Xterra New Zealand MTB



Katie prime spot off the start (Panasonic NZ pictures)

Katies  Race

Wow it has been a loong time since I have written a race blog update.

The T42 this time last year was my last race prior to my surgery at the end of August. After getting the go ahead to get back on the mountain bike in February I have steadily built up over the last 2months on and off the road. On the weekend I raced the Xterra MTB, and pretty stoked to be honest absolutely loved hurting, pushing myself up and down the hill. On my new 29r and with my lack of race fitness the downhill was the best part. I managed to finish second by a few minutes to young speedster and team mate Amber Johnston who has been flying all season.

It took a bit of mental strength to get to the start line, and after some epic mental battles after not racing for so long, and some early nights to try get rid of my mild change of season cold it was time to get it over and done with and start the race comeback, so I entered late Thursday night.

Feels great to be back into the racing, so glad I picked up the courage to enter. Still many more ‘comeback’ obstacles ahead to keep me physically and mentally occupied. Currently I am working on building my strength back from my time off but as of the end of next week I will be throwing in the towel at the gym (yay no more squats… for awhile) and getting into more some faster training… hope the lungs are ready after a year off.



Carl nipping up the side at the start (Panasonic NZ pictures)

Carls Race...

We were abit rushed this morning and didn't get the warm up we should have but never the less, the races started at 9am. After a good hit out I went hard from start and lead from the start to the finish, with only the junior boys of Brett Stokman, Josh Parkin and Nathan Johnston chasing me after 10mins I could no longer see them but I was able to push on and keep on above my threshold, I wanted to have the fastest time of the day on the ride so I had good motivation. The roads around the back of the lake were superfast and I whipt 5minutes off the course record and won the mountain bike race by 5 mins, I also had  fastest mountain bike time of the day by 3minutes, so quite stoked to get the 1st win of the year in style.

After race interview (Panasonic NZ pictures)

Next race for us is ohope ordeal on the 27th the NZXC team is heading over to ohope for a hit out. 3 weeks and counting until we leave NZ for our trip to europe.

Carl