Not much of a blogger

I haven't been on here in a long while, so haven't have any updates to my blog. Last time I was here I was laid up with a broken collar bone.

Since then, the collar bone has healed nicely (sort of), I have a lump where the bone is broken, just as in the photo below, because the bone hasn't moved far enough back. But that's all good, a little sore sometimes, but the doctor says it should flatten out.

I also rode the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. A 160km cycle race around Lake Taupo in the middle of the North Island, New Zealand. Website here. It was a horrible day for riding, very windy, trees falling over ... But I managed a time of 6hours and 3 minutes. I wanted to do under 6 hours, but I still have a time to beat next year!!

I have a GoProHD camera and a Garmin GPS aswell, so have been having a bit more fun out on my bike :)

The best news is Jocelyn and I are going to be parents in a months time :)

X-Ray from fall in Rotorua

Fracture mid shaft Right Clavicle.

Photos from Black Stump 2009

Photos of my right leg, after falling down a bank during the 2009 Black Stump race. The top hole is from the clip-less pedal, the bottom gouge is from the big chainring!

After a couple of days, both wounds became infected.

Rotorua Ride ... and a Hospital Visit

It was my birthday on the 4th of September, and had been looking forward to going to Rotorua, and riding with the Raglan MTB Club for the day. I arrived at the car park early and had an hour or so riding the lower tracks before the rest of the group were due at 11am.


We set off and rode Tahi, which then turned into The Dipper, I decided to go down the harder part, FAST!

So we decided to get back onto the road and head up to A-Trail, then Tickler, and then decide what the group would do, either go to the top, or carry on with the lower tracks ...


A-Trail was sweet! Nice and fast in parts and technical in the Hard sections. We regrouped just before Tickler started, and I went ahead first. The area arond Tickler has recently been felled, and the big drop has been taken out, you now go around a straighter Easy section.


I think this Easy Section is a lot faster and technical, as I overshot the corner.  Grabbing the brakes to halt my momentum, my weight shifted forward onto the front wheel and over I went. Next thing I knew, I was balancing on the edge of a 3 meter high bank, I was looking straight down over the edge!

I remember trying to unclip from my clipless pedals, and I was still holding onto the handle bars. I thought, if I could unclip, I could do a superman move and land on my feet or something ... I just went straight over the handle bars, straight down this bank, landing on my shoulder and back. My shoulder wasn't painfull, but definitely did not feel right. I might have broken my collar bone.


With the help of Dirk, Coralie and Merren from the Raglan MTB Club, we made it out of the forest. Dirk used Merren's long sleeve polyprop thermal to make a sling for my arm, and we walked out.

Lucky I was with a group this time, as I usually go to Rotorua on my own, Merren drove me to the Emergency Department at Rotorua Hospital. After a 4 hour wait the X-Ray confirmed my collar bone was broken!


I arived home bruised and battered, but still in one piece with a story to tell!

Starting to ramp up the training ...

Got the all clear from the physio to ramp up the training to an hour long ride, for 2 rides this week.

So starting tomorrow (Saturday) or Sunday, weather dependant because I don't have to go out, I'll go for an hour. Maybe 30 ks. And repeat Wednesday or Thursday.

Has been 6 1/2 weeks with injury, and 5 weeks till the Day Night Thriller 12 hour solo!!

Riding again ... slowly ...

I rode  to town on Saturday night for the Winter Series Prize giving, and back home, and went for another ride this afternoon. Knee feels much better, a little tingly, but definitely not sore!!!

It's been 5 ½ weeks since my big ride to Auckland, has been a while since I've had a good ride on the bike. I want to get out and do a nice big ride, but I should take it easy and work up to it again. Have physio again on Friday, so might go for another ride on Thursday afternoon.

The Knee bone's conected to the, Sore bone!

So I went for a ride a few weeks ago, just over the other side of town (Pukete to Glenview), just over 10km. I was thinking I'll see how my knee is and Ill go and see my brother at the same time.

10km into the ride, nearly at my halfway point of my out and back ride, and I can feel the same pain in my knee as the day I rode to Auckland and back ...

I decided not to call into my brothers, but to limp home on my sore knee instead. By the time I arrived home, I could hardly walk up the back stairs again. I was starting to think maybe my bike riding days were behind me. The next day at work was a day of kneeling and squatting ... this was not good for my knee at all. It locked out at one point, and felt like a tendon had moved, and would not move back into place. I rang a different physio, this time a son of a work colleague, who was also a physio for a cycling team.

Apparently I have torn/strained the meniscus on the inside of the knee. This is the cartilage type stuff that joins the muscle to the bone. It's a minor injury, but it is going to take a bit longer to heal.

I rode to physio again on Friday, and had my bike set-up looked at, and it's pretty much spot on, maybe move my seat forward 5mm. Rode home again, and felt like the tendon had popped out again. It went away after I jumped off the bike and feels really good now, still uncomfortable though.

So, I will only be doing short rides for a while, making sure I let this knee rest, and hopefully I can be ready for the Day Night Thriller, and the Lake Taupo Challenge!!!

Shaved Legs ...

Physio again this evening, just a massage and a bit of taping. Sounds like there is a ligament that is catching around the knee cap when I bend the knee, so massaging it out can help it.

But I have had to shave my thigh, as I'm getting some more strapping on. Man that stuff is painfull to get off when it pulls on your leg hair!

I'm not sure if I'll shave the rest of my legs though ...

Physio for my knee

Physio was horrible this afternoon. Acupuncture again. I thought it might be painful, but not that painful!!!

