National Round 3-Nelson

The Nelson National course had a good feeling about it and with UCI rules creating shorter laps the course was put back to the 2008 National Champs track where I had competed in my first National Championship back in the day! So this meant a very fast course with a good climb at the start but a very quick mid-section of track going right through back to the start/finish.
Race day was a good one and with racing in dry conditions I was ready to head to the start line after a solid warm up was completed. Before I knew it we were off smacking it up the first hill, I had a fantastic start being up the front but got swarmed by riders at the top of the hill (just didn't give it death!). This meant I got held up by the slower riders on the first lap putting me around 1 minute behind the leaders. I came through the first lap of six in 11th position and then started to make ground on the second and third lap catching up to Stu Houltham and then Mike Northcott and Carl jones. On the fifth lap Stu started to fade on the single track and as I was stuck behind Stu, Carl (4th at finish) and Mikey (3rd at finish) gapped it and I was left to wait for open ground to pass!
My final lap came around and I had Kyle Wood hot on my tail. With noticing that he was starting to fade (just like myself) I pushed that little bit extra out up the climbs and stood up as much as possible. With a clean downhill run to the finish I came in 5th position very happy with my race especially after my first lap!

Malvern Lions Great Alpine Challenge

New event on the calender this year - The Great Alpine Challenge consisting of 46km of rideable mountain bike terrain, little did I know this was going to be one of the toughest climbing races I have done so far this season...
After a good solid warm up done during the fine, yet windy morning up in Springfield it was off to the start line to begin the 46km journey through the hilly ranges that Springfield land owners had to offer. A fast start through nailing it off the line I broke the bunch up so that Brent Miller, an unknown rider and myself lead the front of the race. After about 8km or so we came off the gravel road and came onto the farm track. Through venturing along this for a couple of kms we hit the first climb. Right at the bottom the unknown rider turned around (think he broke his chain) and Brent and I took off. The first hill was very steep and after the first 50 metres I started getting away from Brent and by the top of the hill had a good lead made (after the race I found out that the hill had gained around 400 metres vertical height over roughly 1.5km). This then took me along the side of the hill and onto an awesome downhill on steep, sketchy and rocky ground and to an extremely fast open section where I got tapped out on my 29'er-serious speed!
Once at the bottom, the course made its way around the lower part of the valley and started another long and steep climb. Once at the top of this, the Sport category shot down right to the finish and for us Elite category riders it was across the long, steep and windy ridgeline to eventually meet up on the original first down hill to complete our second lap down the hill, along the undulating lower valley and up the steep narly final climb.
By this time I certainly had felt like I had done alot of climbing and was very ready to find the finish line finally coming in around 2hour 34mins, 11mins ahead of second place!
After the race through talking to other competitors who had Garmins I found out that over 46km there was around 1760 metres of verticle climbing - can't complain about that for a solid training day!

Vulcaniser MTB Race

Last year the Vulcaniser MTB race was cancelled due to heavy rain and while this year the race was all go as we were making our way up the farm track to race venue we experienced a little bit of wet ground! This made for an exciting arrival but while this was all good it brought to my mind that the track would no doubt be wet also and with only having summer tyres bolted on it was sure going to be all fun and games during the race!
Finally once I got my gear on and registered and found out they were only using half the course due to the second half of the track being extremely wet I set off to see what the track was really like...
After I did my lap and got back to the car with 3 minor crashes achieved I wasn't in too good a state of mind and with the only having the one pair on tyres I decided to make it a 'fun' race and not charge out and risk crashing.
Race start came around soon enough and as I arrived slightly late there was no room on the front row so I started near the back. Once we took off I hammered it up the side getting near the front until I rubbed up against someones wheel leaving me to quickly dismount. Finally I managed to start passing other riders and then I came to the dreaded downhill mud bath. With watching some riders go down during practise including me, I remembered a certain technique to follow and that was controlled pace, lots of rear brake and not much of the front. To my surprise I got down without coming off! This then took me onto the climb of the lap and about this time the 'race face' came on' and it was time to start racing!
Lap two came by and about this time a nice line was forming in the downhill which made it even better and I was actually enjoying the conditions! Finally with some more passing done I brought myself up to second place and had clear ground ahead completing my last two laps only seconds a lap slower than winner Anton Cooper who had come well prepared with mud tyres set up!

National Round 2, Napier

The second National round was going to have a good turn out of competitive riders due to this being a category 1 event with UCI points up for grabs as well as some good prize money. With this season being the first race of year, the level of racing just got stepped up again as I am now in the Under23 age category which means racing with the Elite men also. After building up some good base over the past few months I was feeling pretty good about where I was at with my training and with a new machine it was time to unleash it on the racing scene and compete in my first race on it.
So this season I am riding on Trek Superfly 29'er hardtail and I am loving it! Anyway before I start raving on about it back to the race - The day's weather sure turned on a cracker of a day with mid-thirties temperatures but luckily the race was based in the shaded forest trees that had some excellent fast flowing tracks as well as a nice short sharp single track climb to keep everyone honest. Before I knew it I was at the start line and with a fairly average warm up done due to the heat I wasn't feeling as awake as what I should have been. This wasn't good as I had a terrible start and got caught up in the chaos in the early stages of the race. Finally when some space opened up I was able to start the big catch up and gained some places throughout the 6 lap trace finishing in 8th positiion and 3rd Under 23 male.
With Nationals about 6 weeks away its now time to start the intenstiy in the training so looking forward to getting some good form and speed in the time frame available.
Big thanks to my sponsor Cycleways for helping me out with the new bike as well as Cyclesport and to Mark Leishman for accommodating myself and travel buddy Logan on our adventure up to Napier as well as my Parents!

