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.