AKDH Round 5 - Auckland 12-13/12/09

Flew up early friday mourning, as in really early. 7am flight which kinda sucked. Got a rental car from the airport and drove to Sheep World, which is where we were staying for the weekend. We pretty much dumped our bags in the room, put the bike back together and put it in the car along with all my riding gear and headed to the track to go have a look at it. We ended up following BenTyas and some of his mates in, so we drove to the top and did some shuttles with them. First impression of the track was that it was scary and steep and hard to remember. proberly did about 7-8 shuttles, and i still had no idea how the track went, couldnt even remember the first couple of corners. There was one jump me and Sophie Tyas were looking at doing but were to scared to do because we had to jump over branches, so we moved the branches, hit the jump a couple of times then put them back.

Saturday was practice day, did runs down the track, and started to be able to remember bits of the track. Was looking at doing one of the jumps, so talked to Lawrence Cawte about it and followed him into it, didnt hit it that time tho, hit it the next time down. Was pretty scary, was in the air a bit longer then i thought i would be. Started getting the hang of it, was a pretty easy jump, just do the real easy one before and coast off the next one. Decided that since i was getting the hang of the track i would start looking at doing the last jump, which is a slight hip to the left, and if you came up short it wasnt going to be very nice. While i was looking at it and waiting for people to come down and hit it so i could watch them a dude called Dan came and joined me looking at it. We ended up talking and we made a deal, that next run down we were both going to hit it. I asked Bryn Dickerson if i could follow him into it, so he waited for me in the section before hand, i followed him in and hit it. Proberly not my smartest idea considering i came up quite a bit short. Not entirely sure what i did wrong, one person that saw me attempt it said that once i left the lip of the jump my front started dropping, while another said that i looked like i was having second thoughts and braked coming into it. all i know is that it hurt. Dan didnt end up hitting it, not sure why, think it was cos it started raining and the track is unrideable in the rain.

Race day was silly at the beginning as the track is pretty much unrideable when wet and since it had rained quite a bit, there was no way i could ride down it. I carried on doing runs tho, as it would dry quicker from people riding and sliding down it. I skipped the first part of the track for the first run tho, as all the good and fast guys that were trying it were losing it and crashing apart from the odd exception. practice ended up being extended by an hour or two because no one could ride the track fully. I was having second thoughts about racing, as i was pretty sore from my crash yesterday. ended up racing tho. Pretty much just cruised down the track as i didnt want to crash as i feeling a bit dizzy. Ended up coming 3rd behind Charlotte and french Sophie, which surprised me as i thought i would be 5th (last out of the girls that raced, two pulled out, and maddy got a DNF as she twisted her ankle on her last practice run, so she just crossed the start line so she could get a placing for the series.). I ended up 1st for the series which i was hoping for.

Race results here: http://rotorua.mtbclub.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/AKDH%20%20Dome%20Valley%20Final.pdf

Series results here: http://www.akdh.co.nz/forms/AKDHNIS2009FinalResultsOverall.pdf

AKDH Round 4 - Hawkes Bay 21-22/11/09

Practice day was good, but bloody warm, so decided not to wear my armour, just my elbow gaurds which i had just got. First and second run down i just stopped at looked at all the jumps and some other parts with Sophie Borderes. All of the rest of the runs i just spent trying to do things faster or trying different lines. Was trying to do the no smoking drop onto the road, but kept wussing out for some reason. Also tried a step down further up the track which i case pretty bad and scared my self on so didnt try it again. towards the end of the shuttles i followed Mike 'the Hippy' Williamson down and got him to help me with the rock garden because i kept stuffing it up. Once we got that sorted i just follwed him down and tried to keep up, really needed goggles though, cos he kicked up a lot of dust. Followed him for the rest of the shuttles until he dislocated his shoulder from going to fast and missing the turn off for the chute into the no smoking drop so he tried to get into by riding down the bank but ended up hitting the bank on the other side and doing his shoulder.

