This weekend I headed over to Waiheke Island to compete in a 4 hour team relay event. The Waiheke MTB club has held this event for the a number of years in the past and this year I decided it was time I gave it a go! I roped my two brothers into joining me to make a three person team. Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, we had an early start to catch the ferry at 8am. On the ferry we met up with a number of fellow riders also competing, so we all went in convoy to the track which was about 30mins away from the ferry dropoff point. It was a beautiful day and by the time we started racing it was scorching hot! The track was a 15-20 min loop with a killer uphill then some nice flowy, but tight downhill, it was a pretty cool track, real tiring in the heat though! There was a good turnout at the event with a number of teams as well as quite a few riding solo! Mad respect for the solo's it would have been tough work doing lap after lap in that heat!
I had heaps of fun, (when my legs weren't burning!) with only three of us in my team I'd only just have time to catch my breath and recover then I'd have to go out again (although I certainly had it easier than the solo's!), over the 4 hours I did 5 laps giving it my all each time. It was an fun day and our team Bethells on Bike's took out the mixed open catergory. :) With Peter completing our final lap with 20 seconds to spare!! Thanks a lot to Waiheke MTB Club and all the organisers for putting on an awesome relay event.
I'd like to thank Schwalbe NZ and Morgan Blue for supporting me along the way. I raced at Waiheke on my brand new pair of Rocket Ron tires, so stoked with them, they certainly are like rockets! Fast rolling as well grippy on the corners, tires I know I can trust to give me an edge. Also thanks to Morgan Blue for the cleaning products, my chain ran super smoothly thanks to the Syn lube.
Next race on the agenda NZDH round at Hunua! :)
Sunday 2 December 2012
Wednesday 28 November 2012
NZDH Taupo Downhill Race
Hey everyone, been a while since I've updated so here goes! Since I got back from Europe I've been straight back into working and training. New Zealand National cups and Champs are coming up in January-February so I am training hard and getting on my downhill bike every opportunity I get. A few weekends ago I went down to Taupo for an NZDH Race, went down on Friday so I could walk the track, haven't ridden that track before so I was real excited to ride a new track. It was super hot and sunny. :) The track was pretty straightforward, had quite a few jumps, some open sections and some really tight corners through the forest (my fave!). I just got myself a pair of clip in pedals a week or so before the race so I was pretty excited to give them a go, I've always run clips on my cross country bike but have been reluctant clip in on my downhill bike. I've realised now though that clipping in will be not only faster but also more efficient. Despite beautiful weather on Friday afternoon, Saturday dawned cloudy and damp, it was just a drizzle at first but as the day went on it poured down and the track went from nice and grippy to a mud bath! Come race runs in the afternoon it was cold and wet, despite the conditions I had heaps of fun and put together two clean race runs, which put in first place in my category. :) I was a bit nervous about riding clipped in for the first time in wet muddy conditions but it was all good and I hardly even noticed that I was clipped in! On the pedally bits though they definitely made a huge difference because I was able sprint much more efficiently and my speed up way faster. It was a good day despite the cold and wet, thanks to the Taupo MTB club and all the organisers for putting on a great event!
Tuesday 18 September 2012
Norway World Cup
I just competed in the final world cup race in Norway, my last race in Europe. What an awesome race it was and the best way to finish my trip round Europe. I qualified for the first time at a World Cup! So stoked.
After a long trip, three days of driving in total, I arrived in Hafjell, Norway for the world cup. The weather was a huge change from what I've gotten used to in Europe, it was very cold, wet and windy! Wednesday was track walk, another new track to ride, I was so excited! The track was pretty insane, it was definitly going to be a good challenge for me. There were four big jumps at the very beginning of the track which I took one look at and thought 'woah!' they were huge! The rest of track was pretty technical with loads of rocks and roots and some really nice berms in between. There was a huge rock garden named the "rock jungle" and another further down, my first thoughts were how on earth am I going to ride over these rocks! There was no smooth, safe line through them, I was gonna have to ride right over the top of them all! This track was for sure the most technical track I'd ridden all season. Although in saying that there were also some real fast sections in between the technical bits.
