In Pursuit

Peehi Manini, what the hell is that? Sounds like peepee mankini, or Piri Weepu... No, stop thinking about peepee or mankinis you dirty, dirty Kiwi, it's actually a street name in Waitahanui near Taupo. Hutt local girl Bex Houston pointed this out to me on the way to the Day Night Thriller, you'll never hear the end of it now girl! 

Well, it's been nearly 6 months since I last put pen to paper about mountain biking. So here we go, I'm back on the bike and racing again. The mystery illness that screwed me up for a solid 6 months disappeared almost as sudden as at arrived. Bastard thing. 

Fortunately for me, this subsiding illness coincided with Tony "Tiger" Keith asking "What are you doing with your riding?" to which I admitted "Nothing..." and he swiftly suggested "Right, lets get you training again". Although I was hesitant and very rusty at first, Tiger persisted at keeping me on the bike, prescribing drinking time on Fridays, 'easy cunnie' spinning days, 'ghey roadie' Mondays and smash it out Wednesdays. This is the training I absolutely love. Tigs, I can't thank you enough for getting me back on track and making racing fun again. I don't think 100 Lamason coffees could even repay you, but it might be a good start.

I have done two races since I started training properly again in May. The first was PNP #1 at Wainuioumata. My approach to this race was completely different to the past - I stayed out til midnight the night before catching up with an old Dunedin mate, rocked up to Wainui and did a 5 minute warm up, and hung out at the start line. I didn't feel nervous at all, had no plan of attack, no expectations and no worries. My only goal was to be smooth the whole race and enjoy it. 

And that I did. It was the best race I have ever had. It wasn't the placing that made it the best - it was a combination of my frame of mind and physical performance that did. When I was hurting, I told myself to push it harder. When I was quick downhill, I pushed it even faster. I was railing, pumping, jumping and hucking all with a big smile on my face. In the past I have often shied away from hurt, and dug myself into a hole because of it, so embracing the hurt is a real success for me.

My second race was the 12hr team Day Night Thriller. This race our aim was just to have fun and enjoy catching up with everyone - because at the end of the day, that's how we all started - sifting around with mates, having a few laughs and just riding bikes. I did 7 laps  and I felt incredibly smooth and strong. I stormed the short climbs and pushed it to the absolute limit, with the same frame of mind I had in Wainui except I was absolutely fizzing to ride more laps!

In the past four months I've found my racing mojo again - I can't begin to describe how happy I am. I'm not aiming to be fast, make the worlds team or win races. I just want to race, and that's fine by me. It's the love that counts.

18th April, 2011

Today a year ago, I was lying unconscious in a Mercy Hospital operating theatre at the hands of Dr John Dunbar, about to undergo a knee osteotomy to realign my left patella. It's not often I remember what I do on certain dates, but this day I will never forget.

At the time it was the most painful, uncomfortable and horrible experience I had ever had. I spent every minute of that time wishing so hard to be able to walk, ride my bike, or even write an exam.  I hated everything about the situation.  What I hated the most was the transformation from racing around the country at Nationals to not even being able to walk - it was really difficult for me to accept the fall from grace.

Today I reflected on everything that has happened since that day last year. What I didn't know at the time, was how that one experience would set me on a path I had never even thought was possible.

Sometime after the surgery, I decided to turn my thinking around. I decided not to hate the situation, and instead treat it as an opportunity, to see what I could learn from it. I began learning about the procedure, studying surgical text books and asking John endless questions about what he actually did. I was trying to figure out how I could get back on my bike as fast as possible, but in doing so I become really interested in the Medicine itself.

Fast forward six months since the surgery and I had fractured my clavicle in a road crash, sustained a concussion and attended to various friends in mountain bike accidents. Hospitals, ambulances and injuries were popping up everywhere; I was no longer afraid of needles and spent more of my time learning Physiology instead of Macroeconomics...

It finally occurred to me that all of these situations and experiences were occurring at a remarkable rate, as if something was trying to direct me towards the Medical field. It was in November when I discovered an opportunity to join Wellington Free Ambulance as a Volunteer. It was something I knew nothing about; I didn’t think it was possible I’d get through.  Quite frankly it scared me, and that’s why I went for it.

Reflecting on this past year, I’m so glad to have finally discovered my passion. Without that experience in surgery, fracturing my collarbone, fracturing my wrist, sustaining 3 concussions in one year and attending two mountain bike crashes, I don’t know I would have gone down this path, but I’m so glad I did. 

Next week I’m catching up with John to discuss whether I should study Paramedicine or try for Medical School…. Who would have thought?

Change of Pace

It's that time of year... Smack bang in the middle of the Nationals season. In fact, just yesterday it was National Champs in Nelson - congratulations everyone on what I have heard was some pretty hard racing, great battles and even better weather! 


