Auckland Secondary School MTB series race 1 of 3 (sanders reserve)

Time as been flying so fast for me after the Christmas holidays. Since school started again, NZ Nationals and now the Auckland Secondary School race series have come in quick succession.

The first Auckland Secondary Schools race is being held at Sanders Reserve, close to Aucklands maximum security jail in Pareparemo. It is a relatively small venue but has awesome facilities, including free hot showers (yeahhh baby!!).

Approximately 5 hours before race start (5am) and I was twisting and turning in bed, surprisingly not thinking about the race, but suffering from a sore ear and a really bad headache - not good.

A few hours later when the alarm went off and the family finally woke up, I managed to get out of bed and get myself ready. I didn't tell the family how I was feeling because I was so keen to race - silly male!  In fairness, my little sister who is only 10 years old (last year of primary school), had got permission to race unofficially and she was really excited, so I couldn't let her down.

At around 9am we arrived to Sanders Reserve, unpacked the car and got the bikes all race ready.

I decided to go have a quick test ride around the trails and they were running so mint.  The course was great - a few technical hills and a lot of technical cornering, but great fun at the same time. Even though I was started to feel a little better I knew that this wasn't going to be a walk in the park, partcilalrly geven the guys I was up against.

As everyone crowded around for race briefing,  I saw old faces who have been racing these secondary school races for almost 5 years plus heaps of new ones that have never ridden a bike before - awesome turnout.   My direct competitors were looking amped and ready to take out the series.

By 10am everyone was down at the bottom of the hill ready for a nice hard sprint to the top of a reasonable gravel road,  before a quick turn into the single track.

One by one the groups started until it was the intermediate boys (years 10,11 and some year 12's) turn.  Like I said in my other blogs because it is my first year in the intermediates I am treating the races as a learning curve before next year,  where I plan to take it all out :)

3, 2, 1 Go!   A loud racket as the 25 riders clip in and start to sprint off.  There was no surprise to see the top 3 which included fellow R&R rider Robin Page make the single track first.

Around 20 minutes into the race and the top 5 racers were about 30-40 seconds in front of me.  At the speed they were going I knew I would need a miracle to catch them.  Half way through the first lap, and after a few people had withdrawn with with broken chains and blown tires,  I had manged to climb to 5th place, still feeling ok.

 Suddenly a friend of mine, Jason, made a move on me and manged to get past.  He started to get further and further ahead of me, and at the same time things started to get worse for me.  My back started to hurt (this was caused by lack of core muscle and me not keeping a straight back) and I wasn't feeling so flash again.

Getting dizzy and wobbly I realised that even though I was only 1 1/2 laps from finishing I was going to be luck just to finish.

Somehow I manged to keep going, but I was feeling horrible.  Just to make it worse I started to get the sharp stabbing pain in my ear.  This race was looming as a disaster for me, but I just told myself keep going, get to the end and it won't matter what you come  -  it was all about finishing the race now.

20 minutes later  I finally reached the finish line feeling totally wrecked!

While I was happy just to have finished, I was annoyed with myself that my core was weak and even in my decision to race. 

I wasn't overly disappointed that I didn't get a placing, and in fairness to me, everyone looked tired with heaps of people having a bad race just like me. It seemed more like a battle of attrition.

My little sister had a great race, even surprising heaps of secondary school students after she got 3rd place (only being 10minutes off 1st) - watch out New Zealand!   I believe we have the next world champ in the making.

 little sis on the left.

Next race will be good for me - I know it.  All I have to do is train hard and prepare for the unexpected. This race was definitely another learning curve.

Product Review: Giant XTC 29er composite 1 2013

 

Giant is a very popular brand and make wide range of bikes. What I've noticed with lots of bike brands they either give you a heavy frame with bad components - which is good for first time riders but when it comes to racing, all you want is a reasonably light bike and good components.  Of course you hope it doesn't cost too much.

The Giant XTC range For Mountain Biking is brilliant, starting with aluminum frames for beginners through to the carbon frame for the more full on racer type.

