Race Stage 1 – XC 3 laps around Bethunes tracks – 8th
This was a great blast, 3 laps of single track, the first part of each lap was up the road and then onto a climb up to the top of the trees before the traverse descent down to lap back to the entrance gate. My strength on the hill was great but I then gave up a few places on the fast singe track stuff, but then made my time up again each lap on the road and climb part of the laps – a great fun first sage, crash free!! Was 8th in this stage.
Race Stage 2 – Hill Climb – Bethunes entrance to Mt Cargill/Organ Pipes Intersection Summit – 4th to top 3rd Open Man
After about a 30 min rest from race one we started stage two to the top of the Mt Cargill walking track where it meets the organ pipes track. I was looking forward to this stage as I have been doing quite a bit of hill work and feel this is possibly one of my strengths. We were off with a blast and I quickly got myself into 4th and then just hammered all I had up the hill, constantly trying to pedal just that little bit harder and spin the pedals at a good pace, but one that I could sustain for the whole climb. I felt good (well “good” being working as hard as possible and sucking for oxygen with the legs pumping!) for the whole climb and got to the top in 28:44, which had me 4th to the top Behind Tony Hogg, Peter Green and Mickey Fan, An awesome climb to the top. It was then a cold misty wait for everyone to arrive before the down hill stage.
Race Stage 3 – Down Hill – Mt Cargill/Organ Pipes intersection to Carpark at bottom of the track. 17th open man
Well my tyre choice and pressure probably wasn’t ideal for the steep fast descent on pretty loose fresh gravel track. My “Mezcal semi slicks” didn’t offer the ideal traction slipping through the corners, and my conservative approach to the downhill saw me get down in 9:23, not as uick as I would like but with things like our wedding coming up I didn’t want to break any bones! A fast and fun descent. The fastest down hill rider was 7:03!
Overall a great race set up, I really enjoyed the XC stage and loved the hill climb,
Open Men’s results for me were
XC – 8th
Hill Climb – 3rd (4th to the top overall)
Downhill – 17th
The final results combined from all three stages had me finish 8th= open man for the day which I was really happy with
Below is the link to the MTB Otago website full results:
http://www.mountainbikingotago.co.nz/html/modules/news/article.php?storyid=72
This was a great blast, 3 laps of single track, the first part of each lap was up the road and then onto a climb up to the top of the trees before the traverse descent down to lap back to the entrance gate. My strength on the hill was great but I then gave up a few places on the fast singe track stuff, but then made my time up again each lap on the road and climb part of the laps – a great fun first sage, crash free!! Was 8th in this stage.
Race Stage 2 – Hill Climb – Bethunes entrance to Mt Cargill/Organ Pipes Intersection Summit – 4th to top 3rd Open Man
After about a 30 min rest from race one we started stage two to the top of the Mt Cargill walking track where it meets the organ pipes track. I was looking forward to this stage as I have been doing quite a bit of hill work and feel this is possibly one of my strengths. We were off with a blast and I quickly got myself into 4th and then just hammered all I had up the hill, constantly trying to pedal just that little bit harder and spin the pedals at a good pace, but one that I could sustain for the whole climb. I felt good (well “good” being working as hard as possible and sucking for oxygen with the legs pumping!) for the whole climb and got to the top in 28:44, which had me 4th to the top Behind Tony Hogg, Peter Green and Mickey Fan, An awesome climb to the top. It was then a cold misty wait for everyone to arrive before the down hill stage.
Race Stage 3 – Down Hill – Mt Cargill/Organ Pipes intersection to Carpark at bottom of the track. 17th open man
Well my tyre choice and pressure probably wasn’t ideal for the steep fast descent on pretty loose fresh gravel track. My “Mezcal semi slicks” didn’t offer the ideal traction slipping through the corners, and my conservative approach to the downhill saw me get down in 9:23, not as uick as I would like but with things like our wedding coming up I didn’t want to break any bones! A fast and fun descent. The fastest down hill rider was 7:03!
Overall a great race set up, I really enjoyed the XC stage and loved the hill climb,
Open Men’s results for me were
XC – 8th
Hill Climb – 3rd (4th to the top overall)
Downhill – 17th
The final results combined from all three stages had me finish 8th= open man for the day which I was really happy with
Below is the link to the MTB Otago website full results:
http://www.mountainbikingotago.co.nz/html/modules/news/article.php?storyid=72
