Auckland (last one)

A few weeks before the Cycle Lake Taupo race we managed to borrow a bike off a work college of B and Ritchies. The guy was using his good bike but was happy to lend us his old one for as long as we liked which was ideal as we could get some much needed practice on the real roads rather than the simulations the gym machines give you.

When we picked up the bike we were all a bit surprised at just how old it was but it ran really smoothly which was the main thing. We clubbed together and bought a shiny new helmet (as they are required by law over here) and over the next week or so tried to get out as many times as we could.

Although old, the bike is a proper racer which means it doesn’t have pedals but just a small bit of metal with a hole in it. You have to wear special shoes with attachments on the bottom that clip in but the guy was happy to lend us his old pair along with the bike. Once clipped in your stuck to the bike which makes cycling easier but there is a special knack to uncliping which takes a bit of getting used to.

When I went on my first practice run to mission bay I had to cycle out of the city first so I clipped in (keeping balance by leaning against a wall) and slowly moved off. Just down the road was a set of traffic lights on red so I slowly went round the outside of the stopped cars hoping it would change before I got to it.

It didn’t change so before I got to the front car I slowed down and tried several times to unclip my left foot with the sideways action B had demonstrated earlier. It was stuck firm so my leg just wriggled around as the bike came to a stop and I fell over sideways in between two cars.

Still stuck to the bike lying on the ground it still took another couple of goes before I finally got my foot free. It must have looked pretty funny to the driver behind me so I made sure not to make eye contact, picked the bike up, and walked across the road to find something to lean on and try again. Incidentally the proper way to move off is to clip one foot in when your stationary then move off and do the other one but I was having so much trouble with it I decided to clip in at the beginning and out at the end so whenever I needed to stop I'd hop onto the pavement and lean against something.

In that final week each one of us got a couple of practice rides in doing the full distance and we thought there would be a lot of rivalry for the best times come race day but as the day approached we were just hoping we'd all get round without incident. Especially because Ben had a tyre blow-out on him during one of his practice runs.

It just happened that the race fell on my birthday so a few more people made the effort to come down to Taupo meaning almost everyone I knew in Auckland was there. We got down on the Friday and dropped in on a friend who runs a hostel down there to catch up and have a few drinks. B and Ritchie were very sensible and went to bed about 12 but me and Ben stayed up drinking till 3! Next morning was all a bit of a rush for Ben and Ritchie as they had to head off on their buses soon after we all met up so they could get to their positions for the changeover but I was on the last leg so got to watch B start.

Our sponsors were DTZ the company B and Ritchie work for and they provided us with some proper cycling tops with their logo all over it but as they were also sponsoring the event itself they had a tent set up in right in the middle of things with tables and chairs and a little picket fence separating us from the masses. They provided a day long BBQ and plenty of beer and wine which was a good incentive to finish as quick as possible. We all met up there in the morning and when we'd seen B off and the others had gone to get buses to their starting points I had breakfast with Jen and went back to bed for an hour as I was on the last leg so didn't have to get going for a while.

I got to my starting point in plenty of time and sat down to read the paper and keep an eye out for Ritchie coming in. A short time later the first riders started arriving and doing their changeovers, swapping the electronic ankle bracelet and speeding off on their own bikes.

We had just about managed to get hold of the one bike so were happy all going round on that and hadn’t thought anything strange about it until we’d met up in the morning and seen all the bikes being carted off to the various changeover points.

When Ritchie came in there were plenty of people around waiting for their riders to come in for the changeover. He pulled up, unclipped his shoes and we had a little chat about the race so far and how the other boys did on their legs as we swapped over.

As we were doing this I noticed that we seemed to be the centre of attention with a lot of nudging and pointing going on around us. People found it very funny that after changing the tag I then put on the same shoes and helmet Ritchie had worn, jumped on the same bike and then, no doubt, even more amusing when I had to run a little way to a post I could lean on to clip in my shoes.

