All I want for Christmas

While Brian shouted himself (well officially us) 3 top of the range fishing rods, I got this:

It is a genuine McGregor's weed grubber. Yah! I was so excited I went out tonight and spent 90 minutes getting rid of weeds on the run off.

It actually proved to be a good workout, and I've got a blister to prove it.

I might actually suggest to McGregor's that they re-market the grubber as the ultimate workout for athletes. Not only do you work out the legs walking between weeds, but exercise the core (lifting the grubber), the upper body (cutting the weeds down to size).

Thanks very much Brian, such a thoughtful gift!

Next event!

This is my next event.

HELP I need to lose 15 kg by then, otherwise my butt is going to get seriously kicked:

By my team mate Janie.

By the big hills!

I'm pleased it's at Whitianga, we can stay at our bach - downside - the 'boys' will be doing their fishing tournament - upside - we can go to the party after the fishing tournament.

Hi Folks

We are pleased to announce that the tenth anniversary ARC Adventure Race "Operation Blue Moon" will be based somewhere close toWhitianga, on the Coromandel peninsula.

The event, which takes place on the weekend of the 20th / 21st March, includes a 24 hour, 12hour and 8 hour race. The event is open to teams of 2 or 4 people (the 8 hour is alos open to teams of 3) and there are some special categories for school teams and teams from the forces.

Around 20 teams have entered to date and we can tell you that this years event is going to have some interesting high adrenaline activities, some of which haave never been tried before in an Adventure Race !

For more information and online entry - visit the websiteb - www.arecevents.co.nz/arc2412

The early entry fees are open until 31st December 2009 and entries are limited to 100 teams.

Hope you all have a great Christmas

Andy, Keith and Rita

Hay making time

A highlight of my younger days was haymaking time.

When I was old enough I got to 'turn' the hay with the tractor and conditioner. It was a good way to get a tan!

It was fun rowing up the bales behind the baler, ready for the hay gang to pick up. The hay gang was usually the local rugby or young farmers club, who for an amount per bale, and a few beers afterwards, picked up the hay, stacked it on the trailer, then took it to the shed to stack in the barn. It was great fun. I got to drive the tractor for picking up the bales.

We used to line up for a 'sip' of beer. DB Draught in those days in the big 750 ml bottles!

Brian and I haven't made hay for years. Now it is all pretty mechanical, we use big gear, and get it made into big bales, which are moved by tractor and front end loader. We haven't needed hay in our system up to now, due to good pasture growth rates and good soil conditions here on the peat soils.

But with the run off, and it's poor draining soils, hay will be a good option. It seems to keep animals satisfied in the cold and wet, which makes them more settled, and hopefully they won't do too much pasture damage.

The grass gets cut for hay tomorrow night. The weather is looking good - fine right through, (good for the Rotorua HIM). Most of the hay will be in big bales, but a couple of paddocks will be in the smaller, conventional bales - so I can feed them out in July/August in the wetter months.

I'll be driving the tractor to turn the hay - we went down and 'borrowed' Dad's hay conditioner today.

Ok, not related to exercise, but thought you might be interested!

Heifers

These are the heifers (last years calves). They have been grazing chicory. The Coromandel ranges are in the background.

Working at the runoff

These are my calves. There are 140 of them. I have reared these calves from one day old.

Mac's adventures

This is my dog Mac. He is a bearded collie, and is meant to be a farm dog. He had an adventure the other day, and we're just starting to unravel it.

He has a broken leg, and has just come out of a cast. I bought him a flash new kennel, so he could recover in it.

I felt a bit sorry for him the other day, so let him off, but didn't put him back in his kennel, and I went out.

We had a thunder storm. Well, Mac doesn't like thunder, so when I came back, he was inside - this photo is of him inside, looking a me - outside!

That's not the end of the story. Our insurance agent, Nigel, came around today, and explained that on the same day he stopped outside our place, and opened the car door. In went a terrified Mac. Horrified at having a hairy, dirty, big scared dog in his car, Nigel tried to get him out. Mac did not oblidge! It would have been absolutely hilarious to see, if I was not feeling slightly embarrassed about it all!

Nigel obviously got Mac out eventually, after Mac made a mess of his car, thereafter Mac managed to get inside our house to escape the thunder!

Poor Mac!

Kauri Run

On November 21st, Brian and I completed the Kauri Run. It is a run from Waikawau Bay, on the east coast of the Coromandel Peninsula to Colville, on the west coast. There are two options, the shorter run of 13 km, or a longer version. The longer version finishes at Coromandel town.

Neither of us had done any running training. Brian was in good shape though, he was really fit after being on the farm. I had been on the farm too, but instead of losing weight and getting fit, I got injured and ate too much!

So the end result was that Brian bet me by two beers, or 34 minutes in layman terms!

I really enjoyed the run/walk, it was really scenic, and a great challenge.

