i forgot to introduce my new bike...

santa cruz trc

my new favourite!! 

Shimano XT 10 speed with Fox Kashima Forks,... what else could you wish for? ah yeah of course some of those flash new wheels...

Easton EC90 carbon

it's so fast and nimble, stable and sooooo much fun!! :)

plus the new wheels are the bomb too


all thanks to Santa Cruz New Zealand and Bike Culture

so here it is my new pride and joy and new best buddy in crime.

Huka XL 2011

wow what a day! i wasn't too sure if you was going to do the race as my form at the moment isn't what i would like it to be but i decided to do it anyway and see how i go as i just love this race and wouldn't really want to miss out on doing it, plus i was going to go for a ride anyway so why not in Taupo despite having to get up at 4.45am for it.
unfortunately the weather was anything but perfect for our race. the sun was out, apart from some clouds, and the temperature was nice and cool, so we were not going to roast out there on the course, but there was a rather strong wind blowing... it was all good until we got to the trails that were wiggling through rather old forest that was also fully exposed to the wind due to felling of other side of the hill side. the trees were groaning away above us and one actually came down just above three of us riding relatively close together. it's rather scary to hear that big noise of a falling tree just above you. i didn't really know what to do other then to try and not get squashed by it, but how? i was too much in shock to look up to see what direction it was going to fall to so i was just riding ahead hoping for the best. all three of us got away lucky as the tree landed between me and the guy behind me. we kept riding on half heatedly as we were in shock, i was wondering what had just happened and if it was a good idea to keep racing, realising that we could have just died. having the adrenalin pumping in a race is not uncommon but not for those reasons. for some reason i kept riding, probably because everyone else seemed to keep going so maybe it was the thing to do? and also i was not in the frame of mind to make decisions after our incident.
after a while i started getting back into the race swing and was pushing along nicely, it had taken me along time to warm up but i had expected that with my lack of form so i was pleased with how i was starting to feel as i was confident i was going to be ok for the duration of the race. every now and then, depending on where in the forest we where, i could hear some branches and also the odd tree falling, there were at least 4 that i heard fall and every time i cringed.
around 30km's in and out of the blue we got stopped at an intersection and got told that the race was being stopped, maybe we would restart in 30min but for now we would just have to wait. the area filled up rapidly with riders popping out of the trails from all directions. noone seemed too surprised or upset, disappointed of course but everyone could see that it was way to dangerous to keep going in these conditions. after a while we all rode to the main road to the chopper cafe and car park to find other groups of rides who had been stopped at different places in the forest. it was then that we all had to realise that the race really was over.
a weird day and race for everyone involved, race organisers, marshals, supporters as well as racers, i am sure we all hope it doesn't happen again and we will probably all remember this day.

'little' run through Tuhoto and Hatupatu

i have just come back from a really nice run through our great local forest here in Rotorua. i decided to venture up to the top of one of the bigger hills to scope out what condition Tuhoto Ariki and Hatupatu are in. and i decided that they are in perfect condition for riding, so next time i will take my bike up there. but then again i do enjoy running up there as i have more time to admire the huge variety of native flora and i have a better chance of seeing a few of the bird that are singing their songs.

on sunday we went for a fun ride in Taupo, we did the W2K track and Kawakawa Bay. the trails were in great condition, slightly loose on top to keep you in your toes. and the views there are just stunning, we could see right across  the lake to the volcanic mountains which still had some snow on them. mt ngauruhoe was half white half black, it look really cool, you could see where the sun had made an impact on the snow.
the weather was perfect for our ride, with a bit of wind to keep us cool. unfortunately we could only admire the water, we'll have to wait another little while until the lake is warm enough for a swim. a refreshing dip in the lake just makes for the perfect ending of a ride day, we had to make do with a delicious gelato instead :)

ok it's been a VERY long time since i have been doing any updating... yes i do feel bad!

what have i been up to?
- hibernating like a bear?
almost spot on haha, not quite no.  i have been enjoying some great skiing on Mt Ruapehu and have been throwing in a few rides on the drier days through winter so i wouldn't completely forget how to ride.

