Well its coming up 5 months since I last raced and I must admit that decision has been a real tough one, I’ve been going through cycles of wanting to race then I’m too busy to commit to racing. I’ve been riding my bike upto 6 times a week and my riding routine hasn’t changed one bit, I still have the desire to ride my bike hard and that’s an addiction I have and will always have. I keep asking myself the same question and maybe theres a lot of people asking the same thing “why isn’t he racing?”. I go out on rides on my road bike in Wellington and can still give the best guys bit of a wind up. I could getting ready for a “out of retirement” comeback like Mr Macauley has done a few times? I don’t know?..some days I know and some I don’t but first I need to commit to a few other things in life then I’ll no doubt be back on the start line, not sure if it’l be on the road or mountain bike..maybe both?
I’m really enjoying being a bike rider in Wellington. Years ago I always heard of Wellington to be a hard place to get some good long rides in or too much traffic etc, but I must say I really love the scene here and theres a real good bunch of strong riders and definitely a lot of solid rides to do. The mountain bike tracks in Welly are becoming some of my favourite, I’m a huge fan of Christchurch trails having done most of my riding down there (after Wanganui) and they’re at the top of my list, I really enjoy rough rocky trails where the rocks don’t move, rocks where you have to really pick the right line or have to jump over and with that I’m a big fan of full suspension over a hard tail!
I reckon NZ should have more 4 day weekends! Easter has been really cool with Bex and I heading over to Martinborough for a few days with our good friend who is over from London plus a few other people. We took our bikes to get out and do an adventure on the Saturday before cruising round some wineries. I only one ride in that area and that is out towards Manuwera Point but we only got to a small settlement called Tuturumuri which was about 35km from the holiday house, brilliant ride with quite a few big hills and a big 4km hill back out the vally upto the big wind turbines. I ended up riding the hills one and a half times which was the challenge Bex set for me and I think I achieved that goal on most of them. Sunday (today) I set of early to ride back to Wellington, I’ve always wanted to ride the Rimutakas and this weekend was a great opportunity and probably a safe one as most people were coming over to the Wairarapa rather than leaving. I had a nice tail wind all the way to Featherston then as I approached the bottom of the climb I met a wicked head wind that got more and more wild the closer I got to the top, some points on the descent I was pedaling at 30kmh which is abit nuts. I got into the Hutt round the time the Sunday morning bunch ride would normally cruise through so I thought I’d jump in and have a burn with the guys which was cool. The bunch always finishes with a mad sprint to the Placemakers on Old Hutt Road, it’s a huge title to win and I’m stoked to have that on my list of wins. After doing a 5km tt down the motorway with my junior days racing buddy Greg Taylor I thought we were in but I got up by an old couple driving at 20kmh which caused me to get caught, but after all that I still managed to pull the sprinting legs out for the title.
April is a special month for Bex and I, we got married last year on the 10th so it was pretty cool to celebrate our one year anniversary with her a few weeks ago. Bex is massive part of my life and has always sorted me out when its needed and definitely been a big part of my racing success over the last 5 years. I look forward to many awesome years with her.
Hope everyone has been enjoying the Summer riding/racing and now getting ready for the winter months which aren’t too pleasant. If you see me out and about come say hi I’m always keen for a chat.
Happy Easter.
