Katan’s Story

Katan meets 85k Headwinds Head On!

“A journey of a thousand miles” or “Achieving one’s personal best, but…”

This year (2011) I was one of 9000 plus entrants on Saturday 26th November challenging myself yet again for a consecutive 5th personal best on the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge. If someone had told me six years ago (around the time I was introduced to road cycling) that I would feel comfortable wearing tight-fitting lycra cycling shorts and vest I would have laughed out loud. I was working as a restauranteur and at only five foot four inches (164cm) and weighing in at 85kgs, my body figure personified my occupation.

During these ‘heavy’ years my left knee developed ‘issues’, forcing me to give up my passion for playing hockey and cricket and leading to me stepping back to take on junior coaching roles for children’s teams.

The Early Days; Setting out on the road to Tough Mental Stability.

• 2006 my Dad was diagnosed with cancer.
• 2007 On the 26th May my Dad lost his fight to cancer.
• 2007 In June I was diagnosed with stress-related health issues. These included the onset of high blood pressure coupled with excessive cholesterol and type two diabetes. Taking the prescribed medications was a wake-up call to get myself into healthier shape.
• A good friend introduces me to road cycling and I dust the cobwebs of my younger brother’s old (pink) steel-framed bike.

My “journey to a thousand miles” started with me struggling to do 10 press-ups (on my knees), finishing up gasping for breath during MusceXpress and ThaiFit classes and then struggling home for dinner. I desperately needed a goal, and I only found this when I first registered for the Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge, the headline event being a 160km bike ride around the Lake Taupo, held on the last Saturday of November each year. Other options for relay riding and endurance events are also offered along with a mountain bike challenge and more information on these can be found at www.cyclechallenge.com

‘Harden up!’

After my father’s death in 2007 training for the event had its challenges. My mind began to play tricks and my motivation was periodic, as most new experiences involve swinging away from comfort zones both mentally and physically. To counter this I rode several events with a ‘cycling buddy’. I also attended more gym classes at Lifestyle for additional support.

I completed the “Tour De Whitemans” (100kms) coming in last, 1.5 hours after prizegiving was completed.

The Martinbrough/Featherson event taught us both how to ‘bunch ride’, only to experience pain and nutritional deficiencies. We also did weekend rides that had us collapsing with fatigue on completion. When I look back now, man we were bunnies, and our results and agonizing body aches reflected this.

Our first Taupo experience was a real ‘family affair’, with a large group attending as our entourage and support crew. I completed the event using an MP3 player (naughty I know, but I found the music, some of which was religious, helped drown out the pain and help me to stay focused on the task at hand).

I did this first ride for my Dad, reaching the finish line with a time of 8hrs 20mins. Christmas that same year, my son and I fulfilled his last wishes, taking his ashes back to his home place in India. To date the first year was the most gratifying experience and memorable achievement, as this was well outside any of my known comfort zones.

In the year 2008 things started getting serious. I purchased a new carbon-framed bike. My cycle buddy and I had a further two new ‘cycling buddies’ to deal with, one of whom I had introduced to cycling. He purchased the same deal bike I had, he also joined up at Lifestyle and we knew that we needed to lift our training program. We focused on our fitness training at the gym and did the same group of rides prior to Taupo including road riding as further prepatation. That year I bet my personal best by 59 minutes (why not round it off to one hour) with a time of 7hrs 21mins. Unfortunately within our ‘tight four’ I still came in last!

Tragedy Strikes; April 2009

By this time my three ‘cycling buddies’ and I had ventured great distances on our bikes seeking new events and courses to ride, April 2009 we opted to do the Forrest Estate Grape Ride in Marlborough. During this event the close friend that I had introduced to cycling had a major accident that left him wheelchair-bound.

This left us all mentally and physically drained and even today when we ride we are constantly reminded of how we nearly lost our friend. However we are thankful that we are still able to be there for him and he has in some way impacted on our lives. Keeping this in mind we dedicated our next Taupo Challenge to him. All three of us broke our ‘Personal Bests’ that year and I knocked 45mins off my previous PB with a new Personal Best of 6hrs 36mins, But I STILL came in last of the three of us!

Whoohoo!!!

I was now weighing in at 70kgs and Taupo 2010 was my year! I was engaged in the entire process, my gym routine was double the work rates within the class workouts (I even used a heart rate monitor to check how much effort I was putting into the workout). I was competing with myself to better my heart rate each time. The gym activities changed to a point that I drew inspiration from others around me and also challenged other gym buddies to also push that much more.

Teaming up with a close friend enabled me, once again, to train outside my comfort zones and draw motivation from within. It became enjoyable to finish training sessions with sweat pouring off my brow and cap. Some days I was even attending three classes! I had early morning starts and evening classes, man I even gave Zumba® Fitness a go!

That was when my family began thinking I was going nuts! But I was determined to carry things through. I used the training music I carried on my MP3 whilst cycling to draw on motivation and inspiration. It was up to me how dedicated I wanted to become. I changed my diet by cutting back the sweets and getting in to the fruits and protein bars. I was drinking up to 4-5 bottles of fluids during my workout sessions. The nutritional aspect of working out and training is no secret… we all know what we should be doing but find it difficult to adhere to, that is ‘calories worked off should be greater that calories consumed’. In 2010 I could almost swear I had abs growing as I watched! Leading up to Taupo my training was focused and dedicated to being first over the finish line. This year I really KICKED BUTT and came around the Lake in 5hr 49mins (sub-six hours whoohoo)! This was 47mins off my previous best. Better still, of our little group I was finally in 1st position!

The 5th consecutive year 2011

As I am riding various emotions flash through my mind, my setbacks, those whom I love, the effort that goes into the training and friends I’ve made along the way. I’ve now finished my fifth Taupo around the lake event. I’m so excited; I push a little harder next time, as I realise this is really, really hard! Many cyclists may not have reached their potential Personal Best due to the adverse weather conditions that put us to the test this year. Big pine trees swayed in 85km winds making for a strong head wind or cross wind. But that’s no excuse for my time of 6hrs 20mins. It won’t break any records, but I have completed my own challenge and set myself a target for next year. Hopefully next time, with some more training, I’ll get back to first place.

For the record:

“A journey of a thousand miles you’ll only ever now if you’re outside your comfort zone”