I’ve not ridden the full distance at the Graperide before but I have ridden the shorter Taster distance and really like the course. I am building up for Le Race and the timing of the event this year is perfect as a step on the way to Akaroa.
The drive up to Blenheim is tedious with all the road works but let’s face it, it’s also very beautiful. Just take you time folks and I can highly recommend a delicious French bakery in Murchison!
For those who haven’t done the Graperide before the event doubles as the UCI qualifier for the world masters road race championship so there are heaps of riders of all ages. The scenic course attracts all abilities and all types of bikes too with special categories for tandems and e-bikes. After the ride the grounds of Forrest Estate winery fill up with tired, hungry and thirsty finishers so there’s lots of food trailers, coffee machines and the odd wine/beer to be sampled. Just before the prizegiving is the grape stomp, with which next year’s returnees will be greeted with a bottle of the results. Best ever incentive for coming back for another ride around Marlborough I can think of!
The full course heads from Renwick to Blenheim, turns left onto SH1 and on to Picton. There’s a steady climb into Picton that’s rewarded with a smooth downhill into town. I may have broken the 50km speed limit somewhat at that point but in my defence I was simply sitting in the bunch!
From Picton it’s the Queen Charlotte Drive to Havelock, up and downs, loads of bends, terrific views and best of all a jolly nice coffee stop in Momorangi. You can elect when you enter the event to take advantage of this ‘time out’ from the race and take as long as you like to refresh and refuel before taking off again. Yes, that means the clock stops for you! Very civilized for the cyclist enjoying the challenge of the road and not really racing. I highly recommend it.
It’s typical to get a tailwind home from Havelock to Renwick but this year proved an exception and the final 25km or so was into the wind and a bit of a struggle towards the end. With about 15km to go I hooked up with a lovely rider from the Onslow Tar Babies team and we took turns leading and swearing (which helps lots!) and together we pushed through so I finished 4 mins over 4 hours. I think I won the Women’s Cancer Rider event but the results were a bit mangled by folk not starting in the group they said they would.
At this point I’ll put in a bit of support for the poor organisers who do their best to get the results out promptly.
As this event has races within races it stuffs up the results no end if you don’t stick to your correct starting group.
For me the highlights of this event are the sublime views of the Sounds, the bush birdsong, and relaxing on the grass back at Forrest Estate with fellow cyclists and swapping tales in the sunshine.
Roll on next year and the bottle of Rose promised!

So after a real motivating week last week, this week has been anything but.  Monday was my birthday, another year gone and a new one about to begin, I was ready, come Tuesday, to get back into it and the alarm was set.  Unfortunately though, I didn’t get much further and with a splitting headache I went back to bed for the rest of the day.  Right Wednesday was going to be it.  A good group session on the bike with Richard and the crew, but this was not to happen either as I got a flat battery on the car and ended up needing to source a new one.  So Thursday, Friday and then Saturday were all meant to be the start of the new adventure and unfortunately it was it was all too exhausting.  But after a couple of good night sleeps I ventured out and joined the cycling group session with Kat on Sunday.  I felt good when I started, but unfortunately once again it was short lived with a sore knee and tiredness I gave up half way through and went home.

So this coming week will officially be the start of training, and I will not let the little icons in training peaks  go red. I have a couple of runs and the Wednesday group session scheduled, which I will hopefully get to this time.  The next race is the City to Surf which I am looking forward to running well not on chemo and also being a little fitter than I was last year I am hoping for a better time.

Goals for this week:  to hit the pavement and buy some togs so I can also hit the water!

Bring on this week and a week of fun and training…

With only 6 weeks to go until GODZone I am getting nervous. The training is still needed, gear and nutrition sorting. So far the build-up has been fun and exciting. I love adventures so I decided that was what I wanted to do for training this summer and that is definitely what I got.

It’s been a busy few months of build up. When study finished in November I went from Christchurch to Australia for work and then afterwards moved straight to Wellington to start a new job for the summer. I thought it would be challenging having a full time summer job and balancing training. I had it all planned out with shorter trainings on weekdays and longer training sessions and missions on the weekends. I discovered it was actually easier to train around the job than my degree.

