Ride To Cure Cancer Blog Posts

Life's Like A Box Of Chocolates! - September 30

You never know whatcha gunna get! My friend Yvonne is back in hospital. This time with an infection in her lost eye socket. It's not bad enough that she's lost her eye, been through all of the treatment, moulting like my cat! but now is on her 3rd infection. This one bad enough that you can visibly see the swelling above her eyebrow and below her cheek bones. Not only does she have to cope with this but also the hideously disgusting food that the hospital dishes up. I think we need to get Yvonne's boyfriend, Jamie Oliver, over to help them out. Seriously the food is vile and unappetising to look at let alone taste it!
All of this certainly makes the hills easier to cope with. I keep thinking of Yvonne and her battles. A wee hill climb is nothing! 

Echelon Cyclery - 20 September

I have joined Echelon Cyclery Saturday morning shop rides. What an awesome group of people, who cater for all levels of cycling abilities. If you are struggling to find time to fit in some kms, come and join in. They are very welcoming, friendly and down to earth.
I had a bike Body Geometry FIT at Echelon Cyclery yesterday. It made the world of difference with the changes Brett made. Well worth the effort and cost if your cycling isn't feeling the best and/or you aren't achieving your goals.

Positivity - 17 September

I'm constantly amazed at my two friends and colleagues, Yvonne & Wendy, who have both battled cancer this year. Their amazing outlook on life and positivity at, what must be a traumatic time in their lives, is a real lesson to us all. Wendy is already back at work and Yvonne starts back next term. This in itself is to be applauded.
I'm in awe of these two women. I'm convinced that with their attitudes and positive outlook on life they will win their battles with the big c. 

Windy As Ride!

Crikey!  What a windy ride.  Several times it felt like the wheels were going to be swiped out from underneath me.  Shame I'd had such a manic week at work as I had very little in the tank to deal with a hilly ride plus wind AND rain!
92.23kms
3:42:57
24.81 av speed
62.05 max speed
75 cadence

What a windy ride today.  It was raining when I left home too.... I didn't melt!  Amazing!
Hard work today.  I'm not sure if it's end of term / end of a manically busy week or just the wind!  Anyway it'll make up for the excess in grape juice consumed this evening for Wendy's farewell....


31.62kms
1:19.54
23.74 av speed
55.25 max speed
77 cadence

Route Reversed

I thought I'd try the route I did last week in reverse.  It offers a bit of variety and approaching different hills from a different direction.

32.01km

1:15:30

25.43 av speed

60.69 max speed

79 cadence

Sunday Devo Ride

Once again I'm amazed by the people who ride bikes around Devonport.  NO HELMETS - even parents with kids on bikes and no helmets.  Amazing!
The bike still feels a heap better with the new set up.  Awesome!
I had a really interesting thing happen to me.  I was cycling up Takapuna Grammar Hill and because the traffic was relatively slow I was going the same speed as the car next to me.  Nek Minit.... A young boy rolled down his window and yelled out "You're doing well.  Keep it up!"  Amazing how much a little bit of praise (even if it was from a 7 year old) can make you feel on top of the world!



52.75kms
2:02:58
25.74 av speed.  When I got to Devonport it was 28.16.  Head wind heading home..!
63.99 max speed
79 cadence

Great Group of People

I forked out an extreme amount of money yesterday, but it was well worth it.  I had a Bike Geometry Fit with Brett Burton from Echelon Cycles.  It was well worth the money.  I had my seat raised 1cm.  My stem shortened 4cms and handlebars lifted.  Had a wedge put into my left shoe and orthotic type soles inserted in both shoes.  I also splashed out and bought new shoes!  Ok I got new gloves too.  AND yes I'm probably going to get the shop kit to wear!
The cycle today felt awesome.  The speed along Red Hills Road was exhilarating.   Brett also gave some tips on how to attack the hills which I could manage to do successfully until Ridge Road.   That's where my legs started to give out a bit.  It could be that I only had icecream and a glass of wine for dinner...Stupid I know!  
It was fabulous to see the Hook family out to support on Ridge Road today.  
I went with the next group up from last week and managed to keep up with them right until Dotcom's house.  The great thing is that at the top of the road the group waits and has something to eat.  
We also managed to hit Milford in time to watch the end of the first America's Cup race.  Who knew there were so many rules for a boat race.   The wind is too strong... Then it's too weak and there's a time cut off of 40mins.  Tomorrow's the day I think.
All in all a great ride with great people.  


I didn't check if my speedo was working before we started cycling this morning so it's about 5 kms short. 
75.55kms
2:41:37
28.04 av speed - nice number!
65.92 max speed
80 cadence

Windy + Hills = Hard Work!

Tough cycling today.  Not sure if it's the end of a busy week or the wind or a combination. Going up hills with a head wind is bloody hard work.  Good resistance training though I guess....!

31.69kms
1:22:02
23.18 av speed
55.84 max speed
80 cadence

Cycling Explained!

This is outstanding!

New Discovery - Map My Ride!

Check this out!  A new website I discovered to create routes.  This is what I'll be doing in the morning.




This ended up being quite a good ride!


31.67km
1:20:11
23.69 av speed
61.66 max speed
81 cadence

Morning After the Night Before!

