Day 5 - A day of options (click title for pictures)

JANUARY 13, 2005 - EPIC CAMP NZ DAY 5

Easy day in Nelson: 3000 km swim, 60 km bike, 50 min run.

I believe yesterday was supposed to be an easy day, based upon the bike the distance – only 125 km. However, the full day of rain and those two passes we climbed really crushed most of us. I'm shelled today! So, instead of climbing the big mountain today, Johno et. al, decided to push it out until tomorrow and take today easier.

Today was a day of options... lots of options:
• Those who wanted to swim 6000 m, for extra points can catch a ride at 6:00 AM.
• Those who only want to swim 3000 m, the ride is at 7:00 AM.

• The group run today is in the Able Tasman park. Simple 50 min. out and back.

• For those who want to bike 0 km, that's an option today. If desired, one can catch a ride to the park and back.
• For those who want to bike 70 km today you can either: bike 70 km to the park, and then run, and ride back in the van; or ride in the van over, run in the park and bike back.
• For those who want to bike over, run and bike back, that's an option.
• The other option is the Gordo option: ride out 30 km, catch lunch, ride back. Then run at the college later.


Sleeping is becoming a priority so I had no intentions of getting up to catch a 6 AM ride. My ride to the pool left at 7:00 AM. I slept until 6:30, and nearly missed it. The dorms we are stay in are only 3/4 walled cubes – each person to a cube. But there are maybe 20 cubes to a hall. There was so much snoring last night that I had a really hard time going to sleep. Since, I've been here I've taken up the habit of listening to my audio books on my iPod while a fall asleep. But, last night the snoring was so bad I could hear it over my iPod and I couldn't fall asleep. So, last night I put in my ear plugs I brought. Perfect! I couldn't hear a single thing. Unfortunately, this also meant I didn't hear people getting up to swim, so I almost didn't make it.

The Epic Camp folks have arranged for exclusive access to a 50 meter outdoor pool. I passed on swimming last night, so this was my first trip to the pool. It's a really nice pool. I'm so impressed with the pools here. However, it was cold and drizzling for the swim. And the pool wasn't all that warm. I swam with KP today. Actually, I swam in KPs wake today. I could tell the far side of the pool was a tad warmer than the near side. We had swam 1500 m straight when KP decided this was too monotonous. So, he finished the second half with 450 free and 50 breast. This broke up the swim and made it a little easier to handle.

After completing the swimming it was a race to the showers to try and warm up. The showers at the pool were a little different. There were two shower stalls that faced each other. As you faced them there was a solid wall about 10 feet wide, with two small buttons in the middle of the wall. To the left and right of the wall were the entrances to the showers. The shower was from the ceiling and no water controls inside the stalls. You have to press one of the buttons outside the stall, on the wall, then walk around back inside the stall. I have to say the water was hot. But I only stayed in for one button cycle of the shower. I should have taken another cycle, because by the time I dried off and dressed my teeth were chattering. I climbed into the van and sat there can chattered for half the ride back.

I heard afterward that there was another extra bonus swim workout that could have been done today. Swim 3000 m IM and get an extra point. I never would have attempted it, but I never heard about it until afterwards back on the van.

We had breakfast in the Nelson College cafeteria. The college staff is preparing the meals while we are here, and we shocked them by the number of eggs we consume. I think we have been averaging 8 dozen eggs for the group every morning. Plus, toast, fruit, oatmeal and cereal. Boy can this group eat!

Nelson College is nestled in the foothills of Nelson.

There are stairs everywhere. Actually, there are stairs everywhere. We are staying in Fell Building, a three story structure. The main gathering room is on the main floor, our rooms are on the second floor, and showers and restrooms are on the third floor. Even the cafeteria, which is in another building is down several flights of stairs. There are a lot of stairs around here. Only making Epic Camp that much more fun!

Another interesting thing here in New Zealand are the drying rooms. I understand they are a New Zealand only kind of a thing. The laundry room consists of washing machines and a bunch of large deep sinks, then in another room is the drying room. It consists of lots or racks with hot air being blown throughout the room. It's also a great place to warmup after a cold bike or swim. :-)

I decided to do a modified Gordo ride today. I'd ride out with Scott Molina and the group heading to Able Tasman halfway, and then turn around and got back to the college. Get lunch and then run later from the college. There was nine of us in the group that rolled out around 10:30 AM. It drizzled a little bit on the ride but nothing significant. The clouds really hung low, preventing us from being able to see the mountains, but it was obvious the views here are spectacular.

Mitch and I turnaround at the top of a hill at 30 km and headed back. We had been taking the same roads back and forth from Stokes into Nelson. I wanted to try the road that went along the sound (ocean bay). That was a mistake. The road was especially rough and rocky, the sound was not pleasant to view and the traffic was bad. We spotted a bicycle underpass and "mountain biked" off the road down to the bike underpass. The made our way back up to the Waimea Road where we should have been and road back to Nelson College. Talk about a couple of tourists!

