NZ National MTB Champs

The short story.... Awesome track. Atrocious weather. Nic rode awesome and was 2nd in Elite Women behind Olympian Rosara Joseph. And cabin found yet more new and interesting ways to finish 2nd in Masters XC race.

Slightly longer version.... Elite Womens. After getting tangled up in some perhaps over aggressive starting techniques, Nic managed to get into single track 3rd to start race. Clearly being held up, she made short work of the rider in 2nd, and set off in pursuit of Rosara. Track conditions by this stage were diabolical, but both Nic and Rosara were clearly revelling in it.

Nic held strong about 2 1/2 minutes back till the midpoint of the race when her gripshift ceased to function, so essentially singlespeeded (in far too bigger gear!) for remainder of race. Holding on for a great 2nd. But also a tad dissapointing as time gap blew out to a much greater margin than what it deserved to be.

And Cabin? well, i was having great fun in the Masters. Riding highly innapropriate tyres (ravens, in the mud), slip sliding around and clearing out to a handy lead on lap one. Then cruising as i nursed a slow leak in rear tire. With a lap to go I should've either grabbed a wheel in tech zone, or maybe put a tube in the rear tyre that was now about 10psi. i didn't do either and tried to top it up with my CO2.... leading to 100% loss of air, and an entire lap spent riding/running/carrying a bike running on the rear rim. Not good. But held on for 2nd 1min40 down on Jason Goldie.

So looks like we (Nic and I) both out for some revenge at Karapoti this weekend

It was just a wee bit muddy....

Womens podium: Sara McDonald 3rd, Rosara Joseph 1st, Nic 2nd

Cabin's wheel post race. Not much traction for climbing when this happens

P.S. Oh yeah, and I won the Masters Gold at the Hillclimb on thursday aswell. I actually wanted to win overall, but all the running I did the day before caught up with me and I couldn't hang onto a pretty fired up George bennett/Gav McCarthy combo off the front