The 2012 Mukamuka Munter

It's been 25 years since my last running race. It was a flat half marathon on a perfectly still Wellington morning and I was eighteen. So I was a little nervous signing up to run 30 kilometres across rough terrain, over mountain passes and through pleasantly cool rivers. However the intervening years were not all fast cars, fast women and late nights. I'd tramped and biked through the area plenty of times and I knew what to expect from the terrain. The biggest unknown was how my body would cope with that much leg bashing for so long.

Some stats:

Note the parabola-like ascent up to Mt Matthews saddle

So close to Wellington's cafe strip, but so far...

Distance: 29.5 km
Max altitude: 689 m
Total climbing: 980 m

My preparation was ok. Some months earlier I'd had a failed build up for a full marathon that all ended abruptly with a damaged tendon in my ankle due to over-training, too much too soon. In retrospect this probably gave me a useful base to build on for the Muka. And with some enthusiasm-restoring mountain biking and gentle trail running, I was able to run and have it feel good rather than awful. An intermediate personal goal ticked off. More local trail running, a "warrant of fitness" run/tramp up to the top of Mt Matthews and back, and some strategic resting was the best I could fit into my family schedule. During one training run, a loop of Polhil I met some mountain bikers, the first of which shouted back to the rest of his group "runner ahead". I'd never been called a runner before and such flattery almost scored him a coveted Bushlove mid-trail reach-around. Anyway I fondly remember it as proof I was actually running.

So to race day, and the weather came up perfect after worrying us all week with potential misery. We assembled just across the Orongorongo river with the Bushlove troops at the back of the 90 odd entrants we began the usual smack talk and general sand-bagging. Soon we were off though with a lovely tail wind that taunted us to go faster.

The first 12 km along the rocky coastal track starts off in a southerly direction but after a few km it turns to the north and although there's some shelter from the towering hills beside us we were warned to expect some solid headwinds and horizontal sand. I tried my best to cruise the coastal section. After a while I could see I was in about 25th place, already way up on where I thought I would be and feeling comfortable. Of our original group of sand-baggers I was ahead of Sam "Rammer" Dungey and Al "North Shore" Crossling. Dave "Sharpie" Sharpe was just ahead of me, and I assumed Tim "T-Rex" Wilding was somewhere up near the front. This section of coast is beautiful and clean due mostly to its relative remoteness and intimidating signage from the landowners. The smell of the sea and kelp was refreshing and I'm sure I heard yarping seals at one point.

The next section was my favourite, the climb up to Mt Matthews saddle. As you turn in from the coast there isn't really a track so you pretty much follow the Mukamuka stream heading due north towards a v on the ridge up high in the distance. It starts out wide and shingly and you pass through layers of cow shit, then sheep, then finally near the top it's all goat droppings. The valley gets narrower and the rock-hopping begins. Then after the only serious navigational gotcha where the main valley seems to veer left you continue north through a slot in the bush, it gets steeper again and the real scrambling starts. Leaving the coast I could see a large bunch ahead of me and as it got steeper I started to reel them in. I was keeping count and passed 15 on the way up. I caught and passed Sharpie and T-Rex towards the top they shouted "show us how it's done Waggers" as I slithered Gollum-style up the stream.

Due to my lack of photo-taking action I include this 2008 picture from the Mt Matthews saddle of a lost Englishman, aka Davo Bushlove

From the saddle on a nice day you can see Wellington city but today the wind made any peering nearly impossible. I scampered the 100 or so metres of ridge to get out of the wind quick as I could. Then the fun began. The descent from the saddle is very steep with lots of roots to help lower yourself and trees to grab for emergency braking. I went pretty carefully down here as a few cramps were threatening. I scoffed all my food and drink and that seemed to do the trick. Only one person passed me down here so that was ok.

Now back in the river we begin the slog section. I paused in the Orongorongo river to enjoy the cool of the water, then bounded off up the Big Bend track. There's quite a bit of up and down along this section but I was still going ok. Passed by one more here.

At the start of the 5 Mile track T-Rex caught me. I tried to stay with him up the initial climb but my body was starting to revolt. My running at this point was best described as speed shuffling. I was hurting. This is where my lack of running history was starting to show. A little further on I hooked my foot on something and with a tweaky cramp fell flat on my face. Getting tired. It was now grit teeth and hang on for the final 6 km of mostly flat wide trail. I tried walking but that hurt more so the only thing to do was get it over with. Two more came past me on the 5 Mile.

