Lisa Morgan - Kiwi Mountain Biker

But I’m a bit more conscious this year with the fact that I want to go and race overseas and do well, so I can’t afford quite as many treats as last year (but I did get a bit carried away with the hot cross buns then…).

I’ve managed to pick up some work, finally.  I’m doing a stint with Rugby NZ 2011 (planning for the world cup).  It’s just a small team at the moment but is due to start ramping up fairly soon.  It’s a much more relaxed environment than what I’m used to - which is nice, more like other jobs I’ve been in where there’s time for a chat and to keep an eye on the cricket - not to mention meet friends for coffee and take a lunch break!  The only downside is that I’ve had to commit through to the end of May, which means missing the first 3 races I was planning on doing in Canada, so I’ve spent a few hours in the last few days frantically revising the schedule and hunting for good races to get me up to form for the World Cup races in July and August.  I’ve got a draft that sees me flying in to San Fran and effectively racing my way across the continent with events in both the US and Canada.  It looks pretty exciting to me but I have to get the coach to ok it before I can make any solid plans.

Hopefully I’ll be able to settle in to more regular posts from now on.  There just hasn’t been much on since Oce’s.  I haven’t booked myself in for any races before I go.  There are a few, but I’m pretty keen to help out at a few events while I can, and it should leave me nice and amped to get back on a start line when I land in the US.

Those of you in Wellington, keep an eye out for information on a short track series that Ricky Pincott is helping me to organise.  I just had so much fun in the Oce’s event that I want others to give it a go.  We’re in the planning and consent stage at the moment and have lots of ideas to make it super fun :o)

For those who haven’t seen it in the flickr pics, the photo is Kaytee, Gav and me at the Centre of NZ monument from when we were pre-riding the Oce’s course. 

Oh, and sorry about the weather (again to the locals).  I went for my first ride in ages today after so many days of stunning weather.  Each day I’d look a little more longingly at the bike and it was this morning I couldn’t stop myself, so of course the weather has turned…  maybe if I ride early enough I can sneak it in without the weather gods noticing ;o)

Best read with a glass of red

Oce’s XC

Your legs can’t help you if your head’s not in it… This was the first time since I started racing competitively that I felt like I didn’t give it everything.  I always have that one goal, first and foremost, to feel that I’ve left everything I could out on the course.  I didn’t achieve that on Friday…

As the week went on and I spent more time on the course (and we learned about additional sections that were getting added) I felt a bit better on it every day.  By the time Kaytee and I finished up one final lap on Thursday morning I felt like I had it in my head, though I still had concerns over the first climb which was long and relentless, and completely non-technical.  At the very least it would make a good training ride.  But I was definitely missing the anticipation of a Rotorua/Mt Vic type of race where you’re feeling the race vibe and trying to keep it low key, but still amped to get out on the trails and enjoy them.

All my pre-race routines went like clockwork, but there was definitely a different feel to this event.  The morning race was small - less than 20 riders in total - so there wasn’t the usual familiar buzz that happens at that time of the day.  I followed my usual race day schedule and made my way to call up with a few minutes to spare.  Call up was based on 2007 UCI points - Kaytee was top ranked Kiwi called up 2nd.  Having no 2007 points I was at the back of the grid so was hoping for my usual good start to pick up some places.  It didn’t happen, and when Gen Matthews almost elbowed me down a gutter I lost some rhythm - the starts can be really frantic with everyone vying for the best position before the track narrows and I think it’s worse at the back of the grid.

The first lap was reasonable - the front of the field split off and the rest of us formed an orderly train up the climb and after making a couple of passes (phew!) I saw the familiar sight of Erin right in front of me.  We held our positions up the steep first climb as it passed under the Centre of NZ monument and along the open dirt road out to the back of the course.  We hit the walk almost together and a quick glance up showed most of the rest of the field also still making their way up the climb.  I’d decided to go Karapoti styles for the hike as I get more effective strides with my bike on my back but I still wasn’t fast enough to make up any places.  From the top it was a fast open downhill in to a fresh piece of track that dropped us on to another walking track with a short pinch then a longer, steeper climb before heading down.  The first part of this downhill was gravelly walking trail with switchbacks that were dry and sketchy, and then we dropped in to part of the old downhill course - the only really techinical part of the whole course.  It had only been added in on Wednesday but had already change and rutted out since my last ride on it on Friday morning.

