Lycra vs Baggies

It has been an epic couple of days with the Cross Country National Champs on Saturday followed by the 2W gravity enduro on Sunday,  all held in Rotorua as part of the first Rotorua bike festival, so cheers to the Rotorua MTB club/Cycling club and all the people who put in the hard work to make all the events happen.

Starting with the Lycra on Saturday at the Cross cCountry National Championships

I was seeded on the last row for the start of the race and used the first climb to work my way through the pack into about 6th place by the end of the 1st climb which was bad as I lost time on Dirk and Anton who quickly made a gap, coming out back onto a road section I put in an effort and caught up to Carl who was in 3rd and sat with him until the next road section, then I put another effort in and by then was getting closer to Dirk and Anton. Unfortunately I lost focus coming out of some single track onto gravel road and skidded out. From there I sat in 3rd or fourth place with Carl Jones until the 4th lap when he put in some power and boosted. For the last 3 laps I was doing my best to keep 4th and succeeded finishing up in 4th overall and 3rd in U23. I am really happy to finish a national champs without any mechanicals and to come home with a medal. Things will only get better from now on so will start preparing for the Oceania MTB champs coming up
in 7 weeks.

Cheers to all the supporters out there, it was awesome having such big crowds, Aroha and Dad for feeding me and Mum for cheering so loud.

Baggies on Sunday in the 2W gravity Enduro

Enduro racing is starting to take off in New Zealand and has already interested a lot of people because the events always attract a good bunch of people and its nearly impossible to have a bad day (even if you don't stay on your bike), the 2W was no exception. Fortunately I knew all the tracks pretty well in this event so I had just been focusing on my cross country stuff leading up to this event. Also we could retry or redo a run if we were not satisfied with the first run which I took advantage of on Hotcross Buns as I caught up to another rider quickly, jammed on the brakes and was rolling around in the dust before you could say banana thick shake  It was a great way to spend my Sunday and will definitely be back again next year if I can help it. Finishing up with the overall win and winning each stage was a bonus.

And the giant pay check woohoo. Couldn't have finished this weekend in style without my sponsors support so big thanks to  Southstar Shuttles Rotorua, Yeti NZ, Blackseal Imports, Roam Industries, Mulebar, Adidas Eyewear, Endura, Outdoorsman Rotorua, and Wildland Consultants

National xc mtb series round 3, Auckland, Hunua

It was another cloudless hot day for round 3 of the national series, we had a good start loop that went twice around a grass field and the course was mostly flat undulating tight single track with some fast climbs on grass fields which made for a hard fun course.

I had a good start avoiding a small crash and riding into the single track in 3rd. Coming out of the single track Dirk laid the power down and passed Anton, I just sat on for the ride behind the two (no way near as easy as I just made that sound haha) and made it about 3 quarters around the 1st lap and crashed losing sight of the lead and taking a while to pick everything up and start again, by then I was in 5th and still feeling strong I moved back into 3rd place by the 3rd lap then crashed again going back to 5th again. The pain was a bit more serious this time and pulling out felt like an option but I hate doing that so I chugged down a Mule Bar Cafe Cortado shot which happens to be loaded with caffeine which helps the brain forget about pain. By the last lap I was back in 3rd with Mikey Northcott sitting on, he passed me on before the last part of single track and got a small gap which I closed in the last 200m and we had a sprint battle to the finish, Mikey beat me by a couple of centimeters and we both had a sleep on the line, which in my opinion is a good way to finish a race. Finishing in 4th, pretty happy with how the legs were but the brain wasn't operating to well.

Cheers to Aroha for feeding me and the Auckland mtb club for putting on a great race with a good atmosphere and all my sponsors Yeti NZ, Blackseal Imports, Mulebar, Adidas Eyewear, Endura, Roam Industries, Southstar Shuttles Rotorua, and Wildland Consultants.

Peace out

NZ xc mtb cup round 2, Wellington

The 2nd round of the cross country mtb series was held in Wellington this year hosted by the PNP MTB club, and they did an awesome job making both a technically demanding and steep climbing course which made for some fun racing and good spectating.

On race day it was hot like every other day since ages ago, and the course was dry and dusty. We started with a road climb which was good to get in the right spot before the single track, unfortunately I tried changing gears at a bad time and dropped the chain off the chain ring. After getting everything sorted the front pack was 80m (or so) ahead, so after a bit of an effort I nearly caught up before the top of the climb and was in about 6th. From there on I played catch up to the front guys who had snuck away at the start and managed to reel them all in apart from one charging Dirk Peters who took a convincing win 2min 36secs ahead of me. I am extremely happy with second and am looking forward to the next couple of months of racing on the Yetis.

Big thank you to Aroha for feeding me, all the marshalls and spectators for keeping things lively, PNP club for hosting and preparing the event, and my sponsors Yeti NZ, Black Seal Imports, Roam Industries, Adidas Eyewear, Mule Bar, Endura, South Star Shuttles Rotorua, Outdoorsman Headquarters, and Wildland Consultants.

Apart from racing it was great being in Wellington for the Sevens. We had to dress up to feel normal walking through the streets.

Peace out