Mitch and I saw Clas the masseur, who was just getting back from a ride of his own. We planned to shower and Clas was going to drive us into town. But, Mitch decided a nap was a better option so Clas and went together. I bought postcards and a couple other treasures, Clas got his bike computer battery replaced, and we both got some coffee. We were directed to the other side of town for some items I was looking for and Clas decided to head back to make his 3:00 PM appointment. Got some lunch and then found the post office to mailed out postcards to my daughters Emily and Abby. While running back to a store I visited yesterday, found a computer store and bought DVD-R media and a new power converter, then I ran upon a Boise Store! Go figure, a Boise store in Nelson, NZ.

With a full load of shopping and ways from the College I looked around for a taxi. I had noticed them congregating around an intersection not an hour before. But, now that I wanted one, there wasn't a Taxis in sight. I waited 10 minutes and then I decided to just walk back. There is a church steeple that makes a fine landmark here. I started walking towards the church and after walking for about 5 minutes I decided if I was going to make this trip I'd make it count. So I started jogging back with all my bags. I jogged around the Church and on the back side I found a nice park called Fairfield park. It was a pretty hilly jog and my calves really suffered. It actually only took me 47 mins to jog back, but with the extra bags I'm counting it as my 50 min run.

After my calf wrenching jog, I laid in the foyer of the college with my legs up on a chair and called home. I'm learning this is acceptable behavior at this camp.

After spending some time updating my blog entries and made my way, down the stairs again, to the gathering room. I knew someone was going to be going to an internet cafe at some point and I wanted to tag along. Again, Mitch was up for organizing a group to head into town for dinner and internetting (sp?). We ended up at Lambretta's again. And again, the food as outstanding!

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!

Day 3 and catching up on the blog

Ran 55 minutes to the pool, Swam 3 km, and then biked 180 km with 5300 feet elevation gain.

Since the pool was small in Hamner Springs they camp was broken up into two groups. The first group swam at 7:00 AM with the second group swimming at 8:05 AM. After swimming the first group returned for breakfast and depart on the bike course at 9:30 AM. The second group followed shortly afterward for breakfast and prepare to start the bike at 10:00 AM. I was part of the second group and probably the weakest member of the group. All the elite males and Brandon, Mike (the points leader), Mark and myself were the civilians in the group.

When first group headed the pool most of the second group ran to the pool. But we couldn't just run to the pool or find a nice easy route, Molina took us up to the top of Conical Hill. It was like a climb to the Sun! It was amazingly difficult climb. The trail switched back and forth... 20 times? It was way more than I was wanting! Then we ran right back down Conical Hill the way we went up and over to the pool. Across the street from the pools was a bakery/deli/coffee shop and Jonas bought Mike, Albert and me coffee and pastries. Fun thing was, I was wearing my Boise Aeros shirt and the lady behind the counter's son just married a girl from Boise Idaho. Can you believe it? Unfortunately she was so distracted she forgot to make my coffee and everyone proceed to the pool ahead of me.

It's amazing how every town in NZ seems to have really nice public pools. Some plan is to swim 3 km, but some of the guys were swimming 1000 meters with a band on there legs (no floaties, just a band). it looked really brutal. I was civil and just swam my 3000 meters and got out. I'm in survival mode, I'm about to fall into the points trap. I still have today and 9 more days ahead!

The bike started around 10:10 AM. It started out in a gentlemanly pace then we hit the undulating hills they were brutal. Not only did we have not stop mountains for the first 50 km we also had 20-30 mph head wind. Gordo road by during the accent of one of these climbs and said that the Kiwi's call these rollers, so it only understandable why there are so many NZ World Champions.

During on of the climbs one of the help stood along side the road passing out sodas. At this time the elite's of Molina, Steven, Claus, and one or two others attacked and got away from the rest of the group. Mitch and Gordo gave chase and punished each other in the process. I had barely bridged back up to Mitch and Gordo when a big van passed, and Mitch and Gordo jumped into the van's slip stream and off they went. I was dropped just like that. They very nearly bridge up the the lead group but couldn't. They slowed down and most of the group caught back up and we all worked together for a while, but as the king of the mountain points approached it became every man for himself. It was pretty interesting watching and feeling the effect of the possitioning and attacks off the front as the KOM points approached. Gordo (probably the only one who knew were the KOM was) broke away off the front to pick up the last elite KOM points. Depending on how things break down I might have picked up one of the four points available for the civilians. Then, we decended the back side of the mountain range. It was very cold and overcast during the decent. There was a water stop about 30-45 minutes after the KOM down in the valley. Again Gordo took off on his own and it took the Swedish Freight Train of Jonus pulling us 27 mph for 5 miles to catch Gordo. It was an amazing experience to hang on to that pull from Jonus!

Between the strong headwind, the nasty climbs and the wicked pace set by the group, taking pictures was a little tough. Here are a couple scenery shots I got.

We passed a couple of folks who dropped off the back of the first group, but we caught nearly all of them at the lunch stop.

After the lunch stop a group of 10-12 of us rode together the rest of the way into Murchison. It's overcast here and a little bit chilly. Sitting here in the hotel room I'm a little cold, not sure what the tempature is. I already miss Hamner Springs! :-)

Welcome to EC:NZ'06

To the EC:NZ'06 campers: Feel free to start posting. No need to wait for the camp to start... I'm sure many will be interested in hearing your pre-camp thoughts.

Have a great and safe camp!!!