Lisa Morgan - Kiwi Mountain Biker

That’s kinda what it felt like.  One second the start hooter went, the next I was gasping for air across the finish line!  But what’s with the ‘anytime within 15 seconds’ call at the starts?  Remember I said at Palmy he called 15 seconds and blew the whistle in 3?  Today they explained it a bit better - we’d get a 1 minute call, a 30 second call and then a 15 second call, after which the start could be anytime in 15 seconds.  Just to be sure, I asked for clarification that there would be 15 seconds between the 30 second call and the 15 second call…  in the end the hooter went about half a second after the 15 second call - are they checking that we are awake???

Anyway, the start was pretty standard.  I got a front row spot again but Bob quickly jumped ahead of me and Erin was right in front of her.  Nina took her usual little bit of time to get past and we settled in to a bit of a train heading up the gut buster and I was happy to hold Nina’s wheel up there.  From there we were in to the singletrack, riding the cross country course in reverse.  Bob had taken the lead followed by Erin and Nina just ahead of me.  I put a gap on the rider behind me through the singletrack and down over the roots but fudged a technical section when the course went back up.  I was frustrated as I’d cleaned it yesterday in practice, and then while I was running to get back on I heard the crowd cheering the rider behind me so knew she had made it up cleanly.

From there we popped up next to Alexandra Rd where the XC course comes past itself and continued up the XC course in the normal direction.  Going up the grass the rider behind me got past as my lungs were giving out (I thought it would be my legs).  Karl was making a heap of noise up there encouraging me to get her back and I started to close on her then heard her take it up a gear.  She stayed about 5m ahead of me through the next piece of singletrack, up a short climb and along to a short technical climb (back on the XC course in reverse).  I think she may have fumbled slightly up the technical bit because I was able to close the gap a bit as we rode the final moderate gradient up to the final pitch to the line.

She was right ahead of me as it pitched up but next thing I new the heat took its toll and my glasses fogged up!  It was all of 3 seconds until I couldn’t see to pick my line so I went for an aggressive approach and hoped I’d keep enough traction to get up, but my wheel skidded out and I couldn’t save it so was off the bike and too wasted to run to the top (trust this to be the only time the news guys stuck a camera in my face!).  I crossed in 5th overall - not quite enough climb left to make the pass and get back in to 4th.

Bob took out the title with an awesome effort and sending a clear message for Saturday, with Erin in 2nd and Nina in 3rd.  T-Rex on his new Santa Cruz Blur won the mens in less than 8 minutes, closely followed by Gav.

Yep, I said less than 8 minutes.  My race was just under 11 minutes.  It really was all over in a hurry.  I know there were heaps of people out on the course making lots of noise but I couldn’t pick much out (except Anita with her favourite call of ‘pain is your friend’ right before the final pitch - at that moment I was starting to feel I had too many friends!).

Then last night I found out about a road race that was on this morning and decided (since it’s only $5 for club members - wicked eh?) that I’d go and do that instead of the usual Sunday bunch ride.  When I jumped on the bike for a brief warm up I was pleased my legs felt pretty unaffected from last night.  It was a handicap race so I put myself in break 3 and we had a good sized bunch of about 14.  It was pretty different having the gun go and no frantic frenzy off the start line but within a couple of minutes we were organised, lapping out and the pace and intensity were up.

The course was 2 laps of an out and back and the pace stayed on all the way out to the first turn-around.  The turn itself was a shambles with riders not seeming to know which cone to turn at, but everyone was given a chance to get back on.

Near the finish line on the way back for the first time I was sitting in for a minute to get a bit of recovery when a gap was allowed to open 2 riders in front of me.  I didn’t see it happening so as soon as I realised I jumped out and started to chase down what started out as about a 10m gap.  Unfortunately 10 minutes later, after the 2nd turn-around, the gap had gotten too big and I had to concede.  My legs gave up at about the same time.  I rode on for a further 15 minutes and then decided I wouldn’t be doing myself any favours to finish on my own when the final leg was a 17km slight climb in to a head wind, so I turned back.  Oh well… no biggie really.  I was still shattered afterwards and am now working on getting properly recovered asap as we head towards the big one.

Pics of me racing are here: Big thanks to Raewyn from Palmy, Raewyn from Kapiti, Craig from Auckland, Craig from Christchurch, Anna from Christchurch and Mel from Hamilton for snapping so many good shots of me (I knew racing elite would pay off!).

Pics I took of others here.

