Well the ride was a solo effort and it was rather difficult certainly near the end. Those short climbs were just killers. Many times during the ride I was thinking “What a stupid idea this was”…… “What on earth were I thinking”

The main thing I learned on this ride was be more prepared and take more food with me. Body suffered as a result of lack of energy.

On the plus side Akaroa had the Frenchfestival on at the same time and was another reason I wanted to bike over there. Was a great day lots of entertainment and food stalls. Plenty to see and do, wish I could have stayed and checked it out a bit more, maybe next time.

Check out the route below.

At first glance.  Wow this does not seem easy to use.  Being a techno geek I was somewhat baffled and the strange buttons and infinite menu options.  Do I have to read the manual?  Geez I guess I do.  (I normally do anyway thats how much of a g33k I am).   Hmmm I thought the manual would have helped but seems I just got more confused.  Time was ticking and I wanted to use it in my spin class in the afternoon, this was looking more and more unlikely. Phew finally got it working in basic mode and that was cool.  First day test and I got my HR Max to 187, I was happy with that but I new I could probably do more.  We shall see in the next few weeks.

Uploading data to computer is really cool idea, it allows you to view you performance’s and compare them between days or months etc.  Really handy to know if your pushing yourself or not.

I am yet to use the footpod which is used for running so I probably won’t even use this.  I also have the speed sensor so I can put it on the bike, will do this at some stage too……

Only thing I need is to get myself a mountainbike.

Seems everytime I go down a hill on my road bike I am starting to pickup some speed and I hear that little voice in my head.

What if I got a puncture right now? Would it hurt? Would I crash? And what about that gravel rash from the road, ouch!

Well today was different at least I thought this at the time. There was no little voice in my head so naturally I speed up when I got to the downwards hill. And yep you guessed it I was coming down the hill going down towards the top of Rapaki track (on the Summit Road) Approaching 70km p/hr and phisssssss damn puncture on the corner. My worst fear, I considered myself very lucky on this occasion. It was a puncture in the back tyre just after the cattle stop and starting to turn right.

I failed to remember to put a spare tube in my pack so I had to call Mum and get her to pick me up at the bottom of Rapaki. What seemed like a good idea at the time, walking down Rapaki track with roadshoes is not advised. Stuffed my shoes and my cleats.

Thanks Mum for the ride.

What is trials riding? There is a great new movie out called Leaps and Bounds I have not seen it so if you see it let me know how it is. Looks cool so check out the demo trailer.