Lees Valley 80km Race

The Lees Valley Mountain Bike Challenge was a first for me. It consisted of 80km of fantastic open gravel roads amongst some spectacular scenery. The course stretched right into the middle of the valley and climbed back out to reach the finish line with a few farm animals to ride around which made for a couple of close calls at times!
Right from when we hit the first hill the legs felt fantastic and a game plan was being put into place. There were a few of us at the front of the race until Brent Miller came off around a corner. I waited for around 30 seconds in anticipation to have someone to work with over the approx 25km of flat and undulating middle section of the race. I looked back and saw nothing so I decided it was time to go and see what I had in the tank.
I dropped Craig up a short climb as I put the pressure on and now it was "go" time. I came down not shortly after to cross the river and saw I already had a big gap after stepping the pace up the previous short climb. It was now time to go solo and get stuck in, head down until I reached the final 20km of hilly terrain to reach the finish. I had a strong ride and once I hit the hills again no one was insight but I kept pushing hard and came across the line with the new course record of 2 hours 47 minutes. (exact time to be confirmed) I was very pleased, to say the least, with my ride!
Thanks to Cycleways, event organisers, marshalls and event sponsors.

Mcleans Island 12 Hour

This year we had another strong Cycleways Team competing in the 2011 Mcleans Island Mountain Bike 12 Hour race consisting of Phil Patterson, Nick Clark, Dave Ives, Mark Richards and myself.
Phil was the man to get the race rolling for us and with a Le Mans start to the race that meant for a short run amongst a fair amount of caos as riders ducked and dived for their bikes. Phil came in second after the first lap making up huge ground after he struggled to find his bike in the crowd from the start. With myself heading out second in the team I pulled some good time into the leading team only a few seconds behind with a very quick lap and then Nick went and slotted us into the lead. With Dave and Mark holding their own the race, the day went really quickly and the weather could not have been much better!
Once the 6 hour riders were off the track that meant for even quicker lap times and less traffic to deal with. I had an excellent third to last lap which was the fastest lap of the day overall so I was buzzing once back at our team site! I followed that up with No2 fastest lap of the day.
The North Canterbury Cycling Club Junior Team had a strong ride, keeping us on their toes for a while and their fastest rider Anton doing double laps but our team was too strong and consistent and we took the overall win in the end!
Thoughts go out to the few riders and their families who had attained serious injuries including one fatal heart attack.
Big thanks to Rod and Jane from Bluedog Events for another very well run proffessional events and to Matt Bailey and the Team for all the support, not to mention Mum and Dad for all the usual bits and pieces that go about in these events!

Dusky Trail 2011

Todays race was the 2011 Dusky Trail mountain bike race held down in Twizel. 44km of mostly open four wheel drive terrain. This involved a few wee pinch climbs, a few river crossings that made for mandatory dismount, boggey patches and some false flats that made you feel like you were grinding away and pushing harder than required! All this mixed together with a nice day with the sun coming out during the event.

From the start it wasn't long before the front of the race saw 3 of us riding away. After several Kilometres of shingle roads and tarmac the 2 riders with me were starting to slow the pace so I pressed on over the rough terrain. Here there were 3 of us all on 29ers (and a 1-2-3 at the finish) and the big wheels were fantastic over the bumpy surface. I jumped at the front and pushed on and a couple of minutes later (not long before the first river crossing) I looked back and saw I had a gap.

Once through the river I kept the pace up and had a strong ride to the finish. The false flats that gradually climbed up into the valley also on some damp sections felt quite energy sapping but my Trek 29'er bike felt superior on a course like this.

I am also using a new set of Geax Barro Race Tyres which I have been using in the Short Track Racing here in Christchurch. Right from the first race I thought they were fantastic! The hook they have at high speed is excellent and on one of the high speed shoots coming down to a tight left hand corner to start the climb they provide real confidence for me to hook into at pace. I'm looking forward to racing them in the National Rounds kicking off in January.

Next weekend is the Mcleans 12 Hour Event held right here on home ground. Keep a look out for a fast Cycleways Team in the Orange colours!

