Sweatender

And we’re done.

With, I must say, perfect timing, I finished my 100th run of Signal for the month and clocked up a grand elevation total of 30,289 metres.

There was a disappointing lack of party balloons and champagne corks popping at the top in celebration but then at least I didn’t have to ride naked which is just as well because it was still pretty jolly chilly today.

I did think I would put all the effort over the month to the test and see if I could get a personal best time riding up The Big Easy and Strava says that I did indeed manage it, so I must be a little fitter than when I began.

Here’s the other stats highlights:

• Total distance: 721.79 Km

• Total sweat loss: 44.75 litres (which I feel comfortable rounding up to 45 given the odd negative sweat result added in there)

• Average sweat loss per run up Signal: 448ml

• Average sweat loss per vertical metre: 1.5ml

I’d like to say another big thank you to everyone who supported me by donating. While I didn’t reach the $30K goal, with your help I’m currently ranked second in the individual fundraising stakes which I’ll take as a team achievement.

I’m also grateful for the support of friends on social media liking posts and commenting. It did give me a boost to see those each time.

I am however looking forward to deleting Strava and Instagram off my phone and not having to track my rides or weigh in before and after each ride. My measure of a good ride is whether I have a grin on at the end of it and not how many achievements Strava thinks I’ve accomplished.

This will be my last post here for a while too, until the next adventure anyway. Still there is time for a farewell beer of the day: Deep Creek Brewtiful Haze - how could a PUNdit like me not go for a beer with such a name. And good stuff it was too - excellent citrus and tropical favours. A nice way to end it all.

Song of the day: Lost in the echo by Linkin Park. My all time favourite Linkin Park song and perfectly timed for a fast run down signal. Some LP fans would call this too commercial but I think they’ve nailed everything with this one, just edgy enough to put off national radio listeners (actually I am one) but great lyrics and melody. Don’t watch the music video though it’s a downer.

Snope

This was the scene out the window this morning and by the time I got to the car it was covered in a few centimetres of snow) so I had great hopes for a decent snow ride if I was going to have to go out in that blizzard.

Alas, despite on-going flurries even outside my sea-level office, it wasn’t to be. In fact the tracks were hardly damp for the ride up this evening.

So the end result was all the unpleasantness of having to pedal down the hill in the howling freezing cold southerly with none of the fun a snowy slip ‘n slide would have provided.

Fortunately it’s not too cold for a beer of the day (could it ever be?). Moa brewing - The Boss. I’m a bit on the fence on this one. It definitely slipped down easily enough but I can say it jumped out at me in any particular way.

Given the beer of the day, song of the day has to be: Streets of Philadelphia by Bruce Springsteen. This is a near perfect song paired down to the simplest song structure possible. It won an academy award - deservedly so.

Snowhere

As you can see from the picture the weather was disappointingly normal today. Snow fell briefly at sea level and dusted Mt Cargill so I didn’t head out at lunchtime but come going home time the sun was out again and the tracks were all pretty dry.

What you can’t see in the picture is the brutal southerly which yielded another serious ice cream headache on the descent back to the house.

The ride up the big easy really felt hard going despite having the day off yesterday. Either I’m still feeling the effects of Saturday’s effort or I really need to put some extra air in my rear tyre (perhaps a bit of both).

Beer of the day (pah! I disagree one run is still reason enough for a botd): Eddyline Brewery - Summer n the Citra IPA. I really enjoyed this one. It’s got a cool butterscotch orange thing going on. Quite different to most of the others I’ve had recently.

Song of the day: Bad man’s song by Tears for Fears. This popped up on my discover weekly and while I have the CD it reminded me what a great album The seeds of love is. This isn’t the best song from the album (Famous last words is) but the whole album with it’s jazz undertones is one of my all-time favourites.

19m Short

I knew at the outset today had to be a big day. I wasn’t able to ride yesterday and the forecast is terrible with a big storm warning. So I was secretly hoping to get 10 runs in and do 3000m in total. Well I did the 10 runs but the overall height total came in 19m short at 2,981m. So I got my 2k trailforks badge but no 3k one. Disappointed because I definitely wont be attempting 10 runs again.

