The Pie Ride is an event that Change Fitness organise every year where the participants cycle around the Wairarapa and then they meet up at the end and get a pie. Normally there are two distances: 100km and 50km. This year, however, they only organised for the 50km cycle.
I managed to cycle the 50km…well it was 53km in reality…in just under 3 hours, which is not quite as quickly as I would have liked, but it’s okay. I know that I pushed myself and so therefore I’m happy.
The cycle itself was a big loop. We started at the square in Martinborough and then rode as if we were headed back to Wellington, before turning off just before Featherston, as you can see in my map here:
The first section was alright, there is a pretty reasonable hill as you cycle away from the town, so that was a great start to kick the heart and muscles into gear.
After this it was a short section of undescribable road before you turn left onto what I can only say was the longest piece of cycling I have ever done!
As I am not familiar with that part of the Wairarapa, I wasn’t sure how long the section was, or what sort of cycle it would be. At one point I was dive-bombed by a magpie…so that must have looked very funny: me cycling, waving my left arm around my head and screaming!
When I got to the final left turn, I was very happy, but the last straight was very hard. It’s a really long, very hilly road, with no end in sight!
I was happy to get to the end and to a pie and coffee (well a burritto for me…)
As I cycled, I soon realised that my underwear was digging into my body. I tried [unsuccessfully] to remove the underwear, but I did not have the correct tools, so had to ride the remainder of the way with half a pair of knickers on…fun times.
What did I learn this session?
– DON’T wear underwear…
– Buy a proper pair of cycle shorts (with the padding).
– Drink more water…like WAY more…
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