NI Cup Round 3 - Rotorua 20-21/02/10

Friday we headed up to Rotorua after mum had finished work. Dad packed the car and we picked mum up from work on the way past. This race as a Saturday-Sunday race instead of the usual Friday-Saturday races.

Practice day was good, the track was good. The lines were a lot more open then the previous round here. Cruised down for the first couple of runs making sure they hadn't gone and changed a bunch of stuff like the previous round there. Pretty much every run I tried to get into new lines or retired lines, trying to decide what ones would be faster and also less risky for my race run. After i got most of my lines sorted i started trying to go faster, ended up crashing a few times down couch chute from jumping too far left. Also nearly lost it in front of a guy when I tried to ride it brakeless, managed to slow down and get off the main line while staying on the bike. Did some runs with Jake Boylett who showed me some mint lines. By the end of the day I had the track mostly sorted, with just a bit of the track I wasn't happy with as I felt I was exiting to slow out of it.

Sunday was race day. Managed to get 3 practice runs in which was mint. Did the first one by myself, then caught up with Carl Edmondson, and did the last two with him, trying to keep up, but failing quite miserably at my attempts to do so. Was feeling pretty good on the track after doing those two runs with Carl, I could keep him in my sight for the first half of the track on my second attempt. (i think he might have been going slow, looking at his race time especially since he crashed on it). Seeding run went all good, made a couple of mistakes up the top and forgot to pedal in some of the slightly more pedally bits of the track. Came down with a time of 4.11 putting me in first for open women. Race run came and went pretty badly but managed to beat my time of 4.11 with a 4.07.something. I felt like I screwed up most of the track, and i figured Charlotte would have beaten me, but some how my race time was faster then my seeding time. I ended up winning the open women by a good 20secs or so. Also got the North Island Cup title, and managed to just beat Charlotte for the Overall NZ Cup title.

Full results here: http://www.vorb.org.nz/download/file.php?id=127397

NI Cup Round 2 - Tauranga 12-13/02/10

I took Thursday off school to go up to Tauranga with Campbell, Amanda and Brotha Ryan in the Bicycle Van. We left sometime between 10.30 and 11.30 and made it Rotorua at about 5, in time for the Thursday evening shuttles. We did two runs down Jumps, then a couple down last weekends Race track. After the shuttles we continued onto Tauranga. We got some Fish and Chips for dinner. We stayed at a place on the beach at Papamor.

Friday was practice day. First run up to the top of the track and we got put in trucks with the end door fully closed. I swear we all all nearly died on the way up. It was so hot on the way up, we were all sweating after about a minute. The truck i ended up in was the one where it was fully enclosed, where the other two had like canvas sides so you had light coming in from the side, where the one i was pitch black. Within the first minute we had all gotten chucked around in the truck as the driver put the brakes on coming up to a cattle stop, not relalising the brakes were so touchy. For the rest of the runs up the hill, they allowed us to have the end door open a bit, but wasnt allowed it open much as the road to the top was a public road, so we had to be kept hidden. First run down the track, and i was like this is gonna be quite technical with all the off cambre lines. Just cruised down looking at the jumps and different lines. Next runs down i hit a few of the jumps and ran into the others trying to decide if i would have enough speed to hit them, by the end of the day i was doing all the jumps except for the two drops up the top, mainly because i didnt really see the point in doing the 1st one as going around it was no slower and less risky and the 2nd one was aquakwid to get into, and decided just to focus on more on getting my lines sorted and where it would be safe to push myself and where to hold back come seeding and race run.

Saturday was race day. Managed to get two practice runs down in the mourning, was feeling alright about the track, had worked out where i was going push myself, and where i was gonna hold back, and roughly how much. Pretty much holding back for most of the track, as i didnt really want to get off line and end up in all the dusty dirt, as it slowed you down more then taking it slowly would if you hit it wrong. Seeding run went pretty much perfect, i was stoked as with it. I was counting on crashing or mucking up, but i didnt, and seeded first with Charlotte second. For my race run, i decided i would just ride it like my seeding run, which i did, apart from some stuff ups. I came down to the finish line, and thought Charlotte woulda beaten my time, cos i felt like i mucked everything up so bad, but i only ended up being about 6 seconds slower then my seeding run, which was pretty good i felt. And i managed to beat Charlotte and stay on for once.

Full Results here: http://www.vorb.org.nz/download/file.php?id=127135

Video from Stumpy: http://www.vimeo.com/9463130

NI Cup Round 1 - Rotorua 5-6/02/10

Friday was practice day. Cruised down for my first run, and glad i did. Was expecting the lines to be like usual but they werent. Usualy they pick one of the lines and leave all the lines on that line open, but this time they didnt. They ran team line up the top, and picked the lef tmost line in that, then crossed over to the right to a off cambre bit, then back to the left and around the corner, then as normal to the road. Since they picked the left most line, it made going of the drop in team line a bit hard, I just had to make sure i didnt go to fast or to slow. After the road it went into the stepdown line, which was as normal, but they had built some woops before it, which took me a while to get right and comfortable enough to do the stepdown, but was algood, once i worked out where to hit it from and what gear i had to be in. After that it went into the couch chute, but not off the drop, instead it went on the bus stop to the right around the normal line. Next was Pimpstump, but not like normal, instead of straight down Pimpstump, it went down the start of the easier line then into the harder line. After that it was the last chute, different again, down the harder line at the top, then into the left line through a new line. Then into the left end jump, that part was like the only part that wasnt different. At first i was having trouble with the track, not remembering how the track went and what bits where taped off. Once i started to remember where everything was, i started pushing my self a bit more. Got a bit close to some trees down Couch chute which was scary. About half was through the day, I hit the step down, woulda hit it sooner if i hadnt kept mucking the woops before. Was algood once i worked out where to hit it from and what i had to be in to pedal into the Step down.

Saturday was race day. I got two practice runs during the mourning, and they seemed to go together a lot better then Fridays runs, so was feeling pretty good coming into seeding run. On my last practice run i had noticed that my spokes had come lose so got Cam (the dude that owns bicycle) to do them back up for me, only to find i had a decent flat spot where the spokes were lose so they couldnt be tightened. Got to the top to wait for my seeding run, while i was waiting i got bored so dusted of my rim and looked at the flat spot and noticed that there was something that looked like a crack, which it was. Did my seeding run on it hopeing that it wouldnt get any worse and that my tyre wouldnt go down as i was running tubeless. got a time of 4.06.something, only making a couple of small mistakes. Was pretty happy with my time, got fastest seeding for my group. Went over and showed Cam the crack in the rim, and said i would have to find a rear wheel that i could borrow of someone. I ended up borrowing Baylee Jacksons rear wheel as she wasnt racing, because she had work on the friday. Cam sorted all that out for me, changing the tires over and cassette and finding a brake adapter. Went up for my race run, and decided that i wanted to see if i could break the 4min mark. I was last one down the hill in my group. My run went together pretty much perfectly for me. Just in the last chute i crashed and ended up down the bank, i dont even know what happened, i wasnt out of control like i had been at the previous races i had crashed on, which annoys me.Later found out that a log on the side of the had gotten uncovered about where i crashed, so i think i must have clipped that which caused me to crash. Got down with a time of 4.24something, and Charlotte that got the winning time got a 4.17something, which annoyed me because my seeding time bet her race time by a little over 10secs. I ended up 3rd

Full results here: http://www.vorb.org.nz/download/file.php?id=126927

Video from Stumpy:

http://www.vimeo.com/9287676