My 2009 Karapoti Classic

The Karapoti Classic

In the Beginning…
When first confronted with the prospect of doing the Karapoti Classic, the immediate reaction was ‘Hello isn’t that the 50km one that is REALLY hard?’ But after a little thought I figured that I am a sponsored rider now so I had to do something big, plus it was ages away, I had yonks to train. But the 3 months we had from Christmas to DDay (the D standing for Karapoti, Doom, Do or Die, and other daunting things like that) seemed to pass with amazing speed. One moment it was still two months away, the next it was only a week away. I started my training, by going on a 20km circuit every other day, but then not far into January we went into Karapoti and did a pre-ride of the Deadwood climb. It was then that I realised just how much more training and effort I needed to put in.

General Training
After our trip to Deadwood and back, Dad and I made ourselves a rule that all training rides from then on had to be a minimum of 25km, to build up endurance. We also went out seeking the steepest 4WD in Makara that could be incorporated into the ride. I ended up riding up places I barely knew existed, all those commonly used 4WD that you only ride bits of, to get from one single track to another, suddenly turned out to have scarily steep ends. I got into the routine of going for a hard ride every 2nd day and taking Martine and Jonathan (my younger brother and sister) for a simple ride every other day. I would go like this for about a week until I would have a well earned rest day, before getting stuck into another week of hard training. For some of the hard days I did a couple of 70km road rides with Dad, over Haywards and back, and we also rode over the Akatarawa Road, to build up that essential stamina and endurance. We also went into Karapoti again, this time from Maungakatukutuku Valley, and rode up a 4WD, then down Big Ring and through Dopers Creek and then up the Pram track and came out at Karapoti Gorge. We did this ride with Bernie and Eden Cruise; Eden has become famous as the 9-year old boy who did the
Karapoti Classic in 3:35 (also on a bike from Bike Barn!). I was still going to track twice a week on Sundays for junior training and Tuesdays for junior training and senior racing.

Events along the way
North Island Cross Country Champs: The weather was in a bad mood on Sunday 18th January, and riding around Mt Vic was an absolute mud slide, particularly as much of the race was on the newly built downhill tracks. I came away from this event with a first place, a few more bruises and a very, very muddy bike! The Akatarawa Attack: This was one of the main training events for Karapoti. Dad and I made up a team in the open mixed, just for the four hour option. We hadn’t done any riding in the area before the event, so we set ourselves a guideline that we would go out for two hours collecting controls, and then we would turn back. However we hugely over-estimated how long it would take to get back and so we got home with just under 40 minutes to spare. We still managed to win our category and have a great day.

D-Day- The Karapoti Classic Itself
Looking out the window the day before the big race I was slightly horrified to find that the rain was pelting down in bucket loads. The next morning it wasn’t much better, and so after a restless night of tossing and turning, we made our way to Karapoti. Much to my delight the rain eased off slightly during the long drive there. During this drive I had one of the most terrifying moments of my life, I thought I had left the plastic bag with all my food in it sitting on my desk at home. To my great relief I did find the bag sitting in the car with all my other stuff. By the time we finally arrived the rain had eased almost completely and was just spitting lightly, but the damage to the tracks had already been done, and the 2009 Karapoti Classic was an epic one.

Lining up at the banks of the river, waiting for the start hooter was one of the most nerve wracking moments of my life. Is it just me, or do they actually wait for a whole hour between each supposed “second” on the count down? Personally, I think it slightly cruel of the organizers to make us go through the icy cold river crossing at the very beginning of the race, ensuring that there is no possible escape from being cold and wet from the very beginning, but then again you have to either have a screw loose in your head, or be into self harm to actually do Karapoti in the first place, so I guess it makes sense.

The first part of the race, the bit where you go along the road was probably the only part where I was not getting steadily covered in mud. The Deadwood climb was unrideable in most places, and by the time I finally got to the top to have my banana I stuck my hand in my pocket and found lots of yellow mush and about a quarter of the banana left in the skin. After slurping this down I continued down the Rock Garden, which wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. The first part was unridable but not very far into it a narrow, but very rideable track appeared, that wove its way around most of the rocks. The next part was the huge ascent up Devils Staircase. What can be said about Devils Staircase? I guess the name suits it quite well. Though it was nothing like I had imagined it was still very energy draining. The huge mounds of clay cliff that we had to climb over were very slippery because of the
recent rain, and I managed to slip and fall over at least half a dozen times. It was I great relief getting to the top of Titi. I knew I had done the hardest part of the ride.

Going down the hill was really nice and enjoyable, though I think that it was were lots of people had their big crashes. Going up Pram Track was agonisingly slow and painful. By this point I was feeling the effect of the 35km I had just done. The number of false summits is enormous, and there are no words to express the massive relief that I felt when I finally reached the top. At that point I knew I had almost
completed the Karapoti Classic. It was all downhill from there, all the hard bits were done. I thought. The hardest bit of the whole race was probably the river crossing at the end. I was shaky with fatigue and was at that point where all I wanted to do was collapse. The fast flowing river was much deeper than it appeared
and even though I went through one of the shallower bits I still got up past my waist in the icy cold rapids. Just staying upright was a mission and I was one of a
limited number who didn’t fall over and get completely dunked. As I ran out of the water and rode the last 10 meters of the race I knew I had achieved something
big. As I stumbled back to the car on shaky legs I knew that I had set out to do something and had done it. That was when the utter fatigue and need to collapse left and that gleeful feeling of knowing you have done something that will raise eyebrows settled in. I had survived the Karapoti Classic, and this had been the worst but at the same time the very best day of my life.

I Couldn’t Have Done it Without you
I would firstly like to say a huge thank you to my sponsor, Bike Barn Wellington, for always fixing my bike quickly and for providing me with the gear I need to be competitive. Everyone in there is always really friendly and helpful. It also just feels really cool to say I’m a sponsored rider.
To Gary Gibson, the PNP juniors track coach, you are one of the most hard working and devoted people I have ever had the pleasure to meet. Without all your
encouraging support I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Peter Reynolds, thank you for your patience during the skills courses, you have taught me some essential skills that I wouldn’t otherwise had the chance to learn.
To all the people out there who said “Hi” to me, it’s almost scary how many people know my name whom I barely know. It is always nice to feel people know who you are.
Finally to my parents, Peter and Pauline Barnes, who never gave up on me, even when I gave up on myself. They are always there to discuss new training routes and take my bike into the bike shop. They also give me some serious help in the financial side
of things.