Epic camp mini NZ - Day 0.

Well, D- day is here. Started the day with a visit to the gym to roll out the creases and activate the dormant muscles as I need every single fibre in action for next few days!! Bid an emotional farewell to the dog ( me, not her) at the kennels then home to finish tidying. A gloriously sunny day beckoned for the flight to Nelson , lets hope the weather Gods play ball for the next few days although looks like might be showery on Saturday. Got to have one Epic day, right?!! First session of camp was a straight ~2 km swim from Nelson Yacht club to Tahuna Beach. Tide behind us, yeah right !! Felt a bit seasick at one point+ had a panic attack as thought wasnt going to make it in before dark. Phew, I did though. Dinner on site+ greetings, now frantically drying wetsuit ready for tomorrow. Off to Takaka via Kaiterteri with a swim/ run thrown in!!

Epic camp mini NZ prologue

Well hello there adoring fans and readers .......back in the blogosphere again as another Epic camp is imminent, this time at the top of the South Island here in NZ. Don't think we get blogging points on this one but I enjoy re reading my previous Epic diaries so why not document this one for good measure. Not sandbagging but not as aerobically fit pre camp as intended, slightly derailed by a cold a couple of weeks ago and also just general lack of motivation/ mental energy for training in the last couple of weeks as well as this is usually off season. Also, the local outdoor pool has shut and my usual swim pool is also closed so gettiung to the pool seems like a bit of a logistical hassle too..... not really, just my general apathy !!! I bargained with myself that at least if I didnt want to do a 5 hr ride, at least do something and also compensate for reduced engine capacity by making sure the chassis is at least strong and functional, something I've neglected a bit over the summer so have hit the gym a few times in the last week or 2 to try get the quads ready to cope with all the riding :-) Right enough waffle - I must pack, trying to pack light for a triathlon camp is nigh impossible; especially to be prepared for all weathers. However, in my heart of hearts I know I won't fry as much as I did leaving Sort or freeze as much as I did on the Port d"Envalira**** so I can cope with anything !! See you on the other side in Nelson. **** see previous Epic camp blog from 2019

Day 10 Epic camp - finale, fly, fun + far too many beers 🤣

Last day!! Woke up feeling pretty smashed today ( as expected?!). Brekky was not until 7.30 so spent time trying to organise stuff + managed to exercise restraint at the buffet as we were swimming at 9 am.

Today’s schedule was filled with fun activities...🤔... a400 IM race, 200 kick race then a triathlon which was a1 km pool swim, 28 k bike( 2 laps.... not flat!) and 7.4 k run , partway on bike course( not flat).

The non fishies started first, 2 to a lane for the IM race+ John had said only fly was allowed; no polo ....the most fly I have ever done is 25 m at a time, with fins. I burst out laughing halfway thru the first length at the sheer ridiculousness of it, or more likely hypoxia induced euphoria! Somehow got through that and the rest of it, then we had a straight 200 K race, any K allowed ( no fins ) no strokes. Surprisingly I didn't finish last on this one, helped by a good breast stroke kick I think.

After that it was straight into 1000m for first part of final day triathlon, as expected I was DFL out of the water, took an age to get into my bike shoes etc then set off. Ouch, nothing in the legs today, I mean nothing....just had to do best I could but was probably only at Ironman watts to be honest. Again, DFL off the bike as hadn't made any inroads however from what I could see of everyone else, they appeared to be suffering just as badly ( strange, that?!!). The run started with an uphill km ( OUCH) out to a turn cone ~ 3.7 km away. All i could think in my head was that as each km ticked off, Epic camp would be done and altho I have had the most amazing time and climbed well out of my comfort zone, I think limits had been reached. I think the 400 IM was the final nail in the coffin :-)

Once done with that we had a wee challenge to do on the lawn outside the hotel- planking comp to see who could last the longest ( I think Seth won that one) , press ups ( I got to 32) then a wall sit which was over for me in about 30 secs as my poor quads couldn't take any more!!

