2012 Auckland Champs Round 1 Woodhill

Racing is a strange thing. There's the hard work put into the build up by organizers and athletes alike. There's the pre race nerves; like carnivorous butterflies high on caffeine having a go at your stomach lining. There's the mud, sweat and tears out on the course, the teeth gritted in determination and burning quads as you push past any preconceived boundaries of what you can and can't do. The relief crossing the finish line, eyes bleary with sweat.

Racing reveals who you are. Are you the one that has everything go exactly according to plan after meticulous preparation bordering on OCD (or CDO, in alphabetic order, the way it should be )? Are you the one who races for fun and is in it for the spot prizes? Are you the one who gets strange looks for rocking up in baggies, then smokes everyone out on course? At Auckland Champs round 1 we had all these and more. Aside from a light shower to keep us on our toes, the weather gods had been kind and the trails were nice and dry. The course had differed a bit from the one posted on the Auckland Mountain bike Club website, in that it was the course shown, just ridden BACKWARDS. This came as a shock to a few riders, but made for a course that didn't favour those who knew a trail inside out so much as those with skill that could adapt to different courses.

Despite having raced at the National Secondary Schools relay champs the day before, there was a large contingent of JAFAKIDS lining up at the start line ready to race. The race began and fellow R&R rider Kalen Weir shot out to the front for the road climb up to the single track. Unfortunately for Kalen  everyone reeled him in before he reached the single track but it's good to see him going guts or glory out there. Racing through Haggis (backwards) there were a few dismounts by riders who hadn't scoped out lines through some of the more technical climbs, and the close field meant when one rider went down, the next 5 had to get off and walk too. After the first 2 kilometres I found myself sitting in a comfortable second with Tom Coombes having shot off somewhere in the top 5 overall, and with Peter Bethell, Isaac Schuurman, Aaron Carr and the rest of the JAFAKIDS in hot pursuit. One slip up and the next rider in line would be on you like a kitten on a laser pointer.

The laps of the course were approximately 12 km each. This meant a slightly longer race than some U17's were used to at a total of 24km long. Personally I found that after my first lap my ability to push hard decreased very quickly from there, and coming up towards Uplands (or should I say Downlands as it was backwards...) Peter Bethell, then in third place, finally caught me through here and stormed away through the last few kilometres of the race to take second. From here it was a battle to not get caught by Isaac in fourth place as fatigue began to set in. When I finally crossed the line in third I soon discovered that Isaac was less than a minute behind me when he crossed the line. After his broken wrist, he has come back stronger and faster. Good on ya Isaac! Next across the line was Aaron, having suffered from a burped tyre early in the race costing him a few minutes on the rest of us, with a rather dramatic crash right before the finish line, having clipped handlebars with another rider.

Less than 30 seconds behind Aaron was the surprise of the day; Alex Beavan. Alex has had a fairly quiet racing season but today took the race by storm with an eventual 6th place. Riders were beginning to pour in now with Ryan and Jake Craggs finishing with about a minute between them, in 7th and 8th. Ryan narrowly avoided being sprinted at the finish by women's U17's winner Jemma Manchester, with exactly the same time recorded on the transponder. Ryan finished about a bike length ahead. Kalen Weir, despite his unbelievably fast start, came home in 9th place. Time to start working on the endurance a little Kalen!

The girls U17 riders were going at it hard too, with Charlotte Rayner and Harriet Beavan going neck and neck throughout the whole course, with the final result being determined in a sprint finish. Charlotte finished a mere second ahead. Great racing Girls!

So, round 1 down, 2 to go. I am definitely looking forward to round 2, as it is being run on the potential course for a round of nationals... any advantages in a race like nationals will be welcome, so let the sessioning of the track begin! The crew at Auckland MTB Club did a great job with the course today, providing a course that was fun but challenging. A big thank you to all the parents and spectators who volunteered as marshals, it really helps having you out there. To the next one!

Jamis Day/Night Thriller

I am convinced that Ice-cream is suitable as a pre-race fuel. In fact, I think I depend on it. Last time I raced without my frozen dairy delight I came dead last. However, having reverted to old habits for the Day/Night Thriller, the exact opposite happened. But more on that later.

It's been awhile since I had raced the Day/Night Thriller in Taupo, so competing against veteran teams on this course was always going to be a challenge. Add into the mix rain warnings throughout the entire week before and this was set to be an interesting 12 hours...

