T42

In the rush to pack for Europe and leaving 2 days latter we had forgotten to do an up date on T42 a few weeks latter here is one.

Carl's race

It was a bloody cold start not quite bad as the one I sat out last year but I had an uncontrollable shiver on the start line and no warm up. It was my first time every on the 42nd traverse and people had been talking it up so I was amped to find out what it was about.
Down the first main road before the race really kicks off we were all just trying to warm up cruising along, but with some very dodge people trying to push the pace, passing in the grass and sprinting through gaps that weren't there so I decided it was time to boost it and be safe, so I took off with Graham Norman and Cabin Leishman coming with me, I soon pushed on and every so often for the first half hour Graham would start coming back to me on some of the slippery descents where I didn't want to take risks. Mid race I really put the hammer down and tried to continue extending my gap. I won in 1.45.35 ahead of Graham at 1.50.12 and braking the course record.

Katie’s Race

The T42 was a bit of a milestone for me, It was the last race before my time off the bike. I was definitely on the limiter fitting it in between finishing up at work, and packing for our exciting Europe adventures, and was definitely zoned out with all the goings on demonstrating this when on the way to the race I drove past the turn off and was on my way to the who knows where. Lucky before going too far I snapped out it and made a quick U-bolt. Nothing like a scenic drive to an event.. And Carl was totally fine with it… J J. 

I was pretty nervous when I arrived as the women’s field was pretty large and my race experience was definitely on the low side but got off to a good start and once we hit the grass I took the lead and managed to stay there. I had a few good battles out there, which made for a bit of fun as there was a bit of cat and mouse and even some attacks with some of the guys. It is the type of track where this is possible as it is very fast and flowy. I enjoyed the event and was stoked we only had to ride some of the way back to our car (too cheap to take the bus). Big thanks to Megan Domentos for giving us a lift the rest of the way back after we stopped for a break and a kitkat at the gas station J.

World Cup #2 Nove Mesto Na Moreave, Czech

We arrived in Czech late Monday afternoon and settled into our accommodation in a small village called Bystre deep in the country side of Czech a 30 minute drive from Nove Mesto. We were staying with a guy who calls himself Milky at a penzion (Czech hotel/motel/backpackers) Sam Shaw and Dirk had stayed with him last year and said he was a good guy and hard case. Hard case he was he spoke very little English but enough for us to understand him if not we would take a trip to Google translate and sort the situation. 

The World cup track at Nove Mesto Na Morave is awesome, along with Champery it is definitely a favourite. Carls description ‘Rotorua on steroids’ is a good description for those back home although missing the over 130km of it. It is naturally technical with rooty descents and climbs, further technical features (steroids) have then been added with downhill, uphill and flat manmade rock gardens.

The track was much the same as we remember it from two years ago, with the addition of one more rock feature, a gnarly looking rock descent. It was a risk versus reward section where the easier line reduced the chance of crashing and flat tyres. We found out when racing we were able to pass 2 riders at a time if they went into the slower safer line so was pretty happy to make it safely down the A line with no flat tyres or crashes all week and during the race.

Carl's race 

Unfortunately after last week I was hoping to move up on World cup ranking however the new UCI rules this year have you continuing on world ranking position and not the world cup ranking, so it was back to 83^rd for me 10 rows back I was called up 76^th so there was a bit of a movement forward with riders DNS in front of me, and on the start line I snuck another line when we pushed up, maybe to the 8^th line of 120 riders. On the start lap we follow the roads for a couple of minutes going on to one of the main climbs of the track and continuing onto the race lap, this gives you a bit of time to move up as much as you can, I sat in holding my ground until the 1^st little climb then hit it hard passing a large number of riders, down the other side of this hill it was a high speed right hander a few riders went down and we got slightly gaped to the main pack dodging them. From then on I had space to move on the next single track climb we still had to run but looking behind me there was way more riders than normal. I come round to start the 1^st normal lap of 7 1min20 down in 63^rd so I had already made a big jump on my grid position and last time I raced here after the 1^st 8min start loop I was 100 position and 3mins 20 down, so I was slightly stoked hoping I was in for a good one. However things kind of stalled out from here and I went backwards again before coming forwards, having a few rough patches where people would pass me and I couldn't hold their wheels to me absolutely smashing it back past them. I was loving the technical sections and making back time every time things got tough. Again I made the last lap not sure by how much but the next group of riders behind me missed out so must have been close, on this lap it started to rain and the track became very slippery and the

roots and rocks were very different and then my through axle come loose and had to stop and do it back up so I settled for 63^rd another PB World Cup result so still moving forward. Hopefully an even better story in Val Di Sole in 3 weeks.   