As per my pledge I didn’t have any food or water on the ride (though I did preload with a big breakfast which made the first run rather uncomfortable. Lost a massive 5.35kg over the whole ride which explains why I’m feeling pretty toasted this evening (well that and all the riding).

Back facing camera

You may be wondering what it feels like to be that parched. Around run 7 I became keenly aware of both my thirst (mainly in the dryness in my mouth) and sources of water. Stopping briefly at the plateau I was very conscious of the sound of a dog drinking from the container at the fountain.

Run’s 9 and 10 became significantly harder although at no time did I feel any mental impairment (though that might be because I must already be mentally impaired to undertake this). And I had to walk up a couple of the steeper sections. By this time all my thoughts seemed to be focused on water and other things I might drink when I got home (I was really craving some sugary fruit juice).

When I finally did get home and weigh myself and then get that first glass of water it was a bit like when you’ve been busting to pee for so long that you can’t properly relax and you start wondering what all the rush was for. The water was great but not nearly as satisfying as I had imagined. I was careful to ration replenishment out a bit and I’ve been drinking water fruit juice and beer regularly since then (yes I know the beer is probably a bad idea but it’s so nice).

So 43 litres sweated overall so far and 29 vertical km completed.

Now I’m sort of hoping for terrible weather tomorrow to have an excuse for a rest.

Beer of the day: Deep Creek - Geisha. If I’m honest I’m starting not to be able to tell the difference between some of the these hazy ipa’s and in my state anything going down the gullet would taste fantastic. So it’s gets a thumbs up but I’m not sure I’m a reliable source.

Song of the day: Simple as that but The Pineapple Thief. I really like this song but I really haven’t explored this band’s music enough. I’ve listened to the album the track come from, Magnolia, and it’s all good listening. A bit lighter than a lot of the tracks on my playlist.

Grinding my gears

Just managed to beat the rain today for three runs at lunchtime (got pretty wet on the road back to the office). And did a final run over the hill on the way home again. Very dry riding conditions now with some of the tracks getting a bit sketchy due to loose dust.

I adjusted my chain guide down which seems to have help (I didn’t lose my chain today on any of the descents). But my gears a still playing up so I’m off shortly to take another look at them. They just seem to keep going out of alignment despite the loc-tite I added to the derailleur. Hopefully it’s just the cable slipping a bit.

Beer of day: 8 wired brewing - Hop salad. Another delicious hazy with a great label. If you handed me another one of these I would receive it with thanks.

Song of the day: Home sweet home/Bittersweet Symphony by Limp Bizkit. Limp Bizkit fills a lot of my downhill playlist but this is one of their gentler numbers. It might not be downhill material but it’s still great.

Stick 'em up

I’m not sure what is was but the lunchtime rides felt good today. Going up the hill just seemed easier than usual. Maybe having a lunch with no carbs makes a difference? Who knows.

Going down again wasn’t quite so good. I kept losing my chain. I might see if I can adjust my chain guide down a bit tonight to see if it helps. To be fair my chain ring, chain and cluster are pretty worn. Unfortunately I got the wrong cluster when I ordered replacements so I have to wait for the XD version to arrive which might take a while given how slow things are coming through from Aliexpress at the moment.

Beer of the day: Epic’s Armageddon IPA. A gift from Sean and a pretty nice gift at that - full of flavour.

Song of the day: Stick ‘Em Up by Quarashi. I have to admit I can’t make out half of what is being said but it’s definitely got rhythm and rhyme. Great for all out downhills (as long as you don’t drop your chain).

Company but no Gale

The forecast gale force winds never arrived today and the little rain that fell didn’t make any significant difference to the tracks so it was a great day for riding if a little hot given the Norwest conditions.

Nice to have the company of Marcus and Doug again for two of the rides today. Having their company did distract me somewhat from taking photos so there I didn’t managed a post per ride on instagram today. Probably just as well. I’m struggling to come up with new things to post that aren’t terrible puns.

