Lisa Morgan - Kiwi Mountain Biker

After a week of unbeatable Wellington weather there was a bit of an eyebrow-raising moment when I woke on Saturday and heard rain falling.  Being 30kms away I wondered what the weather was doing in town, so after breakfast started texting for reports.  Light rain that had stopped already.  It didn’t even settle the dust…

With Celia racing in the morning but without her usual support crew (Scotty had to work at Bicycle) I headed in a bit earlier than usual just in case I was needed for anything - but I wasn’t, just a feed between laps.  Robyn was there early too as she was REO for a couple of hours in the morning while Marco was racing.  I was super stoked to have her at a race, and not just any race!  I only got told off for arriving too early, being on my feet and being in the sun (I was walking to the shade!) - it was awesome having here there :o)

The morning wasn’t without it’s share of drama… there were 2 available feedzones but only 1 would be used in the morning.  The drama for me was the suggestion that the top zone might not be used in the afternoon as all my bottles were set up for feeding up there - it was a few hours before that was confirmed.  Then the start was different to past races - starting above the velodrome and riding in to it instead of starting in it.  It was good to know that early in the day.  And the poor U19s who were only told on the line that they had been moved to racing in the afternoon.

And then they were racing!  One of the good things about being around for the morning race is that you can get a bit of an idea as to the factors that might come in to play in the afternoon.  This time it was starting to look like it might be a race of attrition.  Apart from the obvious factors of the heat and super gruelling course, the first casualty of the morning was Ricky who hugged a tree a bit too aggressively.  Next from our camp Nic pulled up with a lame bike and despite his best efforts and unfathomable knowledge Oli wasn’t able to fix up her rear mech and she opted not to try and single speed the remainder of the race (on Mt Vic, who would!).

Soon after that we spotted Laura Smith, also of senior women, at the rego desk instead of out on the course.  On the bright side, at this point it meant Celia only had to hold her position and finish the race to take out 3rd in her first national championship race :o)

Between races the time flew as usual.  Robyn would appear from time to time to check in and make bottle arrangements and KT, Gav and I sorted all our gear in the lower tech zone.  Not long before it was time to get on the trainer my parents arrived with my cousins who were coming to watch their first ever mountain bike race.  After the usual warm up, it was time to go and get called up.

The start was narrow so even getting called up 6th put me in the second row, and soon we were inside the 2 minute call.  The gun went and the start was frantic!  The flat part of the track was narrow and passing wasn’t particularly safe - I got myself in to 3rd off the line but quickly had girls coming around on both sides of me.  There was real potential for carnage, not something I’m in to, so I quickly lost places and came in to the velodrome in about 10th picking up one spot before we exited up to the start climb.  I wasn’t too happy at having lost so many places so early, but that’s how it goes.

The field seemed to stay pretty close together up to the summit, through the first downhill section and in to the ’steep climb’.  By the time I was at the walk section I was still in contact with most of the girls in front of me.  Around this point I saw KT walking her bike as she’d burped her rear tyre - not again after similar trouble last year!  She fixed it up once but ended up with another puncture and lapped out of the race - gutting.  But my race was still on.  The 3rd major climb of the course was the dove tail - just long and steep enough to be a real killer, followed by a short downhill and then back to climbing up to the feed zone.  My start bottle was well and truly empty by the time I picked up the next one.  There was a HUGE crowd up there making truck loads of noise.  I grabbed my bottle from Rob and tried to let her know KT had punctured as she was feeding her as well, and listened for her advice, which I think was mostly go hard and dig it in.  From the feed zone we crested the climb and headed in to another downhill through singletrack where there were still heaps of people making noise.

The next significant section of the course is the technical downhill behind the hospital - HEAPS of people up there no doubt hoping for a bit of dust ball action.  The trick is to ride it smooth and know your lines and stick to them.  But the top half had become so blown out my lines didn’t exist anymore!  Fortunately it was pretty well flattened out so avoiding the ruts wasn’t really an issue and it was actually much easier to ride than it had been any other time recently.

