NZ MTB Cup - Round 4- Taupo

It’s always great when a creaking noise from somewhere in your bike turns into a crack. It’s even better when it’s the afternoon before you leave for a race. Luckily I had Ricky and Kim to help me out.  By the end of Thursday night Ricky had set me up on Kim’s spare Hard-tail frame, which had me extremely grateful that I’d actually have a bike to race on, but at the same time slightly worried as I hadn’t ridden a Hard-tail for nearly a year.

Despite the stressful start to the weekend, I was still excited about the race; I’d be racing on some cool new tracks, and against multiple girls. Although the early Friday start (4:00am) wasn’t exactly a highlight (or the drive up where dad got really witty and decided to take photos of me sleeping) pre riding the course was. The course was really awesome, with not too many climbs, a few technical bits and lots of flow, the race promised to be exciting- and the Hard-tail was definitely fine for the course.

Ryan also decided to be extra generous, not only was he and his dad letting me stay at theirs but Ryan let me borrow his super nice Carbon Enve wheels (a really nice brand with sick sounding hubs), so I was pretty pumped for the race. With nearly record girl numbers (four in U17 – a full podium!!!) the race was turning to be better than I expected.

Jess Manchester ended up winning with Phoebe Young from Wanaka coming in second; I managed to get third, beating the fourth girl who had come all the way from New Caledonia. The race was good fun and I’m happy with how I did, I tried my best and got results that I’m happy with- despite being a step lower on the podium I was way closer to Jess than I had been at Mt Vic.

Of course I genuinely wouldn’t have been able to race if it were the amazing support and help I got from Ricky, Kim and the other guys at MUD cycles. Thanks so much Kim for letting me borrow your frame at such short notice, and Ricky for organising it so I could borrow a frame, and then moving everything across. And Cheers to Ryan for letting me stay at yours and for lending me your awesome wheels. Mum and Dad, what can I say, it can’t be fun driving me round the country every few weeks, so thanks so much for giving up your weekend! Also cheers to MUD Cycles for the support they always give me and to Lisa at Cowbell Coaching for the awesome coaching that gets and keeps me race fit!

NZ MTB CUP- Round 2- Mt Vic

After about a month with no races and the somewhat boring emptiness of school holiday, I was fairly excited about this race. With the release of NCEA results days before I was in a pretty good mood (I got excellence in case you were wondering) and was happy with the course (even if there was a tad too much up).

Being a Cup round quite a few people came from all over New Zealand, meaning I had someone to race against, and Sam Gaze was there.

The race was just as tough as I expected (if not a lot more) and although Jess Manchester (the other girl) thoroughly beat me I still had lots of fun. If anything it was good to be beaten because it made me aware of the standard I need to get to if I want to race competitively.

Although I only got second I feel like the race was a huge success, I raced as hard as I could, I rode all the descents fine so I’m confident in my ability, and I know more about who I’ll be up against in the future. Of course I wouldn’t have been able to make race day if it weren’t for the huge crowd of people supporting me.  Lisa at Cowbell coaching for making sure that my legs were able to turn fast on race day and will be able to recover so I can hit the Taupo Round on the 7^th of Feb.  All the guys at MUD Cycles helping me out and making sure that my bike can make it round the course running smooth as!! – The new forks are pretty awesome to race on!! Ryan Hunt for all his tips and inside info on the competition (AKA who would be there). Also helping in the tips department are Kim, Ricky and Lisa all helping me figure out lines (like watch out for that rut, if you take it wrong you might break your hand) and talking me through the course- Extremely useful two days before the race when you’re having a bit of a nerves attack!! Of course there’s all the driving around that Mum and Dad do for me, as well as the insane amounts of support and encouragement they give me! Looking forward to Taupo in a few weeks time!

The Rice Mountain Classic

The Rice Mountain Classic is a great race if you are extremely masochistic and good at climbing hills. Unfortunately I only ticked one of these boxes. Somehow I still managed to enjoy my day – and it’s not because I gained helmet strap tan lines.

The course was tough- the first hill being 5km into it, and the last 24km had like 14km of climbing. But hey it is a mountain classic and I wouldn’t expect much less. The main reason I signed up for the 65km of pain was so that there would be enough women for a separate race (you only needed 15 for a separate race); luckily there were 21 other crazy ladies that signed up too.

Naturally it was a hilltop finish- but at the top of Admirals. For those who don’t know Admirals hill is 9km of complete and utter pain- with a small respite halfway through.  And in all kindness it kicks up even more in the last 20 metres- just in case you weren’t hurting enough.

Despite all the hills I really enjoyed it, and it was amazingly well run by PNP – stoked that we could have a proper women’s race! Of course I wouldn’t have been able to get around the course if it weren’t for my amazing coach- Lisa from Cowbell Coaching. Super huge thanks to all the guys down at Mud Cycles, for looking after my bike (getting round to swapping my brakes in 3 days with a packed workshops is pretty awesome!!). Naturally there are mum and dad who support and encourage me endlessly- it’s not particularly fun being the wheel wagon for a 65 km hilly race). Thanks to all the ladies who raced today and everybody that made it possible

Women of Dirt!!

I seem to have a habit of agreeing to do races fairly last minute (Karapoti and CX Nationals) - and this time was no exception.  Bex Houston asked me to be part of her team the week before at the last round of the PNP Spring series, so of course I agreed, and our duo team was formed.

