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

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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

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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

Marathon in time 3h 39m 39s !!!

I don't normally like running too much. I've done couple of multisport events and running is normally part of those.
After Crazyman I've decided to upgrade my running shoes and from there it wasn't far to sign for the Wellington Harbour Capital Marathon (http://www.harbourcapital.org.nz). I had (and I still have) respect to marathon, so I've decided that this time I have to do some training. I started to run more regularly about 1.5 month ago, once or twice a week about 10km and one longer run two weeks ago from home to the other side of Wellington (28km), but the most recent ~8km run this Wed wasn't really good, with my left knee sore as.
I've started applying an anti inflammatory cream on the sore knee and I finally decided to run, but I was ready to give up in case if the knee problem appears on the track.
Aiming for time between 4h15 and 4h30 and considering 4h being dream time. I was really surprised with the pace and with turning back in the half at about 1h43m I've finally finished in unofficial time just under 3h40; you can imagine that this made me really excited ;) Official results are here.

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Popravde receno nemam moc rad behani. Ale ucastnil jsem se dvou multisport zavodu a tam je behani jednou z casi. A po crazymanovi jsem se rozhodl poridit si nove bezecke boty, a odtamtud uz to byl jen kousek k tomu prihlasit se na Wellington Harbour Capital Marathon (http://www.harbourcapital.org.nz). Mel jsem (a porad mam) respekt k maratonu, tak jsem se rozhodl ze tentokrat musim trochu trenovat. Zacal jsem behat vice pravidelne, jednou az dvakrat tydne cca 10km a jeden delsi beh pred dvema tydny z domu na opacnou stranu Wellingtonu (28km), ale uplne posledni beh ve stredu ~8km byl docela nedobry, a uz to vypadalo ze jsem si neco udelal s levym kolenem.
Tak jsem zacal mazat koleno antizanetlivym kremem a nakonec jsem se rozhodl bezet, ale byl jsem pripraven to vzdat pokud se koleno zase ozve.
Tipoval jsem se na cas mezi 4h15 a 4h30, jakykoliv cas pod 4h jsem povazoval za cas z rise snu. Byl jsem opravud prekvapeny jake jsem byl schopny ze zacatku udrzovat tempo a v polovine jsem otacel v case 1h43m; a do cile jsem nakonec dorazil v neoficialnim case pod 3h40; a muzete si predstavit ze jsem byl stastny jak zelva ;) Oficialni vysledky jsou tady.

Last metres before the finishPosledni metry pred cilem

Trip to seal colony & Lukas birthday | Vylet na tulene & Lukasovy narozky.

There are many places to see seals in New Zealand. One of them is very close to Wellington, near to Wainui beach. I think we go there every year, especially if we have friends over and only short walk is expected. There was NO WIND - very unusual - and the view was stunning - sea as far as you can see and South Island in the distance. And of course plenty of seals and sheep.
The rest of the afternoon we spent by cooking (roasted pork, cabbage and potato dumplings) and baking cake for Lukas's belated celebration. We ate too much and laughed a lot - especially with party crackers which made lot of noise, smell and mess!

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Na Zelandu je spousta mist, kde se da jit na tulene. Jedno takove je hned kousek od Wellingtonu a minimalne jednou rocne tam skoncime. Hlavne kdyz mame navstevy a kratsi vychazky jsou preferovany. Vyjimecne nefoukalo a vyhledy byly nadherne. Siroko daleko jen more a v dalce Jizni ostrov - teda jeste tuleni a ovce vsude okolo.

Zbytek odpoledne jsme stravili varenim s Ritou a ostatnima tajtrlikama. Vepro knedlo zelo bylo vynikajici a kavovy dort taky usel. Hrozne jsme se prejedli a nasmali. Lukasovi opozdene narozeniny se myslim celkem povedly.

