ECNZ 2010 – Day 6 – Turangi to Wanganui

ECNZ 2010 – Day 6 – Turangi to Wanganui

Today’s profile showed us descending from a high point of 900m elevation to sea level. On the face of it I thought it was going to be a relatively straight forward day. However throw in about 1.5hrs of persistent rain to start with and a total of 2000m of climbing and we had another tricky day. I took it pretty easy all day and opted out of the optional tack on up Whakapapa ski station. My sole mission is to make the South Island in one piece and then on to Bluff, no tack on’s for me

Overall it was a relatively uneventful day for me until after lunch other than a puncture. After lunch we then hit roller after roller and on the final descent I lost concentration and consequently contact with my small group and had to ride the final 35km solo. This ended up being a misery as the wind really began to gust and I was generally feeling pretty sorry for myself. That was pretty similar to yesterday so mental note for the next few days is to ensure I have some riding buddies for the run.

10km run off the bike with Russ and I thought we were holding a reasonable pace for day 6, better than previous camps.

Today was the first access to some free fast wi-fi (I’ve been surviving on a slow Vodafone connection) so I was stoked to be able to do a skype call with my wife Belinda and 2.5yr old Thomas. Technically this is a working holiday for me but I miss them both a lot and can’t wait to see them next Wednesday night when we roll through Christchurch.

Had my first beer today. We are very happy to have a camp sponsor in Steinlager http://www.steinlager.com/ - it’s a great tasting beer and the troops led by Molina have been cracking through it

Summary

Swim 3km in lake taupo

Bike 170km

Run 10km off the bike