Women of Dirt 6 Hour Relay - Sunday 7 November

On Saturday morning (6 November) we turned up at Makara Peak Mountain Bike Park only to find (much to my delight) that due to torrential rain and enough wind that it could probably be classed as a hurricane, the race was postponed till the next day. Thankfully, Sunday turned out a much better day, with a few ominous clouds hanging around, but it cleared up nicely and by the end of the day there was nothing but amazing blue skies.

Dress up was recommended for this event, and teams definitely took up the challenge. There were fairies and pixies, bumble bees and racing cars, some were dressed up as... well just dressed up. One team had a large assortment of wild and wacky items of clothing and would change costume after every lap. We were the ‘Knight Riders’: with our tin foil covered helmets, shin pads and elbow pads, intense breast plates with emblems and our black capes, I thought we looked pretty cool. Our amazing team leader Anna even brought along horses heads which we tied the front of our bikes, and when you pushed a button they neighed and made galloping noises. Our tenty thing was very atmospherically too, we had hay bales, horse saddles, swords and battle axes around the place and over all I thought it was quite impressive.

We had decided to get there early so we could get a good place to set up, this we did and then it came to the point where we had to decide who would go first. It seemed my team had already nominated me, so at 10 o’clock all the first riders lined up down the road and were off. The course went up Lazy Fern (which is usually a one way down track), along Magic Carpet and then down Koru (usually one way up). This circuit took around 25 minutes, which I thought was quite good for a relay. Over the next 6 hours the relay continued, we could afford to ride hard as we had a nice long wait till our next lap, when we could eat, drink and chill, and in my case squeeze in some study for NCEA exams which start in a week and a day.

At last we finished, and our not particularly competitive team managed to get an impressive 3rd in the "Dirty Girls" category for teams (out of 10 teams), winning ourselves some amazing chocolate muffins. There was also a category ("Dirt Divas") for the 21 solo riders who did an amazing job and kept going for 6 hours by themselves. Prizes also went to the best dressed (this went to one of the people who was regularly changing costume for her particularly exciting outfit that had some sort of jet-pack on it) and for the best baking (everybody had been asked to bring a plate of home made goodies for our tea party at the prizegiving). Ashley and Marjolein of Revolve did a spectacular job of running this event that was impossible to not enjoy. Thanks so much to my team, in particular Denise Pilcher who filled in for her daughter Caitlin (usually my arch-rival) who unfortunately had to work, and to our team support crew, and of course Mum, Dad, Marti and Jony who came to visit me, as did my friend Sophie.

Riding home at the end of the day I wondered why I was getting some very odd looks, and then I remembered I was wearing a cape, was covered in tin foil and had a pompom on my head. Much to my despair I now have very definite tan lines from my shorts, which will most likely stay for the rest of the summer now they are there. I had an amazing time and am so glad to have competed in my first ever 6-hour bike relay and ever thankful to my team and Marj and Ash for making my day so enjoyable.