I managed to knock out another four in total which was great given the rain forecast tomorrow.

Beer of the day: Deep creek - Misty Miyagi. CF AGM tonight warrants a 500ml can. Another hazy, very drinkable. Really can’t think of any special to day about this.

Song of the day: No leaf clover by Metallica. The lyrics mention how the light at the end of the tunnel might be a freight train coming. I’ve often felt like that.

Felines in night-time attire

Gorgeous day today which made for hot riding. The sweat loss per run was about 50% higher than average. It was hot enough that I had to seek out the shade of the beech tress at the top of the hill.

Dry conditions made for fast runs down. Just as well I had no offs today.

I got three more runs in a lunchtime and a fourth of the way home. The hill was a lot busier at 6pm. I think everyone was making the most of the great weather after being cooped up a work for most of it.

Beer of the day: Garage project - Cat’s Pajamas. Another can with great artwork, but is it just me or is not naming it Cat’s Pawjamas a missed oppawtunity? I liked it. Millie, no so much.

Song of the day: Already dark by Bad stream. This might be the best one on my discover weekly this week. Not sure if it will make it on to my ‘keepers’ playlist yet.

Dog gone it

I made a new friend at the top of signal today who had the annoying habit of not quite dropping the stick he was fetching close enough to me so I could reach it for the next throw without moving. He did patiently wait for each throw though - even while I was holding the stick and trying to take a picture at the same time.

It was a lovely day today - NO WIND! And not too hot, so none of the four runs I managed felt too taxing. I would have gone for a fifth but had a bit of an off on my last run down which was the excuse I needed to head home for some lunch. Fortunately it wasn’t a bad off and two offs in 71 runs is pretty good going.

1.65l sweated for CF today so not too shabby - 30.3 litres sweated over all.

I was surprisingly quiet on the hill though I chatted to few people. It’s clear the art of repairing a puncture properly is a dying one. Yes you need to sand the tube smooth (especially if there is a ridge near the hole), yes you need to use vulcaniser and, yesy, you need to let it dry before putting the patch on. Or you can go tubeless and carry plenty of spare tubes.

Beer of the day: Bach brewing Supa Juice. Another hazy - this one particularly hazy - just look how hazy that is. Nice. Great after a long day in the (not so) hot sun.

Song of the day: Biko by Bloc Party. There are probably too many covers of Peter Gabriel’s Biko to count. This is not one of those songs. It’’s something completely original and great.

20 kilometres high!

Today I topped out over 20km vertical overall so 2/3rds of the way there. The wind has continued to be wild and despite helping me to a personal best on the cycle way between the yacht club and Ravensborne, it’s been a pain. Stopping to take photos is not really an option when any stray glove or phone bag will be blown for miles.

Something to reflect upon.

It’s probably time for another stats round up:

• Total runs: 67

• Total sweat: 28.65 litres

• Horizontal distance: 502km

• Vertical gain: 20,262m

• Average sweat loss per ascent: 427ml

That seems like a pretty reasonable effort to me. You can see the full stats on my sweatsheet.

Beer of the day: Garage project - Fugazi. I was drinking this and thinking it’s very nice but nothing outstanding before I realized it’s a low alcohol beer. Well for a low alcohol it’s outstanding. You could easily drink this all day.

Song of the day: Signal to Noise by Peter Gabriel. My musical tastebuds are often satisfied by songs that are strange or that have exotic instrumentation or even a bit of a creepy vibe. This track has all three of those in spades and to top it off Peter Gabriel has one of my favourite voices. Listening to this you know you’re not in Kansas any more.

Weight a minute

What is it about cold wet rides home? According to my scales I somehow put on 400g on the ride home. Maybe I need to take accumulated mud and water on my body into account and weight myself after a shower.

I snuck a couple of early runs in before the rain this afternoon so managed three runs in total again today. The ride back down the hill to home this evening was brutal in the strong cold southerly - severe ice cream headache and freezing knees.

Beer of the day: Emerson’s Threeway. Absolutely delicious - highly recommended. It might even be on special and Pak n Save at the moment. Quite high in alcohol at 6.5% so that might explain the shaky image below.