The rest of the course is fairly uneventful and I’ve always thought of it as a bit of a break with all the tough climbs in the first half of the course, so I settled in to complete my first lap.

Coming in to the velodrome I saw Gen Whitson just up ahead and I’ve always loved putting the hammer down through here.  I exited just behind her and was out of the saddle to make the pass up the grass bank.  It felt like a really solid pass and gave me the extra motivation to dig deep up the tough start climb to make sure it would stick.  Heading towards the summit I saw a couple of the guys walking their bikes back, obviously too damaged to even lap out.  This climb was open and 100% exposed to the sun and it was HOT.  I still had half a lap before my next bottle so had to be careful about rationing the juice - I could have easily used another 150ml or so per bottle.

As I headed in to the steep climb for the second time I saw Erin just ahead of me and she was dismounting much earlier than I was.  I became focused on catching her in the remaining 2 and a half laps.  On the downhill just after this section we came past Nina who had burped her tyre (remember what I said about race of attrition?).  I could see Erin up the dove tail and just kept focusing on her.  As I came up to the feedzone for the 2nd time Monique came past me having an absolute blinder (U23 for champs).  I grabbed my bottle and powered to the crest in a position to cut her off going in to the singletrack, but held back - we were racing different grades.

The next time I saw Erin was on the start climb and again she was just ahead of me.  In my head all I could hear was a voice telling me to keep in touch, keep in touch, close the gap.  The gap would open and close, open and close.  On the steep climb for the 3rd time I had her within all of 5 seconds, but it’s a tough place to close even a small gap like that.  Up the dove tail again she was still just in front of me with a few more seconds and I was giving it everything.  Coming across the top of the dove tail I knew I’d just surpassed the Christchurch race - I was officially in the hardest race of my life and I was loving it.

By this stage the boys were starting to lap me…  as we came through a technical root section just before the velodrome Erin was still in my sights when one of the guys cut me off as he passed - I had to dab, and lost both time and rhythm which was incredibly frustrating.  I still saw Erin twice more - on the start climb and on the steep climb.  It appeared we were both fading roughly equally but I literally felt like I was on empty as I struggle to keep the legs moving in circles up the steeper climbs.  By the time I hit the dove tail for the last time I had to concede. Erin had got away and I didn’t have anything left to try and catch her. I was ready to just finish it off and come home as strong as I could but I really had to let off for a minute up there for a bit of a break.  It was the only time in the race I wasn’t giving it everything, but it was about all I had at the time.

When I got to the feedzone for the last time it was much quieter.  Some of the junior girls who had raced in the morning had been cheering me on all day from just below the zone which was absolutely awesome.  Some of those girls are super quick and they are tiny little things!  Can’t wait to see them in another few years.  I grabbed my last bottle and got some last words of encouragement from Robyn and set about bringing it home.

As I came in to the velodrome for the last time I came past the maxxis tent and it seemed like everyone was there - they gave me a big cheer so I gave them one final effort on my way to the line.

6th place!  In my first elite national champs!  I was stoked, still am - just totally stoked.  I left everything out there.  In fact, it was a good 20 minutes before I got off my bike properly because I needed it to prop me up!  Half an hour later my breathing still hadn’t returned to normal!  I caught up with Erin - what a great race we’d had pushing each other - she was worried the whole time, and I was just dying to catch her but she was too good that day.

I caught up with Robyn (still propped up by my bike) and was really happy to see she was so pleased with my result.  I had been so stoked to have her out there supporting me and am really proud to have had such a good race with her there.

It’s left me even hungrier for more than ever, but what a great pinnacle race.  Yes, Karapoti and Oce’s to come, and I’ll give them everything I’ve got too, but I’ll spend at least another day thinking about this one.

And to top things off, Gav came 3rd!!!!  I think he surpassed everyone’s expectations with that one and we’re both just fizzing off our results.  Sam took out U19, Monique held her top form that I saw early in the race to win U23, Connor came 2nd in U23 behind Carl Jones.

