woodhill360

I am rapidly making up for the summer off competition, by stacking the events in in quick succession. This weekend it was the turn of the innagural Woodhill 360. A 6hr event run by Tim Farmer as a fundraiser for his attempt at the years 24hr Worlds. Tim's a good bugger and does plenty for the MTB community so it was only right to show our faces.

 

Unfortunately the rain settled in. More fortunately, it was woodhill, and sand holds up pretty well to moisture. In fact it often gets better. Having only ridden out there twice in about 6 years or more it took me sometime to establish some flow. Thankfully Olly had already given me a headstart, as with our team only consistuting two of us we had decided on long (i.e. 1hr30) stints each.

 Olly was solid. Banging out the laps, and luckily I was able to string together some old man consistency to maintain the gaps we were developing. Eventually we cleared out to a pretty solid winning margin. Good days training banked, and the demanding nature of the track caught up with us later. There was no big climbs, but the constant undulation added up. Turns out my 5 laps (45km ish) included over 1000m climbing

 We got this sweet handcrafted trophy that Tim whipped up in his garage. We also got some chocolate; but that was gone before prizegiving ended.....

Moonride 2013

 Despite my annual insistence I am done with the event... somehow I keep finding myself back at Waipa, fronting the starter for the annual and somewhat iconic moonride. This time under the guise of promotional duties for my new workplace where amongst my duties is sales of Magellan fitness GPS products. So a solid team was assembled and the Magellan Strava-Tards (Louis Crosby, Olly Shaw, Graham Norman, Josh Kenyon, and myself) were unleashed to take on the young guns of Team Endura and off to Rotorua we went.

 The boys and girls at MBR had assisted in planning out a pretty cool loop. Unfortunately the weather didn't want to play ball, and what had been a great track was shortened to a less gruelling loop. A good move for safety, but the downside being increased wheel traffic on the trails that were used, and consequently a huge amount of track deterioration throughout the day. As shown pictorially

Late in my first lap (around 2hrs or so into the event), already trying to seek out the drier less muddied lines. Ever the optimist?!

 

One lap (14min or so) later and the strain is already starting to show on the face. Out on course we were witnessing amazing crashes and mishaps. People falling down banks I never even realised existed, as they couldn't even maintain footing on small pinches that in the dry you almost roll up with no pedalling... yet now you could barely stand on.

 



Hands up if you've ridden Rotorua? So you'll know Tahi trail... the really easy flowing grade 2 trail getting everyone into the forest. 6hrs or so into the race and it was way faster to run

 



Some parts of the trails were still rideable. Sometimes. With care. Anyone who survived even one lap later in the day (and especially at night) intact and still smiling deserves a medal. It was pretty epic

 



 

The easy open stuff through the tent village on the grass (?) was holding up really well too. There were some interesting and entertaining crashes throughout the day

 

Despite the challenges the boys kept up their spirits, ate plenty of lollies, and maintained some pretty solid form all day. So much so that the small lead edged out, to a final winning margin of 1 lap + another 9 or 10mins. Pretty solid display, and earned us all one of these medals.

 

Even better... with an earlier start time, and the race cut an hour short..... I was home, showered, and warm in bed by 10pm. Bonus!

Avanti Quantum 3.0 - Buy me.....

New toys and adventures are currently on the to do list. So a few things need to go, including my road bike. So get yourself a mint deal

2012 Avanti Quantum 3.0 - Medium (55cm)  Retail's for ~$4500 and upgraded with carbon wheelset

* ADT R4 Carbon,Performance Road Geometry - Carbon fork/steerer
* Full Ultegra groupset (cranks are 172.5 length with 53/39 rings)
* Zero 38mm carbon clincher wheelset
* Zero strike pro carbon bars and seatpost. Fizik saddle
* Will be sold with brand new Kenda Kriterium tires

Bike is 12mths old, but only moderate use and very well maintained. Asking $2600. Offers to cabinracing@gmail.com

199 posts.....

I noticed that the total posts on this blog was sitting at 199 - so to honor that significant milestone, here's a wee video link to the Mr 199 and one of the most amazing/craziest moments in sport

T42

It seems I have inadvertently returned to racing as its suddenly becoming regular habit again. Good thing I didn't announce retirement as I'd be looking like an idiot now! Instead I've reverted to the "train little race - frequently" style of keeping in shape. Seems to work ok Deciding we needed a Magellan presence at the T42 on the weekend I gathered up my gear and Olly Shaw and headed south. As you can see from the start pic its a spectacular location worth the trip in itself.

 

Race went suprisingly well. I was the holder of the course best time until Saturday. That now belongs to Carl Jones, who skipped off up the road and won by a few minutes. So he should, he left for the european world cups this morning. I did manage to hang on for 3rd, and I now hold the strava KOM for 42 traverse ....... at least until Carl uploads the data from his Magellan.

 

Must have worked pretty hard as we blew up enough post race that the 36km road ride back to the car took just as long as the 46km MTB race did. And the bag of natural confectionary company dinosaurs lasted 60sec. Followed promptly by a rushed trip to BK turangi.... Ouch. So a good day of training banked. I can put my feet up again until the next event.