I was really lucky to get an XTC Composite 1, and have not had a single regret. It was definitely worth the money.

Firstly the frame. The Composite frame is quite chunky looking, but surprisingly light. It holds up very well in all conditions and handles the bumpy stuff easily. I was expecting alot more flex out of carbon but it's actually quite stiff, meaning you can get more power to the pedals. I also like the paint scheme, very blokey and simple. 

Components. The bike comes with a mix of both Shimano XT and SLX which I thought was down spec. I was wrong. I really can't fault anything on it (given the price). My only complaint is that the wheels are quite heavy but normally when you buy a bike it always has bad wheels unless you are willing to pay heaps.

I love the Fox forks - they pump so well on a rough downhill, and when it come to uphills the lock out button allows you to easily climb without the pumping.

This bike has lasted me for almost 1 year now nothing has gone wrong with it. I have made little adjustments with the bike just to save weight and noise. These included narrower 600mm wide carbon handle bars (more preferable for the trails I do).

Also, because I sold my old bike to my little sister, it also meant giving my Shimano XT Shadow Plus so I ended up buying another for the XTC. The standard XT derailleur is alot louder when it comes to bumpy sections (If you want to find out more about the Shimano XT derailleur check this link out:  http://kalenweir.blogspot.co.nz/2012/07/product-review-shimano-xt-shadow-plus.html )  and is slightly more expensive.

The Giant XTC 29er Composite is a great bike I give it a 4 1/2 stars. The only reason I left out 1/2 a star was because of the heavy wheels. It has proven to be a robust and capable MTB for racing and everyday use. Prices range from $3000 to $4000 nz. Weight is between 10.5kg to 11kg.

I reckon that if you added a good wheelset at around $1000 you could drop it below 10kg. That is good value for money in my opinion.

Mototapu/ Rangitoto Dual 50km 2013

The family and I had been planning this race for quite a few weeks. Dad and I had decided that we have to do the 50km since we found the 30km race easy the year before. Mum and Paige (little sis) decided to do the 30km because they thought the bigger distance would be too much for them.

Mum had been worrying about her fitness and had decided that she really wanted to do well in the race so for the weeks ahead she'd made Paige and I her trainers.  We set up a training regime of long and hard rides and runs, which of course helped yus as well.  Quite a lot of fun actually.

Race day, becuase we were catching the ferry, a 5:30am wake up - aagh! Arriving in the city to meet the ferry we ran into our neighbours that live down the road from us and we also caught up with fellow R&R rider Robin page who was planning on doing the race as a fun event with his mate.  in fact it was quite a big crowd in downtown Auckland at 6.30am.

The ferry ride to Mototapu (which is an island linked to Rangitoto - famous old volcano in the Hauraki Gulf) took about about 40min.  Arriving into Home Bay we could see quite a large set up (over 200 competitors across 8 events) with the international off road triathlon competitors already warming up to go.  Even by 8am it was starting to warm up and I could tell it was going to be hot ride.

As we headed over to the Fletchers tent site (this is the team that we got to go with thanks to my Grandpa who we all call Pop) the triathlon started, and a few minutes later the 50km mtb racers were called up for briefing.  It was all go.

At this point I admit I was starting to have my doubts about the race - nervous that if I got cramp and I wouldn't finish the race. After briefing was done they got all of the 50km racers (about 300) to get ready for the start on the long gravel road that extends the length of Home Bay. Given the crowd size I decided that it the smartest option would be to start in the front instead of being crushed and slowed by all the slower hill climbers. An incredibly short count down before the horn went off, before a mad flurry of MTB riders all trying to clip in against cheering from the crowd of spectators and other competitors.

After a frantic sprint I managed to be the first person up the long tiring first hill.  I was able to keep the lead up for about 100-200meters before all the pro endurance racers started to pass me. Luckily only around 7 people passed me while the rest of the 50km pack were slowly falling back.

The race is largely gravel roads or farm tracks and quite high speed for mountain biking. About 3km into the race as we started to go down a steep gravel road section, I was practically all by myself and could only just see a couple of the elite men ahead of me.  My coach from Jafas had kept up a fierce pace and was out of sight.