Song of the day: Waiting for the end by Linkin Park. I’m pretty sure this is the song that introduced me to Linkin Park which is now probably my favourite band overall. This song is highly approachable (some might say a bit commercial) but is classic LP mixing great melody and rap. It also has a great LP ending - no indecisive fade-out just a sudden halt to all the instrumentation leaving the briefly lingering vocal. If you want know what all the fuss about Linkin Park is - this song is a great place to start.

No flash photography

Not that my photography is ever that flash.

Did six runs today but hardly took any pictures. At lunchtime gale force westerlies were blowing bits off the trees and certainly trying to blow my gloves and helmet away. At one stage it looked like my bike might even take off on it’s own.

I managed another three runs this evening but it was getting pretty dark by the time I got out for the first one and the iphone 6 camera is pretty rubbish in low light.

I enjoyed this evening’s runs though. Perhaps it was just the dark masking how far I had left to go but my legs felt strong for the first time in ages and the temperature was great for cycling - I lost 1/2 a litre less sweat on the second three runs.

There seemed to be some land-sar exercises at the bottom of the hill this evening. At least I hope it was that otherwise someone was seriously in trouble. I’m glad I didn’t need their services despite a couple of runs down in the dark with just a handlebar mounted light.

Beer of the day: Garage project - Party and Bullshit. I downed the 500ml can reasonably quickly so it must have been pretty good. I couldn’t taste any bovine fecal matter either.

Song of the day: Shout 2000 by Disturbed. I was reminded of this because a new cover by Disturbed of Sting’s If I ever lose my faith in you turned up on my release radar. Disturbed do a few covers which are generally well reviewed but what I want in a Disturbed cover is a metal remix of a song that is crying out for it. Tears for Fears Shout is just one of those songs (it’s in the title after all). Disturbed definitely turned that one up multiple notches. The Sting cover is a bit ho-hum in my opinion.

The end of sport as we know it?

Two more runs today which were hard work in the wet and the cold. It was nice to get back home just to warm up in the shower. Not a whole lot of sweat sweated for cf today as a result.

The new watch continued to annoy me today. Once you start recording an activity you don’t seem to be able to look at the time without the rather dramatic option pictured.

Beer of the day: Tuatara Roughneck. Seemed to have a but of a nutty flavour to me. Not my favourite hazy ipa.

Song of the day: Right said Fred by Bernard Cribbins. A comedy classic somewhat different to the band of the same name.

Watch out

I took a rest day yesterday as I could still feel the previous day’s eight run effort in my legs. I was hoping that would see me well recovered and I’d feel strong for the rides today. No such luck. It still felt like hard work. At least I had plenty of time to get new fork seals in.

It was warm and windy today and my 600ml sweat loss per run reflected that as the running average is 440ml. I only had time for three runs but at least they were all uneventful.

Excited to see my new business cards have arrived. My latest plan to try and up the donation rate is to hand these out to other people on the hill and leave them on cars in the car park. Hopefully it will be worth the investment (not just the cost, but carrying the bloody things up the hill with me).

Not so pleased with my new smart watch which finally arrived from Aliexpress (my beloved pebble has completely died now). It came with two screws fallen out which wont go back in because the threads are stripped. On top of that, it doesn’t have an option to control music which is the one feature I really really want (I can’t adjust volume on my earbuds). That will teach me for buying cheap of Aliexpress (though, no doubt, it wont stop me).

I had hoped it would arrive before sweatember as it can measure heart rate, oxygen saturation and blood pressure (I’m not sure how accurately) which I thought would be interesting to track too, but I’m not sure whether I can be bothered adding that into the mix now.

Beer of the day - Behemouth Chur New Zealand IPA. I like the name and the can but it has an almost butterscotchy or chocolatey initial hit which doesn’t sit well with me. I wont be reaching for another in a hurry.

Song of the day - that’s a difficult one as , so far, there was nothing outstanding on my new discover weekly playlist. So I’ll stick to an old fav that I queued in for one of the downhill runs, Bomb like Banksy by Bliss n Eso. I’m pretty sure this came from some previous discover weekly - well spotify got is spot on that time.

