Kathmandu Urban Max Adventure 2014...

Thursday's ride home was uneventful...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 30.2/19% (apparent temp 23.2)
start time: 5:20pm
total distance: 17.76
total time: 45:38 (including 0:00 stopped time)
avg speed: 23.3kph
total calories: 521
avg HR: 131

Hodge's last session before assessment was OK although he was being a bit lazy, lying down all the time!

Friday I walked Hodge, changed the tyres on my bike before catching the bus to work...

FkF was warm again but not as oppressive as the week before...bit windy on the way out...my handicap was eased to 11:45 and I managed to run a time nearly 1:40 quicker than the week before...

the stats:
start temp/humidity: 26.5/37% (apparent temp 22.2)
start time: 12:28pm
total distance: 5.00
total time: 25:03
avg pace: 5:01
total calories: 229
avg HR: 159

splits: 4:43, 5:06, 5:10, 4:59, 5:05

had an early mark from work to head up to Sydney with Jodie...

got stuck in traffic just about the length of the M5 but we finally arrived at 6:40pm...

after checking in we headed out for a walk to find dinner and a couple of caches, one of which was "hidden" inside the Ultimo Community Centre....

yesterday we were up early to have breakfast, check out and walk down to the event HQ at Wentworth Park by just after 8am...we collected our shirts and number bibs - we were team 54 - as well as our map...

there were two categories of teams - racing and social...racing had to collect 15 out of 18 and the social 11 out of 18 within the allocated time...within each category there were men's, mixed and women's teams...we were in the racing category...

the start was delayed 15mins to allow for teams coming in by train - the City Circle trains were out of action with buses in their place...the finish time was extended to 3:15pm...

just before the start some of the teams were keen to get the clue sheet before the official "go" was given and raced up to the volunteers spread out some 100m or so away...the MC had to get them to give them back (under threat of disqualification!) and return to the start before we got underway at 9:15am...

I was the clue getter while Jodie secured a spot on a bench...we had to decipher 18 clues to find where the checkpoints would be then plot our best course to gather 15 out of 18 or 14 out of 18 as we had, like most other teams, bought a fast forward to skip #11 which cost $30 and was donated to Good Beginnings Australia...some checkpoints had limited opening times so you had to factor that in as well...

it took as about 40mins to do all this and get underway...along the way we purchased a MyMulti day pass for use on all public transport...

first stop was The Ledge at Sydney University where one of us had to climb to the top of the wall or net to get the OK to move on...the first wall Jodie attempted was the hardest so after getting about a third of the way up she abandoned that one and had a go at the net which is, of course, much harder than it looks...after stopping about two thirds of the way as her forearms were lactic she managed to reach the top so I could lower her back down...

next stop was National Centre for Indigenous Excellence in Redfern where we had to work together to move and stack five blocks of wood using a hook suspended on a rope...we got it second go...

Prince Albert Alfred Park saw us solve some Rebus puzzles...we saw teams with their phones out but we had solved nine in quick time (only needed eight) to move on quickly...

The Pole Dancing Academy saw one team member (me!) participate in class where we learnt and executed four moves on each side...good fun!

we planned to catch a bus to the next checkpoint but ended up going on foot as the first bus past was full...at the Moore Park Driving Range each of us had to hit a ball with a 7 iron at least 50m on the fly...too easy!

next we headed to the ten-pin bowling alley near Fox Studios - between us we had to get a strike or a spare - you got two goes to achieve this, but you had to re-join the queue after your first go if you failed...the best we could achieve was an 8 but you got to move on after the second attempt...

near the Paddington Gates in Centennial Park, you each had to spin the wheel and eat whatever matched your number...Jodie spun up your choice (of course she picked chocolate) while I was lucky enough to get crickets...they were crunchy!

we hopped on a bus after this one but quickly hopped off again when we realised it wasn't heading into Surry Hills...so a long leg on foot to the Chinese Presbyterian Church where we had to make donations of food (purchased nearby)...

from here we re-assessed our route and decided to tackle two in North Sydney before heading back towards the finish...

we caught a rail bus from Central to Wynyard where we switched to a train to get to Milsons Point...while on the bus I got a message from my team captain to say the Sri Chinmoy Triple Tri had been cancelled due to the total fire ban in the ACT for Sunday...a shame but hopefully they can re-scheduled at a time I can still do it...

once on the train, a fellow traveller had also sorts of questions about what we were doing...we pointed out the paddling checkpoint at Blue Point Reserve as we crossed the bridge (we didn't do that one)...at the Neighbourhood Centre in Kiribilli, we had to paint a flag from six options...Jodie whipped up a quick Belgium flag so we could move on to Luna Park...

here we were meant to get a ticket for a ride but they'd run out so all we had to do was check in...

we caught a ferry back to Circular Quay and raced into the Kathmandu shop in The Rocks to price four items and tally the cost...Jodie had the job of searching for all the items but read out the wrong price on one before we sorted that out...

time was getting short as we bolted to catch another rail bus from Circular Quay to Town Hall and then raced on foot to the N2 extreme ice cream shop in Chinatown...while we were on the bus Jodie rang one of the organiser to seeing if checkpoint opening hours had been changed to factor in the delayed start - they hadn't so things were looking grim as it was a 30 minute time penalty if you didn't collect the required number of checkpoints...the race queue was long but we stuck it out and identified the two flavours (mango and popcorn) necessary to be able to move on...

next we scooted to Paddy's Markets where we had to literally find Wally!...we raced around the aisles before a helpful bystander point out which one we needed to be in...

we needed one more checkpoint before hitting the finish and we knew where it was - "Bend it Like Beckham" at the Ultimo Community Centre! we got there after the closing time for the checkpoint but even though they had packed up, they were kind enough to let us check in...

I did my best personal trainer impersonation to get Jodie to the finish and we managed to check in with 30 seconds to spare - we covered about 21k on foot and 8k on public transport in our 5:59 effort...!

we got our post-race refreshments (included in the entry price) and sat down in the shade to listen to the presentations...in the racing category, the first men's team finished in 3:31, the fastest mixed team in 4:01 and the fastest women's team in 4:03...amazing!

we slowly walked back to our hotel and hit the road home just after 4:15pm...

after a stop on the way to get petrol I was home around 8:15pm after dropping Jodie off...

it was great fun!

this morning I had a bit of a sleep in (would have been up at 5:30am for the Triple Tri!) before taking Hodge for his weekend walk albeit at a slower pace...

headed out later and picked up paddling pools for the boys as the weather gets hotter...

now to settle in to watch the cricket!