Cateye Moonride Race Day

The morning opened its window to clear skies, a cool temperature and the wonderful promise of sunshine, and no rain.
The bike was so clean, all brakes,tyres and spare parts checked, food loaded and Josh was on his way,
to meet the other members of the team. They were riding in the 12 hour event, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. tonight.
Lights are necessary, as is warm clothing,  with change of clothing ready.
The street was quiet, and sunshine on the trees at the edge of the redwoods was so good to see.


Tui Ridge Park is located within 170 hectares of beautiful bush, with vies over Rotorua and to distant Mount Tarawera.There are accommodation facilities, conference, rooms, and many outdoor activities available.
This shows part of the track, the finish line and some of the car park and warm up areas.
The area was very well signposted, with different areas for team, and solo riders, and many were in tents overnight, motorhomes, one vehicle looked as though it had a mobile workshop set up at the back, a bit like an altered horse float, very spacious, and maybe the riders slept inside. Tents were small, very small, spacious, large, and gave a quiet space for the riders between laps.
I understand some of the 24 hour riders came in for a hot shower early this morning before continuing on the rest of the race.
It was a cold night, and many in their tents were barely warm enough to get a good night’s sleep. What a price  they  pay to enjoy ( is that the right word) a sport so much that they almost freeze during the sleepless night !!!

Mud clings to the rubber, and I saw many riders hosing down their bikes to get rid of surplus weight.

Team riders have one  timing transponder, and this has to be changed over to the next rider  before he can start.  Then the rider goes past the building where the finish line is, there is a loud screaming noise, that tells the rider has been recorded as he/she went past. These cards with the built in transponder go into a plastic holder and must be vertical!!! If not, the rider going past does not get recorded.

Some riders, a tent with an extra roof, and one bike resting.
This is Josh’s bike, in between laps, each lap was 7 km long, with many deep muddy patches,
steepish hills, gentle slopes and some flat places where extra speed could make up for the slower places. Some riders had to walk, after broken chains, gears, or flat tyres.

One brave young lady had  little aerials on her helmet , and a small tutu,
one of many colourful outfits.

Each rider does a warm up before they do the change over, here is Josh turning another sharp corner. before his turn on the track.

This is the changeover, when the timing card is placed into the plastic holder, then the next rider can take off. So  fast, I didn’t get turned around in time.

Josh, nearing the end of his 7 km ride, time was 22 minutes, to 26 minutes, throughout the day and into the dark night.

The team was given an interview, and this should be on the Cat Eye Moonride website when it is edited.Connor,Lewis (hidden),Josh,Nathan, Henry was riding his lap,
and Toby, from another team.

Would this be so welcome after 6 hours, 12 hours or the 24 hour ride???

I came home a little earlier, and the night sky showed these stunning colours.
The perfect ending to a truly wonderful day.

.

Quotation of the day from Albert Einstein

“ Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving.”

Cheers from   Jean