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Seal | Tulen
Celebration on Psikov | Oslava na psikove

Porirua Grand Traverse

It all started at my birthday... Michal being fit as never before challenged my colleague (who put on 20 kilos in the last year and for whom a sport is the thing to watch on TV, but nothing to do actively) to sign up for Grand Traverse Porirua challenge alias triple peaks (http://www.poriruagrandtraverse.co.nz). He agreed to run 18km and kayak 12km while another colleague of us supposed to bike 33km. He had 13 days to train. I've become his partner in crime and went for runs with him. Started on flat, running along the sea on Oriental parade, that was a plan for a first week. Second week we went to run hills. All this happening during our lunch break. I've agreed to run 18km and Michal to bike 33km and kayak 12km. All went wrong when that colleague of us realised, the hill was too steep and she wasn't about to do it. We've switched teams, I ended up biking & running, Michal biking & kayaking, Arsen running & kayaking.
Day D has arrived, weather was crap, northerlies blowing strongly. I fough my way on the bike, trying not to be blown away. With running - surprisingly enough - wind was always agains me, never at my back.
After 2h 30min biking my legs stopped listening to my instruction and refuse to move! All the way uphill (from sea level to almost 500metres above sea level) I was completely hopeless and wandered what the hell was I doing there. Once I got on the tops I wasn't able to run even on the flat! Legs feeling like not being mine. Finally after about 80min I stared running. It took me so long to start moving - hard to believe! I've finished in 2h 50min and Michal took off on kayak. Sea was quite choppy and on sit on kayaks with the rudder it wasn't easy ride. Guys have crossed finish line in style - announcer annoucing Save the Children team Michal Solc and Arsen Karalic. Well done guys.
Arsen's parents prepared yummy dinner and rest of the evening we spent in the spa bath. First triathlon was over and next is ahead of us.

Vsechno zacalo na mych narozeninach. Michal, ktery ma kondicku jako nikdy, vyzval meho kolegogu na triatlon (http://www.poriruagrandtraverse.co.nz. Arsen, ktery sport sice zboznuje, ale spis v televizi nez v realu, se dal jednoduse ukecat. Asi bych mela podotknout, ze za posledni rok pribral 20kg. Upsal se na 18km behu po kopcich a 12km na kajaku. Zbyvalo 13 dni na trenink, stala jsem se jeho komplicem. Behem obeda jsme trenovali, prvni tyden na rovince okolo more, druhy tyden jsme behali po kopcich. Plan byl jasny - Michal pojede na kole 33km a pojede na kajaku 12km, Arsen pobezi 18km a pojede na kajaku 12km a ja si zabehnu tech 18km. Ale nakonec kolegyne, co mela jet na kole, zmenila nazor (on ten kopec byl celkem hodne kopcovaty a prudky) a ja skoncila s behem a kolem. No potes koste!
Den D nastal. Wellington se ukazal v cele sve krase - fucak ze severu. Na kole jsem se drzela ze vsech sil aby me to nesfouklo, hlavne na vrskach to byla celkem fuska, vecne naklonena na jednu stranu. Pri behu byl samozrejme vitr vzdycky proti me, nikdy v zadech.
Po 2,5 hodinach na kole me nohy odmitly poslouchat a tezko jsem se byla schopna pohnout. Celou cestu do kopce jsem byla naprosto marna a resila, co tam vubec delam. Nic nedavalo smysl. Kdyz jsem se dohrabala na kopec (od more do 500m), porad jsem se nebyla schopna vubec rozbehnout. Asi po 80min jsem se konecne rozbehla a bylo to nadherne, pres kopce a podel more. Po 2h 50min jsem skoncila a Misa zacal kajakovat. More bylo rozbourene a kajakem bez kormidla to nebyla zadna prca. Kluci skoncili stylove, kdyz spolecne probehli cilem a moderator oznamil Save the Children Arsen Karalic a Michal Solc.
Arsenovi rodice pripravili uzasnou vecu a zbytek dne jsme stravili ve virivce s lahvi bileho vina. Krasna tecka za prvnim zavodem - mnoho dalsich pred nami.