The third and final round of the North Island Cup was hosted out at K-Loop just south of Palmerston North.  The last and only time I raced here was in the annual K-Loop Challenge 3 years ago which was run on a very similar course to previous nationals races.

For 2008 the course had been extended to an 11.5km lap - just short enough to still run 500ml bottles.  Anybody who raced nats here in 2006 had pretty horrible but fun memories as it was very, very wet and muddy and slippery.  I couldn’t race that year and given the weather didn’t head up to spectate but have heard plenty about it since.

This year the weather man was telling us all week it was going to rain.  Great news for farmers, and we’d all packed our muds!  But as the days went by it looked less and less likely so we’d have to rely on the streams and dust to get the bikes dirty.

My personal build up to this race was far from ideal.  In fact it’s pretty fair to say it was a shocker.  I couldn’t tell you why for sure, simply that the planets don’t always align when you want them to.  So for a few days I was repeating that it would all be fine come 2pm Sunday.  One thing I like so much about this level of racing is warming up on the wind trainer.  It’s the same every week, same time, and routine is really helpful if things aren’t going quite right.  In many ways I just waited til 1.25 when I could get on there and start warming up.  The mind and body know what to do from there.  My biggest concern was my asthma after an incident on the climb on Friday, but at the same time I’ve ridden through it before so I know it doesn’t have to mean the end of a race.

The start line was about 15 riders wide, but the flat grass only about 7 wide so when I lined up out wide on the right I couldn’t help but comment as I looked up to see the poo we were obviously going to have to ride through (nice to keep it light on the line).  We had a 1 minute call, a 30 second call and a ‘any time in the next 15 seconds’ call.  He blew the whistle about 3 seconds later while I was wondering if he really meant ‘any time’.  He did!  It didn’t make for a particularly fast break off the line as I fumbled with my pedal (yes, again - I need to practice!) but once I was in the flat start loop gave me a chance to gain back some time and get in to a reasonable position as we merged in to a single line to head up the gravel road, across the bridge and up the climb.

Because the climb was rocky and technical in nature it slowed things down a bit and we were all trying to get past each other, but only when we wouldn’t waste too much energy in doing so by riding a bad line.  Every now and then someone would spin out on a wet rock or struggle on something and we’d all surge to get past.  I was sitting behind Nina when the person in front of her slipped and I got in a great move getting past both of them and finding myself behind 2 of the young r&r girls with Monique just ahead of them.  Fiona, Sam and Katy were up in the lead.

After a few minutes Nina went for the pass and took it, getting past about 4 of us all at once as she warmed up in to the race.  I was oblivious to anything that was happening behind me and reluctantly admitted to myself that the pain I was feeling was asthmatic.  By the time we were half way up the climb I’d let a gap open up ahead but had also opened up one behind since I couldn’t hear anyone.  The pain was intense but I’d done some thinking about what I would do if this did happen, and that was just to try and push through it.  I felt like I barely had enough oxygen to feed both my muscles and my brain and unless there are little purple men out there, I was hallucinating.  But the strange thing was that I felt like I was riding well - and we all know you can’t stop when you’re riding well!

At the top of the climb was a few kms of very nice single track - too twisty and turny to really power through but very nice to ride, with some short climbs to attack on.  Not too far in to it I came across Sam carrying her bike - her rear mech had busted and her race was over.  That’s no fun for anyone.  Further up I saw one of the younger guys ahead of me and focussed on catching him with some smooth and consistent riding.  Once I did I probably sat in a bit too long before passing.  A bit further ahead I saw the r&r girls and figured I must be riding faster than them so I might as well go catch them too.  I came up behind one as we headed in to a bit of a down hill stretch of trail but as we came out of it she let me go, even telling me to have a nice race :o)  I had about 500m left before we crossed over the road in to the next section of trail and made my next pass right before that.  The next section was a short climb through singletrack before the first downhill of the course.  Not having ridden the course very much I didn’t know the downhills well enough to be confident in my lines so was really just riding it as I saw it.  Being such a long course it had been difficult to get many laps in and I’d only done 1 complete lap before the race having cut both Fidays and Saturdays sessions short.

I could hear someone not far behind me as I reached the bottom of the descent and took the sharp turn in to the middle climb so got up there nice and quickly.  Again I was riding really well but the pain came back on and I got simply adamant that I didn’t care - it could wait until after the race.

The next downhill followed suit.  I’d pulled away on the climb and was getting caught on the way down - I don’t think that’s ever happened to me!  I had no idea who it was, whether it was one of the younger girls, someone in my grade, or one of the guys, so on the final climb I put the pace on to open the gap again, and this time the pains moved around to my back - something else different (and I was starting to worry a bit).

