I seem to be going backwards with my Karapoti attempts. This ‘adventure styled’ MTB race falls just one week after Nationals and I struggle to pull my head around it during this time – Karapoti is quite a different style compared to the UCI format of racing and to be honest I hadn’t really thought about anything past Nationals.
So yup terrible chain suck and a lost head made for a bumpy race. I was riding round at the back of the Elite Woman’s field thinking about how I was going to be ‘beer bitch’ that night (what happens if I post the slowest time out of the Wednesday night bunch) and contemplating how much fun that was going to be…
Going up ‘Dopers’- the final hill, I could see Sarah up ahead, with my competitive nature I instantly got back into the spirit of racing and I started to have more fun. From there I just rode strong picking people back off to finish 3rd place in the Elite Woman’s category. Annika took the win and was the only chick of the day to go under 3hours, Nic not to far behind was third.
One of the highlights of the day was the fact that Rob had posted a slower time than me! With his ‘handy man hat’ back in his shed, Rob thought he could fix his bike by bashing it with a stone. The only problem with this resurrection scheme was that Rob’s gear cable was in the way of his rock… bugger or him… as a result Rob earnt himself the pink apron and was the “beer bitch” for the rest of the night!
Rob did a great job though, as everyone was sitting around the fire late at night Rob was still wandering round person to person collecting their emptys and replacing with another full bottle.
Top performances of the Day came form Trevor – riding his 17th sub 3hour Karapoti while convincingly winning his old boys class. And yes, Dad too rode sub 3hours… kicking my butt. Dad sure picks the right race to have his one hit wonder on, so I have to let him have one more year of bliss.
Having the Nationals at home in Wellington was just the best ever. For the two weeks leading up to the race I got to be back at home; sleeping in my own bed, eating all mums cooking and baking, and learning the course inside out with Trevor. Then on race day my family and friends were there to cheer me on and help me race the biggest domestic race of the year. Conditions were perfect.
I had an all right start, was first Under23 into the single track with Katie just behind me. When the track widened again I started picking my way through the Elites field. Once I had made it to the top of the first climb everything just hurt and that’s how I felt until the end. I just put my head down and did what I could to hold it together for the four laps – The course was super demanding so this really required a lot of control.
As soon as I made it to the finish I was just the happiest ever. I felt smashed and sick from the heat but I had the Under23 National Champion title in my pocket and later got presented with my first ever National Champs jersey! … Along with the 3rd place Elite Woman’s medal – Not sure what that was about? Monique Avery was Second and Adrienne Hooper placed third. Katie unfortunately was ill to begin with so had to pull out.
That evening Jane took us (Waiariki’s MTB squad) out for dinner. We were all a bit messed up one way or another but it was a great way to finish of the Champs. Next up Karapoti!
Our 2010 National Mountain Bike Championships is tomorrow! After a 12 month wait it is finally almost happening. Nationals is the pinnacle event of mountain bike racing in New Zealand, drawing our country’s top racers together to fight for a National Champion title. It is D-Day. Top form will be brought to the start lines as many are looking to looking to cash in on months of hard training. Selectors for Worlds will be there – each anticipating to be WOWed by some fast racing on great tracks and this is all happening right here in Wellington.
On Saturday I will competing be in the Cross Country event on Mt Victoria. This is a multi lap 7.3km circuit race that incorporates tough climbs with tricky descents. PNP Cycling club have done a great gob creating this challenging circuit into a top class racing track. It is such a good course to have Nationals on!
Preparation for this very event has been ideal. I have ticked off all the hard training, racing, bonded with my flash as bike and have progressed well with the guidance of Waiariki’s Academy of Sport and my coach Trevor.
I’m looking to do well on my home course, in front of my home crowed but I know this won’t be easy. Competition in my Under23 Woman’s race is tight; Monique Avery and Katie O’Neil will certainly be hard to beat. It is going to be an exciting battle out there, everyone biting tooth and nail to get that National Championship title – Bring it!
My race in Hamilton this weekend went terrible! I felt as flat as the track and just couldn’t get into it. I think I have just done so much racing now as a ‘build up’ that I am getting a bit over building and just can’t wait to hit up Nationals! The track was pretty crazy; a thin hard packed trail that turned and twisted every 2m around a flat bit of land with a bump chucked in here and there. With this section of land that was available the organisers did well to make a course out of it, it was real spectator friendly but far out… Hamilton needs to plant themselves a hill!!
Off the mark I didn’t have a very good start heading into the single track, since passing room was scarce Eloise managed to open up a gap from there and hold it off till the end, getting her first Pro Elite win! Katie and I were riding around together in 2nd and 3rd place for a while until I started running out of gas. It was getting pretty hot in the heat and I wasn’t concentrating enough heading into the final feed zone so I dropped my bottle pick up – that sucked! Half way round the final lap Monique stormed passed me and I just did what I could to get to the finish… where a bottle of water was waiting!
I was always planning for Hamilton to be my last round before nationals and I am going to stick with that decision not to compete this weekend in Rotorua. Nationals is only two weeks away now and that is the race that counts so I’ll head home to Wellington, rest up and dial in what I need to so I can race at my best there.
Big thanks Jane and Waiariki for some great prep/skills sessions this past week in Roto!
Today’s race in Tokoroa drew the largest and highest quality fields for the series to date. All the North Island crew were there and a lot of riders had made the trip up from the south. I was placed second behind Nic Leary who is riding really strong and local Michelle Bellamy wasn’t far behind in third. I’m happy with my result after my weeks training load and considering the course was so flat. There were only a couple of short climbs in every lap but they each made for a good fun down hill. Next weekend will be my final national series round in Hamilton before I head home for Nationals!
