Rolling on

Last weekend I went cycling with the St. Cuthbert's School cycling team. My friend Suzy is the head coach, and as a former Dio cyclist I was keen to check out the competition.

All the girls and parents were lovely, and I was relieved to be able to keep up. We cycled along many of the new cycling paths which were nice and traffic free, but were much slower going.

Tomorrow morning, that's Wednesday 17th is looking pretty wet and grim. I am a total fair weather cyclist, so if there is water on the road I will be on my turbo trainer.

Send me a message via the website if you want to hook up for a turbo session....

Ride One: Friend One

Bright and early this morning I hopped out of bed, pulled my lycra out of the very bottom of my draw, and set about assembling the headset on my bike. A few screws were missing, a few spacers not to be found, and there was a "bit" of a crack in the stem, but I was not to let these little details stop me from getting out there on my first ride. 

That was at least until I mounted my bike and wobbled down the road. 

I have a very nice "new bike", it's my Mum's old cast off. This morning I realised she didn't give it to me out of the goodness of her heart, she gave it to me because it's an UNBROKEN STALLION. Constantly darting in front of cars, totally unstoppable. 

The stallion and I gingerly made our way down to Vinyl Cafe on Dominion Road, outwardly hoping some people would actually turn up so I would have new friends to ride with, but secretly wishing that there will be no one there so I would not embarrass myself by falling off my bike. Well, careful what you wish for 'cause that little bit of pavement outside Vinyl was Lycra free.

No worries, I made a back up plan to ride with stylish travel writer Sarah Zimmerman. We met up in Point Chevalier and jumped back on the north western motorway cycle track towards Mount Eden. 

After about 45 minutes my bike started to make some really dodgy movements and I started to be concerned that my headset was about to fall apart. Sarah headed off to work, and I bee lined to Mount Eden Cycles where the wonderful staff opened up early and sorted my bike out.

What better way to celebrate a functioning bike with a little sprint up Mount Eden to enjoy the view over beautiful Auckland City. 

Come join me for a bike ride on Sunday at 8:00am or Wednesday at 7:00am. 

Let's Get Started

Good Morning Ladies, 

Let's Get Started

This morning is three months EXACTLY until the Worldwide Rapha Women's 100 Ride. I'm going to use this opportunity to get my dusty bike out of the shed, and you're going to do it with me. 

The world wide ride is promoted by Rapha and you can read about it here

If we're going to do this we need a plan:

Today, 3 months to go. The bike comes out! First I have to take it to Mount Eden cycles for a new stem, then get my Dad to bring my peddles down from Matakana. Gosh, writing this makes me realise how long it's been since I got on my road bike... I'm also going to spend much of today harassing people into doing this thing. I tell you peeps, you're best to just pull out your Lycra now. (Or, for Sarah & Karina, buying a road bike) 

Wednesday morning - meet outside Vinyl cafe on Dominion Road for a nice little pre work ride. The first ride will start on Wednesday 10th April at 7:00am.  We'll wiggle around Auckland and finish up in the city around 8:15am. 

Sunday morning-  meet outside Vinyl cafe at 8:00am (is that too early for a Sunday?). We'll start with a nice easy ride, say 40km to gauge our fitness and so we don't scare anyone off. We'll built up the distance pretty quick sharp, so don't dally around deciding if you're going to join us just get your Lycra butt down to Vinyl. 

If you have boobs and a road bike you're welcome to join us.