T(A) minus 6 and counting….!

Beautiful sunny day for our last training & shakedown ride with loaded bikes - to Otaki and back (a mere 110km and 600m of climbing) Problems early on as Alastair punctured back tyre - only being alerted to this by Andy’s yelps as he copped a few gobs-full of sealant spewing forth as we hurtled downhill just North of Pukerua Bay…

Tubeless sealant did its job in ultra-quick time, with no perceptible loss of pressure, but bike frame and bags (as well as Alastair’s legs) plastered in film of latex!

Northwards on The Parade, Paekakariki

Quick coffee & muffin at Paekakariki then ever Northwards, with the Southerly breeze giving an illusory sense of a timely boost in fitness levels. Uneventful progress until approach to Otaki river bridge when Alastair nearly parked his front wheel in Andy’s butt crack as he hauled on the anchors where (unseen to the rest of the ‘peloton’ - i.e. me) the road shoulder acutely narrowed onto a raised path by the bridge parapet…fortunately the path chosen by Alastair in a split second veer to the left, missing the solid metal stanchion post at the bifurcation with the road - cue a couple of pithy expletives!

A well-earned breather with a toothsome lunch at Riverstone cafe, before reversing our route and heading South into the mild but relentless headwind…and home again - Andy for some Gaviscon to quell the gastric revolt triggered by his pie and one too many flat whites, Alastair for the hideous task of removing the tyre-full of sealant plastered over bike and bags (& legs…whereupon he will discover the reason cyclists shave their legs has nothing to do with aerodynamic efficiency!)