Wahoo! I sent my ‘a’ into ‘g’ for this final round of the South Island Cup and came up trumps. I had a good race finishing first, kept all my skin attached to my body and I walked away with a special white envelope!! Since this round was a selection race I made sure I didn’t have legs of lead on the start line, this made the race so much more fun – I could finally ‘go’ and then keep ‘go-ing’. Amy and I had another good battle for the first part of the race, once I passed her heading up a slippery bank I just rode at a controlled pace till the end.
I reckon this was the best National Series course laid on for us so far, it was pretty tough and good as. The course incorporated most of the tracks they had used for Nationals last year with some new ones thrown in to form one big mother of a climb, suiting local climbing gun George Bennett as he won the elite men’s race. Now it is a weekend off racing to be at home, finally and sleep in my own bed. Then up north and into some more racing as the North Island series begins.
Some good photo’s from this SI cup race can be found here.
It was the biggest Elite Woman’s field today ever. Standing on the start line I felt crowded by the nine other girls around me – crazy! Then two minutes later we were off into it, racing around the funnest track in Bethune’s Gully. It was the same course that Oceania’s will be held on in March so it was good to have a race on the track now to know what we will be in for later. Two days ago when we arived here in Dunedin it was mud slush city, the track was just loose everywhere but it had dried up heaps by this afternoon, making it pretty fast. Amy Liard cleaned up again, Sara McDonald was just behind and I finished up third.
I got a brand new Jamis bike two days ago, complete with everything flash - carbon this and Sram XX that it’s pretty pretty! The geometry is real different compared to the Dragon though, but hopefully it won’t take long to get use to. Having two chain rings is way better, having a gold chain makes it meaner too and having componentry that works again! You can’t beat that. Next weekend is the South Island Cup final in Nelson. This round is a selection race for Worlds meaning everyone will be going harder and less tired to begin with so it should be a good test!
Today was one of those days where I just didn’t get it right. Round one of the South Island XC Cup was in Christchurch on a great course with heaps of fun switch backs and rollers. It was a hot day out racing though, which stuffed my body up. I tried to keep pouring liquids into my body to stop it from cooking (like it did last year at Timaru), I must have over done it or something because when I was on lap 3 I couldn’t even keep water down so that was the end of anything going in. Me and Amy were having a good old battle once my goose was cooked she busted off ahead. I was hanging out for the finish when on my last lap (number 5) I broke my chain. I ran and pumped my way to the finish as the rest of the field passed me.
That’s how it goes; the chain didn’t break because of my ruthless power rather because all the running gear on my bike was past worn out. I am getting hold of my new bike on Tuesday and was hoping like mad my bike would hang in there for this last race. Sometimes hope just doesn’t cut it. Oh well it was a good hard day training at least. I will keep testing out some different drink mixes and goos until I can find something that works.
Amy Laird took out the Elite Woman’s title today with a stellar performance on her home track. Amy has fully switched codes for this year getting stuck into cross country and selling her DH bike. The Elite Men’s field was dominated by Brendon Sharratt with young Anton Cooper not far behind.
The next XC round of the SI cup is in Dunedin next Saturday. It will be held back in Bathoons gully which is another great track! I’ll try again there and see if I can deal to a few hick ups, to make sure I am absolutely positively sorted by the time Nationals rocks around – that’s the big one!
Day three was ugly. There were so many crashes and the worst one happened just behind me in the bunch. Something must have been happening up the road so one of the officials cars suddenly drove to the front of our bunch and slowed down. The bunch was made to lose speed in a hurry and people nearing the rear of the bunch weren’t aware of what had happened in a hurry up ahead. Some riders must have jammed their brakes on and over lapped wheels, about 12 girls went down and five into the hospital. It is the worst sound and feeling ever. Katie was just behind the beginning of it but used her mountain biking skills to ride through it. Monique was riding on the other side of Katie and was forced to go down on top of another rider, she was lucky to escape unharmed and eventually carry on riding… Her brand new shiny Merida bike is written off now though, with a stress fracture and chip in the carbon frame. We were all pretty shaken up and none of us finished very well in today’s stage. It is a shame to finish the tour on a bit of a low but at least none of us got injured AND we had three great hearty days of training! The tour was actually pretty fun, racing on your limit and to keep racing once your smashed too see how deep you can dig. My legs are going to be hurting for a few days still but after that surely they will be ready to start some mountain bike racing!
Today hurt. Those roady girls cracked me and now I am smashed. This morning in the 70k road race the smack went down heading up Spooners, like it does every year. I was maxing out to get to the top in a good position as the field was torn apart. I painfully rolled over the top in a good bunch of about 7? There was no let up as a few leaders had got away and we had to catch them, many ounces of energy later we managed to do so. Then it was still hard, there was no time to recover and my body was hating it. When we hit the bottom of rays saddle my legs couldn’t go any harder so I got dropped. I rode the next 25ish km solo as did Nik Leary who was 400m up the road from me. 5km from the finish we both got swallowed up by the next bunch with Katie and Monique. I am a bit gutted to get dropped from the bunch and to have expended all that energy to gain no time. But at the same time it was awesome to have a go and see what I can do and also check out how hearty New Zealand’s top roady girls ride.
This afternoon we had to do a 19km time trial around a lumpy circuit. It wasn’t very fun, I was really tired and just couldn’t go fast. I lost heaps of time and 11 places down to 26th. Katie got her angry face on in the TT and had a good one as did Monique, only seven seconds apart and they both held their own in GC, 18th and 22nd. At the moment we are all stoked that tomorrow is the LAST day, one more 80km road race to go. After that we can have a sleep in and just be beach bums for while…. Can’t wait.
Rob did a great job though, as everyone was sitting around the fire late at night Rob was still wandering round person to person collecting their emptys and replacing with another full bottle.