The final 2 km along the Catchpool access road was absolute hell. To make things worse a couple more passed me, I had nothing left and could only watch them disappear. I couldn't see anyone behind me for the final half kilometre so at least I could relax and really enjoy my hurt.

Done.

It was a relief to finish and I hobbled down the wheelchair ramp to collapse on the lawn with the other finishers and supporters. I was thrilled to finish in 14 place overall. At the top of the saddle I would have been in 7th. I was 2nd veteran by just 2 minutes, gah so close! Although the nice thing about this course is that everyone does the same distance regardless of category so the pain and stories can be shared and compared equally by all. A really well organised event and the weather was perfect. It's a seriously tough day out though and not for everyone, but if you can run for a couple of hours or speed-tramp then I highly recommend it as a fantastic adventure through some wonderful country.

It seemed like everyone enjoyed it and the merry gang of Bushlovers past, present, and "day-pass holders" did awesomely, all finishing in under 4 hours. Top job.

Chris "I just finished a 100km run" Burr - 2 hours 58 minutes (freakin amazing and good enough for 3rd!)
Tim - 3:15
Waggers (little ole me) - 3:21
Dave - 3:24
Sam - 3:47
Al - 3:51

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Changing Gears - PNP XC round 1 and more

Waggers rambles on and attempts to catch up on 6 months of remiss blogging...

I wasn't expecting to have so much form coming into the first round of the 2012 PNP MTB XC Series. Standing on the top of the podium for the Master 2 category I was certainly pleased to have the fastest time across all Master 2, Master 1, and Senior Men. But I also had that niggling doubt that I might be riding a little too hot so early in the season. Looking back at how I got to this point takes me all the way back to the last real XC race I entered, the eventful 2012 Karapoti.

My preparation for Karapoti was pretty good. Well, as good as can be expected while also having a full time job, solo parent duties, and a life. I was entered in the single speed category and I'd done a couple of conservative ~3 hour pre-rides and felt I was good for a 2:50, or maybe 2:45 if all went well. However events conspired against me, first the weather caused a two week postponement. Then one week out I hurt my back - perhaps stooping to cut a lawn with hedge clippers and a 40-something year old body is not a great idea. I found later that night when I lay down then I couldn't get up without help. Rest and active rehab had me at about 90% on K day and although I did an annoyingly just-over-3-hours loop I did manage to enjoy myself, even with lots of mid race stretching and a few lie downs.

The night before Karapoti I was digging through the competitors' swag bag and pulled out the entry form for the Wellington marathon. Hmmm... I've always thought I'd like to do a marathon one day, and the timing and location was good. I like the idea of running but it's not something that comes naturally to me. With over 25 years of mountain bike racing and riding my heart and lungs are strong but my legs are just not suited (yet) to running. Every time I try I end up with some niggling injury. I tried to be super careful to ease into it and the build up was going well. I was quite comfortable running for nearly two hours. Four weeks out from race day as I got back from a gentle but long flat run I noticed a strange numb pain in my ankle. No particular injury event occurred but I had just done too much too soon and it was black and very swollen. X-rays revealed no breaks - yay - but I couldn't walk properly or even ride - boo. My marathon hopes were done for another time.

During this on-off time I watched the lovely Marjolein train and prepare for the world mountain running champs. This included a great little fund-raiser event to get her to the start line in Italy at the end of August. The Bushlove boys being a chivalrous bunch and cursed with testosterone, turned out in force to support her. A fun little course had us riding a Makara Peak grand loop followed by an off-road petite grand-loop run. Bushlove were 1-2-3-4 over the summit and into the run but then things became a bit unsightly. While both Ed McSteamer and Tiger are strong elegant runners, the same cannot be said for Angry or myself. In the end we did ok though and held on for 5th and 4th respectively. Luckily there is very little photographic evidence of said arm flapping and leg flailing. Ed and Tiger chased each other hard over the hills for first and second place. Well done.

The guy behind me is a blur because he is reeling me in so fast...

Benefactor, women's winner and event organiser Marjolein makes sure that Men's winner Ed cleans *my* bike properly, nice!

Now there is also a secret splinter group in Bushlove. A small sect of shoe fetishists. A strange troupe who would rather wear skimpy floaty running shorts than have a small pointy bicycle seat up the jaxie for hours and hours. In a moment of weakness I was discussing such foibles with this dark force and found myself aligning with their wicked ways. I had signed up and committed to running the Mukamuka Munter. My build up for the Munter has been much better than my marathon training effort. And way more enjoyable. Actual off-road trail running and hills has helped keep my focus and attention. A five hour fun and wet pre-Munter WOF run up Mt Matthews with the Bushlove dark side team was a highlight.

