PNP MTB Spring Series
Race 2 - Wainuiomata
Unlike the cloudy day that race one brought, this day was one of those that have no clouds whatsoever. I had done a really useful pre-ride/skills session with Peter Reynolds, and although I was a bit nervous, I wasn’t scared for my life. Once again we had an enormous grade in Under 19 Girls, three people! We need to get more young women to dare to have a go on their bikes.

The huge climb up Roller Coaster really got me puffing. When I finally reached the “top” I found that the bit I thought was downhill actually keeps going up for ages before they let you go down. Spoonhill wasn’t too bad, I managed to ride most of it and pass quite a few people. I got to the playground and clambered over the wooden stairs and rode along the road a bit to far, so focused on sprinting hard that I went a couple of hundred meters past Waiu Street, before I realised I was going the wrong way.

Jungle Scout and Gym got pretty trafficky. You could hear Ashley from a long way off, which was really good because I could figure out how far I had left to go. It was probably one of the trickiest places to marshal, with the A,B and C riders all coming at you one way and the D graders coming from the other way, but she handled it perfectly. The first time down Beeline there were too many people pushing their bikes down the drop off for me to be able to ride it, but the second time was good.
I was leading the race at the final corner, but it seems I was the only person who had difficulty finding the entrance to the school, there you go, I lost three minutes weaving around the buildings instead of taking the straight route. I only got a second place for this race, and so it’s “race on” for Mt Vic. Congratulations to Caitlin for her first win. Perhaps my navigational skills will serve me better next time, but for now all I can do is train lots.

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Wellington Regional Sec' Schools Road Champs

Wellington Regional Secondary Schools Road Cycling Champs in Upper Hutt - September 13th

This event had three elements: A 1.7km hill climb over the Wallaceville hill; an 8.5km time trial; and a criterium (15 minutes + 1 lap). I came first in U15 Girls and 2nd in U17 Girls; details to follow.

Many thanks to Gary Gibson for his coaching, and to Mr Tideswell of Marsden Collegiate School for his support - hopefully we can have a great Marsden squad here next year!

Here are some photos . . .

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PNP Spring Series 2009: Race 1 - Makara Peak

As soon as the course descriptions came out I started practicing the route. The original D course was short and simple, and there was nothing technical in it, so eventually they changed it, so we pretty much just had to do two laps. This now meant that the D course was 21km, rather than the original 15km. I worked on getting the speed up and rode the course so many times I could have ridden it with my eyes closed.

When race day turned up it was a bit overcast but it wasn’t raining - yet. Because we live so close to Karori West School we rode down there on the bikes. We registered and got our numbers, did all the last minute bike checking and warm up. I was very pleased because I wasn’t the only one in Under 19 Girls (I had done nearly all of last year’s series without any competition so this was actually quite a big thing). My strategy was to keep it nice and steady on the first lap, and then totally give it everything on the second.

By the time I had climbed up Allington Road to the start of Rimu the mass start had split up and so although Rimu wasn’t traffic free, it wasn’t too clogged up. Big Tom and Lazy Fern were sweet, and I passed a few people on Koru. Sally Alley got a bit bottle-necked, and every now and then I’d fly past a scared, puffed looking boy waiting to get passed. The rest of the ride went pretty well, I came back to the school and had my chocolate (cheers to whoever had the idea to give those out). Congratulations to Emily and Caitlin for a great race, and I hope to see you at all the other races.

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PNP Balfour Pennington Road Race Series 2009

Intro
After a long break over winter, that was made longer due to the weather and me getting sick, I was a bit out of shape. This year’s Balfour Pennington Series was really just for training. I had started riding regularly and was very pleased to find I hadn’t lost as mush fitness as I had feared. This series was very well run, organised and marshalled, and was a very fun experience.

Round One- Burnham Wharf Lyall Bay
My favourite thing about these races is that they don’t start until lunch time so we still get to sleep in. I was in the limit group and the people at the front were setting a very fast pace, I soon got dropped and was on my own until I caught up with another dropped rider. As we neared the turn-around we could see the remains of limit as they went by in ones and twos, not in any kind of bunch. The other bunches passed and though I tried I couldn’t manage to stay with any of them. As I was starting to speed up and sprint for the finish line ‘Scratch’ came flying buy, broken up because they were all sprinting too. Needless to say my exceptional sprint of about 40km/h suddenly felt a little bit pathetic. Nevertheless it was an enjoyable ride and a great start to the season of racing.

