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Saturday: Well, it had to come around again sooner or later… that time when I end up spending silly amounts of time on the road to toughen up my legs (and other places) to prepare for 24hr events. A later-than-planned Friday night put paid to any plans I had to ride early, so by the time I had finished work, prepared my bike, fuel and sorted myself out it was nearly mid-day. Thankfully the weather decided to co-operate and it was a beautiful sunny day, marred only slightly by the ever-present stroppy northerly. I headed out from Porirua to Karori (via Makara), down Tinakori Rd, around the Bays, along SH2 and along to the end of Petone Esplanade, where Shane had parked the van. 4 hours down – half way! Yippee! Swapped my empty bottles for fresh supplies of Perpetuem (that I’d frozen the night before, so were still nice and cold, yum), and applied the sunscreen that I should’ve put on to start with. Ooops. Anyway, onwards – back along the Esplanade, up SH2 and towards the Akatarawas. The internal i-pod was stuck on repeat; Pink’s “Sober” was the track of choice! At some point I looked down at my watch to see 5:01:20. About 10 minutes later I looked down to see 5:01:48… the world had gone in to slow motion! Luckily things reversed as I reached the climbs into the Aka’s – I managed to get to the sawmill without remembering how I’d got there! Pretty sure I didn’t teleport, but who knows… I had a couple of close calls with oncoming traffic further up – just as well I’m not a few inches wider!! I finally reached the top, basked in the sun for a few seconds, then headed back down, dodging boy racers and inhaling the refreshing smell of cooked brake pads (not mine). Soundtrack had now shuffled to an 80’s number “live it up” (I think by Madness – appropriately!) and some more forgettable tunes. Shane was waiting for me at the base of the hill – one hour to go! I turned towards Te Marua then headed along Whitemans Valley for the final stretch. Met my wonderful hubby again with 30 minutes to go – he handed me a bottle of coke, flattened with a splash of Powerade – my favourite ‘getting to the end of the ride’ brew! The last half hour sped by – capped of with me getting laughed at by refusing to stop a second before the 8 hour mark!! 201km in 8 hours. Not fast – but what I’d been aiming for. Tired, but not totally broken.
Sunday: Only 3 hours – easy as! Yeah, right! My enthusiasm ran out about an hour into the ride – not helped by my friend the northerly. Did a combination of the roads around Pauatahanui – first part of Moonshine, Bulls Run, Grays Rd, SH 58 – and to the summit of Pakekakariki Hill… then a couple of hill reps to make up the distance. 2 hrs and 57 minutes. Close enough would be good enough today!! Got home and proceeded to eat at least my own bodyweight in food (or it seemed like it)! Phew. Day off tomorrow. Yay.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Summer Holiday - Chapter 2... and back to reality
Friday – woke up sore, tired and generally grumpy. Crawled out of bed late and, after a quick check-in with Coach, decided to take the day off. So – while Shane made like a grom and hit the shuttle trails I dealt with the growing pile of smelly and muddy bike clothes (ewwww!!) then spent a couple of hours restoring my bike to its gleaming glory… poor thing deserved some love after a pretty full-on week. My chain and cassette are actually silver, my forks glowing white and the frame shiny red.
Saturday – Today’s mission was Gunna Gotta… to see if I could come close to clearing it. I’d met this trail when I attempted the Winter Series a couple of years ago and to say that I wasn’t ready is a massive understatement!! All went well – I decided to leave one rather daunting steppy rooty section for another day, then stopped to session a small root that was on an angle. Finally got it, then round the corner to a more challenging section! Sometimes not having time to think is a good thing, as I lined that sucker up and (apparently) rode the best, but trickiest to get to, line. More grins. Time to head on back and get sorted for tomorrow’s race and the long drive home. Then for the highlight of the day – tagged along (on foot) with Rita and Emmeline to look at the Dual Slalom course behind the camp grounds. Emmeline demonstrated just how it’s done – track stand at the start, massive speed through the corners and beautiful floating jumps. Then watched Rita nail the nasty, tricky jump over the grom pit of doom (well, that’s what it looked like to me!). On the way back Emmeline treated us to a demonstration of her trials skills – on her XC hardtail, seat in place, wearing full-face helmet!! All I could do was sit in awe, cheering and clapping as she bounced her way onto, around and over the giant picnic table. She is one talented lady, for sure.