Lining up at the start, once again I found myself shoulder to shoulder with some of the best NZ has to offer. I suppose that's one of the advantages of a small country like New Zealand; plenty of talent nearby to gauge yourself against. Staying warm on the start line was important; the rain was holding off but the cold morning air wasn't, and riders had to be careful not to chill their muscles down too much before the race began. I was dressed in my obligatory leg warmers, which to this day still earn me a few odd looks, but do the job well.

The countdown to the start began... 10. 9. 8... Unfortunately at about 4 a small group of about 8 riders jumped the gun, and I was disheartened to recognise some of them. You know who you are... It makes me sad to see things like this happen as it takes some of the fair play away from a race, and gives riders the wrong idea. You might be able to get away with a stunt like that at a race like this, but what about nationals, or even worlds should you get that far? Imagine being disqualified because you jumped the gun, no matter how much hard work you put in to get there. I think that would suck personally. But on to the race... 

The starting lap involved a lap of the transition area to spread out the riders before doing a full lap of the course. I personally don't like riding through the transition area despite the whole atmosphere because grass always feels like a slow terrain to ride. Your wheels roll slower and it's hard to hold speed. Once into the trail system things heated up quickly, literally and figuratively. The sun came out from behind the clouds and bathed the track in warm yellow light. The geothermal pools along side the track were billowing out steam and riders were sprinting their guts out along the singletrack. The first section was a series of small climbs and descents before chucking riders up a fire road climb to the second part of the track. Overtaking opportunities were aplenty if you knew where to look, with slower riders always ready to move aside for faster riders with the call of "on yer right!"

 The course had more winding trail that oscillated with the terrain slowly developing the climbs from small ups and downs to bigger climbs and descents as you progressed through the trail. My favourite part was railing through a gully near the end of the course. By the end of the day I had learnt it inside out and could rail through with just the lightest feathering of the brake levers. The lap finished up with a series of steep climbs before dropping down into the transition zone.

And so began a long day of racing. As a team we were punching out 15-16 minutes laps and within the hour we had built a lead as first place of the U17 category, within striking distance of the top teams over all. We were not without drama's though. Cosmo managed to break his Specialized AGAIN (he has been through 3 bottom brackets on warranty), so had to borrow another bike for the duration of the race. Kim was keen to try out different bikes to help him decide what to by, riding various 29'rs and even a 650B trail bike, which he still put out a 16.15 minute lap. I think he still likes 29'rs on the fire roads though... Aaron and Isaac on the other hand were saying clear of this and were pumping out consistent laps on their own.

As the afternoon progressed we were holding a solid lead of around a lap, when the weather took a turn for the worse. The promised rain that had been looming all week chose now to rain on our parade and try and ruin the track. Luckily for us, the track drained very well and there was minimal mud build up to add some dirt to otherwise clean shirts and faces. The combined effort of JAFAKIDS, Department of Cycling and Team Specialized Endura meant we had a small tent city to huddle under, with a huge gas heater thanks to Department of Cycling that could probably evaporate Lake Taupo in a day...  At this point another JAFAKIDS team featuring R&R sponsored rider Kalen Weir had made it up into third place and had no intentions of letting it slip away. The race was truly on with 6 hours to go.

Around now the 6 hour category race had drawn to a close and prize giving had begun. In the women's 6 hour category Team JAFAKIDS Babes in Blue came in first overall having done the whole race in a myriad of blue related costumes; congrats girls! In the mixed division JAFAKIDS parents Team High Horse finished third in their category, with less than 10 minutes between them and first place. Come spot prize time the bike was once again won by an AGS rider, this time Kerran Tetley. There's something about those AGS boys and winning bikes...

The night wore on and we began to break out the lights as we lapped under the cover of darkness. Our lap times were slowing down slightly but we had pulled a 2 lap lead on second place and we were confident that we could pull first place even in the event of a mechanical out on the track. Luckily this didn't happen but we were ever on our guard. The barbecue was fired up with sausages cooking to help fight the cold, along with a cloud forming in the main tent from al the water evaporating off wet riders coming in after their laps. One could come in soaking wet and be perfectly dry 5 minutes later thanks to our over powered gas heater, with hot food in their stomachs to boot.

Fast forward to the last 20 minutes or so of the race. We had sent Cosmo out on a lap and we now had 5 minutes to spare before they wouldn't allow riders to start another lap. Cosmo had been out for about 10-12 minutes now. It was going to be close. A few minutes later, without warning Cosmo comes streaking up the straight towards our tent having pulled out a 15.30 lap AT NIGHT. We had about 2 minutes to spare before cut off and managed to get Kim out on the course before they blocked off the finish line. And so we waited for Kim to finish our race for us.