From there the course went up again to another off-the-bike section, only very short this time.  Then back on through some singletrack.  Sam caught me here and jumped in front of me.  We’ve had a good laugh about what happened next… being OTA of my race I didn’t want to interfere with hers - I got some good track stand practice in while she negotiated the downhill switchbacks.  Then we swapped places a couple of times on the final climb back to the start loop and I sat in behind her on the way back down and through the grass - then we just about took each other out in the feedzone both pulling in to feed!  We rode close for a short while after that and I felt as though my legs were feeling good and ready to take it up a notch - physically I was all there, but mentally I couldn’t get it to engage.  The pain wasn’t there and I just couldn’t seem to bring it out.  Eventually I had to resign myself to the fact that it just wasn’t going to happen today. 

On the 2nd lap in to the technical downhill section I managed to ride in to a tree - not really a stack, just an unplanned stop but steep enough that I had to get off and run til I could get back on.  My wrists had taken the impact against the bars and I had a few problems changing gears for half a lap or so as they were quite sore.  The 3rd lap passed without incident but also without much fire.  I had a very keen look at the 80% official as I came passed noticing a few of the boys had been pulled (not suprising as the Aussie boys had started passing me after a lap and a half) but I was let out for my final lap.  After the feedzone I brightened up a little bit as I realised in some ways that was an achievement in itself - the top lap times on this course were very quick and Dellys set a blistering pace to win by about 4 minutes over Kaytee, so I was going to get my first ‘international’ under my belt without getting lapped.

Then, with all of a kilometre to go and having had no stacks all season, I went down in a massive cloud of dust on the technical section.  It was just as I was thinking to myself ‘man, this has gotten really blo…’ and I hit the ground pretty hard.  I got up, didn’t dust myself off (because I thought it looked rather impressive) and jumped back on thinking well, I had a decent stack finally and I’m riding out of it so that’s good.  As soon as I had to pedal I felt all sorts of pain but it wasn’t far to the line.  I was growing a pretty good bump on my arm by then and got lots of comments on my new look!

And that was it - the last official race of the season.  Not my best work I’m afraid and there are lots of reasons, but at the end of the day I can’t complain about the season.  From the eye-opening first elite race in Christchurch where I learned just how much of a step up it was, to the recovery issues after 2 long elite races back to back in Opotiki, to getting my first UCI points in Rotorua and the far-from-ideal lead in to Palmerston North.  Then on to the home track National Champs where I achieved everything I’d set and carried the form through to another PB at Karapoti and the top 5 I was chasing.

Oce’s Short Track

The Sunday after Oce’s XC I had a chance to race the short track so I thought I might as well give it a go.  Well… BEST FUN EVER ON A BIKE!!!  The course was mint - a slightly uphill back straight, down in to a paddock, through a creek, along a bumpy paddock, up a short semi-technical climb, down a chicane, around a tree and back up on to the straight.  I had a SHOCKER of a start almost having to stop in the end to get clipped in and losing about 20m to the field.  But I was back on them by the top of the straight and right in some argy-bargy across the paddock.  After that, each lap I picked off one rider up the back straight until I found myself in 6th and chasing Bob.  At first I was closing the gap, but after another lap it was growing again.  And then halfway through the lap before I would have started my final 3 (15 minutes + 3 laps) I punctured through the creek.  It held air long enough for me to get across the line and then as I hadn’t been pulled or lapped but had no air left I ran another lap.  Dellys (leading again) passed me at the top of the back straight and then the others started coming through.  The crowd, which had been amazing the whole race, was really supportive and I got lots of sympathy from them and the riders coming past.  I watched the final couple of laps with the others who had been pulled.  What a fun thing to do on a bike!

Thanks

Since it’s the end of the season, I really want to thank a whole bunch of people who help to make the whole thing happen.

My sponsors - Bicycle, Santa Cruz and IO.  John and Campbell have been backing me for 3 seasons now including local racing.  They’ve made a huge difference to the equipment I’ve been able to race and train on, and through my time in the shop I get to keep in touch with the masses, something that is really important to me because I only ride because I love it so much.  Mike got me on my beloved Blur - we had a great conversation before agreeing to it and I was really impressed with how well he knew his product.  It’s amazing to ride such a hot little bike.  It fits me like a glove and never has a problem (looks wicked too!).  Bronwyn at IO keeps my asthmatic lungs in check (most of the time).  I’ve been really pleased to have stayed strong through to the end of so many races and even when my asthma has played up, it hasn’t stopped me and I recover from it much better than I used to.

