Timaru 12 Hour Team Mountain Bike Race

The Timaru 12 Hour Mountain Bike Race was another exciting event held in Centennial Park amoung the fast flowing tracks that demanded speed and power to complete quick laps throughout the time frame of the race.
Our Cycleways team line up consisted of yet another solid group of riders and with Nick Clark, Phil Patterson, Dave Ives, Mark Richards and myself we knew we had another chance to perform!
As per the previous race I got the ball rolling for our team and looking at entries prior to the race we considered two potential threats in the race-Team Cyclery and Team Grumpy Old Men. Throughout the race we had no problems unlike last years event that consisted of a broken leg, double puncture, broken frame and other injuries! This year we were a well oiled machine and lead from start to finish increasing the time gap managing to lap the other teams in the 12 hour catagories. I put in the fastest lap time of the day out of all the competitors and yet again Team Cycleways came out on top for this awesome event!
Thanks to the Richards for the stay and to our team lads for knocking out a solid performace yet again. Also to my sponsor and the teams Cycleways in particular Matt Bailey and to my parents and others for their support in looking after us!

Mcleans Island 12 hour

The 2010 Mcleans Island Mountain Bike 12 hr race was another exciting event due to the team aspect where racing around a 10km loop at race pace each lap makes for quite a full on run!
I got the ball rolling for Team Cycleways and after the first lap I managed to gain a gap of almost 30 seconds which was an awesome start into a long distance race being out in front. The team consisted of a solid line up of riders where we had Phil Patterson, Nick Clark, Tim Hoban and Dave Ives and myself. After the first rotation I was keen to do a double lap to make up for my departure later on due to the school formal being on the same night. After two solid laps it was back to the single laps in order to get some hot lap times on the board for the team. Up until my fifth lap my legs had been feeling really average all day and finally after lap 4 my legs were back into racing action where the next few and final laps I felt better and improved my lap times. This was a good sign for me and with over 1300 competitors I managed to put in the fastest lap time of the day!
Before I left we had a very solid lead on second place and after communicating with my Team mates we had come out on top winning the 12 hour race and being the overall champions!
A huge thanks to all the parents for supporting us fighting lads giving it all out there and lasting the distance and also to Matt Bailey from Cycleways who had the best team out there on the day!
Looking forward to the Timaru 12 hour race next weekend for another excellent venue for a great event that involves a solid dose of night racing with the midday to midnight time frame!

South Island Secondary School Mountain Bike Champs

After having my break from my Worlds trip the South Island Secondary School Mountain Bike Champs was going to be my first race back on the bike since this time. A couple of casual rides were done before hand but I was unable to get out the week leading into the race due to a nasty cold which I am now at the tail end of! So Friday morning my sister and I got up and headed down to Timaru to compete in the Hill climb event that morning followed by Down Hill practice. While the Hill Climb was fairly short it was a good climb as it went up the forest through the single track then out in the open to finish the race. My climb did not feel good at all due to my cold and once I stopped at the top my chest was all iced up. However I came in first place and was keen to get out on the Down Hill on dad's full suspension bike in the afternoon in practice for the race the next day.
The Down hill race was an excellent day full of adrenillin junkies and lots of edge of your seat action! My race run for a Down Hill event was a bit of shocker miss clipping twice at the start and almost stopping the bike on one loose corner as the tyre hooked in. However I still ended up finishing with a respectable time but knew I could have been much faster if I hadn't had those troubles!
The Cross Country was the main event for myself to be down for and another excellent day was put out to us in Timaru! My race was going pretty good until near the end of lap 2 of 3 where I came across a bridge and caught the tyre in the wrong spot crashing. I lost quite a bit of time but had a soilid lead holding this out through the final lap to finish first and also take the overall Champion Title for South Island Secondary School Mountain Bike Champs!
Thanks to the Prestidges and Austins for accommodating us over the weekend!