Half way there!

Had a massive day today with 8 consecutive runs with no food and water (still catching up on liquids 5 hours later). That effort got me to 50 runs in total and 15.1 km vertical completed so far. I also lost 3.5 kg during the ride.

Interestingly the limiting factor, much more than my legs, seems to be my shoulders which get pretty achy. That and an increasing desperation for a drink. On the seventh run I was starting to fantasize just about the glass of water i would have when I got back home. It takes a lot of willpower once I make it home to weight myself rather than going straight for a glass.

The other thing I’m conscious of is any hunger. I’m not great if I get too hungry for too long which I know from experience can lead to abdominal pain later on. Right now I seem fine having been fueled the whole way by a bowl of weetbix with banana and full cream milk. When I think about it - it’s pretty amazing what the body can do on so little fuel.

I didn’t have the energy this afternoon to replace my fork seals as planned. They’re still leaking oil so at least not completely dry yet, but I am keen to get on to that tomorrow if I can (I may have earned the day off so I can spend it cleaning and then repairing the bike).

On the other hand the weather forecast isn’t so good later in the week so it would be good to keep my running total up, so I can slack off if the weather turns to custard.

Beer of the day: Double vision brewing - Buns Out west coast IPA. Millie go this because it seemed appropriate given the challenge. I liked it - it’s less bitter than the Green eyed penguin which suits my tastes. I’d definitely recommend it.

Song of the day: Speed me towards death by Rob Dougan. The album this is from, Furious Angels, is probably the best complete album I’ve heard in ages. This has some of the best classical instrumentation in rock songs I’ve heard. That combined with Rob’s gravelly voice and emotion combines to make something extra special plus there are some pretty melodies to cap it off. Be warned though. This is another series of depressive songs. Definitely not to be listened to if you’re feeling down. It might be the last straw.

Five run frenzy

Had a bit more time today so I came up the long way on the other side via Maia. I usually reserve that run for strong tailwinds but I thought that Signal would be pretty wet today after the rain that pelted down last night so I was keen to have some variety.

I managed five runs in total and while the rides up the 4WD weren’t too bad, it was pretty slippery on the way down. In fact on my ride home I met someone who had come off in the rock garden an smashed their nose and hand but were still riding.

So slow, uneventful riding which is just as well. It was happy to get a few loops in after yesterday’s curtailed riding.

Millie even got me a couple of new beers to try so that was a treat. Beer of the day today: Moa brewing Southern Alps white IPA. Apprently this was NZ’s best beer in 2018. I wouldn’t go that far. I liked it but not as refreshing as the salted peach. Everyone else thought it was odd.

Song of the day: The Numb/Encore mash up by Jay Z and Linkin Park. It would be so easy to take a couple of great songs and ruin them but this mix definitely works.

To the ridiculous

Not really my most successful of days riding wise.

First of all I had to put up with Marcus’ company (actually it was nice to have company though I’d never actually admit that to him).

Then I snapped my chain on the way up the hill. “It’s just cos you such a powerful bastard” said Marcus, perhaps with a hint of sarcasm? Fortunately I was packing some magic links so I was able to string it back together and it wasn’t too short for me to use bottom gear - yay.

After the rain last night we decided the best option might be the new, unnamed, steep run down through the pines (it’s pretty much the steepest line I’ve ridden anywhere). The pines and pine needles keep the ground dry though so it’s no problem going heavy on the front brake which is absolutely necessary.

Not so once you transition onto OC, which both Marcus and I forgot, first of all I flailed down the next 10 metres into a tree and then Marcus did exactly the same except for the tree bit (managing to miss me too which I’m grateful for).

It really is a lot safer to do a run like Treaty track into Student which is horrendously muddy in wet weather but, at least, consistent all the way down.

Back at the bottom I was a bit sore and it started to rain so I gave up after that single run.

