but this section seemed relatively boring, still amazing in the context of mountain snowcaps and good team work in rotation.
I lost the finish sprint to the other guys, although 8 of us finished within couple of seconds. I was happy to see Jeny Rose from our van working within the group and staying with the fast boys.
I will use the opportunity of this relatively easy day to ride about the schedule of the Tour.
5:45 - wake up alarm with 1 snooze tops!
6:00 - make some wholegrain porridge, using the hot water from the kettle pot ( not all accommodation had the kitchen facility because some were just hotels).
6:15 - pack all you stuff that you do not need just after the race to be put in the big van. Than van usually takes out bikes if the start is far away from hotel (this happened inly once when the start was 10km away and it was pouring rain on day 2). With other circumstances the way to the start can be cycled through.
6:45 - load the bikes (optional) \big bags into the van
7:05 - get dressed for racing (check weather forecast as this affect the number of layers!); stay hydrated (a bottle of Powerade helps)
7:15 - get the stuff you need just after race (like change of clothes) in the previa van
7:20 - check tyre pressure, fill water bottles
7:30 - leave for start for briefing
7:35 - say hi to the friend: Nigel, Dave, Jon
7:40 - Sign up for the race start
7:45 - Briefing
7:55 - Have a powergel 15 min before the start of your start time.
8:00 - First teams start off, chat with other guys
8:15 - Start of individuals
10:00-12:00 - Finish depending on the course distance, just after that a lot of happening.
- Get changed
- have a sausage BBQ for 3$
- Get a massage $20 if you come early enough to beat the queue
- Get a coffee from kiwicoffee girls - that is so handy!
- Get you bike in to the big Van which will transfer them into next hotel
- chat to other finisher on their experience
- wait for your teammates to arrive and support them - help them pack their bikes into the van
- when everybody is reading get going to hit the road to get to the hotel - maximum drive we had was 1h40min. Usually around hour.
When I first realised that we are not actually cycling the entire length of NZ I was a bit upset. But now I do realise this is a better way for many reasons:
1) Some road are busy and do not have a wide line for cyclist so organising racing is very dangerous.
2) When you are racing and not touring you get tired much quicker so doing 100km+ will be suitable only for a small subset of participants. The current format allows for people of different ages\genders\cycling abilities doing the course. There is a team called "Taylors" and they have 8 family members riding it! Pretty impressive!
3) you get a good distraction when you some of NZ through the window of the car, again good for different perspective.
On a pit stop to Hanmer Jeny got this stranger dog in our car for Angela stating this is out team mascot now :)
2:00-4:00 pm arrive at new Hotel. When the ride is not so long you get some extra time to relax on the couch or do an easy recovery run (as my ironman coach instructs me to!)
This is view when heading towards Hanmer Springs.
Beautiful Autumn colours here. Absolutely loved this place - definitely coming back here for a long family vacation.
5.00pm or 5:30 pm You get one hour to unpack your stuff, collect bikes from one van and clothes from another. Everyone is required for the Peloton Party. This is where the winners of daily stages are announced and awarded. Sponsors get a word and some auctions happy which all go to charity. For example Paul the cycling coach sold his coaching services, Scottie- his photo services and the NZ ARMY guys have sold the ANZAC cycling uniform for $2500 (!). I guess you need to be a New Zealander to understand and appreciate that. At the end of the party the briefing for tomorrow happens which explains what happens the next day.
6:30 or 7:00pm.
Reserved dinner or cook-your-own. Claire and I preferred to cook pasta which gives you the most carbs required for the next day racing. Some hotels didn't have the kitchen but some did have some amazing facilities. Speaking of great south island people - when the kitchen was not there the guys in the hotels' restaurant kitchen cooked the pasta for us.
8pm - Blog time and get ready to sleep
Accommodation in Hanmer Springs was the best during the tour - Drifters Inn. So had replace this time with just relaxing in front of the fire with good company. Also helped Katie with here booking in ChCh.
9pm - You are helplessly fallen asleep since no more energy left!
