Quote Originally Posted by RoadRaven View Post
Here are my goals in a "nutshell"...
Events
- Tour de Beautiful (50km) - 2 hours
ACHIEVED!!!
Waahoo

A cool morning at 7am when we left, it was raining and drizzling during the 1 1/2 hour car-trip to Waipawa... we were wondering how many would turn up and how cold and wet we would be by the end of the ride... but it was clear when we got there, and the rain stayed away until after everyone was back and it was prize-giving. So we had cloud-cover, no summer heat and no summer rain (though quite a bit of wind from various directions).

It was drizzling a bit during my warm-up, but I needn't have kept my rain jacket on for the ride - thank goodness it was a sleeveless vest or I would have over-heated!

The course is rolling hills, steady climbs and not really "my" kind of ride as I still have a lot of improving to do on my hill-climbing. Last year I completed this on a hot day (30-35'C) in just over 2 hours and 5 minutes.

Last time I rode this I was dropped at about 3-4kms from the start-line... This year I managed to stay with a chasing bunch until 8kms, was dropped but caught them again at 9kms (I love descents!!) and then dropped again at 10kms. I rode most of the remaining 40kms on my own.

It was steady and relentless on the way out, at the turn-around (where i had my first "gu") I knew I just had to get over Wanstead Hill and then I could "time-trial" it most of the way back. The climb took me the best part of 15minutes, and then I could relax, swallow my second "gu", and focus on catching some of the seven people who passed me on the climb. I caught 4, and number 5 sprinted me at the finish line so I didn't catch him (well, he powered up and I kept on chugging - so not quite a sprint finish ).

My final time was 1hour 53minutes and I was the 88th 50km rider home. I was about 135th last year, so wanted to come in the top 100. Next year I'll aim for something like 1:45 and a top 50 placing).

My legs feel like they have had a great workout today, so a gentle ride later on with NO hills methinks.