Got another ride over the hill on the way home but this time the scales said I managed to put on 3/4 of a kg (including my 300g calibaration allowance) on the ride home! Really! I’m starting to get a bit suspicious of the accuracy of these weight watchers scales.

Beer of the day (I may no have deserved it but definitely feel like I needed it) - Garage project Garagista. Good flavour - very drinkable.

Song of the day. Kashmir by Led Zeppelin is a brilliant song but this live version by Jimmy Page takes it to the next level. Traditional instrumentation transports it (and you) to a different place entirely. I love live versions of songs that do some interesting reinterpretation. Without that live versions seem rarely as good as the studio produced ones.

No sweat

A late start again due to a work meeting meant I only got two lunchtime runs in and still didn’t quite beat the rain. My riding was rubbish on the way down - I really had to dial it back just to be safe. It seems there are just days when I’m not on form and today was one of them. I just wish it was a bit more predictable so I could look forward to the good days.

Had to rush my pollen puddle photo due to the rain

This evening’s ride home over the hill was the first that that I did an entire run and recorded exactly 0 sweat loss. I blame a combination of the rain and poor calibration of my two scales but it stands as an official total in my sweatsheet.

I’m pleased to have completed over 10km vertical so over a 1/3 of the way there with a day to spare (today being the 9th). That’s definitely worth a celebration. Speaking of which…

Beer of the day: Boundary Rd - Haze of our lives. I swear the first time I had this it wasn’t hazy at all - it appeared very clear like any other standard beer. Not so this time. It might not be a spectacular beer but good flavours and the price is definitely right.

Song of the day: Welcome to the fold by Filter. This is another weird one (have you spotted a theme yet) but Filter have a string of great, interesting song and the lead singer can really scream (in a good way).

Smoking

I had a late start today after another radio interview with the wonderful, John, from Compass FM in Rangiora. He’s such a professional, it really is a pleasure to talk to him.

Just before the interview the contractors saw fit to start removing the scaffolding from our building so it was suddenly incredibly noisy. Fortunately with all my work mates away I was able to take myself off to the other end of the building where it was a bit quieter.

I think the interview went well and together, John and I covered the main points about what and why I’m madly riding. But, despite, being very clear about how to donate, it didn’t translate into a single extra donation which is a bit disappointing.

With the late start and just feeling pretty tired in general I only managed 2 runs after lunch and one more on the way home for a grand total of 32 runs so far or 9.65 vertical metres - should break the first 10Km tomorrow!

It was another great day but there did seem to be a lot of smoke coming from somewhere (my brakes?), which made for a spectacular sunset. The orange-red sun shining through the trees made for some cool effects. This photo I just took with my phone - no special filters or anything.

It was definitely hard work today and I was glad to get home after the third run. Strava says I hit 78.8kph on the way done the hill - it gave me and ice cream headache with the sweat and chilling evening air.

Beer of the day: Emersons Green Eyed Penguin limited edition. Great to see profits from sales going to Orokanui and the Animal hospital but this one is a little too hoppy and bitter for my taste.

Song of the day. Valeno by Subsonica. I seem to have a soft spot for foreign rap. I have no idea what this song is about but it sounds cool.

29 climbs later and week one is done

Today marks the end of the first week of sweatember and I’m happy to be a bit ahead on runs.

Mmmm, I’m lichen it

Another glorious Dunedin day made doing another four laps relatively easy. All the tracks a nice and dry (except parts of Treaty track) and my bike which I’d cleaned in the weekend so I could loc-tite the derailleur, stayed pretty clean. The other good news is the loc-tite seemed to work too.

So far I’ve ridden 208Kms in total with 8.7Km vertical and a total of 13.5l sweated.

I’m just a bit disappointed to seem to have put on weight this morning (0.8kg heavier than my initial weigh in) but I’ll put that down to extra muscle bulk (unfortunately if it is that it’s definitely not obvious.

Longer evenings - good!

Beer of the day: Back on Mac’s apparition (it’s what’s currently in the house).

Song of the day: Good Grief by Urban Dance Squad. I can’t make out half the lyrics but it mentions Charlie Brown so it must be good. - Excellent riff for downhilling to