Mission: Vegas

My mission, that I chose to accept (it was my mission afterall), was to take a 'day off' and go for a ride in Vegas. And, bugger the consequences! What were the consequences? Who knew? Anything could happen on a solo mission - not to mention I was taking our only car over 100kms away, so if the kids needed to come home from daycare things were going to be awkward.
After dropping the kids off, I zipped home to pick up a couple of things I forgot to pack (including morning tea - important!) and set out on my mission. The drive over was uneventful, but longer than I remembered. I got myself kitted up and after scoffing a banana, I set out. I had scouted a route on the trail maps the night before, but wasn't sure how my legs would last.

I started on Tahi and Creek Track to warm up my legs (and everything else, it was 10 degrees). I did all of Creek, beacuse I wanted to get a few more kms in early on in my ride. As I was twisting and winding my way through the last few sections of Creek Track I decided to change my planned route. Instead of heading out to Mad If You Don't, I would go up the road and do A-Tail and Tickler. I really wanted to do these two tracks, as it had been almost two years since I had ridden them.

It was great to be riding the smooth buttery flow of A-Trail again. I got a bit sketched out when trying to negotiate the rutted downhill sections - realising that if I hurt myself, no one was there to help me out or drive me home! The recent wet weather (winter!) meant that the tracks had been carved up quite a bit - usually with one or 2 deep ruts down the middle, barely wider than my tyre and quite deep in places. These deep and skinny ruts are something that I have almost always struggled to ride, and would plague me for the rest of this ride.

At the top of Tickler I had two choices: head down B Rude Not 2, or try out Dragon's Tail. I had no idea where Dragon's Tail went, only a vague recollection from looking at the maps that it ended on either Red Tank Road or Larch Road. What the hell - it's all part of the adventure, right? I chose the unknown and went down Dragon's Tail. Woohoo! What a nice trail - swoopy curves and rounded rollers. Nice. I came out in a clearing with three options to exit. Hmm, what now?? Follow my nose, I guess? I went with the fun option, around a berm and over a series of small rollers. The trail continued on, with a slight upwards gradient. Then I heard, "Ssft, ssft, ssft, ssft...". Huh? Is that...? Oh no, the irrigators! I carried on, a little faster than before, hoping like hell the trail builders had planned for the effluent to not land anywhere near me! I survived untainted and ended up on Red Tank Road, just up from Larch Road. Phew!

I headed down Red Tank Road and on to Mad If You Don't to start the route I had planned to do. Out along Ball And Chain and I could hear, "ZZZzzzzzz!". What the...? I had stumbled upon a training day for the NZ MTB Team, preparing for the World Cup in Canberra in September. The noise was the sound of multiple wind trainers being wound up on warm up drills. They were going to be "racing" on the same trails I was riding. I had a bit of a head start, so got cracking. Up Yellow Brick Road and onto the grind up Sandy Skid Road. Thankfully Sandy Skid Road seems to get shorter every time I ride it (only 5 times so far).

Into Pondy New and I was relishing my choice of trail and loving the reward for climbing so much. I remembered why the singlespeed champs was so enjoyable... I did these tracks three times! Into Rollercoaster and the riding just kept getting better. Until I met another one of those skinny deep ruts. I decided I need a little more speed and a little less fear. Well, it didn't quite have a happy ending. I stacked. I got off balance, went a little sideways, and then over the bars. Luckily I managed to contort myself over and around my handlebars, rolled on my shoulder and saved myself from serious injury, with just minor indignity. Luckily there were no witnesses, so I picked myself up and straightened out my bike (rear wheel was askew), and got back into it.

I skipped the last section of Rollercoaster, and rode down Ring Road to the start of Chop Suey. I had a little 'moment' when I got abit hung up on some roots going down into a corner, but I survived. I did the rest of the Chinese Menu - Spring Roll and Sweet n Sour. I was pretty spent now. I had stopped a couple of times to eat and recover up until this point, but I couldn't stop for long because it was getting cold. My longest stop was on Sweet n Sour, to adjust my front brake (it must have got tweaked in my little crash).

Finally, I got to ride B Rude Not 2. And it didn't disappoint. I was a bit sketchy again in places, but I put that down to fatigue and a lack of mojo. My time was almost up, so I rode back down Wash Road, Nursery Road, and Pohaturoa Road to the carpark. Almost 3 hours and over 30km of riding, with at least 26km of that on singletrack. My computer stopped working for a while so exact figures are unknown.

It was a great day, despite the cold, regular drizzle, and a few rain showers. I got back in Hamilton in time to unpack the car and go pick up the kids from daycare. Perfect.

Now I'm looking through the event calendars and wondering what races I can make it to for the rest of the year. I see other people planning out their race calendar and get jealous... I think I need some events to aim for!

Hmm, maybe that offer of a place in a women's team for the Day-Night Thriller is not such a silly thing afterall... ?