Today was the final full days training on Epic Camp – tomorrow is swim events in the morning and then a Triathlon in the afternoon.

Today really was a cracker – we cycled to Lake Rotoiti (piccie above) for a swim in the lake and a run along the trail. The ride there was 82km gently rising from sea level to 750m with two pretty decent climbs in the middle.

Today I was more sensible in my positioning in the pack – I tried to stay 3rd or 4th wheel which reduces the surges. Yesterday I was having fun at the back of the pack. For non cyclist readers imagine a roller coaster – if you’re in the back cars at the low points on the track you start decelerating before you reach the bottom as the front cars start to rise but at the top you start to accelerate before the top as the front cars start to descend the other side. In a peleton of riders this also happens but because we’re not connected it means those at the back have to break towards the bottom of decents thus losing momentum and either have to accelerate at the top of the ascents or once over the top to stay on. So whereas the person at the front may be doing steady effort those at the back have to work hard.

Chris did some massive pulls on the front today. I did one spell on the front just before the major climbs. The group broke up abit but I managed to stick with the front guys to the Lake. The water was beautiful and it was a great swim. The trail we ran along was great as well and Jo and I wished we could have run further along it.

The ride back was unbelievable. Sitting in the Macca express we were belting along – when we were on the gentle downhill we were motoring at 50km/h then later when it steepened we had great fun trying to spin out our gears better than the next guy to get to the front. We kept swapping the lead as we hurtled down at over 60km/h – quite a laugh.

The ride was about 164km but I tacked on to 240km ! Getting back with 30 minutes to spare but still there wasn’t much tea left. Luckily Jo had put a plate aside but it really wasn’t enough given what I’d done. I had to make up for it with ice cream… not ideal.

So first 7 days of Epic and here’s what I’ve done (swim and run distances are estimates)

• SWIM: 26km
• BIKE: 822 miles
• RUN: 70 miles
• HOURS: 62.9 hours

Epic has given me my biggest ever weeks cycling !