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OK have scrolled back numbers are as follows;
582 - Ego
658 - Pop Up Pundit
804 - Suffolk Punch
Best keep a list myself as I'm suppose to be cheering them
I am not a number! I am an Ironman!
Fantatstic news PUP! That is one decsion you will never regret - and you can give me one hell of a wallop if it proves otherwise! The week off training may have done you some good, physically, as we should all be in taper now anyway. I've been monitoring the weather in Taupo also, it's been around early to mid seventees this week, not like here - we had a little snow again this morning! Crazy!
Ego - that might feel a little chilly for you, as it seems you've been doing all your training in the Arabian desert!
Apparently the sun is going to come out later this morning. I have the day off and hopefully I can get out on the bike without getting completely frozen!
Ok, for those who want to follow our progress, here's our numbers:
Egoman - 582
Pop Up Pundit - 658
Suffolk Punch - 804
i have absolutely no excuse!
SP and Mrs SP I emailed your tiscali account twice a week ago; but just discovered it didnt go through
my email is: csr@naseba.com (although my first name is Christopher; I go by "Scott")
i think we are on the same flight from Dubai.
PUP - i cant email you from RW.
i look fwd to meeting you all in NZ in 14 days!
Hey Ego - you got e-mail - hopefully!!!!
Well, it was bound to happen. The head demons got at me today and I just got fed up and (hides head in shame) cracked and gave up
- headed home after 3 hours and plonked the bike on the turbo for an hour where it was a much warmer! It was just so cold out in the wind and what little sunshine there was did nothing to warm the air up. 
I was really hoping to get in around 4 - 4 1/2 hours on the road and at the moment I'm struggling to find any positives from the ride - it was more of a how-long-can-I-endure-the-cold-for ride, than a usefull training ride ride. The truth will be known in 2 weeks time!!
So tomorrow I'm going out for a pottle with my club mates - I bumped into one of them in Morrison's earlier on (Ego - It's a well known Supermarket chain in the UK!), he's a forces guy who did IMUK last year after doing some of his training in a very dangerous place that probably makes South Africa look like Kindergarten - so I'm hoping he can give me some inspiration!
I keep telling myself - it will be warmer, it will make a difference!
(Lets out exasperated sigh)
You're right; It does
.
This time last year I was on a plane to NZ
<sigh>
SP got your mail!
its 4:40 now and i am off for a 4 hour ride and 30 minute run ... crazy as its sounds, but its always very cold until the sun comes up (while riding in the desert)
i have to be finished by 10:30 am becus my wife needs the car this morning ... and where i like to ride (no cars) is 30 minute drive away.
trogs your keen interest in all of us is greatly appreciated.
this thread has played a major role in helping me stay focused on my training.
thanks everyone.
On my way! Sitting at Heathrow in one of the business lounges (hurrah!) and wondering if a glass of bucks fizz is part of the training regime
in my defence, I'm flying with a dry airline, so no prospect of a drink again until NZ.
Safe journey everyone!
it was royal brunei, egoman. The saudis aren't the only party poopers when it comes to booze
Well, here I am in auckland, I seem to have fallen through space and time and landed in a hotel in the 1950s, possibly the Bates Motel. Utterly creepy!
My spirits have really lifted by getting here, it's 24 degrees and I just went outside in BARE FEET. When I left the UK, it was snowing. Mwah hah hah!
I would like to go for a run or a cycle outside, but I'm not oriented yet and have form for getting horribly lost...chuck a bit of jet lag in with my hopeless navigating and there's a recipe for disaster. there's a gym apparently not far from here so will spend a chunk of today there trying to work out the kinks from the flight.
Woo hoo! 11 days till IM...
Flying from late winter to late summer is sooo great isn't it?!
Will someone tell SP to start frigging packing, he's seriously messing with my head
I'm on countdown now and can't wait
its ok mrs SP .... i havent started to pack either. will do so on friday afternoon.
PUP are you in Taupo or in another city in NZ?
We're not going till friday - what's with this packing lark? I still have to sort the bike out...
Glad to here the weather is snowy in NZ! I am thoroughly fed up with training in the cold, gym bikes, treadmill and the bloody turbo trainer! Not to mention tracks on my iPod I used to like and now associate with nothing other than sheer boredom and pain! I've been doing some training for the finishers' party agian....
Roll on Ironman!
Looking forward to cycling in shorts and t-shirt again!
Se you guys soon!
SP i am flying emirates saturday - leaving dubai at 10:15.
