Down South

Since the Bluff race on the 6^th I have stayed down in the South island on a training camp with the team, training hard making the most of what the deep south has to offer in the way of riding.

First up we spent a few days in Dunedin where we caught up with kashi Leuchs. It was great to talk with him about the season ahead and we picked up a lot of valuable advice. We also managed to rope Tom Bradshaw in to act as tour guide showing us some of Dunedins best trails and despite the threatening forecasts the weather was surprisingly kind.

 

 

Over the last week we have been living it up in Queenstown, based out of Glenorchy. The riding has been amazing and the climbing miles have been stacking up after some pretty epic days in the mountains. The trails are so different compared to back home in Rotorua and the skills have been getting a good work out. Riding out of the comfort zone has been a good way to speed up the adjustment process to the new Super Fly and I am really enjoying pushing the pace now that I’ve got the hang of it.

 

We have a few more days left in the South with a busy schedule of riding and a race in Nelson before we head back home on Monday.

2013

The 2013 season has come with some big changes with a new team and new partners. NZXC Racing has been formed to help develop New Zealands Cross country Mountain Bike athletes achieve international success and I am proud to be a part of the team in its debut year.

This makes for exciting times with new equipment and products to adjust to with the major difference being the bike. Moving from the Santacruz full suspension across to a Trek 29er Superfly Hardtail has been an interesting experience but I am looking forward to putting the new bike through its paces and getting fully adjusted to it over the NZ season.

I would like to thank Mike Stylianou at Hyperformance Hardwear and Santacruz NZ for the support I have received over the last few years. I have come a long way since Stylie first began coaching me in 2007, moving on to support with Santacruz in 2009 and his help has played a big part in my achievements to date. 

New bike, Trek Superfly.

The racing kicked off for the year with the first round of the New Zealand Cup in Bluff this weekend. I hadn’t raced there before so it was nice to compete at a new venue.  The track was quite a long one with 20min+ race lap times. The highlight of the course was the long rocky descent which was pretty tricky when hit at full speed.

I had a solid day starting well and establishing a lead after the first laps which I was able to consolidate through the race winning comfortably in the end over team mate Carl Jones.

The new bike was great, performing well on the climb and the big wheels helped on the downhill rolling comfortably through the numerous rock gardens and flowing berm sections. It was also a perfect start for NZXC Racing with Carl and I going 1,2 in the Elite Men and Amber Johnston taking out the Junior womens race.

The team at the top of Bluff Hill.

 

 

 

2012 Mountain Bike World Championships, Saalfelden Austria.

World Champs are now over for another year. The “Worlds” are the pinnacle event of the season with everybody in top shape and hunting for a result to satisfy their personal goals. Myself and team mate Tom Bradshaw had the misfortune to pick up the flu in the lead up so I wasn’t in top shape but was looking to get through as well as possible. The track wasn’t overly difficult physically or technically but would be good for racing with heaps of passing opportunities. The week’s weather had generally been fine so the majority of the course was dry except for the forest sections at the top end which were still damp. It was a bit sketchy here and made it more interesting but wasn’t a large enough part of the track to make a major difference.

I hadn’t felt great the day before and during the warm up could tell it would be a difficult race. But I had a surprisingly strong start, out performing my often poor beginnings coming through in 23^rd after the start lap. I was really forcing it though and after the first full lap had dropped back to 26th. I wasn’t feeling too flash on the long strength climb at the beginning of the lap losing big ground to the riders around me. Through the forest sections at the top end of the course I could hold my own by taking risks on the descents but would again lose ground on the second major uphill on the tarseal back up into the forest in the second half of the lap. I yo yoed around in the mid 20s the whole race holding my own in the slippery stuff but out in the open on the fast drag climbs the pace was too much. I was unable to hold off several riders over the last two laps but wasn’t too displeased in the end to take 28^th as it could easily have been a lot worse.

It is frustrating when you fall below your personal expectations but it is also hugely motivating. I am determined to improve next year and already have a lot of ideas on how it’s going to happen. The World Champs are always an awesome experience and this year was no different. Living with the NZ team and catching up and making new friends with people from all round the world. The race may not have gone the way I wanted it to but I still had a great time and will make sure I am back next year in South Africa.

Photos courtesy of Marius Maasewerd.

 

Switzerland, BMC Cup Basel/Muttenz

Well I have been back in Switzerland for just over a week. The weather has so far been awesome with plenty of days over 30 degrees and only two days with rain and one of them was on the drive across from Munich Airport.  

 

Morning training ride.

Training has been pretty good and I have enjoyed reacquainting myself with the technical Swiss single trails. I spent the first few days in Brot Plamboz near Nuchatel at Jeromes house. It was good to catch up with him and Patrick and I had a good time there riding on the quiet roads and dry forest trails. I also spent quite a lot of time escaping the heat by cooling off down at the lake.

Via Ferrata with Jerome.