After an awesome birthday party / house warming and getting to bed at 2:30am I was determined to make up for not going out on Saturday morning.  Luckily the head was ok, just lacked a bit of ompf!  Managed to get 2 Queen of the Mountain titles! Ha it's all in the knowing of when and where.  Apparently one of them was going up a one way street the wrong way....  I was going the wrong way.  At times ignorance is bliss!



63.69kms
2:38
24.11 Av Speed
63.79 Max Speed
80 Cadence

Rain, Hail or Shine....

I was so brassed off with myself.  On Saturday morning I got up at 5am to rain, so I decided to climb back into bed to wake up to fine weather.  I was so annoyed with myself that I smashed out 30kms on the rollers.  Next weekend, I'll be going regardless.  What's a bit of water!

Raining - So On The Rollers!

All dressed up and nowhere to go!  I walked out of the front door this morning dressed for a bike ride to Milford and back and there was RAIN!  I don't do rain.  I suppose I should incase Taupo is raining or the Ride to Conquer is raining.  But nah.  Don't like it!

So on the rollers it was.  I guess my knees will thank me for two mid-week rides without hills.. I did quite well as I didn't stop until 10kms in and then every 5kms.  Must be getting fitter on the rollers.  Here's hoping it helps on the road!

25.11kms

45:05mins

33.42 av speed

38.2 max

83 cadence

Sore Knee!

After going hard out on the hills over the last couple of weeks my knee has begun to get grumpy.  After a quick physio session (at the art exhibition!) I've embarked on getting it right before it gets worse...

So just the rollers today, taped up to give it a bit of a rest from hills.  

15kms

29:52

30.18 av speed

37.03 max speed

85 cadence

I found this slideshow and it's quite interesting!  I might investigate getting a professional bike fit.

Cycling Knee Pain from knee-pain

Sunday Devo Ride

This Strava App is pretty cool.  It shows all sorts of stats and data.  What it also does is add a touch of personal motivation to always do better than the previous day.  It lets you know your personal best times and places overall.  Very cool.
Bike speedo stats:
54.37km
2:11:37time
24.78 av speed
63.60 max speed
82cadence

I Did It!

YUSSSS! I put on my big girl panties and joined up with Echelon Cycles.  A great group of people to cycle with and very welcoming.  It's great to be part of a group again, even though there are frustrations of going too slow, waiting for people to catch up etc.  However, the next group up I think will be too fast on the hills.  Big legs but no power!  I am getting better though.  I felt great on beach road today, and it was at the end of the cycle.
I'll probably put on both stat collectors as the little one on my bike is better than Strava - stats wise! 
The picture below shows the route we did today.  

Stats from my bike speedo

80.55 km

3:10:29

25.02 av speed

61.08 max speed

82 cadence

I Like This!

Slept in this morning as it was a NEAL work day so forced myself to do 15kms on the rollers after dinner!

15.04km

27.33mins

32.75av speed

38.78max speed

83cadence

Better than nothing!

Testing a New App for The Kids!

What an Awesome Spring Morning

A fabulous morning cycle this morning.  Nothing exciting to report, other than there were a few extra cycle groups out this morning.  AND it was lighter so much earlier.

Still not the best stats but I'm sure they'll pick up soon....
27.82kms
1:17:23
21.57 av speed
54.48 max speed
79 cadence

U2, Bruce Springsteen, Annie Lennox & Jimmy Barnes

I came across this clip in a tech newsletter of all places.  It lead me to finding all of my teenage favourites!



Imagine my delight in finding this clip.  Two favs in the one go!



Annie Lennox & The Eurythmics



Jimmy Barnes blasting full noise always got a rise out of the old man!



I think I'll have this Dragon song playing at my funeral with everyone up dancing to it!



I'll stop here for now.  I could go on... Prince, Australian Crawl, Split Enz, When the Cat's Away, INXS, The Clash, Talking Heads, Queen (Mum's influence)... The list goes on.  In fact I found a list of the top 100 1980s songs.  Most of the favs are there!

Social Sunday Sycle!

I didn't have much energy today.  A combination of a few drinks last night and a ride yesterday I guess.  I think I'll have to do a larger ride on a Saturday and a smaller one on the Sunday.  Or do I do 2 big ones....?  
I do need to work on building speed up hills.  I have Amy Taylor's Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge Book on my bedside table.  Perhaps that has a few gems of information inside it.  I'll make a plan to start reading that this week.
I also need to investigate apps that map my ride... Strava or Map My Ride?  Ones that are embeddable I guess.  Today's route:
from home up to Torbay, beach road, stop in Milford for a quick chat with Amy, North Head, Naval Base, Bayswater, Wairau Road to Spinella Drive onto the Vodka Vault in Bayview for a coffee and natter with the Smiths!, up Lynn Ave, Manuka Rd, Glenfield Road, Old Albany Highway, Oteha Valley, Glenvar and home:
62.81kms
2:35:35 time on the bike!  Getting home took a bit longer with the coffee stop!
24.22 av speed
59.53 max speed
79 cadence
All that moaning and groaning aside.... What an awesome weekend for cycling.  Great to be out and about.

I felt like this today!!