PNP Mountain Bike Series - Round 4 - Belmont

Belmont - home of the steep, greasy climbs and technical descents. Probably my most dreaded venue. At the pre-ride, I was having bike problems, with my rear disk rubbing, but Bike Barn managed to fix this and my bike was in working order. Having been beaten by Caitlin by 10 minutes at the last round in Mount Vic, I wasn’t sure how much of that was having a cough, so I wanted to show I could still beat her. Luckily we had pretty good weather beforehand so the tracks were all in pretty good condition. The end of Stratton St was icily cold so I decided I’d wear my jacket, a choice I regretted about 5 minutes into the race as I gasped my way up Danzig. Thanks to Don McLeod who put in a lot of time and effort putting gravel on Danzig so it was pretty good.

I got all the way up Danzig, along Old Coach Road and along all the grassy knolls to the airstrip where I stopped to get my bike over the fence before I first saw Caitlin (my arch rival) about a hundred metres behind me. Slightly panicked, I picked up the pace and nearly came off at the bottom of Hill Road, but fortunately I managed to just do a bit of a slide and continue on. I finished my first lap of the Belmont loop and when I looked back Caitlin was still about the same distance away. I did my second loop and although she didn’t catch me or gain on me I wasn’t gaining either. I hammered it as hard as I could go along Old Coach Road to the top of Danzig, which we were descending. Going down Danzig I was desperate not to be caught, however very near the bottom I conveniently rode too close to the bank, hit a tree and I went over the handle bars into the dirt. Luckily I landed in between the tree trunks so I got up with only a few scratches. Remounting my bike I glanced behind and much to my horror there was Caitlin. We rounded the last bends of Danzig with her right on my wheel, and came down past the woolshed to do the finish loop. Turning onto the sealed road Caitlin managed to get in front by a couple of bike lengths, but I got past and got to the finish just 25 seconds ahead. At the finish I got a few strange looks probably due to my pained expression and loud wheezing, but I was very pleased to have finished the my most intense race ever.

I thought this year’s course was terrific, usually at Belmont there are major traffic issues but I didn’t have that problem at all. At the prize giving my name got called out for a spot prize and I scored myself a nice pair of gloves, brilliant, as mine are sort of falling apart and needed replacing anyway. Thanks to Marco and Al and the rest of the team for putting so much time and effort into this series. The next race is Makara, my home ground, but with NCEA exams starting the day after on the 15th, my training will be very limited for this round. Nevertheless I am keen for the last of what has been a spectacular series.

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PNP Mountain Bike Series 2010 - Round 3-Mt Vic

After an amazing holiday of sunshine and sunburn, it was predictable that the day before the race the weather would turn to custard. Luckily on the actual race day it wasn’t too bad, the rain had stopped but the air still felt icy and the tracks were bound to be greasy and slippery. When we got to the race Caitlin Pilcher (usually my only U19 Girls competitor) informed me that today she would be racing in Rec Women, who ride the same course as us anyway, but usually have a much larger field. Not wanting to race being the only one in my grade and not knowing that Kara MacDermid had come to show us how it’s done, I too decided to race Rec Women.


The race started with one lap of the velodrome, and as usual there was a fair bit of argey-bargey getting out the gate, but more so in the other starts than in my start, which included both Rec grades, U19 Girls and U13. We had to do two laps of the 6.5km short course. Going up the first hill my throat started to burn almost immediately, reminding me that it’s definitely not good planning to get a cold just before the race. I got round the course very slowly but managed not to crash, however going up the big dipper the second time I managed to get very close to the top, only to find myself slide the whole way back down again.

I finally got home in a time of 1:18, ten minutes behind Caitlin, and 15 behind the lady who won rec women. This time was however good enough to get me third in my grade. Kara MacDermid, the U19 rider came home in an amazing time of only 46 minutes, making her the second fastest to complete that course, beaten only by 27 seconds by the winner of Rec Men, Jayant Singh.

Although not my best ever performance I still enjoyed the race. Marco and the team put on an amazing race and the course was so well marked not even I could have got lost. I’m looking forward to the next race, and the tough Belmont trails and I’m hoping Kara will once again come to teach us how to race, and that maybe some other mysterious girl will come along to give us someone to compete against.

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OHV Mountain Bike Orienteering Series Winter 2010

This year I did two of the four MTBO events in the OHV MTBO series, the first and the last. Mountain Bike Orienteering is a great cross of the two sports, orienteering and mountain biking. Riders are given maps and have to find certain controls, by selecting their route well. It is riding with a purpose. In a normal MTBO event you have about 10 control points marked on a map. You have to visit them in order, using the track info to find the best route. Competitors start at intervals, and the fastest to do the course is the winner. Control points are easy to find, they are all on or beside tracks, it's all about finding the best route. The map shows how good the riding is on all the trails, and how steep the country is. Courses are usually designed to be won in about an hour.

The first one (13 June) was held at Makara Peak on a rather gloomy and miserable day, so it wasn’t a surprise that not too many people turned up. The course that I did was quite short and simple, a good choice for a day like that. Although everyone there got muddy and cold, fun was had by all and it was a very well run event.

The second one that I did (11 September), and the last in the series was held at Wainui, a particularly good place to have it, as round two of the PNP series was to be held there the week after so it was good to ride around the area and get a feel for the tracks. This time the sun was shining brightly and lots of people had come to give it a go. I found the course really good, although I did get slightly off course whilst finding the penultimate control, just as I was thinking I was very lost indeed, I somehow managed to stumble across it. I definitely enjoyed this event and it was nice to have such good weather and so many people.

The sport in Wellington relies heavily on Michael Wood of OHV and his small but committed team who put in a huge amount of time and effort to ensure these events are as enjoyable as possible. I definitely recommend people give MTBO a try, it’s awesome fun.

