Bikes

Ash's Bike

• Felt Z5 with carbon frame - road-ready weight: 13kg
• Shimano PDM324 single sided SPD pedals
• Coyote pedal toe clip
• Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres
• Raleigh puncture resistant inner tubes

I bought my bike last year as an all-round road cycle, something to get me out on the road and allow me to cover distance at relative speed and in relative comfort. I didn't put any thought at all into getting a "triathlon bike" or a bike that would make me competitive in any way.

The gear to go with my bike is purely practical. After getting a few punctures on the roads around Oxford, I went for one of the toughest tire and inner tube combinations I could find. It will probably slow me down a little, yet when compared to the time lost from a flat, I think it makes sense to play it safe.

The rest of my gear is mostly made of things I already had, except for the pedals. I bought these with the intention of upgrading to touring cleats (also known as "Clipless Pedals") sometime in the near future. I'm not out to race, so I don't see the point (for me) of getting hard core about cycling and dropping big money on shoes and cleats. I also like that I'm keeping things flexible, and after the C2C I'll remove the toe cages and have the option of cycling with or without the cleats. Seems to me like a sensible approach. - Ash

Will's Bike

I borrowed the bike from a friend who is did my degree with (Alex Lawrence), and have since become really attached to it! Its a mid-range racer which is comfortable to cycle and feels really sturdy at high speeds. I'm hugely indebted to Alex for loaning it to me.

Since starting to cycle it seriously, I have had a new chain, cassette and bottom bracket installed (as well as various less major bits - brake pads, lights, reflectors, waterbottle, pump). The bike came with toe cages (which I'm still getting used to), which probably offer some increase in speed over long distances.

Following endless punctures I decided to fit both puncture-resistant inner tubes and tyres. Even if they do curb my top speed, they will more than make up for this by almost completely eliminating the chances of a puncture. In fact, the tyres / inner tubes are so bulky together that I could probably ride on them deflated (If I absolutely had to!). - Will

Kayaks

We are going to compete in a pair of Looksha IV sea kayaks, made by Necky kayaks. The boats are solid, stable, and quite fast. Of course we won't be very competitive against the custom-made fibreglass multi-sport racing kayaks that the professional entrants will be using, but in the sea kayaks we plan to not capsize once, which is a great way to save time on the kayak stage.

After spending a fair amount of time practicing in marathon boats with wing paddles we have decided that we simply aren't ready to use them on race day. The chance of catching an edge, or having the blade twist away during a power stroke is still too high for us, so again, if we use a slower flat paddle, yet don't capsize, we save time that way. We have simply hired a pair of flat white water paddles, which we are very used to and will serve us well on the day.

A massive thanks to Bill from Lyttelton Kayaks who are supplying our boats for the event, he's a nice chap and very helpful!

Running

Not much to say here, we're just taking regular trainers and some comfortable backpacks for holding all the safety gear we need.

Miscellaneous

Comms

We are getting a SIM card from Telecom NZ for use on the day by the support team. We want to use data more than voice or sms, and coverage is limited (official map) for the course. This will limit how many updates the support crew are able to put out during the event. The C2C organisers have arranged an extra base station at Klondyke Corner, as shown on the map to the right.

We also own a set of Baeofeng BF-888 UHF radios for the support crew to use on the day. It will help them coordinate moving the bikes and kayaks around. And they're good fun! :)

Live SMS Updates

The C2C organisers offer a paid SMS update service for interested parties. To make the most of this I have configured an old mobile phone here in the UK to receive messages, and then upload them to the web server as they come in. The end result should be quite neat, though with the frantic preparations there has been little chance to test it properly. If strange messages start appearing on the front page then it's all my fault! - Ash