Epic NZDay 7

Epic NZ 2007 Day 7 – lake swim, ride 160km (past Haast), run

The actual glacier (Franz Joeseph Glacier) is actually about 5km from the town. Some people naturally would have liked to view the glacier but it was socked in with cloud and rain so we didn’t see it. We also whipped through the town near Fox Glacier on our ride today so no glaciers to be seen for us. Since this is my first time ever on this part of the island I was a little dis-appointed.
I was more dis-appointed to find 4 massive, steep hills to climb straight out of the gate this morning. I just wasn’t ready for it! I thought I wouldn’t have to use my 34x25 any more on this trip after going up Arthur’s Pass a few days ago but I used it a lot today. And we had a steady rain falling again, the 5th wet ride so far on the camp. I guess this is what I get for choosing a route that goes down the West Coast! Damn its wet here. Absolutely beautiful and pristine wilderness, but not really a place for human habitation. I can see why it’s a World Heritage area. I hope the possums don’t eat it all up because I’d like my grand-kids to be able to see this place.

It was a different ride today with Gordo breaking a spoke right away and Albert just cruising. They never caught up to us so we never saw them on the ride. Normally they take the wind a lot and keep things pretty steady and sensible. Instead we had Brandon hammering at the front with that “let’s get this f…n ride over with” look on his face. For a guy chasing the Yellow jersey I thought he was being a bit careless with his energy! But it was nice to be able to sit in and see the kms whiz past.

We had a short drink stop and a short lunch/snack of 10 minutes during our 5 hour journey today. Not a lot of chit chat.
I came in to eat and get a quick nap. It seemed like all I could think about during the ride today was going back to sleep.
Some people went back out to add some more to the ride as always.

Mike Montgomery’s totals for the week (7 days):
Swim – 26.4km
Bike – 978 miles/1540? Kms with no aerobars
Run – 84.5 miles

Just consider those numbers for a moment.

I’m fairly certain that’s a record week for any Epic Camper. RoboSeth may have come close to similar hours at Epic Aussie but it was a bit hillier there so I don’t think his mileage would have been as much.
We try not to discourage anyone from really going for it here in terms of either quantity or quality. These camps are all about exploring limits.

Here’s some training hours of others for the first week:
David Craig from Wellington – 50.5 hours
Clive Asplen from Penticton – 55 hours
Me – I don’t know! As I’m trying not to think about it. In general this camp has had more volume than previous camps.
Most people still do have a little snap in their legs though, which is surprising. Mark P didn’t seem to feel any pain in his legs today and Mike M was able to punch out some hard surges to close gaps at any time.

I did my 50 minute run with Brandon and Beven who are always entertaining. Both of these guys have been athletes all their lives and its fun to hear the stories of their childhood.

We’re staying at Haast Beach Holiday Park. Glad we booked this place months ago as this place is full. Kinda hard to figure out why, but there seems to be thousands of folks wanting to stay here! J We did make it to a nice buffet for dinner last night which was also nice because it gives the support crew a night off from cooking. There were about 60 geriatrics from Gore (down south) in the restaurant that we had to battle in the buffet line. Hopefully their bruises will heal quick J

That’s all for today…………..….. I’m whacked.