Many Athletes Nowadays like to have a back story of sorts for people to look at, I figured I might as well supply my own. I want to make this blog more interactive so my question to you is this: How did you start Mountain Biking? Were you introduced by a friend, in it from a young age, transferred from another sport? Leave your response in the comment box at the bottom. Without further ado, here is my story.
I was not the sort of person you would have ever expected to be an good at a sport, let alone get as obsessed with Mountain Biking as I have. Once apon a time I was a little boy who was much like many other little boys that liked to play football at their local football club on a Saturday morning. Like every other little boy I would run around like a headless chicken for half an hour then go home, firmly believing I had done enough exercise for the day to wear myself out, only to bounce back later on. I was alright at this sport, but I wasn't the kid who would go and kick a ball around the yard for hours on end, only stopping to watch football on the telly so they could learn more about kicking an inflated piece of leather. Instead, I would much rather read books. I loved books; whether they be about the weather, space, dinosaurs, sports cars, aeroplanes or whatever else you can think of. It got to the stage where I would wait until I thought Mom and Dad weren't around after I had been put to bed, and would sit near my door so I had just enough light to read for another hour. If Mom or Dad came near, I would drop whatever I was reading and quickly jump back to bed. Turns out there may be some truth in the urban legend that reading in the darkness damages your eyes, as I am now short-sighted with an astigmatism. I would much rather be hiding away with my books than out kicking a ball, so I never really ever got that fit or developed a "natural talent" for sport. This is why I would seem as an unlikely candidate for an athlete.
I was the kid who would refuse to go out for a simple run with his Dad to maintain a slight standard of fitness, and who's greatest sporting achievement was not coming last in school cross country. I played a little bit of tennis and developed a decent level of proficiency that I maintain to this day, but never had the drive to rise to the great player I may have developed into, much to my parents dismay.
I started Mountain Biking from an early age, but it wasn't always a love story. One could argue I was born to be a racer, as when my Mom was about a month or two pregnant with me she had an accident in a mountain bike race, during which she was run over by one of the more prominent mountain bikers in New Zealand at the time.
One of my first very vivid memories is having the trainer wheels removed from my little singlespeed/bmx bike like every other little boy has, with the only brakes applied by pedalling backwards, and being told to ride down the driveway. For those who don't know me that well, the driveway at my house is short but steep, and not really the ideal training ground for first time without trainer wheels. I promptly shot down the driveway and crashed full speed into the lamp post at the bottom of our culdesac. It's safe to say my bike and I didn't get off to the happiest of starts. Mom and Dad would occasionally take me out to Woodhill Forest to ride my bike, and I hated it. They were always too fast for me on my little single speed and I dreaded being dragged out to some hilly forest away from my books. I always felt like I was holding them back and ruining their ride. Things became a little better when I got a new bike; a Kona Hula 24 inch wheeled bike that had gears and calliper brakes, as well as a very basic suspension fork. It was on this bike that I entered my very first race at the Hunua ranges. It's safe to say I crashed a lot and pushed up many of the hills due to a lack offitness or skill. I finished muddy, tired, battered and bruised, but felt strangely elated knowing I had achieved something completely out of my comfort zone.
Soon I outgrew that little Kona and, with some financial assistance from my dad, went half and half (more like 700/200) on a larger model Kona Caldera with 100 mm coil fork, 26 inch wheels and disc brakes. Most importantly of all, it had an XT rear dérailleur, something I was very proud of. However, I can remember severely hating the bike on a trip down to Rotorua when my little brother was consistently riding everything faster than I was; on my old bike too no less! In hindsight it was probably my severe lack of fitness, but I like to think otherwise. My younger brother is actually pretty athletic so there is no shame in losing, but the whole brotherly competition idea suggests otherwise. I slowly developed as a rider aboard this Kona as a member of the local JAFAKIDS riding group, but was always the type of person who would be a permanent case of "It's so nice that Robin keeps showing up to these rides every week; good on him for trying." I entered the odd race here and there but often got beaten at my own game by road cyclists and BMXers who showed up to the events to give them a go. I still wasn't exactly what you would call a brilliant biker.
Being a growing boy I eventually out grew my second Kona and became hooked on the idea of owning a full suspension bike. All the cool people at the time seemed to own Giant Anthems and I desperately wanted one, but couldn't afford the price tag associated with a top end bike like that. That was until the local Bike Barn had one of their yearly half price sales. Bike Barn do not stock Giants, however they did have Merida's which were pretty cool looking bikes with great componentry for the coin. With most of my life savings in hand and a little "birthday assistance" from Mom and Dad I narrowed it down to 2 choices: The lighter weight, shorter travelled 96 or the slightly longer travelled, slightly tougher 1-20. In the end I ran with the 1-20, figuring it would be better than the 96 if I wanted to get into jumping. It was the perfect bike for the kid that didn't know what bike he wanted.
