Giant 2w gravity enduro (Rotorua) 2014

Once is never enough I say for this race

Fun, Fun, Fun!!!   what better to do as a warm down from Nationals Racing than this?

The family had planned this race down in Rotorua (part of the Bike Festival) as a day trip, as only a week after the Nationals, the budgets were pretty much shot.

Very generously R&R were letting me borrow a full-sus bike again.  I even got to decide on which bike -Trek Fuel ex8 or the Giant Trance 27.5 slx - oh my god, bike heaven!!!!.

I ended up using the Trek as they had lent the same one to me for the previous race and I knew how it handled (best all-mountain bike everrrrr) which was important since I would have little or no warm up time before hand.

Arriving late into Rotorua I had to sprint to the race registration, who thanks to lovely cellphone calls on the way down, where aware of my predicament.  A quick change, gear on and pedal to the start/finish _ made it to my mates who were waiting to get going with minutes to spare - phew!!.

Once race briefing was finished we waited in line to tag on and go.  Its a streamed start in the centre of town followed by a beautiful ride along the waterfront to the forest trails. When we got to the first shuttle pick up area we found out we were some of the first people to the shuttles meaning we didn't need to wait in a huge line to get on a shuttle.  The resulted in us getting to the start of the first run 30min into our 6hour ride limit - awesome.

Stage 1: This was one of my favorites.  It started with Gunna Gotta (which was running mint with brilliant berms and drops) and then it popped onto the road before a short sprint across to the next track (Katore Jumps). This had huge gap jumps which, if I didn't have the full-sus,  I would not have done. At end of that track was another small road crossing before going into Tickler which had a few drops down before a short, quick full-bore climb to the finish of this stage.

Stage 2: Over to the other side of the forest where we again caught the shuttle to one of the highest point of the forest. This was meant to be the shortest stage following half of Tuhoto Ariki, but boy did it feel long with short climbs, hard wet sharp corners and a lot of pedaling.  By the end of the track everybody was very tired.

The organiser must have been having fun with this area because you then had ride a few km up the track to the next stage - ow! the lgs!

Stage 3: The longest stage of them all, also had a big queue at the start.  Starting with Hatu Patu with a very hard rutted downhill then popping onto a road a while before hitting G Rock which was lovely.  Pumping out of Chestnut into Roller Coaster with its nasty long uphills I was starting to feel buggered.  Heading into the final part of the track which was about 200m long before a straight down to the finish, I was toast!

We then had to head back to the shuttles at the same spot for the next stage.

Stage 4: This was probably the scariest stage for me. Starting on the National DownHill I felt like I had no control. Coming up to a drop which was full of mud caught us by surprise and made sure all competitors had a covering of mud (have to look the part).  A road sprint to the finish ensured all the mud and rock was flicking up into my face and by the finish I looked like I felt - well worn!

Not too far from the 4th stage was the 5th one.

Stage 5: After fluffing around at the start line at the top of Direct Road we finally got the energy levels back to get going on this stage. A road sprint section for 20seconds we then hit Hot Cross Buns, which for those who don't know it, is full of hard drops and sketchy corners on quite a slope down the hill.   Coming out of the track on Pipeline Road we went across to Bunny Jugs which only lasted a few seconds before it was a sprint to the finish.

For the final stage of our race we had to ride 10min back to the shuttles where we had originally started.  By the time we got to the start of Stage 6 we found out we had 45min left of our 6 hr time limit.  Boy had the day gone fast!

Stage 6: This stage started with Corridor and then went into Soak Hole, both great fun trails but technically challenging.  At this point I was the only one of my mates who hadn't crashed.   Murphy's Law - shouldn't have thought it (let alone the trash talk) - I lost it on a corner and went over the handle bars.

No damage to either myself or the bike but the pride was in tatters.  Worse, I had been seen by the others so I couldn't even hide it - epic fail!

As I got back on the bike, my mate Kim was coming up fast behind me, necessitating a very dodgy pass on a lady which made Kim lose me before we popped onto the road - pride restored a little.

Following the side track we had a nasty little climb before entering Exit Trail which was full of drop after drop after drop - OMG! arms, brake fingers, evrything was hurting now!

Getting round the lake front back to the finish I was out of energy, but the nature of this race is all fun - you just feel great for doing it.   As we all caught up and talked about our various adventures it was clear everyone had a great day.

Full credit to the organisers and the support crews for an awesome day.  Rotorua Council and business community, your support is just incredible - really leading the way in adventure tourism and events.  The start/finish in the centre of town was just brilliant - some an amazing vibe and atmosphere.