I managed to keep the gap a bit bigger coming down the final descent, crossed the bridge, sprinted down the road seeing Monique coming up it about a minute ahead, and on to the start/finish loop feeling really good and headed out on my 2nd lap.  Stab!  Straight in to the climb again and the pain was back.  I haven’t fallen off my bike so I’ll keep going (it’s a series final and I want my points!).  Every time I lifted the intensity it kicked in.  At one stage I said ‘ok, 1 more’, and another one came so I renegotiated ‘2 more’.  There was one more, and that was it.  That second lap I absolutely flew up the climb - it felt like it was smooth and I’d really hit my stride - it was an absolutely amazing feeling, something you hope to replicate every time you race but hardly ever do.  I had a great lap, climbing better than I think I ever have. I saw Monique about a minute ahead of me in the singletrack. Then in the descents my shadow was back - I still didn’t know who it was but on the last corner of the final descent they were right on my tail.  I sprinted out of it and across the bridge opening up a small gap again then as we came through the start/finish loop I heard people yelling both for me and her - Adrienne from U19 women.  She sprinted for the line as it was her last lap, and I just didn’t want to get passsed so I sprinted as well - all good fun.  She’d won her race and was pulling up to stop but was on my inside and I think I just about took her out on my way around the corner to the feed zone.

At that point I was still feeling really good and I’d seen Monique again on the way down the road so I knew the gap was still about a minute.  If I could have another good lap there was every chance I would catch her.  Unfortunately about 500m in to the climb my mojo up and left me and things didn’t feel so good up there.  But I was on the final lap and had a good gap so I settled in to finish it off.  After the race I learned the gap had stayed the same and Monique was fading just as bad as I was.  I was pretty stoked to cross the line in 5th.  Fiona had won (local knowledge pays off), Nina in second and Katy came back well after Rotorua to take 3rd with Monique 4th.

This being the final, we also had the series prize giving where I was surprised but happy with a 3rd place.

Gav also had a good race taking out 4th and also getting 3rd in the series.  He called me a prima donna for all my grief during the week…  The legs and lungs definitely took a hammering in this race but they’re all getting back in to shape now with some easy recovery rides on the road.

I started the day with a leisurely breakfast and a new book purchase before heading out to the course with Gav to watch the start of the morning race.  One of the things I knew I would miss about racing in the afternoon was being able to go out and give it heaps in support of other riders so I took a gentle walk up the sealed road and watched as grade after grade came past up the clay techy climb in to the first section of single track.  There were so many riders and still a bit of moisture in the clay so most were off the bikes and pushing.  It’s a frantic start to a race!

I then popped over to exit jumps to watch everyone come flying down there - sooo much fun - before walking back down the road, one more chance to see everyone and shout a bit of encouragement.  After that, I went and had some lunch and chilled out for a bit before heading back to get ready to warm up. 

Over the last couple of season’s I’ve watched the elite call-ups and starts and have always thought I’d be so nervous if that was me so I was surprised I just had a few butterflies in the morning, and I was able to channel them in to positive energy without any trouble.  I hadn’t had any with Chch or Opotiki either, but thought maybe the UCI thing would step it up a notch (and the super strong field) but it was just like any other pre-race.  Eat when it’s time to eat, chat when you feel like chatting, focus on your plan and when it’s time, jump on the trainer and zone out.

The field was definitely class.  Annika is making a return, Sonia was there, Gen Matthews who took out round 1 in Opotiki, Fiona McD is back on the bike, Kaytee was down from Auckland, Nina and Monique rounded out the force of local knowledge, Sam and young Katy who I know can climb out of their skins, Nicole, Michelle and Carrie McLachlan (new to me) completed the field.

I was fortunate enough to be called up in the front row, so you may be able to imagine my frustration when I botched my start by not getting clipped in for about 5 pedal strokes.  I was furious with myself and entered the clay climb in 2nd to last place.  The field split about evenly on the left and right line options - I took my tried and true right line and stayed on the bike while others were still getting back on but I didn’t make up any places.  Carrie was the only one behind me, Nicole was closest up ahead.  Within a few metres Carrie made a call to pass but we went down a dip so I was able to hold her off, and then get safely clear of her up a technical climb around some trees.  Until then I could hear her breathing as hard as I was (the old sulphuric Rotorua start-rasp) so when it was just my rasping I could hear I focused on Nicole up ahead.