Katie's Race

My race was crazy hard I was ridden off in the start loop, not confident enough in my climbing or riding to assert being there. What ground I had made was quickly lost when I got tangled with another rider. I came through exactly where I started at the back. The first full lap I rode well technically and felt compose however there was nothing there. My legs were not participating and for the first time ever I actually wanted to just stop, I did not feel I should be there. It was pretty hard to stomach, riders destroying me up the hills with just the technical component keeping me in there, the complete reverse from previous years.

Fortunately my coach has always drilled in the mental aspect of the sport and even when the body is not participating to never give in. On the third full lap it started paying off not only did I feel good through the technical areas but I found my legs and was able to pick off riders ahead moving from 50^th to 47^th this however was short lived where on the last technical climb I started struggling with my bike it slipped a gear after I presume clipping the derailleur somewhere as till this point it was working perfectly. I ended up running. I then dropped my chain through the next section called the ACDC I got it back on but not settled in a gear for the ‘rock n roll’ so again got my run on.. Once back on the bike coming through the start finish I was back to 50^th where I had been in the second lap, so what physically was a strong lap, where I was able to pass riders who had been pulling away in the climbs ended up a bit average. I quickly settled back into my rhythm again and although my gears were not perfect I got them to hold and still feeling strong I passed 2 of the 3 riders who had got passed during my issues and got back up to the wheel of the one ahead, unfortunately not quick enough as we both missed the cut off for the final lap by seconds. By no means am I disappointed, I have come such a long way and am continuing to make inroads each week, race and training session. 

I will continue to search for further improvement racing two Category 1 races over my last 3weeks here in Euroland to prepare for the Val Di Sole World cup which is on a very demanding track.  

     

UCI MTB World Cup 1, Albstadt Germany

Travelling for 8hrs to the Next world cup race in the Czech Republic seems like a perfect opportunity to write up an update for everyone.

We arrived in Munich Germany almost 2weeks ago, and continued on to Sigmaragen, Germany where we based at a triathlon club building into the first world cup in Albasdt Germany Just over 30minutes drive from our base. The set up was primo, having everything we needed.

It took us awhile to get used to Europe, possibly the jet lag or change of diet and had many average days which also meant for some average training days. Glad to have had that buffer weekend where we were not racing to get dialled in better.

We found a couple of trails close to home however spent most our time on the world cup course during training, each lap was different and the track conditions varied from dry to completely muddy and very slippery. The track consisted of 3 climbs, a steep one to start off and then two longer ones to follow. The descents had a bit of everything, rocks, roots, jumps the dirt here is very different when its wet it is like ice and when its drying it’s like ice but flicks up on to your bike adding a good 5kg. But over the buildup we got to test all conditions and different tyre combos.  

Katie

It’s awesome to be back lapping up an XCO race track, it has been over a year since I raced my last XCO race the 2012 Oceania Champs. The track was fun, technical and brutally hard. During the week I got a feel for where I was at and also got in my first max efforts. Training up to date has been around threshold so I found it hard to push to this level and recover.

In my warm up I felt like continuing to ride in the opposite direction with the daunting World cup being less than 1hr away this would have been much easier, instead I followed my routine and got to the line. The start was hard but not in a physical sense, I made the mistake to look back and realize after starting back line I had made no ground I was still at the back, so decided to just look forward from then on this however was also a bit grim as the top 20 or so ride off with the other 50ish riders in a bottleneck. My first lap ended up a minute slower than my other laps and during the other laps I was also getting held up, the same story for everyone. During the race I was stronger in the descents but passing was not easy in the single track, so it was pretty frustrating as I definitely struggled climbing, which is where there are more passing opportunities.  I hope as I lift to the higher intensity in training and become race hardened I will find my climbing legs again to be able to make use of these opportunities! Used to love a good climbing track so I know it’s in there somewhere...

Happy to have made some ground on my start position and hoping this will be a starting platform to build from… Looking forward to World cup number two. 

Carl's race report

The forecast was for thunderstorms and a high of 8 degrees so and the track was hell in the wet so I was hoping it would stay dry as it had for the elite woman. As they finished and I was kitted up to start my warm up the heavens opened and it pist down. So my warm up was more a freeze my ass off and get soaked to the bone. I had a start plate of 82 out of 135 riders so still where I usually am but a hell of a lot more riders than I’m used to so I ended up been in the middle of the race instead of the back and I didn't not want to be getting to the back off that 135.

Sitting on the start line in front of 30,000 people with a nervous heart rate of 125bpm I got positioned behind a Brazilian and a Mexican not ideal start buddy’s to have in front, sure enough off the start they were slow but I managed to get around them on the 1^st bottle neck of the start straight. We were all maxed out until the 1^st single track climb where I literally hoped off my bike and stood in 1 spot for 1 minute, then walked up the track to the top of the hill hoped on my bike rode very slowly down the hill hit the next climb as hard as I could got to the top of that stood around for another minute then slowly rode and ran down that hill climbing over people lying in the mud… then my race started the track was in the worst conditions we had seen it. I crossed the start line 3 minutes 13 behind the leaders in 83^rd.