Getting out on the tracks and hills as a tramper was how I first got into mountain biking. For me the fundamental draw is standing on the top of a hill soaking in the light, air, bush, sounds, and views. Mountain biking allows me to get on top quicker, with a good workout, and as a bonus it's about 20 kinds of fun coming back down.

This winter in Wellington we have also had the benefit of two fun cyclocross multi-race series. The four race Hot CX events with round 2 doubling as the inaugural leg of the NZ National CX Series was a rude shock for my body. This series dove-tailed beautifully with the 4th (?) annual Bike Hutt series. Never have so many pleasant city parks been wrecked so quickly by so few scantily clad folks on skimpy bicycles. Much fun and skidz were had and even some top 3 results were had by Angry, Potter and myself.

It's not a proper workout unless you challenge yourself - "seating is cheating"

Mid race carbo loading.

The not-so-pretty side of too much "mid race carbo loading".

The intense short format on-and-off the bike style of cyclocross is great fun and a serious work out. I have not done any proper speed work prior to the PNP series but I think these events, cross-training runs, plus a few tip track "tests" have come together nicely to plop me on top step of the Master 2 podium.

On the day Master 2 Men started in the second wave. I took off chasing what I thought was a Senior Men rider. We went back and forth a bit and then I dropped him down the Super D section as I was descending pretty well. He then caught me and got about 10 seconds climbing up Jungle Gym and on to the 3rd pylon. Then just before the Spoonhill descent he vanished. I charged on and got close to him on our second time up Jungle only to have him disappear again down Spoonhill, mystifying. It wasn't until the results were published that I realised that he was riding a different and shorter course than me!

Quality duelling with the young Simon Lawson, cheers dude!

Now I switch gears again and eagerly look forward to pleasant weather (www.youtube.com/watch?v=okbHIClMvt4) for next weekend's silly run. Then a week to shake my legs out before PNP round 2, that is if I can still actually walk after the Munter.

PNP Round 1 stats:
Angry, 3rd Elite burglar
Waggers, 1st Master 2 burglar, and 7th overall Super D
Slacky, 6th overall Super D

Till next time, Waggers
mysportsresults.net/results/jonny

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Bushlove Du. The Brut 33 and Blue Stratus version

That's right, in Bushlove its not about the Threesome but more the Dusome.  Fastest Man and Tiger decided to touch up on some running and biking skills, with a Scorching Duathlon.  Being of running thoroughbred origin Tiger was comfortable on his feet and Fastest Man... well just being Fastest Man and a good roadie was comfort in itself.

Here is a quick race brief.  

Fastest Man donning the BLR White Kit

Tiger BLR Black Kit

Once upon a time there were two little boys, one the of the two was an angel, he wore pure white and never misbehaved.  The other wore Black and never listened to anything he was told.  

This particular day they set off on an adventure of the Upper Hutt kind.  Yes, this meant a couple of sprays of Brut 33 and the local Hutt girls set chase.  Tiger being the prettiest of the two, feared for his life and set off at a cracking pace for the first 10km run.  By halfway Tiger had a decent minute back to 3rd & 4th with Andrew Young (Who obviously opted for the more desirable Blue Stratus scent) powering off the front.  Fastest Man backed his chances with the local girls so eased up for a little flirtation with death.

Into T1 (bit of Tri talk there, sorry ;) it means Transition 1) Tiger's years of experience in the sport of Triathlon showed and he wasted the good part of 30secs looking for his bike.  Meanwhile 3rd place smashed T1 to come out ahead.  Off on the Road Bikes with Girls in Holden's chasing.  

Fastest Man finally realising the attention he was getting the the Local Girls, was not one he really desired.  As the power went down the Locals Girls could only watch as their prize rode off like a Ford V8 into the distance.  Back in 5th place, Tiger tempted fate as the lavish girls in fluffy Ugg Boots greedily pawed at his black lycra.  Fastest Man still fearing for his life, engaged Roadie Legs to take the fastest bike time of the day.

Into T2 (See there, did it again) with transitions as smooth as a teenage pimpled face.  We were off on the 2nd run.  Fastest Man chasing 1st place and Tiger being chased to save face.  5km of painful hills climbing in excess of 5mtrs per lap.  

Fastest Man = 3rd

Tiger = 4th

Mc Ds = Winner!

All done with Eliting the Tri World, we thought it only fit we Elite the local Mc Ds.

Official Sponsors of the Bushlove Triathlon Team.

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