My family - especially Mum.  I moved home to help save to get overseas (good thing too when I lost my job!).  Mum has looked after all the stuff that used to get done super early in the morning or super late at night (cooking, cleaning, washing…) and enables me to focus more on recovery and just not have to worry about all that stuff.  Where would any of us be without our mum’s?  Dad just likes knowing that I’m happy.  And Sara and Tempo - the little fur balls who give us all lots of laughs :o)  And Michelle, Holly and Lydia (cousins) who came out to support me at champs and are put off mountain biking forever even though I tell them how much fun it is!

The crew of riders and racers - one of the things I love so much about this sport is the fact that so many of us know each other and support each other, even when we’re competing against each other.  We’re all out there for the same reason so we’ve got something fundamental in common.  A huge thanks to Gav who had an inspiring season - he does so much work on my bike while we’re on the road it hardly needs anything doing when we’re back home!  To the rest of the road trip crew - Ricky (getting older but faster), Scotty and Celia (great to see C achieve her goals), KC (even with all the pink stuff!), and Connor - another great season - make sure you get to Italy nipper!  Nic - the Monday rides, the Maxxis tent and the wonderful boy you bring to the races who supports us all so well.  Sam - great value for one so young (keep your weight forward on the downhills…), Trev and Sam’s folks who are always watching and cheering, ‘Mrs Avery’ - always yelling great support - and everyone else out at the races yelling so loud I can’t hear my breathing - especially the parents who get in behind us all, and the junior girls at the Mt Vic race, that was awesome.  Bob and Chris - for letting us take over their house in Nelson for a week in return for banana cake and a bit of deck building - and Chris especially for the sounds up the hill in the race.  All the vorbettes for never-ending support - Paula, Jo, Catherine, Jen, Rita, Jude, Rachel (get out of my head!), Michelle, Karen (I hope I haven’t forgotten any).

My club - PNP, Marco in particular for providing such great local races that help us prepare for the big ones.

And the coach - Robyn.  An inspiring mentor who laid an opportunity in front of me that has changed the direction of my life.  I used to be addicted to riding… now I’m addicted to racing!

What’s next?

For a few weeks at least I reckon I’ll take a bit of a break and concentrate on a couple of other things - study and hopefully making a bit of money.  I’d always set in the plans for this year to get overseas for racing and while the job loss has been a pretty major spanner in the works I’m still planning on getting there.  The destination is Canada for the 5 race Canada Cup series and 2 World Cup races at the end of that.  It’s been a bit of a rite of passage for a number of Kiwi racers and I’m hoping to hook up with some others over there for at least part of it and make the best use of contacts of friends of friends (of friends).  So I’ll also be looking to do some fundraising in the coming weeks.  It’s going to rock around pretty quickly! 

Thanks again to everyone for your ongoing support.  It’s a wild ride, and it’s not over yet!

But what I really wanted to post up was this link - a mate of mine from Canberra was here for the Nduro 24 hour and Karapoti and has done a fantastic write up.  They sure don’t have hills like that in Canberra…  Happy reading, and I’ll post again shortly with the Oceania race report (ooooh, Oce’s!  …)

I was really excited about racing Karapoti again, and weeks of hot, dry weather were begging for another fast year like last year.  For days and days the weather men and women tried to (literally) rain on our parade but every day I would look at the sky in the morning and say ‘nah - not gonna happen!’.  So when I woke up yesterday morning I was pretty pleased to see some high cloud, not too much wind, and no sign of rain in the immediate future.

Upon arrival at Karapoti park I headed straight for the Maxxis tent which has been my base at every north island race this season.  It was conveniently located right next to the dydimo wash.  I don’t think I made any friends there as I wasn’t too keen to have the yellow zip tie sticking up off my bars (to say it had been cleaned of all the bad stuff) so cut it down in front of them, and then asked if they would be washing again after the race.  They said yes and seemed none too impressed when I asked them if they’d wash the whole bike (woops - but hey, no one likes to clean their bike after Karapoti the bike killer!).

