Motutapu 2013

It had been a couple of years since I raced the Motutapu and the one thing I remembered was the awesome river crossings toward the finish!  I sure was feeling excited about getting to ride through water that was almost the height of my wheel!  Not so good for the bearings on my bike but great fun for me!
Race day saw a bit of a delayed start to the event so while everyone had minimal warm up that didn't slow things down at the start.  As soon as the Safety Vehicle pulled over we were off!  A few K's on the flat lead quickly to the first climb and my intentions of the race were to stick on Anton and Dirk for as long as I could.  I somehow found myself pushing the pace up the first climb and then second climb an attack was made by Dirk.  I don't think the rest of us were feeling quite as good as him at that stage but shortly after we had caught Dirk back up as he was adjusting his handlebars on the fly.

By that stage there were about 6 of us fighting it out until the following climb saw Dirk fire another attack.  Carl went after Dirk shortly after with me following suit a few seconds later.  We had dropped the rest of the lads and Carl had managed to bridge the gap to Dirk and the two were knuckling down to work together and  get away from me.  I get the pressure on and was waiting for a steep climb to appear as I knew I could graft my way up and close the gap.  That just happened and at the top Dirk had to make another final adjustment on the go but in the meantime Carl had made his attack.
With Carl in my sights and realizing I was in a position I could potentially win this event I kept the hammer down and fought my way back to the lead.
With about 16km to go with very little climbing left I thought Carl was still behind me but next thing I know the big DP (Dirk) made an attack!  Carl had dropped off and Dirk had been hot on my tail.  Unfortunately the pins were starting to feel scratchy but I kept my focus on keeping a good steady pace and managed to pull the gap back abit however that gap stayed all the way to the finish.  Every river crossing I entered, Dirk was leaving.  If only I had held on for that final attack!
Never to mind I was thrilled with my result and I would like to thank the Nick and his family for accommodation.  I great weekend was had and the superb weather really topped it off too!