TD2015 - It begins...

Sitting in Auckland International Airport and the call to board fo LA has been made. It is officially on!

I feel strong and I'm reasonably confident I emembered to pack everything. Well - after I opened the already sealed bike box and put the seat in...

I'm not only ready but I'm excited to do this thing - again😃

LA to Calgary.. a little ride over to Banff to stretch the legs... Tell a few lies in the 2 days before then it's off from the grand depart...

Sweet!😁

The Power to Perform VS Packing my Fears

There are many different approaches to what to ride and what to pack. Being faster is assisted by being lighter and less encumbered but riding longer helps and having more light is better - especially when the going is sketchy.

'We pack our fears' is a term we Bike-Packers throw about and many of us know this to be true. If this is the case I guess I'm more fearful than most:-)

Ventana El Commandante Ultimate - Sporting 'Go Fast' Red Hubs

The advancement of LED lighting and the new range of light-weight, low rolling resistance dyno-hubs, USB charging setups and lithium ion/polymer batteries has made it possible to travel further, faster and lighter than ever before - with all the toys we could want or need fully charged along the way!

I run a Shutter Precision PD-8 dyno hub, K-Lites 1000lm light, Sinewave Revolution USB plug and Plox 6000mah lithium polymer battery for storage.

Shutter Precision PD-8

K-Lites 1000lm Headlight

Sinewave Revolution USB & Plox Box

For a detailed description of the more technical aspects of AC vs DC, amps/milliamps, lumens and other numbers I advise going direct to the sources of these components and engaging in a long and if you are of a mind for it - riveting ongoing discussion...

I will focus on what I've found works for me with what I have put together.

The hub turns and if the switch on the box I have installed on the right fork is turned to light - the light comes on. If it is turned to USB  (there are only two options on mine making it easy for my puny often fatigue addled brain to comprehend) the power is routed through my revo plug to the plox box. The plox lipo battery feeds energy to whatever I want to charge. This is a K-Lite setup. Kerry is an innovator. He is constantly working and re-working his systems. Newer setups now include switchable outputs for lighting (low and high) and constant charging plus lighting as an option. Definitely worth a look. Check K-Lites on Facebook for a great start point. (In my opinion - end point too:-) 

I run a Garmin 810. Some like them and some don't. It has pretty graphs of the upcoming terrain and I like these so I use it... It does not like it when charging stops so the cache battery keeps power going to it no matter what speed I'm doing. I did have a dodgy cable connection on day two or three of the divide and while removing the annoying nag screen, in aero on a speedy downhill I hit a pothole and was ejected from my trusty steed... This is hardly the fault of the Garmin or my charging setup - but it really hurt!

My light is the 1000lm version offered by Kerry of K-Lites. It produces heaps of light at reasonable speed and not quite enough at lower crawling speeds or when picking down really ugly descents. I supplement this with a Lezyne Infinite Light. At 4 or 500 lumens it makes up the shortfall on the front light at low speeds and is charged from USB during the day. Simple and quite inexpensive. I carried a spare battery on the Divide that I never actually required...

I had an HTC OneX that sucked power but covered all my communication needs. I like listening to podcasts and music too and my phone did all of that. Bit of a power sucker but I do like to pack my fears...

I also ran a bluetooth speaker and added an additional camera. Both of these items really were non-essential but they added little weight but gave back a lot on the trip. The speaker kept me entertained and warned large hairy creatures that I was coming. The camera was a late addition purchased in Banff. Waterproof and also chargeable on the bike I took many more photos because it was easy to access, the screen was easier to see in bright light, buttons and not touch screen worked with gloves on and didn't suck power like using my phone would have.

So how to keep it all going...

Number 1 - keep GPS going. I followed the TD line on my GPS and although I had maps and cues I almost exclusively just followed the line - and my nose... So - losing that would be very bad for me... I kept it plugged into the plox and topped up all day long. The second USB out on my plox would charge first the light, then the phone, speaker and camera.

I found that charging the plox back up over the morning then plugging in respective items through the day kept things humming. If the phone was low I avoided overdoing the music/podcasts. 

I did carry 2x small mains chargers. I bought them when I got there so I didn't need adapters for dodgy American wall plugs;-)  They were lightweight and I used them to topup items a couple of times but I don't think I really needed to. They were my backup in case things went wrong with my charging setup.