Lunch, bike was packed ( rear derailleur unscrewed and taped to frame this time !!!), showered, ran an errand to the bank and to get decent free wifi in town centre then went for a beer or 2 with Pete and John D. Two pints of a tasty blanche beer and a slice of pizza later, we toddled back to the hotel as it was triathlon quiz time! Winner, winner chicken dinner, who is the biggest tri - geek of them all...?? !!!
We all then headed downtown to a bar and drank a little more beer and ate chips then a rather merry crew headed back to dinner, with a lot of laughter and hilarity........can't actually remember what we were laughing at, anyhoo. John then gave us a de brief of camp and awarded the jerseys - Seth won yellow, Ben got the red and I won the polka dot so was feeling rather chuffed. I was planning to head to bed but Oli said was I not coming to town with a few of the guys so we once again found a nice bar, more beer and then a round of shots of Genepi which is a liquor made from Alpine herbs that grow above 2000m.
More laughter, my abs hurt so much from the swimming that it was almost painful but nothing beats a decent belly cackle :-)
Got to bed around midnight, have hardly slept due to alcohol and panic about the early start as alarm was set for 4.50am as we were leaving for Toulouse at 5.30am. I ended up getting up at 10 to 4 ....... right now feeling a little dusty , not helped by a TSB of -110 as well as having gone cold turkey on the croissants and bread today. Almost ready to listen to some Pink Floyd haha.


Next up is 5 days in Zurich with Mum, a bit of shopping and ZERO training... then in one week's time I'll be back to winter in CHCh( but DECENT COFFEE....!!)

I'll post an Epic camp prologue when I've had a few days to reflect but what an amazing time with a great group of people. And this is a bit of a ramble today,

Epic Camp Day 9 - Prades to Ax les Theremes; channelling my inner Colombian

This is done on my phone as the wifi here doesnt work... mor annoying is that cant upload yesterdays swim and run!!

Yesterday started bright + early for riding, suns out guns out!!
We left Prades and had a gentle climb thru stunning mediaeval spa town and to Mosset, where our KOM of the Col du Jau started.... 13.6 km at 5.6%.
I had to make a BIG effort to try secure polka dot jersey but John had added a twist in that we had to guess our power so were going blind...
It was a bit gravelly for the first few kms( road works) but I decided to hammer it.... of course 13 km is a long way so didnt want to blow... rinsed myself, 59 mins to the top, Grinder is dead..

Rest of the ride was stunning, steep pitches on narrow roads( plenty roadworks) quaint French villages. Maqnifique!!
Two more smaller ( steep) cols then last climb Col de Pailhares which is another HC climb, 10,4 km with an ave of 8.5% but this had some very steep pitches but was beautiful... cows and clanging cowbells. Peaceful as this a less popular col compared to the well known ones.
I had burned too many matches for the KOM however, jeez that hurt and wishing I had proper granny gears!!
Reward was a fab 20km descent to Ax les Thermes, spa town.
Hot!! Stunning and very French... with a mild sulphurous odour from the sulphur springs.
Next up was a trail run so I trotted along behind John, Phil, big Glenn and Pete for 10km... was a nice run actually despite feeling horrendously dehydrated prior and had glugged 3 bidons of fluid when got to hotel.
After that a2km swim in pool before dinner.... oooohhhh.
Tomorrw, last day is a triathlon and a few fun events... cant wait to do 400 IM ...🤔🤔

Epic camp day 8 - awesome day in paradise.

As the song goes, what a difference a day makes......24 little hours.
or perhaps a good nights sleep in a temperate room and the sun shining on us today..

I can't be bothered writing lengthy prose tonight so you will have to work out the story from the photos ( just for you Nicky !!)

Brief synopsis:

6.30 left for swimming lake to do pre brekky handicap aquathon.

I was off first so had responsibility of checking water temp.....warm luckily as was non wetsuit.
Swim 3 laps ~ 1100m
Run 4 laps on the trail which amounted to just under 5km.

Back in van , attack breakfast buffet ( another good one. Lost count of croissant/bread consumption so hence no longer noted )

11am depart 57 km to the med ( St Cyrien sue le plage ) with a 13km TT to start the ride. Nice tail wind net descent... then regroup and cruise to the seaside.

