Slacky is feeling much better, and thinks he's good to go. So it's off to Wanga-Vegas, for the NZ Masters games to race against other old decrepid people.
So a few of you sports fans will know that I got ever so slightly sick in the land of Auck.
Possibly because of chicken, we shall never really know. But indications are that I got a bad case of Camplybacta. Nasty nasty stuff, and it meant instead of racing I was at the Er in Botany getting 2 litres of fluids pumped into me via my big fat veins (the Docs love 'em).
So a week later I lined up At the welly round of the NI cup. Not 100% sure I was 100%, but I was gonna giver 'er anyway. After a last minute mission down to Burkes to fit some grippy tires due to the wetness, I lined up at the start. Took off second behind Hiskey, and felt super comfy.
Up the first climb and that UBER burglar Cabin had passed me, and him and Hiskey were taking off. I sat in at a nice quick but comfortable pace. They quickly gapped me, but I sat in 3rd, with Jase the ace and God behind me. Jase passed me up the lead up to the M'carpa Climb with a snide comment from me, cos he was pedalling far too fast. Into the new descent and it was super sketchy, and I lost the front end a bit down the ski slop[e, letting God past, followed him for a while, but I faffed the exit to plimmer park, and he gapped me. I started to realise I wasn't riding at 100% so sat into a comfy rhythm and rode thru it. Came Thru the 1st lap and apparently coach Leese, could see I was not quite there, but I was too stubborn to admit it. Kept riding, cos damn it, I was still 5th, but as the 2nd lap went on I was fading quite dramatically.
Coming up to Alexander Rd, even thru the huge amount of cheering for me, people were saying I looked like shit. I felt even worse. At that point I was hoping 6th place was going to pass me, but Simon Pope was having a picnic or something ( he said mechanical, I think he was just lazy). At the far end of the course I saw one of the most disturbing sights one could ever see, Virgil Reality mooning me. A spotty hairy arse is not what you really want to see when you feel like dying. Thankfully Simon passed me up by the rooty climb and I suffered back to the velodrome to pull out. I refused to use granny gear, but barely made it up the last climb in middle, and made a beeline for the loo's after pulling out, to lose what ever was left in my gut. Lesson learnt was to let yourself fully recover from illness. But to be honest I'd do the same again, and race on my home course, just in case I had gotten over whatever I had. I'm a dumbarse like that.
Rock on Nat Champs and the holy of holy's, Karapoti!!!!
Click for the Garmin GPS stats.... By the time we got off the ridges and back down to civilisation, we were pretty broken, and finished the run over budget, in a time of 3hr 51mins. A very satisfying shakedown of our abilities though. We'll knock it off in under 3hrs 30 next time. View towards Mana from the valley used to gain the Dress Circle The very steep ascent from the Koro Koro Valley to gain the Trig 4wd. Being late for dinner and being a little tired, mean that is the end of the pics.... .jpg)
In sharp contrast to the Herculean efforts of many of the team in their far reaching North Island Cup campaigns, I have only been biking once since the Makara Peak Rally 5 weeks ago. And that one ride was a casual sift with Angry C-Dawg. I have been mostly trail running to build up my strength for first time running the Tararua Mountain Race. This is a 35km run across the Tararua Mountains from the Waiarapa to Otaki Forks. The total ascent is a shanksmashing 2250m and the total descent is even longer. The organisers confidently bill it as the "Hardest mountain run in New Zealand".
First time competitors must run as a team of two. I am running with my main man (and Best Man), Sam "Rammer" Dungey, who is an original Bushlove Racer, from our entry into the Muka Muka Munter as the Bushlove Racing Team back in June '08.
The event is the same day as Karapoti, so spare us a thought as you sip your latte's after the finish, as the very strong winners of the Tararua Race complete in a little under 5 hours. We expect to take wayyyyy over 6 hours. This is a concern as 6 hours is a long time to spend standing up watch TV, let alone running.
As part of the training we gave ourselves a Warrant Of Fitness exam on Sunday, in the form of our new Brokeback Belmont route. This heads from my place at Aotea, nr Porirua, up to the Belmont Hills to meet the dress circle. Then heads south via Cannons Head and Belmont Trig, down to Koro Koro stream and back up to Stratton St via Koro Koro Dam. It then climbs Middle Ridge to re-gain the dress circle and descends the same way we came up. It has many grinding climbs and long descents and was a great outing. The views off the tops were excellent and at times we had mint views each way across to Kapiti and away to the Orongarongas.
