Nelson TOP GUN MTB Event

The Top Gun XC MTB event was another fantastic event put on by the Nelson MTB club.  The course was superb and started off with the usually drag race up the gravel road and down Gully, a fast following and tight but super fun single track!  Another short sharp climb made for good passing opportunity and with the rest of the course mostly single track it was great fun - infact the most fun I've had racing for a while!  A couple of fly over jumps, pump track and neat flowing corners all on a nice day I couldn't have asked for much more!

The race started off a bit edgy for me,  I competed down in Bluff a couple of weekends ago with a DNF so one thing I wanted to make sure I did was finish the race and finish strong.  

The race started off as per expected nice and fast but at about half way up the climb I slipped near the back and let the front guys pull away a bit and do the usual thing and hit the decent hard.  I came down behind a couple of slower riders (mass start) but hit the Nitrous on the next climb to start catching back up to the next rider.  The next lap I was feeling good and really started to find some rhythm and I caught Ethan Glover and past him and really pressed on.  Lap 3 I could see Ben Oliver and Carl Jones ahead and I knew I was taking time out of them.  Lap 4 I caught and past both of them and opened up a gap and while Dirk Peters already had fantastic lead I kept driving the pins on and finished in 2nd place in the Elite Field and Overall.  I was super happy with my result and things are looking good now as im in the 2013 Summer season!

Thanks to the Millers for the accommodation and a great weekend! 

Tineli Road Race

The Tineli Road Race is fantastic road event that follows the same course as what the Elite Women and Men compete on during the same weekend.  However the event is much shorter with two laps around the course without the climb and then the following two completing the full circuit (up Dyres, down Hackthorne) to finish the race.
Last year was my first year competing  in this event and I rode a strong race to finish in the number 1 spot with a very nice lead.  So once again being a local event (which goes past my house!) I was looking forward to having a good hit out and getting stuck into the two climbing laps and really get things going.

The race started off certainly a bit faster than last years but I kept within the bunch and made sure no real break aways were made.  Finally it was the moment of truth after the first two flat laps and as I turned up onto the Dyres Pass Road hill I gave it beans!  I knew the field was tougher than the previous year so I decided I really wanted to heat things up.  I quickly found myself in the lead however there was another tough young rider named Keegan right on my wheel - game on!
Once off the hill we worked together for a good fast lap then the final climb saw me pulling away slowly up the steeper sections of Dyres Pass.  I knew that we would still be best to work together on the flat (incase of the risk of being caught by the pelloton) so I got a bit of a breather at the top and as Keegan caught back up we were into another flying decent - glad I had a few sharp skills from the mountain bike!
On the final corner I heard a hissing sound, thought it was me but as I kept moving on I looked back and Keegan had stopped with a dreaded puncture.  Rather unfortunate for him as it would have made for a great sprint finish but in the end thats racing and I came over the line with the win very happy with myself!
Thanks to Brad at Halswell Butchery for the support and entry!