A few swam, I dipped my feet in so have had a foot in each ocean either side of Pyrenees.

A few ( myself included ) chose to ride back, warm headwind ( kinda like a Canty NW but not as strong ) with a net uphill. Lost the boys, Garmin took me in weird directions but managed with the help of Ian spotting me on our tracker app got back on the correct road and was soon rolling through vineyards in the French countryside in the sun, on my bike. Living my best life as they say, cant think of a better way to spend a Sunday arvo....

Opps, back on the main highway to Prades, run out of water, should have stopped in last village, all i can dream of is a huge diet coke..... getting a bit hot and hangry..... luckily McD's is across the road from the hotel, Couldnt find the way in, couldn't be fucked so climbed over the wall..... Big Mac and a pint of diet coke.....that felt like all my dreams come true at once.

Right enough waffle, hopefully all these pics upload, Google doesn't like Safari ... b

Note the pic of f my torso is to show what it looks like after a ride in the heat.... salty!!!

Day 7 Epic camp - From one extreme to the other......!

Planned day was either 179 or 140 km ( min) ride from Andorra to Prades ( France ) with most of the climbing in the first 50km and a KON on our 2nd ascent to Port d' Envilara which rises to 2406m and is the highest paved road in the Pyrenees.

Then if you rode 140km , 10 km run to complete the day.


Another not so great sleep but got up at 6am to get my self sorted as brekky at 7 so deposited overnight bags in van, etc etc. Loaded up on a decent brekky, then with plenty time to spare pumped up my tyres and in the process of removing the pump managed to pull half the valve extender off so bang, no air left, quick change and pre ride loo trip while Ian wrestled with the tyre to get it back on the rim ( those Mavic Cosmic wheels on the Cervelo are a bloody nightmare for tyre removal. I changed to Conti GP 500- tyres as I thought it was originally the Mavic tyres that were on, but no...). The others in our grupetto grupetto had already left and it was quite drizzly and chilly when we set off from Arinsal. Its a ~ 7km descent down to the turn for Ordinho ( first climb of day ), through a few roundabout.... first one I nearly got wiped out by a Subaru that didnt give way, then took a wrong exit from a roundabout in La Messana and the Garmin kept telling me to U-turn and I was super confused but worked it out eventually ( duh... was being a super blonde this morning...). I started on the climb to Ordino and just about fell off my bike to a large rumble of thunder then lightning then progressively heavy rain......... I was able to pass the time a bit chatting to a German guy who was doing some self supported bike race from Vienna to Barcelona, oh dear.... carbon rims in the wet with a loaded bike than he also got a front flat .... I felt a bit bad not stopping to help but to be honest, despite climbing I was absolutely freezing as the rain was hammering down with intermittent rumbles and lightening flashes. Oh well, tyres are rubber at least so i can't earth the lightening should I get struck.........

From the top it was a ~ 7km descent to the next town ( Calina) where we basically started to climb up the 16 km KOM to Port d Envilara. Aside from being so cold, it had quite a lot of winding tight switch backs and I had a few hairy moments with my brakes just not working, as well as getting progressively chilled and starting to shake.... we had been told, left turn at the bottom then hit lap button after the garage to start the KOM. So some dumb arse went right...then got confused by the Garmin saying off course.... but I was also shaking so bad in every muscle and teeth chattering I actually thought I was going to throw up...I stopped at the petrol station and asked the lady who pointed left.... duh.....blonde...

Once on the climb I pushed it really hard, not so much for KOM ( honest ) but was trying to warm up.... at that moment Deacon Blue "Raintown" came on my iPod which I thought was appropriate for the current situation........

"Its a rain dirt town job, hurts but it don't pay.......don't you see, don't you understand.....rain down on all those tired eyes and tears and frowns........

