13 January 2007

Epic NZ 2007 Days 5 & 6

Its Saturday evening at the end of Day 6 and I've bot 20 minuts before it closes and my typing is crap, and its all getting a bit foggy upstairs as the days blend together so I'll do my best here to remember what I did.

Friday - Day - 5

We woke up in Moana and did a 3km swim, 11km trail run aquathon for points to start the day. 1:25 hammerfest for the front of the pack and quite a bit longer for those not-so-speedy int he water. We had Newsome to tow us arund the lake so I drifted to the in New Zealand. back to enjoy some draft. I got to run with G-Man and Mark P (I'll stop mis-spelling his name from here on out.....) wich was a nice treat. G-Man was kinda cruisin' and Mark ran a 4:07 mile in college so I knew I would get a bit out-kicked at the end but it was nice to have some company to pull me along.
The Albernator missed the train on the swm but came zipping past us at heart-attack pace! and quickly ran to 2nd while Brandon cruised on past us later to get 3rd.
Very solid effort by quite a few of the campers.

We split up into various groups to ride today. I wanted to lead a ride up Arthurs Pass which is the steepest climb in New Zealand. I used a 34 x 25 today which is barely enough. It was 65km to the top and a few of us bailed out there. Some folks rode back as well. Brandona and Mike are gradually pulling away in the hunt for yellow.

So that was it for me. Nice dinner in the restaurant across the road again. Short day!
I don't know what the hell every one else did..........

Saturday - Day 6 - I'll let the other guys give you some totals from the week so far but I know there are some very big numbers being put up. After tomorrow it will be a full week so I'll try to get some numbers. For example though - Andrew Charles usually swims about 2km per week and he's already done 22km in 6 days!

We swam first.
I put up a few sets people could do for bonus points and most people chose the easiest option today - 20 x 100 on 1:30. I did my 1km with a band around my akles to get another point to stay in the hunt for the old farts jersey. Some people did another 6km session.

The folks who swam shorter roled out early as the weather was supposed to deteriorate through the day on the ride to Franz Joeseph Glacier 137km away. And it did. Wet all day although temps were around the 15-20C range. Not a lot of chit-chat today in my group. Just getting it done.

Some people tacked on again for more points which I thought was damn impressive. Tough to head back out there in the torrent when you've got a nice hot shower and tons of good food there waiing for you. I took a nap! and then slooged out my 50 minute run. Wet, wet, wet dn tomorrow is lookingmuch the same as we head further south.

That's all I've got! Pretty lethargic after a nice glass of red courtesy of Scott and Kari Davis and a massage from John. I'll tryto get something a bit more thought-provoking written up in the next few days. Now its time for an ice cream and bed.