I've just spent a glorious weekend down in a quiet part of the Coromandel. The weather played it's part and the days were crisp, clear and windless. The company was excellent, laughter flowed, fun was had and the Kaos Kreators caught Piper galore.
The drive down went over the Kopu-Hikuai hill, and, as is always the case, I find myself staggered that I can ride that Hill as part of the K2 and view it as one of the easier climbs. The only reason for considering it as easy is, that relative to the cluster of climbs between Whitianga and Kereta, it's gentle in grade and can be ridden with a modicum of decorum by me. Driving it, it looks steep, goes on for an eternity and is preceded and followed by a series of short bergs. Yet again it frightened me about the looming K2 and just how well prepared I am, or am not.
The K2 event, has been for me, a scene of implosion and suffering several times over, but it has also been a scene of triumph and satisfaction. In the second edition of K2, I, as per normal, had imploded somewhat short of the finish. EM towed me from Coromandel to the finish in Thames, he waited while I crawled up the hills, he stopped while I had an involuntary lie down with another rider on the outskirts of Thames. Then in a fit of rare competitive spirit from me, I sprinted him in. The records for the event that year show I finished a place ahead of him. Never mind that he'd waited, towed and sheltered me for fifty kilometres, I had a brainfart and jumped him on the finish as we rolled in.
As time passed this became a bit of a button that I'd press on EM when the opportunity arose. Finally, one night, three and half years after the day of disgraceful behaviour from me, I pressed the button quite firmly. EM reacted by wanting a wager for that year's edition of K2, which like the last time we rode it together, started and finished in Thames. His initial wager failed to cause me any anxiety, so he rapidly increased it. Suddenly it was two thousand dollars, I was still pretty calm, then he wagered, as well as the cash, a night with my Domestic Commanding Officer. It was around this point that the female in question realised the stakes I was betting. She wasn't too perturbed, but EM's Spousal Unit was a little more concerned, probably by the fact that if he lost, she'd have me to contend with.
In the cold light of the following day, and over the subsequent weeks I realised I truly had a tiger by the tail. At least I have a well developed sense of self worth and a fool's optimism, these two traits served me well in these period. The upside of the wager was that, suddenly, I was encouraged to train, and train properly, both by my own pride and by my Spousal Barnacle. The war of words started in earnest between EM and myself, both of us running smokescreen and spin campaigns.
I went into that year's K2 better prepared than ever and cracked out my best ever time. Unfortunately for EM, business commitments grew greatly in that period, he was unable to train enough to even just ride the event, let alone defend his honour, and he had to withdraw his entry and the wager. Shame really, I was looking forward to the money and a night with his betrothed.
This year, I am riding K2 again, I have a plan and am training well, I just need that added focus, is there anyone who wants to wager their family?
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