I had one day and a half of practice, then qualifying on Friday afternoon. The first day of practice the weather was mint, it was super cold but the track was dry. After the first day of practice I had the track dialled. I amazed myself by hitting all four of the big jumps at the top, I was so stoked as I had originally thought there was no way I could do them. The rock gardens became less scary each time I rode them and got over them. By the end of the day I was feeling pretty good on the track a long as I didn't stop as think about what I was riding over!
The next day produced some challenges, it poured with rain overnight I was
pretty nervous about riding the rocks and roots after all the rain. I needn't have been worried though as it was all good and I managed to ride everything just fine, by the time we had qualifying the track had dried out a lot. I got a bit too excited for my run and got pretty wild through the rock gardens and over the jumps, but somehow I managed to stay on my bike and I come in 18th. I made the top 20 women so I qualified to race the world cup! I was so happy, as it was the first time I qualified to race a world cup! I knew for sure I could make up some time on my race run as in qualifying I missed a few of my lines with this in mind I did a few practice runs Saturday morning riding my lines trying to be as smooth and fast as I could. Race day was nice and sunny for a change although there was a chill in the air making warming up vital. I was pretty relaxed and feeling confident on the track come my race run. I put together a great run, kept it clean, smooth and gave it my all. I ended up 16th two spots up from qualifying so I was stoked! :) I am so happy to have ended my trip on such a high. I've learnt so much during these last two months and I'm so looking forward to coming over next year to keep chasing my dream of being a pro downhill rider. :)
After a long trip, three days of driving in total, I arrived in Hafjell, Norway for the world cup. The weather was a huge change from what I've gotten used to in Europe, it was very cold, wet and windy! Wednesday was track walk, another new track to ride, I was so excited! The track was pretty insane, it was definitly going to be a good challenge for me. There were four big jumps at the very beginning of the track which I took one look at and thought 'woah!' they were huge! The rest of track was pretty technical with loads of rocks and roots and some really nice berms in between. There was a huge rock garden named the "rock jungle" and another further down, my first thoughts were how on earth am I going to ride over these rocks! There was no smooth, safe line through them, I was gonna have to ride right over the top of them all! This track was for sure the most technical track I'd ridden all season. Although in saying that there were also some real fast sections in between the technical bits.
I had one day and a half of practice, then qualifying on Friday afternoon. The first day of practice the weather was mint, it was super cold but the track was dry. After the first day of practice I had the track dialled. I amazed myself by hitting all four of the big jumps at the top, I was so stoked as I had originally thought there was no way I could do them. The rock gardens became less scary each time I rode them and got over them. By the end of the day I was feeling pretty good on the track a long as I didn't stop as think about what I was riding over!
The next day produced some challenges, it poured with rain overnight I was
pretty nervous about riding the rocks and roots after all the rain. I needn't have been worried though as it was all good and I managed to ride everything just fine, by the time we had qualifying the track had dried out a lot. I got a bit too excited for my run and got pretty wild through the rock gardens and over the jumps, but somehow I managed to stay on my bike and I come in 18th. I made the top 20 women so I qualified to race the world cup! I was so happy, as it was the first time I qualified to race a world cup! I knew for sure I could make up some time on my race run as in qualifying I missed a few of my lines with this in mind I did a few practice runs Saturday morning riding my lines trying to be as smooth and fast as I could. Race day was nice and sunny for a change although there was a chill in the air making warming up vital. I was pretty relaxed and feeling confident on the track come my race run. I put together a great run, kept it clean, smooth and gave it my all. I ended up 16th two spots up from qualifying so I was stoked! :) I am so happy to have ended my trip on such a high. I've learnt so much during these last two months and I'm so looking forward to coming over next year to keep chasing my dream of being a pro downhill rider. :)
Tuesday 11 September 2012
2012 Austria World Champs
What an intense week! 2012 Downhill World Champs are done and dusted for another year. Last Tuesday after a long drive from Morzine, I arrived in Leogang, Austria for the biggest downhill race of the year, World Championships! I was so excited to be part of the NZ team again, and stoked
to be able race and represent NZ.
