Thom Dodd is our Bike Friday Dealer in New Zealand, and is using his Bike Fridays to prepare for an Ironman distance triathlon.
    Here’s an update on his training:
    I am half way through a year of preparation for the Challenge Wanaka, an Ironman length triathlon that will be held in Wanaka, near Queenstown on the south island of New Zealand January 21, 2012.Â
    I have a few goals for the event:
-    Complete the new Ironman length tri here in NZ (I have previously completed  the New Zealand Ironman in Taupo, North Island.)
- Â Â Â Get to the start (and finish!) injury free and healthy.
- Â Â Â Do all of my training rides, runs and swims in beautiful settings here in New Zealand
- Â Â Â Do swim training all in the Marine reserve near my house in Hahei to prep for the 3.8k (2.4 mile) lake swim
- Â Â Â Do training runs all on trails in the area as the 42k. (26.2mile) run in Wanaka is mostly off road, and rides mostly along the coast and through the coastal hills
- Â Â Â Prepare for the 180k (112 mile) ride throu the Otago area.
- Â Â Â Enjoy every minute of the preparation and the event.
- Â Â Â Perform all of my cycle training on my Bike Friday (I have done more than 5,000 kilometers in 2011 on either my New World Tourist or my Pocket Llama, depending on weather and road conditions).
- Â Â Compete on the actual day on a Bike Friday, either my New World Tourist or my wife’s Pocket Rocket.
- Â Â Raise awareness among triathletes about the versatility and quality of the line of bikes Bike Friday produces.
    My rides so far have taken me to some of the most scenic places on the planet, and my favourite 120k ride hits 14 of the most beautiful beaches (plus more bodies of water) that you could imagine.Â
    For those of you with Googleearth, they are: Hahei Beach, Hot Water Surf Beach, Hot Water Main Beach, Cooks Beach, the Purangi Estuary, Lonely Bay, Flaxmill Bay, Ferry Landing, and across on the ferry to Buffalo and Brophy’s Beaches, Wharekaho Beach, Kuaotunu beach (after a 200 + meter hill), Greys Beach, Rings Beach, and Matarangi Beach and then back home.Â
    I do that ride most weeks, with an alternate ride going the other way over a 240+meter hill, via Tairua and Pauanui Beaches, along the Tairua estuary for about 10k and over two more 200+ meter hills to Opoutere Beach and then onto Whangamata, which has a great surf beach, and back home over the same route.Â
    I like to get both rides in each week, and want to give you all the idea that it doesn’t have to be a grind.Â
    This time of year (winter down here) I hardly see any vehicles — maybe 20 per hour or so, and the weather here isn’t much different than Santa Cruz, CA, where I lived until 16 years ago when I moved south (about as far south as possible)
    I will post something every once in awhile — maybe fortnightly — until the event (on rainy days).Â
    So unfold that bike in a gorgeous place, hop on and have a great ride!!
     PHOO INFORMATION: Pam and I rode around the Coromandel Peninsula where we live — about 300k (180 miles). The road up the west side is only connected to the road up the east side (both dirt roads for the last 40-50k) by an 8k stretch of cycling/walking single track. Very remote — it is the site of the Kona Colville connection mountain bike race in March every year.Â