A Tarnished Glory: MTB Nationals 2013

Before I leap into the usual humor with which I typically start a blog, I would like to say this: I will be writing the story of this race in 2 parts. This is Part 1 which covers the happy parts of the race. Part 2 will cover what bad things went down. Those of you who were there will know what that was. I just feel that if I include both sides the success and happiness of that day will be vastly overshadowed by the bad shit that went down. So here goes...

I have never raced in a BikeNZ sanctioned National Champs before. It was 3 years ago that I started to take racing seriously, and about November last year that I decided to go for it: I was going to try and win National Champs in Rotorua. This decision was made in the middle of exam season which had its ups and downs. I had HEAPS of time to train thanks to study leave, but was required to spend most of it studying for said exams. December rolled around and that's when the real work began. I was out on the bike every day laying down base miles and building my endurance. To an experienced racer this is de rigeur but for an amateur like me, with my internet based training schedule, it was all very knew and a little daunting. I have heard base mile training being compared to watching someone peel potatoes at Christmas, and judging by the time of year it was a lot like that. As Christmas approached the "fun" part began: Hills. If there was a hill nearby, I was riding it. After Christmas we went camping up north in the Bay of Islands at Russell, during which I woke up early in the mornings to ride the world famous in Russell "Flagstaff Hill" for training on my sexy flexy alloy road bike. I would then spend the rest of the day running and swimming, punctuated by sessions of lying around doing nothing.

As we rolled through into January my secret training plan kicked into action. We abandoned our usual January holiday destination in favor of staying in a small lakeside house in Rotorua for 10 days in order to allow me to session the course over and over again until it felt like second nature. Upon returning from this trip I was faced with a very different challenge: balancing training and being back in school. But I found a way and in the second week back raced the final round on the National Cup series at Hunua. My take on that race can be found here.
After a short week at school the page family rose at 5 in the morning on Friday to begin my journey that would be the 2013 Nationals.

Children's sport is a curious thing. You get the ones who show up for fun: you see very few of these at Nationals. There are those who are there to do the best they can. And then there are the ones who are there to risk life and limb for podium. I fit into this last category. Arriving on site at 8.30 on Saturday, I had one goal in mind: to push myself to the limits and a little beyond in order to cross the finish line first. The other thing that comes with children's sport is the smack talk. It comes from all angles: Riders, supporters and even parents do what they can to get inside an opponents mind to try and plant a seed of doubt about their preparation for this race. I have taken to walking around and warming up with headphones on at all times to avoid this, and it seems to work.

The Rotorua Nationals course starts up Nursery Road, a hill that only takes a minute to climb at race pace, but nonetheless takes more out of you than would be expected. Riders of all shapes and sizes were smashing up and down it to warm up, as first up and into the singletrack would have a clear advantage. Of this I was certain. I would have to be one of the first into the singletrack or else the race was just about lost before a lap had been completed.

In hindsight I am very glad that I competed at the National Cup round at Hunua as it meant I was only back in the second row of the start line. Front would have been ideal, and third would have been a nightmare to fight my way through riders too the front. Second was manageable. The commissiare gave the 15 second call and the world slowed. If you have ever seen a race edit where everything goes into slow-mo and you can hear each riders heartbeats then imagine it like that. The whistle echoed through the silence and suddenly the world sped up again as legs pushed against pedals and bikes shot forward like the charge of the light brigade: not all would come back in one piece...

I quickly discovered a gap on the side of the group and went for it: breaking through the field I found myself in clear air. Up ahead, standing strong and pulling away was a lone rider in blue in white uniform of a Giant team racer. I could see no-one ahead of him. It dawned on me quickly that I was in second place...

As we rolled into the first section of singletrack we were soon caught by local favourite Nathan Johnston. In our group of 3 we began to fight our way through the Masters riders that we had caught. On the fire road towards Grinder Robert Stannard caught our group and managed to slip ahead of me into third place as we rolled through the start of Grinder's technical sections. Nathan and Scott began to pull away through here and Robert, in all is effort to keep up, endoed down one of the technical sections in a rather dramatic fashion leaving me to take third again and begin to reel in Scott and Nathan. I tailed them through the start of Pig Track and we began to pull a fair distance away from the rest of the field.