The evening after practice day was pretty fun. The normal group of older guys that i ride with in welly were all up for the race, so we all hung out and had drinks (not me though, it tastes yuck) out side one of the rooms some of the guys were in. Later went to the pub and had so

me food, and guys had more beers, was probly there for about 2-3 hours i think. Was a pretty mean night. When we got back to where we were staying, the guys carried on chatting and drinking, while me and Callum, Vee, and Andrew went to bed (we were all staying in the same room away from the others so we couldnt hear the rest talking)

Race day was good, it had started spitting when we left our room, and carried on spitting for about half the day probably, which was good as it helped to keep the dust down a bit and didnt make the track all slippery or anything. First practice run down i think it was (might have been second, not entirely sure) i got up the guts to do the no smoking drop due to Callum being annoying and telling me it was easy and just release the brakes by a tree and you make it easy. Ended up going off it and thinking i wasnt going to make it so i pulled the front up, but ended up making it and the front slamming down, kept doing that a few more times and started getting the hang of it.

First race run down was alright, got everything fine. Didnt really try too hard. Completely forgot about pedalling and didnt push it in the steep dusty bits. Second run down

was good apart from one crash which stuff my run up. Tried to pedal everywhere i could, and it was goin

g good until i got to the dusty steep bit where i came into it too fast and started loosing it. Managed to hang on and stay

upright for a bit and advoided the trees. Front wheel ended up washing out and i went over the bars into the dust. Got straight up and grabed my bike and carried on down

. Had trouble holding the bars cos of the dust now on my gloves as it made them all slippery. Also was a little hard too see due to the dust covering my face, but stayed on for the rest of the track. Second run was 4 seconds slower then my first run.

Full results here

http://rotorua.mtbclub.org.nz/wpcontent/uploads/Napier%20AKDH%20Series%20Results.pdf

AKDH Round 3 - Rotorua 7-8/11/09

Saturday, 1st practice run was weird. The top half of the track felt real awkward, the bottom half was all good tho. After a couple of runs down, i started to get the hang of it a bit more. The top half used pretty much all the lines with new line built in to join all the lines up. just before it crossed the road there was a new jump made, think it was a hip jump (not that i could hip it properly) onto the take off of one of the older jumps. Started hitting it about halfway through the day, was as hard as i thought, just cruise up to and cruise off it. had a bit of trouble with it the first time, cos i just hucked off it and forgot that i had to start turning pretty much straight away, but was all good after that.

Sunday was going good. last practice run was my best of the weekend. felt better then both my race runs which kinda sucked. 1st run down the hill i kept forgetting to pedal so i was a bit annoyed at myself for forgetting to pedal. 2nd run down felt really bad compared to my first one. but ended up about 8 secs faster. 2nd run i stuffed up by lifting my feet off the pedals when i tried to pedal coming into stuff. Keep forgetting to change down into lower gears which doesnt help much. Ended up going down couch chute with my feet only just on pedals, stopped after that to put them back on. down the last chute i did something wrong. not sure what or how, but i ended up with all my weight on the front wheel right at the top and thought i as gonna go over the bars, but i released the brakes and managed to somehow hang on and stay on track and rode it out. Last little bit of the track was all good. Ended up first, which i was pleased with, but a bit pissed of at myself for making stupid mistakes.

Full results here: http://rotorua.mtbclub.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Rotorua%20AKDH%20NI%20Series%20Results.pdf

AKDH Round 2 - Wanganui 10-11/10/09

Went to the race thinking i was going to get my arse kicked badly, but didnt go that way.

Saturday was practice day, 1st run i just cruised down the track, and knew i was going to suffer on race day. The whole top half pretty much was pedally as, made worse by deep sticky mud for the 1st bit. There was a small jump at the beginning with a slushy as landing which i looked at and hit when i followed Matt Silcock into it, was a bit of a pain to land, ended up going off the side of the track to the right, next run i jumped into the bank, slowly started getting it better. Started getting a bit tiring sprinting into it every run, but kept at it to see if i would be able to pedal the top half. Mainly just the mud bit i was worried about, could not keep any speed through it, had to go into lowest gear and attempt to spin through it, and there was no point in picking lines because you just go where ever you slipped to and couldnt see under the mud.