Sunday – race day (again). We arrived nice and early (as did my nerves). Yakked for a bit, caught up with Megan (Dimozantos, Nz 24hr Womens Champ) who had raced the NI Cup in Auckland the day before. After a quick warm-up (totally inadequate as it turned out) I lined up at the back of the pack and we were off!! A lap around the paddock, then out in to the forest in my usual sweepers position! I was surprised by how fast they all took off – in previous (winter) events I’ve had no trouble keeping up for the first few km’s – mind you, they used to start up-hill!! On my own through Tahi, Creek, bush-bashing section (yes, really… head high foliage and all!), then a couple more trails and up, up, up to No Brains. I’d made a mistake in assuming the climbing would be all on fire roads; although most of it was, there was a fair amount of over-grown muddy grass and track to gingerly work my way through. I passed a few riders on the steep road up – and they all passed me back down the single-track!! I walked a large portion of No Brains, as expected. I’m sure more of it is rideable, but another day, maybe. The photographer put his camera down in disgust when he realized I wasn’t going to provide any action over the log steps, which were the scene of much carnage and face-planting by those brave enough to ride them. With a huge sense of relief I finished the dreaded trail and headed off for Pondy Skid. As Shane had predicted (sometimes he is right!) a hard line had formed, so I was able to ride and tripod most of the way down. I managed to pull back the riders that had passed as we went up another hill – and I was stoked to stay away from them for the rest of the race. Small win – normally I would have been passed back through Pondy/Roller Coaster etc. Old Chevy gets more enjoyable every time I ride it – save for the pinch climb that I muppeted! Things suddenly got way more exciting when my front brake faded half-way through the trail!! Seems like a rascally air bubble had finally made it’s presence felt as my lever went all the way to the bar with minimal effect!! Oh, well, not much downhill left – so on I went, taking things a little more cautiously (yes, that was possible!!). I caught a couple of weary 25km racers on the way home - would have been a long day out for them! Up the Pig track, tootle through Haro, bumpy bump bump down the horse track that the Moonride uses (was a little scary with negative braking power), I still had legs, so powered (haha) over the finish line in 3hrs 17min. Slow, but not last. And – I was back way before prize-giving!! Funnily enough, due to the lack of Masters Women entered, I also came 3rd by default!! I was disappointed with the way I rode the first part of the course, along with my attitude towards No Brains – but other than that I was generally pleased with how the day went. This was another chance to test my fuelling strategy – Hammer Perpetuem (http://www.hammernutrition.co.nz/) seems to well and truly agree with me – I went through 2 bottles during the race and still had energy left at the end (OK, so next time I’ll work harder!!) . I downed a much-needed coffee while we sat through prize-giving, then headed for home. On the road again…
And back to reality. I went to have a play on Mt Vic, with the thought that maybe, after my progress at Rotorua, I would be ready to race the NI Cup course. Erm, no. It would appear that any skill and/or confidence that I gained in Rotorua had remained there. I proceeded to fall off several times on an easy piece of track (one that I had crashed on just before we went away) and end up riding as though I’d never sat on a bike before. Might as well have been banging my head against a tree for all the progress I was making! Cue tears of anger and frustration, and a thoroughly bewildered husband! Luckily, Lisa happened to come past – giving a sterling demonstration of how the trail should be ridden – and suggested that I put the bike away for the day and write it off as being “one of those days”. I guess sometimes you’ve just got to walk away and save your energy for a day when the planets are better aligned, or something! The good thing to come out of this (am trying to be positive!!) is that it made me get off my backside and book some individual coaching with Dodzy (http://www.mtbskillsclinics.co.nz/newsite/) at the beginning of February. I don’t expect them to work miracles (although that would be nice) – but I feel I’m lacking in some of the basic skills that I need to survive on the bike. I’ve done a couple of their clinics – so I am really looking forward to learning some cool new things, and being reminded of things that I’ve forgotten.
