Karapoti 2011

I once had a French car, it was a wonderful machine. Amazingly comfortable, fun to drive, and it had everything that was needed, and then some. It had character. And every now and then, it made sure that I knew that it was the boss. I hated it, and loved it, and when I was finally finished with it, I swore that I never buy another car of that brand again. But for some reason, when I see one, I kind of want one. And that annoys me.

I have the same sort of relationship with the Karapoti Classic MTB race. I was looking forward to my second attempt with some trepidation, because it represents the style of cross-country biking that I am not particularly good at. However, I wanted to conquer the challenge (get under that magical three hour time) and I still do.

I was reasonably well prepared, fitter and stronger than last year, and with strong support from Team Avantiplus. And the Scott Scale 29er is the perfect bike for this event.

The weather decided to show us all who is the boss. We were greeted on Saturday morning weather conditions that have been described as the worst yet. Not that that seems to affect Anton Cooper or Dirk Peters. These guys a remade of pretty stern stuff.

I got off to a good start, and enjoyed the first hour, despite the rain. Part of the way up the ‘warmup’ I heard “Hi Dad” from Elliot as he passed me at a seemingly effortless pace. When I got to the first aid station I checked my time, and was not far off the 3 hour pace.

I kept a reasonable pace through ‘Deadwood’ and was determined to put in a big effort to get back on target. By the top of the ’Rock Garden’, I was down by 4 minutes, and lost more going up the ‘Devils Staircase’, at the top of which I was nearly ten minutes off the pace. At this point, I realised I had lost too much time to make the three hour mark, and stopped checking my times.

Still, there were people to chase. Maybe they weren’t doing any better than I was, and perhaps I could close the gap. So I raced down ‘Big Ring’ (fun) right through to ‘Dopers Creek’ (I wonder how it got it’s name?) I have to admit that going up ‘Dopers’ was very hard work. I was still optimistic, though, because I knew that I was strong enough to race down the valley and maybe pick up a couple of places.

I did manage to pick off a couple of riders, and arrived at the final river crossing with only just enough energy to get back on my bike to cross the finish line. The bike performed flawlessly throughout, but perhaps I could improve with a few more hill repeats! It is comforting to know that when compared to last year, I closed the gap on some of my rivals, even though I didn’t beat them. Also, I can’t think of any part of the ride that I would have done differently.

Karapoti, you win again, but I will be back!

My team-mates did well. Hiskey got across the finish line in 2 hours 54 minutes despite having two punctures, Josh finished soon after in a creditable 3:01, Scott in 3:08, Elliot in 3:15, I got through in 3:18, and Sasha picked 5th place (and a cash prize!) in the Women’s elite in 3:40. Karen was recovering from an injured knee, Sadie was at home with Bike flu, and work commitments prevented Jamie T from going. For team Avantiplus MTB another great weekend.