The bottom half of the track was way better, droped off the ridge and had chutes, i did all of the harder options, because i knew i would have to do them if i wanted to be close to Charlott and Sophie on this track. Was looking at the jump on ridge, didnt look too bad to case and the guys i saw doing it, made it look easy. Ended up not trying it, didnt really feel like it, and the fact that there were no Marshalls on the track at all, and first aid was down the bottom, and it wouldnt be very easy to get to any one above the bottom chute. Think i was just making excuses though. The 1st chute of the ridge after this jump was the hardest i found, kept getting a bit outa controll when i hit this one root, but was all good. The end chute was a bit scary, i found. could only seem to get down it with my right foot out, did manage to get down once with both feet on, but didnt feel too good.

Sunday, Race day. Was pretty stupid how we only got one practice run, could have easily have gotten 2 possibly 3 or 4 if we had been allowed, spent quite a bit of time at the top waiting for them to get organised and everything.

Practice was alright untill my front wheel started making a weird as noise coming into the ridge jump which i was gonna hit untill the noise started, so went round it and tried to see if somethng was stuck in my wheel or brakes but couldnt see anything. Was gonna ride down but the noise was quite off putting since i didnt know why it was happening. Remembered my mate Andrew got the shuttle after mine, so waited for him to see if he would know why it was making the noise. He had some ellen keys on him, so he took my brake off and saw it was the clip/spring thingy and come off one of pads and was rubbing on the disc causing the noise. Decided since it wasnt really anything major, that i would try the ridge jump and fix up my brake when i got to the bottom, Andrew pushed back up with to hit the jump as well. He went first and cleared it, I went after him, had no idea what gear to be in, slipped out coming into and was in way to lower gear. Knew there was no way in hell i was gonna get both wheels on the landing, but remembered it not looking to bad to case so stuck with hitting it. Not one of my smartest ideas, ill tell ya. Front wheel didnt even make the landing. Smacked into the rear side of the landing, arse landed on rear wheel and i went head first over the bars into the ground, kinda hurt a bit. Carried on down the track, just cruising mainly. Once at the bottom i got the car keys and Andrew helped me with changing the brake pads because last time i tried, it took forever to get them out and i couldnt put the new ones back in, so Andrew showed me how to do it properly.

1st race run i planned to treat like a practice run. Mainly just because i wanted to try the ridge jump again. Told my self i could try it 1st run, and if i stuff it up, i cant do it on my 2nd run. 1st run was absolutly shit. stuffed up the top pedaly muddy bit, came in in too higher gear and kinda had to get off and walk it. made sure i remembered to change into lower gear for next run (not sure why i forgot on this run, might have been because i was thinking about the ridge jump). came into the ridge jump alright, kinda stuffed up a bit by still not knowing what gear to be in and not really pedaling enough. Ended up nose casing it and losing quite a bit of speed while scaring the shit outa me at the same time. Rest of the track went good.

2nd race run was a lot better, was in 3rd place, about 15seconds behind Charlotte 2nd and about 30seconds behind Sophie 1st. Remember to change down to lowest gear in the top bit, did have one small stuff up, where i got a little off line and wasnt sure what to do so stuck out both legs as a resurance and rode down it (was the drop in the boggy as mud with a nice big rut in the main line). That was my main stuff up down track, everything else went as i practiced it. Ended up coming 2nd about 4seconds behind Sophie in 1st which i was stoked about, was expecting to come 3rd at the highest and getting my arse kicked time wise.

