Easter Treats Own Mono

Last weekend was the second round of the ever popular N-Duro winter series in Rotorua's Whaka forest. I was keen to get out for some skids, as I've had a rough couple of months with injury and illness hampering my riding.

Wife features and I headed up on Thursday, to make it less rushed than the normal "up Saturday, home Sunday" trip. I got out for about 3 hours on Friday, covering most of the course and a few extra bits just for fun. I found myself riding through ice near the top of the forest - Billy T and Hot X Buns had lots of iced over puddles, making the riding a little more fun. I also headed out on Saturday with my good freind Dean - we hit a couple of cool trails before getting the bus to the top (I know, what kind of XC jayboi takes a shuttle bus?!) to do some trail riding with Jim and Paul. Lulz were had when the 29er tyres wouldn't fit into the trailer properly! We hit up Billy T, Splitz, Pondys etc... awesome fun. I ended up being out for about 2 hours, and while it was all fairly sifty it certainly wasn't a great leadup to a race... what can I say, I can't help myself in vegas!

The heavens opened on Saturday night, leaving the trails absolutely saturated for Sunday's race. Awesome. I quite enjoy riding in shitty conditions, which is just as well given Wellington's winter this year! For several reasons I didn't manage a warmup at all before the race, and only just managed to down the short black a few minutes before race start. I lined up on the second row, behind a few familiar faces - I remember most of them from watching the Pro/Elite round of the NI Cup on Mt. Vic in January.

Once we were underway I found myself in a good group headed up the first easy climb - 8 of us in total, and going at a fairly good pace. Into the singletrack I was still 8th, and kept the next few riders in sight for most of the first 20 minutes of singletrack. Just like the Highlander, I had local SS legend Garth on my tail. Once we hit the 4wd track I used my abundance of gears (Well, 8 more than Garth has anyway!) to pull out an advantage. I felt strong on the first decent climb, and held the gap to the next group. I hadn't been feeling great on the descents during the week, so was happy to hold position on Billy T. Garth caught me on G-Rock, before having a mechanical slow his progress. I caught a rider along Chestnut Road, leading into the second climb - Hill Road. Again, I felt great on the climb, and managed to pull a decent gap on the two riders who were close behind. Into Hot X Buns for the second descent of the day. I was starting to feel a bit better on the bike, so opened it up a wee bit as I got further down the hill. About half way down I m0nged up the step section and did a mean huck to face. I think the bashguard caught a step, and I ate shit pretty hard (Still clipped in - scorpion style). Once I'd landed the bike landed on my head. Sweet move. That pretty much wrote off any advantage I had over Garth, as I took the rest of HXB pretty easy. After a the long and short courses merged at the bottom of this trail traffic became a bit of an issue - slower riders from the 20K course were in the middle of the faster riders doing the long course. As I turned off into Katore Road, the finial climb of the day, I spotted Garth about 40 seconds up the road. Righto... legs still feeling strong, so I do a bit of smashing and we get to the top together, much to his surprise! Seeing he had no front brake and knows the trails a bit better than me, I figured he should hit Gunna Gotta in front. GG was the best descent of the day, and remains one of my favourites out of anywhere I've ridden. Another couple of core trails to finish off, including Creek Track and Mad if U don't, and we were home.

I ended up 5th in Open Men in 2:21, 9 minutes off the win, and a couple of minutes behind Garth. I'm pretty pleased with my result - not because I was 5th, but because of where I'm at with my training etc... I'd just finished a strength/base block, so wasn't race sharp at all, and I could feel I didn't have any leg speed. The 4 guys who beat me are all off to the World Champs in 6 weeks, so hopefully they do NZ proud.

Next race for me is the 3rd round of the N-Duro Series in Vegas on August the 30th. Hoping for a top 3 there, but not too bothered if I'm OTA, as these aren't target events for me.