Click to viewMay be I'm spoiled already but this section seemed relatively boring, still amazing in the context of mountain snowcaps and good team work in rotation.
I lost the finish sprint to the other guys, although 8 of us finished within couple of seconds. I was happy to see Jeny Rose from our van working within the group and staying with the fast boys.
I will use the opportunity of this relatively easy day to ride about the schedule of the Tour.
5:45 - wake up alarm with 1 snooze tops!
6:00 - make some wholegrain porridge, using the hot water from the kettle pot ( not all accommodation had the kitchen facility because some were just hotels).
6:15 - pack all you stuff that you do not need just after the race to be put in the big van. Than van usually takes out bikes if the start is far away from hotel (this happened inly once when the start was 10km away and it was pouring rain on day 2). With other circumstances the way to the start can be cycled through.
6:45 - load the bikes (optional) \big bags into the van
7:05 - get dressed for racing (check weather forecast as this affect the number of layers!); stay hydrated (a bottle of Powerade helps)
7:15 - get the stuff you need just after race (like change of clothes) in the previa van
7:20 - check tyre pressure, fill water bottles
7:30 - leave for start for briefing
7:35 - say hi to the friend: Nigel, Dave, Jon
7:40 - Sign up for the race start
7:45 - Briefing
7:55 - Have a powergel 15 min before the start of your start time.
8:00 - First teams start off, chat with other guys
8:15 - Start of individuals
10:00-12:00 - Finish depending on the course distance, just after that a lot of happening.
- Get changed
- have a sausage BBQ for 3$
- Get a massage $20 if you come early enough to beat the queue
- Get a coffee from kiwicoffee girls - that is so handy!
- Get you bike in to the big Van which will transfer them into next hotel
- chat to other finisher on their experience
- wait for your teammates to arrive and support them - help them pack their bikes into the van
- when everybody is reading get going to hit the road to get to the hotel - maximum drive we had was 1h40min. Usually around hour.
When I first realised that we are not actually cycling the entire length of NZ I was a bit upset. But now I do realise this is a better way for many reasons:
1) Some road are busy and do not have a wide line for cyclist so organising racing is very dangerous.
2) When you are racing and not touring you get tired much quicker so doing 100km+ will be suitable only for a small subset of participants. The current format allows for people of different ages\genders\cycling abilities doing the course. There is a team called "Taylors" and they have 8 family members riding it! Pretty impressive!
3) you get a good distraction when you some of NZ through the window of the car, again good for different perspective.
On a pit stop to Hanmer Jeny got this stranger dog in our car for Angela stating this is out team mascot now :)
2:00-4:00 pm arrive at new Hotel. When the ride is not so long you get some extra time to relax on the couch or do an easy recovery run (as my ironman coach instructs me to!)
This is view when heading towards Hanmer Springs.
Beautiful Autumn colours here. Absolutely loved this place - definitely coming back here for a long family vacation.
5.00pm or 5:30 pm You get one hour to unpack your stuff, collect bikes from one van and clothes from another. Everyone is required for the Peloton Party. This is where the winners of daily stages are announced and awarded. Sponsors get a word and some auctions happy which all go to charity. For example Paul the cycling coach sold his coaching services, Scottie- his photo services and the NZ ARMY guys have sold the ANZAC cycling uniform for $2500 (!). I guess you need to be a New Zealander to understand and appreciate that. At the end of the party the briefing for tomorrow happens which explains what happens the next day.
6:30 or 7:00pm.
Reserved dinner or cook-your-own. Claire and I preferred to cook pasta which gives you the most carbs required for the next day racing. Some hotels didn't have the kitchen but some did have some amazing facilities. Speaking of great south island people - when the kitchen was not there the guys in the hotels' restaurant kitchen cooked the pasta for us.
8pm - Blog time and get ready to sleep
Accommodation in Hanmer Springs was the best during the tour - Drifters Inn. So had replace this time with just relaxing in front of the fire with good company. Also helped Katie with here booking in ChCh.
9pm - You are helplessly fallen asleep since no more energy left!