Near the start of the transition zone is one of the hardest climbs of the course. It's steep and slippery, and is sprung on you when you're most tired. So I waited at the top. And waited. With 3 minutes to spare the panic was starting to build. The transition area would take about 2 minutes to negotiate, we were cutting it close. Then, in the distance emerged a lone figure from the singletrack. A figure on a green Scott Hard Tail wearing a JAFAKIDS jersey... I have never shouted and sprinted at the same time so fast/loud. Like a well oiled 2 man Peloton we raced to finish with 30 seconds to spare.

Needless to say we were all pretty pleased that we'd got our rider home, and with it guaranteed the win of the U17 category for Team JAFAKIDS Gangnam style. Now a bigger challenged loomed ahead; convincing my team to dance "Gangnam Style" with me on the podium.

See the original version of the dance here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

One battle I didn't win sadly. Sure was a memorable prize giving though. A lone, tired looking teenager standing on the podium dancing, embarrassed team mates looking on.... We later found out we had missed out on 3rd over all by 1.28, and had come fourth overall. Not bad for a bunch of early adolescents. On the podium with us (not dancing) was Team JAFAKIDS Camel Ears in third having held off fourth place all evening. Team Avanti Plus Waitakere, many riders who were ex-jafas and/or members of DOC won the Bike shop category.

So wearily we returned to our motels for a good nights rest after a long 12 hours of racing. Cheers to everyone who helped set up/take down the small village of tents we had, the parents who bring us down to these races to do what we do, and everyone at event promotions who made this race possible! Oh, and to all those hard men and women that did 12 hours solo. Not sure if insane or just plain tough. Good on ya!

Galaxy Travel NDuro Race 3

My alarm clock is a zombie. Not only does it make people stagger around looking dazed and groaning meaninglessly when it gets its teeth into them, it also infects other devices with this ability. The most recent victim of this would have to be my phone; it too is now capable of waking the dead with its increasingly loud early morning moan. Early in the morning before NDuro Race 3, this quality is both a gift and a curse. With 5 hours a day of exams and a slowly brewing cold throughout the week sleep is a much sought after asset, but being late for a race has disastrous consequences. So, I submitted to this old routine and got ready to race 45km through Rotorua's Whakarewarewa forest.

Now, I didn't have high hopes leading up to this race with a couple of misfortunes in the week leading up.
1) As aforementioned, exams and illness had taken a lot out of me in the week leading up.
2) Riding on Saturday I was absolutely delighted to discover the cage of my front dérailleur had SNAPPED, and was now dropping chains inside, outside and in between. However, this has only gone to prove yet again that epoxy and cable ties can fix anything, even mountain bikes. All hail the cable tie!

Ra had taken a different approach to planning this particular NDuro course, with the first 10-15km of the race being fire road and the odd patch of singletrack snaking it's way up towards Split Enz trail rather than throwing us through the lower trail system first. This worked to my advantage for a little while, as I was holding on to a group pretty fast riders including my competition for this race. This lasted until the climbs got longer and steeper where my cold began to kick in and they began to pull away... Sometime during these climbs we were passed by the first of the 30km riders including Cosmo in 3rd place, having a blindingly good race. The extra loop the 45km riders had to do past the green lake had left the 30min head start null and void; the race was on.

For a while I rode with fellow sprockets rider Alex West, before pulling away through Split Enz, Pondy Downhill and Pondy New. But, at around the 30km mark, we hit Old Chevy and my energy levels dropped faster than the fuel gauge on a muscle car. Alex overtook me at this point, and somehow went on to win the race. Well done Alex! Chinese menu didn't leave me hungry for more as rider after rider passed by. I wasn't happy to realise that this would soon be followed by a nice long climb up direct road to the start of Hot X Bun. To a virus ridden, depleted teenager even the promise of some awesome downhill wasn't enough to get those legs spinning at the pace I would have liked, and it wasn't until Dragon's Tale that I managed to put some straight line speed on again. I rode the last few km home with a blocked nose, hazy mind and feeling very, very tired.  

I wasn't the only one with troubles out on the course though. Aaron Carr, after having a fast, hard fought race, snapped a chain in the last 10km or so without a spare chain link, and so was born the new sport "mountain scootering." I think it might catch on... Tom Coombes pulled out a strong performance finishing 3rd in sprockets, and yours truly finished in 5th, unfortunately out of contention for an overall placing.

In the 30km course Cosmo continued his performance from earlier on and finished an incredible 3rd over all, and first in the sprockets category. Kim Wright, struck down sick like me, finished in 4th place, doing just well enough to secure the series win in sprockets category, whilst still squeezing into top 15 over all. Kerran Tetley managed to take 5th in sprockets, not far off the pace of his competitors.  Jemma Manchester finished first in her age group, however having jumped between the 30km and 45km event throughout the season was not in the running for a series title.

