The Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge - Some photos

Here we go, as promised, a little slide show from the race day last Saturday:

There were 12 different categories to take part in for the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, the solo ride of course but also different relay team challenges, Mountain Bike challenges off road, Tandems, Enduro and Maxi Enduro to mention a few.
John, Linton and Jeremy did the solo 160 km ride and were scheduled to start at 07.15. Since Bruce and Nathan did the Linfox Tarmac Relay, Nathan was bussed over to the halfway point and Bruce started at about 8 am, after all the solo cyclists had gone.

As a safety measure, the start of the solo ride was split into different starting groups based on the cyclists own estimations of how long it would take them to complete the course. All the groups started in "waves", which meant that us supporters had a hard job trying to quickly establish if our boys were in the current "wave" or not.
It was a bit tricky, as they came out of the start in great speed down the first hill, and we had to watch quite a few "waves" before we finally got lucky and were able to snap a few shots as they zoomed by!
The kids were great though! They stood there bravely and shouted "RBA!!! RBA!!!" on and on for each wave that passed us.

The weather wasn't the best on the day, and although we were dressed for it, kind of - as we wanted to show off our white-and-yellow supporter shirts we weren't wearing any jackets - we were so cold after those first few hours in the early morning!
So, having a big breakfast with all the works and some nice hot chocolates really did the trick after having seen our boys off!

We then had time to just quickly go home for a short pit stop, decorate the house with black, yellow and white balloons everywhere - and put on some more clothes. Then back in to town again to catch them as they crossed the finish line! We only had an estimate of when they were going to come in, so we didn't want to be late.

Nicole took Sean and his bike over to the meeting point where Jeremy would pick him up, for Sean to accompany him for the last 5 km into the finish. Unfortunately she didn't then make it back to see them cross it (because of the parking situation in town) - so lucky I got some good photos! Sean had a great ride, and will live on this experience for a long time I would imagine.

The support crew missed Linton unfortunately, he passed by far too quickly for us to notice and didn't get mentioned over the loudspeakers; but so did John, so we got him as he came in, and later also Nathan, Jeremy and Sean.

After the race, we went home for our heroes to shower and change - and back into town yet again, for the aerobatics display and the award ceremony. Not only were there plenty of awards given to special people who had taken part in the race, but there was also some really flash spot prizes randomly awarded amongst all the participants. Unfortunately none of our guys won anything.

We made a quick stop at the pub on the way home from the ceremony, had some pizza for dinner and then I can tell you, it was a very early night for most..!

They were all so pleased though with their efforts - and already planning for next year! Well done guys!

Home

We are back home after a very pleasant trip back from Auckland this time. We all had some sleep on the way over, and are slowly just taking on this Saturday with unpacking, playing with toys, watching tv, mounting bikes, uploading photos etc.

Bruce had to take the trailer last night to be able to bring all of our stuff. Nathan's bike box was mostly the problem, since it's rather bulky. Anyway, we got it all up there - and when we weighed in all of our luggage at check-in, we were just under our limit at 117 kg!
Gosh, with 3 kgs to spare - I could've shopped some more!

Brrrrr!

Our bags are packed, all three suitcases, two bike boxes, two scooter boxes and the hand luggage (and the car seats eventually!)... Vacation is over, we are off!
I feel quite happy to be going back to the sun right now. The last few days have got colder and colder each day, with today only at 11 degrees, windy and rainy.
Brrr! My fingers are cold and my toes are cold. We have just had to lit a fire to keep us warm while we have our last dinner.

I'm leaving you for now, with a little taster of the race. Here's Nathan just having passed the finish line:

Patience

I've uploaded quite a lot of photos from our NZ Cycle Challenge week for you to enjoy, but you won't find any of the race day itself just yet.
We are off back to Brunei tonight and tomorrow once I'm back on my own internet connection, I will upload a slide show for you. Thank you for your patience.

Nathan's reward

Ever since last December, when Nathan first took up the cycling and borrowed his Dad's bike with him back to Brunei; he has said that if he still liked it after a year he would by himself a new bike.
I guess we can establish that he does like the riding! So yesterday he picked up his new bike: an Avanti Quantum. He was a very happy boy:



Then of course it was time for some more photos:





And of course, the first ride:





Next year I'm expecting him to go at least twice around the lake! :)

Papa, paparazzi!

