Another N-Duro race, another Rotorua road trip. This weekend I decided to leave Friday morning for a solid weekend of riding before the race. I was lucky that my uni timetable made it easy to do this, although the week did get a bit busier going from five to four days.
I made it to Rotorua on Friday afternoon, and went for a easy spin in the forest for an hour or so, checking out the new and rebuilt tracks in the challenge block, with some awesome flow trails and a mean rock drop on Boulder Dash.
We then headed back for a hot swim in the pools, dinner from the local Indian takeaway and a movie.
The next day was another pretty cruisy one, heading for a ride at 10am to Split Enz, Pondy, Chinese Menu, and then back to the Challenge block for another play. My dad came down for the night on Saturday also, so it was cool having a catch up and a chat with him.
On race day, I knew the start would be pretty difficult, starting at Long Mile Road and heading up the tarmac climb, straight into Genesis, and then winding around the flatter tracks for over 15km without any real up or down.
I managed to get in the middle of the front row at the start, so I didn't have a lot to complain about with regards to that. The gun went and a couple of people went around me, but I managed to stay in the top ten until before the entrance to Genesis. I knew that the right line was faster, so I took it, passing 5 or 6 other riders that got caught up on the left and ended up in 3rd place in a group of well over 10 riders as we settled into a good pace through the trail. I felt good at this point, the flatter sections letting me recover a bit from a flat out start.
Heading into Rock Drop I held my position, until my chain came off. I pulled off to the side and put it back on as quick as possible, unfortunately I had to wait until the back of the chain of riders to get back on. This was not good, as I spent the rest of the flat trails hanging off the back, and I knew that if I kept riding this way I would waste a lot of energy, and put in a lot of work to try stay with the rest of the riders without using too much energy. I had a bit of good luck, sitting just behind Brett, so I got on a few hot lines watching him.
I got out of Yellow Brick Road, and heading up Sandy Skid road, I felt ok, but definitely not 100%. I got into a good rhythm for most of it, but heading up the short pinch climb at the start of Pondy New I realised that my legs were fried from all the sharp accelerations I had been doing, exactly what I was trying to avoid.
I nursed it through Pondy New, Roller Coaster and Chinese Menu, fuelling up when possible, knowing that Direct Rd was coming afterwards, and that this would hopefully let me get into a smooth pace and that there was the whole of Hot Cross Buns to come, which meant that at least I would finally get a decent downhill where I could recover a bit and possibly gain a bit of time.
I made it up, although as I neared the top of the road I could feel my quads starting to cramp, which wasn't helped by the numerous steep pinches at the start of the trail.
I made it down without any issues, and after a quick stop at the bottom to refill my drink bottle, I headed down Be Rude Not To and onto Pig Track. This popped me out at the bottom of Katore Road, the final big hill, which was a big relief as I tried my best to ignore my cramping quads and calves, knowing it would be over soon.
A good, long descent down Tokorangi trail, starting off with some fast, flowy, open sections and leading into the tighter areas in Turkish Delight.
The final run down Exit trail was a pretty big relief, after spending over an hour and climbing two solid hills without any real power in my legs this wasn't a race I was particularly happy with. As I came out of exit, I tried sprinting a rider from the short course just in front of me but my right calf wasn't too keen on doing any more work and cramped up after the first pedal stroke, locking up and leaving me to pedal awkwardly over the finish line.
So like I said, not a race to remember, at 17th overall, but always good to catch up with the MTB crowd and I had a good weekend of riding.
Cheers to Mat Waghorn for the lift, and him and Cambell for sorting out accomodation.
I am now looking forward to the final race in just under a months time, and I have been assured that there will be more hills in this one, so it should suit me a bit better.
Here are the Full Results, Course Map, and my GPS File from the race also.