Time went very quickly as usual and after saying hi to a few people and picking up my race pack it was time to get kit on and warm up - then a quick stop to drop the warm up bottle and pick up the camelbak and coke and I was off to the start line.

There was a distinct lack of the usual heckling that goes on in the river and the first call was the 1 minute call - all together now: bikes on shoulders.  Then the 30 second call - everyone starts to sneak forward.  Then the count down - 10, 9, and the rest is lost as we all splash in to the river.  There was much less water than usual, but a big hole saw me wet up to my hips before getting back out and running to get on the bike to try and get a good start.  Last year I felt like I could have gone harder up the road without any harm later on, so I just went out hard like every other race.  Of course, the difference here is that there are hundreds of people around you (as opposed to 5) so for every person you pass, 1 passes you.

There were only 8 women entered in pro-elite (an all time low? come on girls!) so I guessed it would be harder than ever to know where everyone one was.  Heading up the road Erin passed me.  This is the same Erin I battled it out with last week on Mt Vic, and at Karapoti for the first half of the race last year.  But soon in to the gorge at the ford she was off the bike with many others getting back up to the track and I was able to hold a good line and get past a few people.  I had a pretty good run up the gorge - it seemed to be easier to pass people than last year and felt like a highway.  I held a good pace along the flattish section and in to the undulating part before the warm up climb.  About half way along that I caught up with Sam and encouraged her along.

Hitting the warm up climb I was pleased to see a clear run for about half of it and hoped it would stay clear the whole way up - I have a tendency to guage my day by how I take the warm up climb and a clean run would give me the best indication.  But everyone else was off their bikes and I caught them quickly, including Sandra Vincent (the relationship here being that she kicked my arse in Nelson last year) and Cathy Hamer.  Then I had to fight for my lines and held on well almost until it flattened out but ended up off and running til I could get back on.  That was pretty much the order of the day up the warm up climb, and deadwood was not much different - riding until it was impossible due to either sketching out on a bad line trying to get around people, or just getting stuck in behind people.  I was getting pretty frustrated as I’m so much faster riding than I am walking, and I have a bit of an expectation that if you enter elite you should be able to ride this stuff.  Anyway, I decided the walking section at Mt Vic had been the training I needed and rode when I could.  I spent a lot of time on the way up on Sandra’s tail but Cathy was off in the distance.  Eventually Sandra pulled away from me too, and Sam and I were switching positions every few minutes it seemed.

Along the ridgeline it was all me and Sam.  She would get me when the terrain was smooth, I’d get her back up the rockier stuff, and so it went for quite a while.  I didn’t realise how close Erin was at that point but afterwards she told me she was watching our little game and willing herself to get up there too.  I really enjoyed this part of the race - having a competitor so close really makes racing fun, especially when it’s someone you know quite well.  But my enjoyment there was NOTHING compared to what happened when I got to the rock garden.  To me (bearing in mind I’m nearing 20 laps of the course in all my years of riding) it seemed like it had a conveyor belt on it and I just flew!  I happily ripped past the 2 guys who seemed to be out for a bit of a laugh rather than a race (entertaining for me as I saw and heard a lot of them - ‘ooh, the lady’s coming though’ was their comment each time I passed them) and then was stoked to come past both Sandra and Cathy who were both off their bikes.  I was ripping the rock garden up and simply loving it.  There was a guy in front of me for about half of the way down but eventually I got past him too, after complimenting his riding, and then really opened up on the bottom section. 

At the stream crossing I looked up and was surprised to see Bob (’Hey Bob!’).  At this point I was in 3rd place!  I followed her up to the bottom of the staircase proper but then we were in to my weak section - hike-a-bike… I don’t have a running/multisport background and never seem to get up the staircase as quickly as I should, or rather, as quickly as those around me.  You can only make up so much time by hammering down the rock garden…  so one by one the girls came past me, in pretty quick succession.  Cathy, then Erin and Sandra and Sam - I wonder if I made them feel on the rock garden like they made feel on the staircase.  But not to worry, I just worked on getting up there as fast as I could and keeping the gap small (last year Erin put 7 minutes on me from that point).  We were around half way up when they passed me so the worst of it was over.  I got a little bit frustrated again at not being able to ride everything I wanted due to congestion but at the same time figured it was a good thing because I’ve never had that before so I must be feeling strong and up in the field.

