Day 4 - Tut, tut looks like rain

JANUARY 12, 2005 - EPIC CAMP NZ DAY 4

Oh, a day without rain! It rained all day today! Ran 10 km in the morning, in the rain, the load up our bags and biked to Nelson, in the rain.

Wake up at 6:00 AM. It was wet, wet, wet. The staff had the coffee and toast was waiting. The weather forecast was variable. In Kiwi speak this means drizzling mixed with rain.



We ran in the rain for out and back on a 10 km course. it was kind of a nice run, would have been much better without the rain. I noticed the cross members on the top of the power poles had moss growing on it. Not a good sign.


The bike started our civil for maybe 5 km. Clas launched off the front an all the elite went with him. About a km later Iron Mike, came to the front and talked Kevin and me to give chase to the elite group. We worked and worked to try and bridge. My HR soared to try to keep up the pace Mike set. It had to be 10 to 15 km out trying to catch them. On the hills the elite slowed slightly and we closed the gap a little. On the descents they would move quickly and stay away. On one of the descents Mike announced that he was going to accelerate and even with Kevin and I accelerating to keep up with Mike, he just pulled away from us. It was amazing! He slowed slightly on the next hill and we pushed hard to catch up. Jonas dropped off the back on one of hills and Mike yelled to Jonas to come back and get us. The hope was that Jonas would be able to pull us up the group on the next downhill or flat section. But Jonas must have been suffering with his gear ratio and wasn't even able to keep up with Mike's pace.

On one of the hills we got really close, maybe 100 m away and Mike went for it. Kevin and I were toast. At that same time Mitch dropped his chain and we passed him by. Moments later he was up with Kevin and me and we started to working together. It wasn't long before we realized we weren't going to catch the lead group. It wasn't 4 km and I was off the back. I was wasted. Popped – as Tom Liby would say.

So I road alone for the rest of the day, in the rain and 15 C (59 F). At the King of the Mountain climb, I saw Jonas again. He caught me on the foot of the climb. The bottom of this climb was really steep then a false top and a final grade to the top. The water was running down the hill making the road so slick that I'd loose traction and my back wheel would slip. You have to understand the roads here to fully appreciate this. Instead of the small rock chips we use back in the States, in New Zealand the rocks are huge, probably averaging 1/2". Anyway, I think I got the last civilian KOM point again. About 2 km down the back side, Clas was off the road sitting in the rain, in knee high weeds trying to fix his tire, seems his group didn't want to wait for him. He broke the stem off of his spare tire and was trying the patch is original tire. I gave him my spare and took his flatted tire. I knew Jonas was right behind me and may have a CO2 cartridge. Once, Jonas arrive I continued on. Soon Jonas passed me, and then Clas.

There was one more major climb later on, I think it was a much tougher climb, it was long and really took it out of you. The descents for both of these climbs were scary. Not only were the roads wet, it hasn't stopped raining all day, but when the trucks passed by it was difficult to see! Albert caught me on the second climb but told me to pass him to on the descent. I never saw him again until I was on the outskirts of Nelson. I had made the turn off the highway and onto the Main Road into Richland. He caught me and said he was glad he saw me turn off, otherwise he would have kept going straight. We had to go another 10 km to downtown Nelson and Nelson College where we are staying. Dorm rooms, woo-hoo.


When we were told we will be leaving for the pool in less than an hour, and the pool was outside. I have been wet and cold all day, i just couldn't imaging going outside to swim.

Mitch offered to go to walk to town for food if anyone was interested, and I took him up on it. The town is nice. Everyone was closing up around 3:30 PM so it was a little challenging finding somewhere to eat. We also visited a number of shops around town.

The restaurant we found was called the Lamberetta. It had really good food. I ordered a seafood and saffron soup and Mitch ordered french toast. But, Mitch's french toast was beyond the norm. I should have taken a picture. It had a layer of french toast, a layer of fried bananas, another layer of french toast and then bacon on top, with a cranberry sauce on the side.

It was a good 15 minute walk back to Nelson College. The rest of the folks had not returned from the pool yet, so Mitch and I got our massages move up. It actually helped with the schedule since they were late in returning.

Dinner was at 6:30 PM, and then everyone gathered back into the main hall for a meeting.

Some folks heading into town afterwards and others headed to bed. I'm finishing this blog and going directly to bed. I can't find part of my power cord converter and fear I must have left it in Murchison... bummer!