N-Duro Winter Series Round 1

Awesome day at Rotorua for the first of the N-Duro Winter Series, it was a lovely sunny day and the trails were running so nice! :) The best way to spend a Sunday! Riding hard for 30km's round some of Rotorua's coolest trails.

http://www.n-duro.co.nz/winter/index.php

 When we arrived in Rotovegas, there was a definite chill in the air and it took a wee while to get warmed up for the race start. There were three different event options to choose from a 15km, 30km or 45km, I opted to do the 30km course, you can see the tracks here.

The race start for the 30km was pretty hard and fast along a gravel road, that seemed to go on and on. I had a good start and after several km's of gravel forestry roads I was so glad to see some single tracks at last! I have to say the ride around the Green lake was very beautiful, which I was briefly able to appreciate whilst maintaining a steady pace. I feel so lucky to live in NZ, we have such a beautiful country with some seriously stunning scenery.

The trails were AWESOME!! (especially after the gravel road climb to get there)There was a mix of fast as downhill, tight corners, rooty sections and some sweeet berms all linked together to make a fun as race course! The km's flew by and once I reached the 25km mark I dug it in, with not far to go I pushed my legs even harder. One of the final climb's felt like it went on and on but eventually I got to the top, the track down called "No Brains" was pretty tight and technical and so much fun!!

I have to say I was pretty glad to see that finish line, 1 hour 43 later I was the first female to cross the line in the 30km race. :) Stoked. Looking forward to the next race in four weeks!