From a personal point of view, it feels very odd being in the middle of a season and having raced only once - In November, and in more recent times, I have only ridden my bike a handful of times over the past couple of months. Suffice to say, it has been very quiet in the biking department lately. Riding my bike everyday is like having a right hand, without it I don't feel like myself. While I'm still in touch with everyone, I miss being a fully functioning part of the extended family that seems to form around XC racing in NZ. 
Reason being for all this - I am injured yet again, but not in the traditional sense.


Periodically and sporadically, last season I had episodes of training where I could only ride 30 minutes then physically not be able to pedal. My heart rate would sky rocket riding slowly on flat terrain, I would sweat a lot more than usual, get strange chest pains and generally feel awful and severely fatigued. This happened one day training in Rotorua, I went back to the backpackers and fell asleep for 6 hours and didn't remember the morning! I never got to the bottom of it at that time, and it usually disappeared within a few days.


Lately however, this started happening more than once or twice. When it did happen, I'd take a few days off, try and ride, and feel terrible again. This had been going on for four weeks before our mountain biking holiday in Taupo at New Years, but it was here I realised something was truly wrong. We planned to ride the W2K, but I couldn't even pedal downhill let alone up - and my vision would blur every time I pedalled up hill. It was here that Harriet suggested I get a blood test. Finally I realised that this was not just fatigue - it was something a bit more deep-rooted. So I booked in with the Doc I met while out riding in Dunedin to see what was up.


After going through my symptoms, Dr. Medlicott was stumped and decided that indeed it would be a good idea to have a blood test. He ordered a full blood count as well as Electrolytes, Ferritin and the Eppstein-Barr Virus (to eliminate the idea of glange). My tests came back fine for everything - except Ferritin. 


I can see how this all happened now and I should have known better, I'm a bit pissed at myself I guess. Being a female endurance athlete, my iron is never really too shit hot. But what happened that tipped me over the edge was that I gave blood a couple of months back. Naturally, me giving blood would have reduced the level of red blood cells in my body and when these cells were slowly replaced, the new cells had reduced hemoglobin because I don't have enough iron to facilitate the process. As they were being replaced and trying to find iron, my iron stores went downhill and the process repeated. So at this point in time... My bods got shitty bloods with bad oxygen carrying capacity which explains all my symptoms. Dumbass me. Can't even walk very far without getting exhausted.


So what am I doing about it? I'm not anaemic, but iron deficient. So I'm taking some supplements, kicking back a bit more and eating a bit more red meat. I don't know how long this process will take to rectify itself but it could be a couple of months yet. I'm aiming to race the Crazyman in May with Sam as the runner, so will start training for that once this episode is over. 
So while this has written off my season, I'm focussing on my induction into being a Medic for Wellington Free Ambulance. This is something outside of biking that I'm super excited for and keen to learn as much about as I can and get good at it.


I'll be on the other side of MTB racing for once - patching up all you buggers who come a gutser!


Enjoy the ride..
Em

Mojo, Derek and Me

It's been a while since I last broke something, probably 6 weeks ago, so it is high time for an update on the situation..


Lately a lot of stuff has been changing - life as I know it really. It's already the end of Semester 2 and I leave for Wellington in 28 days. Scarfie life by it's very nature is always changing and I absolutely thrive on it. You never know what's going to happen next or who you're going to meet...


I've decided I am not racing or training in the traditional sense this year. I'll be reccie racing purely for the fun of it - like the old days, with no expectations, no pressure, just great rides with even greater people. This is why I started racing in the first place and I feel I need to get back to that place and just enjoy the freedom that is mountain biking.


Initially I thought it would still be possible to race and train at the high level but it would take quite a bit more than I'm willing to give at the moment. When I was off with the broken collarbone I was going out running rather than sitting inside on the windtrainer like I "should" have been, which was a pretty good indication of where my heart truly lies, no matter what I tried to tell myself I should have been doing. I have since sold the windtrainer, casual hundy buckie right there, cher boy!


So instead of training I'm going to accept I may not be as fast as I could be, but that's ok. In fact that's great, because it means I can go tramping on the weekends, go running up Ross Creek with my flatties, start road running again, go on 5hr epic rides, race club races and ride with the girls again. It also gives me more time to appreciate the fading days that is Scarfiedom,  Six60 days in the sun, great parties, and even better mates that come with it. We have a truly unique lifestyle down here in Otago and I'm pretty proud to have been a part of it. 


Carpe diem baby!

What Was I Thinking?

