Last week 13 of us headed up the Motu Rd for a gruelling mtb ride. 12 left from Hanaia and we picked up Karl en route. Kerr, Barry, Jared, the Boss, Tred, Lea, Dennis, Brett, Destry, Kurt, Brian and myself were the original 12 who downed good coffee before biking off into the cold. We experienced the biggest frost any of us had seen. As we were climbing the last 100m up the Meremere we had ice falling out of the trees and landing on top of us and the fence wires were frozen. From there on we were cycling on a thin layer of ice over the clay. Those of us with booties and full finger gloves were happy.
Kerr turned around at the top of the Meremere and Kurt and I turned around at the base of the Papamoa while the others climbed to the top where they met Teleri and Hilton who had biked through from Motu.
It was great to gather back at Hanaia in the sun and drink more coffee and eat the muffins Patty had brought along with Lea's fruit cake.
It was a great weekend's training as Lea and I had paddled the bottom section of the Waioweka on the day before. It was the first time on the river in my Arrow Waka and I was a bit nervous. Apart from getting caught in the willows and losing my paddle for a while there were no major issues and I was able to keep dry despite a couple of hairy moments.
Tomorrow we have a big adventure with some mtbing to Motu, others running the track, some road cycling home and maybe some cycling right round - a logistical nightmare but we should have fun in the torrential rain.
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