Seems I have just overworked the main muscle that holds the knee together. Have been given some stretches to do, one I do regularly and a new lunge/quad stretch. Go back on Thursday.

Green Fingers?

Haha, not even. I managed to get outside the house today and do some gardening.

My knee is still a bit sore from my big ride on wednesday. I'm off to physio on Monday afternoon, so I skipped the Ngutunui Winter Time Trial and did some gardening instead.

Now I feel guilty because I wanted to see if I could beat the Single Speed record.

I went to Bunnings this morning and bought a new spade, as I only had a shovel. I thought if I bought a good spade, I might get outside and actually use it. I did. Now just need to prune the tree out the front and mow the lawns.

Next update should be what's happening with my knee.

Winter Solstice - Hamilton to Auckland ... and back. 22nd June 2011

So I decided to ride to Auckland and back to Hamilton on the shortest day. This is also known as the Winter Solstice, when, in the Southern Hemisphere, the sun is furthest north in the sky. This happened at 5:16am on the 22nd June 2011

I managed to get on the road about 4:45am, with a High viz jacket, two flashing lights on the rear and a 900 lumen light on the front, I was lit up like a Christmas tree. I was heading out of Pukete, over the main road to Te Kowhai to stay on the west side of the river all the way up. Then through the back of Ngaruawahia and the back of Huntly. All was going well untill I hit the railway lines in Huntly, my two bottles in the back cages flew out onto the road, and at that point I must have snapped that spoke!

The Huntly Bridge in the morning

Picked up my bottles and off again. Missed my turn at Rangiriri, so had to consult the directions I had written the night before, just in case I did get lost. I did ... haha. Turned back and found my turn.

I had to ride along a gravel road between Rangiriri and Pukekawa. A GRAVEL ROAD on the way to auckland .... at this point I saw a sign that read 'Mercer 10Km'. Even though I wasn't going that way, I thought it pretty awesome that I was that close to Mercer.

Before I reached Tuakau I went over the Port Waikato bridge over the Waikato river. Through Tuakau, then into Pukekohe. I was going to take a photo of the racecourse, but was very disappointed at the lack of signage, so I didn't bother. Pukekohe needs to work on their street signs too, I got lost again, but thought if I kept going straight through I should reach the main road out.

Out of Pukekohe, onto the main road, heading towards Drury, under the motorway, the roads were starting to get very busy now. But, I did not have any trouble with the traffic at all. Bar one bus that cut me off while on my way home.

Going through Manurewa  I got a flat on the front. I had packed two tubes, and two co² cannisters, so a change of the tube was quick and easy on the side of the road.

I had decided I was going to Avanti Plus in Manukau. I was heading up Great South Road, unwittingly passing the intersection I was to turn off, rode another 6kms further through Manukau. After I realised, turned back and took the right turn, I arrived at my destination.

The staff where only happy to let me refresh and repair my broken spoke and replenish my kit.

Now for the trip home. All was well, untill I got to Tuakau ... started to get pain in my left knee. I stopped and gave it a bit of a stretch, felt a bit better, but the pain soon came back. Stuggling up the big hills I had ridden even more, as they were a steeper gradient on the Auckland side. Back on the gravel road I met a farmer and his herd of cows. Knee was still in a world of pain. Turned off at Rangiriri and thought mustn't be too far to Huntly now then ... Past the Huntly Golf Club and knee was unbearable to ride on. Stopped and started walking, it would have only been a few minutes, and a passing motorist and fellow cyclist Wayne, decided to kindly stop and give me a lift home. Thank you very much Wayne!

In the end, I cycled a total of 229.07kms in 10hrs 57mins. with an average speed of 25kph.

And with some better preparation and a re-thought strategy, I would do it all again. Not in a hurry though - time to rest and sort this knee out!

Back to Physio

So it was a trip back to the Physiotherapy room this afternoon, thought I would try another clinic and was fairly good. Had some more acupuncture ... and a little massage. Have been told I NEED to do more stretching and some more strengthening exercises.

This injury will be a recurrence from the one where I ripped my calves just before Christmas in 2009, so not strengthening them hasn't done my running any good.

But I'm allowed to cycle to my hearts content!!! Thats a great thing, because I have a couple of cycling events coming up.

Tomorrow night (wednesday) I have the pukete summer series mountain bike race again, where I'm coming 1st at the moment in the open mens class.

On Saturday I have the rev120, a road race starting in Hamilton, heading out to Karapiro, Cambridge, Matamata and heading back into Hamilton.

The weekend after that I have the Pukete Spaghetti, a 6hr mountain bike race at the Pukete mountain bike park!!!

Blueberry Fun Run 17km

Ran the 17km Blueberry Fun Run today in a time of 1hr 35mins. A lot faster than I thought I would run it!

Ran at a fairly steady pace, used to drink stops to my advantage and managed to find someone to run with, that helped a lot.

At the end, I indulged  in the Free blueberry pie, YUM!

I managed a spot prize of a $10 Robert Harris cafe voucher, might have to take Jocelyn out to lunch.

The Black Stump

Wow, this is going to be a ripper weekend!!!

Have the Black stump on Saturday, and the Blueberry Run on Sunday.

Black Stump 30km adventure ride.

Rode the black stump on the single speed today, with gearing of 34/18. Was great, but might go for a 19 or 20 tooth cog next year. I rode a time of 2hrs 18mins, and that was with a flat tyre/tube change, half way around the track!

Blueberry 17km Run tomorrow ...