Sunday Stages 1 & 2, and Monday Stages 3 & 4

By Mat Fletcher

John and I are in New Zealand to ride a tour from Wellington to Auckland. It is 720km over 6 days with 13 stages. I have never ridden 720km in a single week before so I was interested to see how I would hang together. The tour has 126 entrants across various age groups with the majority in the over 40’s age group, and quite a few good younger chaps.

We drove to Wellington on Saturday after catching a few trout fly fishing in the Tongariro River at Turangi. Quite a pleasant way to begin a cycle race I reckon. The weather on Saturday was terrible and the forecast was for worse. We picked up Johns brother Steve at the Wellington airport. He came up from Christchurch to be our driver. Steve actually used to race with Hayden Roulston, a kiwi that rode in the TDF last year and is now with HTC Columbia.

We found our motel in Upper Hutt and then went to registration. The organisation of the event has been great and we opted for the accommodation and food package to save us finding something to eat at the end of each day. After checking in, we drove to the top of the Rimutaka ranges to check it out. The wind was so bad that it felt like the van was going to get blown over and we were driving around in the clouds. The climb has 2 climbs. The first is at 10% for around 2km and it is gruelling. The second just keeps on going to the summit of the Rimutaka Ranges and has multiple switch back bends and literally just keeps on going. The total climb is 525 mtrs elevation over a 10 Km stretch, so it is a beast. Great way to start a tour.

Day One, Stage 1: Upper Hutt to Rimutaka Summit – 17km

After a good nights rest we awoke to find it drizzling a wee bit but the wind had calmed down. John and I had a bit of a warm up and headed to the start line for briefing and commencement. We had a neutralised zone for 5km to get us out of town and then the race proper began. The first small hill shelled a few out the back and then we were soon at the bottom of the Te Marua K.O.M points climb. I let the kids have it and just did my best to knuckle my way up the hill. A small lead group got away and I was with about 10 others. We just kept on grinding away best we could and kept the tempo going with no silly attacks. The hill was too big to have a rush to the brain and then pop. John was just in front of me and then he fell off his bike on one of the sharp corners. I asked if he was ok and bar a bit of cursing he said keep going as I wasn’t too far from the finish at the summit.

Results:

Winning time 57.04

Mat: + 3.41. 28th in overall GC and 11th in age category
John: +4.35. 35th in overall GC and 6th in age category

Day 1, Stage 2: Featherston to Masterton – 64km

This was the afternoon stage and takes a back road from Featherston to Masterton in the Waiarapa region. We had a break for a couple of hours prior to racing which is actually quite good. We had our van well decked out and brought some $15 fold out chairs and a kettle so we could make coffee. The good thing with a big van is that you can just through all of your crap in it and not run out of space.

The course is an undulating course with a few hills but nothing to cruel you like Stage 1. My legs were actually feeling shattered after the first stage and I was wondering how they would handle being smashed on a flatter stage. We set off and I elected to go to the front and roll through and do some work rather than getting stuck in the bunch. After about and hour a guy beside me dropped his drink bottle and this caused 6 riders to go down. John was stuck behind the carnage and headed off into the paddocks to avoid coming off. Unfortunately he couldn’t get back on to the lead group which cost him time. I finished in GC over the line with the lead group so I didn’t lose any time.

Results:

Stage time 1.43

Mat:  GC Finish.  + 3.46. 26th in overall GC and 11th in age category
John: + 9.53. 47th in overall GC and 12th in age category

Day Two, Stage 3: Masterton to Paihiatua – 73km

This was the morning stage from Masterton to Paihiatua. It is similar to stage 2 yesterday with a couple of sharp little climbs along the way. We set off at 9am. I worked my way to the front and encourage all of the Jersey holders from day one to be proud of their new glory and ride like the champion they are! The ploy is to wear them down a bit. The smash came on a few times and shelled a few out the back and the group was down to about 50. Someone in front of me decided to fall of their bike. The guy beside him went down as well and I had an evasive sideways lock up to avoid it. I heard a few blood curdling screams as some others went in but I stayed up right and still in the lead group which was now about 20. John was still in as well so we were doing alright. About 10 minutes after my back tire exploded like a bomb going off. I managed to hold a straight line and keep it upright and when everyone had passed, I pulled of to the left hand side. The evasive breaking manoeuvre had torn my tire apart and the tire pando wasn’t going to do much. I was standing in the middle of no where without a spare tire. Great. The ride is not supported by wheel wagons so the norm is to take spare tubes ect. After about 5 minutes, a lady pulled over and asked if I would like a wheel. The wheel god had arrived! I looked at it – yes, shimano gears – cool. I bolted it on and I was off again but this time solo. I had to ride by myself to the finish for about 40km. Try as I might, I couldn’t catch the group again. I cam across a couple of other chaps that got dropped and told them just to get on. I didn’t ask them to do any turns as they were blown. After this I lost 12 minutes on GC even though I averaged 35.5km per hour by myself on rolling terrain. I now have a 15 minute deficit so GC aspirations are obviously out. It is quite amazing how one mechanical failure can cripple your chances, so I will chalk it down to experience. John did well and finished with the bunch.

Day Two, Stage 4: Paihiatua to Palmerston North – 31km

The afternoon’s stage goes over the Taraua ranges via the Paihiatua track. It has another beast of a climb in it and just not what I needed considering the beating I gave my legs on the stage before hand. We set off for about 15km flat before the climb. On the climb a lot of chaps started going backwards and my legs were still going around so I just kept grinding away. I summated the hill and looked back and I could see John coming with a group. I was trying to catch the next small group in front of me so I began smashing it down the hill. There were some sharp 25km/h bends half way down which made my sphincter twitch a bit as I went in a bit quick on one of the bends. After a while I was joined by John and 4 others. We had a few other smaller hills to climb before the finish. After my morning’s effort and recent prior effort down the hill I felt inclined not to do any more work for the day. We came around a bend with a slight uphill to the finish. The 3 guys in front of me started to have a bit of a stab and a few attacks. While them we looking at each other I zipped around to the right hand side and punched it. It was about 250mtrs out and normally a bit soon, but I gapped them by about 50 mtrs and they could respond. John was on my wheel over the line so all ended well. I need to figure out over the next few days what I am going to do. Maybe save myself for a few days and then give it a bash latter in the week if my legs are up to it. John improved his position from yesterday and mine deteriorated. Both were unfortunate circumstances due to people crashing in front of us, and flat tires.

Stage time 55.31

Mat: + 2.28 for stage. 44th in overall GC at + 15.09 and 17th in age category
John: + 2.28 for stage. 40th in overall GC at + 13.26 and 10th in age category