Following the Sheila Dikshit travesty of 2010, Paul Henry suddenly found himself thrown into an abyss of scandal, culminating in accusations of racism, and ultimately his resignation. During the ensuing spare time he found he suddenly had, he wrote a memoir called What Was I Thinking detailing his methods of madness since childhood. Love him or hate him, I fucking love him so I don't care what you think.

I too find myself in excess of time, broadcasting this story to you considerably glazed over by Codeine and writing with one hand only, having been shunted from my MTB by a gust of wind on Saturday. I hit the road with my head and shoulder at 47.5kph. I lay on that road and I thought, well, I'm alive, but I should probably get off the road so I stay that way. When I got up, my shoulder was quite sore so I came to the natural conclusion that I had broken my collarbone. Which is the natural self-diagnosis when your shoulder's sore, eh?

I was very fortunate that a chap called Nick stopped and helped me out after seeing me on the side of the road. He walked over to me and stood there asking what was wrong before I finally realised that I needed to actually talk to him. So I told him I had broke my collar bone, so he took me down to Port Chalmers to meet an ambulance.

Nick was a great story teller. A war veteran himself, he told me stories of terrible pain he had experienced from broken bones, which in retrospect was quite funny. By the time the ambulance arrived the adrenaline wore off and shock set in. My face was sweating profusely. I couldn't stop shaking, and started hyperventilating. But I didn't cry.

The officers were lovely, one was a competitive road cyclist herself, so she told me all about her crashes. Some people just feel so comfortable confiding their traumatic experiences in me. While enlightening me with her stories, she gave me nitrous oxide to inhale, which I didn't like, because it made me feel like I was going to pass out. Strangely enough I became calm and announced that I was intolerant to all opioid analgesics, Morphine, Tramadol, Oxycontin and Pethedine, that my blood pressure would be low because I'm an athlete, I need to call my Mum, I didn't cry when I crashed, and I have a test on Tuesday for Economics. They just laughed and gave me more of that nitrous shit.

Having been through this state of affairs quite a few times this year with knee reconstruction surgery, a suspected scafoid break, concussion and now a broken clavicle, I've started to reflect on risk. A good friend of mine explained the nature of risk, comparing it to a clock, where the numbers change as risk changes. He said I should avoid risk when racing. I told him I simply can't think about risk when I'm racing because it will slow me down. The last time I thought about risk on the mountain bike was before I let go of the fear associated with losing control and hurting myself. That's when I became faster.

Can we slow down? So often, as mountain bikers, we put ourselves smack bang in the middle of a catch-22 situation. On one hand we mitigate risk to ourselves by wearing helmets, gloves and glasses. On the other hand, we put ourselves in that very situation where we are completely exposed to risk. Every time we storm down the singletrack, we are riding that very thin edge between brilliance and disaster. Sometimes we slip and catch the edge just in time. Sometimes we don't.

Land of the long flat white

Lance is right. It's not about the bike.

It's about the coffee.

Since when was it ever about the bike? Silly, skinny, misguided roadies.

I digress, as part of my feeble quest to become a 'legit' roadie, I have been pondering the remarkable correlation between cyclists and coffee consumption. Perhaps the ability to shot consecutive short blacks is the weak man's substitute for failing to grind a 32-16 up 3 Mile Hill? Even if you have mastered this mean feat, becoming a coffee connisseur is an essential rite of passage in becoming a legit road biker, mountain biker, downhiller, 4X'er, singlespeeder, fixxie, trackie, commuter, poser... whatever.

My limited statistical training cautions me however, in being quick to imply causation. It would be ridiculous to infer that we drink coffee because we ride bikes. That's like saying Rodney Hide was rolled because ACT lacked leadership..

We drink coffee because we ride bikes. Merely a correlation? Not quite...

Last September, my flat and I conceived a cunning challenge: Sacrifice September. We each had to forego a terrible habit for the month, with the sorest loser shouting a round of drinks on the 30th. The sacrifices ranged from the meek to the essential. For me it was coffee (essential), an un-named flattie, sexual exploits (a meek sacrifice indeed), and everyone else... somewhere in between.

Unnamed flattie failed on all accounts, and I survived a week before sliding into an all-consuming abyss of...well...having to buy drinks at the end of the month, by a long shot (scuse the pun).

My justification? I couldn't function without drinking it. Why? My weekends consisted of this:

Saturday: 3 or 4 hours of training. Coffee,Carb, Protein. 5 hours of study. Dinner, Study, Bed
Sunday: 3 or 4 hours of training. Coffee, Carb, Protein. 4 hours of study. Dinner, Movie, Bed

Other than studying on a Saturday night being pretty pathetic, can you see what is wrong with this equation - what would happen if you took coffee out? The whole damn thing would fall apart! X hours of study would be substituted for Y hours of a pathetic attempt to stay awake, copious amounts of lethargy and worst of all, wrong answers. I would have failed for sure.

