Another trip to Wellington, this time for my first attempt at the Karapoti Classic Mountain bike race.
It has been a number of years since I first heard Scotty say “Marty, you should do the Karapoti.” Each year, the call has been louder, so this year, I succumbed. A combination of cheap airfares ($139 return) and a “I wonder if I can” attitude had me signing up in January for this, the original MTB Race. Thing is, I have a rough idea what makes the Wellington riders so good, and really having experienced only Mt Vic a couple of times I wanted to see what gets such a large number of them out on a Saturday. I figured that what doesn’t kill me will make me a better rider.
The time to beat is three hours, but to achieve this it is better to enter the pro-elite category, so as not to be held up by riders who just want to ride the event without a specific goal. I had never seen the course, only heard about it’s fearsome reputation with steep hill climbs and shoulder height drop-offs, neither of which I am particularly good at.
So, I entered the age group class, and set myself a goal of three hours and fifteen minutes, secretly hoping I could make the three hour pace. Training consisted of my normal riding, with at least one five hour ride per month, one ride with a 30 minute climb per week, and the odd granny gear hill repeat session. Nothing too serious.
Scott had given me the times necessary to reach the three hour time – Top of the warmup climb, 50 minutes, Dopers creek 2 hrs 10 minutes and the finish line, 3 hours. There were a couple of others, but I can’t remember them.
The morning of the race came, and although confident that I had done enough work so as not to embarrass myself, I was very nervous. The worst part of any event is waiting for the start, and this was the worst, with my group starting 50 minutes after the first starters. At least I would be able to look for the best line across the river. But it was cold, and raining.
Once we got under way, it took me a little while to get up to speed because of the amount of time we had been waiting for the start, but it was all good. The track through the valley was wet and muddy, and to try and protect my drivetrain, I and many of the other riders were zigzagging around the puddles, using up valuable energy, but worth it to make sure the equipment made it to the finish line. Towards the warmup climb, I thought that I would use the granny ring, but the mud had washed the oil off and the result was chain suck. This meant that I had to tough the climbs in the middle ring, which, to my surprise, was less of a problem that the slow traffic.
The first milestone, the aid station and the top of warmup passed at 55 minutes, 5 minutes over the three hour time, and on target for 3 hours 15, so all good. The next section was fairly fast, and I was looking forward to the rock garden. When we got there, it was what I had expected, but there were lines down most of the difficult bits. Again, the problem was catching up to the slower riders, and having to dismount. However, not much time was lost. The “devils staircase’” was difficult as expected, but once over that we were well past the half way point and the fun began. “Big ring boulevard” was very fast, with some corners that took the speed off, but it was great fun.
At Dopers Creek, I had another time check and 2:18 versus target of 2:10, I was not in bad shape. 50 minutes to go. I made it up Dopers in reasonable shape and on the descent I got it into my head that I could make 3 hours. Looking back, it seems like a completely unreasonable idea. However, I gave all I had. Full noise all the way to the finish line, even to the extent of passing someone just before the final bridge! Adrenalin. I crossed the finish line in 3 hours 11 minutes with nothing left in the tank, I could barely move!
I can’t even say that I conquered it until I have gone under three hours, but I believe that it was a good performance and I am pleased with my effort. The trouble with a performance like that is that it will spur me on - perhaps I can do better next year!
