Epic NZ, Jan 8th

So after thirty-eight hours of air travel, we arrived in Christchurch. I had devised a detailed flight strategy for our trip. It involved carefully timed periods of sleep, work and movies. I managed to stick to my own plan and am feeling good. Still a bit of illness lingering in my sinuses so I'll try to keep my powder dry tomorrow.

On the flight from Hong Kong to Auckland, about twenty-six hours into the trip, I leaned over to Monica and confided, "I really do love flying. I can sit here, they feed me every so often, I can work and nobody can send me anything extra to do." I've always felt safe on planes, kind of like when you are hiding out in bed as an over-reached athlete. I even like airplane food.

Had dinner with Scott and Erin last night. Erin commented that it was the most social that she'd ever seen me. Fear and lack of fitness can make me quite fun to be around. I made a conscious effort not to talk too much and to avoid spending the whole night talking about triathlon.

Scott was out putting the finishing touches on his epic fitness (solo bonus ride) so I got to speak with Erin for about an hour. It was a nice insight into my buddy because a lot of the stuff that I heard sounded quite a bit about some of the things that M says about me. Refreshing to hear that I'm not the only crazy one.

Easy swim this morning in the QE2 pool -- that's really my favourite pool in the world. Lots of good memories there and it is the fastest pool that I've swam in. We'll be back 7am tomorrow to kick things off.

I picked up a new bike yesterday. The boys at BikeRight did a fantastic job for me -- all I had to do was put on my shoes, clip my chip strap and hop on. They'd saved my measurements from a previous bike fit so it was ready to roll. Pinarello Marvel, Campy Record 10sp, 175 Carbon Cranks, 53/39 & 12-25. The colour scheme matches my Oomph team kit so I'll be stylin'.

Johno pointed out that I'd forgotten to install aerobars. I pointed out that I wasn't going to be needing them!

Just in case... Scott suggested that I bring along a pair for old times sake. Fortunately, Johno had held onto my Syntace clip-ons ("You know... I won Ultraman on these bars...")

One of our bags was sent pre-Christmas from France to ChCh. Didn't quite make it here so I headed out shopping today. Found a full zip (long sleeve!) summer weight Castelli cycling jersey as well as a couple of new bib shots. I often wonder why more companies don't make full zip cycling kit -- especially the light weight long sleeve ones. Given that I am so pale -- I'll need the extra coverage to avoid being totally roasted here in New Zealand.

Johno and Scott have spent the winter planning all kinds of events for this trip. I may have inadvertently given them a few ideas back when we first started planning this camp (53 weeks ago). We are going to have some massive days. Scott was telling me about how he needed to trim a little distance off the Double Takaka day. I protested, "dude, these guys are expecting to be shelled, we can't make it too easy on them!"

Then he told me about the 72 hours that follow that day. Johno and Scott aren't disclosing the various "events" that they have cooked up. They'll probably throw me a bone as I get a bit fatigued over the next few days. Being cut into the planning always perks me up.

Well, time for me to pack up. We have our welcome dinner tonight and I'm looking forward to seeing the crew.

Oh yeah, my disclosure of the day. We are thinking about Epic South Africa at the end of this year. If anyone reading this is South African and wants to help organize that camp then drop me (or Johno) a line.

Conrad Stoltz is from Stellenbosch (sp?) and Simon said that he used to train there with the British Team. The time zone (and overnight flight from Cape Town) is very well suited to my business in the UK. Tim Don's name was also floated. If you know either of these guys then I'd like to get in touch with them to see if they can point us in the right direction.

My new roommate, here in ChCh, is from Cape Town as well. Lots of signs that this could be a good idea.

That's all for today.

g

PS -- tomorrow will be my longest training day (including IMNZ) since last January.