Hypothesis proved. Honours in Statistics firmly, but politely declined.

Despite my newly acquired short-term disability, my demand for coffee is still highly inelastic. For you lefties out there, pick up any Economics textbook and have a good hard look at what this means. In fact, so inelastic that this morning I spent the good part of 20 minutes home barista'ring these puppies for my parents and I, courtesy of some Caffe L'affare Primo:

The secret to a great brew

The big one's for Dad. 2 sugars, stirred with love.

Next in my coffee blog series will be an analysis of Wellington's finest. Not only is it home to Rt. Hon John "I'm The F*n Man" Key, but it is also the coffee culture capital... of the land of the long flat white.

My first meeting with a Nun

Exactly 2 months ago today, I was racing at the National Champs in Dunedin. Precisely at this time... I would have been helping Wilson clean Carl’s bike ready for the podium, before heading off to the celebratory BBQ. Well done to my team mates Carl and Katie - both National Champions, and everyone else who braved the Dunedin cold. It’s not called Sunny Dunedin for no reason!

In the 8 weeks since National Champs I’ve been on a training break, in which I have undergone reconstructive knee surgery. The foreseeable future is a long time not training, and I really miss it. I miss spending 2+ hours a day with my bike, my Polar dictating those two hours by minutes, kilometres, and heart rates.


Prior to my knee surgery, and since the final NZ MTB Cup round in February, I’ve had my left arm in a cast, my ass in hospital for concussion, an eye infection, a nasty cold and now my left leg is in a knee brace for six weeks. My surgeon said to me “You’ve really had a bad time lately, haven’t you?” A few other people have said the same thing, but I’m starting to look at it a different way. A lot of my friends are a hell of a lot worse off, some have injuries that are permanent and affect their bike racing in a huge way. They keep going. The one thing I have learned from their experiences, is you can’t really control what happens to you, only how you react to it.

It would be easy to feel sorry for myself, not being able to ride my bike, drive my car, or even just walk without crutches. At the end of the day, though it seems like it now, it’s actually not that bigger deal. In 6 weeks I will be huddled next to a fire at a pub with my flatties, sipping some Emersons, laughing with them at how scared I was the morning of surgery. In 6 months, I'll be nearly finished my degree. Tomorrow I will forget what I did today, and tomorrow I will be one day closer to getting out of the knee brace. It’s all relative, and important to keep it in perspective in order to avoid frustration.

Let me tell you about hospital. I had the most peculiar experience at Mercy. The last thing I remember before going into surgery is giggling uncontrollably at the radio playing in the theatre and telling the theatre staff that they looked like they were from Shortland Street. They told me they don’t have nearly as much fun, then I feel asleep. I woke up a few hours later in the recovery room and sat straight up before being pushed back down on the bed, then fell asleep again. The next thing I knew, I was in the ward with my family. It was great to see them, but it was a real struggle to stay awake, so between talking to my parents and sending txts to people I drifted back to sleep.

When I finally woke up, I tried to eat something. I ate half a chicken sandwich and a yoghurt, which I threw up an hour later. I was then given some morphine and tramadol which made me a bit delusional and nautious. The night was rescued however, by a Nun. I have never met a nun before in my life, so naturally I was intrigued by her sudden appearance. I felt like I was in the Vatican. And in Sister Act at the same time, which is clearly impossible, Whoopi Goldberg would not be allowed anywhere near the Vatican with her grasp of the “French” language.

The surgery itself was a complete success in that my knee was reconstructed. Basically my knee cap was sitting 15 degrees out of the socket, causing my knee to be instable and dislocate randomly (which it did, 3 times over 3 years - don't recommend it). John Dunbar is the brilliant surgeon who performed the surgery. He is a very funny guy who does things his way, his own pace, and says the funniest things. He performed the surgery laparoscopicallu on two areas of my knee, where he released and reattached the lateral ligament, and shortened my VMO muscle, attaching it directly to my kneecap for stability. The most involved procedure however, was detaching my patellar ligament with some shinbone attached, and reattaching it back to my tibia with two screws, more medially. it's called a tibial tuberosity. Gross. But all of this stuff basically means my kneecap is back in the right place and will hopefully stay there for the duration... hopefully...

