Today I did the Martinborough route non stop (almost). I know I'd signalled on Friday I'd do it twice. I don't know where that idea came from, or the thought I'd complete the whole list I'd identified.
It was an almost non stop ride because I didn't stop for coffee and a chat in Martinborough, which is what I normally do. Although I did have to make a few (discrete) stops to go to the toilet. Too much information, but this could potentially be a problem on race day. It's fine (well, not really fine but doable) when there is noone else on the road, but when there other competitors it could prove more difficult or in fact very difficult.
It was a "problem" I had when I first started the road rides, and I thought I had significantly improved the water retention thing. Well, I had actually. I'm not sure whethr it was becasue it was quite windy today, whether staying on the bike longer was a factor, or whether for the first time I had one of those Powerade bottles that helped the All Blacks win the world cup :-)
I think the theory is you drink according to your weight. So, that means I like to drink a lot of water. In doing so, I think it helps keep me "fresh" and makes overall for a better ride. It's something I need to work out though the balance of fluid retention. I'll see how it goes next week with the actual race.
Today's ride took me 4 hours. On that basis, I'm currently around the 8 hours completion mark for Taupo. It will be hard to shave an hour off that. Still I'm on track for completion. Hopefully, race conditions will make me go faster, and the stops in between will help with motivation.
I drove the route I take as I had to go to Martinborough yesterday while I had the use of the car. It was/is a good feeling to know I can ride that distance on my bike (its 80k the route not 77k!). The distance also equates more or less from Carterton to Wellington - one way. Of course there is the Rimutaka's in the middle which means I couldn't currently ride it on my bike. But its the distance. It's a powerful feeling to know I can ride that distance.
A few comments on the rugby:
I had a bit of a "Piri Weepu" week last week. (Incidently my favourite scarecrow is the Pee-ri Wee-pu scarecrow for reassons as above - its not the best scarecrow on the route, but it makes me feel better!). Missed a few attempts at goal. But that was last week. The thing to remember (at least for me) is that one week he was man of the match. I like Piri, because he's really a league man from Wainui as I think I'e previously mentioned - he's a bit rough and real not like the pretty boy SBW. He also struggles with his weight, but when he's good he is good:-) I liked it yesterday when he had his little girl with hime after the match when being interviewed. So New Zealand may have had to rely on a whitebait catcher from the Waikato for the significant penalty, but Piri still played signficant contribution overall.
The other two moments I liked from the match where when Brian Lochore (the good Wairarapa man) came on with the little boy from Canterbury.
And while most people like Richie McCaw's shag line (and actually I was fairly shagged after today's ride, I had to have a "little lie down"!, I liked the one where he said its about digging deep. I guess that comes from the 80s. I can relate to that. It's about "digging it in", finding the strength within.
Let's face it, France really deserved to win yesterday that particular match, but not the overall Tournament. In the end its about going the distance, and that's what the All Blacks did. And that's what I need to do on the road and the wider journey. Just go the distance.
Will post my training programme for the week in a seperate post - later- when its dark, as I need to make the most of the daylight!.
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