Nelson Nat Champs 2012

Second in the NZ national champs for 2012. I was keen to make up for the past two weeks races but at the same time I was a little nervous to see how the body would hold up for the full race distance at full gas. The track was a big climb up the gravel road then a single track decent, up another gravel pinch climb, with the rest of the track being single track pinch climbs and some fast decents. It was a hot and dusty, fun track to ride but it kept you on your toes all the way, with rocks and tree roots being exposed with every lap. Running my 2.2 GEAX AKA tyres was the best option for this track and the bike was feeling good. During my warm up the legs were feeling slow and didnt want to play the game, this was causing me concern but I blocked it out and focused on keeping the race under control up the first climb. Carl went off like a rocket off the line but I knew it would be hard to keep that pace all the way up, I pushed on and rode up to him half way up and then moved into the lead for the first decent. I opened a small gap before Dirk caught up towards the end of the first lap and moved into the lead, I knew I had to ride my own pace and let Dirk go as I didnt want to go too far in to the red this early in the race and blow later. I had a BIG moment on, (yep you guessed it) lap 3 and almost rag dolled onto rocks! kept it up and kept the hammer down. 6 laps, a couple other silly little moments over shooting corners and getting tangled up with lapped riders and the hurt was over. Second across the line behind Dirk (still u23), 1st senior for me (although he is still U23, mtbnz dont enter a U23 grade when entering the Nats with UCI). All in all a good hard day out and it looks like the form is on its way for late Feb early March!        

Chch, round 2

After three seasons of physio during the week while back in the north island, My knee was feeling better but still not 100%. I was told it was ok to race as I wont do any more damage, its just about dealing with the pain. The race track was similar to last years track, with one big climb (changing pitch all the way to the top) and then a decent that wound its way down with open sweeping corners, tight corners, drops, rocks and the list goes on. An extension to the climb was added at the start of the lap this year with a couple little rocky sections to make life that little bit more challenging.
Race day and it decided to rain in the morning, After riding part of the climb in warm up I decided to change my tyres from the BARRO RACE to the AKA 2.2 as they are still a fast tyre but have a tad more knob to bite in on the climb.    For the first time in a very long time I was called up on the second row and with a short sprint into a hair pin I knew things would get interesting. I had an ok start and made my way up in to 2nd or 3rd but the time we hit the tight stuff, I was sitting in 3rd when we hit the main single track part of the climb dropping to 4th just before the top. I held 4th for the next couple laps while we pulled a large gap on the rest of the field. I was feeling ok, the knee was hurting a bit but I could push through it. About 1km from the end of the lap on lap 3 I hit a rock with the back wheel kicking the bike side ways and popping my foot out of the pedal and into my front wheel, as my foot entered the wheel it snapped half the spokes on one side of the wheel. This was enough to stop me and almost put me over the bars, my front wheel wouldnt turn through the fork so I had to push the bike on the back wheel for the rest of the lap. By the time I made it to the 80% area I had 8sec to pass or I would get pulled out of the race, as I didnt have a spare wheel in the tec zone I let the 8sec pass and that was my race over. The thing with being lapped out (instead of pulling out DNF) is I still get points.
The next day the guys in basic bikes fixed my wheel (all new spokes) I had a massage and we travelled up to Hanmer. After a play on the tracks it was off up to Nelson to get ready for the Nat champs this weekend.  

