Ramblings of a racing addict

It would seem the ‘disease’ (or should that be virus) that is Single Speeding continues to spread. Yesterday we made the trip up to Taupo for the Life Cycles 3 1/2hr teams race, and I swear, every 2nd bike was a SS. At least thats what it seemed like out on the trails anyway!

 A great chance to cut loose on the fast flowing trails on offer at Craters of the Moon, and use a competitive situation for some training motivation. After all, its much easier to drag yourself out for a race with a designated start time than it is to procrastinate all morning about whether to get out on a training ride.

 As per my current promises, I decided to not just to forgo the privalage of gears in favour of the simplicity (and strength training) offered by the SS… but also to lineup as an individual and do the whole thing myself. Seem’s I wasn’t the only one with similar ideas, and it was great to see a healthy field of individuals deciding the full 3 1/2hr was better value for their $15 entry.

 The first lap turned out to be argueably the most fun ever. Our wee leading bunch (Mikey Northcott, Andrew Bott, me, and junior guns Dirk Peters and Patty Avery) responded favourable to my calls for elbows out moto style racing. Every tiny lip was pumped for maximum air, and was delighted when my agressive attempts at passes were met with wide elbows and being wide into trees by Dirk. It was awesome! I responded with a sweet late braking block pass. Nice.

 Soon enough we settled into a solid pattern of 25min laps, staying together. After 3 of those I decided I was a bit bored, and dropped the hammer for a bit. Punching out a 23min lap that only Mikey responded to, and soon got rid of him on lap 5. So I was left on my own to keep it steady, and roll around for 9 laps and a comfy win. Legs were a bit smoked by the end. As are my arms, hands, and lower back. ah well, I guess 81km on a SS will do that to you?

 So that makes it 3 from 4 wins on the SS now, with the only loss having come at the hands of Weinberg in SS Nats. Think I’m getting the hang of this now. However, No…. don’t expect to see the SS at XTERRA. As fast as it seems to be I don’t imagine I’d be running too well off the bike. Who needs gears? I do.

Despite my absence of postings in the inter-webby world of late, yes I am still alive and pedalling. Currently I’m recovering from my latest outing at round 5 of the Benchmark series, held near nelson on Sunday. The Benchmark is NZ’s premier road race series…… yes you read that right, road race. So what the hell was I doing there?

 Well I was asking myself the same thing. It’s a good 18mths since I last jumped in a decent level road event, and 130km with NZ’s best domestic roadies seemed like a bit of a silly idea. But it was a chance to hang out with the Delmaine road boys and do my bit to help them out. Despite my best intentions, due to a combination of work, bad weather, and lack of daylight hours, I hadn’t actually pedalled outside for almost 10 days prior to the race, so was a tad nervous.

 Turns out I had a great day. With mud splatter still on my helmet and wearing MTB shoes I did my bit to stay ‘true’ to the dirt. Thankfully it was only my new partner in crime Gordy MaCauley that really noticed and took glee in giving me grief over that. Turns out that riding for a team is great. Joe and Ed went up the road in the early break which made things far better.

 Meant my job was essentially to preserve the break. Meaning don’t do a lot, and try and cover any other breaks. Sit in, eat and drink, wait for the last lap. … So occupied my time jumping after Jeremy Yates, Gordy, Tom Findlay and the like when they tried to go. And took great satisfaction from the fact that when I was on the front I could cruise without any guilt as we had guys up the road. Awesome! Felt pretty good, did some useful things, and was strong up the climbs. I could get to like this.

 All was well till 20km to go when the lights went out. Oops. Despite Ash’s constant reminders, I’d neglected to drink much at all. Just forgot really. So suddenly legs went weak and I watched the bunch roll away. Ah well, job done anyway. So I cruised round the last 16km lap on my own quite slowly…. finishing 30 something.

 All in all a bloody useful day’s training really. I then had to jump on a plane to Auckland for work purposes, where I was due to attend and present at, wait for it, the 2008 NZ Walking Conference.

 Riveting stuff?! Definately felt a bit ‘fish out of water.’ To quote my mother….. “You can’t go to a walking conference. You hate walking!” Which wasn’t helped when another presenter just before me declared that walking is for life, and that the problem with runner’s is that when they stop running, life ends. WTF?! Yup, I really fitted in!

 The conference dinner and subsequent late night wine consumption/social networking was pretty entertaining though. Pleased to be home now though, and back into some consistent training. Next up on the event hitlist is the Taupo MTB clubs 3.5hr team relay this Sunday. I’ll just do it solo (as will Nic), and probably go for a wee gallop round the forest after. And probably on the SingleSpeed. It’s looking a little sad and neglected in the corner of the garage….