A Weekend of Racing

Who could think of a better way to spend the weekend than cruising around in my trusty van with my bikes and riding???

I had a trip planned down to Rotorua for the second round of the NDuro Winter Series (and man, did we see Winter or what???), and it just so happened that Morrinsville Wheelers were also holding one of their club road races on the Saturday, so I took a small detour via Morrinsville to join in the fun. The Wheelers Club runs the Bev May Women's Tour every year, so it was good to see some familiar faces, including Bev May, who thought I looked fit enough to ride in the break bunch with Roz Reekie-May. I was incredibly flattered by this, but once the race started, I managed to stay on the bunch for the first 10km, then unfortunately dropped off the back and spent the rest of the race by myself. The course was nice though. Some good undulations and some really nice flowing climbs... Then it was on to Rotorua for the evening.

I had originally planned to sleep in my van, but by some strange twist of fate, the air mattress I took with me had deflated itself by the time I got there, so I ended up an overnight flatmate on the floor of the JAFA kids motel room in front of the heater. I was glad for that when I woke in the morning and my van was iced over and the entire landscape was white with frost (brrr!!!). Nonetheless, the sun was out and the skies were clear and blue.

It must have been nearly zero degrees on the start line, but once we got going, it was such an awesome day to be out riding. The trails were running superbly and ice and frost crackled under our wheels as we carved up the trails. The start of the race took us straight up direct road, and then when we reached the top, we kept going up Frontal Lobotomy and to the top of Billy T... At least we were warm after all that climbing. Down Billy T, which was running quite nicely, but with a few unexpected changes after the rain we'd had, then another climb to the top of Split Enz. Then it was all smooth sailing back to the race finish. I dropped my chain about 100m from the finish line, which was a little frustrating, but I completed the 40km in 2hours 40min and felt pretty good.

Topped off the day with some Zippys voucher spot prizes for lunch, then headed home. Next race is this weekend in Raglan... The inaugural Karioi classic.