Anyone got a compass?
Saturday's Triple Peaks proved to be a little more challenging than first intended.... As defending champion I knew this is a unique race. Brutally hard in places. With navigational ability playing an important part. Not forgetting the 6:30am start. Yuck!
We got quite a crew of Palmerstonian's together as Stu, Ben, Jackson, and Rose all joined Nic and I in what became a rather cosy motel unit. All were suprisingly bright eyed and 'with it' as we battled the 4:30am wakeup to get a good feed in.
Off and racing and it was all on. A pretty tough pace being forced, as Stu fresh off his Karapoti win (3rd fastest of all time) was keen to assert dominance. Long story short, I was flying, he was flying more..... After a puncture for stu we were together at the 2/3 mark, as we flew past what should have been a marked turnoff. Only it wasn't (marked that is). We proceeded to enjoy a wicked 3km descent. Only it wasn't in the course. It wasn't anywhere near as much fun going back up, and by the time we got back on course we'd lost 15min and the race was over.
So we buttoned off the pace and enjoyed a steady last 1hr and a bit, cruising in for 3rd/4th open. A bit dissapointing, but the race director was very receptive to our concerns and handled things really well. In the end we had a great training day, and went away happy enough. Congrats to Andrew Bott and Josh Page who inherited 1,2 but to their credit were going bloody well anyway.
Nic did well in her first race back in months to take 3rd, behind argueably the fastest two women in the country at the moment. Sonia Foote, and Fiona Macdermid. Actually those results included Palmerston North took 3/4/5 in the mens, and 2/3/4 in the womens. See, we're an MTB mecca!
The day was capped off well by a trip out to Waimarama Beach. Nic and I got a good Ocean Swim in. Before the MacDermid kids entertained us with all sorts of far too energetic beach games. And I enjoyed a good kiwi feed of fish'n'chips and ice-cream. Perfect day out really. If only Stu and I hadn't taken our scenic detour in the race. Ah well. Next year?!
We got quite a crew of Palmerstonian's together as Stu, Ben, Jackson, and Rose all joined Nic and I in what became a rather cosy motel unit. All were suprisingly bright eyed and 'with it' as we battled the 4:30am wakeup to get a good feed in.
Off and racing and it was all on. A pretty tough pace being forced, as Stu fresh off his Karapoti win (3rd fastest of all time) was keen to assert dominance. Long story short, I was flying, he was flying more..... After a puncture for stu we were together at the 2/3 mark, as we flew past what should have been a marked turnoff. Only it wasn't (marked that is). We proceeded to enjoy a wicked 3km descent. Only it wasn't in the course. It wasn't anywhere near as much fun going back up, and by the time we got back on course we'd lost 15min and the race was over.
So we buttoned off the pace and enjoyed a steady last 1hr and a bit, cruising in for 3rd/4th open. A bit dissapointing, but the race director was very receptive to our concerns and handled things really well. In the end we had a great training day, and went away happy enough. Congrats to Andrew Bott and Josh Page who inherited 1,2 but to their credit were going bloody well anyway.
Nic did well in her first race back in months to take 3rd, behind argueably the fastest two women in the country at the moment. Sonia Foote, and Fiona Macdermid. Actually those results included Palmerston North took 3/4/5 in the mens, and 2/3/4 in the womens. See, we're an MTB mecca!
The day was capped off well by a trip out to Waimarama Beach. Nic and I got a good Ocean Swim in. Before the MacDermid kids entertained us with all sorts of far too energetic beach games. And I enjoyed a good kiwi feed of fish'n'chips and ice-cream. Perfect day out really. If only Stu and I hadn't taken our scenic detour in the race. Ah well. Next year?!
