Blowing up @ the Motu 160

I would rather have titled that "blowing up the Motu160".... except it was me that did the blowing up. One bloody tough day at the office; that’s what the Motu160 is. And we are paying for it today.

The concept sounds simple enough. Do the MTB leg of the Motu Challenge, then hop onto the road bikes and blast back to Opotiki. Easy enough, except the MTB is 65km of gravel, long climbs, and often nastily wet/cold conditions. The road bike undulates, slaps you in the face with a stiff headwind, and depending on your race smarts and/or luck my leave you solo TT’ing for 90km+. Not easy.
Certainly so early in our season we thought we would get a good hard workout. We were confident we were fit. Speed and speed endurance had a question mark hanging over it.

Nic’s race was a bit of a character builder. Motu’s first 20-25km is generally a bunch ride till it hits the first real climb... so when she punctured just 10km in and watched the free ride disappear into the gloom she was in for a long day. Without the group to work with, and motivate it’s not so much fun. Isolated, she gritted her teeth and made the best of a bad day, holding 3rd overall till late in the road section when a recurrence of some vision issues forced her to cruise to the finish a disappointing 4th. Frustrated, gutted, but with a solid 160km in the training bank to be withdrawn later, hopefully with interest.

I on the other hand blew spectacularly with a bit of a death or glory approach. It was a pretty slow trip for the first 40min while all the hitters watched each other, or more likely watched Richard Ussher. Carl Jones made the first attempt to split it up as we hit the first real climb, and feeling surprisingly strong early on I followed Carls example and kept the pressure on. We soon went clear and set about extending the lead. We worked really well and I was happy to match his pace. The danger was Carl was a team rider, I was on my own. I was committed so we pressed on.

Carl distanced me on the final climb, but still I started the Road ride with almost 3min on the chasers (teams and solo’s), and set about my best impression of a Time Triallist with “only” 90km to go. It was tough knowing that some would be working together as team and individual riders shared the load in the chase. It worked for 70km till a strong Scott Thorne (also on his own working solo) caught me.

We tried to work together and he was very patient, but with about 12-13km to go my lights went out. I lost 5min in that last period, and even got caught for 2nd with about 800m left. Ah well. 3rd it was. It was a bold strategy, and I was off the front for ¾ of the race. Didn’t work, but I won’t die wondering. The positive is that I was good for 4hrs... much longer than any race I have coming up in the immediate future. Silver linings....?!

Pukeora Adventure Races

A fun few days down in Hawkes Bay over the weekend, as we lined up for the Pukeora MTB "Adventure Races". A pretty cool concept that saw both XC and DH events, along with a unique Sprint/Jumps Time trial event. Something for everyone, a low pressure environment, and lots of mixing between the disciplines came together for a really enjoyable concept.

The event was put on by the Senior PE class from Central Hawkes Bay College as part of their NCEA course work. Led by their enthusiatic teacher Jamie Welch it really mad ethe vent attractive to us as something we wanted to support. Fantastic initiative and exciting for the future. Last time I was invovled with CHB College in a sporting sense was about 15yrs ago in a 1st XV Rugby Match. I came away with a gashed knee and a broken nose so was hoping for better this time.

The DH was first on the Menu for us, and it had some really fun stuff. Nice jumps, some sweet berm sections, roots, and a random rock garden. Thankfully for us plenty of pedalling meant it was quite Super D like, which was good as we were on our XC hardtails. Nic had one practice before posting a race run time. Not too shabby she was only 3-4 sec off Madeline Taylor. I had the benefit of two looks at the course before deciding to lay down one solid run before the XC. It wasn't too bad, and I even made a last sec decision to hit the stepdown. I took the chicken line at the last drop/huck thinking I'd preserve my bike. Time was good enough for 2nd just 1sec behind the winner. Solid.

Sprint/Jump course was mean. Just over a minute of full noise TT with a Moto start gate, step up and down gap jump options, Dh, bridges, and uphill. I went safety and missed the gaps, thinking I'd come back later for a 2nd crack (I didn't), but was still 5th overall and 3rd senior. Mean. Nic cracked out the best ladies time, and and so nearly beat Gav as well.

