Last weekend we travelled down to the Central Plateau to compete in the T42 an Adidas sponsored event. Carl was not yet up to racing coming off his knee injury. Good news however he is back on the bike.
It was strange travelling to a race just for me however I embraced it and tried to get Carl to clean my bike, get my gear ready etc.. no deal! So after my usual Friday routine 'Bikers Core', work and then class I finally got around to getting ready 9pmish cleaning my bike by the front door with what light I could get. Soon after I figured I was ready enough and went to bed with the alarm set for early.
We arrived at the race start at 8. After my gear check (first aid, whistles etc) and registration I started to get ready and soon found I had no riding shorts!! PERFECT! shows how out of race and bike mode I am. I managed to borrow some shorts and get to the start line. I enjoyed having Carl there to take my jacket pump my tires up etc I could get used to that!
The race was based around the 42 Traverse track. The race started on a private farm road and then onto a fast farm section. It was a pretty messy start in the bunch I was pretty close to the front but not right up there. I really hate mtb bunches. some scary moments but we made it onto the farm and I worked my way back towards the front and had the lead of the women's race before hitting the start of the 42 Traverse track.
The 42 Traverse is a historic logging road – undulating more down than up which makes it a whole lot of fun. I have ridden the track once before and thought I remembered a few more techy sections and a few less river crossings. I wont be forgetting the river crossings now as my feet felt the painfully cold water each time.
I had a pretty good ride with a few guys swapping positions as we each had our different strengths. I finished around 6mins ahead of 2nd place in the women's field and in the top 20 overall in a field with over 400 starters!
http://www.t42.co.nz/pdfs/results/12/t42%202012%20results.pdf - results here!