That night most of us met up again as we had a farewell for Lee (Poston) who by now is in his new job in Rotorua (Cycle Centre).  Top quality entertainment with 7 of the boys taking on the 2 litre ice cream challenge which was won in a staggering 4 minutes and 33 seconds!  Ricky had his second dnf of the day, poor boy.  None of the girls were up to the challenge although Nic and I had kindly offered to be feeders to Robyn - 2 spoons on the go - but it wasn’t red wine flavour so she declined.

After not quite enough sleep, I went for a nice recovery spin on Sunday before the wind picked up too much, then headed in with Gav to watch the short track (talk about exciting!) and the DH.

That’s kinda what it felt like.  One second the start hooter went, the next I was gasping for air across the finish line!  But what’s with the ‘anytime within 15 seconds’ call at the starts?  Remember I said at Palmy he called 15 seconds and blew the whistle in 3?  Today they explained it a bit better - we’d get a 1 minute call, a 30 second call and then a 15 second call, after which the start could be anytime in 15 seconds.  Just to be sure, I asked for clarification that there would be 15 seconds between the 30 second call and the 15 second call…  in the end the hooter went about half a second after the 15 second call - are they checking that we are awake???

Anyway, the start was pretty standard.  I got a front row spot again but Bob quickly jumped ahead of me and Erin was right in front of her.  Nina took her usual little bit of time to get past and we settled in to a bit of a train heading up the gut buster and I was happy to hold Nina’s wheel up there.  From there we were in to the singletrack, riding the cross country course in reverse.  Bob had taken the lead followed by Erin and Nina just ahead of me.  I put a gap on the rider behind me through the singletrack and down over the roots but fudged a technical section when the course went back up.  I was frustrated as I’d cleaned it yesterday in practice, and then while I was running to get back on I heard the crowd cheering the rider behind me so knew she had made it up cleanly.

From there we popped up next to Alexandra Rd where the XC course comes past itself and continued up the XC course in the normal direction.  Going up the grass the rider behind me got past as my lungs were giving out (I thought it would be my legs).  Karl was making a heap of noise up there encouraging me to get her back and I started to close on her then heard her take it up a gear.  She stayed about 5m ahead of me through the next piece of singletrack, up a short climb and along to a short technical climb (back on the XC course in reverse).  I think she may have fumbled slightly up the technical bit because I was able to close the gap a bit as we rode the final moderate gradient up to the final pitch to the line.

She was right ahead of me as it pitched up but next thing I new the heat took its toll and my glasses fogged up!  It was all of 3 seconds until I couldn’t see to pick my line so I went for an aggressive approach and hoped I’d keep enough traction to get up, but my wheel skidded out and I couldn’t save it so was off the bike and too wasted to run to the top (trust this to be the only time the news guys stuck a camera in my face!).  I crossed in 5th overall - not quite enough climb left to make the pass and get back in to 4th.

Bob took out the title with an awesome effort and sending a clear message for Saturday, with Erin in 2nd and Nina in 3rd.  T-Rex on his new Santa Cruz Blur won the mens in less than 8 minutes, closely followed by Gav.

Yep, I said less than 8 minutes.  My race was just under 11 minutes.  It really was all over in a hurry.  I know there were heaps of people out on the course making lots of noise but I couldn’t pick much out (except Anita with her favourite call of ‘pain is your friend’ right before the final pitch - at that moment I was starting to feel I had too many friends!).

Then last night I found out about a road race that was on this morning and decided (since it’s only $5 for club members - wicked eh?) that I’d go and do that instead of the usual Sunday bunch ride.  When I jumped on the bike for a brief warm up I was pleased my legs felt pretty unaffected from last night.  It was a handicap race so I put myself in break 3 and we had a good sized bunch of about 14.  It was pretty different having the gun go and no frantic frenzy off the start line but within a couple of minutes we were organised, lapping out and the pace and intensity were up.