The XC? Hard. We'd never rideen Pukeora before but what we were met with were awesomely flowing trails, and zero flat. 5 x 7.5km laps was gonna hurt, and it did. Matt Waghorn, and Fiona McDermid laid the smackdown on us during the first lap of our respective races as we struggled to get out of 3rd gear. I slowly started to pressure Matt mid race before he gapped it late. Still some encouraging signs for both of us early in our build up. 2nds for both of us, but enough points for the overall King/Queen of the Mtn titles for the day. Mean.


If you haven't ridden there, Pukeora showcases some fantastic trail construction. Really fun and flowing... but there are a few steep pinches!


Nic's first XC MTB race in over 10mths. Bit of a shock to the system, but nice to be back amongst it and see how the body responded. Tough to back up just 6 days after the 11hrs of Spring Challenge Adventure race, but a good platform to build from for the season.


The finish, and not sure what this face says...? Either happy to be done, or "geez, I have a bit to work on". Probably both.

Next up, the Motu 160 this weekend. Consequently lots of resting and very little training this week. Thanks CHB College for an awesome day. See you next year.

Game on

Daylight saving + spring time.... it's all on again. The only drawback is that it also signal's lawn-mowing/gardening season. But I think we can live with that. Now that Nic's just swapped the wee honda 150 for an SX85 (to complement my 125) we'll just have to be extra vigilant not to put mix the 2-stroke and the mower fuel.

On the racing front, it's all on again. We have a pretty busy few months ahead, and the weekend just been saw the first steps toward our later goals


Nic's weekend was a little more arduous than most. Together with Eloise Fry and Susie Wood, they decided to take on the gruelling Spring Challenge 12hr adventure race in Marlborough. As you can see, they scored some pretty stunning views for their efforts.


They raced a strong and measured event, and were able to give some very experienced multisport stars a real scare Still full of running at the finish... 10hr45 later...


Second place, just 10min behind the headline R&R Sport team of Coast to Coast Champion Sophie Hart, they were left ruing a couple of small errors. They were deservadly pretty happy with their efforts and am sure are now plotting their elevation to the top spot next year.

Feeling a little guilty at the day long efforts of the girls I managed to throw together a 4hr road ride + 3hr on the MTB. Not as impressive as it sounds as the MTB ride involved that much gas-bagging with PAttle & co we'd be lucky if I did more than 2hr riding time. Anyway, great (?) prep for the following days Spring Fling Super D


Two timed runs down Jumps/Corners would decide the winner. As the rain pelted down and the track turned to a slick muddy bobsleigh course, perhaps not the best place for a 29er hardtail in full XC set-up? Unfortunately it was my only choice, and a last minute one at that after I damaged my other ride in practice and had to make a rushed trip home to grab the trusty Team Competitor.


Thankfully Avanti has the geometry pretty well dialled and while its an XC bike, can certainly find its way down a hill ok. As you can see by the legs after run 1, it was a bit damp...


Rode pretty average on the first run, while Pattle blitzed everyone. 5th or 6th and I was clinging to the "first hardtail" token claim of success. Got it together a bit better on the 2nd run while everyone else crashed their brains out on death or glory Danny Hart style runs. Unfortunately none of us were Danny Hart.... Moved up to 3rd overall so pretty happy with that. 2 x 12min runs certainly got the lungs working.

Next up? We are off to Waipukurau this Saturday for the Pukeora Challenge. A cool event being put on bythe students of Central Hawkes Bay Challenge. Not sure how the bodies are going to like their first XC race hit out in about 5 months? But only one way to find out.

Back on the start line

So Nic is back racing again.... maybe not what everyone would expect?! Was happily hitting up one of the doubles even though Mikey P thought it'd be easier without suspension rather than what is on the trusty 150....Think trade me surfing might be on the agenda again while she looks for something with better ability to hit up the big tabletops?

Welcome to Rotorua...

So while I was having a ball trashing round the forest testing out the all new Avanti Vapour 29er, I thought I should maybe strap a helmet cam to my head.