Round Three- Wainui Coast Road
After missing round two, I was keen to race. I had some knowledge of the course as I pre-rode it in training for the Wellington Secondary School Road Champs last year. This time the limit group of four worked quite well together. We dropped one rider about halfway to the turnaround, but the remaining three of us held the other groups off until we only had about 5 km left to go. We all picked up our pace and managed to merge into Break 4. However the pace was picked up dramatically when Break 3 caught up and we all (the limit riders) got dropped. I managed to get to the finish before any of my fellow limit riders and got a personal best average speed of 31km/h.

Round Four- Mirimar Loop + Mount Crawford
After some encouragement from Steve Chapman, I decided to move up to Break 4 in this race. This was a big mistake as not only was the pace quite fast but there were hills in the course. I kept up on all the little streets around Mirimar but then Awa Street was under us and it was too much for me and I got spat out the back. There was a strong wind going around the coast and I was by myself. By the time I had clawed my way back up Awa Street again (we had to do three laps of a 13km circuit plus a 3km hill climb at the end) I had caught up to another stray rider, who I rode with for the rest of my second lap and my third. As we approached the killer climb up Mount Crawford I dropped her and progressed slowly towards the finish line at the top of the hill. Not one of my most victorious rides but it was still fun.

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NZ Secondary Schools MTB National Champs

Training
Yes, well, about that. After Karapoti I had one week off, and then I had a whole week of school camp at OPC, where we went caving, kayaking, rock climbing, tramping, mountaineering and lots of other things. The day after I got back was the Wellington Champs, which I won, despite being so out of shape. Since that weekend I have been sick, and not able to train properly, only doing shorter rides than I would normally do. So as for the training, there isn’t really much to talk about.

Events along the way
After very little riding for nearly three weeks I wasn’t exactly in perfect shape for the PNP Club Champs. The course was short, fast and hard. The great ascent up Crazy Man and Rollercoaster put me in front of the other two girls in my category. I passed a lot of young guys as well, so I could see how much I have improved since the PNP race here last September – back then I had to get off and push the bike up the steeper sections! Then followed a great ride through beautiful native bush – the team from Wainui Trail Project have done a fantastic job here. The final downhill on Spoonhill was scary and very rooty but I managed to get down without any collisions with trees or the ground to take out a comfortable 1st place in both the PNP Club Champs and the College Sport Wellington Regional Champs (U19 Girls).

The Nationals
Racing two grades above my own turned out to be quite a challenge, but although I didn’t win it, I felt I held my own in the Under 19 Girls. I could have raced in the U14 grade but I thought the courses for that grade (only 2 laps of the 3.5km Cross-country circuit and a considerably shortened hill-climb) looked a lot less challenging than what I am accustomed to in Wellington. Also, because I race U19 in Wellington against very limited competition, I wanted to know what my successes really meant at a national level.

Cross Country
The cross country consisted of one lap of the short course (3.5km) and two laps of the long course (6.5km). In the short loop we went up the big hill that was very tiring and then back down and to the start/finish line. The long course was similar, still going up the hard hill but instead of coming back down we went down the other side of the ridge, round, up and then down. By the time I finished I was shaky with fatigue and as red as a beetroot. I ended up coming 6th out of the eight girls.

Hill climb
To put it simply, we rode up the hill. But this hill was very steep and when I got to the top I was dead, like actually at the point of collapse. On the way up I did end up passing a fair few people and that felt good. Just in front of me the whole time was somebody called Hannah. I know this because around every corner there were people shouting “Go Hannah!” and they weren’t talking to me. I got to the top (with another 6th place in U19 Girls) and prepared myself for the downhill.

Downhill
With a full face helmet, elbow pads and knee pads, a very low seat and a hard tail bike, I lined up to await my doom. Much to my personal delight I managed to ride the whole thing, and I had a great time. In my time of 5 minutes 53 seconds I earned myself my third 6th place, and giving me the overall placing of (surprise, surprise!) 6th.

At The end of the season
This event was pretty much the end of the cycling season. With winter well on its way there aren’t really any more events until August when the PNP MTB Series starts. This season has been a great success as my first season of serious competition:
 I have won the PNP MTB Series,
 I have come 1st in the Wellington PNP Club Champs,
 I have won Most Improved Junior at the Wellington Velodrome,
 I have been ranked 6th best Under 19 College Girl in New Zealand, and
 I have survived the Karapoti Classic.

I never could have achieved any of this without Bike Barn Wellington, who have been a great sponsor, and continually fixed my bikes, Gary Gibson has helped me so much, and my parents who have always been there on the sidelines cheering me on, who always drive me to my events.

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