I kept seeing her, tantilisingly close through the undulating section of the course, and then again as we wound our way to the top of rock drop.  I knew I would close the gap some on the descent and was then planning on making a move on the technical climb.  After the short flattish section after the descent (where we came past Kaytee having mechanical issues) I got to the climb and spotted her off the bike.  We gave each other some encouragement as I got past (we are team mates) and I also saw Katy O off her bike at the top of the climb.  My focus was now on her. 

Up the switch backs, past the 2nd feed zone and down the non-technical challenge track downhill and up the non-technical climb she maintained her gap on me but by the time we’d descended exit jumps (woop woop woop, pump, pump, pump) and exit trail I had closed in by about half the gap even with my shocking line botches.  I’d gotten painfully close to her entering exit trail that I’d even tried to quieten my breathing so she might not know I was there (why?  I have no idea!).

Coming through the feedzone I got my next bottle and as I rode past Nic and Carl supporting up the road I signalled to them that I would have Katy soon.  That was my next goal - to catch her on this lap.  We held our positions through the undulating first singletrack section where she pulled away slightly.  Coming down the technical descent of rockdrop I closed the gap again and held it through the flat.  Up the technical climb and she did what I’d hoped after seeing her on the first lap - she was off the bike and pushing, which gave me the opportunity to ride past.  I put in a huge effort up the switchbacks to open up a gap and also noticed Nicole just behind Katy.

Past the 2nd feed zone again and there was some great support up there.  Back in to challenge trail - the descent in this had a HUGE berm that was a bit of a wall ride and you felt like a rocket ship when you nailed it way up high missing all the braking bumps on the track below - I looked forward to this every lap.

Back up the climb and in to big ring again to go and hammer down the exit jumps getting as little air as possible to maintain full pace with wheels on the ground - not as easy as it might sound when you’re going that fast.  I was out of there and back up old exit trail lickety split but again didn’t clean my lines down the technical sections for some reason.

By the time I headed up the road for the 3rd time I remembered how strong I’d felt last year on my 3rd (and final) lap and harnessed some of that.  I was still feeling good, had been drinking well and people were calling that I was looking strong.  Nic and Carl said Samara wasn’t too far ahead so down the head went again as I headed out on lap 3.  I kept looking for her the whole lap but never saw her.  She must have put the after burners on because not only did I never see her, but she also powered past Monique and I know she put the hammer down after that.

Coming up the switchbacks for the 3rd time I noticed that Nicole was closing in on me which encouraged me to give it another big push to open that up again.  A good thing I did too because on coming out of exit jumps and in to the trail I dropped from big to middle chain ring and my cranks stopped on me when I was standing up to get up a switchback climb.  I back pedalled to free it but it jammed again.  I tried once more but to no avail.  I jumped off, ran up the climb then went to work on it.  Pedals still wouldn’t spin, flick through the gears, no change, check things at the rear - all looks good, another spin - stuck, closer look at the front - the chain had got caught up between big and middle during my gear change.  I yanked as hard as I could and it came free first time so I laced it back on to middle, pushed off, jumped on and hammered like my life depended on it.  The whole time I was working on it I was determined I would not get passed and I would not mechanical out of this race.  I had less control over whether I got passed or not and was stoked that I had enough of a gap.

Another dodgy run down exit, pick up the final bottle and head on up the road for the 4th and final time.  Everything was feeling pretty much like I was heading out on the last lap of a tough race and I knew all I could do now was protect my position.  I appeared to have a healthy gap but Nicole must have punched it because all of a sudden she was practically buzzing my tyre heading to the top of the rock drop descent.  We might be team mates, but there’s a competitive drive there and I was out of the saddle immediately and preparing to mow down the descent.  I pushed a little hard on some of the drops and had some super dodgy moments coupling fatigue and something close to panic to mean I was very lucky to stay upright at one point but made it down in one piece and powered through the flat then called on everything getting up the technical climb again.  On the switchbacks I could see someone was catching her but didn’t know who it was.  With just one climb to go I focused on extending my gap.

As I came out of the challenge climb for the last time the mystery rider was right behind me so I gave it one last everything on the descent and opened up a gap before the switchback.  Thanks to another terrible effort down exit he (yes, he) caught me right before the line.  I looked over, gave him a grin and sprinted him to the line. He won…

I finished in 8th place and there were some lapouts in there too - Kaytee with a broken chain, Michelle with injury and Carrie but I didn’t get the details there.  The top 4 spots were taken out by locals, none more impressive than Annika on a Santa Cruz Nomad with 36’s!  Fiona and Samara got in the way of all 5 local riders coming in one after the other.

