Cookie_Monster's new and improved Kiwi flavoured log

Cookie_Monster

So now that I'm all setup down here in the back end of the world I've decided to kick off with this log.

Stats are (presumably) the same as the end of the last one, I haven't bothered to check and don't have a scales handy.

Goals before year end:

2,000km
Join the local club
Enter a race and don't come last
lose another 2kg.

I've been out with the club and will sign up this week or next and get that ticked off. There is a summer race series apparently starting at the end of October so that will cover that bit. The insane hills and speed of club rides will ensure the effort is there burn off the flab. I've also started to use Strava for all uploads as well as Garmin as it's better for some things

Week 1 (which is actually week 35 of the year for me so far)

Tuesday: 39.6km
http://app.strava.com/rides/1429689

Circuit out south of New Plymouth

Lovely day, better than the summer in Ireland at the moment, headed out south along the main road, perfect surface and wide lane for cyclists for most of the road. Plenty of ups and downs as the road crossed the valleys of small streams. After about 12km turn left onto Koru road and headed up into the hills and the clouds. Visibility dropped dramatically as I got up into the low lying cloud around the mountain, dropping to about 30m at times. No problem when slowly climbing up, but lethal when descending again, so constantly on the brakes despite the perfect surface.

Drove the right hand turn from the top of the cat3 the next day, awesome road, narrow, cuts through dense forest and rock cuttings, little wooden bridges and even a falcon in the middle of the road cleaning up some road kill. Def a road I want to do on the bike but only coming down it.

The weather cleared again once got back down a bit and an eassy enough finish back into New Plymouth.

Thursday: 25.1km
http://app.strava.com/rides/1452821
New Plymouth Coastal Walkway

Up and back along the wonderful coastal walkway that was built a few years ago. It totals 20km and I did a little bit of looking around at each end.

This bridge is the highlight of the route, inspired by a whale bone and designed to frame the mountain when looking at it:


The surface is perfectly flat and smooth concrete, ideal for cycling or roller blading

Sunday: 88.7km
No idea where this took me until I looked at it.
http://app.strava.com/rides/1504497

First club spin and boy was it tough. Hilly and fast, they don't letup on the climbs at all. 12-14 of us headed off from the north end of New Plymouth.

Luckily for me there were a couple of stops for punctures which allowed me to catch my breath in places. By the time we had done around 50km the group split and I actually decided to go the longer way :eek::rolleyes:

90km without a coffee stoop too, proper hardcore. But I survived it and am willing to go next week all over again so it couldn't have been that bad

insinkerator

Best of luck with it! Jealous of the blue skys down there :P

Sr. Assumpta

Fantastic photo.
Enjoy the cycling, and the rugby on your doorstep tomorrow!

Cookie_Monster

(the photo's not mine )

Here's my version from today's cycle, the weather is not quite the same:



Was in the Fanzone in New Plymouth for opening and first match, great place. Have tickets for the Ireland game tomorrow too

Here's a better one I took last Sunday

Sr. Assumpta

*jealous*

Here, we will be 'enjoying' the tail-end of Hurricane Katia on this morning's club spin.......

tawfeeredux

insinkerator wrote: »

... Jealous...

Sr. Assumpta wrote: »

*jealous*

+1

Cookie_Monster

Week 2

"Wild and Windy"

Weekly dist: 91.2km
Total: 244.6km

Didn't get all I wanted done this week as Sunday was a truly awful day and I wasn't going out in it so missed out on another 60-80km

The whole of this week is the same, winds strong enough to be dangerous and Wednesday looks horrific. So I'm not holding out for too much this week but hopefully it'll clean up.

There seem to be very few people around here with GPS's or on Strava, very few segments or others on it. Most of the club guys last Sunday only had computers with wheel sensors on them rather than GPS.

So I've been making a few segments and trying to find suitable local loops in around the 30-60km dist for future afternoons.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1504495
http://app.strava.com/rides/1544063

Both these rides contain a short loop around the back of the port area, a good climb and then a bit of up and down, an ideal short run for future or even a couple of loops in one go.

There are two other rides I'm not detailing cos they're short and local, similar to previous ones.

http://app.strava.com/rides/1566608
a nice 30km loop I found the other day, first half all climbing up and second all a nice slope back down, quiet roads in perfect condition and even gets to 14% at one point.

Cookie_Monster

Forgot about this a little bit last weekend.

Total for week: 61.3km (last week)
Total to date: 305.8km

Only two runs this week, a combination of laziness, being sick and terrible weather conspired against me.

Wednesday: 18.1km
http://app.strava.com/rides/1615949

This had meant to be much longer but two close calls being blown off the road onto the grass edge made me give up before I got any higher up into the hills where it would have no doubt been even windier.

Saturday: 43.2km
http://app.strava.com/rides/1648572

Started out up the coastal walkway again, such a nice spin when the weather is good. After reaching the end cut up through Bell Block and cut up the back roads rather than the busier 3A. After turning onto Upland road (the segment) I should have turned left to come out onto the 3A just before Inglewood. Missed that and lost about 5.5km but just as well. Started a pilates class the Thurs before and realised during this spin that it definitely had had an effect. I was in bits by the end of Upland Rd.

Was meant to go out with the club again on the Sunday but got up and it was pissing rain so decided to pass, cold wet and windy with a cold was not my idea of a good way to spend Sunday morning.

Sr. Assumpta

HTFU

Cookie_Monster

Believe it or not, I've neglected this log.

At this stage I'm going to bin this one but do plan on starting one for next year, it really does help with the motivation.

Went out with the local club a couple of times but it just re-enforced the fact I don't like cycling in groups so binned that idea and will stay as a solo rider for the time being.

The other reason is that I've joined the boards club on strava and upload everything to that anyway so it kinda keeps up the updates to a certain extent.

But I've a few plans and targets for next year already so will start that up at some point, I promise.

Inquitus

Cookie_Monster wrote: »

Believe it or not, I've neglected this log.

At this stage I'm going to bin this one but do plan on starting one for next year, it really does help with the motivation.

Went out with the local club a couple of times but it just re-enforced the fact I don't like cycling in groups so binned that idea and will stay as a solo rider for the time being.

The other reason is that I've joined the boards club on strava and upload everything to that anyway so it kinda keeps up the updates to a certain extent.

But I've a few plans and targets for next year already so will start that up at some point, I promise.

Will miss the pics from your rides, scenary is stunning.