The Auckland Grammar Winter Series has been around for a few years now, and race one this year was held at Riverhead Forest. This course was a typical Riverhead race; Climbs, technical descents, bigger climbs, and mud. Lots of mud.
Riverhead is notorious for being very, very slippery when so much as drop of water touches it's surface, and until Saturday we had not had a drop of rain; the surface was bone dry and rolling fast. It was looking like low tread tyres and high pressures would be in order. Then, it rained. Climbs became treacherously slippery and descents sketchy, with the odd off camber rooted corner waiting for fatigued riders to make a mistake. A gravel road climb in the middle of the course was the break between sections where riders could eat, drink or get dropped by their mates.
Some intense competition was witnessed today, with riders cranking like their was no tomorrow, with some pretty impressive times posted despite all the mud.
To be honest, I think Pre-race preparation would have made a lot of difference with this race; my strategy of a late night before, 80km ride the day before and early morning (happy birthday to meeeeee! Thank you family) weren't the best of ideas, but lining up for today's race, it was nice knowing that in a hotly contested field with some pretty strong riders, I wasn't going to win and that it was OK. Sometimes I think we as riders lose sight of racing being a fun activity, and it becomes an obsession trying to win. When racing stops being fun, why race? That's how I saw today. Fun. And with 3 more races in the series, let the fun continue...
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