Le Race 2011

Todays Le Race went pretty well all things considered. After just getting back into training with no base miles done yet I finished with a very respectable net time of 2 hours 53 minutes and 6 seconds. Conditions were tough along the summit roads with high winds, little visability and rain, this all made for a solid 100 kilometres.
From the start the body was pretty cold and up the to the kiwi I had a bit of work to do getting back onto the main front bunch once the body started to warm up. This whole section onto the down hill toward Gebbies pass went pretty steadily.
The downhill's were very greasy and once I had some clear vision I saw that the whole field had split up with some riders way down the hill (most were the top riders I think) so I pressed on and got some nice passing manoeuvres going. On one of the cattle stops on a bend a rider skated on the deck infront of me - not the prettiest site but he got back up.
By the bottom of the hill I was inbetween the leaders and the main front bunch so I settled back into the up coming group. A few Km's into the flat section one of the top riders who was with us pushed the pace and I fell back. I kept pressing on and a couple of riders caught me up and we got some good momentum going. Just before the Akaroa hill the Peloton caught up also but as soon as we hit the hill it was game on! I settled into a very good rhythm and dropped the peloton and caught and past quite a few other riders ahead.
Once I got a fresh bottle at the top (thanks mum) it was the last 40km to the finish. I was with a few other riders but eventually it became 3 of us right to the finish with myself being the middle rider.
I crossed the line 23rd overall with a pretty cold body and tired legs but all in all a very good outing!

2011 World Championships

The 2011 World Championships were held in Champery, Switzerland. After competing in the final World Cup Round in Italy just under 2 weeks ago I was very excited to be in the biggest and last race of the season. All the training and build this year comes down to this Pinnacle event and the need for a solid performance is a necessity.

The World Champs XCO track was a fantastic race course! It had lots of rooty sections to negotiate with. As the venue is situated amongst a valley in trees it never really dried out as during the week we had a couple of rain showers. The track also had a neat drop off in it which a few riders had some good crashes in during practise. It was the ideal track for my 29er wheels and newly crowned 2011 Elite male World Champion, Jaroslav Kuharvy proved that today on his full suspension 29er machine!

Two days out from the race I was starting to feel the nerves. I knew that the first lap was going to be frantic! So race day Friday came around and as we were racing at 5pm it was a nervous wait all day. The last few hours before the race flew by and before I knew it I was on the line ready to go!

I had a pretty good start but it could have been a wee bit better as the legs weren’t feeling fantastic. This wasn’t too much of an issue though as it was all bunched up and there wasn’t much room to play with at that stage! However once around roughly 1-2 minutes of track I saw a clean side line and smacked it hard gaining several positions and moving up toward the front half of the pack!

From here the start loop went through the feed zone area and up the major climb of the race. As we passed through the feed zone we entered the tarmac (that eventually follows up the hill) and would have been doing roughly over 30km/h. I was near the left hand side and was eyeing up my attack to push further up the field. As I was nailing it a Dutch rider came up the inside of me standing up sprinting and collided with my handle bars. I came off and in spectacular fashion and went over my handle bars and slammed onto the barrier and road. I was not impressed!

I got back on my bike with a few bumps and a bit of a bloody elbow but pushed on up the hill to meet the bottle neck at the top. Once I finally got some clear room on the first proper lap I moved up and gained some positions but another problem had struck me. Due to the crash my front derailleur had basically chiselled off where the cable comes around so I was stuck in my Small chain ring! I tried to keep as positive as I could trying to focus on smashing it out but after the crash and now a mechanical problem (not to mention the huge amount of lost time) I just wasn’t able to ride as well as what I should have and eventually got lapped out due to all my lost time.

I was extremely gutted. The season for me has certainly been a tough one and to get a solid result here would have been a huge high for me to end my 2011 season. Racing can be a very cruel sport at times I sure got my fair share yesterday! If I look at the positives I will take my experience that I have gained in my campaign and use it next year to improve and get knuckling down to get where I need to and should be. I would like to say a huge thanks to all my support back home, having people who believe in me although I haven’t had the greatest of luck so far it really does help and I hope next season that things start to come together as they should!

Anyway it’s time for me to have a well earnt break after the hard build up I have had. I’ll back in New Zealand on Thursday and looking forward to being at home with friends and my awesome family!

