Tara - Day 7

Swim: 2000m or so, :25 or so
Bike: 180K, 6:20
Run: Nothing for me!

(Nelson to Arnaud with tack on to 180K)

Today started with the ride to Arnaud to Lake Rotoiti. I have been struggling a bit with this wee leg injury but I am managing to hang on. I am riding at my own pace (and still managing to ride lots with the main pack too) and as a result have had different sources of company along the way. It’s been fun riding with everyone here. It really is a great bunch of people and as Bevy James Eyles says, “good times” are happening all around, injury and all.

There was a pretty hard headwind today with those darn “Kiwi rollers” and a net uphill ride by a long shot (I realized this fact on the return)! It was a tough ride and we were all working together to battle the head winds. Actually I wasn't doing any work at the front! We leave that to Chris! At about 1:30 into the ride, Russell hit Bevan’s wheel (Marilyn commented that she had been thinking that a crash may happen because she was seeing that people were starting to get pretty tired and sure enough she was right!) and promptly went down. Dave Langley was right behind Russ and he did a nice job of minimizing the damage as he went down too. His back wheel went up and sideways in the air and as I veered right, his wheel hit my arm and ripped my watch right off my wrist. It all happened so quickly and fortunately I escaped going down as did Lou who followed my wheel. There were two crazy things about this crash. First of all, Lou has been doing the camp solo (he has been riding mostly off the back of the pack) and this was the ONE time he was in the peloton – go figure! Second, I didn’t even know my watch was gone because I was checking out the tire burn mark on my arm. Later, Dave pulled out my watch from his pocket and handed it back to me. So my ‘protector’ really did protect me today, AND saved me the expense of having to get a new watch. Thanks Dave!

I was relieved to get to the lake and because Marilyn had forewarned us about the sand flies, we doused ourselves with bug juice as soon as it arrived in the support van. Lake Rotoiti is spectacular! We were all expecting the swim to be frigid and I was upset that I didn’t know to bring my neoprene booties and watched most people pull theirs on along with some neoprene caps. Scott mentioned that the swim would be shorter because that was all we would probably survive. Well, the water was beautiful. The warmer temperature took everyone by surprise and it was a fun four loop swim. New Zealand has had one of their warmest summers, so I guess it warmed up this lake.

After the swim, everyone went for what looked like a pretty slow paced 50min jog (we had to laugh watching Molina walk the last part of his run) and a few took some tumbles on the trail, but none as serious as mine the other day! I should get points for the colour of the bruise that is coming out on my leg. I tried to run two steps but it was still a definite no go. I keep hoping I will wake up and be able to run, but this injury will need more time. Lots more time. Instead, I hung out with Marilyn and Chris and the support gang in the sun and ate lunch early.

The ride back to Nelson was a screamer! This is probably the first time at Epic Camp that I have had this kind of a tail wind. And it was fun. Usually the winds find a way to switch directions just as you are expecting a nice tail wind. I started out riding with Dave Dwan and Dave Langley and it was quite comical to hear Dave Langley comment about that grand piano someone put on his back. Eventually the main pack caught us and I caught that FAST love train for a while. I hit 76K/hr and let the pack go ahead when they hit speeds upwards of 80K/hr (no need for me to go that fast) and I did not have the ability to put on any surge to catch the train with my injury anyway. I rode solo with the pack in sight until they stopped at a gas station to refuel, thank goodness. I needed to stretch my leg because my knee has been killing me since the fall (probably because I am compensating with my quad seeing as my hamstring is out of commission). We only had about 25K to go and I tacked on at the end with Lou to hit the 180K mark for an extra point. I know I am out of the points now, but it is still fun to go those few extra kilometers for an extra point.

Final day is tomorrow and I will be happy to be done. I am still having lots of fun, but it is hard to keep going at this intensity with my injury. Steven Lord is ahead in the points by a million. Even if I was uninjured, I would be playing for second place. It is truly unbelievable what that guy can do! Like run 50K on day 5!