Full results here:

http://www.akdh.co.nz/Wanganui%20results%20oct%2010%202009.pdf

AKDH Round 1 - Long Gully 26-27/09/09

The race was held down Jawbone, Saturday was pretty good. Decided not to bother with Simons line up the top and i just took the slower line around it. Resource Consent jumps wernt to bad in the wind, only nearly lost it once on the end jump which scared the shit outa me. Got a bit annoyed how people kept stopping in the middle of the track so you couldnt really do a full run. Second run down the hill I got up the guts to do the ladder drop into Daves line, was pretty easy just not the best landing i found, probably didn't help that i was brake checking coming into it and shitting myself. All day i kept trying to get the guts to do the end jump, but couldnt get the corner before it right and get comfortable.

Saturday was also the 2x/4x, so i did that just for fun. Got my arsed kicked by all the guys but was still fun, probly woulda stood more of a chance if i did it on my GT instead of my hardtail, but i felt like doing it on me hardtail.

Sunday, was still trying the end jump. Ended up talking to Ricky and hanging with him and watched him do the jump and followed him off it, which helped heaps. The way he was doing it was a lot easier to do for me then what i had orginally been trying to do. I had been trying to go fast off the drop and braking through the corner, but always ended up braking too much as i couldnt do the corner that fast and just lost too much speed and wasnt feeling comfortable. Rickys way was to go slow off the drop with just enough speed to clear the rocks and to hit the corner with little or no brakes which i found a lot easier as i could handle the corner at that pace. I also started getting a bit more comfortable off the ladder into Daves line

Both race runs went good, didnt havnt any offs and didnt really stuff anything up. 1st run i went second after vee and caught her just after daves line which wasnt too good for either of us as we both lost any speed we had when i passed her. other then that its was a good run. 2nd run they ran it so fastest went first, which is better then slowest first espically if there is a big speed differnece. 2nd run i didnt make any mistakes that i can remember except for my foot coming off on the end jump, not entiley sure why it came off but it did

Ended up first by quite a bit as kinda expected, it being my home track and every thing.

full results here:

http://www.vorb.org.nz/download/file.php?id=121698

and

http://www.vorb.org.nz/download/file.php?id=121703

Rotorua Spring Fling 20/09/09

No offical practice day like the mudbuster, except this time they had the track mostly marked by lunch time. Saturday was good, no crashes except for one mupet as crash. dont even know what happen just went over the bars while pedaling just after the rock garden. was pretty stupid really and embaressing. It also started raining, well not really raining, more a constant, lite drizzle. just enough to make the track a little greasy in some places

Sunday was good, lines used were: loose line, river, new line, rockgarden, bus stop round the couch drop, line round 24 carrot and pimpstump, end chute, old end jump. luckly it didnt rain over night, so the track was dry and not at all greasy. practice runs went good. tried a few different lines in a couple of different places - im still trying to get the hang of picking lines and stuff and remember to actually look for them. Never got up the guts up to do the two jumps that i wanted to which im a little annoyed at, but oh well. First run went good except for one stuff up, nearly lost it towards the end of the couch chute, got distracted by connor yelling something, managed to get it back under control though. Second run was alright, thought it might be about the same speed, maybe slightly faster. Stuffed up a few bits by braking too hard and too soon in a few bits, tried to make up for it by pedaling my arse off where i could. Second run was 0.01 seconds faster the my first. seeing that, im a bit pissed off my self for making such stupid mistakes.

Was a good weekend though, looking forward to the Long Gully race this coming weekend, its gonna be mean

full results here

http://rotorua.mtbclub.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Spring%20Fling%2009.pdf

Rotorua Mudbuster 9/08/09

There wasnt an offical practice day for this race. Saturday just spent the day riding different lines on the DH track. The track wasnt marked until after southstar shuttles were done, which kind of sucked, but wasnt to bad as on Sunday I got about 5-7 practice runs down.