You can't see it but I'm actually sitting in the window of the car! Paula was driving and I was shooting - we made up a great team! Shame there aren't too many celebrities in Brunei, otherwise we could have a new career!



And after the photo shoots, we all enjoyed watching the photos together!

My man!

Here is my favourite photo of Nathan...



And check out this cyclist's leg..!



I'm so proud of him and what he has accomplished. Well done Sweety!

Huka Falls photo shoot

My biggest role this week has been to take the "official" photos of the boys - to be sent in to RBA to give them an idea of this experience.
Photos might go in their inflight magazine, or be used in other ways within RBA and their marketing - so no pressure!
I've done my best though! And I'm proud to say I've shot some gems!

The photos from the race itself will come in a post tomorrow Saturday after we are back in Brunei. I will put them all in a slide show as there are so many. Until then, here are a few photos from a photo shoot we did the day after the race, on the way to and at the famous Huka Falls, the most visited natural attraction in NZ.

Coming down the big hill from the house:



With Lake Taupo ahead:



On the Acacia Bay straight:



With snow covered Mount Ruapehu in the background:



At the Scenic Lookout just outside Taupo:



Beautiful NZ surroundings:





At the Huka Falls:













The Huka Falls upstream:

Preparations

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the first family arrived the same day as we did in Taupo last week, a few days later the two remaining families arrived and on the Friday a family friend from Auckland turned up to stay here too during the race - full house!





It's been really nice though to be at the same place all of us, and not spread out in different B&Bs all over town. We've all had such a good time all week (and compared to the weather this week, we were so lucky last week!).





Granddad and Grandma have been perfect hosts (of course!), and we have had one fab meal after the other - and enjoyed a few nice wines too..!



This is how the bottle collection looked - only half way through the week!!



The boys have enjoyed being able to go on rides together, both before and after the race; and us girls have been on walks and runs in the surroundings - and have had a bit of time too to do some shopping and have yummy café lunches in town!
Our friends even squeezed in some sightseeing, and visited the Huka Falls, the Lava Glass factory, the Craters of the Moon, Rotoroua Rainbow Springs Park and saw some boiling mud at one of the thermal areas close to us.

The kids of course have also enjoyed having some little friends here and most of the time we have neither heard or seem them, they've just been outside playing with each other. We also took them swimming (inside!) one day, and they've been to the playground and to the McDonald's. They've had a great week too!



(Must be the best McDonald's we've been to, not only does it have a huge playground - you are allowed to sit and eat your meal in an old refurbished DC3 Dakota!)

Taupo Cyclemania

This whole weekend has been about cycling here in Taupo. Not only the big race, which was the main arrangement, but there was also a "Cyclemania" Festival held in conjunction with the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge.

Six Taupo women managed to cycle their way into the Guinness Book of Records after static cycling 712 km in 24 hrs, significantly beating the required distance to claim the record.

There was also a BMX performance in one of the main streets that we took the kids down to see, those boys were pretty talanted!



On Sunday they also tried to break another world record, having the largest parade of bicycles. However, they were short of quite a lot of people (Nathan blames it on the rugby being on at the same time..!), so that record remains with Taiwan.

Run Boel, run!

Not only the boys have been sporty while we have been here - so have I!


(Photographer: Lucas)

I had been looking forward to coming down here and to be able to go for runs in normal temperatures, for quite a while. Little did I know that 10 k was such a long way..! I must say, I'm not really sure how this HongKong thing is going to go... I think I'll be happy if I just manage to finish it!

I have enjoyed my runs though (sort of) and so have all the horses, sheep and cows I've passed on my way!

Team Brunei Flyers

Nr 6 gone

Lucky for Lucas, the tooth fairy found him even in NZ! The other day while eating a chocolate slice, the nr 6 tooth fell out! Now he has a four-tooth big gap up the top, and there is one more loose down the bottom as well!
We'll soon start calling him "Gummy"!

First team photos

We had a bit of a photo session on the Friday afternoon, to get some nice team photos done. Not in the bike outfits, but in the Royal Brunei t-shirts.
The photos are taken on the hill up from the house, with Lake Taupo and Taupo town in the background. Here's John, Nathan, Michael (a family friend from Auckland who also did the race and stayed at the house over the weekend), Jeremy, Granddad Bruce & Linton:

Second wave

On the Wednesday, the rest of the team turned up: Linton and Jeremy, two of our 767 pilots from Brunei. Linton came down on his own, and spent the weekend in his "private quarters" - a camper some friends of Bruce and Yvonne had kindly lent us. Jeremy had the whole family with him, Nicole and the three kids - they are also our neighbours back in Brunei, good friends of ours.