Saturday – Today’s mission was Gunna Gotta… to see if I could come close to clearing it. I’d met this trail when I attempted the Winter Series a couple of years ago and to say that I wasn’t ready is a massive understatement!! All went well – I decided to leave one rather daunting steppy rooty section for another day, then stopped to session a small root that was on an angle. Finally got it, then round the corner to a more challenging section! Sometimes not having time to think is a good thing, as I lined that sucker up and (apparently) rode the best, but trickiest to get to, line. More grins. Time to head on back and get sorted for tomorrow’s race and the long drive home. Then for the highlight of the day – tagged along (on foot) with Rita and Emmeline to look at the Dual Slalom course behind the camp grounds. Emmeline demonstrated just how it’s done – track stand at the start, massive speed through the corners and beautiful floating jumps. Then watched Rita nail the nasty, tricky jump over the grom pit of doom (well, that’s what it looked like to me!). On the way back Emmeline treated us to a demonstration of her trials skills – on her XC hardtail, seat in place, wearing full-face helmet!! All I could do was sit in awe, cheering and clapping as she bounced her way onto, around and over the giant picnic table. She is one talented lady, for sure.
Sunday – race day (again). We arrived nice and early (as did my nerves). Yakked for a bit, caught up with Megan (Dimozantos, Nz 24hr Womens Champ) who had raced the NI Cup in Auckland the day before. After a quick warm-up (totally inadequate as it turned out) I lined up at the back of the pack and we were off!! A lap around the paddock, then out in to the forest in my usual sweepers position! I was surprised by how fast they all took off – in previous (winter) events I’ve had no trouble keeping up for the first few km’s – mind you, they used to start up-hill!! On my own through Tahi, Creek, bush-bashing section (yes, really… head high foliage and all!), then a couple more trails and up, up, up to No Brains. I’d made a mistake in assuming the climbing would be all on fire roads; although most of it was, there was a fair amount of over-grown muddy grass and track to gingerly work my way through. I passed a few riders on the steep road up – and they all passed me back down the single-track!! I walked a large portion of No Brains, as expected. I’m sure more of it is rideable, but another day, maybe. The photographer put his camera down in disgust when he realized I wasn’t going to provide any action over the log steps, which were the scene of much carnage and face-planting by those brave enough to ride them. With a huge sense of relief I finished the dreaded trail and headed off for Pondy Skid. As Shane had predicted (sometimes he is right!) a hard line had formed, so I was able to ride and tripod most of the way down. I managed to pull back the riders that had passed as we went up another hill – and I was stoked to stay away from them for the rest of the race. Small win – normally I would have been passed back through Pondy/Roller Coaster etc. Old Chevy gets more enjoyable every time I ride it – save for the pinch climb that I muppeted! Things suddenly got way more exciting when my front brake faded half-way through the trail!! Seems like a rascally air bubble had finally made it’s presence felt as my lever went all the way to the bar with minimal effect!! Oh, well, not much downhill left – so on I went, taking things a little more cautiously (yes, that was possible!!). I caught a couple of weary 25km racers on the way home - would have been a long day out for them! Up the Pig track, tootle through Haro, bumpy bump bump down the horse track that the Moonride uses (was a little scary with negative braking power), I still had legs, so powered (haha) over the finish line in 3hrs 17min. Slow, but not last. And – I was back way before prize-giving!! Funnily enough, due to the lack of Masters Women entered, I also came 3rd by default!! I was disappointed with the way I rode the first part of the course, along with my attitude towards No Brains – but other than that I was generally pleased with how the day went. This was another chance to test my fuelling strategy – Hammer Perpetuem (http://www.hammernutrition.co.nz/) seems to well and truly agree with me – I went through 2 bottles during the race and still had energy left at the end (OK, so next time I’ll work harder!!) . I downed a much-needed coffee while we sat through prize-giving, then headed for home. On the road again…
