A well overdue post from Lea

I have to be honest I have not been feeling very inspired to sit and write.  It wasn't that I didn't have news to share.  It was simply just that I couldn't actually get the words flowing to put here on the blog.  So much has happened the last little while.  So much to process and get my head around, but anyway.

I realised with a shock that in just a bit more than 1 month I will doing this 'lovely' little bike ride on the 8th of December.  Don't ask me why.  I agreed in a moment of insanity to be part of a team doing a half ironman distance event.  So a friend will be doing a 2km swim (about 1.24 miles), another friend will run 21km (about 13.04 miles) and I will do a 90km (55.92 miles) bike ride. 

Just a few weekends ago my friend Rose and I went to Taupo (where the event will be) to get an idea of what this course will look like and be like.  We met up with Denise (our other friend - the one who will do the swim) and she drove us along the course.  The next morning Rose and I set off to try out our courses.  She went on the run course and I went on the bike course.  We were only going to do about an hour and so I set off. 

The first bit was hard.  It has this long, gradual (really deceptive) hill that nearly killed me off and I had to stop 3 times to catch my breath and let my legs settle down (they went into a bit of a shock at that point).  Once I got through that bit though it was actually not too bad and I was going along pretty well.  I then thought that I wanted to go a bit longer and so I texted Rose to let her know that I wanted to go for a bit longer and that was all set. 

It was actually quite peaceful.  This quiet road, mostly flat with some slight and gradual little hills.  You go past some farms with some really cool animals - my favourite by far were the little calves.  When I got to the halfway bit I felt really good.  A bit tired, but pleased that it was all really manageable so far.  At that point I turned around. 

When I got to about 60 km (37.28 miles) my body started complaining a bit.  By about 70km (43.49 miles) everything was sore.  My butt, legs, back, arms. Everything.  I remembered that Paul said "no pain no gain" and so I thought "heck, this gain better be worth it because it was a lot of pain at that point". 

What made it worse was that this road just kept going and going and going and I kept wondering where the stupid sign was to show that the town centre area was not too far away.

I managed to get to about 80km (49.7 miles) at which point my body gave up.  It was like it said "remember I told you a while back that enough was enough and you didn't want to listen..."  So there I sat on the side of the road, after I called Rose and asked her to please come and get me and all these other cyclists came cycling past me laughing at this pathetic sight that I must have been. 

So yes, I still have a bit more work to put in to get ready.   With that in mind recently I finally attempted this one route I have been avoiding.  It is a tough hilly ride that Paul loves.  Don't ask me the distance it felt like it was going on forever.  And it is this non-stop gradual uphill until you get to the summit.  So there I was struggling along, when another cyclist came past and he cheerfully said "you're already half-way" and I thought "oh no, I'm only half-way".  I didn't actually end up getting to the top, but it was a good effort I think.

But all in all, I do enjoy cycling.  Yes, I think it is crazy to think I'm going to have to cycle a 90km distance, but hey, won't it just be so amazing to achieve this? Scary, but it will be a huge achievement and something I know I will be so proud of!

Well that's it from me for now.  What have you been up to?