I’m very pleased to be back home but I miss Rotorua already. I love multi-lap races up there!

Gav had a fantastic race to get on the podium again finishing in 5th in a classy men’s field so he was stoked.  Connor is the clear favourite in U23 men now with his 2nd win in the series and looking good for champs as well.  Ricky had a good day at the office too but got mowed down by some nutter on a SS making moto noises down exit jumps to knock him off the podium.  KC had some issues with her stans but her competitor in U23 women was none other than my Wild Wellington team mate, Raewyn, who is a natural on the bike on tricky descents.  Celia and Nic didn’t have such good races but Nic pulled out a 3rd place with Celia in 4th.  A total of 6 in senior women was pretty impressive.

Scotty lined up for this race too, but after his first lap remembered that xc isn’t his thing and switched to supporting instead.

After a soak in the mineral pool we all wrapped up the day with a ‘picnic’ in the park (ie, byo takeaways).  It’s the second year now that the road trip family has helped me celebrate my birthday post-race and it was a very good time with our crew, Nic and Carl, Sam and her tribe plus extended tribe.

Not much left to do now.  Time for lunch, clean the bike (maybe - Gav has offered to do it for me - sweet!) then rest up til dinner, and then rest up again til bedtime.  Might fit a nap in there somewhere ;o)

Last update we had made it to Rotorua en route to Opotiki, and now I’m back in Rotorua… We seemed to take a bit of a round about way to Opotiki but got there without any issues and headed out to the course on Friday afternoon.  The format was a little different to what we race at this time of year as, depending on grades, it was made up of combinations of a 21km long loop and a 10km short loop.  Elite men and women both had 1 long, 1 short to race.  So on Friday we checked out the long course.

It went up, not tooooo steeply but for a km right off the start up a gravel forestry road before heading in to the bush and undulating for a little bit.  Fortunately most of the course was under the shade of the trees because it was pretty warm out there.  After a short fun downhill there was a singletrack section that went for a k or so and ended in an abrupt climb out to an open gravel road.  After that we were back in the trees and fairly consistently dimbing for around 30 minutes.  It was very gradual, but with no downhill in sight it was taxing for me as I like my recoveries!  Eventually it went up and down for a bit, and then we hit the downhill - pretty old school styles as this wasn’t a purpose built course by any stretch of the imagination, but soon enough we hit the ‘3 sisters’ - 3 sections of super steepness that really tested the brakes (I sounded like an ambulance in the race and apologised to the marshals for the noise…). 

The sisters dropped us out by a creek which was the first of many (very many - maybe 30) that we got to splash through for the next 5 kms or so.  Fortunately they were all shallow and in good condition with no nasties to cause damage or punctures.  This was largely flat and fast, hardly even needing to brake for the creeks.  With a couple of kms to go we were back in the bush in an undulating very fast climb back to the start.

Long lap sorted.  Nice and scenic as a reccy - killer at race pace but a whole lot of fun (after the main climbs were done…).

Back to the accommodation, thorough clean of the bikes which now looked like they’d been through Karapoti, and prep for Saturday’s ride.

On Saturday we checked out the short loop.  It followed the long loop for about 3 kms then veered off on to an undulating climb which gained almost as much in altitude but because it was undulating suited me much better.  The downhill was short and non-technical and dropped us out at around the 5th creek crossing (so there were lots more to go!).  There was nothing hard about it, but nothing is easy at race pace.

Home again, more cleaning, a dip in the pool, nap, food - all the good stuff.

Race day!  Being out in the wops created an interesting aspect as we were supposed to leave cars 4kms away from the race venue and catch a bus up, or drop stuff off, drive back and ride up (or bus).  But with multiple bikes each, wind trainers for Af-wika (hehe) and bags of gear, chilli’s of food etc, we decided to do a wee sneaky and Gav and I managed to find parks for the cars about 200m down from the village - minta :o)

Because we thought there might be heaps of stuffing around we got there quite early so were able to watch the morning race start (10.30) where Ricky and Celia from our tribe were racing, and Nic from the Capitelles/Maxxis and a few other PNP members, so it was good to catch that.