Wednesday was spent chilling and making sure all our bikes were good to go for practice on Thursday afternoon. The next morning we had 'track walk', I was excited to see what it would be like. The track was pretty mint, and had quite a few open pedally sections in the middle with heaps of table top jumps. Then some rooty sections through trees and lots of berms in the top section. Overall it was a pretty cool track, which was going to be really fast. After track walk, I got to ride it. Practice went well, the track was pretty loose due to being so dry and gravelly, but heaps of fun! I loved it!
Come Friday the weather changed completely, I woke up in the morning to the sound of rain on the roof. Outside there was snow on the tips of the mountains! Definatly time for a change of tires. I was pleasantly surprised to find the the track much easier to ride than I expected and my dirty dan
Schwalbe tires hooked real well in the mud! Despite it being super muddy, because the track was quite gravelly, it wasn't so slippery. It rained throughout practice on Friday, and was so much fun! I love riding in the mud. By the end of the day I had the track almost dialled, I had hit most of the jumps and was feeling pretty good about the track despite the rain.
to be able race and represent NZ.
Wednesday was spent chilling and making sure all our bikes were good to go for practice on Thursday afternoon. The next morning we had 'track walk', I was excited to see what it would be like. The track was pretty mint, and had quite a few open pedally sections in the middle with heaps of table top jumps. Then some rooty sections through trees and lots of berms in the top section. Overall it was a pretty cool track, which was going to be really fast. After track walk, I got to ride it. Practice went well, the track was pretty loose due to being so dry and gravelly, but heaps of fun! I loved it!
Come Friday the weather changed completely, I woke up in the morning to the sound of rain on the roof. Outside there was snow on the tips of the mountains! Definatly time for a change of tires. I was pleasantly surprised to find the the track much easier to ride than I expected and my dirty dan
Schwalbe tires hooked real well in the mud! Despite it being super muddy, because the track was quite gravelly, it wasn't so slippery. It rained throughout practice on Friday, and was so much fun! I love riding in the mud. By the end of the day I had the track almost dialled, I had hit most of the jumps and was feeling pretty good about the track despite the rain.
Saturday we had practice in the morning and timed runs in the afternoon. The track was still really muddy but luckily the rain had eased off with only a few showers throughout the day. I sussed out the last few jumps I wanted to hit on Saturday morning in time for my timed run. I didn't put together the best run in timed practice but all good I knew I could make up some time on my race run.
Sunday morning dawned bright and clear with no sign of rain. I did a few runs in the morning to get the feel of the track riding all my lines. Because the rain had stopped the track got quite gluggy, I decided to keep my mud tires on because it was still pretty muddy. The sun decided to come
out mid morning and it got hot real quick, such a huge change from the weather on Friday and Saturday. Between my practice runs and race run I had about a four hour wait, so I chilled out and prepped for my race run. Due to the sun the track was drying out pretty fast so I decided to change my tires back to my dry tires, they would roll way faster on the gravelly section in the middle. It was lucky I did change them because come my race run the track had dried out so much from all the juniors riding it before us.
Then it was time for my race run, I couldn't wait to race it was finally the day I'd been preparing for, for so long. My run went really well I rode all my lines well, I only got a little out of control over a few jumps because I pushing myself extra hard but I stayed on the bike and got down with a clean
run so I was stoked! Ended up 24th in Elite Women, I was so stoked! :)
I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who's helped me get to where I am. A big thank you to Auckland Downhill Club for all the support you've given me. Thanks to everyone at Avanti Plus Waitakere for all the work you've done on my bike. Thanks to Craig at Hobsonville Physio for helping me out when needed. Thanks to the NZ team managers Vicki and Jeremey, for everything and Northern, our mechanic for looking after my bike. Thanks to my family for the continuos support your've given me over the years and thanks to everyone else who has helped me out along the way.
