Moonride 2013

Get comfortable guys, this is a bit of an epic.

The Moonride is definitely an iconic event in my eyes. The size of the event, the format, the huge range of skill levels and backgrounds, and the social side of the event make it something that I would go out of my way a fair bit to attend, and this year the adventure started well before the race.

I was asked by Duane to be in the AvantiPlus Waitakere team, which was shaping up to be a flyer of a team with Duane, Myself, Sasha, Sophiemarie and Callum, and we would be contesting the open mixed category. I decided to catch a bus up to Palmerston North and catch a ride with someone from there to Rotorua. I found out only a couple of days before the race that we were actually doing the 24 hour race, not the 12 hour as I had assumed (no one actually told me). So after sorting a ride with Mat Waghorn who was planning to arrive on Saturday morning, I got in touch with almost every mountain biker I knew from Palmy to find someone who could get me there on Friday night. I ended up driving the Pedal Pushers van, packed full of bikes and filled to the brim with luggage. After being picked up from the bus, I was informed that the van was manual, which was a small issue as I had had probably less than an hour of on road driving in a manual before. "Yeah that's fine" I said, trying to sound confident. I wasn't, although it did help that this van happened to the slowest (0-100 in 48 seconds. No lies.) vehicle that I had ever been in, so I had plenty of time to think. So after a lot of time on full throttle and some learner quality gear changes, we made it to Fielding, where we picked up an ezy-up for the site. The weather for most of the drive was pretty rubbish, with rain most of the way, so I was not looking forward to having to ride all night in rain and mud. As we drove alongside lake Taupo, we got word that the 24 hour had been cancelled due to the weather. A quick call to Catherine, our team manager, confirmed this, so while surprised, I was also massively relieved, and managed to get a warm nights sleep at Brett's flat.

I woke up the morning of the race to more rain and clouds, though it was pretty intermittent and I tried to stay optimistic. I got to the event just after 7, and the campsite was still pretty sodden. I doing the first two laps for the team, so I got everything sorted and organised for the 9am start. I went for a couple intervals to get the legs going, then came back and squeezed into the start, about 3rd row back. The gun went off and I managed to get through the pack pretty quick, avoiding an early crash, in clear space at the end of the 100m gravel section where we turned onto the road and the pace went up significantly. Luckily I felt really strong, able to push a pretty good pace on my own, so I put the hammer down and made it to the front bunch just before the turnaround. I sat on the back of that bunch until about 200m before we turned back onto the gravel road, when I pulled out to the side and got up to about 5th place before we headed into the trails.

Just about to head into the forest. Cheers Jemma Manchester for the photo

The trails were running awesome, the rain giving them enough slip to be fun, but still rolling fast as ever. I had done most of the trails before, so I took advantage of a couple of hot lines to save energy and overtake in places. As I came out onto the last road section, a guy on a cross bike overtook me so I stuck on him, figuring he would be going pretty quick. I followed him until the campsite, where he pulled away from me a little bit as we headed out for our 2nd laps, sitting what felt like just outside the top 5. I headed out for my 2nd lap, starting to lap people after a couple minutes of singletrack. This turned out to be the fastest lap for our team, at 14 minutes flat, so I was pretty stoked about that. I came in to the campsite afterwards with a massive grin, and actually looking forward to riding the rest of the day.

First two laps done, time to clean up now. Cheers Catherine for the photo.

After coming in, I went to wash my bike, then giving it to our legendary team mechanic Dylan who gave it a quick lube, tune and polish. He was awesome all day, the teams bikes got the pro treatment and ran awesome, with any issues fixed on the spot. Our support crew of him, Sarah, Catherine, Sue and Inver were awesome, keeping us warm, organised and well fed, with a constant supply of food. Cheers guys, it was much appreciated.
By my second ride though, the track had deteriorated noticeably from the fast rolling dirt that I rode at the start. There were ruts forming and bogs through the main line making the once fast rolling trails a constant slog. It only got worse too, and as the event went on it got muddier and muddier, and those guys on cross bikes started to look pretty smart. I had a good schedule of laps that meant I went out just before it got properly dark, and then did the final lap for the team, so I only had one lap it proper darkness. Unfortunately Piki's knee started to play up again, and she went from doing doubles, to singles, to not being able to ride at all. This meant that after you cleaned your bike, cleaned yourself, got changed and ate, there wasn't really time to go for a wander and relax. Luckily our crew kept the atmosphere around our site good so we managed to make do. And less of Piki riding means more of Piki talking which means you are guaranteed regular entertainment.
I can happily say that I was mostly well prepared with food, having cooked up four hearty meals of mince and pasta to eat throughout the day, along with bananas and buns for snacks.

My Mighty Mince Meals.

As I said before I was lucky not to have to do many night laps, but when we heard the call over the race announcements that the race was going to be shortened by an hour to finish at 8 instead of 9pm. This was with about 90 minutes left, so we had a reasonably tight schedule to make our last lap count. It was decided that the last two laps would be done by Callum, then me. I was pretty nervous for my last lap, I had done the last lap in these events a couple of times, but I hadn't done a proper night lap on this track, so I didn't know what the track was like in the dark. On the other hand, the track is usually quite clear, as a lot of the teams just don't attempt another lap. I warmed up and waited beside the track for Callum to come out of the forest.    As the 30 minute to go mark rolled over I was still pretty anxious, and the constantly over-excited commentator definitely wasn't helping. We saw Callum come out of the forest and across the paddock towards the tent sites. We swapped numbers and I went for it. The campsite was pretty tough now, with massive bogs that took a lot of power to get through, and I was finding it pretty hard to carry speed. Out of the tent sites and through the start finish, I had 23 minutes and 44 seconds to go. I knew this was going to be tight, so I put the hammer down as I got into the first single track. Upon entering I hit a rut the wrong way and stalled. It was almost impossible to tell whether I was riding into a rut or just a soft bit of mud, and I felt like an complete rookie, I'm pretty sure I came off at least 3 or 4 times in the first couple of minutes. To top it all off I even went over the bars and into a bush full of prickles, and it must have taken over a minute before I was back on the trail. I was convinced I had mucked it all up for the team by then, but I kept going as hard as I could because you never know. Luckily the rest of the track was a bit more straightforward, and I managed it without too much trouble. I went all out down the road, and when I came out into the campsite I heard the announcer "...SECONDS LEFT..." and again though that I had pretty much missed out. But I kept going, putting in every last bit of effort through the bogs and mud, and I came across the line, with about two minutes to spare, so I was massively relieved more than anything.

I found out that we had done 35 laps, putting us first for the open mixed teams and 3rd overall. We also beat the winner of the bike shop category by three laps. It was pretty awesome to be on the top step of the podium at Moonride.

A massive thanks to my teammates - Duane, Sophiemarie, Sasha and Callum, as well as our support crew - Sue, Inver, Catherine, Dylan and Sarah for making the weekend as good as it was. Also thanks the the guys from Pedal Pushers for the lend of the van for transport, and Brett for housing me. All appreciated guys :-)

Looking forward to the Thriller now!