N-Duro Summer MTB Cup: Race 2

On Sunday I packed up the family and headed to Rotorua for the second race of the N-Duro Summer MTB Cup. I had missed the first race because I was on holiday in Hihi (a perfect excuse!). We somehow managed to get ourselves organised the night before, allowing us to throw everything in the car, get the house tidied for the open home, and be on the road just after 8am.
My preparation for the race actually started at 3pm on Saturday when I finally got online and caught up with the news that my friend's bike was not fixed and she couldn't go to the race. I felt a bit bad about it because I was the one who had tried to tee everything up to ensure she could race... then the mechanic got sick, another mechanic was on leave, and the remaining mechanic was subsequently snowed under with workshop bookings! I made some phone calls and arranged to pick up the bike and parts. I took it all home and got to work on the repairs. It was a simple job to replace the freehub body, and after consulting the online manual I solved the problem with the front axle slipping (tighten it properly!). Whew! Crisis averted. I rang my friend and totally freaked her out by saying I had her bike and had fixed it myself. (Who wouldn't be freaked out by that?!!)

After that I gave my own bike a quick going over to make sure it was ready to race.

We arrived at Race HQ with enough time to find a safe car parking spot on the grass field away from the carpark, where the kids could run around a bit. We set up our car shelter (brilliant bit of kit!) and made ourselves at home. The kids rode their bikes and ran around the place having a great time of it.

I got kitted up and before long it was time to head to the start line. I joined my friends near the back of the grid, and waited for the start. GO! We were off... wobbling... bumping into people... it was a shambles! It seemed that no one was able to hold a straight line for the first 10 meters or so. We sorted ourselves out and got under way. The start loop around the field did little to stretch us out, so we had a traffic jam to get through the first little pinch point and onto the trail.

Downhill all the way home

The traffic continued up the first hill, with progress being far too slow for my liking. Being on my singlespeed made it hard going when the going was so slow! The gearies would dump a whole lot of gears at the first sign of a slight inclination, and their speed would plummet accordingly. I got pretty frustrated, but found that if I planned it just right, I could power past the people as their gears clunked and graunched and gain some ground - much to the disappointment of several riders!

I enjoyed the course. It had a lot of flow (unlike many of the riders!) and used some nice open and well groomed parts of the core trail network, before heading out on A-Trail and Tickler to the outback trails. Someone crashed behind me on the entrance to Tickler, but luckily there were plenty of people behind him to help him out (lots of yelling and noise about a 'rider down'), so I kept going. We headed down Bunny Jugs - a first for me. I liked the first steep section, and will ride it again the next chance I get. The second section was more open and flowy which gave me a nice happy feeling that I was getting some easy kilometres under my wheels.

By the time we got onto Club Trail to link into Exit Track I was losing speed and having quite a bit of trouble keeping my momentum up and getting on top of my gear on the little hills. I got passed on Exit track by a group taking a local knowledge short-cut, and was then held up by the back markers of that group. Stink.

At the bottom of Nursery Road a few turns of the pedals told me that my tank was nearly empty. I clambered off my bike, grappled for my gel pack, and took a few gulps from it. I pushed and power walked up the hill, sucking on my water as I went. I actually kept up with some of the granny gear riders, but had the added advantage of stretching my legs as I went. Once I was on the dirt and past the first pinch, a few words of guilt-inducing encouragement from Garth Weinberg had me back on the bike. Thanks Garth.

From the top of the hill it was downhill all the way back to Race HQ to the finish.

The course seemed to have a lot of climbing in it, but maybe that's just because the climbing was so hard on me. I was hurting. And I kinda liked it. I got quite wheezy at one stage, I'm sure I could be heard all through the forest! I managed to push it to the limit whenever I had open track in front of me, and take the opportunity to rest when I hit traffic.

I passed people whenever and wherever I could. I played cat and mouse with a couple of other women, but saw no-one else on a singlespeed. I passed one guy three times throughout the duration of the race... he only passed me once. Hmm, there were a few shortcuts being taken I think. Luckily I passed him for the last time at the top of the last hill... with a full on blast to the finish.

I was the only woman riding singlespeed on the short course, so earned myself another first placing and a gift voucher for my efforts.

While I was out racing around the trails, Andrew was hanging out at Race HQ and looking after Oliver and Ella. He took them for a ride around the Kid's Loop trail, with Oli zooming off ahead and really loving it, while Ella struggled with the bumps being pushed along on her tricycle.

Later on, Andrew borrowed my bike and took Oliver around the track again. Oli went even faster because he didn't have to wait for Andrew to run and catch up! I think Oli is hooked! His bike riding has really improved this summer and he is enjoying it a lot more.

After prize giving we unloaded the car, reloaded the car, and headed for home. The kids slept for about 45 minutes, which gave Andrew and I a nice bit of quiet time. We stopped in at Red Cherry on our way past to buy some more coffee beans. Andrew is enjoying the Black Forest blend at the moment, and has some Red Cherry to try next.

I have no more events lined up until mid February when I have to decide if I do the Black Stump Adventure Ride, or the N-Duro Summer MTB Cup Race 3, or both. Yikes.