I have been told that when I showed up to JAFA's for the first time on my shiny new Merida, a few people shook their heads knowing it was the wrong bike for someone who would develop into a racer. However, at the time of purchase, I still believe it was the right decision for me, as I mentioned before, it was the bike for the kid who didn't know what he wanted. Aboard my new Merida I suddenly became good. I was no longer the kid who everyone looked down on. I wasn't leader of the pack, but I wasn't the bottom of the barrel either. I did a few more races and actually started doing alright at them. Again, I wasn't winning but I wasn't far off the podium either. At the time the Wunderkid of Auckland was a boy about my age named Ryan Craggs. He was fresh off winning the Auckland secondary school series and was probably the favourite to win the Auckland Champs as well. As the series of 4 races built I had mechanical issues in the first race but actually managed to win the second race, and then the third as well, with Ryan pulling podiums both times. It came down to the final race in Riverhead forest; a climby, technical course. I bet Ryan in a sprint finish as well as a few boys older than myself, and became Auckland U17 champion. I had an epiphany about then. I could actually do this stuff if I tried. I branched out into the NDuro Long course series, with each race being between 40-50km long. Somehow I managed to win this series too, and the future began to look brighter.
At this point a few things became apparent to me. The first thing was that if I wanted to maintain my lucky winning streak I was going to have to get even fitter, as I now had a target drawn on my back as the one to beat and others would try harder than ever to dethrone me from my first place perch. Secondly, I became keen on the idea of becoming a pilot through the Air force when I was older, and knew that they looked for smart, highly athletic people. So I actually began to train properly. I would go out riding more than twice a week. We invested in a second hand road bike so I could train properly out on the roads. The big excitement was early the next year with the Oceania games coming to NZ, and a chance at the U17 XC. I was 14 going on 15 at the time and didn't stand a chance at winning but had a shot at top 10. However, at the end of the previous year I let the training slack, having won Auckland champs and confident I could do it again. This was not the case. My first race at the start of the year was a no show; I got smashed. There were other riders just as good as me who were actually training, and it showed in the results. I began to train hard for Oceanias, and when race day came I was doing well until the last lap. My endurance was not up to standard and I slowly slipped back from 8th place, well within top 10, to 13th. I did however win a pretty impressive sprint finish.
I began to train harder, and when National secondary schools came around I was a lot fitter than 2 months before. I went out on to the XC course and took 4th in New Zealand in U15's. I still regard this as my best result to date. Against riders who seemed fitter, faster and stronger than I, I prevailed and only just missed out on the podium, in the process gaining the top result for an Auckland Boy in U15 that year. None of the other JAFAKIDS my age could touch me on that race. I pulled in an 8th place on the hill climb which was pretty impressive considering my bike was a 13kg, 120mm travel fully suspended, however a mechanical on the downhill race stopped me from getting a top 10 overall. After this I knew that I could race, and I knew that I could win. I was no longer the same Robin who would sit up all night with a book in his hand. This Robin was leaner, meaner, faster, fitter, smarter and stronger than the old one, and it showed.
I then made yet another upgrade to my equipment in the form of a Giant XTC 29'r. At about the same time I became a sponsored athlete with r&R Sport New Zealand, the third JAFA of my generation to become a sponsored athlete and the first boy. I went from strength to strength from here, winning races all over the place, and even when I didn't win I was usually top 3. At around this time I developed a new rival. I will not mention his name for reasons you may discover later, but he was new to the sport but very fast. We became close competition and the usual result for a race was the win going either to this rider, or to me. Near the end of 2012 i made the decision that I was going to race the National XC Champs. Without going in to too much detail, I basically trained the hardest I ever have trained in my life. When the race came around things didn't go to plan and my rival and I were involved in an incident that started a rapid spiral of consequences, arguments, threats, abuse, anger and general nastiness between a lot of people. Most of the people involved in this I don't really talk to any more because of how they handled the situation, and how they chose to act without looking at the facts and jumping to the defence of their favorites instead. I go into more detail about this here:
http://robinturningpages.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/a-tarnished-glory-mtb-nationals-2013.html
http://robinturningpages.blogspot.co.nz/2013/03/when-it-goes-wrong-nationals-2013-part-2.html
This hit me pretty hard; I worked for something, possibly the hardest I have ever worked for something, and it was all for waste because one person decided to be a dick. I went into a bit of a dark place after this. I would struggle to find motivation to go out and train. When I raced, I would still do very well but I would never win. It's funny actually. People liked to boast about how they managed to beat me at a whole lot of races after nationals, but in reality the training I was doing for these races involved riding twice a week and doing a lot of baking (cookies, breads, slices... you name it) instead. In my opinion they should be embarrassed that the times they did beat me were only by small margins, and the times I bet them were thumpings to say the least.
I raced the National XC Marathon Champs and won due to a dismal turn out, so at least I had my National Title. I also raced the National Secondary Schools Multisport Champs and came 5th in U19, an outstanding result for my first proper triathlon and as the youngest competitor in my age group. I really like triathlon as it is harder than the generic XC race, and the people seem a lot nicer too. It seems like no-one brags about achievements because everyone who achieves in Multisport is a brilliant athlete; unlike some of the people I have known in MTB who will brag till the cows come home about winning a local race that nobody else had really bothered to train for.
After this I took a break from racing. I traveled around the world. I focused on my schoolwork to prepare for my final exams. I chose not to let my life be determined by how I did in a race, and as I did this my motivation and confidence slowly came back. And so we arrive at the present day.
Here I am, this is me.
I am Robin, and I will be back.
The end?
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