And back to reality. I went to have a play on Mt Vic, with the thought that maybe, after my progress at Rotorua, I would be ready to race the NI Cup course. Erm, no. It would appear that any skill and/or confidence that I gained in Rotorua had remained there. I proceeded to fall off several times on an easy piece of track (one that I had crashed on just before we went away) and end up riding as though I’d never sat on a bike before. Might as well have been banging my head against a tree for all the progress I was making! Cue tears of anger and frustration, and a thoroughly bewildered husband! Luckily, Lisa happened to come past – giving a sterling demonstration of how the trail should be ridden – and suggested that I put the bike away for the day and write it off as being “one of those days”. I guess sometimes you’ve just got to walk away and save your energy for a day when the planets are better aligned, or something! The good thing to come out of this (am trying to be positive!!) is that it made me get off my backside and book some individual coaching with Dodzy (http://www.mtbskillsclinics.co.nz/newsite/) at the beginning of February. I don’t expect them to work miracles (although that would be nice) – but I feel I’m lacking in some of the basic skills that I need to survive on the bike. I’ve done a couple of their clinics – so I am really looking forward to learning some cool new things, and being reminded of things that I’ve forgotten.
Some stills from the video my lovely hubby took of my crash last month…
Summer Holiday - Chapter One
You remember when your teacher used to make you write about what you did in your summer holidays?? I feel like that now… a week away and so much to write - not to mention dealing with an accursed laptop keyboard!!
Thursday - loaded up the bus, met Celia at Paremata and set off for Rotovegas. Yee har, road trip! We went exploring with Celia and played ‘guess where the course goes’ - got most of it right! Celia cleared everything easy as - it took me a little longer, but I managed to ride the race section of Hot Cross Buns. More fun and games with rooty sections (!) - then off to Rotorua Thermal to set up camp. It felt a bit like the whole of Wellington had shifted to the smelly city for the weekend!!
Friday - Jo and Shane went exploring, Celia and Ashley went for a fast pre-ride and Lisa was under instructions to have a very easy day after competing at the Tour de Femme in Nelson… so she rode with me!
Saturday - Race Day! Confusion at registration where there were 2 masters classes listed, as well as U23. Wasn’t a problem to me - I was out for a training day and was never going to get near the podium - but I was surprised that the classes were still being clarified on race day, among other things… anyway, it all turned out OK in that Masters Women was one combined class with 5 entries (can you guess where I finished yet??!) The gun (yes, gun… scared the crap out of me every time it went off!!) sounded and we were off. I took up my usual position at the back of the field, where I pretty much stayed for the entire 2 laps. Played swapsies with Amy - I’d pass her up the hill, she’d pass me on the way back down… felt even more like home when the masters and senior men started to pass me - Hiskey, Dave, Ricky, Tony and Angry Clive all rocked on past on their final laps… I got to check out more than my fair share of lycra-clad Bushlove butt! The detail of the race doesn’t seem so important now… my main aim was to ride some stuff that would have scared the pants off me a few months ago - and I finished the race with pants intact, although in last place. Something clicked for me during the race - Robyn and Lisa have both been telling me too ‘look ahead’ since forever - and I finally managed to work out what they were on about (I’m a slow learner). Tracks started to flow and I started to have fun in the final trail before the finish. I could’ve done with a couple more laps, but never mind! The day finished with a relaxing soak in the hot pools, then in to ‘town’ for a feed at Nando’s, where hot = mild! (Thanks to Jo for the picture that I stole...)
