I have arrived in Morzine where I will be for the next couple of weeks. The 36 hours of traveling to get here wasn’t even that bad – Pip was on the same flight over with me and from NZ to LA I scored a row of seats to myself! The AirNZ hostesses were also very kind in letting me have left over meals so I didn’t go hungry. Only downer was breaking my phone somehow? So this will be an interesting nine weeks without texting!
Morzine is beautiful. All the roundabouts, roads, gardens and everything really has been manicured for the Tour de France which will be passing through this weekend! (Pics up soon) Morzine will host three days of the tour Sat – Mon. Today I went and rode the 13km climb up Avoriaz to check it out, heaps of campers were all ready parked up along the road sides getting ready to see Lance. It will be pretty exciting seeing the tour live, I can’t wait!
Published on
October 5, 2009 in
training.
Who ever said this sums up life perfect.
On Saturday it was decided that we (Dad, Mum, Trevor, Jill, Paul and I) would mission it out to spend the night in a hut, in the Tararuas. With the confidence of knowing this hut had a fire spot, it sounded like a fun adventure. The weather forecast was for a southerly storm to hit on Sunday but this factor obviously didn’t matter to those who planned the trip “Just make sure you pack your rain coat, but it shouldn’t be too bad” – Dad has some great optimistic ideas sometimes. Continue reading ‘“Fun does not always have to be fun”’
Last weekend Gil and Alexia Peters and I popped over the ditch to Canberra for a weekend out riding on the o9 world champs mtb course. The trip was really good (once our bikes eventually made it to Canberra too), giving us a chance to get a handle on what will be our biggest race for the year which is only a few weeks away now. Out on the track that weekend I saw Skippy! He was there with all his Kangaroo mates just hanging out all around the track not even bothered by us. That was cool but if Skippy decides to run across the track in our race it might be a different story. Continue reading ‘Checking out Canberra’s course’
10 weeks on from my operation and I have finally been able to go for my first run!! A whole 15 minutes worth (5min more than I was suppose to… naughty I know) but it was just so frikken awesome. Every muscle in my body ached and felt weird apart from my calf muscles! So the surgery was indeed a very good investment, thanks Mum and Dad.
I am sure every day my calf muscles are growing a little bigger, maybe it’s all the venison we have been eating every day from Nathan’s hunt or maybe it’s just my hopeful thinking? Either way being able to use these muscles properly for the first time in years is the weirdest feeling, it has changed my whole cycling technique and given me more muscles to draw power from. In theory this means I should be able to go faster now once everything starts to sync together…? It’s Tip track night tonight which will be a good test, I will let you know if this theory is right…
It has been a while since I last posted a blog, I have been tapped out with finishing up with school and getting back into training for the 09 summer season. When I find my camera I will post if some photos of our last school day… It included “prank day” the best to date the ultimate rave ever and 30+ unlucky soles getting suspended! As for the riding this is what has been happening… Continue reading ‘Update’
Published on
September 1, 2008 in
training.
Well it was a nice sunny weekend in Wellington so I was out and about getting some good training miles in for once. On my way home from the mighty Wairarapa I was biking along the Hutt motorway following Trevor having a yack to Glen behind me, when this mysterious unseen rock popped up in front of me! It decided to fly and get caught in my wheel or something and push me over board so I could eat the tar seal. It didn’t taste very yummy. I think even my sandwiches that had gone slightly stale in the sun were nicer. Glens hip didn’t take to it very nicely either.
Continue reading ‘Concrete bites’
Check out this hot racing machine!! Thanks to the absolutely fantastic dudes at Jamis Bicycles, this is my new bike to take off to Worlds with me… A 2008 Dakar XCR Team! It arrived just today so I have taken it for a burn around the block and come to the conclusion that it is definitely the latest and greatest bike out there. Specked with full XTR, even the latest Shadow rear derailleur, Rock Shox Reba Race World Cup forks and a new set of shiny Mavic CrossMax SLR wheels!!! Still yet to be kitted out with a pair of Maxxis Ignitor tyres but that’s the works. Perfect, I can’t wait to race on it over in Italy!!! It is the shizzle all right. THANKS GUYS!!!
Published on
April 17, 2008 in
training.
[flash http://samarasheppard.com/movies/VID0010.FLV]
Published on
December 9, 2007 in
training.
I was lucky enough (or unlucky) to go for a training ride with Samara, Trevor and Jerry from Petone to Martinborough. Riding along the coast is amazing, a real rugged wind blown landscape. The riding was great until we go on the road heading form the coast to Martinborough and the headwind took it out of me, but I was lucky enough to have got to the paddle/bike transition of the home to pub race before Jill had arrived. So I offered to ‘help’ Jill (to get a ride in the van) and let the others ride on to Martinborough in the now stronger headwind. It took them just over 5 hours to ride 104km (I stopped after 4 1/2 hours).
