3rd and 5th- Place Single Speed Worldchamps 2010

Race Week

Monday - converted bike to SS, helped Marcus take down Nduro marking and went for our very first Single speed mountain bike

Tuesday - 3hour SingleSpeed, Ouch - seamed like a good idea at the time

Wednesday - 2hour SS/run up hills due to being smashed from two days of Singlespeeding

16inch World champs - held in the afternoon Carl was up for it - made it to the second round

Thursday - too soft, took the Road bikes out for a few hours for an amazing 24km average - the word to best describe this is 'cracked'

• Sweeb Record $500 up for grabs for the winner - We gave it a go, the legs just didn't have it in sub 1minute efforts to even get close to the winning times.

Friday - Important race preparation - the paint Job by artist Michelle Bellamy http://www.bellamygallery.co.nz/

Saturday - Race day

• Final Race prep - more paint went on

• A crazy start that incorporated sailing & nas car - Carl and I came out ¾ of the way back, if only we had used our head and stalled/biked slowly by the gate

• Some hard single speeding with around 1000metres of climbing and 4 beers later (which were all kept down, not too easy when biking up hill) We were at the finish.

Carl finished up in 5^thish and I worked my way up the field to 3^rd place - pretty stoked achieving every goal set, skull/drink all beers, have fun, and finish top 20.

SCOTT MOTU 160 cycle challenge

I like the way this race is called a cycle challenge as it is one of the hardest races that I have done, with the combination of the distance, the terrain and the weather!

After over a month’s break from racing, and 3months since riding over 100km we decided that we would enter motu as every year we compete and it is a great event. Last year we took on the 160km, where I took the win and where Carl suffered from the motu weather conditions and ended up hyperthermic having to pull out after a great mtb leg.

The race kicks off at 7am in opotiki starting with a 65km mountain bike - The course follows the East Coast Scenic Highway out of Opotiki, turning right at Waiaua onto the Motu Road. The first 12km are on sealed road and the next 53km is on the winding, hilly Motu gravel road. Rain, mud, Chain suck, the fluL, flat tires and flat legs is a summary. Carl managed to get a flat tire before the first climb and had to do a massive effort to get back up there. He managed to catch back up and despite having another flat tire on the last descent down into motu he lead the motu 160 off this first stage. I also lead off the Mountain bike, although far from my fastest time on the motu mountain bike I survived and made it to the end.

From here it was over to the road bike for a 95km stage, which winds you up Traffords hill and then down the Waiweka George to Optotiki. Carl summarized the second stage as “got absolutely demoed”, he was unable to hold on after the work he had to put in on the mountainbike and After 45km he had absolutely nothing left in him having to pull the pin on the race.

I also struggled on this leg it was supper hard I had a few misshaps. I dropped my new garmin which I decided I was not going to leave behind so that was me turning around my bike and biking back for it. The next misshap was the wind up Traffords hill where there were insane 5km speeds, and even some walking. I did not walk myself however wished I had after getting blown off my bike and onto the road luckily an support crew car came through and not another so I could get up off the ground and back on the bike without being taken out. I hurt my back a bit so that didn’t make things very comfortable for the end of the road bike. I got past my Marina Fowel at the bottom of the descent she was riding strong and went on to take the win. I managed to hold onto second place but was completely smashed. I am happy with 2nd and the added bonus of $500 cash prize money. The mens 160 was won by Shem Rogers.

All and all it is a great event and well run. Richard and Elina Usher took out the motu challenge (the multisport event) with Karren Hanlen having an awesome race to finish second in the women’s.

World Champs 2010

Sitting in our motel bar scaming the last bit of internet to update you before I fly back to NZ can't wait to be home.

The last week in Mont Sainte Anne was a big one...

Team relay

First I started off on Wednesday by doing the team relay for New Zealand with Mike Northcott, Brad Hudson, and Nic Leary.

We had a bit of a mere in this race each of us are meant to do a hot lap of the track, 1st Mikey had mechanical problems so we lost some time there then brad had a good lap, Nic then had 2 crashes and then I had a hard crash into a tree at the bottom of a drop that I was going way to fast for, I wasted a lot of time getting back on track then running up a sand uphill then finding out i was in a massive gear and couldn't ride up the hill jumped off and got that down to a lower one whilst running up a hill, absolute night mere, got to the end off the lap with all my ribs and shoulder hurting and bloody tired and hot. It was probably the hottest I have felt in a race ever and the hardest I have ever gone in a race. Then it was on to the all important recovery for Fridays race.

U23 mens World Championships

I woke on the morning of the race to see an over cast day from hurricane Earl hanging out close by, for the Juniors in the morning i went and sat on a grand stand with Richard Anderson who had crashed earlier in the week and had a bad concussion and a suspected cracked shoulder. Completely gutted he couldn't race and we sat there watching the boys that were leading knowing that he had beaten these guys all season. What it could have been for him.

the cool temps stayed around until about 12 then out came the humidity and sun Quebec is well known for.

I had a really good start position of 30th and on the 4th row so had to start well, after about 30 seconds on the 2nd corner it got tight and I saw people going wide and around me strait into the 1st climb i was still been past at full speed I couldn't do much after running half the lap i got into it under the start finish line 1st lap and a half i was 4 mins down I was thinking WTF that was worse than the World cup with Nino and Absolon at the front. after that back to business i started feeling invincible after my peak fuel that Richard gave me and I went from 50th picking off riders each lap until the last 2 laps where I cracked and lost a few spots but sticking to 39th with dirk only a min in front of me in 36th.

The Winner again was Mathias Fluckiger from Switzerland same as my last year Under 19 in Rotorua the front 3 were Swiss, and now in my last year under 23 the same thing has happened again Swiss power dominated.