Now I'm in Hafjell, Norway to race the last World Cup round, tommorow I've got track walk can't wait to see what the tracks like! :)
Monday 20 August 2012
Wiriehorn Swiss Cup
What a weekend! Travelled from Morzine, France to Wiriehorn, Switzerland
last Thursday for a Swiss cup race. It was quite a long drive because we got
a bit lost along the way... But eventually we got there! :) The weather was
crazy there it was so hot about 40 degrees!! It was pretty hard to ride and
race in that heat but luckily there was a river right next to the track so
when it got to hot I just jumped into the river.
Friday we walked the track, it was very different to tracks I've seen over
here it wasn't as steep and mostly single track with about a 200m slight
uphill sprint in the middle! On first glance I thought the track would be
pretty straight forward to ride and I would just be trying to keep up the
speed ad keep off the brakes. I was mistaken, after a run I realised this
track was going to be a challenge to race. Even though it wasn't so
technical the track didn't flow so well and felt a bit awkward in some
places. It was a good challenge for me to try get flow to put together a
smooth and fast race run.
I had a few hiccups over the weekend two flat tires and a broken seat after
I took a rag but luckily nothing major! I had a blowout in my seeding run so
didn't seed very well. Race day came sunny and so hot!! Unfortunately I
didn't get in as many practice runs before my race as I would have liked as
I got a flat tire.
I put together a pretty good run though and was pretty happy with it,
followed all my lines and kept it clean. Ended up in 7th place so yeah
stoked.
On another note so happy to say that I have made the 2012 NZ downhill team
to race at the world championships in Leogang, Austria. Next weekend I'll be
travelling from Morzine to Austria to meet up with the rest of the team.
Can't wait to race and represent NZ at the worlds!! :D
last Thursday for a Swiss cup race. It was quite a long drive because we got
a bit lost along the way... But eventually we got there! :) The weather was
crazy there it was so hot about 40 degrees!! It was pretty hard to ride and
race in that heat but luckily there was a river right next to the track so
when it got to hot I just jumped into the river.
Friday we walked the track, it was very different to tracks I've seen over
here it wasn't as steep and mostly single track with about a 200m slight
uphill sprint in the middle! On first glance I thought the track would be
pretty straight forward to ride and I would just be trying to keep up the
speed ad keep off the brakes. I was mistaken, after a run I realised this
track was going to be a challenge to race. Even though it wasn't so
technical the track didn't flow so well and felt a bit awkward in some
places. It was a good challenge for me to try get flow to put together a
smooth and fast race run.
I had a few hiccups over the weekend two flat tires and a broken seat after
I took a rag but luckily nothing major! I had a blowout in my seeding run so
didn't seed very well. Race day came sunny and so hot!! Unfortunately I
didn't get in as many practice runs before my race as I would have liked as
I got a flat tire.
I put together a pretty good run though and was pretty happy with it,
followed all my lines and kept it clean. Ended up in 7th place so yeah
stoked.
On another note so happy to say that I have made the 2012 NZ downhill team
to race at the world championships in Leogang, Austria. Next weekend I'll be
travelling from Morzine to Austria to meet up with the rest of the team.
Can't wait to race and represent NZ at the worlds!! :D
Monday 13 August 2012
Europe Update
It's been so long since I posted, each time I go to post the internet keepsfailing on me! So here's a recap on how my trip's going so far in Europe.
It is so exciting to be back here in Morzine, France, again!! I arrived afew weeks ago to beautiful sunny weather. So excited to be able to getquality training time on some of the world's best downhill tracks. There areover 40 chairlifts open in this area so there are a lot of different tracksfor me to explore. Since I got here I've been out riding almost every dayand I'm loving it! The tracks are all different with some being really fastand flowy, fast and rough and others are more technical and challenging.There are lots of rocks, roots and jumps so there's lots of differentterrain for me to practice on. So stoked with my brand new set of Schwalbetyres, they are running so mint, hooking the berms and rolling super fast.Thanks a lot Schwalbe!