Luckily there was a wee cafe/bar at the top so the support crew ( who did a STELLAR job today looking after us) hustled us all in and ordered hot drinks, soaked through. I took off my wet tops, Philintaor lent me a thermal he had spare then I put my winter jacket, booties, beanie , knee warmers on. However, as soon as stepped outside and felt the wind chill and knowing we had 20 km of descent ahead, I decided to get in the van ..... however today, I was not the only one. Half the boys took that option and the other half decided to complete the ride ( the LONG ride). So big kudos to them !!
It did look at one point like it was clearing but then we were straight into torrential rain again.

We are staying in a lovely Best Western and thankfully there is a heat pump in each room ( mine is on "heat" not aircon.....can you believe ....) AND a heated towel rail. Heavenly!!

After a hot shower as I was still quite chilled I thought I ;d better get this 10 km run done so had a wee poodle around the town centre, aiming to not get lost for the 3rd time today.
I had only run 4km with a bit of faffing so found a country road to run out and back on .... and suddenly the heavens opened and its still pissing down now.........

Anyway, definitely an Epic kind of day, still got 3 hours of riding in with ~2000m of ascent...not sure how the KOM points will go after today but I think George got back out of the van at the base of the descent and rode with a couple of the other hard nuts so I feel I don't really deserve it if I did win the KOM today.

Right time for yet another hot shower and ohhhhh perhaps a wine before dinner :-)

Epic camp day 6- Swim/Bike/Hike in the heights of Andorra

3km swim
22km ride with 800 m climbing ( camp minimum)
steep trail hike of 8km which took over 2 hrs


Aaaaahh, the benefits of a good night;'s sleep.... I woke up at 10 to 7 almost like a new person this morning, had also chosen to sleep with my legs elevated on 3 pillows as felt everything was a bit swollen last night ( heat, training, altitude.....)and had left the window wide open and could only hear the gushing stream which must have soothed me to a deep slumber....

The breakfast buffet did not disappoint ( as did last night's dinner, VEGGIES. SALMON. OMG!!!) but we were departing for the pool at 8.30 am so most of us were sensible. And the coffee was OK too. Phew...

We left for the pool which was about 7km away, today's option was 100 x 100 or min of 30 x 100 with a ride of either 30km or 800 m climbing in. I knew I was not in any form to swim for the infinity it would take to do 10km as well as John placing an embargo on buoys and paddles; apparently that is a standard Epic camp rule that somehow slipped past my beady eye.....but it was a beautiful pool and we managed to sequester 3 lanes between us and I have to say i REALLY enjoyed swimming this morning, toy free altho I felt like had really bad asthma when I started and couldn't get it under control then remembered we were at 1400m which does make quite a difference to the oxygen available!!

Us 3 km er's were dropped back to the hotel so i then went to do my ride and rode up to the ski field above Arinsal. It was 5km and got me 415m so I dropped back down then straight downhill to La Messana ( the next town ) then turned around and climbed back up, quick coffee stop at a pizza place to join the boys who had successfully swam 10km then i toddled off to finish my ascent. There is nowhere flat in Andorra, its up or down at around 8 %......there is also ZERO cell phone network coverage if you are on roaming as none of us had any cell phone coverage as soon as we crossed the border yesterday, solely hotel wifi but at least its decent.

Quick shower, snack then regroup at 3pm to be driven to some trail which climbed 945m over 4km, rocky and cobbly so it was a hike not really a run. I lost sight of the group, got confused at a sign pot so I think took the wrong path up and never met anyone else coming down so turned around and then also managed to take a wrong track but realised after a few hundred meters so climbed back up ( aaaah ) then made it back down to the van just as a few of the others arrived, that descent was hell on the knees and quads.........

More snacks, dinner, a couple of Riojas to end the day and now getting ready for tomorrow; a big day as we ride to Prades and also climb the highest climb in the Pyrenees ( cant remember name right now...)
Hopefully my butt has repaired itself and ready for another millennium on the saddle, it looks to be quite a bit cooler too which should help altho I don't want to get cold....hmm..... undershirt os looked out for tomorrow for the first time.

On that note, I;d better get to bed and get those legs elevated again, got to see if I can win that polka dot jersey back though given the amount we have been eating and that my carb consumption has increased three hundred fold, I'm probably lugging an extra few kgs up the climbs.........

Until tomorrow, adios from Andorra...