After my first week of work, I headed off on a weekend mission with some fellow adventure racers. We drove to the Tararua Forest Park on Friday night and then biked and hiked into the hut, arriving about 1.20am. The next morning we had another day of hiking, then biking/hike-a-bike and another hike. Our final day was a bush bash hike and then biking back to the car. I made it home at 10pm and had time to sleep before work the next morning. It was a great first weekend mission to the Tararuas.

The next weekend I went whitewater kayaking on the Otaki River followed by a hut bagging day trip to secret huts the weekend after that. Then, just before the Christmas holidays, I headed to the Tararua Ranges for a specific hut-bagging mission so I could add huts 46, 47 and 48 on my list. This leaves me with only two official DOC huts left to bag in the Tararuas.

Mitre Peak (Tararuas)

Timber Trail

I headed away from the Tararuas for the rest of break, exploring some new areas. I took my Mum with some friends whitewater kayaking on the Tongariro river (that counts as training right?) and she loved it. My teammate Tom and I also did some whitewater kayaking and went to the Redwoods in Rotorua for some fun and technical mountain biking. I also enjoyed a day trip mountain biking on Timber Trail with some mates.

Whitewater kayaking

I then headed down south for some training with my teammate Nathan. We did a day trip into Nina Hut and Devil’s Den Biv in the Lake Sumner Forest Park on our way to the start of the Old Ghost Road. After a wet and rainy day, we were glad to have the rain stop when we set up camp. The next morning we set off at 7.40am aiming to ride the entire Old Ghost Road (85 km) in a day. It was a fun and challenging day. This was the first time I had ridden with a lot of weight on my bike and was surprised how much difference carrying a pack including overnight gear made for riding. On the first ridge, the weather packed up and we were blasted with wind and rain. We stumbled into Ghost Lake hut as icicles and took some time to warm ourselves up. The weather improved, making the rest of the day enjoyable. Along the way I bagged lots of new huts which was exciting. We passed through some incredible terrain and riding it in a day seemed way too quick to let us enjoy it fully. With tired bodies, we finally made it to the end of the Old Ghost Road and found a nice spot for the night and enjoyed some sleep.

We had a slow start the next morning and headed off on our bikes towards Charming Creek Walkway. This was fun but I started wishing I had a full suspension bike when the track was super bumpy with railway tracks. A fantastic waterfall was one of my highlights of the trip. We continued on to the Denniston short cut, which was a big change in terrain from the Old Ghost Road. It involved rocky four-wheel drive tracks with some steep ascents and descents. It was good fun but by this time, I did not like sitting down on my bike much. We finally made it back to the start of the Old Ghost Road after two awesome long days training on the bike.

After that, the break was over and it was back to full time work. I swapped the long missions for shorter after work training sessions and hit the longer stuff in the weekends. Sadly, a weather bomb thwarted my last big hut-bagging trip in the Tararuas. Now I’m sorting gear, food and nutrition and starting to get everything ready for racing. For now the training continues and I keep counting down the weeks.

Greenhorns – The youngest GODzone team this year. Tom, Rachel, Levi, Nathan

Just before the start

It was barely light as we stood on the start line. I was terrified, nervous and excited all at the same time. At 7am we were off with everyone running along Queenstown beach. We walked/ran our way to the top of the gondola navigating to controls along the way. It was then into a quick descent on mountain bikes. We shredded our way down the Queenstown single track and then headed to a climb. After the bike it was onto the paddle. We had one double kayak and one inflatable canoe so it wasn’t quick paddling. Next it was gorgeering where Tom enjoyed a quick dip to retrieve a control point (cp).

Tom enjoying the swim

Stage 2 – Bullendale Trek (45km)

We started running the first flat section and then settled the pace down after the quick prologue (stage 1). Early on while climbing a hill we stopped to deal with some foot issues. The plan was to look after our feet well as we had a lot of trekking to go. We arrived at the cp around the same time as some other teams and raced with them for awhile on the way to the next cp. We dropped down to the stream earlier than the other teams and headed up the other side of the stream. It was tricky working out the best route choice and it started getting dark as we got nearer to the CP. We headed back down into the stream and bashed our way through with other teams. It got to a point where it seemed like we should have found the cp. We turned around, while other teams continued, and found the control, which was in a cool spot with a waterfall. We trekked on into the night, eventually stopping for some sleep. It was going to be a long race and we knew that being young sleep would be very beneficial. After about 2.5hrs – 3hrs we were off again, walking along a river, up a big climb and then scrambling our way down to the transition area.

