Saturday's paddle down to the gravel pit was uneventful but has brought Lea's average number of swims down to 5.6 with 17, 0, 0! We both got caught in one backwash against the rocks but both got out safely, which was a confidence boost.
Sunday was an awesome day with Lea and I travelling up to Motu with the Boss and his daughter, Nicole. Lea arrived with no chain on her bike (!) but the boss and I managed to fumble our way through and reconnect it.
Lea and I set off for the run and met Nicole at the bridge and carried on through the bush. The track was great - a bit of mud, but very beautiful bush. Click on the link below to see Lea and Nicole charging through the bush and then having a wee rest out the other side. It was a bit of a slog back with Nicole succumbing to a crook knee. However, Lea completed the run in 1.49 which was about 10 minutes faster than expected.
In the meantime Motu township's population had quadrupled. AaronTeddy and someone else had just started the run, Brian with the broken collarbone was running while his son Hamish and Pat were road cycling home. A bunch including Graeme, Christine, Julie and some others were also road cycling and then Rachel, Brett and Colin turned up to road cycle and leave their car for Ross and Jane to pick up after mountain biking through. There were others too but too many to remember.
Lea, Boss and I took off on the road bikes and were quickly joined by Brett, Rachel and Colin and we worked sort of as a team through to Traffords (really only I and the boss and Colin had turns at the front though!) The big disappointment was that we didn't have a fried sausage at Matawai which has to be the best fried sausage you have ever had!
We split up on the big hill with Colin finally pulling away in the last few hundred metres on his light as carbon fibre cycling machine while I lugged up my solid steel machine 50m behind him. Rachel was next after a great climb, followed by the boss and Brett who was relieved to hold out a fast fading Lea. Colin took off straight away, but being the gentleman I am I waited for all to get to the top and the rest of us took off together.
Of course the steel machine was first to the bottom and while I waited for Lea and the Boss, Brett carried on and the three of us had to work very hard to get him back often reaching speeds in excess of 60kph.
We had an awesome ride. This photo shows us in pursuit of Brett. Check this link out for the full set of photos. We finished in 1hr 45 which is my fastest by 6 minutes. It really shows the value in working as a team.
At Oponoe we caught up with the others who were having a lunch stop to find Tracey climbing in to the river in her Cobra Eliminator to paddle (by herself). I'm waiting to hear if she fell out.
Talking about kayaking. I heard a rumour that Jared paddled it on Sunday morning when it was only 1.56 high in 2 hours and then continued on to the Waioweka Bridge!!
It was great to be part of so many locals out there completing some challenging training. Congratulations to all of you.
3 comments:
Obviously a faulty camera - I was hoping to look far more glamorous running - and a lot more sprightly... Fortunately there are no shots of me crawling up Traffords!!! ... It was another weekend of being dragged along by the Chief Possum .... self doubt is setting in...My support man (DAD) says not to worry, he has a good spot light for when darkness sets in on the day!
Always enjoy the stories!! You weren't meant to put my time on there. I don't want my Whakatane counterparts seeing what they're up againts
Tessa and her Cobra Eliminator made it to the end of the Kayak leg with one wee unscheduled dip, supported by her rather tired husband Pete, (after doing the Motu mountain bike earlier) and their rather bored son Terrence. All went well other than a flat tyre on the bike and and not going as fast as she wanted....or did she??? Being related to Jarrod it must be a secret!!!
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