Women of Dirt!!

I seem to have a habit of agreeing to do races fairly last minute (Karapoti and CX Nationals) - and this time was no exception.  Bex Houston asked me to be part of her team the week before at the last round of the PNP Spring series, so of course I agreed, and our duo team was formed.

The weather in true Wellington fashion put on a delightful show of low cloud and strong winds- which was actually pretty good for doing a 6hr relay in. To avoid getting too cold between our turns we decided to do one lap each and then swap. Our tactics seemed to work pretty well as we managed to score the win by a lap, but we weren’t the only winners on the day. All the crazy women that decided to do the 6hrs as a solo definitely deserve some kind of prize!!

With a cool course- going up some down tracks and vice versa the day was very enjoyable!! Somehow I managed to pull out the fastest lap of the day and did 45km (ish) – and loved every minute of it!

Awesome races like this don’t happen without tons of support- so awesome job by all the Revolve ladies for managing to put on an awesome race for the 4^th time! Also thanks to Bex Houston for being an awesome team-mate and asking me to be in her team!! Other thanks go to all the guys at MUD Cycles for the insane amount of support they give me, for racing and just general bike stuff! A Huge thanks goes to Mum and Dad for all the support they give me!!

PNP Spring Series Round 5

Unfortunately good things can’t last forever, as this year’s PNP Series was a good thing it too ended. With beautiful weather, trails, riders and organisers, the finale was one worth remembering. The organisers had decided to introduce a new idea- giving riders an option on where to go.

The option of different routes caused some pretty serious debate – which was faster, less energy draining etc.  Different to the other races there was a mass start of all the A, B and C riders- straight up the 4WD to the summit.

Racing in Open Women was the same amount of fun as normal- just with a lot more pain. Having done next to no training because of the lovely experience known as exams, I really noticed just how long the climb is to the summit.

I ended up getting 5^th for this race and I loved every minute of it – in a special masochistic way. But the race podium wasn’t the only thing being awarded- the series one was. The podium went to the very deserving Sasha Smith, Jacquie O’Hagan and Margaret Leyland- I’m pretty sure I managed to score the 4^th place.

None of this would’ve been possible if it weren’t for the huge crowd of people supporting me. There’s PNP MTB Club that run these events- giving me the opportunity to race. Huge thanks to MUD Cycles for sponsoring me and giving me huge amounts of help- and putting up with near daily visits with various questions.  The next on the list is Kim and Lisa; they have helped me out hugely- giving me various bits of advice, and believing in me. Last but not least are Mum and Dad; they take me out to all the races, deal with my teen girl problems and still manage to support and believe in me in a way that no one else can.

PNP MTB Spring Series Round4

The last time I raced in Belmont was in 2009; and some of my memories were somewhat less than pleasant. They mainly involved taking 2:39 to finish D Grade, lots of pine needles, and pushing my bike up Danzig as it (my bike) was completely clogged with mud. It’s safe to say that this time my memories will be of some awesome descents and gruelling climbs- so a hunk better.

I missed the official pre-ride, as I was working in the awesome shop known to many as Mud Cycles. But I was lucky enough to have Marco take me for a pre-ride of the B course.  The course was cool, and way different to what I was expecting – which as bad as it sounds was a great thing.

Wellington kindly put on its best winds for race day, which just added to the hectic excitement. With a cool course and cool competitors it was an awesome race. Although I didn’t make the podium I was happy with my 4^th place in the Open Women field.

The race was really well run, the guys at PNP did a good show- probably my favourite race in the series so far. Huge thanks to Bamba for the awesome trails, I’m excited for the building of new ones- they’ll be awesome. Thanks to Marco for the pre-ride, it’s definitely way better racing when you know what the course is like. A ginormous thanks to Mum and Dad, for all the support they give me, plus all the driving around. All the thanks in the world go to MUD Cycles for their amazing support, in sponsoring me and giving me a job. There’s an awesome crew of guys in there- you should head on down and check it (MUD) out.