Stage 3 – Upper Shotover River canoe, fixed ropes & trek (23km)

I was looking forward to getting off my feet into the inflatable canoes. We transitioned and headed off for a nice grade 2 paddle down the Shotover River. I sat in the front paddling with Nathan steering and chilling in the back. We were near another team, which we managed to sneak past. We arrived at the old Shotover Bridge where we then had a cool abseil off the Bridge. Then we hit a snag, discovering that the trek to the next raft stage was taking teams 4-5hrs not the 1.5 to 2hrs stated in the book. Up until this point, we thought we had plenty of time to miss the dark zone (which is when we could not paddle on the River).

We packed up our paddle gear (which we had to carry with us) quickly and set off on a challenging leg, up and down hills. Tom did a good job navigating under a lot of pressure. We stepped up the pace with everything going pretty well until we made it to the last big climb. We did not pick the best route, as the hill climb had a rocky cliff section. Nathan managed to get up it. I eventually made it up but got well beyond my comfort zone and ended up leaving the dry bag pack behind so I could continue. I was uncomfortable as the consequences were not great if anyone fell from the cliff so we told Tom and Levi to take another route as they had ended up with extra bags to carry up. We got to the river and quickly changed into our wetsuits and got across the river to the rafts.

Stage 4 – Skippers Canyon rafting (14km)

We then got told we had missed the cut off! We couldn’t quite believe it. Our watches all said roughly 6.22pm not 6.30pm – the cut off time. We were still told that we could not paddle and had to wait for 12hrs. The time was checked on other people’s watches, which turned out to be the same as ours. We then were given the go ahead for the paddle and were ecstatic. The guide (Michele) went and changed into his raft gear to take us down. So we and another team crammed into one raft with all our gear and headed down the Shotover River for an awesome, but cold grade 4/5 paddle.

We made the raft….just

Stage 5 – Seven Mile mountain bike & mountain bike orienteering (38km)

We clambered out of the raft as cold as icicles and in desperate need of food and warm clothes. We took our time in this transition to warm up and sort ourselves out and were very glad to have avoided the dark zone. Eventually, we set off in the dark on the 38km mountain bike ride. We rode most of the leg before stopping for a decent sleep and starting the mountain bike orienteering. Roughly four hours later (in the early morning, we were back on our bikes heading to the 7 Mile bike park. We had a blast riding loops of single track and were soon heading into the transition area.

Stage 6 – Mt Crichton trek (21km)

About to head off on the trek

We set off on the trek near a bunch of other teams. I enjoyed a breakfast of Absolute Wilderness Chia pudding while we walked. We picked up the controls and headed up the hill to Lake Isobel and the cp. The day started to heat up and got hot while we climbed up the hill near a couple of other teams. We continued up while others chose to sidle across more. Once up the hill we found that the planned route was not going to work very well. Instead of dropping all the way back down we dropped over the opposite side of the ridge and traversed along until we could go back up to the ridge and down to Lake Isobel to get to the cp. Then, we climbed back up before a long downhill slog to transition.

Stage 7 – Pigeon Island kayak (18km)

It was dark by the time we reached the transition area. Once in our kayaks we couldn’t really see anything so followed the shoreline to make sure we did not miss the control. I was struggling to stay awake at this point. We made it to the transition area and got ready to set off on the bikes.

Stage 8 – Lochy mountain bike (120km)

We decided to smash out part of the mountain bike leg before stopping for some much needed shut eye. Once we got going so did the loud singing, which must have sounded terrible but was fun and kept us awake. We found a hay shed where we stopped for some sleep. It was really comfortable and all too soon we had to get up in the cold morning air and keep going.