The course was 2 laps of an out and back and the pace stayed on all the way out to the first turn-around.  The turn itself was a shambles with riders not seeming to know which cone to turn at, but everyone was given a chance to get back on.

Near the finish line on the way back for the first time I was sitting in for a minute to get a bit of recovery when a gap was allowed to open 2 riders in front of me.  I didn’t see it happening so as soon as I realised I jumped out and started to chase down what started out as about a 10m gap.  Unfortunately 10 minutes later, after the 2nd turn-around, the gap had gotten too big and I had to concede.  My legs gave up at about the same time.  I rode on for a further 15 minutes and then decided I wouldn’t be doing myself any favours to finish on my own when the final leg was a 17km slight climb in to a head wind, so I turned back.  Oh well… no biggie really.  I was still shattered afterwards and am now working on getting properly recovered asap as we head towards the big one.

Pics of me racing are here: Big thanks to Raewyn from Palmy, Raewyn from Kapiti, Craig from Auckland, Craig from Christchurch, Anna from Christchurch and Mel from Hamilton for snapping so many good shots of me (I knew racing elite would pay off!).

Pics I took of others here.

The third and final round of the North Island Cup was hosted out at K-Loop just south of Palmerston North.  The last and only time I raced here was in the annual K-Loop Challenge 3 years ago which was run on a very similar course to previous nationals races.

For 2008 the course had been extended to an 11.5km lap - just short enough to still run 500ml bottles.  Anybody who raced nats here in 2006 had pretty horrible but fun memories as it was very, very wet and muddy and slippery.  I couldn’t race that year and given the weather didn’t head up to spectate but have heard plenty about it since.

This year the weather man was telling us all week it was going to rain.  Great news for farmers, and we’d all packed our muds!  But as the days went by it looked less and less likely so we’d have to rely on the streams and dust to get the bikes dirty.

My personal build up to this race was far from ideal.  In fact it’s pretty fair to say it was a shocker.  I couldn’t tell you why for sure, simply that the planets don’t always align when you want them to.  So for a few days I was repeating that it would all be fine come 2pm Sunday.  One thing I like so much about this level of racing is warming up on the wind trainer.  It’s the same every week, same time, and routine is really helpful if things aren’t going quite right.  In many ways I just waited til 1.25 when I could get on there and start warming up.  The mind and body know what to do from there.  My biggest concern was my asthma after an incident on the climb on Friday, but at the same time I’ve ridden through it before so I know it doesn’t have to mean the end of a race.

The start line was about 15 riders wide, but the flat grass only about 7 wide so when I lined up out wide on the right I couldn’t help but comment as I looked up to see the poo we were obviously going to have to ride through (nice to keep it light on the line).  We had a 1 minute call, a 30 second call and a ‘any time in the next 15 seconds’ call.  He blew the whistle about 3 seconds later while I was wondering if he really meant ‘any time’.  He did!  It didn’t make for a particularly fast break off the line as I fumbled with my pedal (yes, again - I need to practice!) but once I was in the flat start loop gave me a chance to gain back some time and get in to a reasonable position as we merged in to a single line to head up the gravel road, across the bridge and up the climb.

Because the climb was rocky and technical in nature it slowed things down a bit and we were all trying to get past each other, but only when we wouldn’t waste too much energy in doing so by riding a bad line.  Every now and then someone would spin out on a wet rock or struggle on something and we’d all surge to get past.  I was sitting behind Nina when the person in front of her slipped and I got in a great move getting past both of them and finding myself behind 2 of the young r&r girls with Monique just ahead of them.  Fiona, Sam and Katy were up in the lead.

After a few minutes Nina went for the pass and took it, getting past about 4 of us all at once as she warmed up in to the race.  I was oblivious to anything that was happening behind me and reluctantly admitted to myself that the pain I was feeling was asthmatic.  By the time we were half way up the climb I’d let a gap open up ahead but had also opened up one behind since I couldn’t hear anyone.  The pain was intense but I’d done some thinking about what I would do if this did happen, and that was just to try and push through it.  I felt like I barely had enough oxygen to feed both my muscles and my brain and unless there are little purple men out there, I was hallucinating.  But the strange thing was that I felt like I was riding well - and we all know you can’t stop when you’re riding well!