Now its time for a break off the bike before the next season begins, thanks to everyone that helped out throughout the year, Bergamont, the Waiariki crew, Bike Culture, Cycletech my family and Evan, and to all the people that helped us out over in Canada

Cheers

Windham World Cup

Carl

Sorry I haven't updated ya on the world cup race. I had the better start out of the kiwis, I was about 8 rows back, but Mikey and Stu jumped in behind me. Race started well then there was a crash that we all got on the breaks and everyone in front rolled away. We got to the 1st bit of single track and it was stand still then some walking but for me I ran and jumped over people pushed and shoved, still didn't do much I was 3 and half mins down on Nino and the leaders after 1 lap, how ever the track started to clear and I started to ride good only losing about 2 and half mins a lap to them (the best in the world). I ended up getting pulled with a lap to go. but was stoked not to be getting to smashed by the under23 winner I still got a hiding but got 75th ish over all in my 1st world cup and 13th under23

Shit Photo but still You can see how many in the start

Windham World cup

First World cup a scene we both could get used to...

Katie

Bummer!!! Race morning was running smoothy until warming up to the track where I found my gears were playing up, I tried to tune them but that was a no go. Sram managed to fit me in just before the start of my race to find a badly bent hanger, they bent it back as much as they could but warned me it would most likely snap. I didnt have a spear hanger as the one we thought would fit is for the 2009 bergamont not the 2010. To make matters worse the break would not line up again after sram worked on it (but when weighing it up I would rather have a some resistance on my wheel than no gears). I tried my best to get it to not rub but It didn’t come right so that was that and I had a warm up with the time left. Not the start I had intended on especially after the bike being fine the day before in my practice lap.

For the race itself I had a pretty good start position, and I started alright although could not get into my big ring and gears didn’t all work as flush as they should have. It was when it hit the single track and step climbs where riders were getting jammed up and riding was rougher than I would have liked considering it was playing on my mind that if I was changing rough my bike would not like it, as if the aggressive first lap was not hard enough on its own. I ended up going from an alright position to basically dead last on the first lap. With my legs feeling a heck of a lot better than my over thinking head I caught about 8 riders in the next lap and was just behind nic who wasn’t having a good day either. I was lapped out in 54th place.

Lots to work on ... but for now its time to have some fun in my last week left in canada :)

Quebec Championships Mont Sainte Anne

Saturday we raced the Quebec Championships in Mont Sainte Anne. Most of the track was the same as the track to be raced at the world championships, excluding a few bits to make the laps shorter.

Katies Race

I realized my race was going to be short, with only four laps of a track which was fast and not that long. This meant a hard start to get into the single track first, although this was my intention it didn't work that way and I hooked bars and got caught up a bit, I put my head down and began to chase back to try get to the front girls. My whole first lap was pretty messy after this, I managed to follow another girl off the track as the tape had been broken down and also drop my chain through one of the rough sections. Some how I regained myself and with legs feeling the best they have the whole time in Canada worked my way closer to the front. I ended up 1minute 25 of Rowena Fry however the results are a bit off at the moment and have her down as first when Lilly Matthews from Great Brittan had actually taken the win.

Carl's Race

All of us kiwis had to start at the back of all the Frenchies. I have been having good starts lately so I was eager to get another 1, I had a pretty good one but being a long way back at the start was hard but got up in the top 10 pretty quick. I had only done a few laps of the track so I was still stuffing things up but ended up having a good race finishing 4th to Raphael Gagne 3mins back. Got 150 bucks for 4th so again i can live another week with not a lot of money. I really love that track and the extra bits we didn't do in the race I went out and did yesterday and they are hard and really cool.

We are now down in Windham New York in a really big old house that is out of a horror movie and everyone is scared shit less we will post some pictures and we will get some picks from the race.

Carl and Katie

(Anyone who read the blog yesterday that was handy work Locky and Scott, it has now been corrected)

Bromont Canada Cup Final

This race was the final race to make the worlds team.

We had been in Bromont since Monday and rode the track quite a few times, we both mastered the track fast and started to get lines sussed the track really suited me with a steep climb that could be done standing.

I was called up 9th to the start line putting me in the second row, I picked my wheel wisely getting right behind Derek Zandstra. My start was unreal and straight away I was beside Zandstra I did not want to go infront of them so hung in with them up the first climb which boosted my confidence. It felt as though they were cruising until Mikey Northcott our National champion layed down an attack, from there the race was on full blast. This race I wanted to stay with mike and was giving it everthing I had to do so. On the first lap I could still see the front of the race only maybe 15 seconds down. After this stunner start I faded a little and it became a battle between the KiwisMikey Stu Houltham and myself, all within 30 seconds of each other the whole race. Coming down to the last lap I took off from Stu to put the chase on Mikey. I finished 10 seconds down on Mikey taking 10th place and 1st under 23 by a few mins.

I was really stoke with the race with some big names there and I also got 91 bucks for 10th and every coin counts when u living from a van.

So from then I was holding my breath hoping it was enough to prove myself to the worlds selectors, everyone was really supportive saying I have done more than enough... and last night I got the email saying im in the Worlds team.

Katie did not however end up with a result she was happy with, many things did not go as planned in her race. Katie's riding is the best I have ever seen, she is going mean fast on the techy sections and really fit and strong this race didn't show it but from here she will be focusing on the World cup at Windham. Katie still has one more year U23 and in the big picture has plenty of time. It is going to be good having two different peaks Katie the world cup and myself the world champs as we will be able to support each other and make sure the events run smoothly.

Carl