I’m actually happy to have gone through this. I was irrationally medically sensitive and used to have a big fear of injections and needles, to the point where I avoided taking blood tests a few months back because I was too scared of the needles. Last week I was given 7 injections in 3 days, and after crying at the first one I didn’t get scared of the rest. At all. So without the surgery, I would still be scared of needles! Proof that I didn't freak out at my IV:

So.... where to from now? Well, I’m approaching the whole saga like I would approach training. It’s all about numbers. I have 5 more weeks in a knee brace. So for the next 5 weeks, no I can’t ride my bike, I can’t walk, but I can study, learn about new things and do things I wouldn’t normally do. Once my 5 weeks is up, I am going to focus solely on aceing my exams and rebuilding my body. I will have some ridiculous muscle imbalances that will need to be corrected, and then I will be working on building strength and regaining base fitness for some exciting events next year. I'm moving to Wellington next year to start work as a fresh faced graduate which puts me in a better position to train and race. Secretly I love Wellington far too much and need to go back. Oceania’s in Rotorua will be the peak event in 2011, I will also be doing my first road tour, the Tour de Femme in December and tackling my first Karapoti in March.

Exciting stuff, but for now, I’m going to enjoy being a student.

A little less planning and a little more faith..

One thing this Summer has shown me is how much I truely love New Zealand, and how proud I am to be a Kiwi. We should all be pretty stoked to live in such a wicked place. I've been fortunate enough to go as far as Auckland, race in Napier, Tauranga and Rotorua, and travel through the little shanty towns of Turangi and Taihape, I've loved every minute of it... just looking at the path to Vegas you know you're headed for heaven..



Ever since riding in Rotorua at Christmas, I have been itching to get back and race. It's every mountain biker's spiritual home, and I always feel so in touch with the real NZ when I ride there. NDuro #2 seemed like the perfect opportunity to spend a weekend away catching up with mates, making some new ones, and racing bikes. I was elated to discover on Friday that every track on the course apart from Soakhole I had ridden before, and that the course followed all of my favourite ones! I was really looking forward to racing the course I had got to know and love in such a short time.

Since my terrible performance at Nationals I have been spending a lot of time looking at why I haven't been performing at the level I am capable of. A few things jumped out at me, so I have changed my approach to training and racing. I've been putting a lot more trust into what I have been doing, rather than planning everything. Put simply, I was just overthinking it all. I was getting too wound up because I didn't have a plan when things didn't go to plan!!

It's hard... to just trust that you'll be able to handle certain situations in racing. But I have always been quite a casual person who has been able to come through in challenging situations. After chatting with Stu Houltham a couple of weekends ago, I decided to approach some aspects of my race differently, so I decided to employ this new strategy in Vegas and see what I could do. It turned out to be both a dream race and a challenging one.

The NDuro start wasn't very fast unless you were in the Elite bunch, which worked in my favour. I just worked consistently through the first section until the pack strung out a little, so I could warm up into race pace. Heading into A-Trail, I was feeling great and got some epic flow on, which I used to start going at full race pace right up Direct Rd to the Summit. In fact I wanted to go full race pace until the end, and that's what I did.

Through Tickler I was railing berms and jumping doubles having just such a great time riding my bike, fast. Going downhills is one of my strengths, certainly the part I most enjoy, so when Billy-T came around, I was still jumping and pumping pretty loose. Big mistake! I flew over a lip coming down Billy-T, crossed up a large tree root with my front wheel, flipped the Berg, went over the handle-bars and slammed into a tree. I sincerely thought I was going to be pretty badly injured, but somehow rolled onto my back, facing the wrong up the track, had a little giggle, said to myself "I'm ok, I'm ok" and jumped straight back on the bike to have a great run down the remainder. My left foot was cramping pretty badly, but I just gritted my teeth in pedalled harder to make it go away. No excuses.

My next major challenge was at Sweet + Sour. This is an easy track, but at 2 hours I was starting to feel fatigued. This track always pisses me off, because just when you think it ends, it starts again on the other fricken side of the road!! After climbing up Lions Trail and arriving atDipper I was so exhausted I genuinely beleived I was going to collapse, I was digging so deep that I though very soon I'd come to the point where I had nothing left. I usually rip around Dipper lapping up the extreme berms, but I was crawling. Still, no excuses, I just thought of the time Lance hit the wall so hard he could barely pedal in the winning stage of the TdF, and that kept me going through Rockdrop. In fact I was so inspired by Lance that I decided to take the hard line through Rockdrop 44km into the race. I ended up nose wheelieing down and nearly going over the handlebars again, HAIRY!!!

The remainder of the race was pretty much a blur of pain and exhaustion, hanging out for cold water, but I was so motivated to keep going hard to the very end, which is what I did. It's a great feeling to love racing again.

