La Zeta Bike, Jura Alp Cup #1

After last weeks disappointment at the BMC Cup in Tesserete I was aiming to ride strong for the full duration for this one. The race was the first round of the Jura Alp Cup near Neuchatel and was not the same level as a BMC Swiss Cup but still a tough race with some strong riders.

The course was nice with the majority on forest roads but there was also some good single trail. A start loop and then a big loop with the longest climb and then two laps of a shorter finishing circuit were the format with a total distance of 28km.

Round the start loop I stayed out of trouble near the front and then surged a bit to take the lead as we headed out onto the big first lap. For a while I held a small lead over a group of about five riders and was considering easing off and letting them catch up as I was just dangling off the front and not really making much progress. However the race favourite Martin Fanger made a move and although I was unable to hold his wheel  no one else came up with him so I was confident that I was stronger as they would almost certainly be up there if they were fast enough. Martin slowly eased away and with so much road riding on the course I wasn’t too disappointed when I was joined by local Road/MTB racer Nicolas Luthi. We worked well together although I did most of the pace setting as I was keen to keep away from the chasing pack and was also using the day as a hard training session.

Over the last quarter of the race I attacked several times but found it hard to hold any decent gap and each time Nicolas was able to come back. Realising I wasn’t going to be able to get away and it was most likely going to end in a sprint I slowed up a bit and he had a go at attacking me. I now had his wheel and was fairly confident I would be able to match him in the finish. Unfortunately it wasn’t to be, he kicked harder and I had to settle for third.

I am much more satisfied with this result. I still have a bit of work to do but I am on the right track. I am racing again next weekend at the BMC Racing Cup in Solothurn which will be a final hit out before my main target for this trip, the two World Cup rounds in May.

BMC Racing Cup - Tesserete

A completely new venue for me and one of the few times I have visited the lower Italian part of Switzerland. The course was very good and a lot of fun to ride. It didn’t seem too hard in practice with no real sustained climbing bit it did have several very steep short pinches. There were a lot of nice root and rock features with plenty of alternate lines for passing.

On Saturday the course was pretty dry with only the odd mud bog but the rain came down heavily all night soaking the track and making for some very tricky riding conditions for the morning races. By two when our race started it had mostly dried but the rain did leave some wet areas which as the race went on covered our bikes in thick heavy mud and made for pretty slow going. A couple of sections in particular where very bad and they killed the legs having to slog through each lap.

I had a great start sitting in or around the top 10 for the first three laps. The pace was very fast but I wasn’t feeling like it was impossible to hold it and was confident I could ride to a top 10 finish. The course was very demanding when ridden at race pace with little chance to recover. Because of the rain a couple of the steep climbs became virtually impossible to ride and we were forced to dismount and scramble cyclocross style to the top.

Unfortunately after a great first half of the race things unravelled badly on the 4^th lap with 2 laps remaining.  I crashed hard on a descent and this threw my rhythm completely. I blew up pretty badly and lost all my speed creeping round the track for the next lap and very close to pulling the pin. I forced myself to carry on to the end and did improve slightly on the last lap finishing in 30^th place.

So not the best start, however there a lot of positives I can take from this one and I have already moved on and am focusing on the upcoming races. I will be back in action again this weekend and will be looking to put together a more complete race.

Switzerland, Take 3.

I am now 3 days into my Swiss trip, currently based in Glarus enjoying the hospitality of Rudy Hauser. This year I am going to be here for just over two months and will pack in as much racing as I can including two World Cup rounds. One in the Czech Republic and the other in France. This will be my third year coming over to Europe for the European racing experience and I am hoping that after a couple of years learning the ropes I can get down and start getting some good results. Glarus looks like it will be an ideal location to stay with great training terrain. There is no shortage of climbing with mountains on either side of the flat valley floor and good single track coming back down, (going uphill is mostly done on road because the hills are so steep making the single trail almost impossible to climb).

Arriving in Zurich to be greeted by a freezing 6 degrees and rain had me wondering what I was in for but I have been assured that this isn’t usual for this time of year and things should warm up again soon. Fingers crossed!

So my first ride was pretty chilly, luckily there are so many climbs around to warm up on although going down is a different story. It was gently snowing near the top of the climb we did which was pretty cool and heading back down over the damp rocks and roots was tricky with some loose moments. The trails are definitely not like Rotorua around here and it takes awhile to adjust to the skills required to make it down in one piece. By the finish my face had begun to go numb and even though I enjoyed the ride I was glad to have a shower and warm up again.

My first race is this Sunday at the second round of the BMC Swiss Cup in Tesserete. I have come off the NZ season in good condition and after having a short rest I am feeling nice and refreshed and am certainly not lacking motivation. It will be a good test of my current form, can’t wait.

Oceania Champs

Having a big race like the Oceanias on home tracks doesn’t happen too often so I was pretty excited about this one and had been looking forward to it for a long time. In preparation I had ridden countless laps of the course so knew it very well. It was a deceptively hard track to race on because although it didn’t have a lot of sustained climbing, it was packed with small rises and pinches that wore the legs down and offered little respite. Technically it was very easy with the exception of the specially built rock garden descent which claimed a few victims both in the lead up to the race and during. With the home advantage I was looking to perform well and keen to add the U23 Oceania title to the NZ Champs win earlier in the summer.