it's great to be back in summertime now, it means we are able to finish the day with a single trail ride (if it isn't pouring down, which is has been a lot lately) it must be the best way to finish a day, out in the forest watching the light change - or am i meant to watch where i am going instead?! :)
now we just need the weather to play it's part and we are away!
unfortunately it is rather wet at the moment and so is the forest and the trails. this called for some rides on my single speed, it is great fun too and there is no easy way up the hills which makes for some good training. i do admit it's not quite the same as riding my Santa Cruz TRc (what a bike!!).
i don't mind heading out for a run in this weather either. and you do get a special treat for heading out on a rainy day, you most likely get the forest all to yourself! don't get me wrong i love sharing the experience with my friends but it's pretty amazing to be the only one in this gigantic forest! (or at least it feels like no-one else is out)

ok better head out there, all this 'talking' about the forest makes me want to go there...

... more next time, who knows i might have found some sun by then?

Xterra 2011

Finally I get round to posting this, it feels like months have gone by since the race but it's not quite a week yet! I had intended to post this much earlier but I haven't had the time till now to get this done. So here it is, a bit about my Xterra 2011 experience :)

Rob and I were out on a cruisey run on sunday a week out from Xterra when we started talking about Xterra and about who we thought might be doing it and somehow over the course of the run (which was no longer then an hour) I changed my mind from being convince I was NOT going to do it, to 'oh well I might as well do it, what have I got to loose? Worst case I come last but I will most likely have a good time out there.'

So that gave me not quite a week to get ready which pretty much meant all I could do was getting my head around doing the event as doing training during the 5 days before the event wasn't going to make me any faster but rather slow me down more.

Unfortunately I am really not a swimmer and to be able to do well at Xterra you want to at least have an average swim time, not super slow like me, so there aren't quite as many people ahead going into the bike leg, which means there are less people you have to pass to keep up a good riding pace.

Another small thing was that I hadn't done much running and had only been on the bike once since the final race of the N-Duro Bike Vegas Summer Cup on 13 March, instead I did a couple of weeks of skiing in Canada (I could call it cross training to make it sound better? ;) Cross training or not it was great fun and it made me feel more at home on skies but less on my bike, hopefully just for the moment. I am also pretty sure I am going faster on my skies then on my bike. (or maybe this has something to do with the skiing being downhill? ;) )

And the last little hiccup was that I didn't feel too rested after having worked with 90 teenagers over the last two weeks, most of them where great kids though!

So long story short, I was ill prepared for the event but was looking forward to a fun day out there.

I was a bit nervous before the race, even though I told myself I was just doing it to have some fun. Luckily for me the event starts with the swim so the 'worst' part is over and done with early on, the down side to that is that if you swim (or whatever you want to call what I do) as slow as me you end up at the very back of the crowd when you start the ride and there are masses of people to pass.

I came out of the water pretty much last in my field and probably in the field overall. It was crazy the amount of people I saw in front of me when I finally got on the bike, I was trying to pass as many of them as I could and made up quite a bit of places. By the time I changed into my running shoes and started my first lap of two around Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) I was in third position, I was a little surprised to hear that and was hoping I could hold my place. I knew that I wasn't going to do a fast run as my overall fitness wasn't great so it was about making sure to hold an ok pace and keeping that lead to 4^th place which I managed to do.

There were heaps of spectators all around the lake cheering us on and having a good time which made it fun and entertaining, and the weather was just perfect, sunny and not too hot!

I am super stoked with getting 3^rd in the women Pro field behind Karen Hanlen (who won) and Susie Wood at this years Xterra and I might seriously consider going for a swim before the next one ;)

the perfect Sunday ride

we decided to head out to Whirinaki to ride the Moerangi track, here are a few pics:

it was well worth the trip as always :)

