THE MIGHTY JO CARREL: Rotorua Half, Tadpolemonator and yuck Christmas weather

So the aftermath of Taupo Half was not so great with a my little groin issue hanging around and preventing me from running plus a very nasty ouchie on the front of my ankle from me being a muppet and not doing my shoe up properly.

Ouchies

I was down to do the bike section for the Rotorua Half with my friend Megan from swimming which was quite exciting as I have never been a team biker before and got to wear my skinsuit which I had never had an occasion to wear. I had a good ride despite my new Garmin 500 (on it's first outing) being on autolap and taking a lap every 8.05km (5 miles) and annoying the hell out of me. It was fun riding with gay abandon and not having to worry about running.

Looking a bit ghost like but aero at the same time

Rotorua turned out a great day and the Lawson's backed up their 3rd race in 3 weeks with the Hammer coming 3rd and the Poodle taking a more relaxed approach and taking the dog for a run for the last part.

Who's this clown running his dog on the course?! Oh wait that's Nick

A very exciting thing happened the week after Rotorua - my new bike parts arrived!! Woo hoo!! I had to reorder from somewhere else because the original order went missing in the post which is why it took so long. It then took a couple of nights (and lots of grumbling) to build.

Genius at work...

But then I got to use it for my Saturday ride - weeeeee! It feels pretty good and seems to be better at cornering and 180 degree turns which is an area of mine which certainly needs some help. It came with a pair of Zipp 404's but the whole TapTap issue means that if I use the rear 404 (once I get a Campag freehub body for it) I won't have power, BUT I will be able to use my rear wheel cover which I couldn't use with RooRoo so will be able to have a 404 front and disc on the back. Finally I have a grown up bike and grown up wheels!! I know it is by no means the latest and greatest but don't think there is much difference between a 2009/2010 P3C to a 2012 P3C, and there is no way in hell I can afford a 2012 P3C. It is hard for someone of my size to get a decent bike which actually fits properly and this bike should be faster than RooRoo.

ello Taddy

I have named it the Tadpolemonator - Taddy for short. Tadpole for my new name courtesy of Nick the Poodle, and Lemonator out of respect to it's previous owner Tracy Lemon.
Let's see if Taddy can now get us to Kona....

The weather around NZ over Christmas has been pretty schizer but I have managed a bit of riding and sea swims. Running is starting again slowly but am looking to supplement it with pool running (boooooo) so I don't lose too much fitness.