Thursday - loaded up the bus, met Celia at Paremata and set off for Rotovegas. Yee har, road trip! We went exploring with Celia and played ‘guess where the course goes’ - got most of it right! Celia cleared everything easy as - it took me a little longer, but I managed to ride the race section of Hot Cross Buns. More fun and games with rooty sections (!) - then off to Rotorua Thermal to set up camp. It felt a bit like the whole of Wellington had shifted to the smelly city for the weekend!!
Friday - Jo and Shane went exploring, Celia and Ashley went for a fast pre-ride and Lisa was under instructions to have a very easy day after competing at the Tour de Femme in Nelson… so she rode with me!
Saturday - Race Day! Confusion at registration where there were 2 masters classes listed, as well as U23. Wasn’t a problem to me - I was out for a training day and was never going to get near the podium - but I was surprised that the classes were still being clarified on race day, among other things… anyway, it all turned out OK in that Masters Women was one combined class with 5 entries (can you guess where I finished yet??!) The gun (yes, gun… scared the crap out of me every time it went off!!) sounded and we were off. I took up my usual position at the back of the field, where I pretty much stayed for the entire 2 laps. Played swapsies with Amy - I’d pass her up the hill, she’d pass me on the way back down… felt even more like home when the masters and senior men started to pass me - Hiskey, Dave, Ricky, Tony and Angry Clive all rocked on past on their final laps… I got to check out more than my fair share of lycra-clad Bushlove butt! The detail of the race doesn’t seem so important now… my main aim was to ride some stuff that would have scared the pants off me a few months ago - and I finished the race with pants intact, although in last place. Something clicked for me during the race - Robyn and Lisa have both been telling me too ‘look ahead’ since forever - and I finally managed to work out what they were on about (I’m a slow learner). Tracks started to flow and I started to have fun in the final trail before the finish. I could’ve done with a couple more laps, but never mind! The day finished with a relaxing soak in the hot pools, then in to ‘town’ for a feed at Nando’s, where hot = mild! (Thanks to Jo for the picture that I stole...)
Sunday - a day of two halves. Met up with Celia, Ashley, Tony and Clive in the morning. The boys, tired from racing, decided to behave nicely and not try to race each other… yeah right! Headed through Haro, finally clearing a small step that I’d previously crashed on… on to A-Trail, Tickler, BRN2 (clearing another previous crash scene - seems like I‘ve crashed on every trail!) I was lagging behind most of the way - generally suffering from OTA syndrome and getting frustrated with my lack of speed.
Sunday - PM. Met up with Lisa who was out for another very easy ride (coach said no hills!) so we cruised along Tahi and Creek, on to Dipper (which I finally rode, having watched a small boy demonstrating it to his mother), then on to Grinder (yep, I’d crashed there too!) It was fairly challenging for me, survived OK, down a rooty section to OMFG a HUGE (not really) log with a tree in front of it. Being assured by Lisa that “it’s rollable” I had a couple of false starts, then went back up before the rooty section and off I went… yippee!! Over the log in one piece! What a rush! Had to stop cos I was shaking like a leaf, but YEAH! We carried on for the rest of the trail - Lisa yelling “rollable” whenever we came to something that looked dodgy, and, sure enough, they all were! It was one of those days where stuff just goes right, helped hugely by having someone to help that knows my limits and that I trust not to push me past them. Don’t know if I’ll do the log again in a hurry - but it’s done! Then it was time to head back to camp and eat. Eat lots!
Monday - Should’ve packed the tea and biscuits for the troops as we set out on a long-ish ride. Gav, Ricky, Rae, Clive, Shane and me… the others could’ve had a full on picnic waiting for me at the end of the trails (apart from Gav, who just looped around to ride the trails again). I still have unfinished business on A-Trail and Tickler - both rooty sections that I have yet to ride. One day, one day… Luckily everyone else was in cruise mode, so I got to chat on the uphills. Had only myself for company on the downhills, though… it was all on through Corners - I meandered my way down, getting caught out by the odd root and muddy patch. Ricky, Rae and Clive bailed after then… rest for R & R and horse riding with the family for Clive. If coach Lisa is reading this - Ricky didn’t pedal - honest!
