If you have heard anything about the track that was used for the recent Oceania Championships in New Zealand, you will probably understand where this first paragraph is headed. It was a proper XC track. Not a track you would take grandma on to show her how to ride a mountain bike. It didn’t take you on a leisurely meander to the top of the hill, where you could then take a sip of water, admire the view and drop into a flowing descent down to the local coffee shop. It was steep and littered with roots, and if you put your wheel a few centimetres off line you would be left looking like you were practising yoga. And that was just the climb! In the dry it really isn’t too bad as long as you do hit your lines. But it can be another story in the wet, with thousand of roots all wanting to play something akin to whack-a-mole; where the mole is the rider and instead of having to do any whacking, the roots just wait for your arrival! The lower half of the track wasn’t as bad or good depending what your view on life is, but it was still pretty fun to ride.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQ7eneOy3OE
I was feeling confident, but also unsure, coming into this race. I haven’t had a full XC under my belt so far this season, with most races getting to about the 40min mark before I ran out of energy. I changed a few things leading up to the race and although it usually isn’t the best practice to change your pre-race routine on your ‘A’ races, if things aren’t working there is no point sticking to them.
The numbers were down for this year’s Oceania’s race with only 16 starters in the U23 men’s field. So if you were to have any troubles at the start, you would be straight out the back. You guessed it, I had troubles out the start. I struggled to clip in for most of the start straight and up the first road section I was last and boxed in, and losing ground fast to those up front. I pushed my way though a few people and made up a couple of places but was still caught behind a slower rider. Heading up the main single-track climb, It was proving difficult to pass him and we were losing the lead group very quickly. I tried to keep calm though and when we got to a more open hairpin turn I cut up the inside and made the pass. Over the top of the climb and down the main descent, I was caught behind another few riders and it wasn’t till the feed zone that I could get past. I spent most of the lower section trying to close a gap down on Chris Aitkin and Scott Bowden. I was using up a lot of energy but eventually I caught them at the beginning of the small climbs and false flats that would take us up to the finish. I sat behind Chris for the rest of the lap and nearing the top of the single-track climb on the second lap, I attacked him and Jack Lavis and pulled out a gap on the descent. The next lap went a similar way with me pulling a gap on the descent but this time Chris caught me on the lower sections climbing and pulled a gap. The rest of the race went smoothly from there, with positions staying relitively the same. So at the end I finished in 10th with some good UCI points, but more importantly a full XC race in the bag and a better understanding of where I’m at leading into the next block of training for Europe in 6 weeks!
Overall, it was a great weekend away, with an awesome course and a relaxed atmosphere. The other Aussies had some great results, which you can view by clicking here!