Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you something you haven't had from me in about 5 months... A race report! *whistles* *claps* *cheers*.
Having been off racing for 5 months to eat paella, speak in Spanish, ride camels, climb halfway up Mt Fuji, meet some amazing new people and learn some elementary Japanese, I am officially back.
I have always had a love/hate affair with long distance races. The cramps, the climbs, the long week of recovery after the race... They all take a special kind of person to come back for more. BUT, the sense of achievement, the awesome crew behind these events (cheers NDuro family!) and getting to ride my bike for hours on end are all big pluses. So, with some hesitation from my coach, I entered the 50km Whaka 50 as my debut race back to recover from overeating on wonderful foreign food.
There is one other aspect about distance races I failed to mentioned. Most of the "local" races are in Rotorua, which means up at 5 am for a 3 hour drive down. When we arrived in Rotorua this meant my parents were in desperate need for Coffee to last the rest of the day without nodding off and went off into Zippy's for said beverage; after all, we had over an hour before race start and I wouldn't need all of that time to warm up... Well, Murphy's law took effect and after a 25 minute long 10 minute wait they came gaping back out the cafe, coffee's in hand, with 40 minutes to spare before race start... We were going to be cutting it close.
It felt almost surreal lining up at the start, Camelbak on, glasses set to rose tint (everything looks better through rose tinted glasses), and the first hit of caffeine from my stash of gels flowing through my system. I had no idea how I would do, no idea whether I would even finish and no idea of what exactly lay ahead despite being about as much of a veteran of marathon distance as a 16 year old can be. (Earlier this year, back when I was actually fit, I was crowned the National U17 MTB Marathon champ...) So when the starter horn went, I stuck with the pack and got into it. Race on.
20 minutes into the race and it became apparent that it was not going to be my day to win. The front U19 riders set a blistering pace off into the trails that I didn't try to match; my aim was to finish, not to bonk with 15 km to go and wind up unable to walk for a week. I got my first reminder that this was an NDuro when we hit Bush road climb and the legs began to burn. Unfortunately, we just don't have hills of the same caliber here in Auckland, and the legs suffered because of it. There was one little bit of a competition between me and another rider that lasted for most of the race that confused me slightly. I was on a Giant carbon hard tail, my trust XTC, and he was on a carbon Anthem 29r, a full sus. However, he was climbing faster than me, and I was creaming him on the descents; a complete role reversal of what you'd expect looking at our choice of equipment.
This continued right up until Hot X Buns, where I finally got the gap and pulled away. I also met up with fellow Auckland rider Jared Scollay at this point. He had somehow ended up behind me despite being in front of me for most of the race. Unfortunately the Whaka and other NDuro races are notorious for falling victim to course tamperers, and one of us must have fallen victim too. We are still not sure which one of us it actually was though. Regardless, we hammered down through Hot X Buns and into Be Rude Not 2, sore backs and tight triceps galore.
It is in every single race, and it always seems worse than it actually is. Lion trail tends to be the trail of choice for any cramp to kick in, and it nearly got me this time round. A healthy splash of electrolytes later and it was held at bay, but it was a close thing. The last 10 kilometers were pretty painful, as my lack of long distance race experience in recent times began to show, but I thundered across the finish line in top gear, not in last place, having finished my first race in months.
However, all was not well. One of my friends, Kim Wright, had not crossed the line yet despite having been ahead of me most of the race. Half an hour passed, and he didn't finish. Dad went and rode the last section of the course backwards to check if Kim had crashed, while Mom and I stayed with his Dad keeping an eye out in case he came in. One hour later, and still no sign. An ambulance had headed out on course, but we doubted it was for him. Even more time passed.
Then, we received a call from the marshals out on course; the Ambulance was for Kim.
As facts slowly emerged, it became apparent that Kim wasn't dead. He had headed out on the 100km course near the end of the race by mistake, without adequate food or water, and had fainted roadside from exhaustion and severe dehydration. They put him on a saline drip and rolled him off to Rotorua hospital where he made a full recovery and was discharged later that afternoon. A dramatic end to a great event.
A big thanks to all the crew at NDuro events for putting the Whaka on, and serious Kudos to all the guys doing the 100 km option. Even more so to the guys on single speeds, rigids, and rigid single speeds. You guys are tough/insane!
It is good to be back. See you all out there!
-robin
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