Early morning wake up to get my gear ready for the 6am pickup from Kim and his dad.
After a fun drive down together we arrived at Rotorua at 9:30. Quick reregistration then we met fellow R&R rider Robin Page who was getting ready for the 80km national title race.
After a quick warm up Kim and I couldn't wait to get on to the trails. At 10am we watched Robin sprint off with the sight of glory in his eyes on his 80km epic. By 10:30am Kim and I were at the start/Finish ready to go. We had decided to make this a fun ride and have a good time, particularly because the promised rain hadn't turned up.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1 GO!!! Kim and I set off with the bunch. We felt great, nice and relaxed. 10km into the race we had managed to catch up to a guy who seemed to be serious about the race but wasn't very quick on the uphill so Kim suggested that we stick with him up the hill.
After 20km we reached the highest point in the race and were ready for the time of our life, going down the Billy T track (If you ever go riding in Rotorua, I definitely recommend it). The guy that we had been sticking with finally earn't our respect with whipping down the hill super fast. Kim and I managed to real him in again a few km later.
Approaching the 30km mark Kim and I didn't feel to tired. Kim suggested that for the last 5km we should sprint, to not only look professional but also to see who was quicker out of each other.
A couple of minutes later as we're on the gravel road, as I reached down to grab a drink, Kim who was at that time a little further up ahead, started to scream at me and suddenly burst off. I couldn't understand what he was saying - I thought he said look behind so I take a look behind me, nothing? Then suddenly I figured out that we must be at the 5km mark already!
I started to sprint off after him. About 200m up the road was the entry to the next trail, but I entered it I had too much speed into the corner and just went over the handlebars. As I picked myself up off the ground, the guy that Kim and I had passed earlier wizzed past. I did not want to lose to him so I got back on my bike quickly and gave it some gas.
2km left and the poor man had stopped on the side of the track because of his seat - bummer, that's mountain bike racing for you.
As I entered the 2nd to last trail I could see Kim in the distance. I thought that I could catch him, only problem was that there were a lot of technical corners to get through to. As I reach the open grass area the rain had finally started and I could see Kim crossing the finish line, BUGGER.
Once I finished, Kim and I started to tell our story to each other about our exciting last 5km. Awesome riding.
Only 1 hour later Robin comes through, having just finished double the distance we had ridden, earning a national gold medal - Congrats Robin.