So, of course they had to go on a bit of a familiarization ride as well; to check out the roads and get used to the temperature before the race.
They had also brought down the team kit, so they looked very flash as they set off:

First wave

Even though Nathan and John had done a couple of rides around the area in the beginning of the week, it didn't really turn serious until Granddad Bruce turned up from Korea on the Wednesday.
Here they are, the first wave of riders:



Lovely surroundings, huh? It's Lake Taupo you can see in the background. Granddad and Grandma's house is on top of a big hill with a spectacular view of the lake. Only disadvantage is that wherever you go for a ride, left or right, you have to climb that f*ing hill to get back home again...

The cow lady

Our friends Paula and John (from the Loan Service Team in Brunei) were the first visitors to come down to Taupo last week. They arrived already last Sunday to spend the week preparing for the race together with us, and do a bit of sightseeing.
This was their first visit to NZ and while driving down from Auckland, Paula had been totally taken by the beautiful scenery, the rolling hills, the big forrests - and the many fields full of sheep, and cows. Bless her, they reminded her of home!

She had the whole memory card on her camera full of photos of cows (?), and the fetish continued during the week. This is how she spent the drive to Rotoroua:



She also found cow mosaics at the L'Arte café up the road:



And she got a photo of the boys biking - with cows as a backdrop!



We kept teasing Paula for her cow fetish all week, but secretly - we love the cows too! A welcome change to the Brunei "pets" we've had lately!

The Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge - Some statistics

The Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge was in it's 33rd year this year, and it's one of the top seven recreational bike races in the world. It's NZ's biggest sports event and there was more than 11 100 riders taking part this year, the second biggest turnout since the beginning!



Only once have all the starters (all 26 of them) finished the circuit, and that was at the first event in 1977.

The oldest participant this year was a 79 year old from Hamilton, NZ - who did the race after three knee replacements, two hip replacements and a major spinal surgery.

Five 12 year olds completed the race this year, the fastest one going around the lake in 5:44 mins!
Mind you, in 2004 they had a 7 year old girl who completed the whole 160 km!

7 guys finished the Maxi Enduro Challenge, which is going around the lake four times (=640 km!)!! The fastest one in 24:32.
By request, there will be a 1200 km Enduro next year!

In the 160 km solo ride around the lake, there was 5278 cyclists finishing. 4308 male and 970 female - the average time for the circuit was 5:54. The fastest time around was 3:31, which is also the record so far!

Our boys did us really proud! The "Brunei Flyers"!
The father and son team with Captain Watson x 2 (Nathan and his dad Bruce, who flies for Korean Airways) was the fastest international 2-men relay team - and came in as team 29 out of 296 men's teams. (804 2-person relay team took part overall - 300 mixed and 208 female teams).

Some of my favourite relay team names were: "Are we there yet?", "We thought this was the wine trail!" and "A drunken decision..." amongst others.

The other 3 boys did the solo ride, and came in on the following times:
Jeremy Saap (pilot with RBA) 6:13 - 959th in his age group (35-44)
Linton Law (pilot with RBA) 5:41 - 812th in his age group (45-54)
John McLean (with the British Loan Service Team in Brunei) 5:42 754th in his age group (35-44)

We also had young Sean Saap with us, 9 years old, who accompanied his dad Jeremy on the last 5 kilometers in the special Wattyl Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge Heart Ride, for the kids.

There was unicycles going around, tandems, pennyfarthings and tri-tandems (?) - it was totally spectacular, a fantastically well organized event and all in all absolutely amazing to take part in!

(More photos will follow!)

Busted!

This is the kind of sunburn you will get if you are a proper bike rider:



Can you see the white hands? And can you see the little brown dots just in between the index fingers and the thumbs? That's from the hole in the bike gloves..! Ha ha!

Biker chick

Linnea was so lucky as to have a birthday present left to receive, here in NZ: a brand new, purple and pretty Avanti bike, from Grandma and Grandad!

We went to pick it up at the shop, and as soon as she got the helmet on she was out the door and down the pavement in full speed! She's really our little daredevil. I have a feeling she will be biking without training wheels before Lucas even...