Plox box - 2.1amp output with pass-through charging

On the cache battery front... it is important to get one that doesn't require a switch to turn on. If it loses power it may require a re-start and you won't even know it's not charging out possibly leaving you with an essential item uncharged. Also ensure it has 'pass through technology' I'm not sure how this is accomplished - but many of the batteries will not charge out while they are being charged. To use one as a cache it is important to check that the battery will do it. I have also found this to be useful for those not using a dyno. The plox will pump 2.1amps out, has an included wired-in micro usb cable out and a USB out. That means when you are in a room with others competing for the one free wall plug you can plug in 2 items to charge out while the plox is being charged up.

At the end of the day you could keep things simple, run lights off batteries and carry only the simplest of phones for emergency (if at all). Of course you could also use only maps and a compass or commit everything to memory after multiple attempts (Mathew Lee) and just ride, ride ride. It's all good! Whatever works for you but me  - I'll pack my fears:-)

Tour Divide 2014 - 1 Grand Depart or Bust

Flying is awesome!

Leaving NZ was a surreal experience.  The culmination of many months of planning leading up to me watching my upset wife leaving the airport... emotions of excitement at what was to come and concern for those not coming jostled for attention... However - the family would leave for the US as I aimed to finish so it was possible to enjoy the bittersweet feeling knowing that we all had good times to look forward to.

The Canadian aiport of entry charged me 50 dollars for some undisclosed handling fee (it's a bike so there's a fee they said) Welcome to Canada! 

Meeting the shuttle, bike box at my side, I headed for my motel. Travelling with a bike box is always a pain in the arse but the next morning I would have the Ventana out and my gentle ride to Banff would begin. 

I woke to a beautiful, blue sky day - instant summer -  gotta love that! The bike came together quite quickly. The only slightly concerning aspect was that my hub had wept oil but my reading indicated that this can happen when laid down for any length of time. Given the problems I had later in the race - I'm not so sure this was the correct diagnosis.

Heading out the door and down the street I struck my first navigational challenge. The first intersection provided 3 possible directions to go. Sitting at an intersection having just left my airport hotel I realised I had no way of knowing which way to go. My GPS had no maps installed - I intended to load it once I reached
Banff...I had all the ACA TD maps but no map for the local area. My Travelsim in my phone would not connect with a provider so no Google maps. I had not realized how reliant on technology I had become.  I felt screwed from the beginning! Not a great start to my TD adventure!

I had flown to Calgary a week before the race start of Friday the 13th of June. The aim was to acclimate and to ensure  I had time to switch gears into riding mode.

That first day was in many ways the way the race played out for me - lots of riding and problem solving to keep riding.

First on the list was getting communications up and running. I could have gone back to the hotel and used WiFi and phone or just asked someone for directions but as with the race - going back was not an option:-) instead I headed in the direction that felt right and found coffee and free internet. Relatively quickly my data and phone were connected. Using Google maps I was able to find my way into the city.

Sweet ride towards the mountains

I spent a couple of hours riding around, drinking coffee and generally enjoying the freedom of being somewhere new, alone and self sufficient. My life for the next month or so was literally all on my bike! I stocked up on supplies and followed my nose over local cycleways and eventually off towards Banff. That night I stayed at the Hostel Bear in Canmore.

Nope - Don't have these at home...

The next day I rolled the Legacy Trail from Canmore to Banff. Sealed and gently climbing it was all the things the Divide was not - and I loved it! Plenty of time to get smashed around later! I rode this trail a couple more times over the week. It was a nice leg stretch with a decent coffee at Bicycle Cafe Canmore. Worth the ride!

It was great to be one of the first at the YWCA. It gave me time to meet some of the other riders and to get comfortable on my own again. My training had included a fair amount of solo riding but by far the majority of my training happens in our gym. Between spin and pump classes and working with clients there is a lot of contact time in my week. I did settle into my own space quickly though. What's not to like about doing your own thing;-)

Scotty and Geof - Team NZ together in Banff

A couple of days out from the start the other two members of 'Team NZ' arrived. Geof and Scotty had prepared and traveled over together. We all live in Alexandra and when the stars align get to ride together.. It was great to share the anticipation buzz with them over a couple of beers. Conversation naturally turned to our concerns around bears and other wildlife not found in NZ. Other 'helpful' riders and locals filled our heads with stories of Bear attacks and somewhere along the line Mountain Lions were added to the list. I'm still not sure if the suggestion to wear caps backwards because the mountain lions think you are looking back at them, was legit...

On the day before the start there was little to do. I did have some difficulty loading maps onto my Garmin 810. Got there in the end but I put myself through avoidable stress by not getting this done earlier. The library has a great computer setup that is free to use. I sent extra items home by surface mail. It took over 2 months for those items to make it home!

A few small purchases, stock up on food items for the first section, down for the unofficial/official briefing with Crazy Larry and try not to let nerves get in the way of a good nights sleep...

Hydrate or die!

