Napier MTBcup final - 3rd place for both

Today has been full on back into work after the weekend of racing in Napier and a quick goodbye to the camper-van which has been home for the last two weekends, pretty mint way to travel! We even thought we were part of the wings club waving out to all the 'older' members along the way.. they loved it!! 

here is the run down of the racing below

Katie's Race - 3rd place

Two 3^rd places for me on Sunday, taking 3^rd in the 5 lap race and 3^rd again in the NZMTB XC cup. I am pleased with this it is a massive come back from last weekend where I was unable to complete the race. Although the time off forced upon me by illness was not ideal and has set me back on where I was, I have another 2 weeks ahead of me leading into the Oceania championships my peak event for the domestic season it is definitely not too late to gain form and lift my game and I have a training plan in place to do so. 

Carl's Race - 3rd place

The start of this race was a good one for the first 3 laps Dirk, Mikey and Myself exchanged the lead attacking each other until Dirk got the break we were looking for. After Dirk had a small gap it was me and Mikey battling trying to close the gap, in the end we finished 30seconds from each other with Dirk winning the final race and the series with Mikey 2nd and 3rd in the series, and myself 3rd today but 2nd in the series. It was one of the closest races we have had in NZ and was good fun bummer I was on the end of the 3 way battle. 

12 days till oceania's and there is some shaking and baking to do before we get there.  

Wellington NZ MTB Cup, UCI cat 2

Another hard day out for the both of us, both not having spark from earlier races, the course was ment to suit both of us in different areas, with lots of climbing and some really pinchy climbs within it and some tricky decents.

Carl's Race

Another warm up thinking oh shit is that all you have got, but knowing what had to be done, I had the chance to wrap up the national series with another win, but it was far from that, first lap there were guys shooting off everywhere but I was trying to cover off Dirk and Mikey as I felt they were the biggest threat to me. I had tried to stay with them but once Dirk put the hammer down we split, Dirk had 30 odd seconds on me and I had 30 odd on Mikey, then all of a sudden Anton had caught Mikey, and Mikey had carried Antons pace as soon as Anton had finish Mikey was on a mission to the front I held him for a lap but not very well, slipping a few more seconds back on the final lap still finishing 3rd but not so stoked about it, these two boys are the ones I need to be beating.

This week Ill be resting up with my spade out ;-) 

Katie's Race 

After nationals I was forced off the bike with an ugly virus! It wasn't until I tried bike testing Wednesday after nationals that we realised the body was clearly fighting something.  It zapped me completely headaches, glans wanting to swallow my head and a throat which I could barely drink water with, I used the first method of recovery rest however the Saturday following nationals I was worse and went into the doctor. I came out with a nice stash of drugs, the legal ones of corse- panadol, antibiotics, and anti-inflammatory tablets.  I slowly got back into training it was frustrating to say the least. Thursday I managed my first full session however this was short lived as after 3 days of normal I ended up exhausted again. from here I had days where I was ok and days where I was fatigued and training below my potential. Wellington was a long shot, but I loved the track. I felt flat Saturday morning but pretty good by the evening and decided it was worth while entering as Sunday could have been one of my up's. After the first feed zone on lap one I new it wasn't, I could have completed the race however if I had continued it would have set me back further in my recovery. Karen won the race in clear style with over a 9minute lead. It is back to the doctor for me today to get on top of everything and return to racing strong!

On a better note, although dispite my lack of full health I have had some really big ups over the last weeks;

• Finished summer school
• Got the best valentines day present ever... from my dentist a new front tooth! 
• Jolanda Neff stayed with us in Rotorua, really enjoyed showing her around, riding with her and learning a thing or too especially in terms of technical skills and descending faster.
• Rafted down the kaituna - flipped down the waterfall... survived :)

NZ MTB CHAMPIONSHIPS

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A winding, pinchy sprint course in sync with the way european World Cup courses are now being set was the description of the national championships course held in the codgers mtb park. The track was demanding and one we both enjoyed however race day we were unable to lay down the performances we desired and were capable of never the less we put down everything that was there on the day, and pushed through challenges presented.

Carl 6th place – 2nd down hill 1st lap, I was in 2nd then washed out down a bank, I got up fast only letting dirk past but my day was only just starting, the blood was flowing everywhere literally all my muscles were contracting in ways only a crash produces. I was making it hard for myself to retain my title and I was in for a hell day after crashing more myself  I got back to 4th I thought I would finish up there but then on the final lap I was hit by another rider who was watching the race he was coming down an open road which double as the race track for a head on collision, It felt like I had been hit by a bus, by now I was now in the most pain I have ever felt in a race, after been hit I had a busted finger and smashed up arms and a good knock to the head I lost over 2mins and 2 more spots. Completely gutted the race had cost me much more than just a title I rolled to the finish in 6th. Apologies have been said and hard to accept but mistakes happen.



Katie 4th NZ rider 5th including swiss Jolanda Neff – No gas in the tank off the line back in 7th on first climb, with a mechanical in the first decent I managed to loop my chain loosing more places, I fought back to 5th but despite chasing could not get to the riders ahead with the body fighting what appeared to be a virus ending up unwell for the following days.

Disappointment after these performances was inevitable however this is a small setback in what is to be a long race season which we will overcome. We are now building to the second half of the domestic season with round 3 and 4 of the NZMTB and more importantly the Oceania championships on our local tracks.
Wellington UCI Cat 2 in a few weeks time to make up for the lost UCI points at nationals and to win a national series
also if anyone happened to pick up a Garmin 705 or has handed one somewhere could you let me know

Cheers
Carl and Katie