Let's Ride...

Despite all of our new summer mountain bike explorations, we couldn't pass up a good ole fashioned road race... so to round out January we headed north to New Plymouth for the famous Around the Mountain event organised by Becs' family... and after all these years of hearing her talk about her dad's events, it was so fun to finally participate first-hand!

On Friday 29 January, we picked up the kids from soccer camp, then swung by to pick up Tim Lewis and were finally on the road again... this time to the 'Naki! We'd rented a book-a-bach house about 8km from the event site, so we had enough space for Steve Gregan to join us as well.

When we finally got our race packs, we headed to the house to unpack and fill up on a tasty salmon dinner then spent the majority of the evening getting ready for the event. Tony & Tim were doing the full 140km with Steve and Hendrik, while Steve and I joined forces to become the KC Riders relay team. So while the guys were up before the crack of dawn getting their gear on, I was getting my gear packed... along with enough snacks, books and bits to keep the kids occupied for the few hours I'd be riding.

On Saturday the 30th, the guys all started from the starting line... and rode the undulating hill route with the sea off to their right...

while the kids and I just hung around sipping hot chocolates and playing around! We got cheer for Tony, Steve, Tim and Hendrik as they came up the hill, and once Steve G made it to the top, we loaded up the car again and headed through a short-cut to the half-way point where we'd swap over.

Steve did his 74km in good time... then it was my turn. Knowing that Tony and the other guys were going at full speed, I made sure to soak in the scenery as I did my time. It was a fairly smooth ride for me, until the heavens opened and the floodgates poured down upon me! Oh boy, Tony has always told me to train in the rain just in case... well I got it this time! It was a good ride and I made better time than I expected... so did Tony.

Of course, the guys had all made it back much sooner than I did... by the time I got in, Steve and Hendrik were ready to move on. We stuck around for a bit longer because the kids were having such a good time helping in the chiller.

 Having friends as the organisers meant the kids had something to do while waiting for us to return. They had a blast, plus they enjoyed the benefits of food service!

 After dinner, the kids and I went to the Gardens for the Festival of Lights. Unfortunately, Tony was absolutely knackered so he stayed home while we had a grand adventure...

The one thing the kids really wanted to do was row the boat across the lake, so I decided to go for it... it was not as easy as it looked! We got out there and did some ridiculous rowing, zig-zaging all around... that is when we did have the oars! It was hilarious... and we eventually made it across the lake and back to the dock but it was not pretty at all!

Sunday morning, the guys went for a 'spin' down to the beach - though it got thwarted by flat tyres along the way. After a tasty breakfast and a big tidy up, we said good-bye to our holiday home and popped over to the beach for a quick look around.

Helena of course wanted to spend the rest of the day in the water, but we were on a time schedule... and wanted to stop by to say farewell to Becs and her family.

It was a long drive home... but thankfully we still had a couple of days to recover before school started!

I'm sensing a new family tradition - I can see us coming Around the Mountain again... and again...