2011 Tour de Manawatu- a Windy ride

by Vaughan Hunt | Nov 10, 2011 | Event Reports

I awoke at 5.30am to the sound of rain bucketing down on to the roof. Sounds heavy I thought and snoozed for a while. But my body knew what was in store for it today, Sunday 6 November. So I got up, went upstairs and started checking the colour of the sky out windows at all compasses points: heavy cloud over the ranges to the East, dark rain-laden clouds to the south and west, a bit more light in the skies to the North. It didn’t look promising at all! What was the outside temperature I thought. I went back downstairs to check the weather station; only 9°C. Cold too. So I sorted my cycle gear and got ready, all the while hoping the rain would ease. By 7am it had stopped. But then another downpour occurred at 7.30am. Just a test of my resolve I thought. So at 7.45am, I rode off to the start line as a partial warm-up.

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The 21st Annual Caltex Tour of the Bay

by Vaughan Hunt | Nov 10, 2011 | Event Reports

16^th October: New Course from Sports Park, Hastings.

I have cycled the 110km Tour of the Bay every year from 2006. It is part of my “Tour of Duty”, which includes 4 events at the end of each year. This year I heard during a BikeManawatu Sunday ride that there was a new course. I had mixed feelings about this as I loved the challenge of the old course and I have many fine memories from the last 5 races. Nevertheless,

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