2009 World Champs Update 001

Have been in Canberra, hangin around the Worlds course and taking spins past kangaroos with babys in their pouches, and large noisy white birds. We all arrived on the monday, took a spin and hit the supermarket. Mean feed!
The next day we squished into Gavs car and made a track to the course. The course needs a bit of getting used to. We cruised around for the first lap, myself riding like a nana (you have to get a bit aggressive on this one) and checked out all the lines. The second lap was much smoother, although you need to put in some max effort to get over some parts, and we were still a bit iffy on one of the decents called the Hammer Head.
Over the next few days we continued to go over our lines and up the speed on the technical parts. We, and everyone else but the Aussies had a bit of a gathering around the Hammer Head and got a bit rowdy watching everyone attempt it. We snuck out early the next morning, avoiding the crowds around the Hammer Head and we all rode it a few times, trying to up the speed while keeping it nice and smooth. Yesterday we just cruised around the big lake here, saw the sights and passed the Swiss, French and Netherlands teams doing the same thing going the other way.
Today it is more dismal, it rained last night and its still trying to with a drop to the temperature. Were getting ready to head up to the track soon, avoiding the crowds again, as the rest of the team arrived yesterday and they want to go over the course in peace. Were all pretty satisfied with it and reckon we have the course dialled, might do a bit of a skid today, in the rain.

Tour of Tarinaki

Day One-Stage 1 and Stage 2
Woke up to a stunningly beautiful, clear morning, but as we drove around the mountain the weather got decidedly more menacing. We rocked up to the T.T. as a breeze got up, it clouded over and dropped from 10 degrees to 4 degrees. After a chilly warm up, all the skin suit clad roadies started crankin out some fast times around the 8km circuit.
As to be expected from a mountain biker with a terribly upright position, no skin suit or queer-spares I clocked a desperately awful time. I figured I’d ignore the the fact I cant time trial to save myself and focus on having a nice time freezing my butt off over the next few days.
I think it actually cooled down for the afternoon stage (if possible) and then the rain came down. It was as flat as a pancake, with almost 60 of us trying to stay on the left side of the white line (or else)!!! We rode around like a bunch of drowned rats, getting a bit strung out at times, but pretty much stayed together. I just made sure I didn’t stray to far from the front and got 8th overall in the sprint and 2nd women.
Day Two-Stage 3 and Stage 4
The next day it was colder and snow was on the forecast for the afternoon. There were a few hills chucked into this stage to make things more interesting. People started to ping off the back as we climbed throughout the race. On the last wee climb the remaining bunch totally disintegrated and we ended up in packs of 3-5. I’m not sure where I finished overall, but as the 3rd chick across the line. Back into the car, crank up the heater and dry out the clothes.
An hour or so later it was back into the riding gear for another frigid blast. As the A grade started so did the sleet. I decided I had a much better chance of "warming up" if I stayed in the car with the heater on full blast. We got off to a pretty average start, however the wind had changed and gotten quite a bit stronger.
I almost packed my pants when a few super-strong gusts blasted my deeper dish wheels and I got a bit sideways. A nice man next to me said it was ok to crash into him, and that he’d catch me, so I gathered some courage and kept ploughing along. This stage was very rolly, fast paced in parts and extordanarily slow into a massive headwind. Then it snowed. On us.
Again on the homeward climb the bunch broke, but about 10-15 of us got away. So it was a sprinty finish. I was in the top 10 and 1st female.
Day Three-Stage 5
Woke up to a beautiful day, although a bit nippy. Had a good warm-up in anticipation of a fast climb not far into the race. Got to the climb, bunch went so slow that there was a crash. Got around it and stuck to the pointy end of the bunch for the rest of the race. We dropped a good part of the bunch as we hit the hills. Then cows. Yes. We got to one of the more major climbs and had to wait for baby cows to walk halfway up the hill. Meanwhile the dropped people caught us. Got past the cows, re-dropped the previously dropped people and continued on.
On the last hill it got nasty. I didn’t help myself much starting the climb from the back of the bunch. Silly me. Got a bit strung out over the top, lost a few more people, but I managed to bridge back to the main bunch which left it to another sprint finish. A very clueless man decided to yank the brakes on as the sprint went, therefore cutting the other woman and myself off. She tucked in behind me then hopped around for the finish, giving me 2nd female.
So after all that I came 19th overall in C grade, 2nd woman, froze my pants off and toughened up a bit. Must work on that T.T……..NOT, I’m a mountain biker, I belong in the hills!