We crossed over the bridge which separates Mototapu and Rangitoto and as we started up the hill trail of Rangitoto the 1st place triathlete runner went past with heaps of speed - amazing! A couple of minutes later the rest of the top 10 went past.

Up and over Rangitoto with seriously high-speed gravel down-hill (with ambulance waiting at the bottom!) had taken 1hour and I was feeling good.  As we started to head back to Mototapu around the base of Rangitoto, I started to worry if dad was getting closer.  I was determined not to lose to him (because I find that he is way better then me at long endurance races) so I upped the pace a little - still on my own.

As I started to head back down towards the bridge again on a 2-way stretch, all the 30km riders started to go up the hill. As i passed them going the opposite way I kept an eye out for mum and Paige. Sure enough, there they were, ripping up the hill not to far from each other followed closely by Robin and his friend (who was struggling on his down-hill stead).

The round continued around Motutapu and back through Home Bay on gravel roads for about another 10km before we hit farm land. Everyone had been going on about how hard it was and they weren't wrong - it was one of the hardest 20km on grass I have ever done! Not technical - just tough.

As I approached the the last hill of the race, we combined the 30km racers and I suddenly saw Paige and mum racing together ahead of me. As I passed I tried saying encouraging things to keep them going for the last 5km of the race, but it was getting pretty hard to breathe (heat and exhuastion) let alone speak.

I few minutes later I could hear the music in the event camp, and felt relief knowing that I was soon to be successfully finishing 50km.   The last section to the finish line was one large, bumpy down hill on which you could hardy see straight and that sucked all the breath out of you. Going down the hill my hands started to hurt and I want toasted -  It was tragic - I was just hanging out for all the food and refreshments at the finish line.

Less than 5min after I finished, mum and Paige crossed the line having the exact same time of 2:05 hours (not bad for 30km) then around 12min later dad comes back with doing a 2:58 hour race which was also great.

Placings and time:
Paige: 30km overall 4th + 1st in under 20's (amazing for an 10 year old!) time 2:05hours
Mum: 30km 32nd overall  and 14th in masters (40-49 years) - time was 2:05hours
Dad: overall 28th and 15th in masters -time 2:51min
Me: 7th overall  (3 places behind my coach from JAFAKIDS, Jesse Voza) + 1st under20's  - time 2:29hours.

The event didn't finish until about 3pm and we were all shattered.  I was very pleased with my family's results and especially my Grandpa pop who is 70 and successfully finished the 10km walk and with a 5th in the legends.
 
Once we got home, we all crashed on to the couches completely exhausted but happy - great day, great results, great event.

N-Duro Higlander

Friday night after dinner, with nothing planned for the weekend, I got a call from my friend Kim who  asked if I felt like doing the 40km mountain bike as a fun race in Rotorua the next day with him. Duhh!! in Milli-seconds I replied "yes"!!!

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.
                                                                    
   

New Zealand National Championships (Rotorua)

2:00am Saturday morning 8 and1/2 hours before race start and all I could think about was how full-on the Hunua's race had been the previous week, and how intense this race would be.

By 7am I'd actually managed to get some sleep, consumed more than 1and half liters of water and got my bike ready for racing.  I was wired!

The waiting was too much for me - by 7.30am I just had to get out in the forest and get in a couple of laps just to get the feeling of the track before the race at 10am.

Before I knew it, it's race briefing. As the under 17s were called up yet again they left me out! I ran over to a race organiser (who luckily ended up being the one that was meant to change me during registration at the Event Centre the night before - phew!! and  he told me to quickly jump in with the rest of the under 17s and he'd sort out the details.  Unfortunately this meant at the back of the bunch - no one was going to give me a prime spot near the front.

At the 2 minute countdown everyone you could feel the tension in the bunch. At 1minute everyone was right edge. All of a sudden "the race will start in the next 15 seconds"... then the horn! all so quick!

