28 November 2009

Round the Taupo x 2 | Okolo Taupa x 2


Each year in late November there is famous Round The Taupo bike race being organised (www.cyclechallenge.com) in New Zealand around the lake Taupo. Jana had really good excuse this time being almost 30 weeks pregnant, so I decided to raise the family flag and do 2 laps instead of one, which means Enduro category and 320km.

As usually I've not done too much training, but I have to say I was quite happy with the final results, although there is always some "althought", but lets start from beginning.

Start at 1:30AM was a bit early to have a good sleep before but the race started well and riding through the night in pack of 20(ish) bikers was absolutely amazing. The hilly part of the first lap was over relatively soon and I was finishing the 1st lap (160km) at time under 5h10, well above my expectations. Unfortunately I've lost the pack due minor issue with my chain and then I got lost in Taupo struggling to get to the check point which costed me good 15 minutes of time. Of course I should have the map with me or at least studied it the night before, but I wasn't expecting that there is going to be no sign where to go and traffic marshals not knowing the way for Enduro category.

However finally I got into the 2nd lap just before the main start at 7AM, and pedaled into the hilly section. There I started to struggle, being really slow on uphills and not really quick on flat sections. Just after half of the 2nd lap when I've taken some muesli bars I felt energy coming back and that really made a difference. On the long flat section I caught one pack, accelerated and before the finish of the race I even started passing some bikers from the 160km category. Finally I've finished the 2nd lap in about 6hrs and the whole race for 11h26min.

I have to say this was really good ride, I enjoyed it a lot, and if it works out well next year, I am planning to be on the start again. Now when I know where to go after the 1st lap I have really good chance to improve :D

You can find results here and some photos below



Kazdy rok pred koncem listopadu se na Zelandu porada vehlasny cyklozavod Round The Taupo (www.cyclechallenge.com) okolo stejnojmeneho jezera. Jana mela tentokrat docela dobrou vymluvu, jelikoz je v 30 tydnu tehotenstvi, tak jsem se rozhodl pozdvihnout rodinou zastavu a zajet si dve kola namisto jednoho, coz znamena kategorii Enduro a trasu 320kilometru.

Jako obvyle jsem moc netrenoval, ale musim rict ze i tak jsem docela spokojen s konecnym vysledkem, i kdyz vzycky tam jsou nejake "ale", nicmene pekne od zacatku.

Start v 1:30 rano byl docela brzo na to se predtim vyspat, ale start dopadl dobre a jizda noci v baliku asi 20 lidi byl uzasny zazitek. Kopcovita cast byla za nami relativne rychle, a prvni kolo (160km) jsem koncil v case pod 5h10, vysoko nad svoje ocekavani. Bohuzel jsem kvuli spadlemu retezu ztratil balik a pak jsem se ve meste Taupo ztratil kdyz jsem hledal kontrolni bod pro prujezd do druheho kola, coz me stalo dobrych 15 minut. Samozrejme jsem si mel s sebou vzit mapku anebo ji aspon poradne prostudovat vecer predtim, ale necekal jsem ze trasa nebude znacena a uz vubec ne to, ze lide organizujici dopravu nebudou znat trasu pro nasi kategorii.

Nicmene nakonec jsem se dostal do druheho kola chvili pred startem hlavniho zavodu v 7 rano, a slapal si to do kopcovate casti okruhu. A tam to zacalo drit, dostavila se unava, do kopcu to jelo hodne pomalu a po rovine ne zrovna rychle. Nekde za polovinou druheho kola jsem do sebe vhodil par muesli tycinek a snad to se mnou udelalo zazraky. Na dlouhe rovinate casti jsem se chytl do projizdejiciho baliku, zrychlil, a pred koncem dokonce predjizdel nektere jezdce z 160km kategorie. Nakonec jsem ujel druhe kolo za priblizne 6 hodin a cely zavod za 11h26min.

Musim rict ze tahle vyjizdka teda rozhodne stala zato a ze pokud se to pristi rok podari, tak budu zase stat na startu. Ted uz vim kudy jet po prvnim kole, tak mam snad sanci se zlepsit :D

Vysledky muzete najit tady a nejak fotky nize




BIB | Startovni cislo

Start

Relay category bikes ready for transport | Kola stafetove kategorie pripravene na prevoz

Downhill at the end of the 1st lap|Sjezd na konci prvniho kola

Finish | Cil

1 comment:

Jozi said...

Misko, gratulujem! Ty sa nezmenis asi nikdy, co si najviac na Tebe vazim. Do sedemdesiatky, ktoru mam na krku o 2 roky a 3 mesiace ja, mas Ty este strasne vela podobnych cyklistickych extremov a radosti. Jozi