The weather in true Wellington fashion put on a delightful show of low cloud and strong winds- which was actually pretty good for doing a 6hr relay in. To avoid getting too cold between our turns we decided to do one lap each and then swap. Our tactics seemed to work pretty well as we managed to score the win by a lap, but we weren’t the only winners on the day. All the crazy women that decided to do the 6hrs as a solo definitely deserve some kind of prize!!

With a cool course- going up some down tracks and vice versa the day was very enjoyable!! Somehow I managed to pull out the fastest lap of the day and did 45km (ish) – and loved every minute of it!

Awesome races like this don’t happen without tons of support- so awesome job by all the Revolve ladies for managing to put on an awesome race for the 4^th time! Also thanks to Bex Houston for being an awesome team-mate and asking me to be in her team!! Other thanks go to all the guys at MUD Cycles for the insane amount of support they give me, for racing and just general bike stuff! A Huge thanks goes to Mum and Dad for all the support they give me!!

PNP Spring Series Round 5

Unfortunately good things can’t last forever, as this year’s PNP Series was a good thing it too ended. With beautiful weather, trails, riders and organisers, the finale was one worth remembering. The organisers had decided to introduce a new idea- giving riders an option on where to go.

The option of different routes caused some pretty serious debate – which was faster, less energy draining etc.  Different to the other races there was a mass start of all the A, B and C riders- straight up the 4WD to the summit.

Racing in Open Women was the same amount of fun as normal- just with a lot more pain. Having done next to no training because of the lovely experience known as exams, I really noticed just how long the climb is to the summit.

I ended up getting 5^th for this race and I loved every minute of it – in a special masochistic way. But the race podium wasn’t the only thing being awarded- the series one was. The podium went to the very deserving Sasha Smith, Jacquie O’Hagan and Margaret Leyland- I’m pretty sure I managed to score the 4^th place.

None of this would’ve been possible if it weren’t for the huge crowd of people supporting me. There’s PNP MTB Club that run these events- giving me the opportunity to race. Huge thanks to MUD Cycles for sponsoring me and giving me huge amounts of help- and putting up with near daily visits with various questions.  The next on the list is Kim and Lisa; they have helped me out hugely- giving me various bits of advice, and believing in me. Last but not least are Mum and Dad; they take me out to all the races, deal with my teen girl problems and still manage to support and believe in me in a way that no one else can.

PNP MTB Spring Series Round4

The last time I raced in Belmont was in 2009; and some of my memories were somewhat less than pleasant. They mainly involved taking 2:39 to finish D Grade, lots of pine needles, and pushing my bike up Danzig as it (my bike) was completely clogged with mud. It’s safe to say that this time my memories will be of some awesome descents and gruelling climbs- so a hunk better.

I missed the official pre-ride, as I was working in the awesome shop known to many as Mud Cycles. But I was lucky enough to have Marco take me for a pre-ride of the B course.  The course was cool, and way different to what I was expecting – which as bad as it sounds was a great thing.

Wellington kindly put on its best winds for race day, which just added to the hectic excitement. With a cool course and cool competitors it was an awesome race. Although I didn’t make the podium I was happy with my 4^th place in the Open Women field.

The race was really well run, the guys at PNP did a good show- probably my favourite race in the series so far. Huge thanks to Bamba for the awesome trails, I’m excited for the building of new ones- they’ll be awesome. Thanks to Marco for the pre-ride, it’s definitely way better racing when you know what the course is like. A ginormous thanks to Mum and Dad, for all the support they give me, plus all the driving around. All the thanks in the world go to MUD Cycles for their amazing support, in sponsoring me and giving me a job. There’s an awesome crew of guys in there- you should head on down and check it (MUD) out.

PNP MTB Spring SeriesRound 3

Having never done an Enduro before I wasn’t too sure how this was going to work out, all I knew was that I had to go down 3 different courses as fast as I could. Unfortunately no one at the race had managed to get sponsorship from the weather which meant we were racing on nice greasy muddy tracks- my favourite!

I decided to race Open Women and B Grade again, for the tough racing and a cool course.  For once I wasn’t too nervous; my climbing didn’t matter; only the descents were timed.  I had hopes of getting on the podium, unfortunately I didn’t quite make it, though I did grab 6^th. The Podium went to Sasha Smith, Raewyn Morrison and Nicole Swain.

Although I was kind of disappointed with how I did, I did improve on my time from the last race (for Freewheel-Beeline), which wouldn’t have been possible without all the help I got from others.  First up is Mud Cycles, with an awesome bunch of guys, they made sure that my bike was in tip top shape. Then there’s Nic Johnson, for letting me gatecrash her ‘mini Enduro’ so I could pre ride the course with a speedy descender. There is also Mum and Dad for driving me round and helping me organise myself, all the while encouraging me.  Of course I can’t forget my older brother, who came out on a pre ride with me and would’ve done awesome if not for a badly timed puncture (halfway through a run).

Also huge shout out to Kim Hurst and Ryan Hunt for their awesome performance at the 24hr Solo World Champs- both coming home with the rainbow stripes!! Kim and Ryan have helped me heaps, and they deserved their stripes! Ricky and Lisa who were the amazing support crew have also given me huge amounts of help!

And cheers to  Nigel Sanders for some cool pics!