At the top of the climb was a few kms of very nice single track - too twisty and turny to really power through but very nice to ride, with some short climbs to attack on.  Not too far in to it I came across Sam carrying her bike - her rear mech had busted and her race was over.  That’s no fun for anyone.  Further up I saw one of the younger guys ahead of me and focussed on catching him with some smooth and consistent riding.  Once I did I probably sat in a bit too long before passing.  A bit further ahead I saw the r&r girls and figured I must be riding faster than them so I might as well go catch them too.  I came up behind one as we headed in to a bit of a down hill stretch of trail but as we came out of it she let me go, even telling me to have a nice race :o)  I had about 500m left before we crossed over the road in to the next section of trail and made my next pass right before that.  The next section was a short climb through singletrack before the first downhill of the course.  Not having ridden the course very much I didn’t know the downhills well enough to be confident in my lines so was really just riding it as I saw it.  Being such a long course it had been difficult to get many laps in and I’d only done 1 complete lap before the race having cut both Fidays and Saturdays sessions short.

I could hear someone not far behind me as I reached the bottom of the descent and took the sharp turn in to the middle climb so got up there nice and quickly.  Again I was riding really well but the pain came back on and I got simply adamant that I didn’t care - it could wait until after the race.

The next downhill followed suit.  I’d pulled away on the climb and was getting caught on the way down - I don’t think that’s ever happened to me!  I had no idea who it was, whether it was one of the younger girls, someone in my grade, or one of the guys, so on the final climb I put the pace on to open the gap again, and this time the pains moved around to my back - something else different (and I was starting to worry a bit).

I managed to keep the gap a bit bigger coming down the final descent, crossed the bridge, sprinted down the road seeing Monique coming up it about a minute ahead, and on to the start/finish loop feeling really good and headed out on my 2nd lap.  Stab!  Straight in to the climb again and the pain was back.  I haven’t fallen off my bike so I’ll keep going (it’s a series final and I want my points!).  Every time I lifted the intensity it kicked in.  At one stage I said ‘ok, 1 more’, and another one came so I renegotiated ‘2 more’.  There was one more, and that was it.  That second lap I absolutely flew up the climb - it felt like it was smooth and I’d really hit my stride - it was an absolutely amazing feeling, something you hope to replicate every time you race but hardly ever do.  I had a great lap, climbing better than I think I ever have. I saw Monique about a minute ahead of me in the singletrack. Then in the descents my shadow was back - I still didn’t know who it was but on the last corner of the final descent they were right on my tail.  I sprinted out of it and across the bridge opening up a small gap again then as we came through the start/finish loop I heard people yelling both for me and her - Adrienne from U19 women.  She sprinted for the line as it was her last lap, and I just didn’t want to get passsed so I sprinted as well - all good fun.  She’d won her race and was pulling up to stop but was on my inside and I think I just about took her out on my way around the corner to the feed zone.

At that point I was still feeling really good and I’d seen Monique again on the way down the road so I knew the gap was still about a minute.  If I could have another good lap there was every chance I would catch her.  Unfortunately about 500m in to the climb my mojo up and left me and things didn’t feel so good up there.  But I was on the final lap and had a good gap so I settled in to finish it off.  After the race I learned the gap had stayed the same and Monique was fading just as bad as I was.  I was pretty stoked to cross the line in 5th.  Fiona had won (local knowledge pays off), Nina in second and Katy came back well after Rotorua to take 3rd with Monique 4th.

This being the final, we also had the series prize giving where I was surprised but happy with a 3rd place.

Gav also had a good race taking out 4th and also getting 3rd in the series.  He called me a prima donna for all my grief during the week…  The legs and lungs definitely took a hammering in this race but they’re all getting back in to shape now with some easy recovery rides on the road.