And Gav, I found me a classy new box at Paka's Rotas! It is so solid that me and Rae could probably carry you around in it. Can't wait to try ;-)

The people you’ll meet.. the places you’ll go

Willow Koerber has really inspired me as of late, she is one of two of my #1 heroes on the bike. Funnily enough, it’s not because she’s one of the most talented mountain bikers in the world - it’s because she is genuinely balanced and spirited within herself. It’s just fricken awesome! Read her blogs and you will get the picture (willowkoerber.com - “The Training Part” is my fave).Plenty of people have labeled her as a tree-hugging hippy, but I totally disagree. She has simply struck her inner balance. I think that’s what we are all in pursuit of - racing is just one of many channels in which to discover it. Besides, those who criticise are not World #3. She must be doing something right, eh?

I have been fortunate enough to get a small insight into just how much it takes to train and race at your best – to find the inner balance that enables you to do so. Not only is it what you do on your bike, it’s actually mostly what you do off the bike to back up all the training you do! The first two NZ MTB Cup rounds have been nothing short of shocking for me. I have deliberately not updated my blog for a while so I could give myself time and space to process everything, and look at what I didn’t quite do well, and what I need to improve. Then explain it all neutrally. It was difficult for a while to stay positive when things don’t go well, but therein lies the challenge! I want to and need to be able to focus on learning from these situations to be able to move forward. It’s a process, it’s exciting, and I’m improving.

Sometimes you just have to look at your dreams again. They’re big, they can be achieved, but they also need to be bright, and right in front of you. My dream is to race on the pro circuit and represent New Zealand at the World Championships. If I get distracted, my focus word is “Kia Kaha”. Be strong. It reminds me that I am a Kiwi (a very proud fact), and also reminds me I’m out there day in, day out, working towards the day I will wear the Silver Fern. Yep, there’s been ups and downs, there will be plenty more ups, and a few downs. I’ve been distracted, made wrong decisions, second-guessed myself, been confused, tired and worried, and haven’t walked my talk. But above and in front of all that, I’m strong, fast, happy, laugh at stupid shit and have a lot fun.

Besides, how would you know what a special moment is when you don’t have a tough moment to compare it to?

A 3rd of 3. The medal for me was about being rewarded for not giving up when my performance wasn't great.

What you can learn... off the bike

There's two ways you can approach being relegated to the couch: Sulk about it and be silly enough to get back on when really you should let your body fully recover, or - seize the opportunity to make good use of rare downtime. Unfortunately I am a little bit sick and so have taken the last three days off to recover. With the extra time I now find I have, I've been doing some reflecting on what's been going on lately - on and off the bike.

Last weekend I raced at the Napier Mid-North Island Cup, with Gav, Jude and Shane. A great weekend away was had by us all, lots of laughs, great weather and a fun course to ride. Gav did very well placing 3rd in Open Men. Here's a pic he snapped at the end of his race:


For me, this race did not go well on the whole. I've identified what didn't go quite so well and have reflected on what I did do well and what I could have done better. I find it is beneficial to find the cause of why my performance didn't go quite as well as planned, so I can make sure to be better prepared in the future. It is also very good to listen to well-seasoned elite racers who notice the small details that someone who is learning the art of racing (like me!) would overlook. Racing, to me, is about bringing out the best in you - and your competitors. This best is always evolving, and I know that every race, your best has the potential to become even better.

My descents were fast and for the most part, mistake free during the race - this is a strength I like to focus on, as I am able to pick lines quite well and evaluate them as they change over the course of a race. One particular girl I played cat and mouse with for two laps was stronger than me on the climbs but a little more hesitant on the descents, so I knew on the final lap I could just hold her wheel on the hills, attack at the crest, and make time on the descent. This plan worked perfectly - and I overtook her on a tricky steep "A" line chute - she took the B line so I created about 10 seconds for myself where I descended and sprinted to the finish. In that respect, it can pay off sitting behind a competitor for a while so you can identify where you can exploit their potential weaknesses. It's not sinister - it's just racing.

I also managed to catch up with my young team-mate Frank Sutton, his Mum snapped some shots unbeknownst to us - which ended up on Facebook later in the weekend (like everything does!)



I'll leave you with my take on my top 5 of " 20 Things That MTB Teaches you about Life", sent to me from my good mate Tanya (cheers mate - see Emily has gone to Subaru-Gary Fisher??) , you can find the fullpost here:

http://sacredridesmtb.blogspot.com/2009/11/20-things-mountain-biking-teaches-you.html

19. Desperation breeds mistakes (Be patient, stick to your race plan, and trust your instincts)
18. The hardest parts are also the loneliest. (This is why mates don't come out on a 60min 110rpm Tempo session.)
10. It's tempting to focus on the immediate problem rather than the big picture. (A bad day of training is not a problem. Carrying it over to the next day is.)
6. The fun starts when you push the limits. (Training is an investment in how much fun you will have in the future.)
1. Love hurts. But don't let it stop you from falling in love. (MTB, training, racing, it can hurt in all sorts of different capacities. Get back up,learn from it and move on!)

