Wild Wellington Trip 18 to 20 Feb 2011

Jamie J, Sasha and I arrived in Wellington on Friday afternoon in time to have a coffee and a practise lap of the course. Our Motel was in Evans Bay, handy to the airport and to Mt Victoria, where the race was to be held.

We headed up to the velodrome to check the course and met with my friend Pete, who showed us how to ride it. It was a relatively easy (therefore fast) part of Mt Vic, and fun to ride.

Josh showed up at the motel at about 10 o’clock that night.

Six o’clock on race day had us reluctantly getting out of bed to get ready to help with the set-up in the race village. All went well and we were ready well before the race was due to start.

We made the decision to do three laps each. Hiskey got our team off to an excellent start coming in third after his three laps. Josh followed, continuing to set a blistering pace and moving our team into 2nd overall. We continued through the rota with Sasha Jamie J and then it was my turn. Disaster struck – a puncture one third of the way into my first lap! It was here that I found the first ever disadvantage with the Scale 29er – the gas canister did not have the volume to fill the 29 x 2.25 tyre! I pumped the tyre enough to get me around the lap and fortunately, Hiskey was able to take over for a couple of laps while I got myself sorted.

Race day banter was fun, and we were getting closer and closer to the overall leaders, and a massive night time effort by Josh brought us very close. We did however; win our category, making it a fun and successful day.

On Sunday morning we managed to get up at six o’clock again – perhaps the excitement of Saturday was still with us. Josh took Sasha to the airport, and Jamie and I went to meet Scott Mac for breakfast and a ride.

We set off from Haitaitai through the City, past Parliament to Khandallah, and up the track to Mt Kaukau. We took the tourist approach to this ride, stopping to take in the magnificent views, and to take photographs. We rode the ridgeline through some magnificent country, occasionally touching (but never entering) suburbia from time to time. Eventually, we had to cross a road, and then climbed the switchback track up to Makara Peak. Again, we had wonderful views throughout 360 degrees, from Wellington Airport, around to the Marlborough Sounds, and north to the Kapiti Coast and Hutt Valley. We concluded our ride with a wicked descent into the Aro Valley, and a short road section back through the Mt Victoria Tunnel to Haitaitai. We were gone for over four hours, with a ride time of three hours fifteen minutes.

Another great day in Wellington

Black Stump Adventure, Ngaruawahia Saturday 12 February 2011

The Black Stump adventure race has the advantage of being close to home, and is in a place where we would not ordinarily be able to ride. It is on a private farm and mostly runs through completely open farm tracks. It is a very tough event, with many steep climbs and descents.

The race begins in the farm yards and goes up a metalled road, then into a long grassy descent. Good fun. Then across a stream, and back up a dirt farm track to the race village. At this point, the ride seemed easy and fast! Once through the race village, we were on to some slippery single track, with water ruts down the middle. As the ride went on, it got more and more difficult with some very steep climbs (some of which were so steep I had to walk!) and descents.
At one point, the rider in front of me had a nasty fall, and looked as though he was struggling to get up. I stopped, got his bike off him and helped him to sit up. It looked as though his leg was swollen and broken, so I caught the attention of a nearby marshal. The rider convinced me that the swelling was from an old injury and sent me on my way. He got back on his bike and passed me a bit later in the race, so he must have been all right!
Those of us who were doing the 40 km event had to do a couple of extra loops and rejoin the 30 km riders, which I must admit, I found a bit disheartening.
I finally got to the last climb, which was on the road and comparatively easy, then a nice descent to the finish.
Without doubt, this is one of the toughest rides around. 40 km on these tracks will be good preparation for the events that lie ahead. The ride also affords great views, from the Bombay Hills to Raglan, Mt Pirongia and across the Waikato Dairy country.
I finished 17th overall and 5th in my category.

Summer N-Duro 2,Rotorua Sunday 6 February 2011

Another early morning start saw a group of us head off to Rotorua for the second round of the summer N-duro series. My expectations were not too high, as having raced the previous day I was not expecting anything other than a fun day out. My objective was to ride a smooth race, testing the Scott Scale 29er for the first time in Whakarewarewa.
I did not have a particularly good start, somehow managing to bend my derailleur hanger in the melee, but once I had found some stable gears I was away.
The trails were in superb condition and the Scale performed well. I was surprised to find that the climbs up Direct Road and “frontal lobotomy” did not seem as difficult as they usually do, nor did the “Chinese menu” seem too taxing. I have fitted bar ends to the bike, and with regular use of the “lockout” feature on the forks, I have improved what was already and impressive bike.
When I got to the river crossing at “Rosebank”, there was a big crowd looking for some action in the creek. I was determined not to provide any photographic moments and managed to make a smooth line through the water.
I finished 4th in category and thirty fourth overall – not bad for Rotorua.

Trailfest Riverhead Saturday 5 February 2011

Just over 100 of us assembled in the early morning drizzle to compete in the trailfest on Saturday morning. The trails were wet and slippery and covered an interesting mix of road, single track and mud. The Course was slightly changed from that shown on shown on the map.

I was one of 73 who opted to do the 32 km race. We started with a chase up Barlow Road, then another short climb onto some single track. I was going well, until I lost traction on a rather steep descent and crashed heavily (I later discovered that my helmet was cracked, thank goodness it was my helmet and not my head!). I got up, gathered my thoughts and resigned myself to the fact that I would spend the rest of the race playing catch-up.

We went through that race village at the 20 km mark and after downing a tube of peak fuel, I was feeling strong. I could see a couple of riders just ahead, so I gave chase for what was a reasonably lengthy road section. I passed three or four, and the came to the wet, slippery single track uphill section, which I struggled with. I lost two places in this but managed to finish second in category, and ninth overall.

The more I ride the Scale 29er, the more I like it. It is kept in perfect condition by the team at Avantiplus Waitakere, and rarely misses a beat. It was disappointing that there was no prize giving at this event, so once our friends had finished, we kind of petered out of that race area and went into town for coffee.