Thursday 14 July 2016
Athletes were able to register on both the Thursday and Friday prior to the event on Sunday. I chose to do it on the Thursday to leave time to sort anything that unexpectedly cropped up. Wise move.
Our host, Christoph, dropped John and I along with my bike at the Challenge “village”. I took my bike because I noticed the power meter was not functioning on a training ride a couple of days beforehand. I suspected it was a battery, so I was hoping to be able to buy a replacement at the village.
No one was able to assist at the village and we were directed to a bike shop about 20 minutes walk away. A bike mechanic was busy working on a bike with a silver Kiwi on it. The only other person was busy trying to source the skinny wing-like aero bars for an athlete whose bike had been damaged in transit. So we waited and waited. Important to be assertive here because another couple of athletes tried to push in front of me.
Eventually we got the replacement battery and the power meter was all go again.
Lesson 1 – remove battery from power meter prior to flying. I am sure it activated with movement and quietly died as a result of 21 flying hours.
So with the new battery we headed back to the village. I headed to registration and while I queued up, John went back to one of the bike tents with my bike so it could be checked with the helmet and stickered.
As usual, I look so short among the tall male athletes.
After presenting my passport as ID, I collected my green bag and headed back to meet John.
Lesson 2 – do not expect all events that come under the same brand name to have the same steps to race day. There is NO weigh-in like Challenge Wanaka and likewise there is no weight check when you cross the finish line.
I had weighed myself that morning on my hosts’ bathroom scales and was very happy to see a 56.3kg result. A bit of a challenge to maintain a check on weight when travelling and not in your usual eating routine or having your usual diet.
Back at the bike check, the guy looked over my bike and checked my helmet and said it was all good. Then I asked him for the sticker that goes on the bike and helmet. (Remember you cannot rack your bike without these at Wanaka.)
Lesson 3 – forget about Challenge Wanaka. At Challenge Roth there is no bike check at the Expo or anywhere else where you get a sticker on your bike and helmet. Your bike is checked when you take it to rack at Transition 1 on Saturday.
Next I headed to the Official Challenge Fan Shop where I exchanged a special ticket for my Challenge Roth 
backpack. It is massive. I brought my Challenge Wanaka backpack with me and it can easily fit inside it. I intended to spoil myself with some clothing purchases. Something I haven’t bothered with at Challenge Wanaka. I scored a nice black tee shirt, but was disappointed in their other clothing designs including the cycle tops and kept my wallet shut.
There were plenty of businesses displaying their goods. Thursday was a good time to register as it was “quieter”.
A couple of the above images were taken from the top of a specially erected bridge to connect two areas separated by a channel of water together.
Datev is the major sponsor. I believe they provide payroll, accounting type services.
This was the main subject of many images as you can imagine.
The history of Challenge was displayed down the entranceway to the Expo. We spotted Cameron Brown’s name.
Roth (pronounced “wrote”) certainly makes athletes feel quite special with all the banners up.
As we walked back from the Expo to our homestay we saw other notices relating to the impending race day as well as a mural in an underground walkway.
The next blog will be about the swim practice and handing in of the run bag.
Read how the travel to Challenge Roth came about here.
By Di Chesmar
Originally Published: https://dichesmar.wordpress.com/2016/07/22/registration-day-for-challenge-roth/