Hey Fulla,

We should have hooked up! - i too was looking to break the 4.5 hr mark.

Very cold at the start eh! (well for us Auckland poofs anyway!) Had a bit of a disaster in the first 10km - had to swerve violently to miss this f-ckwit ahead of me and took down one of my mates and two behind him, so had to stop and mend him and his bike! - spent the next 30mins hauling arse to get back to our group - fully cooked when we arrived.
Recovered ok, but yeah, lots of surges and really too slow in some sections.
Pretty happy to get in 4hrs 44mins despite the conditions and crash - will definitley start in the first bunch next time.

Taupo Half IM next for you?? i'm only doin the bike leg in a mixed team - think i'm gonna take a break from the bike after that and chill over xmas / new year.

you prob joined the big group i was in. i think the surges were coming from the tandem. on any slight uphill it slowed down to pedastrian pace, and then after a downhill it'd go hard. was a bit annoying. i almost got dropped by some lil groups a few times.



yeah im doing the taupo half im.



that kuratau hill was my fave part of the course. heh.

did u hit town after chillipepper? were u in the first group? i got there a bit late and had to start in the middle of the first group.

here's someone else who did this:Yates wins at Lake Taupo

New Zealand cyclist Jeremy Yates has won the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, although he has just recently received a two-year doping suspension from the Belgian Cycling Union. Yates' ban will not come into effect until December 1, which permitted him to race in the Challenge and take home $NZ2000 in prizemoney, which should help offset the $NZ925 fine he received from the Belgian cycling federation for failing to submit a B sample.

The organisers declined to comment on the ethics of allowing Yates to participate.

from cyclingnews.com.

I was out there too, but lets say, just for a bit longer. This was my first Taupo and longest ride to date. I queued up dutifully next to my expected finish time, but by the time I actually got on the course through the crush of cruisers and mountain bikes there weren't actually any bunches to speak of, just a whole lot of people heading in the same direction. Didn't realise it was such a free for all at the start. So I sort of trundled around catching a draft here and there. Quite pleased with the way I went, slow and steady. It was a bit bleak out on the western access road with the head wind and the endless ups and downs, a good blast down the Tokaanu Hill. Ran out of puff near the airport, but that was because I was basically stuffed by then.

Lay on the grass at the finish and tried to imagine getting up and doing a marathon.

Put my entry in for IM NZ last night. Next stop Taupo half IM. Might see you guys there, leave some food behind at the finish, will you?

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