Two teams passed us just as we were getting up. We passed one early on and then caught another further on. We set a good pace on the ride to start and just keep going. On the climb we were catching up with teams and passing them. We just kept moving on the ride and it just kept going up. We ended up walking our bikes up the last parts of the hill. It was awesome to reach the saddle. We flew down the other side, loving the downhill, while being careful not to crash. We passed one team who was unfortunately having some bike issues. Coming into transition we were surprised and stoked to find we had moved into the top 15 teams.

Stage 9 – Eyre Mountains (35km)

After an awesome mountain bike ride it was time to set out on the last big trek. We took our time in the transition to air out our feet, apply Gurney Goo (this stuff really saved my feet) and get ready for what was to come. For the start of the trek there was a compulsory route out which we followed. We had to try and make the most of the last daylight and decided to get onto the ridge and follow it. During this stage things got a bit crazy, Levi started seeing faces, the fatigue and lack of sleep hit me – I was walking like a drunk and was very confused. On the way down the track to the cp Tom started getting exciting sleep monsters. Nathan was the only sane person left. We managed to sneak into a hut for a 1hr 30ish nap before finishing the rest of the trek. Up the hill we went and then across to left and down the ridge – it was slow moving as we were bashing through scrub. We ended up dropping down into the stream, which turned out to be a bad call. It was all going fine until we got to a gorge, which took a while to navigate safely. Once we were out we started running as we had lost a bit of time in the stream. We raced into the transition, eager to get on the water and get to the finish.

Stage 10 – Lake Wakatipu kayak (45km)

We were off – all keen to smash this leg out. We settled into a steady pace and picked up the first 2 controls. There was a team not far behind us, which we wanted to stay in front of. There was another team on the side of the lake and we were confused as to what they were up to – it turned out to be team Motueka who had left their tracker behind. They got back on the water not long after we passed them so the race was on. This was also when the weather picked up and the water started white capping and we battled our way through the waves. It was exciting. The front of our kayak was sinking, which was when we discovered someone had forgotten to put the neprene cover on the hatch. Our kayak was filling up with water! While sitting in the waves we had to raft up to the other kayak so Tom could bail the water out of the front of our kayak. Then we were off again paddling through the waves to the finish. We made it to Frankton in 4 days 12hrs 40mins and were stoked to finish in 12th place as the youngest team in the race.

The finish line!

It was an awesome adventure. Thanks to all our amazing friends, family and supporters who were behind us. Also an extra thank you to our sponsors whose support and products helped get us through the race:

• Awaken Bars
• Buff NZ
• Chris Stagg from Team CP
• Guerny Goo
• Hillary Foods
• InjinJi
• Nelson Management Ltd
• Pure Sports Nutrition
• Vinnie from Duncan Venison

We couldn’t have done it without everyone’s support. I am now enjoying my recovery and have been catching up on the missed study.

Kia ora ano! (Hello again!)

Despite the hiatus in Peak of the Week communique,
There have still been peak of the week adventures- I have not missed a day!
So here is a little flash back to Peak #27, Marleys Hill,
Sadly due to the fires, it doesn’t look like this still.
It feels very odd that just a few weeks ago,
The name of this hill above the flying nun I didn’t even know!
Yet so many times I’ve ridden just below the peak,
A fun and flowing (yea right) descent down the flying nun I did seek.
This trip was my final test run on the trail before racing it in the Pioneer,
An attempt to gain a home advantage and to not get dropped by the flying Nina – my biggest fear!
The outlook is impressive to the harbour and the Coast,
And to Sugar Loaf- the hill that dominates the Port Hills outline the most.
When reflecting on Port hill adventures and glancing up to their magic outline,
One feels a sense of disbelief, great sadness for what has been lost- the singed trees a harrowing sign.
As I reflect on my Marley Hill adventure my thoughts go out to those effected by the fire,
Those that now have different hills to climb, you will climb higher and higher.