This is the most time I have ever lost on a first lap at a world cup so to not let history repeat and get lapped out I had to go deep, from here I pushed on passing small bunches and chasing the next each lap taking 5 or 6 riders but been held up a lot on the descents was making work tough but letting me recover enough to hit the climbs harder than the other riders. Lap 4 I had a stunner and lapped 37^th fastest and went from 71^st up to 64^th sitting at the back of a bunch of 5. After this effort I couldn’t get away from this bunch and in particular in front of 1 guy every climb he would just out climb me and I had to descend stuck behind him until the last lap of the 7 lap race where my body just started to shut down, I was riddled with cramp, my vision was blurring and my hearing was in and out from pushing harder than ever before, the weather made this so much harder than it needed to be. So my hopes of maybe slipping into the top 60 faded with my energy and I settled for 66^th my best result at a world cup but still needs work.

Hopefully this week at Nove Mesto, Czech I get to start 66^th (as now points go on world cup ranking and not UCI ranking) on the grid and continue making inroads into the top 50.  

Pretty cool to make the redbull tv highlights real watched by millions 

http://www.redbull.com/us/en/bike/stories/1331591328156/uci-xco-world-cup-report-and-highlights

Ohope Ordeal

After a years break Ohope Ordeal was back and been less than 2 weeks before we are off to Europe it was a good hit out to have. Heading home to the tracks I grew up on is always a good feeling; I had just about forgotten how steep the hills were there but was soon reminded how hard it was there, this is the hard terrain that has shaped me as a rider and I love it.

I had won this race 4 times and was the only male winner to have won the event, so I kind of felt pressure been a local race and heaps of family and friends there, and I didn’t have it all my way with 2 of the young guns turning up. Under 19 national Champion Sam Gaze and my local cousin Brad Jones were there to beat me.

We started off quite quick creating gaps strait away, after a few minutes it was just us 3 boys off the front. I was told by Evan to hold back as much as I could but not to let them go, as its going to be a long season packed with racing. After the 1st major decent Sam and Brad gapped me slightly and been on the 26inch I found it hard to roll back to them on the paddocks and flats, but was soon to catch up on the next steep hill, a lot of cat and mouse was happening with the boys I think they may do a bit to much road racing and their roadie tactics defiantly played into my favour. On the main climb up to the transmitter been a good half hour of solid steep up hill I dropped Sam but couldn’t get rid of Brad until he made a small mistake and popped a foot on the final steep turn of the climb and I attacked out to having about a 20 second gap into the decent, after not riding here for a couple of years I spend more time on the decent looking over banks and in the long grass off the ride lines trying to push it to much . By the bottom of the decent Brad was no where in sight so on the final climb back into Ohope I backed off slightly, by ¾ of the way up the hill I looked back to see Brad coming full steam so gave the final push over the top and descended to the finish winning by 40 odd seconds for my 5th Ohope Ordeal title.

Carl

Katie's Race

Must be a bit out of routine and again missed the whole warm up, a spin down and back up the road for 2minutes was all I could get in. I wanted to start hard but was unable to and it took me majority of the first climb to start feeling like I could nearly climb. As the climb went up a notch I managed to pick off a number of riders in front, the second long climb I maintained my position and could see about 4 riders ahead, I did not have the legs that early to pull them back, but never let them get out of sight. I knew that they had been riding hard and pushing it and would be feeling it, so soon as we got off the farm land and started the steeper climbing up through the trees I picked off the 4 riders in front, getting into 10th position overall.

During the Race I had some great battles with Sam Thompson, our team manager who sacrificed his legs to really put the hurt on me during the race. In the initial start loop I would try come around only to be met with a surge of power, far from enjoyable with my legs not yet being on-board with the race,. When I managed to get to him later in the race, I was able to pull away up the hill but into the single tack Sam was right there so it kept me pushing the descents. This type of pressure is great for me in preparing for Europe as I am a bit out of practice so it was defiantly a fun race.

Sunday following I went on a bit of Skills session with Craig Pattle who has been working with Amber our team mate and found it great to pick up on some lines. He gave me some great tips to help get my movement back in my body as at the moment although I am feeling faster every ride I still ride very protectively of my back and am not moving around my bike as well as I could, so will have to cut a few laps of the pump track and make a conscious effort to get this down. I have been doing a few skills session lately, was stoked on Monday prior to the race to get in a session at my Mountain Bike Rotorua and get a few skills dialled in with the help of Brad O'Malley.

Awesome to have so many people around to help push me - so as usual thanks to all those helping and supporting me. In Particular Evan Mcrae our coach, he has really had to work hard to get me back racing :-) I keep on hearing "It will come", I think it is stage two of the "patience is a virtue" concept.