Traversing a Kiwi classic

Being born and bred in the land of Aotearoa and also being a mountain biker, there are certain tracks that are part of my heritage that as a Kiwi I need to do while I have the chance. Rides such as the Heaphy track and Karapoti. The 42nd Traverse is one such ride, so I set out to leave one less epic ride on the to-do list.

For those who don't know the 42nd Traverse is a 42km (duh!) long ride through the mountains of the central North Island. Although the ride, or in this case race, finishes at a lower altitude than it starts at, competitors should not fall sly of the popular myth that it is all downhill. Described by many as "undulating," there are in reality around 5 notable climbs and descents with little in between. Burn the legs up, burn the breaks down.

Hiding away in our travelers lodge the night before, it was a much debated topic over what the weather would be like the following day. Heavy showers punctuated with bright sunshine had filled out the prior week, and even that evening we were still having on and off showers of rain from the chilly mountain skies. It seemed though, the next day, that these fears were unfounded; clear skies all around, although there was a cold wind blowing through the area.

On the race start line everyone but me was wrapped to the ears in warm clothing bar me. Unless my sweat is literally freezing to my skin when I am racing I usually prefer to ride with as light weight clothing as possible to prevent overheating. Seems I wouldn't get a choice as my mum forced me into my riding jacket to ward off the cold. I would regret letting her do this later but what will be will be.

This race easily had one of the fastest starts I have ever witnessed. "Cruising" at a cool 50km/h in my hardest gear along the gravel road we quickly hit the farm track when super fast guy Carl Jones broke away from the group. Feeling alright but not thinking it through, I decided to break too and stick on is tail. Stupid idea. Carl is the NZ Elite XC men's champion, building to head off to worlds. I am not. I got dropped. It was as simple as that. I was already slightly out of breathe from trying to chase Carl and we weren't even 10 minutes into the race!

I was quickly joined by my friend Kim and together we began to put the pace on and try and chase a few of the guys up the front. I quickly found that although I could old everyone on the hills, I lacked the guts to let go of my brakes and fly down the hills as fast as some of the other riders. That was fine by me though as I know descending is my weakness. We continued on our way and even managed to overtake a few riders, all the while enjoying the amazing environment we had the good fortune to ride in.

The T42 isn't like a typical mountain bike trail, where manicured berms and switchbacks grace the trail with aplomb. Instead, there is a narrowish gravel track with a ruts, deep puddles and steep gradients. And I LOVED IT!!! The speeds were so much higher than those on a typical trail with just enough of a sense of danger to stop you becoming complacent. Whipping through rock gardens and rocketing over rivers made for a race that was different to anything I had ever done before, and it was great.

River crossings, steep pinch climbs, less steep longer climbs and fast descending was all that today was about. Very different to what we Aucklanders are used to. There's not much more to say than that really. Crossing the line as tenth in Open men I can now say that I have started checking off the list of great NZ rides that I must do here in this country. Worth every cent of the rather steep entry fee. Just go do it.