From the back I had a really slow take off from the start line which forced me to ease back from my normal starting style.  I sat on a guys wheel that was going at the same speed as me and after the long painful climb up the entry road it was clear that one of the front-runners had fallen in front of other riders on the short but very steep climb into Genesis. In the carnage that followed I quickly unclipped and ran for it, managing to leap-frog into the top 15.  Boy! you've got to be ready for those chances.

The rest of the 1st lap was the same - I would pass someone then I in turn would be passed - constant leapfrog of positions. By sitting right on the rider in front of me and gassing it at every opportunity I managed to climb up to 8th position. The nervous energy I had before the start disappeared. 

Beginning the second lap my cornering started to feel a bit out of shape but I tried to ignore it and kept pushing hard it. Halfway through the 3rd lap going into the start of Pig Trail as I was chasing fellow JAFAKID Alex Beaven my front tyre lost all pressure. NOOO!!!!!  My race strategy to take no equipment (to save weight) was a silly and costly mistake.  I was too far from the feed zone for help - my race was over!

All I could do now was watch the rest of the fields go past and accept that DNF was my mark this year. Bummer.  That's Mountain biking for you - expect the unexpected, hope for the best!

While I was a little annoyed that I couldn't finish the race I'd been up against the best and had held my own. 






                                                                            

After the prize giving for the Juniors and Masters it was time to watch the Elite and older riders.

As the various groups started to line up, you could see all the media starting to turn up just to get footage of the Anton Cooper and Dirk Peters race the promised to be epic.

I reminded one of my coaches and ex-jafa, Sasha Smith (Piki) that "no pressure" she had to win it and she just laughed at me. She ended up winning the under-23s and got the NZ title - which I knew she could get. So awesome!

The Dirk Peters or Anton Cooper race didn't disappoint either.  After nearly 40km at a blistering pace it all came down to the last corner. The media and spectators were treated to an see incredible sprint finish with only a second separating them. While Dirk didn't beat Anton, both of them were stars - and such gracious and humble racers.  Huge "clicks" to Anton for donating prize money to the juniors - an amazingly generous thing.

Brilliant work by everyone that raced in the national cup serious and championships.  Great day, great people, great event.

 
Anton and Dirk sprinting around the corner.

Anton taking it out.

New Zealand National cup (Hunua)

I have been training for months for one of the biggest races in my career to date, the NZ National Cup Series.

While I had missed the first 2 races out of three (not including the championships) because they were to far away and we couldn't afford them - I was still very excited mostly because it would be my first year in under 17 category.  It was going to be a whole lot harder than last year that was for sure, but I felt ready.

As we arrived at the Hunua event area, the whole atmosphere was amazing - a gorgeous day and really decent crowd (well done Auckland MTB Club!).  I have to admit my heart was pounding! the combination of fear and excitement was offset by the knowledge that there was little expectation for me to win.  I was still really keen to test myself against the older boys who show such amazing speed and skill.

As we all got ready for briefing, the fear and determination was obvious in everyone (making me feel better know that others were feeling the same). All the under 17s names were called up except for mine - odd!!!   I asked a BikeNZ official what was happening and they had told me that I was marked in the under 15s but I didn't question them further and so I went to the back where all the under 15s where waiting.

Once the under 17s and Masters had gone it was the under 15s turn and I already knew who I needed to keep up with - Eden Cruise.   He's very fast for a 13/14 year old and an amazing competitor (and a nice guy to boot) and can hold his own against the under 17's as well, so I knew it was going to be a tough race.

The standard count-down, "the race will start in the next 15 seconds"... these were the worst 15 seconds of my life, then suddenly GOOO!!!!!!  We were off!

Eden and I were neck and neck up to the first corner where Eden managed to nose in front, but I was determined not to let him go. We battled hard for the first 3km until we came to a huge grassy hill where Eden just burst away and was never to be see again until the finish.  Boy was he on fire.

The course was awesome - mostly very tight single track that broke out occassionally into big mown paddocks.  Very hot, very fast and the gravel base on the tracks was unforgiving for any mistakes.