From the top of devils to the summit I felt really strong - much stronger than I have before in training or racing and then I enjoyed blasting down big ring boulevard.  I’ve used coke in racing for the first time this season and have liked it (it’s yummy at the very least - strange because usually flat coke is awful!) so I had a bottle of it to drink on the flat between the 2 streams before dopers.  Up the steep bit after the stream I ran in to my 2 funny guys again (’here comes the lady!) who were pushing so I asked why they weren’t riding.  ‘Too old’ was the excuse - ha, never!

Heading up the last big climb I did some quick calculations and it was starting to look like a sub-3 was unlikely, but it would be close.  When the gradient started to pitch up I noticed that my chain was completely dry of lube - I’ve never heard that sound before, it’s not very nice.  I started to wonder (all the while making these horrible noises) if I should see if anyone had some lube, but there was just one guy ahead of me a little bit.  I was catching him slowly so thought I might ask when I got to him.  On one of the pitches Carl Patton tried to give me a push after he fudged a gear change trying to pass me but I was all ‘no, no, no, I’m ok’ as it would upset my rhythm (hey, I wasn’t the one off my bike here…) and then didn’t think to ask him for lube before he motored on past me.  When I caught the guy up ahead the voice in my head just said ‘no way am I stopping - chain’s still working, forget the noise’ so I rode on as he stopped to lube his own chain, possibly think it was his bike making all the noise.  As I rounded the next corner I saw Cathy off her bike looking like she was having mechanical issues and, even though a lube stop wouldn’t have taken long, I was grateful I hadn’t.  Working out who was in front of me I was pretty sure if I could hold my place now I would make the podium.  We were about 10 mins from the top of dopers.

The rest of dopers I knew I was riding strong, much stronger than last year despite the calf cramps that threatened if I got out of the saddle - but the fact I was getting out of the saddle at this point told a story in itself.  Suddenly I was at the summit (with the freshly painted ‘Top’ on the bank).  Just a couple more tiny climbs and it was all down hill!  I just flew.  I was feeling awesome.  Once I was at the summit I was confident I could hold my position.  I was popping some air and holding wicked lines and knowing even though I wasn’t going to sub-3 I was going to take a good chunk off my PB.

As I crossed the river the marshal said ‘the next girls only 200m in front’.  200m is kind of a long way when it’s all down hill, but I had to give it a crack.  I was out of the saddle again monstering towards the gorge and then all the way down the gorge, one of my favourite parts of the race every year.   The cramp was holding off and everything felt good.  There was a bit of a head wind on the road so I was trying to get aerodynamic and then as I headed in to the river I heard people cheering for me.  I had a wee threat of cramp in the river so decided to run a bit once I was out to make sure I didn’t cramp up getting back on, but you have to ride across the line so with lots of people yelling my name I jumped back on and up through the chute in 3 hours 8 minutes, 6th woman overall and 5th pro elite.  So the sub-3 will have to wait a bit longer, but I’ve taken nearly 2 hours off my time over 5 Classic’s.  Sandra, Erin and I finished within 2 minutes of each other with Sam another minute ahead.  The 4 of us will have to wait to go sub-3.  And by the sound of things, Bob will have to wait longer as there is a tandem challenge on for next year!

For all the ‘I feel so strong’ that was going on out on the course, after about 10 minutes of crossing the line I was feeling pretty weak and light headed so set about eating and drinking.  It was actually a long time before I worked out I had placed 5th so I wasn’t celebrating at that point, but when Gav found me he told me he came 3rd!  Another PB and another awesome race to add to his best ever season - I was totally stoked at that so finally working out that I was on the podium too, and achieved that goal, made it seem like a great day all round. 

After prize giving (just to be certain of the placing) I texted Robyn in Beijing, just so she knows I’m chipping away at her PB…  oh, and the rain came and well and truly settled in during prize giving.

With one more race to come this season the post-race was pretty sedate, a quiet wine and movie with some of the boys including a couple of mates over from Canberra who raced the 24hr duo last week (placing 3rd) and Karapoti putting in pretty respectable times.

The rest of the last few days I’ve been out watching the women’s tour which has been brilliant (including riding in the #2 car on Friday - a whole other story) so it’s been a fantastic few days of cycling for me.

Next up, Oceania Champs - Nelson, 14 March.  Bring. It. On.