Mainly for the benefit of our international friends here is exhibit (a) in the case for visiting Rotorua. About 1km of the 100km or so of trails we have to play on on our doorstep.

And for you XTERRA athletes..... this is 2min of the XTERRA NZ course. If you get down here for April 2012 you'll get about 20mins+ more of this style of downhill singletrack.... Along with the rest of the stunning 30km bike.

Where did July go?

It's a bit of an odd feeling when despite no real racing the year seems to be flying by even faster than normal. Leaving us chasing our tail's and trying to catch up. July and through the start of August have proved to be pretty hectic for us so time for a bit of a catch up.

First up, and most important has been the launch of Nic's new business.....


Handily located instore at the brand new Avanti Plus Rotorua is Nic Leary Physical Therapy Ltd... Steep learning curve for Nic as she sorts out the business aspects of the venture, but she is loving the ability to build her own client base through her specialist physiotherapy skills and knowledge (She's also operating the Bike Fit studio). With her experience and knowledge not just as a physio but also as an athlete she offers a unique understanding and premium service (if I do say so myself!)

So when in Rotorua be sure to book yourself for visit. nicleary@orcon.net.nz or else 027 244 6997

Meanwhile my job has changed too, and I now find myself working for Sport BOP rather than BikeNZ as previous. As program advisor for the Rotorua in Gear project it actually gives me even more leeway to try out a few other ideas locally for cycling development and community skills training so it all works out well.


I've also just come back from a full on week in Auckland at the Avanti/Scott 2011 dealer conference (and 2012 product release). Found it kind of odd looking at bling new bikes presented with that funny looking dude in the background pictures I must say.

Was able to assist with the Avanti MTB 2012 presentations and hopefully add some value. Was great to meet dealers from all over NZ and Australia (especially the ones who wanted to talk Moto!), and I was stoked to be invited and involved. It might sound strange but this is perhaps the first time I have felt of real value to a bike sponsor. Believe it or not this is the first time I've ever even been invited to a product release, let alone being part of it. Better late than never.


Of course I was especially excited about this piece of hardware. The all new Vapour 29er platform. My somewhat cryptic twitter references were indeed directly related to this feet of engineering; and whilst rumours abounded amongst dealers I was busy putting in about 15hrs of trail time on the prototype during the week I had the privilage of "hising"it in the garage. Super fun to just go ride with no purpose other than to play, and test the limits of the bike. Was great fun... now the show is over can't wait for the bike to make its way back to our garage. Huggie...?

And racing? Well we now have a few exciting developments and events locked into our schedule giving us plenty of training motivation. More on that later....

Cyclocross Nationals 2011

Another nationalchampionship on the list for 2011, so to keep consistent, it was another 3rd place for me. Happy with that and considering the "preparation" that went into my debut in "cross" I'd be pushing it to expect more.

Huge credit to the team down in Queenstown that made it happen. While cross has a rich heritage in europe it is essentially a newborn here in NZ so its a learning process for everyone. But QTMBC put together a great track, spectacular location, great crowd = the start of something big.


Perhaps my legacy on CX 2011 might be the Downhill bog.... A quick pre-event discussion with T-Man concluded a slippery slope was required. T-Man promptly grabbed a hose and began creating the soon to be centrepiece of the course.


Pretty spectacular location for a big race eh? Might look sunny, but the temp was struggling to crack zero. The lungs didn't lke it, but perfet for cross.


My race started well enough, then got a little over excited chasing Dan Warren and crashed rather spectacularly on an off camber rise early on losing contact. Whilst Dan heading off on a solo mission to dominate the day, I soon latched onto Alex Revell and proceeded to figure out strategy to get the better of him. Turns out the best strategy would have been to forget the strategy and just pedal. I had good legs for 50mins but unfortunately the race went 70. So despite feeling pretty confident all race, when it came down to it there wasn't anything left.

So congrats to Dan Warren and Alex Revell. I certainly learned plenty and think I may have developed a new addicition. There's an international CX scheduled for downtown Queenstown for Aug 20th. Airfares anyone...?