Gav was keen for more riding, so we headed up (and up) to Billy T. I decided to practise my standing climbing - which it turns out is much easier when you lock your forks out (durr - thanks Gav!). I had a couple of moments on Billy T - which is easier and drier than when I saw it last - but was starting to get the hang of looking ahead and riding stuff that, while relatively easy, would have been unthinkable for me 6 months ago. As Shane got tired and I got more confident the amount of time he had to wait and the end of the trails reduced… until we got to the last part of Old Chevy, where the boys went into race mode! My legs were still OK, but my poor brain was fried with the unaccustomed effort, so went up Pig Trail, Turkish Delight, Exit, back to camp for more food. Lots more food.
Tuesday - the rest of the Wellington crew rolled out, headed for Auckland. We had a lazy start to the day, then went exploring… found Baja Trail and Mossy Loop - which was more like Prickly Loop as it was very overgrown with thistles - ouch. Continued around the lake to the jetty, where we stopped to dip our feet in the water and watch the dragonflies… then up, up, up to Pondy DH - where I chose not to ride a ‘steep drop’ - which is nothing tough, but labelled as steep - then Pondy New, Rollercoaster, home… for food. Again. Riding makes me hungry!
Wednesday - had to phone home to see how the cat (Wednesday) was getting on… she’s being well looked after and cuddled by my 2 nieces. Went for a short night ride to test some lights - the lovely folk at Bike Vegas had loaned me their demo set of ay-ups, which I wanted to compare to my current home-builts, and a Night lightning unit leant to me by Colin. I did a few laps of an old part of the 24 hour track to get my eye in - I’m not a confident night rider at the best of times, and the last time on dirt under lights was the Day Nighter! The ay-ups pretty much blew the other lights away… so now I need to save up (or sell some surplus body parts) to get a set before the N-Duro 24 hour at the end of March. I was surprised how easy they were to ride with - riding down Exit Trail was almost easier than it had been in daylight! The most fun of the ride was when we took the long way home via the trail around the lake - lots and lots of possums appeared. A couple popped out in front of Shane and charged off ahead of him along the track - so of course he had to chase them! One ducked into the bushes, then appeared pretty much under my wheels. Ka-thump! Sorry, fella. Stopped to grab an ice-cream on the way home - was a perfect clear night, so what else would you do but ride through town just before midnight eating ice cream and talking?
Thursday - was another great day in the end. Didn’t get off to a great start, though… We’d decided to pre-ride most of the N-Duro track for Sunday’s race, much of which I was familiar with, but I’d never met No Brains (the trail) before. Sorted out the one root that I was fighting with on MIYD, then up, up, up to No Brains. At least there’s plenty of fire road for me to make up time on the real mtb riders! The first part of NB was tricky, but OK. Then right down a newly dug chute and the fun began. Lots of technical descending with roots and rocks - not the sort of thing you can just aim and hope at, but the kind of obstacles that require precision riding as well. I was a little bummed to have to walk so much - but I had been prepared to do so. Then a walk down Pondy Skid - ruts and braking bumps and wetness - I am a wuss and walked! Then in to Pondy DH etc… had the best ride I’d ever had down there, the trail just seemed to flow and I was grinning like a mad thing. Down the ‘steep drop’ (pfft!! What drop!!) Grin, grin, grin, all the way back down. Finished the day with some skillz work practice on Rosebank – which should have been a bad idea after a 3.5 hour ride. W00t w00t – rode some scary (for me) stuff – and finished up at a section that Shane made me stop and look: at a step-down(fully rollable) into a left hand corner. He showed me the smoother line – but that involved much more precision. So – back up the hill I went, over the roots, gentle drop off the step, turn left and down over the next steps. Such a magic feeling – just saw the line and went for it!! Days like these I fall in love with my bike all over again.
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