Crazy Larry - Tour Divide Legend

Tour Divide 2014 - Knocked the bastard off!

Tour Divide 2014 - Knocked the bastard off!

Antelope Wells or bust! Knocked the bastard off!

The Tour Divide was a tremendous experience. The race itself was around 4500km with a 2 year buildup and some serious distance to cover to get to the start line. I completed the journey from Alexandra, NZ to Antelope Wells via the Continental Divide series of mapped roads and trails. I have the picture in front of the border stone to prove it!

For what it's worth I finished 8th. In a race where there are no official placings and there is such a range of attitudes to what the race is really all about or if it's even really a race at all to many - placings don't mean that much. If I'm honest though, I'm chuffed!

It was tough - one of the toughest if not the toughest thing I've done in my life. I managed my bike and body to the end - my body fairing surprisingly better than some parts of my bike. Definitely the right way around in my book - I can always get a new bike...

I set out with the same goal most Novices to this event have - I just wanted to finish it. I didn't want my body, my bike or my spirit to break. I did not want to get lost - or eaten! I just wanted to survive.

I went with a couple of other aspirations. I  committed to racing 2014 after fellow Kiwi Ollie Whalley won back in 2012. As a start point I looked at the time of the 10th placed competitor and set out with the belief that 20 days was achievable given similar conditions. It gave me a start point anyway!

 I have done a smattering of longer distance races. There have been a few 12hours as well as taking part in the 3 bike packing events we currently have on offer in NZ - Le Petite Brevet, The Kiwi Brevet and the Great Southern Brevet. the first is a hill-fest overnighter of somewhere around 250-300k. The second two are  11 or 1200k brevets both in the South Island of NZ. The Great Southern Brevet passes through my home town of Alexandra. The local area also provides me with many options for small group and solo bikepacking excursions.

As a Trainer I spend a lot of time exercising. Time to ride long is always hard to find but time to cross-train for me is part of my normal day!

I was confident that I had my bike, body and gear choices dialled in. Hell, there are always fitter people, and lighter bikes and setups but that's no replacement for hard won experience:-)

I was most interested in seeing what would happen to my body and particularly my spirit as the days wore on. I had never gone longer than 5 or 6 nights prior to the TD. the first one I did resulted in saddle sores and blisters on  my heels that meant I could not be comfortable standing or sitting down!

I was particularly interested to see if I could sustain a sense of urgency for what I estimated to be around 20 days. This was my primary goal and I'm pleased to say that I did what it took to acheive this. It was the most defining part of my experience on the divide and I will strive to relay this as I recall my experiences in this blog.

Was it life changing? Hell - I don't know but the experiences were raw, powerful and intensely personal. I laughed, cried and occasionally did both at the same time. I lived in the moment on the divide and that is a powerful thing.

Rail Trail Out and Back

This was a ride done as part of the buildup for the tour divide - and because Blair and Nigel caught the 'go long' bug. The rail trail provides a great way to crank some k's. Thought I should dust this little write-up off and post as originally intended.

Déjà vu, (/ˌdeɪʒɑː ˈvuː/) from French, literally "already seen", is the phenomenon of having the strong sensation that an event or experience currently being experienced has been experienced in the past... (Wikipedia)


This feeling presented itself numerous times over the Sunday - perhaps not surprisingly as this was the second time in a few months that I've completed a 300k out and back on the Central Otago Rail Trail.

Same trail - different people...

2am start. Ride out for breakfast in Middlemarch. Ride back to the car and drive home. Simple.

Blair and Nigel were keen to see how they responded to more k's than they had ever done in one day. Combining both of their longest days would have netted considerably less than this distance so they were understandably a little nervous at the start.

Great conditions with a warm night with no wind saw the dark hours completed without incident. I normally undertake early rides on my own and will often listen to music and podcasts. I missed that a little bit. Habits I guess. This was more than balanced up by having the guys there to share the experience with but I do like my alone time too.

By Ranfurly the day was underway. We met up with Geof and Scotty who were doing an overnighter as part of training for this years Tour Divide. Some stick was given for my lack of gear... I had considered loading on the front bag but couldn't quite get my head around carrying a tent and sleeping bag for a day out. Everything else was much as usual...

Breakfast in Middlemarch at the 150k turnaround was of the fat bastard - Big Breakfast variety for me. Nigel ate a little less with Blair bringing up the rear in the volume stakes with a toasted sandwich. Pushing back to Ranfurly is quite a slog and Blairs fadeout close to the end of this section may have been due to not getting enough on board at the turnaround. After food he was back on track...