In the 15km Jessica Manchester won both her age group AND gender category, in 5th over all taking out the title, as well as a whole host of other goodies through spot prizes. Finn Welsford-Ackroyd came in fourth in the sprockets category, only a few minutes off the leader, with Jeevan Gossage Krishnan not too far behind in 10th over all; a great effort from both of them. Isobel Welsford-Ackroyd and William Page both finished top 20 overall, bringing the JAFAKIDS results to a close.

Reminiscing time. From this race I gained a couple of things:
1) An insight on what I need to work on for the next few months.
2) A Switch Up GPS sports watch courtesy of Magellan GPS as the lucky winner of a spot prize. To do this I may have had to outrun and out jump a few shorter people, much like a certain Nintendo character. Apologies to anyone trampled by a horde of teenagers and children trying to get hold of a cool piece of equipment. Look for a review in the next few weeks.

3) That the curse of four no longer exists, as I got 5th...
4) I did this race without ice cream for breakfast. I didn't do as well as I usually do. Conclusion: Ice cream is good for athletes. FACT.

A big thank you to Ra and the team at NDuro events for putting the series on, don't stop the little touches like baking and cold ginger beer at the finish line. They make a good event great. Thank you also to the volunteers who help out at these events, and all the riders who show up to make these races possible! Se you all at the Whaka100!


 
 

Auckland Grammar Winter Series Final: Woodhill

I have a sweet tooth. I admit it. Before a race, I will consume a large quantity of ice-cream, but for this race I do believe to have outdone myself. I took with me to the race 2 cookies the size of Dinner Plates. That's right, Dinner Plates.

So, loaded with 2 cups worth of sugar, 50g of butter, 2 eggs and 2 cups of flour in the back seat, my Dad and I headed out to Woodhill Bike park so that I could race in the final of the Auckland Grammar Winter Series. After a few weeks of rainy day after rainy day, it was nice to have a race where it wasn't letting loose with all the liquid the sky had to give. The course was impressive; enough snap climbing and grave road sprints to keep the lungs burning of even the fittest competitors, with the course a kilometre or two longer per lap than usual, just pushing the endurance of some riders that bit more.

The race started a little later than expected, with the start a sprint up the road of Woodhill's bottom car park. It is one of those roads that is always that little bit steeper and harder than you remember it, and this showed as we ground full burn up. Up Power Ball trail the field immeadiately separated out into 4 mini battles. Up in first and second were Cosmo and Tom, smashing it all out for the overall series title. Next up was Aaron and yours truly, fighting to break into that third podium spot, and in my case for third in the overall placings. Not too far behind were Kim and Isaac, Kim having begun to fall ill and Isaac not long out of a cast from a broken wrist. Behind them was the rest of the field, hot on everyone's wheels.

Also up Power Ball, we were unfortunately greeted with the sound of a man swearing his head off at every rider that went past. He had clearly paid his money to enter the park and was now going to exercise every right he believed he had to the detriment of other riders. He was also more than happy to give his opinion on having a race in the newer end in the park.  It restored my faith in humanity to see every rider that went past him give him a piece of his own right back, including riders who weren't in the race. Angry man on Specialized full sus, shame on you.

The rest of the race followed as normal, attacking on your area of strength then being taken back on your weak spots, and holding on for the next opportunity to pass. Unfortunately, I was cursed halfway through the second and final lap with yet another dropped chain. The number of races I have lost from dropped chains could be turned into a dubstep remix: D-D-D-D-DROP THE CHAIN!!! (wub wub wub). Sadly this meant that I lost too much time to catch Aaron, and so returned The Curse of Four (Insert ominous sounding laughter here).

Overall Cosmo took the series win for Intermediate after a dominant performance, with Tom in second and Kim slipping into third having had some great results early on. Fellow JAFAKID and R&R team mate Kalen Weir tied for first in Juniors with guest rider Jake Craggs, both having strong races throughout the series. Jemma and Jessica Manchester won the intermediate and Junior categories respectively, even though Jess was riding as a guest, not being in a secondary school yet.

So, at the conclusion of the Auckland Grammar Series, with Auckland Champs looming up ahead, ad exams to deal with, we've got a busy few months ahead of us. I think I may need to hire a witch doctor or a spirit medium of some sort to kill this curse though... Congratulations to all the winners, thanks to all the Marshals and volunteers who helped make the event run, and to John Hassler from Auckland Grammar School for organizing the series.