Karapoti is one of those races you love to hate due to its relentless nature of climbing and rocks, its a course I always think should suit me but never really does, and in previous years I always lined up to race not for position but for time, the magical sub 3 time. However since turing the grand old age of 40 I have always wanted to win that M2 grade and for the past 2 years I have been bridesmaid to either the legend himself Trevor Woodward or Lower Hutt midlifer Nick Warring, both awesome riders who know how to ride Karapoti well, was 2012 going to be any different?.
Race day arrived and what a stunning day for a race, especially in comparision to 2 weeks prior when the weather bomb hit, as much as I LOVE an epic race in appaling conditions 2 weeks ago I would have been disappointed to finish in UNDER 4 hours as I was hoping mother nature would throw its all at me and that it would be so terrible bringing about awesome stories to bore my grandchildren with, but alas Michael Jacques saved me from myself, I digress.. The vibe around Karapoti park that morning was awesome very chilled and although I had the usual pre race nerves I lapped it up.
I was entered in Expert Class and my good buddy and NZ Representitive Triathelete Tiger had seen the potential for an Elite Top 5 finish given the Boy Wonder was hunting Lions and the Dinosaur was otherwise engaged, I mused about swapping but really wanted a crack at the M2 win.
Race start was the usual river crossing, this time I took the 2 river crossing start and liked it a lot better than the random am I going to drown crossing, I didnt get a great start as I saw the lead bunch a huge distance down the road before I sorted my junk and was in top gear.
I do love the starts to the Karapoti the smash up the gorge is huge fun and really suits my strengths so it wasnt long before I was picking off riders up the road tucking slightly in behind each one for a micro pause before launching to the next and so on until I had caught the lead bunch and sat in behind Tigs and we formed a rolling train that quickly left fresh air behind us and the remaining crowds, my new pals for the next 50mins were Matt, Dave, Alex, Tiger & Gav. We made great time up the gorge hitting the bridge in 14mins and the bottom of warmup in 21mins.
The race then turned upwards and I was loving the
Niner Air 9 Carbon running Maxxis EXO
Ikon out back and
Ignitor out front also my doubts about running a 28/40 XTR front chainring where unfounded as I loved the gearing and didnt feel undergeared at all, in previous years on a triple I have kinda wussed out and stuck it in the granny for the climbs which resulting in just going slower, so being forced into a bigger gear helped me mentally more than anything.
Down the scree slope into the river I lost sight of my pals as my risk bar is just not high enough, I thought I was dropped until I hit warmup and started to reel Tigs back in , I managed to pass mid deadwood and at the top we were basically neck and neck, the race then pointed downwards and although I dont think im slow, im certaintly not as fast as the top 5 downhill and they soon said goodbye to me leaving me on my lonesome. (que 'All by myself.. im going be all by myself')
I often find myself becoming complacent when I have no direct competition at hand, but still forced myself to keep my eyes on the prize so rolled on at a good tempo towards Rockgarden, which I hit at 1:04 so I knew I was on for a good time, however Rockgarden was still a bit of a shambles for me and I just didnt ride it smoothly and dabbed quite a few times and got off at the large drop about mid way, this probably cost a minute or so, and something im going to work on during the year.
At Devils Staircase my little legs struggled as usual to mount the huge steps and it wasnt long before my poor descent of Rock Garden had allowed the Painting man to start nipping at my heels, at 143yrs old hes quite the legend and his love of running shows as he pounded up the staircase just ahead of me.
Out onto Big Ring , Ian paused to change the batteries in his pace maker and I pulled out a nice lead and didnt think I would be seeing Ian again, but much to my suprise was caught coming down the trail leading up to Dopers and he started to pull away downhill, I just couldnt match his pace in the corners without drifting too wide, again more practice needed here, and its good to know there are areas I can speed up on to be even faster, so thanks Ian for showing my weakness to me so convincingly.
I hit the bottom of Dopers at 1:56, so bar a mechanical a Sub 3 was a certaintity, and I spied Ian just up ahead and quickly spun up to catch, (hill climbs are not something I need to work on :-) ) I remarked that the M3 record was not looking safe this year, Ian was not so sure and had the onset of cramps, Great news!.
My ascent of Dopers was the fastest yet in 18:40 ish, but my legs where also starting to feel a bit like jelly towards the top as I caught up to another legend (and my enemy according to Alex my 9yr old) Garth Weinberg, I still dont fully understand how one can ride a Single Speed around there that fast, but there you go. Garth was pushing up some sections but I could barely ride as fast as he was pushing, my legs were approaching their limit and at the top Garth rode away from me.
I now too hard the onset of cramps with some twinges appearing in the quads, damn, probably because I only had 1/4 a bottle to drink, so dumped back another 1/4 bottle and rode through the pain down the gorge to the finish, with a keen eye behind me.
I finished up 1st in Masters 2 and 1st in the Expert class, in a time of 2:42:27, which is 3Mins and 1 second faster than my previous best in 2010, and thanks to the missing elites 6th Overall, so finally a Masters win under my belt. Stoked!.
Ian came in shortly afterwards to break his M3 record and I loved to tell him "I told you so".
But more than that I loved to hear the other riders stories, like Hiskey who busted a rear mech and Ken Feist who stopped to help him with a Single Speed conversion, costing Ken the race CX record by 10 seconds!.
Congratulations to Matthew Waghorn for the win!.. And Tiger for scoring the Top 5 (actually 4) he so wanted, his battles with Gav will be many this year I suspect, but Gav just pipped Tiger for 3rd, so well done to the owner of the cleanist bikes in Wellington Gav!.
Its good to hear post race stories from people who love to race hard but dont take the whole thing too serious, its when you take it too serious the fun goes, and once the fun is gone, whats the point.
I also love to see all the kids riding especially in the Challenge, some as young as 8yr old Mac Madsen, a future legend i predict!. And my own big fella Alex Bushlove who knocked a good 30mins off his last years time and still managed to bring back an interestingly painted rock he found mid race to show us.
Proud Dad
Medal Handerouterer Warrior Princess
Reflecting pensively at prize giving
My latest trademe listing
Thanks to
Niner Bikes and
Burkes Cycles in Kilbirne for the support.
Big thanks to Joel Healy for the advice and coaching, especially his cruel and brutal training sessions he knows I love so much, its much appreciated, if you seriously want to ride faster (I probably shouldnt let on), but contact Joel!..
Even Bigger thanks to
Trudi,
Alex and
Alana for cheering me on and their support throughout the year, what a lovely family.
Thanks for reading, sorry I waffled so long.
Angry.
