2011 Oceania Champs

The 2011 Oceania Champs were held over in Shepparton, Australia. I arrived in Melbourne airport on the Wednesday and set off for the extra 2 hour stretch to get to the track and have a look. My first impressions were that it was rather tame as it was a steady but not that steep climb which would mean for a fast hard race to come. The further around the track the more interesting it became. Toward the top it started to get very similar in rock positioning as the Port Hills in Christchurch. Once right along the top it got exciting. The course sidled along angled rock cliffs then came up to the 'Waterfall' section. This had a steep 1-2 metre near rideable drop which in practice was the part to go over. I looked at it once and straight down I went! With a bit more fast flowing downhill and a grassy paddock to push up and around and the lap was complete.
After another practice Thursday and feeling I had the course sussed I was ready for battle come Friday. Race day had good conditions hot but not over the top. After a good warm up it was time to head to the start box. Elite men started 3 minutes ahead of my Category Under23. I had a good start and was sitting in about 5th on the single track climb however was stuck in this position the whole first lap and the leader started to slip away. Second lap came around and both Dirk Peters and I started to gain some positions getting passed the slower riders. This was all good and I was going great. I faded a little on the fourth lap but was in the mind set to smash out the final lap. At this stage I was in a solid 3rd place with a good couple of minutes gap between me and the 4th rider.
After I got a fresh bottle I came up behind an elite rider and was waiting to pass. We went up a zigzag and he took a gel. I was ready to pounce but the track was too tight to nip through. With a 10 metre gap between the last zig zag and an tree/rocky obstacle to ride over I made my move so that I could knock out a fast hard lap to fully secure my bronze placing. Once beside this Elite Aussie rider who started 3 minutes ahead of me he simply decided he wasn't going to let me though and as we came side by side up to the obstacle I had turned in to get over and he was still there. He toppled onto my bike and munted my front wheel leaving me to walk back and DNF!
After all my hard work put into this race and my first season as an under23 trying to consolidate good race results, I was absolutely gutted not being able to get on the podium for New Zealand, my sponsor Cycleways, Trek and my parents and friends/supporters.
Besides the disappointment I was proud of the way I raced knowing for next season that while this one had its ups and downs I am where I need to be for the build up for Worlds and next season!
Big thanks to Mildy for taking the time and care to collect and arrange transport for our group from the Airport and to Dookie etc.
Huge thanks to Debbie and Cyndi Hills for organising some fantastic accommodation, it surely brought a very positive atmosphere around for all!

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!

Pass to Pub 2011

After National Champs and the continued build up towards Oceania Champs a couple of weeks away, the Pass2Pub event was going to be a good race, relatively close and a break from the longer distances travelled of late. So far this season I have been pretty lucky with my health but during the week I caught a nasty cold having a few days off the bike and coming into the race feeling that day only slightly better. Hot on competition down at this event was Kyle Wood in the same position as me with a past cold and Brent Miller.
From the start it was the 3 of us leading the race and after a while Kyle started to get away. I was dropping behind on the undulations but then settled down and worked up to the front where not long after the race was between Kyle and me and our two big 29'ers!
After a bit of tossing and turning past the half way mark we came into a tight and twisty farm track going through several creeks. On one of these I was right behind Kyle who jumped off which I attempted to ride however I spun on a rock. The course then went up a short hill which Kyle gapped it up and I was thinking I'll catch back up, he managed to hold around a 50 metre gap all the way to the finish!
I ended up coming in second 18 seconds behind but not too worried as I knew my cold had compromised my race.

National Champs 2011

The National Champs is the pinnacle of events on the New Zealand calender and to accommodate 2011 Dunedin hosted this high priority event. Conditions this year brought a lot of heartache for myself with tyres as the course's mid-section was an absolute mud bath and with no mud-tyres in stock for the 29'er prior to heading down south I was forced to use my standard set-up. Each of my two practice days the course became worse each time and race day was going to be full on just as any good race should be!
After waking up and heading to the venue it was a cold day and after watching the morning race it was time to get some warm gear on get a good solid warm up done. Just like any race the final hour before it starts fly by and before I knew it I was called up to the front row - a good staring position. I had a great start holding third postion through the start loop and gapped it up the major climb with Dirk Peters and Carl Jones. This then took us down a quick downhill then up the muddy mid-section of track which I was dreading. Once at the top the fun started...NOT!!! After watching Carl and Dirk ride away as they had appropriate tyres on and as I dropped behind, Mike Northcott caught me up by the bottom of the hill. We stayed together and I pushed it on the second lap but once again on that mid-section of track no traction meant no fast momentum! I lost another place coming down getting passed by Mark Leishman and my final couple of laps I ended up running this gnarly downhill. Knowing I couldn't do anything about the situation I was absolutely gutted after my fantastic start but all in all finishing 5th Elite and 2nd Under23 was not a bad result. However when you know you could have done better and it is out of your control it is always a tough feeling!
Next big race will be Oceania Champs in Australia - look forward to getting on the International scene again!

National Round 4-Living Springs

Home Turf! - This had to mean a good perfomance, with knowing the track off the back of my hand and knowing how demanding the climbs will be this venue always has a welcoming touch! After an easy warm up with the legs feeling rather average, I did a couple of race starts to get the blood pumping. With a late line up call and a bit of mucking around before the start it was time to turn on the race face and get ready to start making the legs hurt!
Up the first climb there was about 5 of us and we all kept together with no mis-hapes on the fast tight flowing tracks that the talented Single Track Club members have built to accommodate a National quality race course. On the second lap it was a starting to become a different story - the legs just weren't going to perform as well as what they should have and I was starting to slip back however each time on lap 2 and 3 I caught back up each time on the downhill. The rest of the race on lap 4 split everyone up and this left me with a solo mission to complete my race with the last couple of laps to get around.
At the end after feeling I was in the 'box' the whole race I came in 3rd postion in the Elite Men, first Under 23 rider. A would like to thank Craig and Rebekah and the members of the Christchurch Single Track club for creating an amazing track!
Looking forward to National Champs this weekend in Dunedin, here's hoping for an excellent performance - time to really feel the pain!

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!