Auckland Grammar Secondary School, race 4, finals (Woodhill)

Out at Woodhill at 8.15am and straight into warming up before the 9.30am race start. I'm leading the points board just but one wrong move could change everything. Slowly all the race organisers and competitors start to arrive. I was sick since last weekend and I thought that I was over the flu but think again Kalen!

9.15am and it is time for race briefing and the course doesn't sound to tricky. Actually it sounded pretty fun.

The course was starting from the overflow car park then up trough the main gate into Powerball and on to Thai Massage. this was to be followed by Big Mama, Cry Baby and Book-A-Bach, with a drop down the side back to the start line. A 10km full lap. I would be doing one and a half laps.

9.30 and all the competitors are on the the start line, first off were the senior boys with a flying start, followed by the intermediate girls and boys who were just rockets, and lastly, the junior boys and girls together.

5 seconds 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!!!!!!! off we go.  After the first hill I realised I wasn't feeling 100%. Very quickly I had slipped back into second place and had a bit of a headache. I knew now that it was going to be a tough race.

Half way through the first lap I had dropped to 3rd, but luckily I had a bit of distance between 4th. By now I was feeling terrible and had to quickly jump off my bike and run into the bushes for a vomit (let me tell you first hand it is not easy getting back on your bike after a vomit).

                             

                             

                             

                            

After being sick it was all just a mind game. I knew that I would be lucky to even hold 3rd place. It was a really tough lesson in hanging in there and not giving in. BY the time i cross the finish line I just had nothing left in me. I had been able to hold 3rd place but i was wrecked. Jake Cragg (1st) and Owen Chang (2nd) had been going like rockets the whole race and had got in well ahead of me.

I was now sure that this poor result would mean that I had probably lost my 1st place in the series. At prize giving i discovered I had 1st equal with Jake Cragg, but because he was not yet at secondary school was ineligible for a medal. It had been a really tough season of racing between the two of us, and it was nice to see him get acknowledged anyway.

At the end of the day we all had fun (see below, having a great time up on the podium). Thanks R&R for the great clothing I got to race with.

                               

                               

 

                                

                             

   

                            

                                                                                                          

Thanks to all of you for a great series of races.

Auckland Grammar Secondary School Seires Race 3 (Whitford)

From past experiences I knew Whitford was going to be a tough race. I wasn't disappointed. The combination of another Jon Hasler (Race Organiser) course with recent rain, led to a 5km circuit capable of unsettling any rider.

I knew this race was going to have some tough competition. From the start Jake Craggs, Owen Chang and Hayden Schuurman put me under alot of pressure with a 1km sprint up the forestry road. By the time I hit the single track into the forest my legs were already burning, with Jake hot on my tail. And he did not let up. I just could not shake him.

Half-way through the second lap I'd managed to get a slight lead. Taking a slippery downhill corner with too much speed resulted in a "close encounter" with a tree - and I came off second best. While I picked myself up off the track, Jake flew past. Now the chase was on!

I rapidly discovered that Jake is one determined young man! As hard as I tried, I just could not reel him in - leaving 18 seconds between us at the end. Awesome effort Jake - great racing. Even more impressive considering that he is not at secondary school yet.

 Big thanks to Jon Hasler and his crew for another great racing event.

PS. Thanks to the ambulance crew for tending to my bruised body and ego. 

PRODUCT REVIEW: Shimano XT Shadow Plus rear derailleur

One thing that has always annoyed me in Mountain Biking is the derailleur and chain rattling around. So I was pretty excited when I heard that Shimano had brought out a derailleur with a clutch that would eliminate this. The Shimano XT Shadow Plus rear derailleur is one of the newest products that shimano has brought out, and follows the release XTR version earlier this year.

The big plus (excuse the pun!) was the cost. In the end it was not alot more then the standard XT replacement i was looking at, and a fraction of the cost of the XTR version.

 My experience so far (2 months) on the full range of trails and in a number of races, has been fantastic. Even on very bumpy trails when you expect your derailleur and chain to bounce around, the XT Shadow it is super smooth and quiet. In a race I can now sneak up on an opponent, even on a gnarly Downhill.

The other cool thing is that it has a release leaver on the top, that when activated, makes it just as easy to take the rear wheel on and off.

Improvements? If I was being really picky, then it would be that you still get a teeny, teeny bit of chain-slap still, so a bit more tension within the mechanism would be great - but it's still a huge upgrade for any rider as is.

Rating out of 10: 7.5/10

I reckon it's worth the investment, cheers Kalen

Sunday, 8th of July was race 1 of the winter N-Duro series and I decided to go and try the 45km race. This was the longest race that I have ever done. I wanted to see how hard it was to keep going over a long distance.

5am wake up, out the door, a 2 1/2 hour long drive with the family to the Whakarewarewa Forest in Rotorua. Temperature was -1 and everyone was in their leggings and arm warmers (boy was it lucky I had the warm R&R clothing).

9.45am was race briefing and straight away everyone looked pumped. 10am at the start line ready to do the 45km race and there were some big names doing the race including NZ Representative Karen Hanlen who will be going to the Olympics.

 But back to the start line 5 seconds left 4, 3, 2, 1, GO!!!!! and off I go trying to stick with Robin Page (sponsored rider for R&R sport too) and the pace was really intense. By 10km into the race I could already feel the burn with huge gravel roads to climb up.

At 20km I was still going hard but had fallen behind Robin.

Hitting the 30km and I was getting very tired. My goal now had reduced to just keep going and finish the race. As I reached the 40km mark I'd caught up to my Dad. He was doing the 30km race but didn't look very well. He just told me to go on but by that time I could feel cramps starting and wasn't feeling that confident about finishing the race either. But there were alot of encouraging riders on the trails who helped me push through this race.

At the end of the race I was absolutely pooped but very happy that I'd finished.

At the end of the day my family were all happy with the results, and all my friends had done well. But what made me really happy was that I had achieved my goal of finishing my first 45km race in a respectable time because I'd followed exactly what Sadie (Jafakids coach) said for me to do.    

Welcome

HI! I'm Kalen and I'd like to welcome you to "Just Plain Weird". Here you can follow my Journey as a Mountain Biker as I travel around New Zealand doing what I love.