Bikevegas Summer MTB Cup Race 2

so last sunday we finally got to race the 2nd race of the N-duro Summer cup!
it was good to do a race again, it felt like it had been ages since the last one!
it was a nice hot and rather humid day (it was in the thirties!), i think most of us were struggling a little with the heat, well i was for sure. i was dreaming of jumping into the lake for  a refreshing swim  but there was none close enough, so the river crossing at end of the race was as close as i got to a swim, never mind it did help cool me down a little :)

the race start was delayed by half an hour so i ended up catching up with a few people, some i hadn't seen for ages so that was nice.
the race started with a few people getting tangled up in a crash, i was lucky enough to stay out of it but nevertheless had a really bad/slow start. i wasn't too worried about that as i knew the race didn't go straight into single trail so there was still time to get into a better position in the field. i gained a few spots on the first steep and rutted uphill before heading into Genesis for a bit of single trail action.  i had Karen Hanlen chasing me and knew i wasn't going to drop her easily, if at all. i was pushing hard and as a result felt the heat get to me ( having goose bumps due to the heat is not a pleasant or reassuring feeling) . there was quite a bit of single track in the race, these are the bits i look forward to the most and have the most amount of fun on. i was hoping to make a bit of ground on my competition in the single trail so was trying to keep a good pace while enjoying the flowy and fun trails. but soon we were back to gravel road climbing - up Direct Road all the way to Billy T - and i knew that Karen was going to chase me down (or 'up' shall i say?) i was passing a couple more guys and saw Garth Weinberg ahead of me, grinding up the hill, unfortunately he was too fast for me and i didn't manage to catch up to him (despite the fact that he was on his single speed). it wasn't until i was almost through Frontal Lobotomy that Karen got close to me again,  and she didn't catch me before heading into Billy T, it was my plan to try and stay ahead at least until the single track so i had a  free run down the fun trail (it was more or less a free run as there were a couple of guys i caught to up but they let me pass, thanks :) ). after Billy T we went back up the hill to Split Enz, it was nice to have had a bit of a breather down the trail so i felt semi recovered for the climb which was quite important as the next step was to keep in the lead going into the Split Enz and from there on it was more or less all single trail all the way back to the finish. i kept in front but Karen caught up once more just before heading into the single trail. i stayed in front and enjoyed the nice flowy single trails and managed to get a bit of a lead.
in the end it wasn't Karen (she got 3rd instead) who got 2nd behind me but Katie O'Neil, nice work! :)

Races are cancelled due to too much rain

the National DH race round 3 in Rotorua and N-Duro summer cup round 2 both scheduled to be on 23 Jan 2011 are cancelled!

... bugger! i have had this happen just once before, so i guess i am pretty lucky that it hasn't been more often. last time it was in Christchurch though so that was a bit more of a bumner as i had travelled all the way down there and was all amped to do the race (crater rim), but it rained ALL night and wouldn't stop raining (just like now!) and in the end the race was cancelled! we ended up watching dvds all day instead of being outside going hard on the bikes.

i understand why the race is cancelled and i do in some way think it's a good call, event though at the same time i really wanted to race today, i am sure there are a lot of people who feel the same way.
oh well, we will just have focus on the next race and go twice as hard there ;)

N-duro summer cup 2011, race 1

it feels really good to have the first race for the year out of the way and even better since i managed to stick to my plan and finish well.

it was great to get up this morning and find that the temperatures weren't as hot as they had been, it can get really hot on some of those climbs in the forest so i was prepared for some testing temperatures, but fortunately it never got quite that hot as a nice breeze kept us all a bit cooler.

the race field wasn't quite that big today, which i guess was because quite a few riders were at the first cross country race of this years national series which was in Tauranga. nevertheless there was a good number of riders who lined up on the start line eager to test their form. Dirk Peters took the lead right from the start and kept pushing his way further and further ahead of the rest of the riders who had no chance to keep his wheel, he finished with a huge gap to the next rider, awesome job!

i tried to push it from the start to try and get away from the other girls and stay away from too much trail congestion. from there the goal was to get a good lead, this is hard to judge though as you don't get to see the other riders unless they are right behind you so you can never tell how big the lead really is. i was feeling pretty good and was recovering well throughout the race, so it wasn't that hard to keep pushing ahead. i hadn't been doing that much riding over the last few weeks and was therefore a little unsure how the body was going to cope, so it was a nice surprise to find my form was ok.

thanks heaps to all those riders who i had little battles with along the way, it made it a great race :)

i am looking forward to the next race in two weeks.

holidays are nice :)

i hope you had as much fun over the christmas and new years time as we did. i thought i would post some images from a couple of walks we did. the first three are from Rainbow mountain and the rest from the Tongariro crossing.