jo - day 3.

Day 3. Van.
Another tough day, but for very different reasons. Woke early despite getting bed late, and as a result of Muscles Inc John’s superb and generous attentions to my dodgy leg it felt OK. Decided that this was far better than it would feel after the scheduled 250+km ride up to Nelson, so took it for an early morning run. Saw Douglas heading out but did not want to risk someone else’s pace (especially his!) so we ran in separate directions – me picking up the unlit beach path whilst he stuck to the high street. Probably a more sensible option since it was still dark (and stunningly starry) at ten past 5am. I felt ok running at an easy pace, so long as I did not lift my knees. Great technique to practice for Ironman! Warmed up sufficiently after 40 min or so to tag along with Scott, Tara and Douglas on their way back into town. Not much chat pre- coffee from those guys.

Ride set off at 7am so it was a rushed pack up and breakfast, picture of Steven and I in our jerseys (he’s got his hands on Yellow now) and out we rolled into the chilly morning. The quad objected that pedaling was not at all comfortable to start with but I was going to give it a chance to limber up. The two line pace group was working beautifully again, the pace moderate in anticipation of a very big day ahead. 250km off the back of two 200km rides isn’t to be taken lightly and the stronger riders showed consideration to the group by keeping the pace steady. The day would be a lot easier for us all, including the support crew, if we could keep the bunch together for as long as possible. We rolled around the coast road – which happens to be the main north south traffic artery; Highway 1 – quite different from the M1 we joked as the sun reflected off a calm sea to our right and ciccadas buzzed loudly from the shrubbery on the left. As far as we could see through the morning haze, the road followed headland after headland – our route to Nelson. As enjoyable as this should have been, I was really feeling uncomfortable. My left quad had eased a little initially, but after 90min of riding I was counting the km to the first drinks station. There were several periods of feeling only ‘not quite ok’ in between increasingly long periods of ‘ pretty bad, actually’ interspersed with a few moments off ‘holy crap that hurts!!’.

For me the decision to quit the ride was excruciating. I hate the feeling of having given in, especially when there’s a real sense of missing out – and this was obviously going to be the ride of the camp – a day that would be shared and joked about and savoured as an experience long after the camp. However, as caught up in the fun and games as I am, and keen to prove I’m tough – I decided that it just isn’t worth it. I’m here to get fit, not wrecked. A day off the bike should, with luck, see me right for the rest of the week, whereas pushing myself through such a log ride could stuff me for the rest of the week or more, so I hopped in the van, hoping that the (nearly) 60km ride to this point would count for my daily minimum and enable me to ‘complete’ the camp.

It was fun to see how the excellent support team operates – totally on the case, calm and efficient even in the case of a near crisis when it emerged that one of the vehicles had its diesel tank filled with petrol! The day went pretty quick – there really is no hanging around for these guys, but Heath (another muscular injury) and I had a chance to chill and see the amazing scenery that the others were riding through. That was hard to swallow, and if there is a chance off a ‘free ride’ day, I’ve earmarked one climb in particular, not so far out of Nelson, just for the incredible descent! Those guys really will have earned it by the time they arrived at that point on the route..and it seemed that from Hira it was mostly downhill with a tailwind which I am sure made it a real pleasure to round the lovely coastal road and see destination in sight.

We arrived in Nelson just in time to locate the pool and get an hour swim done before the 12-hour cut off. A nice 50m out-door pool, though unfortunately most of it was occupied by inflatable dragon covered in boisterous children, and 2/3rd off that which was not, by slightly less boisterous children learning to swim. Nonetheless, with Heath and Ian as my witness, I swam 3km as 12x [100IM + 150 free].

Everyone has arrived at the Lodge now, all exhausted sore and sunburned in peculiar patterns, but satisfied. Whilst I may hate the fact that I don’t share in that for now, I am sure that I’ll be glad of it tomorrow!