Richard Greer – Round Taupo Enduro (2 laps) 320km
Complete Performance hit the road and headed to Taupo to take on the Enduro which meant myself Graeme
The finish line!
Allen and Bryan Tarbell lined up for a 1.30am start to complete 2 laps of the lake a total of 320km in one sitting.
The weather was perfect and subsequently the pace was ridiculously fast over the first 30kms as the field of 53 was wilted down to about 8. Graeme was lucky to stay in touch at this time as his seat came loose and had to chase hard on his own for 20mins but made it back. However Bryan was not so lucky and was dropped during the madness and subsequently rode the entire first lap by himself in the darkness! Luckily we had a fantastic support team in the van (Desirae and Kevin) who dashed between us dishing out plenty of our secret weapon – caramel slice and homemade pizza!
Graeme’s leg’s decided that they had had enough up Hatepe hill toward the end of the first lap and had a nasty episode of cramp putting him back to riding solo to the end of lap one.
At 6.30am we reached Taupo (halfway) were we signed in and filled our pockets with all the food and drink we could carry for the second lap as the support vehicle was not allowed to come with us. I was forth out of the transition area and worked hard to follow the rider up the road to make sure that I went the right way out of town. I caught two of them and saw the lead rider in the distance but decided to stop and take a polypro off as the day was looking to get really hot.
Graeme - keen for another?
The tactics from here were to ride to the point where the pro elite race turned onto our course and hope to stick with some of the stragglers. Unfortunately we missed them by just a couple of minutes but the rider up the road did not and was pulled to the finish line. We did however ride with one other elite ride which helped to share the workload a little. With forty kilometres to go I was out of water and starting to feel it. I decided to stop at a water station but unfortunately they were not ready for us at this hour in the morning so had to carry on. Doing the maths we thought that we may make it to the finish before the main
field caught us but this was not to be when halfway up Hatepe the second time we looked back to see a field of about 80 riders bearing down on us.
Things got a little crazy as we scrambled to the top of the climb as fast as possible to ensure that we could stick with these guys into town. It is amazing what a little adrenaline can do… It was time for business as the other rider who i was racing for second made it into the same bunch and was looking good all of a sudden. 300km down and now I was racing like it was a 40km club race?! There was one little blip of a hill just before town and I figured if I could stay with this group over it I would be able to make it to the finish line with the bunch. As it happened I went to the front of the group to ensure that by the time that I made it up I wouldn’t be dropped off the back and subsequently found myself in the lead as everyone slowed down.
Bryan - Mission complete
The sprint (yes sprint!) finish was all about keeping towards the front and keeping out of trouble and luckily I did this as rounding the final corner into town a heard a number of riders hit the tarmac just behind me and I was able to roll under the banner to see my chief support team Tarsh and Nathan (pictured above) jumping up and down at the finish line.
Results: Graeme Allen 10.37 (7th) Bryan Tarbell 10.56 (9th) and myself 9.56 (2nd). Out of 53 starters 46 riders finished.
It was a fantastic event, great weather and a really nice place to ride and a great way to spend a long weekend away with friends and family. Will I do the two laps again hmmm I will have to think about this a bit longer…