Ross jumped on the trail at Ranfurly and caught up to us by Oturehua. Fresh legs saw him make 27 or 28k through that section. He set the pace from there through to pretty much the end.

I had one point where energy deserted me. I had 260k on the legs and a quick food intake calculation showed that I had got most of my calories from proteins and fats for the previous couple of hours. Salami, a protein bar and cherry tomatoes lacked the impact carbs I needed to push hard. Smashing in some fruit jubes and a few squares of chocolate soon changed this:-)

13 hours and a bit ride time averaging a more than 23k per hour was a good effort. A little headwind here and there but no real tail wind at any point made for a good honest ride

The 'Big Easy' MTB Race

What's in a name?

If you're going to name an event the big easy you can be fairly sure it's going to be anything but...

The big Easy held towards the end of January lived up to its tongue-in-cheek name!

The day promised to be a cracker as I drove the car around picking up some other first-time big easy riders. We got away on time and with little stress thanks to Blairs suggestion of loading the bikes the night before. Albert town being about 90k away necessitated us getting away early, the loading of bikes onto a trailer and bus drive up to the Snow Farm added more time making it a long morning to the start of the race. I much prefer an earlier race start...

I was riding my old Trek alloy 8500 hard-tail. Having recently parted company with my epic expert carbon full sus 26er I have enjoyed riding this bike while my 29er came together. It is very light and climbs better than many newer heavier setups. With the new bike coming together most of my available funds have poured into it leaving little over for other things. I decided to ride the tyres I had on the bike - the super light and skinny Schwalbe Furious Freds. As I will explain later - this decision proved both a blessing and a curse!

I spent some time prior to the race getting plenty of pasta power on board. I've learned that for me it is important to take in plenty of food in regular smaller amounts from when I first get up in the morning through to the start of the race. I keep the fibre down and the easily digestible carbs up. This way later in the race I can carry and consume less and focus on riding.

It was noticeably chilly waiting at the informal feeling start line. Looked to be quite a small field. Maybe 60 or 70 starters. A range of riders to be sure with a few notable faces. Kath Kelly looked fresh and ready to tackle the climb. She was to be the first woman home and had ridden from the valley up to the start line as additional training for her and Team mate Erin Greenes assault on the Cape Epic. Good effort. Maybe next year...

The start of the ride went much to plan. I started quietly. Moved up through the ranks as it got steeper and rougher. My bodyweight is around 6kg heavier than last year but the increased strength focus is really paying off. Still bodyweight and bike probably weigh in lighter than many in the field.

Crossed the major peak at 1hr1min feeling good and ready to see what this downhill was all about. I knew that my hard-tail, skinny, semi-slick setup would provide challenges but it wasn't as bad as I thought. To qalify that last comment - the terrain was more gnarly but I was handling it better than I thought I would. I fought my way over and down the mountain, bouncing and holding on for dear life. While I didn't pick up any riders on the down I didn't lose too many places either. Apart from one aerial dismount into soft dust I survived and set my sights on the last rider to get past me as we headed for the flats, just a few short k's from home.

Having caught and passed the rider Dallas I focused my attention on staying ahead and trying to reel in a couple more places. Dallas rallied and on a sealed stretch we had a brief conversation and readied ourselves to push for home. I felt confident that we would push each other to the end... then my rear tyre exploded!

I was off the bike, repair kit at the ready, wheel in hand in less than a minute. Unfortunately though as can be seen in the photo - there was a hole large enough to put my fist through. Bummer...

A quick assessment of what I had on hand didn't shed any light on a solution so I resigned myself to running the bike in. 5 or 6k of running and I was home.

Looking back at the ride I was pleased with a few things. I've not been out riding much over the last few months. I have regularly ridden taking my spin classes but not getting out a lot. A couple of longer rides on the previous two weekends indicated that I was Ok but a race is always a little different. The strength focus seems to be paying dividends. My ride down the hill was hard-work. Fighting a 26er hard tail down the Pisa range requires endurance and strength - especially as a rider that often takes alternative lines (ok - a crap rider:-) Follow at your peril!

I felt fresh at the end - even after an unplanned 6k run. This time last year I was pushing the body-weight down. I believe this weakened me which became evident in later months. Time will tell if I'm on the right track...

In a nutshell - ride this race if you get a chance. Outside of the event this track crosses private land so is a no-go. There is a helli-drop company that'll get you there for $700... making the 100 bucks or so entry fee seem like quite good value;-)

Blair did well. A recent 29er convert and still relatively fresh to MTB in general, his skills are improving and he will just keep getting better as the skills come up. Ross took his Giant over in much the time he was expecting and George surprised everyone and possibly himself with a very respectable effort. Not an easy 'Big Easy' ride!