Round 1 2012 national series

Round 1 was held in Dunedin "Dunas" over the weekend. I had a niggle in my right knee a few days before flying down. It was a new track this year with a 10min climb gaining about 205 virt meters and then a decent dropping us back to the start finish, the track was going to be a very tough race track. Throw in some rain and the climb became unridable in parts on Friday. The decent also became challenging, even just to keep the bike up right and on the track meant you were doing well in places. I flicked some GEAX GATO tyres on as they were going to be the best choice for the conditions, giving me grip on both the climb and decent with out loosing to much rolling resistance. During Saturday practice the climb dried out and was fully ridable again but the decent stayed wet and slippery. During my couple laps I had a "moment" and my front wheel slipped off the track thanks to a small rock garden mixed in with the mud, as my wheel slipped off the side of the I steeped out with a straight leg and turned that niggle in my knee into a lot of pain! Ice was the first point of call at the end of the lap and a few other things to try and settle it down once we got home. Race day I decided to use a bit of strapping tape to try and support it and stop any over extending during the race.
I had a good start and was able to hit the front on the first pinch of the climb along side one of the two Aussies that had made the trip over (chasing UCI points), Part way up the climb a few riders slipped past me and opened a small gap, I decided to ride tempo to look after the knee a bit (as it was already hurting) and also as it was going to be a hard day out and there was a good chance of people blowing and coming back later in the race. On the way down the hill I had a few "moments" and gave the knee a few more reasons to hurt, By the time I was on the third lap I was mostly using my left leg to do the work and that dosnt work while trying to keep you balance on the slippery tree roots and rocks, so I decided to shut it down before I did any more damage as I would rather take a few days to recover at the start of the season and have it sorted for the up coming races. It always sucks having to stand there and wait for the leader to come through to lap us out but at least this way I could get a few points (and every point helps).
I have had the knee looked at and have a couple more physio appointments during the week so hopefully I can have it ok for the weekend so I can race in Christchurch"Chch".

A weekend of racing

I didnt plan on racing this weekend, but on Tuesday I found out about a cross country eliminator being held on Friday night. I decided it would be a good hit out and a good way to see what the eliminator was all about as it will be held for the first time at the National champs this year. With a small turn out (all 12 of us) and about a 1 minute lap it was all over rather fast. Rounds with 3 or 4 riders on the track at a time with the winners going on to the next round until there is only 4 riders to make up the final. I was able to make it into the final after a few good battles and a couple (gentle) head butts to move a rider over as he tried to put me into the tape marking the track, then in the final I had to trade elbow blows with another rider to get down the stairs in first, from this point I was able to keep the lead to take the win!.
The following two days saw the first "Tour de Whaka" a mtb stage race. Saturday had a 13min hill climb, a 18ish min superD, and a 12ish min xc time trial. Sunday was a one hour(ish) cross country (xc) race. As I said at the start of this I wasnt planning to race this weekend but after the racing on Friday I decided to do the rest of the weekend as it looked like so much fun. With Carl, Dirk and myself (the top three in last years NZ National xc champs race) lining up it was always going to hurt while we were racing, but while waiting for the next stage it was all about hanging out and talking smack! My prep for the weekend didnt really happen so it was nice that during the weekend I had moments when my legs felt good and thats got to be a good sign for the next three weeks racing. I finished 3rd over all with three 3rds and a 4th, not as good as I wanted but the fun side of things made up for it.

2012

Well the new year has hit us already, that means race season is on the door step! Yep National series starts on the 15th for us here in NZ. Round 1 is in Dunedin followed by Christchurch and then Nelson for the National Champs, three weeks on the trot. We then get a week or two before the series picks up again in the north island mid Feb with Wellington and finishing in Napier, giving us one weekend off before the Oceania champs in Rotorua.
Since my last up date and after a lot of asking questions I finally found out about the 2011 national marathon champs race, Because the race was called off half way through it was not classed as a marathon so no title could be awarded. We had a race in "Rotovagas" and it used the new rock garden, I was with two others swapping about for the lead and on the second time down the raoc garden I burped a bunch of air out my front tyre, I rode the next lap with about 8psi in the front tyre before stopping to pump it up and loosing the lead guys. Ocne I was back up and running I was back in 4th or 5th but was able to make my way back to third by the finish.    I was lucky enough to get away up to the Coromandel to stay with one of my "second families" for a few days leading up to new years, we got out a couple times in the boat and caught some fish, I slipped out for a few rides (when it wasnt pissing down with rain), and caught up with some friends I havent seen for a few years. Yesterday I shot through to "Rotovagas" for a ride on the mtb with my coach Bobby Tuxford and the other guys he is coaching, it was a good fun day out until we were almost at the 2hr mark and Bobby told us he wanted us to do 2 laps of a block of tracks at race pace! Yep that hurt!!!  
Looking back on 2011, well it had its ups and downs, both on and off the bike! I had an average NZ season (by my standards) on the bike and decided not to go away over seas so I could try and work on a few things for this year, we will see if they have payed off in the next couple weeks I guess.