Saturday 1st April 2000
by Jason Kelly
The day dawned clear in Rotorua with fog south towards Taupo. By the start time of 10am, the fog had mostly lifted, leaving virtually perfect weather - fine, mild and little wind.
Approximately 1,000 riders, in four classes - elite, tandem, relay and social, lined up for the start. Eighteen tandems took part with at least four tandems from Hawkes Bay present.
After starting at the Rotorua racecourse, the race wended its way south through the Waikite Valley and up what the organisers euphemistically called a “steep” hill at the 41 kilometre mark. The hill, just 800 metres long, is extremely steep (an easy Burma Road equivalent!) and many riders abandoned pedalling their bikes in favour of walking to the top of the hill to meet the lone bagpiper. From the top of the hill, an exhilarating descent lead back to the main highway at Waitapou. After a brief section on the main highway, the course turned left to ride through mainly gentle rolling country in the Broadlands area before finishing inside the new multi-million dollar Taupo Events Centre.
The Kelly Triplet, captained by Jason Kelly and stoked by Patrick Kelly and John Barry, sat in the front bunch for the first 10 kilometres or so to get a feel for the strength of the field, especially the other tandems. At about the 10 kilometre mark, the Kelly Triplet launched an attack which left the majority of the field in their wake. Bryce Shapley, a member of the New Zealand National Road Squad and Stephen Ward, a member of the Ramblers Cycling Club, were the only two riders to survive the initial attack. Shortly afterwards, at speeds of up to 47km/h at the top of some short but solid hill climbs, the front bunch was reduced to purely Hastings riders - the Kelly Triplet and Stephen Ward.
From there, the pace was picked up by the leading bunches and the “steep” hill was reached after about an hour of total riding. The Kelly Triplet engaged its lowest gear and managed to climb reasonably comfortably along side Stephen Ward to the top of the hill at respectable speeds of 11 to 13 km/h, despite having an all up weight of around a quarter of a tonne (250kg) to push to the top. Once the top of the hill was reached, speeds quickly returned to 65km/h on the downhill slopes before hitting a top speed of just under 80km/h down a long hill on the main highway.
Once off the main highway and into the rolling Broadlands countryside, the front two bikes pushed on, averaging around 43km/h. It was reported that the chasing bunch, comprised of Bryce Shapley and promising top New Zealand riders, worked extremely hard together and pushed themselves to the limit but time checks revealed that they only managed to pull back 10 seconds on what was now a 3 minute gap to the front cyclists.
The race ended in a somewhat farcical manner as the lead car missed the final corner and took the two front bikes down the wrong road. The error was quickly noticed by the lead car but by the time the cyclists turned around, any chance of a fair finish had vanished. Despite this, both the Kelly Triplet and Stephen Ward arrived at the entrance to the Taupo Events Centre almost simultaneously. The race organiser, realising the error was not of the cyclists making, offered both bikes 1st equal place and this was graciously accepted by all parties.
Overall, the Kelly Triplet and Stephen Ward recorded a time of 2 hours 26 minutes, at an average speed of just over 41 km/h. Just over three minutes later, the hard working chasing bunch arrived and finally saw the triplet again. A three minute gap was a gap of over 2 kilometres on the road. The next tandem arrived in a time of 2 hours 42 minutes. Riders continued to finish over the next four or so hours.
Prize giving was held at 5pm that evening in the Taupo Events Centre. Prizes were awarded for places in all grades except for social. A number of spot prizes were also awarded - some had to be earned by racing to the top of the rock wall inside the Centre. Janne Baker of Hastings won a spot prize in this manner.
The organisers are hoping for a field twice the size next year and this ride is a good opportunity to ride with other riders and on different roads. You also get in some short but serious hill climbing and a good opportunity to ride from Taupo to Hastings the following day!
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