I will be wearing my new pirates long sleve XXL jacket (its really yellow and loud with massive skull and cross bones on the front)
i think this is the flight you are on?
It's real. It's happening. The bike's packed. And some clothes (I've allowed TL to take a few bits and pieces also).
We'll be leaving in a mo for the airport!
Apparently the weather is gorgeous down there!
See you guys in Taupo (or in Dubai.....).
Oh f**k! There are only 7 days to go!
likewise egoman - enjoy!
I've been lurking a bit on here too
Just wanted to wish you all HUGE amounts of luck!
thanks guys!
SP, I hope you finished packing in time, you slacker
Today's weather report from Cambridge (1.5 hours north of taupo) - 28 degrees and blazing sunshine. I went on a 2.5h cycle/30 min run today and just meeeeeeeeeeelted in the heat. I hate to say it as it's lovely to see the sun, but I really really hope it cools down before next weekend. It's humid too. Im hoping for less humidity at least at taupo as its higher up and maybe cooled a bit by the lake? <looks hopeful>
It's so fantastic cycling here, the roads are deserted and in really good nick (though apparently the taupo roads aren't "so flash" as they say here). I have been taken out for a beasting by a couple of the local cycle clubs who kindly didn't laugh at me too much as I sweltered and cursed. I tried to explain about the snow and the ice and the endless hours on the turbo trainer, but I think they thought I was lying!
God, its fantasic to be here. I am so pleased I came! I am terrified about ironman OBVIOUSLY but trying not to think too much about it.
7 days to go. this time next week we will be somwhere between the end of the bike and the start of the run (or I will be anyway!)
Well, I'm into the tapir madness now, and am entirely convinced that my swimming is hopeless, my cycling is crap and my running a joke. aaaargh! I am still waiting to acclimatise to the heat - we are up on the Coromandel just now which seems to be less humid than Cambridge was at least. But my run of bad luck is continuing!
you'll have heard about the tsunami reaching NZ. This weekend I am at the family bach (beach house) in Whitianga, facing, as luck would have it, into the pacific in the direction of Chile...so this morning (Sunday) at 6.30 am, we were evactuated by the fire service as the bach is RIGHT on the beach and they were concerned that there would be a surge from the tsunami that would hit it.
There was no particular panic or urgency about it, but we did have to leave to go to higher ground. We ended up in a cafe eating croissants and gossiping, then after a couple of hours we went back - there was really nothing more than an unusually high tide, so that's good. Certainly much better to be here than in Chile, those poor people.
What with the fire and now this, I am starting to think I am cursed! My ambition for next month is to NOT interact with any firemen and not get roused from my bed by an emergency. Is that too much to ask, IS IT??
I know that getting to ironman is a hard journey, but....! Are there any prizes for who has to overcome the most obstacles to get there, cause you'd have to admit I would be in the running for a medal for that!
PUP said: "i am at the family beach house" ....
must be nice....
I met up with SP and mrs SP last night at a pub in Tapou (we were not on the same flight)
drop us a note when you are in tapou and have fun at the "beach house."
Oh dear PUP, you've had fire and flood; you realise you're now going to have to experience pestilence
Watch out for swarms of sand flies!
The roads around Taupo really aren't that bad as far as I remember. My friends told me the road surfaces would be rough but I found them better than most of the minor roads and many of the major roads around Surrey.
Now that you're all 'in country' and enjoying lovely weather, I'm even more jealous
Hello pirates!
Glad to hear you're hear all safe and sound. I was in Taupo on Saturday for the Across the Lake Swim (4.2km) and it was soooo beautiful. The best conditions I've ever swum that race in (flat as the proverbial pancake) and got a pb too (1hr 24mins).
Went for a walk around town afterwards and you could see the signs of IM already - run course marking in place, swim buoys just out, the marquees getting put up on Northern Domain (where you register and T1).
I'm really looking forward to the race, staying at Suncourt near T2 and attending the media conferences on Friday and Saturday (as well as doing a lot of cheering for Rotorua triathletes - Rats - and pirates).
Are you planning on having a pre-race get together? We had one last year at the carb loading party (really worth while going to, if just for the kapa haka - Maori cultural performance). Last year my husband and I took empty takeout containers and filled them up with the food that was leftover (they over cater every year).
Anyone who wants to give me a shout my cellphone is 0210346021. I'll be around from Friday morning through to Sunday lunch. I'm in Rotorua, which is only an hour's drive north and one of the must-visit places (I'm not just saying that cos I live here, we have the geysers, best mountainbike trails in the southern hemisphere, Maori culture, luge and zorb).
Alison