Road trip, Auckland to Blenheim

[tbs]

Speaking of drugs... I like to pop a couple of Voltaren before a long stint as my right wrist and knee joints get sore.

[jrandom]

... what? Full of drugs???

Poor Lance. He still had to do the actual work of turning the pedals, and it's not like it wasn't a level playing field regardless.

[saraj]

thanks , I think i'll stick with my gloves ay , I've ridden i few times with it while it was raining, and it wasn't that bad. but thanks alot guys. i'll enjoy the trip as much as i could

[jrandom]

Speaking of drugs... I like to pop a couple of Voltaren before a long stint as my right wrist and knee joints get sore.

Have you considered switching to a motorbike that doesn't require you to become human origami when you mount it?

S'why I don't ride a sprotbike. Knees and hip flexors can't handle the jandal for more than about half an hour at a time.

Although cruisers aren't actually the best, as most of us know (I just have a Nightster for fashion reasons) - typically, trailie-type riding positions offer the best ergonomics, followed by touring style bikes.

[tbs]

Have you considered switching to a motorbike that doesn't require you to become human origami when you mount it?

S'why I don't ride a sprotbike. Knees and hip flexors can't handle the jandal for more than about half an hour at a time.

Although cruisers aren't actually the best, as most of us know (I just have a Nightster for fashion reasons) - typically, trailie-type riding positions offer the best ergonomics, followed by touring style bikes.

Drat.... I had a snazzy comeback pre-prepared involving suggestions about relative right wrist conditioning in the event of you calling me a pussy for popping the pills. You've let me down.

Nope, never considered changing even for a second. For the most part the riding position isn't a problem at all. My right hand does cramp pretty quickly when I sit at one speed a la motorway, but a cruiser or trail bike wouldn't fix that. A couple of years ago I did a 12 hour mountain bike race, clocking up about 160km. You'd think that my legs would be pretty cooked after that, but it was the aching from my knees and wrists that kept me awake for hours after the race. Should'a thought of the Voltaren for that one.

[jrandom]

My right hand does cramp pretty quickly when I sit at one speed a la motorway, but a cruiser or trail bike wouldn't fix that...

Are you sure you're not death-gripping the throttle?

You're just lightly caressing it with your thumb and forefinger, just enough pressure to hold it in place, and letting the hand and wrist hang relaxed off it?

[jrandom]

A couple of years ago I did a 12 hour mountain bike race, clocking up about 160km... aching from my knees and wrists

What bike were you riding? Hardtail or full sus? Had it been professionally fitted to you? Sounds like something was wrong with your setup.

My ex-wife raced XC for a while. Dropped 5 grand on a full sus bike for her and we could never quite get the setup of it right. Can't even remember what it was, now. She fucked one of her knees by pushing through the discomfort for too long in an event one time and it never really recovered. Still troubles her now a decade later.

I recently bit the bullet and let a nice second-hand Trek Madone that I'd picked up and put a bit of love into go for a song on tardme, simply because I'd made the mistake of thinking I could make a 56cm frame work for me when I normally ride a 54. I couldn't.

If I were you I wouldn't start taking painkillers and give up on getting it right. You might just need to suck it up, flog your MTB and get something different. Life's too short to ride a bike that's not working right for you.

[Flip]

The back road through the National Park is a lot nicer ride on a bike than SH1.

Leave enough time for FUBARs, travel light and have fun.

Take a few tools and a cell phone. Also a basic puncer repair kit. Get out on the road and have fun.

Stop when you are tired, eat when you are hungry, take your time and have fun.

I am heading to Auckland in Feb from Oamaru, I am really looking forward to the trip.

[jrandom]

The back road through the National Park...

You call that a 'back road'? What you been smoking son? It's just another main road and an extra 50km on the trip.

If you want a nice ride south and don't mind some extra miles, you go via Waipapa Rd from Te Awamutu to Mangakino, carry on along SH30 to Benneydale, cut along Poro-O-Tarao Rd down to SH4 and ride through the Paraparas. Then you just have to put up with sitting on the motorway from Wanganui to Wellington.

[Gremlin]

Newsflash: that's bullshit. And it's a real shame to see a young guy buy a motorbike and then get scared off of having adventures on it.

Plenty of time to have endless adventures once they have some skills and time under their belt. Until such time, it's about gaining skills before your luck runs out.

I'm regularly coming across learners on various rides (often play TEC), so give them advice, tips etc. Learners do get tired more quickly, not only due to conditioning, but also nerves. Often not knowing what to do in some situations can also lead to poor choices (not choosing right gear makes you colder, which leads to being tired sooner).

Not a dig at saraj in any way, more generally for all learners. As I say to them, you don't know what you don't know. jrandom, you are one person, and yes, I know others that have done distance as learners as fine. However, with the number of learners I've come across, the ones that are fine with long distance are vastly outnumbered.

[tbs]

Are you sure you're not death-gripping the throttle?

You're just lightly caressing it with your thumb and forefinger, just enough pressure to hold it in place, and letting the hand and wrist hang relaxed off it?

Doesn't seem to matter how much pressure I've got on it. It's just curling it around the grip that does it. It's much worse in thicker winter weight gloves too. Never happens on the left hand as I ride with my fingers stretched out on the clutch lever.

What bike were you riding? Hardtail or full sus? Had it been professionally fitted to you? Sounds like something was wrong with your setup.

Santa Cruz BLT2. I rotated my bars backward a bit after that, but it was actually the tendons up my arms that were stretched out from trying to take the weight off my hands. I don't need a professional to set my bike up. I've spent considerable time setting it up the way I want it, and my bar is quite low to keep weight over the front wheel for cornering balance, which inevitably loads up my hands. I've also moved changed my cleat position further back on my shoes which has made life a bit easier on my knees and calves.

I think the main problem was that I usually go out a couple of hours max. 12 was a bit of a stretch.

[jrandom]

I'm a pompous twat who likes to stroke his ego by playing mentor instead of just riding his goddamn motorbike.

Yeah, I noticed.

[Gremlin]

Yeah, I noticed.

I'm doing 45,000km a year ish across two bikes. It's expensive enough at that mileage, with all the maintenance etc. Hey, whatever floats your boat.

[jrandom]

I'm one of those guys who likes to quote his annual motorcycling mileage.

Yeah, I noticed.

[saraj]

The back road through the National Park is a lot nicer ride on a bike than SH1.

Leave enough time for FUBARs, travel light and have fun.

Take a few tools and a cell phone. Also a basic puncer repair kit. Get out on the road and have fun.

Stop when you are tired, eat when you are hungry, take your time and have fun.

I am heading to Auckland in Feb from Oamaru, I am really looking forward to the trip.

yeah its gonna be so much fun, just a qquick question, do you know a some sight seeing places on the way ? im googling some and made a small list here but just wanna know as much placecs as i can, becuz i dont do these long trips often, so dont wanna miss lots of placecs . cheers