Old Legs, Fast Mates, and $3.50 Glory: Leeston Bunchy with Bite! Christchurch, Canterbury ⛅

{"raceId":16083339721,"athleteId":2188545,"name":"Old Legs, Fast Mates, and $3.50 Glory: Leeston Bunchy with Bite! Christchurch, Canterbury ⛅","description":"What a pearler of an evening — 20°, nor’wester doing its thing (just enough to keep us honest), and a bunch full of bike-mad legends all up for a bit of pre-weekend racing therapy.\r\n\r\nWe rolled out from PMH at 4:30pm, probably 20–30 of us — a proper crew. The kind of folks who don’t just ride bikes, they race them. And to be honest, we couldn’t for the life of us work out why more people don’t get amongst it — there’s nothing quite like testing yourself alongside your mates.\r\n\r\nLinked up with the Lincoln crew, doubled the numbers, split the bunch in two for safety’s sake. I jumped in with the fast lot — we left five minutes behind the steadier group and reeled them in about 5k out from Leeston. The Southland-bound scratch boys were ticking along at a calm 44km/h in zone two (as ya do), so we tucked in, enjoyed the tow, and rolled into town buzzing.\r\n\r\nRace time. Big field — reckon about 55 of us. Bit of a reroute thanks to rogue roadworks and annoying traffic islands, so we were down a K, but no one cared — energy was high and legs were ready. We had a tailwind and an agenda.\r\n\r\nOur crew: Cody Hawke , George Bishop 🇳🇿 , Justin Booth , Jeremy Heathfield, Si Fe 🇮🇹 “The Italian” — and yours truly. Absolute weapon squad. We lit it up early. Simon dropped on the Mount and Jeremy somewhere soon after, but four of us kept punching on.\r\n\r\nSidewind on the third straight was a bit grippy, but no drama. We caught the front just after the final turn — headwind from there. We chucked it in the gutter (bit cheeky, sorry-not-sorry), and tried to keep the hitchhikers to a minimum.\r\n\r\nFinal K — Cody and George launched. Justin couldn’t hang, I had a dig, went around but couldn’t make it stick. Gave it everything, exploded beautifully, and watched the second break come past like a freight train. Adam from scratch jumped onto the back for good measure — fair play.\r\n\r\nHonestly, the buzz at the finish line was magic. Smiles all round. Proper racing. Three bucks fifty! Where else are you getting that kind of value with legs this cooked?\r\n\r\nRolled home with a scatchie and Isaac Eaton doing the honours on the front. Side-headwind the whole way, warm air, good yarns. Two-pint night at the Lab — yarns with Isaac, Russell, Greg, and… that top bloke whose name always escapes me. Sorry mate, one day I’ll lock it in.\r\n\r\nRussell vanished before the ride home — either Houdini’d ahead or got the call from domestic HQ. I took the long way home anyway — night was too good not to. Earbuds in, good beats, legs still humming. One of those rare nights where everything just clicks.\r\n\r\nWrapped it all up with a chinwag to the lad before hitting the hay around 10:40, still grinning.\r\n\r\n😍 Best training status\r\n🐶 Free Training (moderate intensity)\r\n🚵 Flat ground Ride\r\n🧀 Fat 55.2%, 🍞 Carb 44.8%\r\n🕯️ Matches 14.5\r\n🔋 Maximum discharge 81.8%\r\n\r\n\r\n🔗 https://strava.com/clubs/riduck\r\n\r\n---\r\nWeather Report: Scattered clouds, 21°C, and the wind was blowing 15km/h from W","distance":116480.0,"elapsedTime":21256,"totalElevationGain":153.0,"type":"Ride","sportType":"Ride","workoutType":11,"startDate":"Oct 9, 2025, 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