Ok, it's official. Flights are booked and we are going to Queenstown for Godzone in March 2013. Not sure what team name will be, but we would love to continue racing as Team Bridgedale as those socks are just sooo good. Dave, Colin and Jerome would like to welcome Mary McBride to the team. She has been auditioning us for last few weeks to see if we are ok to hang out with. Mary fits in beautifully with our philisophy of fun, disrepect, speed tourism and having quaity time in stunning places. The boys passed her final test in the pub on Tuesday when she checked how we would cope if she had "a wee cry" during the race. We owned up to the occasional "waste of fluids" in previous races, and told her it was absolutely fine, as long as she didn't expect to stop or get any sympathy. Now .... Training .... er um, better do some.
Tuesday 27 November 2012
Wednesday 16 November 2011
Further musings, the result of disrupted sleep
I'm sitting here in Melbourne wittering away at my computer as I look out over a fantastic view - it struck me that I am looking directly at Tasmania !
One week on from finishing, the reminder being my feet are pretty numb in places, i have a random selection of bits falling off and every now and then i struggle to remember something particularly simple. All the joys of sleep deprivation i think. Thankfully my bike reappaeard on Tuesday no thanks for Pacific Blue, well done Mrs Slater for her A-Grade thinking and going to see when she was at the airport anyway. Not sure how they managed to give her someone elses luggage but I am not complaining as it is squirrelled away at home waiting to be rebuilt for the weekend. WHAT did I just say ? Yep I want to get out and do some more exercise, mainly to make me feel a bit more buzzy and justify that second large G&T that i seem to be partial to. While ARWC was hard work I can;t let all that fitness go to waste so will start to tick along again. Next target - probably Karapoti seeing as the pinny is once again on the line and the trash talking has started. I'm hoping Barryn races on his drop bar frankenbiek as that might give me a small chance.
The washing machine has been working overtime and apart from a few missing items (the odd sock, some overtrousers, my Oakleys which i lost during the brain fade sand dune bash bike ride) everything seems to have survived. I keep thinking about the race and the fun bits and the bad bits all munge together into one fog. It was too long for my little brain, somewhere around the 400km range seems to be a bit more my style. GODZone should be a fantastic race and I recommend anyone with any interest in an expedition race to go for it - it's local, you don't have to fly or deal with airlines and excess baggage, its unsupported, kayaks are dealt with (announcement soon I believe) and it also is in the most wicked landscape. I seem to be talking myself into it - almost......
One week on from finishing, the reminder being my feet are pretty numb in places, i have a random selection of bits falling off and every now and then i struggle to remember something particularly simple. All the joys of sleep deprivation i think. Thankfully my bike reappaeard on Tuesday no thanks for Pacific Blue, well done Mrs Slater for her A-Grade thinking and going to see when she was at the airport anyway. Not sure how they managed to give her someone elses luggage but I am not complaining as it is squirrelled away at home waiting to be rebuilt for the weekend. WHAT did I just say ? Yep I want to get out and do some more exercise, mainly to make me feel a bit more buzzy and justify that second large G&T that i seem to be partial to. While ARWC was hard work I can;t let all that fitness go to waste so will start to tick along again. Next target - probably Karapoti seeing as the pinny is once again on the line and the trash talking has started. I'm hoping Barryn races on his drop bar frankenbiek as that might give me a small chance.
The washing machine has been working overtime and apart from a few missing items (the odd sock, some overtrousers, my Oakleys which i lost during the brain fade sand dune bash bike ride) everything seems to have survived. I keep thinking about the race and the fun bits and the bad bits all munge together into one fog. It was too long for my little brain, somewhere around the 400km range seems to be a bit more my style. GODZone should be a fantastic race and I recommend anyone with any interest in an expedition race to go for it - it's local, you don't have to fly or deal with airlines and excess baggage, its unsupported, kayaks are dealt with (announcement soon I believe) and it also is in the most wicked landscape. I seem to be talking myself into it - almost......
Sunday 13 November 2011
Post-race musings...
[cs] So here we are, back at home, settled sort of into the old routines. It's weird being back, the whole race seems like a bit of a foggy memory and all you have to show for it is a bit of a weird walk, some skanky bits falling off you and a distant far away look in your eyes.
Man it was hard, that was the longest, hardest race I could ever imagine. I'm proud we finished as a 4 and made the hard decisions. Regrets, always, but you can;t change history. I've definitely never been that confused for such an extended period in a race - sleep deprivation and navigational challenges. My personal snafu was on the bike/dune push where my brain simply would not believe that we had to ascend a 10m high sand dune then push in an arbitrary line sort of N/NW to intersect a 4wd that miay or may not be there. That really pushed my brain that one. Anything sand related stumped us a bit. The team were great and I take my hat off to them for persevering and getting to the finish as a 4, ranked, on the full course. YEah we had to miss some CPs but that's life - we did it, we knocked it off. Not sure I'll be seen out there on another long one to be honest - time and motivation to suffer like that is at an all time low. Maybe I am getting old. Now is the time to heal, relax and focus on the positives - Team Bridgedale Socks NZ Finishers ARWC2011 Tasmania - Woot Woot !!
Man it was hard, that was the longest, hardest race I could ever imagine. I'm proud we finished as a 4 and made the hard decisions. Regrets, always, but you can;t change history. I've definitely never been that confused for such an extended period in a race - sleep deprivation and navigational challenges. My personal snafu was on the bike/dune push where my brain simply would not believe that we had to ascend a 10m high sand dune then push in an arbitrary line sort of N/NW to intersect a 4wd that miay or may not be there. That really pushed my brain that one. Anything sand related stumped us a bit. The team were great and I take my hat off to them for persevering and getting to the finish as a 4, ranked, on the full course. YEah we had to miss some CPs but that's life - we did it, we knocked it off. Not sure I'll be seen out there on another long one to be honest - time and motivation to suffer like that is at an all time low. Maybe I am getting old. Now is the time to heal, relax and focus on the positives - Team Bridgedale Socks NZ Finishers ARWC2011 Tasmania - Woot Woot !!
Thursday 10 November 2011
All done
(DR) fri 8:30 am. Others still sleeping which is very unusual, had to make my own cuppa. All a bit tired. Still not thinking straight but I think we finished about 3am thurs, slept a few hours at race hq before moving to cabin for sleep, cleaning, sleep and medical care. Dnner and beers with GOT and Nga Rakau. The second half of race was long and challenging as promised. Some stunning spots, some firkin horrible. There always seemed to be some extra challenge in a leg that took us by surprise, like coming across a 10m sand dune blocking a bush track. Today is cleaning packing and getting bikes handed in for transport. Home tomorrow.
Monday 31 October 2011
The course is revealed
The live web site now shows the course. A few long legs, some wet legs and some very remote legs. Just done our packing, one box is a bit over weight which may be to do with the 40 hours worth of food in it, plus warm gear for overnighting on the Tarkine river. We're all a bit apprehensive for different reasons. Colin doesn't like caves or abseiling. Jill isn't looking forward to swimming in 13 degree water on the trek. I'm just nervous about .. all of it. We are now pouring over maps in detail to keep ourselves occupied, 19 hours to go.
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