And - a quote from my favourite MTB shoe brand - Louis Garneau

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, and never give up."

Em

MTB Madness at Lake Mahinerangi and great news from Bergamont

Farr.... last week has been absolute madness for me!

October means exams for Scarfies = plenty of study and no socialising = busy. In addition, both the KiwiFutsal (Primary Schools) and Secondary Schools Futsal leagues have begun, which entails logistical coordination on a mammoth scale - sometimes not always going to plan.

Fortunately, I have managed to fit training and racing in, which balances out all the stress with a bit of high speed madness and definite fun! A spot of Commonwealth Games coverage managed to find its way onto the flat's TV. I am very proud of the effort the Kiwi cyclists and athletes put in - Shanksy bringing back another gold and Nikki Hamblin bringing back two silvers in Athletics. These girls came from behind to clinch their medals, which just goes to show what can be achieved if you keep a level head and focus on doing your thing.

First and foremost, I have some news which I am pleased about. Bergamont have announced their 2011 Bergamont-Endura racing team, putting me on the team as an U23 XC rider. I am excited about representing Bergamont and Endura at events around the country, and look forward to learning from my very experienced and sucessful team-mates. More about the team and the brands can be found on the Bergamont-Endura page.

Yesterday proved to be a typical spring day - totally unpredictable! Myself and Tanya Louw embarked on our journey out to Waipori Falls at 8am - a quality hour for a Sunday! Sometimes I forget how fortunate we are to be New Zealanders. On a great day, NZ scenery can not be beaten, which made the 60km drive to Lake Mahinerangi incredibly enjoyable, albeit difficult to navigate. We arrived at the site of Mahinernagi Madness MTB slightly late, just like everyone else, and went quickly to work setting up our bikes and registering. Navigation proved to be a major issue for most competitors, resulting in the start time shifting 45minutes late. Things change quickly in racing, so I went from being short of time to being in excess. Nothing wrong with extra time to check your bikes and warm-up again though! Unfortunately with the later start, I had to race the short course due to other committments in Dunedin in the afternoon, so this halved the distance. Next year I will be taking on the full course without a doubt.

This impromptu change ultimately proved to be a blessing, as within an hour the temperature dropped 5 degrees and a gusty front arrived from the south. I made my way to the front of the start and on the gun sprinted down the hill. We were greeted with a long steep climb which quickly put my heart into it's maximum pain zone. I was in the lead bunch after the first few climbs but was really feeling the burn. After the course tapered out a little, I got into the groove and really put it into the dog, averaging 35kph for the undulating final 10km. Coming into the final kilometer, I was cheered on by a group of walkers. This kicked me into a crazy gear -there is nothing like being extremely focussed and knowing that your performance has been consistently beyond max throughout the race. I arrived at the finish line in 59.3 minutes, with the next racer arriving a shade over 10 minutes later. The course was mainly loose gravel roads and 4wd track, but was still fun.

Looking back on the race, I feel great about my performance. I got the mixture of pre-race nutrition right for once, and did not feel tired during the race - after a week of hard training and no taper. All I could feel was pain and burning - a timely reminder that I am alive. After the race and for the remainder of the day I was feeling very strange, easily irritated and detached from reality. I'm not sure quite what this is - perhaps a post-race fuelling issue, perhaps a sign that I pushed way beyond, or maybe just nervousness about exams. Either way - it's all part of the journey and every race presents me with a new challenge - sometimes it really, really hurts!

I will leave you with this. It is a reminder to focus on your own race and trust your instincts. Just like Shanksy and Hamblin!

New sponsor - and first season win on the Bergamonster!

Last Sunday was the end of an era - nope, I am not all of a sudden ditching bikes! The Invercargill Winter Series for 2010 finished on a typical beautiful Invercargill day. I think Dunedin's weather could learn a thing or two from that place.

A good roadie friend of mine, Ruby Grant aka Mark Cavendish's future wife, joined me on the epic 6am mission to Invers, which made things fun. We were pretty hyper about the race (and seriously sleep deprived). Suffice to say she's now converted to dark side and hooked on racing. Stoked Rubes, well done on your 2nd place, and welcome to the dark side!

For me, Sunday's race was all about just getting back into the swing of things, and focusing on specifc skills, trying to get them honed for the big races later in the season. My specific aim for the race was to get ahead from the outset by making a strong sprint off the start, then maintain a consistent pace and dial each technical section. The sprint was awesome and going into the singletrack I was ahead of all of the girls and a few guys.

