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!
