Knocked the bastard off

Some comments have been made about how quiet it's been on the blog since Logan's 'last will & testament' posting. Did we expire on our way up the hill? Did we expire on the way down? Broken limbs? Hospitalisation? Chopper rescue? Or, maybe, did we not even do it? Well, sadly the latter is the truth. The fateful Sunday rolled around and one of us (Logan) was too unwell to participate in the activity planned. Maybe it was too much wine the night before, maybe it was too much time spent out partying, but whatever the reason, only one of us went riding that day.

Yep, I did it alone. I met a friend at the top of the Rapaki Track and we did some sweet singletrack riding in the sunshine and wonderful weather the day provided. While descending the Captain Thomas Track I managed an endo and was landed on by my companion (who did the same thing in the same spot) and a short time later was waist-deep in blackberry bush after another mistimed corner. So, I figured with scarred leg and broken spoke and flat tyre I was sufficiently punished and ready for another training week and belated hill climb.

Tuesday: We attached the new cycle computer with cadence counter to the bike (much cursing and swearing) and went for a test-spin that evening. All systems go! Not many k's but a good little leg turner.

Thursday: A trip to McLeans Island, along the riverbank, 2 x laps, then back again. Some good k's (about 55km) and some good speeds - we were advised by a chap hooning on the riverbank we were doing 35kph. He was impressed, we had a speedo and so it was old news. Still, not bad pace for the both of us to be able to maintain.

Saturday: The day. Hill day. Time to repeat the trek we last tried in November of last year - tandem up Rapaki Track, then do a bit of road/hills, then home again.

10am, we set off. Weather was quiet, slightly cool, but perfect for riding. We rode the train tracks and park and some road (only one wrong turn) and before long were at the foot of the hill. We spun up the tarseal section, stopping only briefly to help the chain to the smallest ring, and attacked the track. Through the first gate, up the track, through the second gate and still going well. We pushed up the new smooth surface for a while, but had a small pause about halfway up the first hill. The short pause was enough to rest the legs (hey, we'd done over 15km just to get to this point!) and we started on again. This push got us to the top of the first hill, through the third gate and down the small descent ready to tackle the next half of the climb. We hit it and were spinning well, in the groove, and thankful we didn't bring jackets as it was getting warm now. We almost made it to the top before we had to stop for another small breather, then pushed for the summit. More spinning, more panting, more sweating and we reached the top! Goal achieved! Yea baby yea!

So, on we went, up to Castle Rock, down the other side, up under the gondola to the top of the hill. We were at 26km and decided that aches and pains were not going to get any better by riding up more hills, and so far it had been mostly uphill! We turned tail and headed back, knowing it was going to be mostly downhill in this direction so we were happy and ready for the journey. And plain sailing it was, we only had one climb, back up Castle Rock, and then were heading down Rapaki Track at a moderate/high speed. Trouble was first dealt at the halfway point of the descent where the level bit required a gear change and we gunged the chain. With a couple of twists, we got it back on but while preparing for the second part of the hill, it was jumping and skipping and making awful noises. We did the descent all the way to the bottom and jumped off to check the chain. Turns out there was a very bent link in it. So, out came the chain breaker, and we hacked a couple of links out of the chain on the side of the road (yay for it not raining) then put it back together again. This is a task that requires 5 hands to achieve, but eventually completed. I'm buying a magic chain link so future incidents don't leave us on the side of the road for almost an hour fighting with stupid chains!

We trundled home, arriving at about 2pm, and about 2 hours of that actually moving, the rest panting or repairing. We'll do a few gentle rides in the coming week, then it's time to rage! Yup, less than a week till the Rainbow Rage, 106km of alpine trekking madness in the saddle. We're quite a bit better prepared both physically and equipmentally than we were for the Molesworth. Wish us luck and we'll see you at the finsih line!