Hannah Barnes - Sporting Life

Wainui 6-Hour Wurldz - Sun 22 May 2011

>> Wednesday 25 May 2011

http://www.w6w.co.nz/
Wainui 6-Hour Wurldz is a 6 hour mountain bike relay that loops around in the gorgeous Wainui MTB Park trails. You can do it as a solo rider, as a duo, or in a team of four. I was in a team of four with Dave from i-Ride, his wife Anna (with whom I had done a Revolve relay last year), and my Dad. Due to some last minute mechanicals Dad was unable to ride, but fortunately James Truebridge was able to fill in.

It was a fun event, “for the grins not the wins” as the race manager put it. Dressing up was strongly encouraged (we didn’t dress up) and there were some pretty cool costumes. The Revolve ladies were the ‘Ladies who Lunch” and wore pretty dresses all the way around the course. There was a Mr T who had even decorated his bike, and John Randal and Simon Kennett who had some seriously cool Robin Hood and Little John costumes, complete with bows and arrows.

The fastest lap of the day was 20 minutes. I was doing my laps in a consistent time of 30 minutes each. In our tent we had baking, chips, even a barbeque with sausages. Our team came 5th out of 10: we were running in 3rd place for most of the event but the Revolve team was moved from the Women’s category into Mixed Teams, as they were the only women’s team, and then the Floe team passed us on the last lap. Overall it was a spectacular event and the weather gods were in a terrific mood. Looks like it really pays off to have Met Service as a sponsor!!

Crazyman - Saturday 7 May 2011

>> Wednesday 11 May 2011

http://www.crazyman.co.nz/
Although the Crazyman is quite a huge event, and I had decided to do it long before the event date, I still somehow managed to have so much to do and then it was suddenly there, two weeks away. I had done some training, but nowhere near as much as I had hoped to get in. This was my first big race on my new Orange that I had only recently acquired. There was no way that I would have been able to do the whole thing alone, so I was in a duathlon team with my brother Jony. He was doing the hilly 18km run, and I was doing the 39km mountain bike.

The weather on the day was atrocious, it had been pouring for days and the sky didn’t look promising. The run came first, so I was off to Wainuiomata to wait. Jony was back a bit sooner than I had expected, which was a good thing but it was a bit of a shock to see him so soon.

The cycle leg went up Jungle Scout and Jungle Gym and then along Labyrinth in the Wainui MTB Park, and then along the Hutt skyline for a very long way (coming down at Silverstream) and along the Hutt River trail for about 12km. It was impossibly muddy all the way, pretty soon I had no clean surface on me. The worst bit was getting mud in my mouth, going to wipe it off with my arm, only to smear even more mud on my face. At 18km my speedo decided it had had enough so it stopped working, not a big disaster, but frustrating as I was relying on it to pace myself. I was mostly just hoping not to set the record for the slowest time ever, but ideally getting under the 3 hour mark, slower than the average, but still an ok target for me. After my speedo died I really tried to pick up the pace, desperately hoping I was on target. I got back in a time of 2 hours 38 minutes, so I was very pleased with that. I had pushed it pretty hard along the Hutt River trail and I was literally still panting like 20 minutes after.

Jony and I came 12th out of the 18 mixed duathlon teams; we were pretty pleased with that result. It was a really well run event, the guys obviously knew what they were doing - and special thanks to Michael Jacques for being flexible with the age limit so we could enter. It was really enjoyable and I’m uber-keen for next year.

New Bike!!

>> Friday 15 April 2011

Although my Giant XTC bike has served me well for ... um, not that many days, really, at least for the 2010 PNP MTB series ... when the chance arose to get a fully it was too good to miss. Don from Mud Cycles was selling his old Orange (he's upgraded to a fantastic looking Turner). So after school one day Dad and I took it out for a spin in Makara Peak MTB Park.

Although I’m not so technologically retarded to think that the name ‘Orange’ referred just to the bike’s colour, but I was still surprised to find that is in fact silver, with no orange at all except a tiny sticker (It now has some bright orange hand grips).

Despite the lack of exciting colours the bike was amazing to ride. The tubeless wheels made more difference than I could have imagined. It was like the bike wanted to play. After getting a bit of help from the guys at i-Ride to get it set up better for me, and a coaching session with Marjolein Ros of Revolve Training on the subtleties of controlling a fully at speed, I am thoroughly enjoying my first fully. Heaps of thanks to Don, Marjolein, and all the guys at i-Ride.

Tech specs:
2003 Orange Sub-3
2007 Marzocchi Bomber MX Pro SL forks
5th Element Air shock in rear
FSA SL-XC wheelset with tubeless tyres
FSA Afterburner 386 42/27T cranks
Shimano cassette 12-36

Here I am using the XtC to lure my Track coach over to the Dark Side!

PNP MTB Series Round 5-Makara

>> Saturday 27 November 2010

The 1st round (held at Makara) had been fought out in cold wet and windy conditions. This time however it was quite the opposite, blue skies and glaring sun, possibly a bit too hot to be pleasant for biking, but Wellington summers usually only last about a day, so I wasn’t complaining.

With exams starting the next day (Maths first) I hadn’t really done any training at all for this race, in fact I hadn’t touched the bike for a week. Fortunately, as far as the series was concerned, I already had enough points to definitely win over all. The course started by going up Allington Road then along St Albans and up the 4WD track. We were sent up Rimu for a change, as opposed to the usual way coming down it, although it is a two way track I had only ridden it this way once, a long, long time ago. Riding up there was really good though, it wasn’t to steep but it was a nice change. We took a sharp left onto AMP connecter and onto the last section of Ridgeline Extension. That was where the loop started, from there, down Big Toms Wheelie, Magic Carpet, Top Koru, along Sally Alley and then down the 4WD track and down Ridgeline extension. We had to do this lap 3 times.

I got away from Caitlin at the start, and kept my lead for a whole lap. It was on my second lap going along top Koru that I pulled aside to let a faster rider pass and she went past too. Panicking slightly, I jumped on her wheel, and passed her again somewhere along Sally Alley. By the time we got to Ridgeline Extension again, she was hot on my tail, and after another lap of intensely close riding, when we were on Ridgeline Extension for the final time, our places were reversed. Caitlin got away from me on that last bit of Ridgeline Extension, and that was the last I saw or her. She finished about 2 minutes ahead, but it was still quite an intense race.

Prizegiving took a bit longer than usual, because it was the prizegiving for both that race and the series trophies as well. Despite losing on the day (second and last are the same thing in a category with a grand total of two competitors), I still won the 1st place series trophy that Caitlin had beaten me for last year. When the draw for the $4,000 Santa cruise bike was drawn, the number pulled out was 68, or was it 89?

When I got home I realised I was pretty sunburnt. But much worse were the horrific tan lines left there by my bike shorts, just slightly longer than most normal shorts. Not so good when you’re not dressed up in lycra. Thankfully I took my gloves off for the prize giving, so unlike last summer, I don’t have blatantly obvious glove lines. Phew.

Out of all the races', I think that round two at Wainui was my favourite and Belmont was the most intense (Caitlin and I finished just 24 seconds apart). All of the rounds have been superbly run, many thanks to Al, Marco, and the team, and all the marshals who give up their day to help us navigationally challenged people to complete the race, cheers. With Caitlin heading off to university next year, I will yet again be without anyone else in my grade: over the next year I’ll be trying very hard to bully some girls into coming, but if you know anyone who might be potentially interested, feel free to peer pressure them into it!

I'm looking forward to next years series, they are always great fun.

Women of Dirt 6 Hour Relay - Sunday 7 November

>> Tuesday 9 November 2010

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.