This is the 2nd race in the Auckland Secondary Schools Series (AKSS). The first one was at Hunua which also doubled up as the North Island race, in which I came 5th overall but 2nd in the Auckland kids, which I was very happy with.
It was a beautiful day at Riverhead, but for the people that don't know the place, can get very very muddy with even the smallest amount of rain. Since we are now into the winter season and because there had been rain during the week there was no way this is going to be a dry course.
Lately I have been practicing trying to control my nervous energy before races and surprisingly my techniques were working. For this race I was not concerned about what my finishing position might be but improving my own performance.
Once all settled in at the base camp area, I warmed up around the forestry roads so I would be ready for a hard 1st lap.
As the organisers called us down for race briefing (which lasted only 5minutes) we were straight over to the start line. It was a surprisingly big race field and I was slow to remember that now I was into the older group, the earlier the start.
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| the start with the under 20's at the front |
First it was all the boys and girls of the under 20's and then it was the under 17's - aka my group. I secured a good spot on the front line and was ready to go.
My plan was to take the start not too hard (and not too easy) and try place myself in the top 5 for the first lap or two and then build up. But as the horn went off I started to get people closing in on me trying to box me in so I made a break for it, getting out of the squeeze just in time. Well - so much for that plan, but I had a good gap on the rest of the field.
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| me at 1st place after making a break for it |
For the first 10 minutes I was at the front of the bunch going at a great pace. The course was very very muddy - peoples wheels were going everywhere and soon I was joining the chaos. It seemed that every time you would slide out it would take a little piece of your energy until there was nothing left.
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| me in probably the driest section on the track |
By the time I got to the end of the first lap I was only just holding 1st when I had a major wheel spin session which saw 2nd place over take me. I had low-traction race tyres on and I was begining to regret that decisions.
I tried hooking on behind the new 1st placer but I my energy was already sapped. The longer the race went on, the more my energy went and so did my positions - it was killing me.
As I reached the last 1km of the race I felt horrible.
It seemed that the top 5 of my category had gotten a whole lot quicker over the past few months. I was at 6th place trying hard to reel in 5th but every time I got close my wheels would wash out again with the extra speed - so,so so frustrating.
I confess at that point my goal was just to finish. Entering the last little track section I could even see the 7th placed rider gaining behind me. How could this be? Seeing his happy face seeing me gave me the boost I needed to get over the line.
When I finally reached the finish, I was exhausted (and I confess, not feeling very happy about my performance). I had made some serious errors in judgement and I knew what I had to improve on. The major lessons - don't run dry weather tyres in wet muddy conditions, and understand its going to be an endurance race so skills, not speed.
Paige (little sister) did very well and finished 2nd in the under 15's as a guest rider (since she isn't in secondary school yet). I think my training with her is working. Totara park is the 3rd race of the series and lets hope I can prove myself better there.
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