NZ Cup Round, 4th and Final (Napier)

After a bad round in Wellington I was heading into the 4th and final round of the NZ MTB Cup looking for strong ride to finish the series....

After driving up on Friday and arriving in Havelock North late, we woke on Saturday after a sleep in and headed to the course. It was a pretty low key course, with one major climb, a false flat that sucked the power from your legs across the top, then a fun descent.... After a couple of laps I was feeling good and thought a top ten wasn't out of the question.

The start was flat followed by a light climb, some single track then the major climb... the field didn't really split until the major climb. I made some good ground and dropped into the single track feeling good.

Breads of Europe kit from F2P distributored by Blox

I kept pushing the the outside chain ring up the major climb and moving up a couple of placings through laps two and three getting as high as 10th spot, everyone would have been descending around the same time so it was the climbs and the flatter rooty sections that you needed to be smooth and fast. Lap four the legs started feeling the strain of pushing the outside chain ring losing two spots up the climb. After grabbing my last bottle to get me home the last 2 laps felt okay, staying in the big gears I managed to gain another spot on the last lap.


Although it wasn't a top ten like I was searching for I was pretty happy with how the legs felt, the mind was weaker than the legs, something I need to work on.

The 11th spot was enough to push me into 9th spot for the series in my 1st year in the Elite field. Pretty stoked with that after what I would class as a pretty mixed year with bikes, hay fever, learning and work/travel commitments.

Looking forward to more learning with the Oceania's before winding down and doing some local events with the lads...

Can't wait to get the wheels on the dirt in Rotorua... a place I have never ridden!

A huge thanks to John Bull Cycles, Breads of Europe, BLOX Apparel and everyone who has helped and supported me for the series... Your support has been awesome and very much appreciated!

NZ CUP round 3 (Wellington)

After arriving in Wellington and building the bike up I headed to see what Mt Vic had in store for me... first impression was 'this will be a tough track to race'....

Race day rolled around and from the get go the legs didn't want to play, after a slow start and a dropped chain I headed out on lap 2 to start making up some time. The first climb was a good grind and I managed to reel in a couple of riders even though the legs felt heavy. Into the single track where I was feeling really confident descending, I thought I would take some risks as I wouldn't be able to do much on the climbs to make up some time. I went into a section way to hot and ended up launching out of a "bowl" and landing in some tree roots... I was sent flying over the bars in a pretty spectacular crash. Dusting myself off and getting back on the bike to find a burped front tyre. I managed to ride a third of the lap to the tech zone at the top where I chucked some more air in and continued on.

After loosing my nerve and not having a good day I knew I was going to get lapped out. Lap 3 saw me walking the final decent as the front tire was on the rim again (not sure if I put enough air in or it wasn't on the rim after the crash). I chucked some more air in at the bottom tech zone and went out for some skids and to have some fun before Dirk came passed to lap me out. So I still recorded a result and not a DNF.

Time to get the body healed and move onto the 4th and final round in Napier this weekend where I hope to find my form again and finish on a high ready for Oceania's.