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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…
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