Aches and Pains

Getting older is a bit of a bummer. It seems to have hit with a major whack. Regular trips to the hairdresser have hidden the grey hairs, keeping fit has helped the flexibility and energy, but nothing really helps once you get an injury.

I've torn a cartilage in my right knee. I did this working on the farm. I'm working on the farm to help keep down costs, as we have heaps of debt. Age didn't cause my accident, some hungry calves did - back in mid September. Working on the farm has caused other issues - tiredness and lack of time. My house is a bombshell, and I've not done as much exercise as I used to.

I saw the specialist today, ironically the knee has been feeling a lot better this week. He explained that this was good, as cartilage settles down after about two months from being torn - or it gets worse, so if it continues to feel better he won't do any surgery - which because I'm 'not 20 any more' would be the best option.

I explained I've put on about 10 kg (actually 13), he said every kg of weight creates 10 kg of pressure on the knee while running. EEEKKK this was the wake up call I needed! I'll dust of the road bike, and find my togs and get swimming.

There's lots of things I want to continue doing. I'm doing the Kauri Run on the 21st of November, and have entered another 8 hour Adventure race in March. So best I get off my ever increasing bottom and get into it!

Spring Challenge 2009

I almost didn't make it.

The start - I wasn't exaggerating about the waves!


Brian had sensibly said earlier on that I should really do local events, it's cheaper and easier to get to.


BUT another team REALLY needed me! Well that was my story anyway.


I had been checking the Spring Challenge website regularly for those wanting team mates and this came up:

We're slow but have been looking forward to having a great time in the 6 hr vet race but have lost a team mate to injury. If you'd like to join us please contact Lyndsay at xxxxxx or xxxxxxx@xtra.co.nz


I have lots of airpoints, so made sure I could get flights and a rental car, organised the girls to stay at my brother's, and put it to Brian that I should really go. He didn't bother arguing, he knew I would be too hard to live with if I couldn't go.


So I let the team 'Giving it a go' know that I could go, and I was in. The only hassle - 17 days to the event. I knew I was fit enough to finish, but I couldn't push it. My knee was sore from a farm injury. I was pretty strong from working on the farm all spring.


I arrived in Nelson and picked up a rental car, I had organised a hatchback, but was thrilled to get a Toyota Rav 4 - what a cool car. I had my bike in a bike bag, so I could fit it in easily. My own car has done about 240 000 km, and is starting to leak oil, and has bits falling off and breaking - a Toyota Rav 4 could be a replacement - one day. Although I'd love a mini!


Anyway, got myself to St Araud, there was lots of snow about and it was cold! Luckily I had packed extra thermals.


Registered, attended the rafting briefing, and met my team mates and their support person. A Scottish lady - Shirley and Lyndsay and her husband Stu.


I put my bike together, put on lots of insect repellent (the sandflies are legendary), had tea, and went to bed. We had a campervan in the local DOC camping ground, really close to the start line.

Up at 3.30 in the morning, having a bad gut ache (anti-inflammatory side effect), I had been dreaming of rafting in the sea in big waves. I went down to the shore - you guessed it - big waves crashing on the beach - oh!


The race started at 6 am. It was meant to be a short swim to the rafts then into the rafts for a 3km paddle across Lake Rotoiti to the Buller river. Due to the waves we started on the beach, put the rafts in, then paddled for our lives to beat the 20knot headwind. It was tough.
Just another bumper boat ride!

Once we got to the Buller River it just got tougher. Low water levels meant getting in and out of the raft to lift it. The thought petrified me. There was didymo on the rocks, which made them slippery. Being overweight meant I was scared I'd not get myself back in the raft with any dignity! After about 20 in and out events, I was over it!


It took us 2.5 hours to do the rafting, it was gruelling. I was stuffed. The ambos were treating a lady that had hypothermia. I ended up taking her back to Nelson the next day.

We had a LONG transition. We were all cold and tired. It took me 3 attempts to get my cycle pants on the right way round!


The weather had improved dramatically - it turned out to be a fantastic day!

On to the bikes, and a short ride across paddocks to the next checkpoint, bikes dumped at the base of a hill, and we climbed to 1000 m to find two checkpoints. One of the men on Checkpoint 3 was Scottish, and lived in the same town as Shirley had!

The highest point in the race 1023 m above sea level. I know it looks like it, but I hadn't forgotten to take off my life jacket. Note to self - get into better shape!

Down the hill (the beech forest was neat - lots of birds too), back on the bikes for a short ride, then a long push up a clay bumpy forest track - I don't think anyone actually rode up the hill. On the downhill I had to get off a couple of times, but otherwise it was cool.


We got to transition then had some food, and set off on the tramp. We had to find an orienteering control point along the lake track, which got a few people lost. We found it eventually.


We just walked to the finish, the best teams ran. It was neat finishing. I had not done much training, but I knew I could finish, it would just not be fast.


Our time was 9 hours 40 minutes, not last, but not far off. Still it was a great adventure.