Ricky managed 4th in Master 1, Trev had a sprint finish to take out older dudes, Tom Bradshaw pulled out second in the U17s, and Celia and Nic had a great battle in senior women with Nic taking the win.  They both had crashes, but Celia’s injuries are much more impressive and she had to get help to get her bike up after scrambling back up herself from going down a bank - great that she pressed on and came home well.  Should be a good series for those 2.

And so the day passed and by 1.30 we were all warming up.  Gav was off first with the big boys.  He had 2 goals for the day - a podium and to lap me [insert smack talk].  Connor was away next with U23 men - he’s got big goals for the season.  I was called up next in elite women, and KC left with us as U23.

I got off to a great start and sat on Sam’s wheel for a while but after a few minutes she pulled away and I started getting passed - still need more work on the climbing, I don’t think that’ll ever end.  There simply wasn’t enough technical stuff for me to make any ground back.  But I did manage a really strong short loop which I’m pleased about. I seem to consistently stay strong after the half way mark (when I don’t have slow leaks in the tyre…).

I was pretty stoked to get my first elite podium :o)  No mug as it was 5th and they go to 3rd, but it’s still a podium.  I was shattered when I crossed the line but then got all buzzed off the race as usual, but I can promise you now it’s a very different story.  I’m so shattered I won’t even drive.  I can’t wait to see how well I’m going to sleep tonight.  The legs felt great when I went for a nice ride around the lake earlier, but other than that they’ve been pretty sore all day.  I don’t remember ever being this shattered.  It’s kind of awesome, but I’m used to being a bit more energetic!

Gav nailed his goals getting 4th and catching me with about 20m to go before the line - man, that sucked, I thought I was really going to hold him off, but all in good fun eh?  Connor caned is race winning with a huge margin so he’s on track.  KC didn’t have a field but she was happy with her effort.  Sam took out 2nd in elite women so she got a mug - nice!

All in all a pretty good day for the roadtrip fam.  We stayed up a bit late really, and I was up with the birds as usual (might have something to do with my current state) then packed up and drove here.  The only bummer was I discovered someone had taken a fancy to the Blur overnight and put a scratch and dent in my car roof trying to get it off - no such luck sucker, locked on nice and tight but if I ever find you, you better run - my 2 most prized possessions!  And my front hub is blown, but Cam is on to that already and I should have a new wheel up here in a couple of days.  Nothing like a bit of drama on a Monday morning!

After a good night’s sleep we’ve made our way to Rotorua on the way to Opotiki stopping off so I could download my programme since it was all on my lappy, and for Scotty and Celia to buy things they’d forgotten… my forgotten item was my muds, but I remembered about 2 minutes from home so rushed back to grab them.

It’s nice and warm up here, as expected.  All very dry and I’m looking forward to seeing this course - somewhere I’ve never ever ridden!

So far so good, plenty of laughs, and I brought along all my ‘instruments of torture’ (the roller, the rolling pin and my new ’stick’ that Gav got for me) so everyone had a go with those last night - so much fun :o)

Just gotta go pick up some batteries for the walkie talkies since we’re driving in convoy now.

I’ve just finished packing the car (waiting for the last minute forgotten item to jump in to my mind) and am not far off heading north.  We have a big road trip family for this one.  Seven people!  I’ve got KC and Connor in my car, Gav and Ricky are heading up in the Subie after work, as are Scotty and Celia in the Caldina.  7 people, 3 cars, 13 bikes (and spare wheels).

I had a bit of a moment yesterday when I took my new laptop in for a check up after it had been acting up and was told I’m going to be without it for at least 5 days (ie, the entire trip!).  So I’ll keep things as updated as possible and I’m sure before long I’m going to know every internet cafe in Opotiki (if any!), Whakatane and Rotorua because I think we all know I need my fix…

I feel well recovered from last weekend’s race and am ready to start settling back in to race mode.  KC, Connor and I are going to take the drive at leisure making stops for outlet shopping, swims etc when ever we want.  We’re only headed as far as Gav’s parents place out of Turangi today to split the trip up for those leaving later on.  Then in the morning we’ll roll on through to Opotiki, set up camp and go have a look at the course (if they’ve finally decided on what it actually is - it keeps changing!).

Little Tempo keeps getting bigger and bigger and she’s as cute as ever but thankfully has learned to keep her claws in a bit more these days (that’s not to say she still doesn’t jump from the bed on to my leg/back/side and latch on like it doesn’t cause me great pain - little menace!).  Sara is getting used to her and they’re quite civil to each other, particularly if I rub the dog’s belly while giving the kitty a cuddle - I can feel the love :o)  Mum and dad will be on pet duty while I’m gone.