2010 World Mountain Bike Champs-Mont Sainte Anne

After a long drive though the border into Canada it was an exciting time as I was to prepare for the biggest race of year - The World Mountain Bike Champs!!!
Like last year where I got to race in the World Champs Team Relay I got this opportunity again and thought it was a good time to see the track at full on race pace. After pre riding the course it had quite a good feeling about it and with a range of technical sections, short power climbs and tricky rooty forest sections it provided an ultimate XCO race track! The first race was Wednesday competing in the Teams Relay - it was a very hot day! After training through the Winter here in New Zealand it was certainly a shock to the system and the heat got to me on the steep power climbs. I felt like I could have definitely gone faster if I was more used to the hot weather but this was all good preparation for Friday!
After a couple of easy laps Thursday I was ready Friday morning to set off to the venue and warm up for my big race. I started a few rows back from the front in 34th(?) position and had a pretty good start entering the single track not wasting myself too much up the first climb however it was still mayhem pulling apart bikes from bikes to run along the track through the bottle neck of riders. Throughout the race I picked riders off and on the last lap was chasing down a group of about 4 riders. I managed to stuff up a couple of lines in the forest and chased hard to end finishing in 32nd place not far behind the group of riders in front of me. I rode a very consistent race and was pretty happy with my race but as always I would have liked to have done a bit better!
Overall it was a well worth experience and I am happy with how I raced - looking forward to the next season after a break!
I would like to say a special thanks to my sponsor Cycleways, my family, friends and parents and to all my support out there helping me out!

2010 Windham World Cup Round

After our travels over to the U.S.A. and a excellent day touring New York City it was back to business to focus on the Final World Cup Round in Windham. We arrived Tuesday evening to some rather dull weather with wet track conditions. Once I got out to ride the course on Wednesday the sun came out and stayed like this right through the week providing excellent race conditions for Saturday. Throughout the week the course only got better and better and after some short efforts earlier on, to get the legs working from travelling I was feeling good!
Race day came around and before I knew it at 9am we were off! My start was a shocker- I missed clipped about 3 times and got shunted to the back. However I stayed calm and focused working my way up the field. Lap 3 of 4 came by and I had caught up to another rider who as I found out after the race was second place. I chased him all the way to the finish sprinting hard and was 4 seconds off getting him! I finished in 3rd place stoked about my result- I actually thought I had come in fourth so when I was called to the podium it was a very exciting feeling getting a medal for my country!

Go Time!!!!

After the MTBNZ selection panel finally addressed the riders who were to compete in the 2010 World Mountain Bike Champs in Canada, my name was in the team!
After a bit of deliberation deciding what to do I came to the conclusion that I would grab at the opportunity to race and also compete in the final World Cup round in Windham, U.S.A. as well. Last year I was chosen as a reserve in the 2009 World Moutain Bike Champs in Canberra as a first year Under19 rider and but unluckily I didn't get to race. However, I competed in the New Zealand Relay Team and what an awesome experience and atmosphere that was! After thinking back to last year I would be crazy to miss that feeling again, now racing in the race I should have been in last year but as a second year Under 19 rider more experienced and race savy!
As I count down the time it's only a few hours till I head off to the Airport and begin the big flight over to the States and just to add to the trip we are sight seeing in New York for a day!
I would just like to say a huge thanks to Geoff Franks for helping out with getting everything sorted and organised for Windham and getting to Canada from there and also an even bigger thanks to my parents as well as my sponsor Cycleways, in particular Matt Bailey for having my bike in good fighting order!!!
Leaving 22nd August
Windham, U.S.A. World Cup Round-28th August
Monte Saint Anne, Canada World Champs-3rd September
Return home 9th September

Lake Tekapo MTB race 2010

After wanting to get a few longer rides under my belt over the winter time the 2010 Lake Tekapo MTB race was going to be a good one to enter with a long 90km distance around the lake. On Sunday morning I was up at 4.15am to be ready for the boss Brad Williams, to pick me up and take me to my longest race I have done so far. I was feeling pretty excited about this race but the closer we got to the race the more white the surroundings became-SNOW!!!!! Once we got out of the car and got layered up in gear it was time to hit the start line in the sub-tropical conditions. I was going quite well doing some good work with the second leading bunch I was with concentrating on nurtition/eating while the snow came in but it was the river crossings that really got the body feeling the cold! After the 2 hour mark on the way back my hands and fingers started to freeze up making gear changing a mission on its on so a fair bit of single speeding went on! Unfortunantely while my eating was good up to the 2 hour mark I was not drinking enough due to the conditions and I ended up finishing the race solo after the legs were shot and I had slipped away from the bunch I was with. After just under 3 and a half hours I came across the line frozen, winning my class and about 15th overall. Big thanks to the Pearson family (Fiona) for taking me back to their unit to warm up with a nice hot shower, Matt Bailey (Cycleways/sponsor) and for the nice booties he lent me which are highly recommended as I found out and to Brad Williams for looking after me!