On Friday I travelled to Pascal's house in Basel for the final round of the BMC CUP nearby in Muttenz. A strong field turned up so it was raced at a fast pace. The Muttenz race is unique, held on a very flat course with only 50m of climbing per lap. With so much flat terrain it plays out in a similar way to a road race with groups forming early on and it is very hard to make up ground to the next bunch with so little decisive climbing to split things up. Also it is deceptively physical because with the lack of altitude gain there is also not much descending so there is not a lot of chance to recover. My result wasn’t amazing, ending up in 36^th position. But the time spent suffering at race pace should wake up the legs and help build the form for worlds.

Start loop.

I will spend two more days here in Switzerland staying in Thal before driving across to Austria to stay near the Worlds Champs course on Wednesday.

July Update.

I have not long been back from my two month racing foray in Europe. There were plenty of highlights and I was generally pleased with my performances and happy with the progress made from the previous season. The best part for me was my race at the Czech Republic World Cup where I made it into 14th place and proved to myself that if all goes right, I have the speed to finish inside the top 10 at under 23 level.

A few photos from my trip:

Up in the snow above Glarus.

 

Glarus the Swiss town where I spent the majority of my time.

Czech countryside around Bystre where we stayed for the Nove Mesto Na Morave World Cup round.

Snow in La Bresse two days before the French World Cup race.

Rudy feeding the Fox up at the Mountain house.

Shuttling Swiss style.

Trail ride near Chur on the Nomad Carbon.

Bern.

Training on Klausen Pass.

Perch fishing.

I wasn’t totally looking forward to heading back to NZ in mid winter (being the first winter spent in NZ for 2 years) but have been surprised with how good the weather has been since being home. Fingers crossed it stays that way as so far it has been perfect for training. The focus is on stepping up and working hard to improve on weaknesses identified over the last trip in order to come into World Champs in the best possible shape.

Working big hours over the first couple of weeks at home I was able to top up the funds a bit and with support from the Rotorua MTB Club and part time work over the next 5 weeks I will be able to head over to this years World Championships being held in Saafelden, Austria. All up this will be a shorter trip of three and a half weeks and will include the final round of the Swiss BMC Cup series in Muttenz to hone the form before the big one less than two weeks later.

BMC RACING CUP GRANICHEN

My final race was also a big one with probably the best field I have raced against this trip with most of the top twenty Elite riders in the world turning up to get in a final hit out before the American World Cup rounds.

I travelled early to Granichen on Wednesday so that I could get in some good practice on the course and was able to get to know it pretty well by race day. We had an average week with lots of rain but the good weather turned up with super hot sunny days for the weekend.Thankfully most of the track was under tree cover which offered a bit of respite but with 8 laps of a 4.5km course it was going to be a testing day.

The race started off with an approx 2min climb and then hit the first section of single trail very early so it was a bit hectic with lots of dodgy suicide passing on the insides of corners and close quarter racing as everyone tried to ride several rides abreast down the narrow trail. I wasn’t supper happy with my position after this but it wasn’t too bad and after gaining a couple more places round the first two laps I was sitting just inside the top 30. I ended up in a small group which stayed pretty much together for the majority of the race.

I rode quite consistently enjoying the course which was quite a good one and not too dissimilar to what we race on in NZ. I did find the pace tough through the mid section and had to dig deep to hold the wheels and stay with the group on the climbs. I was able to recover a bit and when I saw that the two riders I was with were starting to suffer a bit more than me midway through the 2nd to last lap I made a big effort to  drop them and try and gain a few more positions. I was able to catch another rider from up ahead but was also overtaken by someone else and coming into the finish I was fighting with one of the guys from my bunch right to the line. I was able to hold him off in the sprint and so finished up with 27th place overall and was close to the U23 podium with a 4th place finish. So a solid end to my trip. Big thanks to the Gemperle family for their hospitality this week and help at the race.

Swiss Bike Trophy

The race in Bern is a really cool event, the Gurten park overlooking the city is a pretty unique venue and it always draws a top field of Internationals and of course the best Swiss riders. The course was fast without much technical difficulty but it did have a really nice downhill with heaps of berms and a few jumps that reminded me a lot of home.

We had some rain in the morning but it stopped several hours before our race and the course dried out a fair bit so pretty much everyone showed up at the start with their dry tyres on. However before we had even finished the first lap the rain turned up again and the course deteriorated quickly and got worse as the race went on. The dry tyres caused plenty of loose moments and I was lucky to get away with just a crash into a padded tree avoiding any serious damage but also went through the tape twice on the same off camber grass corner. We also had to do some running with a new section of track purpose built for the event becoming super greasy and although I tried there was no way I was getting up it with the tyres I had on. Even running up it was hard enough. Normally I enjoy riding in challenging conditions like this but this time it was a tough day and I never really got going. I just didn’t have the legs and struggled not feeling my usual self particularly on the climbs where I was unable to get into any decent rhythm. I ended up 29th which wasn’t a disaster considering how I felt but definitely not what I was after coming into it.