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BIrthday party | Narozeninova party

Jana has her birthday soon so we had birthady party on Sunday - a lot of people and the food theme was "design your pizza". It was lovely afternoon and evening I must admit ;) - at least she's taking it easy that she's one year older :P now.

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Janeny narozeniny se kvapem blizi a tak jsme meli v nedeli narozeninovou party. Bylo to prijemne odpoledne a vecer a Jana bere to ze je o rok starsi bez nejakych vetsich potizi :P

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Bathroom | Koupelna

Yay, We have finished the bathroom "project"! Due nice weather recently this took us a bit longer than expected, but because the motivation of having the celebration of Jana's birthday on Sunday, on late Saturday night after the Dragon Boating races the bathroom was done. Of course it still needs some bits and pieces here but those are quite minor and mainly the bathroom is operational. When are we going to take the first bath?!?

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Hura, tak jsme dokoncili koupelnovy "projekt"! Kvuli hezkemu pocasi nam to trvalo o neco dele nez jsme si mysleli, ale diky motivaci, kterou byla nedelni oslava Janinych narozenin, jsme v sobotu v pozdni noci (pote co jsme pres den byli na zavodech dracivh lodi) koupelnu dokonocili. Samozdrejme jeste chybi nejake ty drobnosti, ale ty jsou vicemeene minimalni a koupelna je plne pouzitalne. Kdy si asi dame prvni vanu?

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Dragon boat silver | Stribro na dracich lodich

On Saturday we take a part in Dragon boating festival and we finished 2nd in the grand final, just 0.3s behind the winner - NZ Army. That's not bad for office people, is it? We are going to national champs next weekend to Rotorua, so watch this space ...

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V sobotu jsme se ucastnili zavodu dracich lodi ve Wellingtonu a umistili jsme se na druhem miste, jenom 0.3s za viteznym tymem NZ Army (armadniu tym), coz neni spatne na "kancelarske krysy", ne? Pristi vikend jedeme na narodni sampionat do Rotorua, tak sledujte tento blog ....

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Karapoti Classic

Finally we did an mountain bike race on Saturday, the southern hemisphere's longest running mountain bike event Karapoti Classic, by the way not far from where we live.

We finished in relatively good times, Michal a bit under 4h and Jana a bit over 5 (see the results), which I thinks wasn't too bad for our first race with hardly any training. Although I have to admit it is far far away from the track record around 2h15 and friend of us Ivan who did under 3hrs in the elite category.

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Konecne jsme si na nasich horskych kolech vyjeli v Sobotu na zavod horskych kol, a to udajne nejstarsi zavod horskych kol na jizni polokouli Karapoti Classic, docela nedaleko od naseho bydliste.

Dojeli jsme v docela dobrych casech Michal neco pod 4h a Janca malo pres 5 (viz vysledky), coz si myslim nebylo vubec spatne na to ze to byl nas prvni zavod a vlastne temer bez pripravy. I kdyz musime uznat ze na tratovy limit nekde na hranici 2h15 ani na kamarada Ivana ktery to zajel pod 3 hodiny v elitni kategorii, ani zdaleka nemame.

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Moments before the start | Chvili pred startem

Michal in finish | Michal v cili


Jana hundreds meters before the finish | Jana par set metru pred cilem

Jana in finish | Jana v cili

UUHOLO Slideshow

http://slideshow.uuholo.org/ - What is this about ?

This is not our idea, in fact Michal has overheard it at some presentation and started to implement it at home, as many similar "projects", that appear here and there from nowhere and that instantly gain the highest priority and other things stay in behind ;)

However the pricip is very simple: We have a photo frame in our living room (made of old LCD monitor), that really looks almost like a picture. And because we don't want to have there our photos (only) but photos related to our friends and relatives, you cam determine what's going to show there - you can send us a new photo and withing short time (up to 10 minutes if the computer at home is switched on) this photo will be shown both in the photo frame as well as it's small version on Internet. It will stay there for defined time, actually 2 weeks from processing (I think).

