Epic Camp NZ 2010 Day 14 Tara

Day 14: Waianakarua to Balclutha

Totals:

Bike: 188k
Swim: None!
Run: None!

Day 14 down, one day to go! Tomorrow will be a tough ride with all the climbing but with one last ride and a 7k-ish run to the very bottom of the South Island, it will be a fun and rewarding day...Points are now set so there won't be any insane 25k run or 6k swim tack-ons! Petro has nearly killed himself going for the red jersey and I am now confident he WILL survive :)

Today was a bike from Waianakarua through Dunedin to Balclutha. We were supposed to have an aquathon in the harbour in Dunedin but due to cold water conditions and for the "safety of the camp" (as Johnny N stated) it was canceled. There was also a KOM today just before Port Chalmers and we didn't know that the aquathon was canceled until our regrouping, just before we set off for the KOM. Up until that point, I had been worrying about how cold I may get, especially after experiencing hypothermia at Ironman Arizona this past November. Phew, I sure was relieved! There wasn't time to do another aquathon at the pool upon our arrival in Balclutha so today was the first day that I opted not to do the swim, bike, AND run option. All I did was the bike! It did feel kind of wrong, but I got over it quickly and enjoyed the extra time to relax and get a massage from Janet.

Yesterday I tweaked my groin in the 400IM swim race and a massage with Janet COMPLETELY fixed my pain. Janet and Suzy are the two massage therapists with us in the South Island and I wish they could come and live in Toronto :) They are AMAZING!

Today's ride was the hardest ride for me so far. I guess that makes sense considering I have trained almost 94 hours in the last 14 days! But also, this ride had 7080 feet of ascent. It was HILLY!

During the KOM, I started fast out of the blocks but about half way up I really wasn't feeling the love and in the end I finished behind that strong-climbing Jo girl. I knew the next person behind me was pretty far back so I enjoyed a bit less pressure as I finished the tough climb. This was the last KOM and most important, I did finish in front of that awesome Pete dude :)

Nick (who grew up in Dunedin) was our tour guide/leader and took us up a VERY steep and LONG climb out of Dunedin because 'it was more fun'. It was a 'pleasant' surprise. I sure am glad that wasn't the KOM. OR the next climb! Or the next million climbs we did before finally arriving at our accommodation...
With so many climbs, there were also many fast descents and I hit 75.7kms/hr (don't worry it was safe Mom!) which paled in comparison to other campers who went almost 90kms/hr.

There have been quite a lot of mechanical issues on this camp, which isn't too much of a surprise given the rough New Zealand chip seal road surfaces and the number of miles we have been riding, but touch wood, my bike has been perfect...No flats, no broken cables, no broken cranks, no broken spokes (these have all happened on this camp). I am riding Shimano Dura Ace TUBELESS wheels and they have been awesome. They are so durable but at the same time, they are light and fast to get me to the end of these rides with kick butt average speeds!!

After the lunch break, we rode pretty friendly to the last drink stop but it was only 30k from the finish and DC and Claus rode on by. I had two full bottles so I once again caught the DC train home. I think I have looked at David Craig's wheel and butt more than anything on this camp, all while going at a good clip. Even better this time, was being third wheel behind superman Claus whose draft was sweet (DC really is about 3% body fat so when he is on his P3C in full aero position, as Scott commented, he is 'like a knife turned sideways'. But I love riding behind DC because he is strong and consistent and as a result 40kms/hr has never felt so easy. Thanks David Craig the cycling machine!

Hanging out after dinner sharing stories was fun tonight - in particular Dr. Big E's crazy ER stories. "Good times!"

One more sleep and one more ride and run and EPIC CAMP NZ 2010 will be completed...Final day blog (got to get those bonus 5 points - although it is fun to blog anyway) and then an Epilogue to follow...

Tara