Motatapu 2011

New event for me this year was the 2011 Motatapu! After hearing some good things about this race I was keen to try my luck on a course that was well suited to my Trek 29'er machine. It was all fairly rushed on race day as I had to bring through the race all the compulsory gear which required me last minute to tape on my seat tube my jacket and thermal so the bike was looking right ready for a nights camping!
However business was needed to be done and the race started off hot both in conditions and pace. After some several kilometres of flat, we started to hit the undulations and Anton started to put on the pressure. Unfortunately with the after affects of my cold, I was feeling pretty flat throughout the race, not being able to smack it up the pinch climbs - with an on-form Anton Cooper who rode off the front. This then meant it was a fight for second. Brent Miller, myself and an unknown rider battled it out for a while before I had a good few minutes of feeling better and got ahead up to just before the highest point where Brent Miller caught and slipped in front of me.
With no fire in the belly he slowly got away and out of sight once we hit the final 10km among the hillside and down to the rivers. This section was excellent fun! With a bike perfect for the condition I was able to ride just about all of the rivers making up good time and having a blast putting on a big splash effort on the final crossing for the crowd - hopefully there's a good photo!
I ended up finishing third overall and second in my class a bit frustated but had a great weekend. Big thanks to my neighbours John and Susan for taking me down and arranging accommodation for me.
With Oceania Champs this weekend on Friday 18th March I should be on good form after getting my health back up to scratch and refocus on a solid result!