Sunday was a good day, the lines used were: team line, the big step down, couch jump, the other line instead of 24 carrot, pimp stump and the left line on the last chute, and the left jump. Practice runs were good, felt i was getting a little bit faster through some bits as the day went on, just trying to release the brakes and trying to remember what hippy has taught me and trying some different lines where i thought i could go faster. 1st timed went good, apart from one stupid crash that wasnt really a crash, just hit a tree and stopped, wasnt too happy with that so wanted to do better on my next run. my next run was way better, didnt have any crashes, did get a bit lose in some parts which i thought i was about to come off on but managed to hang on. I could have probly done better on both runs if i had worked out what gear to have my bike in on the peadaly bits. I didnt really bother with that tho as the spring in my rear derailure broke on saturday so i couldnt change into the harder gears, so pretty much ran the first half in the hardest gear that i needed which ment i cased the 1st drop of the start ramp a little bit.

Hung around to see the results. mainly just wanted to know what the time difference was between me and sophie tyas. ended up winning by about 18seconds which i was stoked about. Kaytee and Baylee were stoked for me as well.

So overall was a good as weekend. Scored 80 bucks as well (30 for being first, 50 for being fastest women). that race upped my confidence for this coming race season, i now know i can beat sophie. Now just to work harder so i can beet the others and still beet her hopefully.

Full results here: http://rotorua.mtbclub.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/Mudbuster%2009%20Results.pdf

National Secondary Schools 18-19/04/09

Pratice day was good. Couldve done with more pratice runs though. Sucks that you only get 2 practice runs for the DH at SS. both runs went good for me, was riding pretty lose tho. Hit and cleared all the jumps. Nearly lost it on the berm after the ski jump, stupid me cant lean a bike enough to corner properly lol.

Race day was good, didnt have to get real early like last year becaause im a nationaly ranked rider so got to have race run at the end of the day. Race run went good apart from one crash on the double up the top. Came in too fast and i think i over shot it a little and came in too nose heavy. Rest of my run was good, didnt stuff up anything else.

Ended up 4th which i was i bit gutted bout, was just over a second from thrid place which sucked.

full results here
http://www.vorb.org.nz/secondary-school-mtb-champs-overall-report-results-t95095.html

National Champs, Nelson 26-1/2-3/09

First practice day was alright. Got an hour to walk down the track, i decided to walk down it, bloody bad idea that was. after walking down it i wasnt keen to ride down it, it looked real steep in quite a lot of the places. Once i had done one run down the track, it wasnt as bad as i thought it was. Decided not gonna walk down any more tracks untill ive done at least one run of it, as its very off putting.

Second practice day, it started raining, it was fine in the wet untill it got all turned up and became all slushy. Didnt do much pratice runs as i kept getting cold and i was extremly wet as i went for a swim in the noce big puddle that had developed at the bottem of the track just before the finish line (didnt relise how deep it was untill i went over the bars into it. aparently it looked cool), brakes werent working properly as well (later found out when i took my bike into the shop when i got back to welly that the pistons had worn out).

Race day for me was bad, kept crashing and riding really slow which caused me to fall off even more as i couldnt keep stable. ended up coming last by a shit load. 6 out of 6

Personaly in the end i didnt like the nelson track, i liked it in the dry but hated it in the wet.

now over winter just gotta work on wet weather riding a lot, and gotta stop braking....

South Island Downhill Cup Round 3 (Blenium 21&22/02/09)

Pratice day was interesting, before lunch the track was all wet and mucky, as it a couple of inches deep clay mud stuff. Did three or four runs before lunch before i gave up and decided it would be better to wait till after lunch when it had dried up a bit more.

Before lunch during the shuttles about halfway down the track i had to keep getting off and dragging my bike up a little hill. (I was going to slow for the mud to clear out of my wheels so they both just jammed up, and it made the bike to heavy to lift of the ground more then a cm lol)

After lunch was better, it had dried up a bit, and i gotten sick of having to get off me bike so i kept trying to do the 4wd parts quicker.