Series winners 2010:
(http://www.mapsport.co.nz/hvoc/mtbopoints10.html)
Junior Men: Jonathan Barnes
Junior Women: Hannah Barnes
Open Men: Simon Kennett
Open Women: Rachel Ockelford
Vet Men:Chris Sherwood
Vet Women: Jo Holden
Super Vet Men: Graeme Silcock

Details of the whole series at -
http://www.mapsport.co.nz/hvoc/mtboresult10.html

Where can you try it?
The next event in Wellington is a pre-Christmas combined MTB-foot rogaine on 12 December (http://www.maptalk.co.nz/events/event.cfm?e=2884). In late January will be the 4/8 hour Ak-attack, somewhere in the Akatarawas (the starting location is only revealed a week or so before the event).

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PNP Mountain Bike Series: Round Two - Wainui

Despite the predicted ‘weather bomb’ the weather for this race was definitely better than for Makara. The blue skies on the way over Wainui hill were a nice change to the usual overcast and windy conditions we Wellingtonians are used to. Much to my pleasure, Caitlin Pilcher had decided to race so I was not alone in my grade.

This year we D graders didn’t have to go up the huge climb up Konini Firebreak 4WD track to begin with, instead we went up Jungle Scout, Jungle Gym and down Snail Trail twice then back home. The first time up Jungles was pretty congested. After a hectic scamper to get onto the single track first it settled down into a steady train of riders, until someone fell off on a switchback or someone’s chain came off. By the time we got to the top it as a bit more spread out and I could see Caitlin, my arch rival for the day, ahead of me. Going down Snail Trail was awesome. It was so easy to get into the rhythm of the track...until all the Under-17’s came charging by in hot pursuit of one another.


At the bottom of Snail Trail we had a fast little bit on the flat then back up Jungles to do the loop again. It was going up Jungle Scout that I finally managed to overtake Caitlin, and I was then going as fast as I could not know whether she would catch me or how far behind me she was. I managed to get to the finish in a time of 47 minutes, only two minutes ahead of Caitlin.

As the D course was so short we had a while to wait for the prize giving. Once the race was over Caitlin and I were friends again and it was nice to have some female company at a bike race again. I made sure I waited for the spot prizes again as last time my name was called out first but I wasn’t there, so this time I was definitely staying. My name wasn’t called out first again, but it did near the end when there were only lolly bottles left, so I still got something.
















Next race is in three weeks time at Mt Vic, a park famous for getting lost, getting muddy and having fun. I’m looking forward to it and to racing Caitlin again.

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Wellington Secondary Schools Road Champs - 12 Sep 2010

The Wellington Champs were held in Trentham and consisted of three events: the hill climb, time trail and the criterium. For each event riders get points and then the overall champion is worked out by adding up riders points. We arrived at the YMCA where registration was and I was very pleased to find that there were four girls racing in Under 17 with me this year.

Soon enough it was time to start the hill climb up Wallaceville Hill. Although not too steep or too long, when you’re really pushing it this hill definitely hurts. I got to the top and my legs where on fire, if it had been a few metres further I’m pretty sure my legs would have exploded in flames. I later found out that the two Palmy girls had both beaten me by two mins, but I had gone as hard as I could, so I was still pleased with my effort.

The time trail course was a 10km there-and-back over the other side of the hill. On the way to the turn around I was looking forward to coming the other way as I thought I would get a tail wind, but when I finally did get to the turn around realised that no, that actually I had a headwind coming back.

There was a good wait between the TT and the final event, the criterium, so we could go back to the YMCA and have lunch and relax a little before our next race, which was last on the agenda. By this time I was really starting to feel the first two events and my legs felt vaguely like lead. This showed during the 10 lap race where I was dropped early on and only just got lapped in the last straight.

It was a good hard day of racing and I’m glad I went, but I was definitely very tired the next day! Although the two Palmy girls were 1st and 2nd overall, they are from outside the Wellington Centre, so I did manage to take the title of Wellington U17 Girls Champion. Lots of kudos to Gary Gibson and Marty Grenfell for organising a great day that ran very smoothly with over 80 competitors.

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PNP Mountain Bike Series 2010: Round One - Makara

This year I was looking forward to my 3rd PNP spring series. Over the years thanks to Marco and the team they always manage to be intense but fun races. The day of the first race came but unfortunately someone forgot to invite the weather, so it threw a hissy fit. Riding to the race was a little bit more like swimming. By the time Jony and I got there the rain was starting to ease off, but by the time we started, well I was glad to have my raincoat.

The course went up Allington road to the top, down Rimu then along the 4WD to Big Tom, down Lazy Fern, up Koru, Sally Alley, Ridgeline Extension, and back down Lazy Fern to repeat the loop. Although the rain eased at times it never really cleared and the tracks got pretty sloppy. Koru started to look more like a stream than a track, and after a combination of the conditions and bad judgement I found my self nearly riding right off the tracks a number of times. I completed my course in a time 1 hour 51, fast enough to put me first in my huge category of, well, one. Although there weren’t any other girls in my category, by comparing times I would have come 3rd in the Rec Women grade, and I was only 32 seconds slower than their winner - Amy Hanlon.

Because we live only 5 minutes away Jony and I had ridden to the race, and because we had ridden to the race I had no warm clothes for after, so I hung around till I got my medal, but decided I probably wouldn’t get a spot prize anyway so there was no point in waiting. Biggest mistake ever. I later found out that my name was called out first, so I could have chosen the best prize. I’ll make sure I wait for the spot prizes at all the other rounds which I’m very much looking forward to, but I hope the weather will be in a better mood.

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