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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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