I did the 3 laps that the under 15s had to do, gaining a good lead over the next racer but as I came the finish line (knowing that I got 2nd in the under 15s) the BikeNZ offcial came over and told me that I was meant to be in the under 17s after all.  He said that my registration must have been messed up so at the end of the day they had to DNF me in the under 17s (which sucked). 

Still, I had the great feeling of achieving a second (just not in the right category) plus pushing hard against Eden- great preparation towards the final National Race the following weekend.


    

After the Juniors and Masters prize giving the under 23s would be competing, where I was going to  see Anton Cooper (under 19 world champ) race against Dirk Peters for the first time plus Karen Hanlan and Kate Fluker in the women's.  Everyone knew they were going to be great races, and they did not disappoint.  Most importantly, watching them gave me an idea of how much further I have to go to get up to that level in MTB racing.

It had been a long, tiring and confusing day but hopefully a good build up to the championships in Rotorua - ROTORUA HERE I COME :)

ps. My fellow Jafakids did awesome with some top results and podiums.
Fellow R&R Rider and Jafakid, Robin Page got 5th in the under 17's which was one brutal race - well done!

Auckland Endura Series - Slater Road (race 3 out of 3)

Christmas came early! mum and dad decided to pay half for a new Giant XTC 29'er.

I has been riding a Scott Scale 50 (2011) but like all teens we rapidly seem to out-grow our bikes and I have to say, the Scott was definitely getting too small for me. But when we had to go into R&R to get a spare chain, there was no way I thought I'd be coming out with a whole new bike. The gods were smiling.

For months I had been waiting to see what the new Giant XTC 29er composite for 2013 would be like.  When Doug Wester ran through the improvements with Mum and Dad over previous years it, combined with R&R's sponsorship support (plus trading and selling everything I owned) - I struck a deal with Mum and Dad.  Its not the most highly spec'd machine, but the overall package was great.

But... my size wasn't in store.  Want to know the definition of pain for a mountain biker?  waiting a week for your new bike to arrive and be assembled.

However 1 week before Slater Road, and with Gunnar building it with me in the shop on his day off. I had my babyand life was looking good.

With only 1 week until Slater Road I knew there wasn't much time to get used to it. With a decent Wednesday night ride with Jafakids plus my own training in the local reserves every other night, I started to feel more relaxed about the race.

But one thing didn't cross my mind - even though I had a new bike and had worked out its strengths and weaknesses, I still had to plan out my race. In my enthusiasm, all I had planned was kill it for the whole race, not for a moment acknowledging that Slater Road was all about hills - and lots of them. I was unprepared.

As the family and I get out of the car to unpack the JAFAKIDs BBQ gear all I could think about was what the race was going to be like on a brand new bike. After about and hour of warming up it was time to get to race briefing then slowly everyone started to make there way off to the start line. A short 1 minute call then suddenly it was GO!!!!!

I had a great start and was able to sprint away from the bunch. After seconds we entered the forest and all I could tell was that I was in the top bunch.  My plan was to "stick with Robin (fellow sponsored rider for R&R)" but not even half way through the first lap I could feel myself starting to push way past my limit,  which can be good until you burn out, which sadly happened to me.

Whats even more painful is watching riders race you - one by one, slowly. Aaaagh!!!!

 

 

 

Into the last lap and I had recovered some of my energy and had picked up the pace again.  Even though there was no chance of me catching the top guys up,  I still knew that every placing I regained, counted.  So setting my own race pace I started to embrace the numerous many gnarly hills and slowly I started to pass burnt-out people who now started to litter the track.

When I had reached the finish I discovered I'd made about 4 placings in my category, with placed me into 6th - and I was pleased with this, especially with having just moving up a group, from being in under 14's to under 17.

At prize giving 3 jafakids had claimed top 3 for under 17 overall which had fellow R&R rider Robin page claiming 2nd overall.

   

So bike 10/10 - rider 7/10.

Lessons for next time?  Set my own race pace (like I did with my old bike) and let others take the early knocks.  I'll still go hard and you never know, even in this group, with my new bike, I could soon win.