Italy World Cup Round

The Italian World Cup Race was the final round of the UCI World Cup. The course was steep, hard and fast that involved some solid short climbs mixed with some neat wee downhills that kept you on your toes and eyes wide open.

During the week I had a serious problem to sort with my bike. I had a cracked frame on my hands, this was also the case in the Czech WC race last weekend which I found out the day before. With the help of dad back home he was able to communicate to the Trek Reps and with the expertise and professional business that Trek represents I had a frame couriered to me over night! I can’t thank the Trek Family and everyone involved enough as this weekend’s race was going to be good – no dodgy frame on the back of my mind.

During practice the days were very hot! But luckily our race was at 9am so while the sun was out shining it certainly wasn’t as bad as what the Elites had to deal with in the afternoon..

My race went pretty well – I was pleased with how I rode especially after a chaotic first lap! There were about three sections where I had to get off my bike (along with many others) as all it takes is one muppet to make a mistake and the rest of the field pays the price while the riders in front simply ride ahead! So while I would have lost over a minute just like that on the first lap with all the bottlenecking once this was over I started to make some solid momentum. The first main climb up the open grass was one of the sections I rode very strong. Most riders’ small ringed it up here but I smacked it up in the big ring and passed a lot of riders and was improving my position.

The race was a 5 lap race and on my second to last lap the legs were starting to feel it after I had been attacking most of the race. I knew the last lap was going to be a bit of a “well here we go!” but after a couple of climbs and some sketchy down hills with the concentrations levels dropping, I was back over the line with very little left in the tank. I finished 61^st out of roughly 100 riders.

After last weekend performance I am very proud of the way I rode, as mentally I was positive the whole race and remembered a couple of quotes and words “pain is temporary, winning is forever!” and “attack attack attack!”. For myself today I won my own race and the biggest thing was overcoming the lows of racing such as last weekend but as for today it was a huge turnaround physically but mostly mentally. With just under 2 weeks of training left till World Champs in Champery I am looking forward to a solid result and will be aiming for a top 50 as a first year under 23 of 4 years.

Big thanks to Mum and Dad back home and to the Trek family for getting me a new frame in no time. Also to Mark Wallace-Bell for the mental side of things and to my coach for a bit of a motivation kick also! Thanks to all my support back in NZ also – the motivating emails and messages really do help!

As for me now, time to knuckle down into my last couple of weeks of training, I have a Swiss Bike Trophy race on Thursday night on a street course and after that am off to World Champs. Time for me to keep on attacking!

Czech World Cup 2011

We arrived to our accommodation in Czech on the Wendesday night after a solid couple of weeks training up in the hills of Fanas, Switzerland. I was looking forward to our first race and being able to see where my fitness level and speed was against the top competition. It was also fantastic to be able to ride some proper single trail and get amongst the World Cup atmosphere!

The course was a fast and overall a good amount of technicle trails. Throughout the practice days it cut up and rutted and there were quite a few roots to look out for.. It had a couple of exciting spectator sections over rock obstacles and one section called the Gigantic drop which was actually easily ridable on the big 29er wheels!

The night before the race there was rain forcasted.. This started to make me a bit nervous as with all the roots and ruts it would have got rather dicey but the rain was short lasted and my Kenda Karmas were almost perfect for the job.

After a good warm up I was called up to the line in 58th and was still rather happy with my start position considering I didnt get to secure my 3rd place in the Oceanias which the UCI points help with starting positions.

Before I had a moment to relax we were off and boy was it fast! I was stuck right in the middle of the bunch and started to loose my nerve a little bit when a couple riders beside me collided so she was all go as you would expect!

The start loop was fast, hard and intense. I went good up the first climb but the legs were a bit shy to give out serious power so it was a slow first downhill amongst the caos and cluster of riders.

First proper lap and I started to fall behind the main group of riders in the field. I kept trying to smack it but after just coming out of a cold New Zealand Winter the intensity was a huge shock to the body.

Second lap came around and I ended up crashing after getting off-line through a rock garden. After this I had lost quite a bit of time but I kept moving on until I got pulled 65 out of 86 starters.

So now it is time to refresh and refocus and get motivated to complete a successful race in Italy next weekend to get a solid result.

On the positive side of things well done to Anton for a awesome race winning the Under 19's and to Mat for finishing a fantastic 13th!