Thank you very much R&R for the bike for the weekend absolutely loved it!

2014 mtb xc national championships Rotorua

This is was the big one. My final under17s nationals! I needed to prove that I was up there with the top guns.

The Rotorua Nationals are always large races and everybody wants to get 1st. 

Traveling down the day before, we were staying at the Holiday Inn (luxury by our standards) courtesy of complimentary stay passes I had won as a spot prize at a previous event. An easy unpack I then got on my bike and did a pre ride on the course.  Man! in the perfect conditions at 1pm the course was already dusty. It was going to be an interesting race of conditions remained the same.  After the ride I had a lite dinner and then headed off to bed early - tomorrow was an all or nothing day.

7am wake, 7:30am breakfast - I needed to force myself to eat because the nerves were really kicking in, I was actually feeling really ill.  I'm not sure whether this was real or just head games, but  I was way less than 100% 

My family and I rode out to the race venue together.  I followed this up with a good hours warm up, ridding myself of some of the nervous energy.  About 20min before race start, the feelings were back in full force and mum had to get me two panadols just to stop me from vomiting.   They worked! The panadols went straight in to action and I felt like I could do anything.

The day was now hotting up - a perfect Rotorua day.  5 laps of the 6km circuit in theses conditions was going to be fast and intense.  As everybody lined up ready to hear whose name would be called up for a ranked start position I actually started to relax more.   Nothing to be done now but race.

For those who haven't done this before, they group riders in lines of 5, the fastest ranked riders at the front from then the next 5 and so on. When they were calling out the names for the 2nd line my name was suddenly called out, I was very surprised - my heart rate had jumped straight to 130bpm! Boy was I scared.

The organisers called out the race would start in the next 15 seconds, then about 3 seconds later the horn went off.  The sound of 30 competitors clipping in and gunning it was amazing.   The start is one of my strengths and I was bale to make my way through the top 6 to get me into 4th place hitting the first single track. At this point I felt amazing.

I held this position for almost the whole first lap.  I felt great except for a familiar feeling of tension in the back of my quad but just ignored the feeling and pushed hard, determined to keep the pressure on the riders in front.  As I got to the last hill of the first lap I had about 3 people hard in behind me but I was comfortable at a good constant speed.  Suddenly, half way up the hill my leg felt like someone was grabbing my quad and cutting it with a knife - no warning, just sudden excutiating pain!

I fell to the side of the track almost in tears because not only was I losing my brilliant placing, but I seriously thought I had a major injury to deal with.  I was punching and rubbing my legs and (much to my disgust) realised it was severe cramping.  By the time I had any feeling in my leg again I was pretty much in last place (30th).

Sitting there like a basket case on the side of the track I thought my race was over.  The desire to drop out and save the pain and embarrassment of a poor placing was just so tempting!   But no, my stubborn pride kicked (blame that on my parents) _ giving up just wasn't an option.  I was determained to finish this race even if I came last.

It took me a whole lap to reach the race stragglers who I passed with ease getting.  By the end of the 5rd lap I had climbed to 20th,  but the next level of riders had quite a lead on me.  As hard as I pushed I just couldn't make significant gains.  I had a few spills on the track but nothing major and remained in 20th for the rest of the race.

After the race I met up with a few mates who were telling stories of how hard they had found it and the fact that by lap 3 the positions barely altered.  It was amazing hearing that people had really suffered but never the less we all still really enjoyed it.  That's Nationals racing I guess - its a much mental as it is physical.

Prize giving for the morning races where held before the Under 23s and Elite's (afternoon) and I couldn't believe that after weeks and weeks of training, my little sister (who had been given dispensation to race under-age) had reached her goal of getting top 5 in under 15 girls.  Even better - she actually came out the competition with a silver medal. Super proud of her!!!

The rest of the day was spent watching the older rider suffer on that demanding track in incredibly hot temperatures, and experience an amazing sprint finish between Anton Cooper and Sam Gaze.  If I had been feeling sorry for myself in my race, seeing these top riders suffer just left me in awe.   Brilliant race Sam /hard luck Anton (40km at race pace and 1sec in it!!!!) - but inspirational riding for us younger riders.

Thanks Jesse Voza for the coaching through the last couple of months - I felt a huge improvement.  And to R&R Sport for providing the new kit, great bike check before the race and just unwavering support - it means alot!  And finally to Bike Medic (Ants) for customising my bike over the last couple of months and the words of encouragement.

You really can't do these things on your own - its a team effort.