The prize giving was good, with the local school putting on a great lunch. I got a prize for doing all 3 spring challenges, and the 2 autumn ones - along with another lady in the 12 hour veteran winning team who has done the same.

Shirley won a rafting and kayaking trip in Tonga, with accommodation provided. She has to pay for the airfare though!

The autumn challenge is in Palmerston North - my old student stomping ground!

Photos are taken by Ian Trafford http://www.iantrafford.co.nz/ The CD hasn't arrived yet, I got these off his website - so these aren't as clear as the higher resolution ones I'll get off the CD.

'Almost' a podium!!

Well, not quite, we missed it by 1 hour 16 minutes, but 6th out of 22 in the veteran's category was pretty shit hot!

Firstly a catch up. I'll add photo's later.

The week leading up to the autumn challenge, was a bit muddly, it was the school holidays, which meant children at home full time. It has also been extremely stressful - we are building a new cowshed, which is going to cost over 2 million dollars. It has been really dry, so milk production is down, and with the payout for milk down, banks are getting a little stroppy. So Brian and I needed a bit of time out.

I had a cunning plan. We had cheap accommodation in a flash hotel, so I booked two nights for Brian and me. I suggested we go mountain biking in the Rotorua trails - two reasons - doing something active, and (secretly) hiring a bike with disk brakes to show Brian how much better they are.

We enjoyed the trails - Brian didn't want to venture off anything greater than Grade 2. Afterwards I suggested we should look at bike shops. The second one we went to 'browse' in had some good discounts on last years bikes. So surprise surprise! I ended up with a new bike. We can't really afford it, but we also couldn't afford me to break a leg or something else on my next adventure race. So I have a Giant Talon, which I got for $1399. It was the bee's knees during the race.

The race:

It was a rush to get back from Rotorua, organise kids, gear, myself, and get off to Taupo. Janie arrived at 12.30, we finally got going at about 1. My new bike in tow.

I'm pleased we left early, as there was a really bad accident just north of Taupo, which we must have only just missed.

We arrived in Taupo to find our accommodation in a gorgeous house - wow!

Sorted out some food, then went to the venue, which was 1 hour 10 minutes drive on the Taupo-Napier highway. We arrived, registered, caught up with friends also racing, and got our instructions. Fairly straight forward - run to raft, raft 11 km, bike 30 and run 12km. Expected winning time 6 hours, with last teams expected in 12 hours.

We got back to Taupo and caught up with Barbara and her husband Kerry, our support person.

Had a great sleep, and got up a 5 am. I had read the map and instructions really well, and was feeling confident about navigation.

We arrived at Mountain valley to start - got our wetsuits on, and waited for the start - we were off on a short 1.5 km run to the rafting start. One poor lady twisted her ankle in the first 100m - the end of her day - her team ended up as a DNF, so sad for them.

We were near the back by the time we got into our raft. Silly me put my life jacket on inside out - couldn't believe it!

We made up heaps of 'ground' though. Our guide (Canadian) Andre was great.

We finished in 2 hours, then ran to transition. Kerry had set this up really well. Out of our wetsuits, and into mountain biking gear. On to the bikes and I found my seat not right (never have new gear on race day!!!)

The first 500m was up hill - not nice after sitting on a raft for 2 hours! Uphill was the flavour of the first 2 hours - once we got off the roads, it was UPHILL to 800m above sea level. We pushed our bikes most of the way. I started cramping up at this stage, which made me cross, as it got progressively worse.

The down hill was amazing! We had to dodge big pumice rocks on a steep downhill. We were catching up with teams. We then had to stop and cross SH5 in quite a dangerous spot. Over the road and more down hill. We passed at least 5 teams, and only had one pass us! A few undulations, and we had a steep downhill, which we decided to walk - it would have been a bit scary otherwise! Back on the bikes, and into the second transition area. 3 hours 33 on the bike - most of it pushing the bike!

The next bit was orienteering. I took too long pondering the map we got at the start of TA2 - in hindsight we should have just headed out, as the navigation was mostly by signs, we didn't really need the compass.

This is when I really started cramping up. The hills weren't too bad. We got to Check Point (CP) 5 before 4, but it didn't matter. In actual fact I think it was faster that way.

The finish was good. We caught up with quite a few teams, and had others in hot pursuit behind. It was quite an incentive to keep going as fast as possible. I had the cramping under control, so we jogged to the finish.

Overall 8 hours 43 minutes 30 seconds. The winning team was a veteran team, in 5 hours 59 minutes and 53 seconds. Nathan and his team sure know how to estimate the winning time! The final team in was 11 hours 52 minutes and 57 seconds.

We had a shower, grabbed some dinner, but headed back to Taupo before the prizegiving.

Had a few wines with the team, then crashed! Woke up feeling good. My muscles seem to have recovered well - perhaps if I didn't get cramped so badly, I could have gone harder?

I really want to do the Nelson Lakes race now!!!!