Race day was good fun. the track had dried out pretty much completly over night. there wernt any where near as much ruts as i thought there would be. Race and seeding runs were alright, just wish i had gotten up the guts to a couple a of the drops and jumps.

Ended up 5th out of 5, i was happy as i took off about 15 secs off my seeding run.

Long Gully Labyrith 14-15/02/09

This race was different to the other races i had done. All the old and new lines were open and you had to pick the line that you thought you were the fastest on.

Practice day was all good except for me crashing halfway through the day hurting my neck and back a little bit, and doing something to my ankle. Not that i cared, carried on biking anyway. I decided i wanted to try the old pig chute line as the new one wasnt open for the race. I finaly got up the guts to attempt it. Getting to the drop about halfway down the chute, i relised i was going to slow and that i was stuffed. next thing i know im at the bottom of the chute missing my right shoe and not sure where my bike is. Medics there check me out a little before they letted me move. Rode to the bottom of the track and got checked out by the medic at the bottom, i was fine so i carried on riding. Didnt attempt the pig chute again, will try it later in time.

Race was good, got a few practice runs in. I was the only woman racing so it was and easy race to win lol.

North Island Downhill Cup Round 3 (Leivn 24&25/01/09

Practice day didn't go so well, I only got 3 runs max in on my bike. The chain kept falling off and then got jammed in my rear wheel locking it up. I ended up having to get a new chain, front chain ring and rear cassette and did a couple of runs on a 09 Demo a bike mechanic had there.

Race day wasn't any better. Instead of the chain falling off the outside, the chain fell off between the chain ring and bash guard and got stuck so I ended up doing my seeding on the Demo, and I was all over the place. My feet kept coming off. Race run I did on my bike and ended up crashing twice and nearly losing it a couple of times. I wasn't used to riding with Tripples, so I couldn't turn as sharply as I was used to, so I crashed a couple of times because of that. I had just put my rear shock back on when I realised that the shock I had borrowed didn't hold the air.

My seeding run was way better than my race run (seeding about 20 secs faster then race) but oh well. I ended up coming 6th but I should have finished at least 5th. Another weekend of learning more lessons!

North Island Downhill Cup Round 2 (Rotorua 16&17/01/09

Practice day was good, I hadn't ridden much during the week as stuff on bike kept breaking and then I strained a muscle in my chest on Monday. (The only reason I could do practice and stuff was because Ed from Planet Bikes lent me a rear shock after I broke mine earlier in the week. A big thank you to Ed and Planet Bikes!) About a week ago I had built up the nerve to do the end jump which I was glad to do. Practice was going all good until what would have been my 2nd to last run of the day ended up being last run because I crashed. I crashed on the end jump, as I was coming into it faster than I normally do, so thought I would try and clear it to the transition (bloody great idea that was), ended up coming off it wrong and went straight for a tree at full speed and bent the steerer tube on my new forks (not even a month old).


James Lewis from Sram lent me a bike for me to race on. It was a brand new bike and I got to have first ride on it. Not sure if it was his own or the company's. Just hope I didn't damage it too bad, or break anything on it. (It had a gear box thingy for the front 2 gears which stopped working after I had a small crash on it, and the rear shock pivot stuff came lose before my race run, only noticed it at the top when I was making sure I was in the right gear.)


So in the end I came 7th think, and I was happy with that, mainly because I still did the end jump and was on an unfamiliar bike. A big thank you to James Lewis and Sram!

North Island Downhill Cup Round 1 (Rotorua 3&4/01/09)

Practice day was good fun, I quite liked the top half of the track, which went down team line and off the Dog Drop. I like the Dog as it was easy to do, and you could easily roll off it. The rest of the track after the road kept changing, as the weather kept raining and then stopping, so the track became slow, then ruts would appear where they weren't before which made you stay alert.

During practice I got the guts up to do one of drops when I was looking at stuff with the rest of the girls.


Come race day, there were some large ruts and braking bumps coming into the drops/jumps and technical bits, the couch drop/jump chute especially.