Well at $3.99 perfect designer bag
Bagheera
The Road to the Tour Aotearoa
7 days out from the start it’s just about to start
Ride eat sleep
Repeat
For the next 3000 km
Well the training is nearly done 4500 km ridden to take me to a place where I am ready for the ride to start. It has been a real up and down journey and its not over yet, I have overcome so many little challenges and some not so small.
Every pay day on the way to the start there has been a something more to buy, something that’s broken or needs replacing or upgrading and if you change just one thing the knock on effect ripples through the whole system.
Sore knees, saddle sore and sore muscles are just a few of the things that have not gone as planned. I gave no regard at the start of my training to the fact that I am 50 now, but aging may not be an excuse for not training hard but I can assure you that I no longer recover as quickly as I did and have to build up slower, this is not an issue if you have good systems in place to take care of yourself.
Oh and every 1000 km is equal to 1 kg in weight loss so far which has been a nice bonus
So what I now have is this to carry for the next 3000 km
So 26 kg of bike and gear and food and drink!
None of this would be possible without my wife’s support
Grinding the gravel roads
Slowly working my way round the local gravel roads and finding all the hills. Followed the pioneer trail and found a 300 meter gravel climb 🙂 Have had my saddle to high and it has been causing some knee pain which has been a complete git. Surprised that by lowering the saddle I have more power on the hills and am using different gears to climb which is awesome, but now tendons on the back of the knee need a good stretch as the are now being used more.
Going to change to a 170mm crank length from a 175mm to try to remove some of the stress on the right leg, I must have had a complete brain fart when I brought the current one as I have always been happy on a 170mm and didn’t think 5mm would be a problem, well for me it has and I am going to remove this before I damage something.
Some pictures from what felt love like the top of the world
Great day out
Well slip slap slop sun screen a must nice 60 km ride up to the Opihi Vineyard. Lots of gravel roads and next to no cars also the wind mostly behaved and left me to get on with riding 🙂
Say hello to Bagheera
Everybody knew Bagheera, and nobody dared to cross his path; for he was as cunning as Tabaqui, as bold as the wild buffalo, and as reckless as the wounded elephant. But he had a voice as soft as wild honey dripping from a tree, and a skin softer than down.
—Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book
Going Slowly 