jo c - day 12

the camp schedule was an early morning run in teh port hills - over on eof my favourite routes. of course i was not able to participate in this, so used the time to get an appointment with a sports doc at the QE2 centre. I figured that there'd be time to fit in a 6km swim at the pool there before my 8.30 appointment, and attending the regular squad session woudl be a good way of getting through the bulk o that distance. found that, despite being a little tired, i was swimming well - having swum every day bar one on the camp, and with 2 weeks of daily swimming prior to that may be paying off. set included 600 mixed w'up> 6 x 150/2.30> 600pull/6 x 100/1:45> 400pull> 600 mixed easy> 6 x 200(paddles)/3:30>1km straight free>100 mixed c'down and passed quickly.
Brief but thorough consult with the sports doctor who fairly confidently ruled out stress fracture and assessed that the trouble is with a nerve that runs from under foot, up calf, thigh, gluts and attached to base of spine. explains the hot spots that i experience in my butt - though i thought that the amount of cycling may also explain that to an extent! he referred me foe some chiropractic adjustments, which if i were to hang on a little while, i could get there and then. It was getting a little tight for the scheduled bike departure for geraldine, but i thought worthwhile. It was - after some manipulation to my lower back, pelvis, rear of knee and foot i was actually able to bear weight on the foot without discomfort for the first time in 2 weeks. a programme of chiro treatments will follow this camp.

A bit of a mad dash to get across town and back to the hotel, pack up and be on bikes in time for the 10.30 start of our ride south. The rest of the crew had enjoyed he run in the hills and had had the best weather of the day...dark clouds were rolling in from the south...and i've learned that in ChCh that usually means wet and cold stuff from the sky follows shortly.

we rode 'friendly' all along the highway 1 as far as raikoroa bridge - the longest bridge in NZ. it was a miserable couple of hours of wet, cold riding a long unstable chain in a very narrow shoulder as double-hitch lorrys (sorry, trucks) full of sheep's arses pelted by, wafting us sideways with their gusts and spray. it was a relief to get to teh bridge - it was pretty long - as once safely across, the group split a bit and people were free to ride off at their own pace a bit more, and warm up. Th e majority of the group stuck together though, and Gordo got a bit of a through and in rotation going which jollied things up for a while. Although this enabled us to roll along at a faster speed than i could manage alone and at a much lower work-rate, i found it quite stressful - feeling tired today and with strange feelings in my glutes after the adjustments i was cold, not comfortable holding a constant position on the bike and wished to be able to turn my thoughts away from the wheel in front. At lunch everyone put on ALL their warm clothing ate yummy sandwiches that the ever thoughtful support crew had pre-assembeld for us. when the others set off - i hung back a little in order to ride solo - more relaxed and also working a little harder to keep warm. Both Steven and Rip offered me a wheel when they came by, but i preferred my own company, and some tunes. But 20 min later, Big Eric's offer of a wheel was too tempting to resist, and he kindly gave me a draft the final 35km into Geraldine. for the 'easiest' ride of teh camp so far, that felt damn hard.
(and who'd have thought that ice cream would go down sooooo well at supper time?)