...and the racing begins

After cruising over to the beautiful Hawkes Bay for the weekend, for gurly gossip and re-inventing my tan-lines with some club racing and bunch riding in balmy conditions, the racing begins with the WBOP half distance road champs and the Tour of Tarinaki. I am feeling like such a roadie right now. I think my mountain bike has cobwebs gathering around the cables!!!
We had the most amazing weather for the WBOP road champs, and the turn-out was great. I managed to get my friend, Shiree's flu earlier on in the week, so I still felt a bit stuffed up and left a massive snail trail of snot around the course. But the weather was so nice, that I kept on riding and managed to get a silver medal in the elite women. Yay! Then continued on to eat my way through a huge selection of cake and bikkies afterwards.
So now I'm just chillin out and thinking about the fact that in a few days the weather will turn to crap and I will be slogging my way around the Tarinaki region on my wonderfull road bike. I'm crossing my fingers that there won't be any side winds as my wheels have slightly deeper rims that could cause me to go airbourne. Should be fun and will give me an excuse to eat more food.

Pasta Blasta

Just letting everyone know that Mike Northcott, and myself are organizing a night-ride, series race in Cougar Park, Tokoroa every Monday night (apart from Queens Brithday weekend). We are using the proceeds of this series to help fund both of us to go to the World Mountain Bike Champs later in the year.
The series starts on the first Monday of May (4th) and continues untill the last monday of June (29th). The races will start at 6pm with the winning time being 30min. The tracks are awesome, and have had heaps of work done to them recently, and there will be three different loops over the eight weeks. There are spotprizes at each race and overall series prizes, with a 'bag of cash' for the winners. The big attraction is a pasta feed, and hot showers available after the race, before you head home. Entry is $25.00 per race, or you can enter all eight for a cheaper rate.
Please come everyone, it will be heaps of fun, and there will be heaps of sparkly arrows out there so you wont get lost! Check it out at: http://pastablasta.blogspot.com/

Jamis Xenith Team, a very nice ride!

So Far in 09'
So far on 09' I have done a few local races as a build up for National Champs and Oceania Champs, unfortunately got a flu two days out from National Champs, was in bed the two days leading up to the race and got no sleep, started the race, three of us were battling it out for first, I got a mechanical, then I pulled with breathing probs and other nasty flu effects. This put more pressure on me to perform at the Oceania Champs, in order to get selected for the World Champs team. In Aussie I felt average on the day (probally the altitude), and got stuck behind at the start, but hung in and pushed it hard on the last lap to take the win, and therefore securing my place on the 2009 World Champs team.

Summary of the 2007 National Series
My goals for the ‘07 National Series were to finish top 5 in as many races as possible and gain a top 5 overall ranking.
The ‘07 National Series started with a steep roady style course in Cadrona, Queenstown. The track had improved from the previous year, with a wicked down hill. However the unrelenting climbs proved too much for me and I finished 8th.
Dunedin was a different story, the first time I pre-rode the course I felt strong and confident on it, really carving up the down hills. On race day the weather decided to pack it in. It reminded me of ‘05. One of the main climbs was unrideable, and the downhill was very sketchy. The mud stuck to the bike and clogged it up so bad I had to dump it in the river during the race. I had a great race though, battling it with Jenny Smith on the third lap and finishing 5th.
I was prepared to be physically challenged in Rotorua. The track was relenting, leaving little time to drink and recover. I hung in there and crawled home to finish 7th.
The first half of the Auckland course reminded me of riding in Canada, full on and rooty. The second half was a hot slog out in the open, with a super fast, loose and dusty downhill. I had a speedy start off the line, got chased around by the Scottish chick, and finished 4th.
I wasn’t sure what to expect for Wellington, though I’d been told it would be hilly. It was. There was climb after climb. The downhills in between saved me, as they were fast and bumpy which kept me ahead of Nina Trass for the first 3 laps. However she out-climbed me in the fourth which put me in 5th place.
I felt faster and stronger towards the end of the series and feel satisfied with a 5th place overall ranking.

2007 National Championships
The race in Nelson was mapped out over some of Nelsons funkiest xc downhills and challenging climbs. On race day the weather decided on showers, so the clay open climb was cut out and a gravel road substituted. Up till about half an hour before the race I was not sure wether or not to race Elite U23 or the Elite grade as the organisers were not sure about the selection criteria. I decided to race Elite U23, the race was a very short one 2 laps instead of 3, and I came 2nd to Carissa Wilkes. The hardest thing was watching the Elite race and wanting to be battling it out with the others.