The race went perfectly. I managed to take the lead pretty much from the gun and was able to set the pace up the first climb, Nursery hill. Tom Bradshaw took the lead briefly on the next little climb but I made sure I was back in front going into the first single trail descent. It took a while to shake the chasers but by about halfway through the first lap I had forced open a slight gap. It took a couple of laps to get a safer margin with Australian Cameron Ivory chasing hard. But by gaining a handful of seconds here and there and then pushing out a strong final lap I eventually finished with a winning margin of just under 2mins.

The crowd out supporting the race was huge by NZ standards and the atmosphere in the hotspots up Nursery hill and down the rock garden was awesome. This will definitely go down as one of my favourite races and it was great to be able to deliver the win at home in Rotorua.

So it was a pretty good weekend and helped cap what has probably been my most successful summer of racing in NZ. Thanks to everyone who has helped me out this year and all the support along the way. It is now time for a short break and then I will set my sights on my next overseas campaign.

NZ CUP # 4 Napier

The final NZ Nationals show down for the year.

Napiers track was a bit different to the others, mainly because it wasn’t as naturally selective. The main climb was very steep but apart from that it was a fast course without any real technical elements. This meant it was going to be a tough race as everyone would be a lot closer and the time differences at the finish were likely to be pretty small. We normally expect dry and dusty conditions in Napier but with a fair bit of rain in the week prior, conditions were almost perfect with plenty of grip.

For the first few laps it was a very tight race, with Mikey, Carl and myself riding off the front. I don’t think any of us had enough of an edge to go for the long haul and so it became quite a tactical battle with yo-yoing of the pace for nearly half of the race. At times we were strung out as someone put in an attack and then the next minute back to a steady cruise waiting for the next move to come. We haven’t had such a close race all year so it was very exciting and testing in different ways to previous encounters.

With three laps completed and another three to come I decided I had to back myself and go for the win. We hit the climb and I was second wheel behind Mikey. The steepest part came at the beginning and it eased off after about halfway. I waited until the gradient lessened a bit and then banged the chain into the big ring and went for it. It proved to be the decisive move and I was able to open up a gap & lead over the top. I really went for it and by the end of the lap had about 30secs, which I knew would be enough on this course. Keeping the gas on for the penultimate lap increased the lead a bit more and from there I only had to make it over the climb to take the win.

With the first place in Napier I also took out the overall title for the NZ Cup, with two Firsts and a Second proving to be the most consistent for the series.

NZ CUP # 3 Wellington.

It’s been couple of years since I last raced at Mount Vic so it was good to be back. It is always a tough venue with a lot of climbing and some good single trail sections that keep riders on the edge due to their often rooty and narrow nature. Because the weather had been so dry in the preceding days it was also quite dusty in places. The course was put together really well. A couple of long several minute climbs early on in the lap tested the legs and there was also a super steep Mount Vic trade mark pinch climb thrown in as well. I enjoyed it and felt I could do well and with the added incentive of my first outing in the National Champs jersey I was looking to have a good
race.

The pace wasn’t very fast early on and everyone was still pretty much together for the most of the first lap. Near the top of the second climb I moved to the front to drive the pace a bit and managed to get a gap going into the next downhill section. I hadn’t intended on going so early but decided to make the most of the opportunity and keep up the momentum. After the first lap I had a small 10sec advantage. It is always good when you can disappear and stay out of site of the chasing riders and I worked hard to increase my lead. I wasn’t able to clear out big time but by the middle of the race things had settled down and I had a decent buffer. Six laps out in front was hard going though and I was starting to tire as we moved into the last stages of the race. I lost a bit of time to Mikey who was chasing hard in second place near the end but was reasonably safe and held him off by just over 20seconds.This was a pretty satisfying result and I will be working hard to have a good one at the final round of the NZ Cup this weekend in Napier.

2012 National Championships

The previous years National Champs in Dunedin hadn’t gone the way I wanted them to, but I had made sure I learnt from my mistakes for this one. Nelson has always been a good track for me and I was feeling very confident that I would be able to put together a good race. It is one of the rougher courses we race on and it seems to suit my style of riding pretty well. Conditions were extremely dry and the trail surface was very loose, with a lot of small rocks and plenty of dust. And it was hot!

We started at a steady pace and I slotted in behind Mikey and Carl for the first downhill. Mikey was off to a flyer and quickly opened up a little lead. I was behind Carl so couldn’t do much about it but wasn’t too worried, as I was expecting it to be quite close for the early part of the race at least. Coming down the second main downhill, Carl washed out in front of me and suddenly the race was wide open. I quickly closed the gap to Mikey and then as I was feeling pretty good took the opportunity and moved into the lead. My legs had that extra bit of speed that I have been lacking for a while and it felt so good to be riding out in front of a race again. Knowing that I had the advantage in the single trail sections which made up the majority of the course, I smashed it up the main road climb to open up a decent gap. There were several parts around the track where I could monitor the others’ progress and it was pleasing to first see that I was increasing my advantage, and then after several more laps move into a comfortable lead.

From there I was able to settle in and enjoy the rest of the race, focussing on keeping things smooth and controlled so I didn’t throw the win away with a careless mistake. The heat did start to get to me a bit on the last lap with a bit of cramp kicking in but nothing too bad. Coming into the finish to take the win in the Elite Mens race was such a great feeling and this will definitely go down as one of my most enjoyable days out on the bike.

Thanks everyone for your support. I am looking forward to getting out and racing in the National Champs Jersey this year and will definitely be making the most of it.