How to send a picture then? It's simple - send an email to address uuholo@seznam.cz and anywhere into the message body enter the keyword "uuphoto" or "uufoto" (either of them) and the fist attached file (image) will be processed. Don't send more than one image as only the 1st one will be used. If you also want to add text message please put the text into the Subject field. And please be aware, both your email and the message will be shown so please send us only images you would consider putting in your living room. Besides of that, we reserve the right to remove any image that seems inappropriate to us.

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http://slideshow.uuholo.org/ - Co je tohle zac ?

Toto neni nase idea, po pravde receno ji Michal zaslechl na prednasce iniciativne se toho chopil a rozhodl se to doma naistalovat, jako hodne jinych a podobnych "projektu" ktere se najednou objevi odnikud a ziskaji tak vysokou prioritu, ze jine veci zustavaji chvili stranou.

Princip je jednoduchy: Mame doma v obyvacim pokoji fotoramecek (udelany ze stareho LCD monitoru), ktery vypada skoro jako obrazek. A protoze tam nechceme jenom a jenom svoje fotky a chceme ty fotky vazat spis na svoje kamarady, rodinu a zname, tak obrazky ktere se tam objevuji muze poslat uplne kdokoliv a behem chvile (10 minut pokud je nas pocitac doma prave zaply) se objevi jak u nas doma v ramecku tak ve zmensene verzi na teto webove strance a zustanout tam po predem nastavenou dobu, aktualne 2 tydny.

Jak nam poslat fotku na ramecek? Jednoduse poslete mail s prilohou na adresu uuholo@seznam.cz a do textu dopisu napiste klicove slovo "uuphoto" nebo "uufoto" (funguje kterekoliv z nich) a prvni prilozeny soubor (obrazek) bude zpracovan. Neposilejte vice souboru protoze se zpracuje opravdu jen ten prvni. Pokud chcete prilozit nejakou zpravu, napiste ji hdo hlavicky (Subject) zpravy. Jenom upozornujeme ze jak text zpravy tak vas email budou zverejneny, tak prosim posilejte jenom to co byste si dovolili sami povesit doma na zed. A mimo to si vyhrazujeme pravo nevhodne obrazky smazat.

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Rock 'N' Roll

From February 28th until March 28th Wellington's Circa Theatre (www.circa.co.nz) is showing Tom Stoppard's play Rock 'N' Roll (www.rocknrolltheplay.com). The play itself is partially from Czechoslovakia between 1968 ana 1990. Czech club was asked for some help and together with Jana & Jirka Babor's we have recorded for them some Czech sentences and provided them feedback to Czech living etc. on one of their rehearsals.

And on Saturday 28th was the premiere. We attended together wit Babors and Gustav, who celebrated his 75th the day before. Some of ud haven't been in Theatre for years and for most of us it was the 1st premiere, but the play was really nice and worth to see.

First reviews can be found on www.theatreview.org.nz and www.stuff.co.nz

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Od 28. února do 28. března uvádí wellingtonské divadlo Circa Theatre (www.circa.co.nz) pod názvem Rock 'N' Roll (www.rocknrolltheplay.com) hru Toma Stopparda. Hra se dějově odehrává částečně i v Československu mezi roky 1968 a 1990. Český klub byl osloven zástupci divadla s žádostí o spolupráci a společně s Janou & Jirkou Baborovými jsme se zapojili do přípravy představení. Jednak nahráváním pár vět v češtině a na jedné ze zkoušek dali jsme jim nějaké komentáře a připomínky k tomu jak se žilo v Československu.

No a v sobotu 28/2 byla premiéra a párty, tak jsme se na ni vypravili, společně s Baborovými a Gustavem, který den předtím oslavil své 75. narozeniny. Někteří z nás nebyli v divadle mnoho let, a premiéra byla pro většinu z nás premiérou, ale myslím že hra stála zato a že se nám všem líbíla.

První recenze představení si můžete přečíst na www.theatreview.org.nz a www.stuff.co.nz

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