Kia kaha,

Reta

Mauri ora,

I knew when commencing the Pioneer- a 7 stage MTB race with 15,500m of elevation that we would not by shy of peaks,
The question was which of these would be THE Peak of the Week?
On stage 6 the saying, ‘the greater the challenge, the greater the reward’ held true,
As I lifted my low slung head to spot Little (not really!) Criffel- I mustered up a loud ”it’s you!”.
The climb up to Mt Criffel was stunning to say the least,
But after about 2hrs of climbing, my legs had had enough of this beast!
The pedals were turning very slowly, my legs felt like lead,
‘Where the hell is the finish?’ Was on repeat in my head.
And then came this glorious moment when out to my right,
My tired eyes were greeted with an empowering sight.
A trig, a sign, an elevation mark- something to tell us, yes we really had climbed quite high!
And if we were at a summit, the end must be nigh!
Well the first part was true- we had ridden up a mountain, yet there was still quite some kms to go,
Just how many I am quite glad in this moment of glory I didn’t know.
The backdrop was mountains; mountains, mountains galore
And in this moment, my legs didn’t hurt anymore.
My grimace gave way to a smile,
My grunts were drowned out by whoops of delight,
Twas a mountain that was hurting me but now more mountains gave me more fight.

My whoops of course were echoed, and thus held double the delight,
Because I had my incredible teammate Nina there with me, to share this beautiful sight.

I love mountains, even the ones that hurt.

Til next week,

Reta

Mauri ora,

Peak #29 – as named by me ‘The Monument’s Little Sister’

This was an alternative to the targeted peak- The Monument, due to the foggy vista.
Parked at Purau saddle I made a phone call to a friend ( a Port Levy bach owner and Monument summiter)”Where is the track up the Monument?”
”Can you see the Monument?”
”No”
”Follow the fence and then the cairns”.
We found the fence, we followed it and we never found the cairns… or the Monument.
We had to be satisfied with the little knoll that we did see somewhere in the vicinity of the Monument.
And thus it was with some relief that we actually made it back to the car.
Watch this space for the Monument, take 2!

Reta

Kia ora,

Peak #30- Mt Thomas in North Canterbury,

The sign at the top was about all that we could see!

”Twas a steep hike up through clouds and rain,

1023m of elevation we did gain!

Though the view was just like last week; 360 degrees of all encompassing cloud,

The company was fantastic- we discussed the languages of love out loud.

It was great to have Rids join me- he is my ‘dial an adventure’ mate,

With very long legs which ensure we go uphill at rather a fast rate.

It was also great to have Lucy to add extra fun to this drizzly hike-

Meaningful conversations in the outdoors is just the what I like!

This was for sure a drizzly Sunday well spent!

Til next week,
Reta

So I need to keep moving, I can’t stop, got to keep my lungs and my body fit and healthy. So next bucket list item to tick off is the Ironman70.3. This is Rotorua in December.

Richard at Team CP is going to continue to train me which is an incredible relief as I’m not sure how I would get there without his help and training has started already. Although he is insisting on having some downtime so I’m currently writing this in the hairdressers. (Love having enough hair that can now be styled and cut)

So it has now been two weeks since I came running into the most emotionally, tear jerking welcome I could have ever imagined. I knew that the coast to coast finish line would be emotional but I had never expected anything like what was there and I will be forever grateful for the incredible friends that I have. I well up even now thinking about it. But all good things have to come to an end and as does my coast to coast adventure. Although I do believe I may be back next year as a team… maybe….

Anyway onto the next exciting thing. The ironman70.3. This consist of a 1.9km ocean swim followed by a 90km bike then a 21.1km run. The biggest thing I’m looking forward to is the swimming. The least is running again. It’s quite crazy how much ideas change. I always thought running was my thing but it turns out it’s cycling. Unfortunately that means I have to get back into running again instead of scampering and climbing and sliding. First race is the city to surf. Here is hoping it won’t be a day like last year. I’ve just read my blog and I still don’t know how I actually finished it.

I plan on updating more regularly with photos etc of my next adventure as I prove to my cancer that it can F@(k off because I’m living life

Mauri ora,

Peak # 26,

Was summited on another ‘Banks Peninsula MTB fix.’

With my Pioneer teammate Nina at my side,

Up Long Bay Road from Akaroa we did ride,

Then down the other side to Otanerito and Goughs Bays,

As we crested the hill back up “Tussock Knoll” caught my gaze,

A little sign and an arrow pointing to a tussock covered knoll,

So we dismounted our bikes and took a little stroll.

The wind tried to blow us back down to the bay,

But we were the strongest ones on this day!

Til next week,