The remainder of the race was all about putting time between me and the girls behind, and I acheived this by being consistent and trying to ignore how non-responsive my legs were for the most part. For some reason I felt tired the whole race (probably fuelling issues), but managed to hold off and win by 4 minutes. Quite appropriate this was my first race on the Bergamont - still unbelievably responsive, reliable and quick!

Progress for me is about feeling stronger, racing faster and resisting fatigue for as long as possible. I have just compared Round 1's time to Rounds 6's time. I was trailing the series winner by 7 minutes in the first round, but lead her by 4 minutes in the final round. I am quietly please about this, as it shows I am becoming stronger and faster - a direct result of structured training.

With a new season comes a bunch of new opportunities, so I'd like to thank my sponsor, Bike Otago for their awesome support so far. You guys are so much fun to hang out with, and know your bikes backwards - I look forward to representing the team at this season's races and joining the staff for Summer - guaranteed to be a good laugh!

All the best to Charlotte Ireland, Jude Young, Erin Greene, Coaches and Support Crews for this weekend's 24 Hour World Solo Championships on Mt Stromlo, Canberra. Put it in the dog for the Kiwis!

How to bake your best self..

Is it just me - or has New Zealand taken a beating over the past couple of months? From earthquakes to storms to Commonwealth Games dramas, a lot has been keeping us Kiwi's on our toes. Despite the distractions, I can't justify completely abandoning my blog for 3 months! A lot has been happening since June, so I thought it might be good to stop studying for tonight and spread the love to my fellow MTBr's.

Over the course of August, I managed to 'acquire' some new machinery, in the form of a road bike and a race bike. Sitting in the hallway is a 2009 Diora Modena II roadie bike, courtesy of Kay @ Bike Otago. This is my training weapon of which I spend 75% of my riding time on, and while I enjoy my time on it, this does not mean I am a roadie - despite my reputation of being "my hypothetical roadie self" ;). The more exciting bike is the 2010 Bergamont Platoon Team. Suffice to say weighing in at 9.3kg's and SRAM/Magura specced, the Bergamonster makes climbing a breeze and descending a shitload of fun! Thanks Bike Otago and Bergamont for making it happen.

With new bikes, came a new training program, of which I have just completed the 6th week. Unsofar I have had many learning curves (and one big roadie crash) and have come to realise the importance of recovering well, listening to your body, and fuelling it with what it needs. Already I am feeling stronger on the climbs, faster on the descents, feel I have improved endurance and an all-round stronger body and more determined and committed attitude. Lisa Morgan has taken me on for my first proper race season, and does all the hard yards analysing my progress, deciding training and putting up with my stream of questions and piss-takes. Occasionally, when enough is enough, I am treated to a delightful lecture when I've been more troublesome than usual ;) Thanks a tonne Coach - I'm absolutely loving the program, and I think you know how much I appreciate your guidance and support.

Out there on the bike, 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, I spend a lot of time thinking. I think about how University is just like being on the dole, except your parents are proud of you, how funny Emily Batty is to have wirless hair straighteners at her races, and most importantly - how the hell Paul Henry gets away with all the shit he does (an inspiration - truely!). I also interrogate myself as to why I want to race, and understand what motivates me to voluntarily visit the hurt box everyday. I can put it down to two things: I enjoy riding – every aspect of it. The pain, the challenge, the fun, the good people and the coffee. I also enjoy training. Why do I train? I train to race. But, why do I race? To get the best out of myself. Why do I want to get the best out of myself? To see what I am capable of. One day in the future, I would like to compare my best self to world class athletes. But in order to be your best self, you've got to understand how get there. Strange as it seems - I reckon it's very similar to baking a cake, and here’s why:

• With a cake, you have to have the right combination, quality and proportion of ingredients. You also have to be committed to making it happen. If you skimp on the input, the output won’t be as good. Just like training, you get out what you put in.

•There is a very key ingredient to make a cake rise, which is often forgotten: baking powder. If you don’t have it, you get a flat cake. I liken this ingredient to determination and resilience on the bike. Important, and often lost sight of when the going gets tough.

• If you don’t get the right ratio of ingredients, the cake’s gonna taste funny, be lumpy, or blow up altogether. Sometimes you are lucky and when you shake things up a little, it works out ok. But for the most part, follow the recipe – it is tried and trusted for a reason. Follow your program, trust it and don’t lose sight of your ultimate goal.

• Just like the cops say, “don’t drink and fry - you just might die”. If you don’t keep an eye on the baking process, more than likely, it will burn and be uneatable. If you eat burned cake, you might die too ;). Just like baking, when you train you have to look after and listen to your body and mind – after all, it is what you are investing all your time into.

If you just so happen to get the combination just right – you get a world-beating cake. The same goes for becoming your best self – you only get out what you put in.