On July 25th I traveled with a bunch of kiwis to Val d'Isere, France tocompete in round 6 of the World Cup. The track was pretty cool, open, fastand rocky with lots of jumps! It was a challenge for me to ride this onebecause I'm not so confident on fast, open tracks however I overcame thisfear and come qualifying I felt really good about the track. Despite notqualifying (I came in 30th) I felt that I put together a pretty good run andwith a bit more practice I'm sure I would be able to qualify as I was onlyabout 7 seconds off. Pretty stoked with my effort though considering its mysecond world cup race ever! And even more stoked that I hit a huge jump atthe end, which I thought I could never do. Just goes to show that anythingis possible!
So stoked for kiwi rider Brook who won his first World Cup in Elite men!
Last weekend I was at Pila, Italy for an IXS European race. I was realexcited to ride another new track. Once again I tripped to Pila with a group ofNew Zealanders. We arrived to rain and a huge thunderstorm which luckilycleared off by Friday for track walk. Friday afternoon we walked the trackand after did a few practice runs. The track was pretty long with somerocky, rooty technical sections, sick berms, tight corners and a big jump atthe end. I loved it! I did a couple of runs after track walk and found thetrack to be pretty tiring but so much fun! Practice on Saturday went welland I qualified 10th. I was feeling pretty good come race day. On Sunday itlooked like we were in for a nice sunny day for the race, but all of asudden as I was doing a run down some big clouds came across. It was crazy Icould only see about 40metres in front of me! And then the rain came pouringdown along with thunder and lightening! Luckily it cleared up quite quicklyand the sun came out but the conditions of the track had completely changed.I went into my race run not really sure what to expect, I was surprised tosee that the track had actually dried out quite a lot from all the ridersbefore me. I put together a pretty good run and ended up in 10th place.Pretty stoked with my result!
This week I'm off to Wiriehorn in Switzerland to race a Swiss cup, can't wait to race! :)
Wednesday 2 May 2012
What a busy start to 2012 I've had! I've been super busy riding, racing and now that I'm out of school, working! So busy I haven't even written on my blog in a while, well expect to see posts and new improvements coming from now on. SO what have I been up to over the past months? Riding, racing, working, travelling, working, riding, you get the picture... The NZ Downhill race season began in January and went through to mid March, so at the beginning of the year I traveled all over NZ to compete in the National Downhill Cups, National Champs and Oceania Champs. It was a full on for several weeks, I raced in all conditions muddy and wet Dunedin, hot and sunny Mt Hutt, lovely sunny Nelson and then back up to the North Island to Wellington, Rotorua and Napier. As you can see I've been kept busy travelling all over! There were both up's and down's for me this season, a shoulder injury prevented me from racing at the Nationals in Nelson however I healed up quickly, thanks to Craig at Hobsonville Physio! :) and made a comeback at the Oceanias in Rotorua placing 3rd in Pro-Elite Women, (this is my first year moving up into Elite Women) so I was pretty happy with that result.
I am pursuing my passion, Downhill Mountain Biking and am heading to Europe to ride and race internationally. My biggest goal this year is to be selected for the NZ MTB team to compete at the World Championships in Austria. The plan for now is to head to Europe mid year and stay there for a couple of months to ride, race and gain overseas race experience. I'll make sure to keep you posted with how it's all going!
I am pursuing my passion, Downhill Mountain Biking and am heading to Europe to ride and race internationally. My biggest goal this year is to be selected for the NZ MTB team to compete at the World Championships in Austria. The plan for now is to head to Europe mid year and stay there for a couple of months to ride, race and gain overseas race experience. I'll make sure to keep you posted with how it's all going!
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