I didn’t care about that though. After all they were the ones still waiting for their riders to come in. losers!

As far as my leg went I got one of the easy ones as it was mostly flat although I did have to get up Hatepe Hill, the biggest of the race. It’s goes up almost 2000 meters and stretches a couple of kilometres too. Going up it I must have looked quite impressive to anyone following my progress as the whole way up I was overtaking people.

Whilst others struggled I cruised on past them with apparently effortless ease and unshakable confidence in my stamina. Actually it would only seem that way if they were looking from behind and couldn’t see my red puffing face.

What was really happening was our little old bike didn’t have as many gears as the other newer ones in the race so they were quickly peddling away as if the only resistance was the air in front of them but not actually going very far whereas my legs felt like they were on fire from the constant unforgiving stress they were under but It meant I was actually going faster than them so had no choice but to overtake!

I felt like stopping a few times (actually just once – starting near the bottom of the hill and lasting till the top) but remembered the training incident at the traffic lights and winced at the thought of doing that again in front of thousands of hardcore cyclists. I kept a keen eye out for walls or trees or any other tall steady objects to lean on and rest but all I saw was grass and people. Eventually the top came in sight and soon after I was cruising down a gentle slope on the other side with no more big hills ahead of me.

A few kilometres from the finish I’d recovered enough to really crank it up and after tearing across the finish line I made my way back to the tent. The others had been waiting on the finishing straight to watch me come in but I didn’t hear them cheering as they only realised I was finishing when I’d already gone past them. B said it was because I was hammering past at a blistering pace so they didn’t see me in time but I think it had more to do with the blistering pace they were getting through the free alcohol.

It’s guaranteed that we had the slowest changeover times but even so when the results came back we managed to come in a respectable 198^th out of 1600 and the times for each of our legs were close and reflected the difficulty of each one so we’d all had a good race.

We spent the rest of the day drinking and eating outside the tent in the glorious sunshine. It turned out we had trounced the other DTZ relay team and had people congratulating us on our performance all afternoon.

Nobody seemed to mind that all our friends had joined us in the tent and were making their way through the food and drink. After a well needed nap in the evening we all hit the thumping Taupo night-life. The perfect finish to a perfect day.

The next few weeks were fairly quiet. Work had finally picked up meaning that now we actually had to do some although it was still not too stressful. I had to say goodbye to me mate Carter who I’d known right from the beginning picking those crap mandarins up in Keri Keri and shared a flat with for 7 months.

It was sad to see him go but a big group of us went out for his leaving do and tore up the St James' dance floor at a house and trance night giving him a fitting send off.

Christmas came around and my flatmates all spent a few days with their parents leaving me in an empty flat so I invited round the few travelling buddies who didn’t have a home to go to this side of the equator. There was Ben and Jen (English), Marne and Pat (American) and Echo (Chinese), collectively dubbed the international orphans for the festive season.

I’d decorated the flat and everyone chipped in some money for a big Christmas lunch with all the trimmings which was really good despite me being in charge of the cooking – I did get some much needed advice from the others though.

The rest of the day was spent digesting, drinking as much beer as your stomach would allow in and watching DVD’s as the New Zealand Christmas TV is pretty dire.

Boxing day was glorious so a few of us headed up to the north shore to spend the morning on the beach with Jen and then meet up with Ben for a BBQ in the evening.

The ANZ work finally ran out as our contract ended on the 29^th of December. I considered getting some work for the three weeks until me and Ben headed off round the country but managed to talk myself out of it so I spent the time lying on the sofa watching DVDs, visiting people and wrapping up the loose ends of life in Auckland ready to switch back to travelling mode.

After two failed trips this year I was very surprised one warm sunny day to get an invite from Ben to go snowboarding.

It turns out there is and indoor slope just outside Auckland city so me Ben and Andy spent the whole day on the slope with no wind at all and not even a hint of fog.

Success at last.