Festival of Cycling MTB

After not being able to compete in this event last year due to injury I was very keen and excited about letting loose on my home turf this year with some hot competition and prize money at stake! After a nice cruisy road ride to the venue I had prepared myself for a good pre-race warm up and was ready to jump on the mountain bike for a bit of a spin before heading to the start line.
At the beginning of the race it was clear who the competition would be-we had Brendon Sharatt, Richard Anderson, Mark (Cabin) Leishman, Logan Horn, Anton Cooper and Kyle Wood.
As soon as we hit the Bridle path and onto the farm track I went to take my first drink out of my bottle but to my horror the bottle wasn't there! This meant I was relying on drink stations and I knew there was one of the top of the climb and one at the top of Castle Hill. This brought back a memory of the 2009 Yahoo Challenge where my bottle had slipped out down the first hill and I had to go through the first large lap with no drink but with this in mind I knew I could get through it as I was well hydrated prior the event.
It was this bunch who gapped the others including myself and while I was sitting at the back we stayed together for the majority of the climb however toward the end of the hill it all started to split up with gaps in between each of the top riders. After not feeling so good on the steep farm track once onto Rapaki and along the tops it was another story-time to get my A into G!!!!
I arrived at the top of the hill in 5th position and after a mouthful of water I was onto the first single track - Witch Hill. Once off this it was time to get my head down and start hammering up the road section to the top of Castle Hill. This was a good point in the race for me as at the bottom of this I saw the other riders climbing up the road too so I hadn't lost too much time up the farm track. With the competition in sight and a seriously quick run up to the start of the track I caught and past Kyle on Castle Hill where once off this we both jumped onto Cabin. This lead us past the next roadie and linking single track section and onto Green Woods. Here we gapped Kyle and caught up to Richard. Cabin got a lucky pass on Richard and I had to settle in behind on a track that I knew I could ride some good pace down however while Cabin was getting away once over the gate and onto Captain Thomas (final downhill) I got the pass on Richard on a split line-Richard went down and I went up! This was exactly what I needed and it gave me the space to catch Cabin back up. Once down the steps and onto the road to my amazement Brendon was only 100 metres up the road and so after we jumped onto him it was clear it was going to be a typical roadie sprint finish after the road ride around to McCormick's Bay. Once off the Cause Way and with about 1km to go I was out in front. In this position I knew I was in control of the situation and at the 200m mark I flicked it up a gear it went crazy to the finish line with the big $500 in sight!!! However just before the line Brendon came along by the outside and just managed to sneak past my wheel to claim the victory with Cabin in third and myself in second! I was extremely pleased with how I rode as the past two events I have done have been frustrating with my performance and while I would have liked to have climbed better in this race I was happy with how I got moving and focused to get the job done-looks like it's going to be a good up and coming season!
A huge thanks to my Sponsor Cycleways in particular Matt Bailey for having my bike in tip top shape for each and every race and to Andrea Murray from Huxster and all members who organised a fantastic event, one that I recommend to anyone and to my parents for being another high class sponsor!!!

Long Beach MTB race

The Long Beach Mtb Race was another new event to me this year and with some good prize money up for grabs it was looking like a good event to have a crack at! The course involved a lot of undulating farm tracks through fields and along beach fronts that sunk in most riders wheels proving to be a tricky few sections of the course.
The weather was rather windy but after a good warm up and race start I was sitting comfortably in third position in behind Phil Patterson (leading out) and Kyle Wood with Logan Horn and Anton Cooper tucked in behind. Once onto the paddocks it was the 5 of us who were going to be the competition for the day. After the first part of the course grinding away into a head wind on the undulating and rather annoying terrain, myself, Kyle and Logan gapped the other two riders about a quarter of the way through the race. Not too far from this part Kyle who was on excellent form again, kept slipping away from us and the middle part of the race was firstly me and then Logan tossing and turning until he proved to be the stonger rider on the day slowly getting away.
The next section of the race saw me nailing it down the gravel road with Anton tucked in behind trying to catch Logan back up but he had by this stage already increased his gap. After the final river crossing I came in fourth postion not happy with how I went but knowing what areas I need to improve on in preparation for the big events coming up in about a months time - fingers crossed I will get on form!

Hanmer Spring Crusher MTB Race

The Hanmer Spring Crusher MTB race was a brand new event on the calender this year and also the first event to kick of the new season all in good preparing for the National rounds and Champs starting in January. The event involved alot of steep climbing covering just under 40km of every single track in Hanmer linked up as well as a good serving of 4wd joining these tracks and with the sun shining it was going to be a good day for racing!
The pace was fast at the start and Kyle Wood (Timaru) lead the charge up the first hill and next steep climb. After sitting near the back of the first bunch it was time to move up and on a steep narly climb I grinded up the hill slipping myself into second position. This conintued through the rest of the race as the gap between first, second and third kept opening up between us and while my climbing felt like a struggle to get any real power out I finished comfortably in second place.