Contact Huka XL

The Contact Huka Xl is quite a big event held each year usually on the ast weekend of November and because of its prize money attracts a good strong field each time, my best results previously in this race have been 10th and 10th and I was determined to race a good race.

Race start was 7am, too early I managed to get to the start line 4min before race start and kind of push in front of a bunch of people who got there a lot earlier sorry about that. We had a Cruisey start along the Waikato river down towards the river dam,  then we started coming back and I think the race speed started to pick up and things became a lot more interesting. By the time we reached Crater of the moon there were about 8 of us until we got to the first major climb which split the pack in half leaving me, Dirk, Carl and Sam the top 4. we stuck together for about 30km with the odd attack every now and then but mostly a constant pace. I was feeling really good and attacked at what I thought was the 10km to go mark (turned out to be 15km) and managed to leave the bunch, luckily after I had left the rest of the race was tight single track which I used to as much of my advantage as possible and build a safe 2min gap in between me and second, Finishing 1st in the open men! This has been one of my best results so far and I'm so stoked.. Pay day woohoo.

Recovery meal

The day after the race I took the SB66 Carbon to Christchurch for a blat and had heaps of fun riding in Victoria park getting used to fast burms and big jumps was awesome, have to get some serious speed so I can comp out Cam Cole at the 3 peaks haha.

Mid north island title/Yeti SB66C

The past two weeks I have been racing at the 2nd and 3rd rounds of the Mid north island cup in Napier and Tokoroa and have also been sorted out a new bike for another type of racing.

Napier round two

super fast

It was pretty hot for this race and the track was dry and had some awesome techy single track with tight corners and steep climbs, the tracks we were riding on were similar to previous years racing except this time we were riding most of the backwards to mix things up.. Anyway race start, the pace was a bit quick and I didnt mind not being with the leader from the start so eased up a little to stay with the main bunch but on the first decent I tried taking a hot line and flicked up a log hiding under some pine needles which ended up flicking me off the bike I had to stop for a little bit to take all the leaves and other bits that had caught in the wheel, by this time the leader (Mathew) had about a min gap on me so I got straight into it and started reeling him back in during the first 3 laps. By the last lap I was in the lead and was feeling good so just kept a strong pace and got a little gap on 2nd at the top of the last major climb to take the win by about 20sec woohoo.

race face.. i wish

Tokoroa round 3

Completely different conditions for this race with cold winds and small showers every 30min or so, Mikey Northcott had made the course so it was going to be a goodie. The start was pretty quick again and on the first climb there was 6 of us and I manged to get into the single track in 3rd but wasn't quick enough on the single track so got dropped, the rest of the race I was playing catch up but that wasn't really working and I think the gap stayed constantly about 30secs between me and the leader (Carlos) by the 3rd lap the course had started getting a bit more slippery and I had to run a couple of sections each lap, keeping things a bit interesting, I finished up in 2nd in open men so am pretty happy with that! And I think with that I just need to enter the Rotorua round and the mid north island cup title is mine, yuss.

New bike

Have only been out for one ride so cant go into much detail yet, but I can say it climb's super well without much, if any bobbing in the rear suspension and goes downhill a lot faster than I'm used to, so if you don't see me in hospital soon there should be a good write up/video about this bike in the next month or so.. Here's some pics for now

Even girls think Yetis are awesome

Spring catch up

I havnt updated this for a while have been a bit lazy over the past two months being taken down with an annoying cold and being drowsy/lazy with most things apart from training but have come right now and am able to write blogs for you again woohoo.

lately I have competed in the Motu 160. Whaka 100, and round 1 of the Mid north island mtb series.

Motu 160

It was a cool and breezy start for this race and was scheduled to rain so started the race with a rain coat on and sure enough it started spitting as we headed up the valley, up the first climb Carl, Brad, and Cabin broke away and I stayed back with Sam Clark(solo motu competitor) who is a tank on the fire roads and I struggled big time just to keep on his wheel. By the end of the mtb we caught up to Cabin and then I hit the wall and they both boasted off 8km from transition, I rolled in to change bikes and had a smooth change then onto the road, the weather was nut by now and the wind had picked up alot/the legs had already puttered out. I was passed nearly straight away losing any chance of 2nd, 3rd, or 4th. later on going up the main climb the head wind was so trong I had to walk up a part of the course.. After that my mind wasnt worried about the race but I still wanted to get home as quick as possible for a nap. Adrain, Karen, and Lee caught up and we boosted to the end getting soaked and blw dried the whole way back.. good training ride.

Whaka 100

We had awesome conditions on the day and a nice crisp morning start, we got into the single track quickly and I started coughing up big globs of mucus, yummy. Sam Clark set a quick pace at the front until a mechanical I think. By the time we were out on the back roads there was a group of 5 of us 2 Auzzies and Me Carl and Brad, I tried to keep things as easy as possible for myself sitting in as bits of mucus were still coming up. up the first main hill to No Brains Carl put in an attack and Brad and I responded dropping the Auzzies off.we stayed together until the 65km mark then I started getting some intense cramp and was dropped, from then on I was relying on single track to keep my position and it worked pretty well yo yo'ing with Brad for a bit then on the last main climb Brad sped off and my pain face was coming out as the cramp started becoming very visible. I tanked on till the end and was really happy to get 3rd in the end and only 5mins down on the leader.

Mid North island cup round 1

Another good day for racing with primo conditions, race start was a good fast pace with Sam Gaze setting the pace I sat in 3rd going into the single track and was just trying not to go the wrong way for the first lap since the directors had made a huge deal about it, was good entertainment. I moved into 2nd and then into 1st after Sam had a mechanical. so I settled in with a good pace and rode the rest of the race at a good constant pace until the finish to take the win.

The Yeti ASR C has been an awesome bike for the mtb races and iv really been able to push it quickly through single track getting faster each ride plus it is super tough and can handle a bit of abuse, cant wait to try out another Yeti sometime soon.


Thats all for now folks