I started the day with a leisurely breakfast and a new book purchase before heading out to the course with Gav to watch the start of the morning race.  One of the things I knew I would miss about racing in the afternoon was being able to go out and give it heaps in support of other riders so I took a gentle walk up the sealed road and watched as grade after grade came past up the clay techy climb in to the first section of single track.  There were so many riders and still a bit of moisture in the clay so most were off the bikes and pushing.  It’s a frantic start to a race!

I then popped over to exit jumps to watch everyone come flying down there - sooo much fun - before walking back down the road, one more chance to see everyone and shout a bit of encouragement.  After that, I went and had some lunch and chilled out for a bit before heading back to get ready to warm up. 

Over the last couple of season’s I’ve watched the elite call-ups and starts and have always thought I’d be so nervous if that was me so I was surprised I just had a few butterflies in the morning, and I was able to channel them in to positive energy without any trouble.  I hadn’t had any with Chch or Opotiki either, but thought maybe the UCI thing would step it up a notch (and the super strong field) but it was just like any other pre-race.  Eat when it’s time to eat, chat when you feel like chatting, focus on your plan and when it’s time, jump on the trainer and zone out.

The field was definitely class.  Annika is making a return, Sonia was there, Gen Matthews who took out round 1 in Opotiki, Fiona McD is back on the bike, Kaytee was down from Auckland, Nina and Monique rounded out the force of local knowledge, Sam and young Katy who I know can climb out of their skins, Nicole, Michelle and Carrie McLachlan (new to me) completed the field.

I was fortunate enough to be called up in the front row, so you may be able to imagine my frustration when I botched my start by not getting clipped in for about 5 pedal strokes.  I was furious with myself and entered the clay climb in 2nd to last place.  The field split about evenly on the left and right line options - I took my tried and true right line and stayed on the bike while others were still getting back on but I didn’t make up any places.  Carrie was the only one behind me, Nicole was closest up ahead.  Within a few metres Carrie made a call to pass but we went down a dip so I was able to hold her off, and then get safely clear of her up a technical climb around some trees.  Until then I could hear her breathing as hard as I was (the old sulphuric Rotorua start-rasp) so when it was just my rasping I could hear I focused on Nicole up ahead.

I kept seeing her, tantilisingly close through the undulating section of the course, and then again as we wound our way to the top of rock drop.  I knew I would close the gap some on the descent and was then planning on making a move on the technical climb.  After the short flattish section after the descent (where we came past Kaytee having mechanical issues) I got to the climb and spotted her off the bike.  We gave each other some encouragement as I got past (we are team mates) and I also saw Katy O off her bike at the top of the climb.  My focus was now on her. 

Up the switch backs, past the 2nd feed zone and down the non-technical challenge track downhill and up the non-technical climb she maintained her gap on me but by the time we’d descended exit jumps (woop woop woop, pump, pump, pump) and exit trail I had closed in by about half the gap even with my shocking line botches.  I’d gotten painfully close to her entering exit trail that I’d even tried to quieten my breathing so she might not know I was there (why?  I have no idea!).

Coming through the feedzone I got my next bottle and as I rode past Nic and Carl supporting up the road I signalled to them that I would have Katy soon.  That was my next goal - to catch her on this lap.  We held our positions through the undulating first singletrack section where she pulled away slightly.  Coming down the technical descent of rockdrop I closed the gap again and held it through the flat.  Up the technical climb and she did what I’d hoped after seeing her on the first lap - she was off the bike and pushing, which gave me the opportunity to ride past.  I put in a huge effort up the switchbacks to open up a gap and also noticed Nicole just behind Katy.

Past the 2nd feed zone again and there was some great support up there.  Back in to challenge trail - the descent in this had a HUGE berm that was a bit of a wall ride and you felt like a rocket ship when you nailed it way up high missing all the braking bumps on the track below - I looked forward to this every lap.

