To kick off this weekend, I am headed to the much anticipated U2 concert tonight here in Auckland. The guys were suppose to play here way back in March or April and at that time I wasn’t in the country so couldn’t go, but then they had to cancel the show due to an illness in one of the families. Fortunately for me, they rescheduled to this weekend when I AM here. Unfortunately for some others, it is also the same weekend as the big 160km ride around Lake Taupo so many people have decided to forego the concert for this silly bike ride. For me, the U2 concert is much more of a priority. I can ride 160km anytime I want whereas seeing U2 isn’t something I get a chance to do very often - I’ve only seen them once before. Besides, I have not been to a concert in NZ yet and I want to see if these Kiwis can rock the house.

Now, Taupo is quite a highly anticipated event as well. I don’t know how many years it has been going but it draws over 10,000 people! For NZ that has got to be some kind of earth shattering record. You know this is a big event when the number of people on road bikes triples; then, poof, as soon as Taupo is over, the roads become relatively deserted. The past 2 years I have been part of the race - this group goes off first on the day and there is actually prize money for the first 3 men and women. And this group goes blocks - bang, from the gun it is fast and furious…and straight up hill and undulating and climbing and windy and cold and possibly raining for the next 160 k’s. Crazy, crazy. This year I decided that I didn’t want to do the race since I seem to have bad luck at this event but I also didn’t want to ride among 9,900 other jokers who may or may not really know how to draft, ride a straight line, etc. Besides, the roads aren’t closed so there really aren’t many bail out options when you’ve got to skirt around some fred doing something stupid. So, my friend Toni and I are going to the U2 show tonight and then driving the few hours down to Rotorua (or lovingly referred to as RotoVegas - the place where Mtn Bike Worlds was held) only to get up again a few hours later for the last hour drive to Taupo to see the guys off at 7am. Our plan is to ride backwards to set up to feed the guys when they come through but we’re not sure yet if we will actually be able to make it far enough to feed them before it’s not worth feeding anymore. The lead group of guys finished the ride in just under 4 hours last year, so depending on the weather, they are really flying. Toni’s fiance, Aaron, is riding super strong right now after wearing the leader’s jersey for a few days at the Tour of Southland so I really hope to see him get up there for a big win! Ben hasn’t had the luxury of proper training the last 4 weeks or so with all the traveling he’s done but hopefully he will score himself a good ride, too, since he really enjoys this event (he gave up his U2 ticket to me - thanks but I think he’s nuts).

Hopefully the weather will be kind and give us a good weekend for the show and the bike ride!

It’s a beautiful day!!!!
Meredith