We tapped along quite well and gained Belmont Trig in OK time. The descent to Koro stream was steep in places and the fairly poor footing meant we couldn't pull back much time. The climb back out of the valley to meet the 4WD heading down to Stratton St, was steeper than the price of cheese. We cut a Danzig ascent off our original plan and headed up Middle Ridge, which was when our shanks first started to get the good news.
Although its not comparable to the rigours we'll face in the Tararua event, it was a great effort and certainly makes the run sections in the Crazyman and Porirua GT that we'll be doing, seem less daunting.
So there we go, something a little different from the norm'. Thanks for reading. If you are a biker who has never really run before, give it a try. Very rewarding stuff and a totally different way to enjoy the magnificent landscape that surrounds us in Wellington. Or if you don't enjoy the idea of your kneecaps popping off on long steep descents and rolling like saucers down the hill before you, maybe give this hill running a miss.
For funsies here is a little photoset of our Sunday endeavours.jpg)
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Rammer relishes crossing the windy tops.jpg)
Trotting around the Dress Circle.jpg)
More trotting around the tops.jpg)
Rammer motoring up the ridge to Cannon's Head.jpg)
Looking South from Belmont Trig - Our high point. Looking fwd to some descent.jpg)
I make Belmont Trig my bitch.jpg)
Rammer runs for the arches - In his fatigued state he mistook this for a MacDonald's sign and accelerated, rattling off his order to an imaginary drive-through kiosk.jpg)
Seeing as I do it so well. Oh wo is me, been driving for the last 2 days to get to Auckland, its hot, I didn't sleep well last night, I have not pre ridden the course, I left my favourite teddy at home and these nappies are ridding up like nobodies business. Ok now onto reality...
Coach Lisa had me doing warmup intervals on display which felt weird but to tell the truth worked its purpose after the start. I decided on a different tactic for the start of this race and sat about a foot back from the line, this gave me the benefit of a track stand with room to move. The 5 second count down started and I got up on my pins, track stood for the final seconds and then was off... into the first corner I was in 1st place with Hiskey hot on my tail. The only time in my life he would be behind me as meters later he climbed out of the saddle and passed like I was standing still.
Riding through the crowd we entered the bush, me in 3rd place. The sand made it feel like I was ridding on marshmellows, sapping every bit of energy before the first major hill. On I pushed with Clive trailing close enough to touch. I was missing the SlackShanks to chase so I felt a little lost, but you can't rely on the big man all the time. Lap 1 and I was definitely learning as I went, Carpet Drops,Sand Pits and Undulation that seemed to go on longer than Dolly Parton's Cleveage. Beginning of lap 2 and Coach reminded me I was in 3rd place and keep it up (Oh G no preasure or anything). As added motivation I had Jacinda & Tyler (My Wife & Daughter) cheering me on, thanks girls you rock, worked a treat. The heat was now getting to the point that I could feel my skin burning (Yes Mother Outlaw I have sunscreen on!!!!). As Clive said earlier in his blog, we played catch and kiss for most of the way through the second lap, me only getting the better of him because of the long down hill section to the end (Video for the girls to come, Explicit Lycra, Parental Guidance recommended (Rated M).
The 3rd final lap and I felt like I was on a beach with none of the visual benefits... This turned into a hard race, riding most of the final lap solo and bordering on throwing in the towel (Well as close as I am ever going to get to throwing it in). Stoked with my 4th position and even more happy when I found out the podium went up to 5 Woot Wooo.
Next biggie coming up is The Nationals & Karapoti, Big Dawg time.
P.S I am writing this from a lovely little cottage that overlooks Cable Bay in The Bay Of Islands, Pic above.
P.P.S Coach I'll start training again tomorrow :o)
P.P.P.S Sunny Holiday FTW!!!!
I wanted to be near the front for the start of the singletrack to make sure I didn’t get held up by anyone. I got a decent start and led into Sweet & Sour, with Hiskey on my tail and Ricky and Garth close behind (I know it was Garth cos I could hear the bike 20m away). Down Bunny Jugs and out onto Direct Road for the first time. At this point Hiskey slipped past and promptly showed me how to get up a hill. I dropped 15 seconds on him from the bottom of Direct Road to the bottom of Hot Cross. I kept him in sight through Dragon’s and Mad If U Don’t before slipping back past heading into Ball & Chain. At the start of the second lap we had a quick look around and a bit of a gasbag on the 4wd to the singletrack. We decided we’d put a wee gap on and to sit tight.
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