The four of us coming up to Grinder

The final section of Pig Track is where things began to get interesting... If you have never ridden Pig Track backwards, it is steep, fairly rutty and very dry and dusty. If you are not careful about line choice your rear wheel will spin out and force you to stop. This happened to Scott, who was at the front of our group, and he dabbed, stopping Nathan and then me in our tracks. The other 2 recovered from this just a bit faster than I did and began to pull away as they hit the fire road. I was left in a solid second place for an uneventful first two laps.

In Pig Track

Now, I know that many of you are probably here to read about what happened in the third lap and what happened there after. However, this week be covered in a separate post as I said earlier to prevent making this report too sad.

So, to the end of the race. I was narrowly taken on the finish line when my chain jammed at the most inconvenient time leaving me in fourth place. I still got to stand on the podium though seeing as U17 recognizes top 5, and my fourth place qualified.

So what's next for me? Time to stop training for a bit and ride for fun. See you all out there!
-Robin

That's right ladies and gentlemen... Red bull really does give you wings.

NZMTB Cup Round 3: Hunua

At the moment, as a racer, I have been going "Underground." While this does not mean that I have had the inclination to build tunnels and eat worms, it does mean that I have been staying out of sight with my training. I will not go into details of what I have done and how hard I have trained, but I will tell you about a race that happened on Sunday in Auckland's Hunua Ranges.

Hunua was picked as the venue for the third and final race in the NZMTB Cup, and was to be my first race back since the Rotorua round of the Mid North Island Cup. This race was to be a test: Did my bike work? Did my nutrition plan work? Was I actually as fit as I hoped I was? Did I remember how to race properly? The answers will be revealed after the break...

Hunua and I still love each other like only ex-lovers can. Hunua was the location of my first ever MTB race, but since then I have found other venues that I like a lot more, and because of this I believe Hunua has gotten a bit jealous, seeking to punish me every time I race there. It is not uncommon for me to have a substandard race at Hunua then kick ass at the next event I enter, so going into this race I did  not have mighty aspirations. Finish, don't break the bike, don't injure myself, and learn how to race again. Any good results would be a bonus.

The race started with some irritating news; I was to start in the second start line as I had  not competed in any other National Cup races. Seeing as the start loop, although long, cuts into a sharp 110 degree corner after about 20 metres, getting in first and fast was a priority. I appologise to any bikes I may have nicked and riders I may have cut off trying to get into first; it was business, nothing personal. I entered the single track in around 5th, and the race truly began from there.

Try and guess which one is me...

About 5 minutes into the race one thing became clear: I really have no idea how to ride fast in the Hunua singletrack. Tight, quite techy in places, and covered in this gravel like surface that slides as you pick up speed. Apparently this is necessary because in the winter it gets SERIOUSLY slippery and  muddy, but in the summer it just makes for a rather interesting surface. For every 10 seconds I took in the singletrack, other riders in the lead group were taking 7-8. Not only this but I lost concentration for a moment in the second lap and flipped over my handlebars on the downhill leading to one of the creek crossings. I got up, ran across the creek, got rolling again, and then flipped on the next technical section which happened to be going uphill. I'm not sure how this is physically possible, but alas, I flipped on an uphill. This meant to stay in check with top 5 I had to work hard on the fire roads, something I slowly discovered I could do reeling in 5th place rider Kim from JAFAKIDS at the end of the 3rd lap. I held 5th place comfortably for the rest of the race.

On the Final Hill

I later discovered that I had only lost out to 4th place by 20 seconds, although I was still about 2 minutes off third and second. Going into National Champs this coming weekend, this is not a bad result for my first race back.

So, what next? The National MTB Champs at Rotorua is my next port of call, so feel free to come up and say hello. I'll be the guy in the R&R Sport uniform with what appears to be a red and white mutant space fish shaped helmet on my head. In reflection of this race, my bike worked perfectly, my race nutrition seems right, and I can still remember some race strategy. All I have to do is ride Nationals and do my best. See you out there!