The last 2 months - the condensed version!

We headed out on a road trip to the 1st N-Duro in May – along with several other Wellington mountain bikers. I was a little apprehensive, but hoping things would turn out OK. I tagged along a on ride that included some of NZ’s fastest XC riders in the pouring rain and slushy mud on Friday (big mistake). I was slow (and felt even slower), struggling with the wet and slippery trails and just generally miserable as I groveled along trying to keep the others in sight. This really got me thinking about how out of my depth I was going to be in the race on Sunday. Race day started out well – I got to chat to Catherine while warming up and on the start line… I didn’t see her again until the finish! I felt slow off the start, got held up on the single-track climbs, then did my best not to hold anyone else up. I felt that I was flowing a little better as the day went on – although I was off and walking on far too many descents. I finished tired but OK… it wasn’t until others started talking about their times that I realized quite how far away I was from where I hoped to be. There are plenty of excuse cards that I could play (and others have played on my behalf) – but they don’t change anything. It was a fairly harsh wake-up call that set off a rough few weeks for me.

I was distracted for a few days when I hit the tarmac courtesy of a Rav 4 that failed to give way at a roundabout in Porirua. Minor damage to me (mild concussion, a couple of bruises), broken forks, buckled rims and written off helmet. Way to take my mind off navel gazing for a while!! I took a couple of days off the bike to recover, then back into both riding and the mental storm. My poor coach bore the brunt of this storm – I also owe thanks to Shane and Lisa for putting up with my whining. Solving this problem isn’t going to happen overnight… but it will happen. It’s currently a work in progress, and my main goals have changed a little.

I took a relaxed approach to the next N-Duro. There was a whippet-fast ride going out on Friday – having learned my lesson I bailed out of this early on and left them to tear the course to shreds while I enjoyed a nice chatty ride with Paula and Geoff who were also up from Wellington for the race. The ride finished in true roadie style – at a coffee shop in ‘town’. The next day I went exploring the beginning of the course with Lisa, who very kindly backed her pace off for me and patiently waited while I plodded my way along the trails!

The details of the race have faded a little – but generally, once things had settled down from the initial mayhem, I passed some people on the climbs, they passed me back on the descents… my main focus for the day was to stay positive regardless of how I felt I was riding or how the race unfolded; I had lots of chances to practice this during the day! I arrived at the finish during the short course prizegiving (which is always fun…) and headed back to the van to collect my thoughts. Overall, I felt better about this race than the last one (luckily there was plenty of fire road) and managed to stay up-beat about things. Several of the Welly crew ended up with well-deserved podium spots, which was a nice finish to the day.

I’d planned to head to Taupo for race the next weekend – I wasn’t sure whether to enter, but Shane was going to race so I’d be there anyway. After a quick chat with coach towards the end of the week, I got the go ahead to race. I can’t say that I was really looking forward to it – my legs were pretty toasted after the N-Duro. We went exploring the trails on Saturday and I felt like I was towing a very large and reluctant elephant behind me. I enjoyed the trails that we rode, although they were unfamiliar they were more forgiving than those I’m used to – apart from the odd demon rut and scary bridge! The race itself was a mass start with both short and long courses starting together. I got held up a lot on the initial climbs – I have a lot to learn about assertively calling and passing! Things settled in to the now familiar routine of me passing Dean up a hill, him passing me back on the way down, repeat … it was nice to have some company on the pedally parts of the track, though. During the race I rode a couple of bridges that I’d wimped out on the day before, along with enough scary (for me) stuff to be happy overall. There’s a lot more that I probably could ride if I got determined – and I’m sure it will still be there when I go back! The trails were fantastic and a real credit to the hard work of the local mtb club. I managed to get back before prize giving and, although well out of the merit prizes, I was stoked to win a lovely Pear Izumi riding top courtesy of Top Gear Cycles.

No traveling for a month or so now – time to knuckle down and work on all of the things that I need to do before my next 24hr!