Back up the climb and in to big ring again to go and hammer down the exit jumps getting as little air as possible to maintain full pace with wheels on the ground - not as easy as it might sound when you’re going that fast.  I was out of there and back up old exit trail lickety split but again didn’t clean my lines down the technical sections for some reason.

By the time I headed up the road for the 3rd time I remembered how strong I’d felt last year on my 3rd (and final) lap and harnessed some of that.  I was still feeling good, had been drinking well and people were calling that I was looking strong.  Nic and Carl said Samara wasn’t too far ahead so down the head went again as I headed out on lap 3.  I kept looking for her the whole lap but never saw her.  She must have put the after burners on because not only did I never see her, but she also powered past Monique and I know she put the hammer down after that.

Coming up the switchbacks for the 3rd time I noticed that Nicole was closing in on me which encouraged me to give it another big push to open that up again.  A good thing I did too because on coming out of exit jumps and in to the trail I dropped from big to middle chain ring and my cranks stopped on me when I was standing up to get up a switchback climb.  I back pedalled to free it but it jammed again.  I tried once more but to no avail.  I jumped off, ran up the climb then went to work on it.  Pedals still wouldn’t spin, flick through the gears, no change, check things at the rear - all looks good, another spin - stuck, closer look at the front - the chain had got caught up between big and middle during my gear change.  I yanked as hard as I could and it came free first time so I laced it back on to middle, pushed off, jumped on and hammered like my life depended on it.  The whole time I was working on it I was determined I would not get passed and I would not mechanical out of this race.  I had less control over whether I got passed or not and was stoked that I had enough of a gap.

Another dodgy run down exit, pick up the final bottle and head on up the road for the 4th and final time.  Everything was feeling pretty much like I was heading out on the last lap of a tough race and I knew all I could do now was protect my position.  I appeared to have a healthy gap but Nicole must have punched it because all of a sudden she was practically buzzing my tyre heading to the top of the rock drop descent.  We might be team mates, but there’s a competitive drive there and I was out of the saddle immediately and preparing to mow down the descent.  I pushed a little hard on some of the drops and had some super dodgy moments coupling fatigue and something close to panic to mean I was very lucky to stay upright at one point but made it down in one piece and powered through the flat then called on everything getting up the technical climb again.  On the switchbacks I could see someone was catching her but didn’t know who it was.  With just one climb to go I focused on extending my gap.

As I came out of the challenge climb for the last time the mystery rider was right behind me so I gave it one last everything on the descent and opened up a gap before the switchback.  Thanks to another terrible effort down exit he (yes, he) caught me right before the line.  I looked over, gave him a grin and sprinted him to the line. He won…

I finished in 8th place and there were some lapouts in there too - Kaytee with a broken chain, Michelle with injury and Carrie but I didn’t get the details there.  The top 4 spots were taken out by locals, none more impressive than Annika on a Santa Cruz Nomad with 36’s!  Fiona and Samara got in the way of all 5 local riders coming in one after the other.

I’m very pleased to be back home but I miss Rotorua already. I love multi-lap races up there!

Gav had a fantastic race to get on the podium again finishing in 5th in a classy men’s field so he was stoked.  Connor is the clear favourite in U23 men now with his 2nd win in the series and looking good for champs as well.  Ricky had a good day at the office too but got mowed down by some nutter on a SS making moto noises down exit jumps to knock him off the podium.  KC had some issues with her stans but her competitor in U23 women was none other than my Wild Wellington team mate, Raewyn, who is a natural on the bike on tricky descents.  Celia and Nic didn’t have such good races but Nic pulled out a 3rd place with Celia in 4th.  A total of 6 in senior women was pretty impressive.

Scotty lined up for this race too, but after his first lap remembered that xc isn’t his thing and switched to supporting instead.

After a soak in the mineral pool we all wrapped up the day with a ‘picnic’ in the park (ie, byo takeaways).  It’s the second year now that the road trip family has helped me celebrate my birthday post-race and it was a very good time with our crew, Nic and Carl, Sam and her tribe plus extended tribe.