Oceania Champs - Shepparton/Dookie 17-20/03/11

Since it was Oceanias, we had two days of practice plus race day. We got a 3.30pm flight from wellington on the Wednesday afternoon. Didnt get to where we were staying out of Shepparton till about 10pm Australian time which was 12pm New Zealand time. We were staying at the Dookie Uni Campus with pretty much the rest of the nz team apart from a few that chose to stay else where. Thursday we slept in till about 7 Aussie time, as we had to be up by about 7 in order to get breakfast. We spent the day going to Shepparton to get food and water bottles for the following days riding. I also walked the track once with dad, and again later on with the nz downhill team that was staying at the campus.

Friday was race day for the cross country (xc) riders and the the four cross (4x) riders and also practice for us downhill (dh) riders. Once again it was up at about 7 for breakfast, and since the dh practice wasnt starting will the afternooon and there wasnt anything else to do, so i decided to go and the xc riders race in the morning. In the morning it was all the female riders racing. In the Elite field, kiwi Rosara won followed by another fellow kiwi Karen. Katie got 2nd and Samara got third in the under 23. That was all i got too watch before i headed off to get ready for practice.

When walking the track, it seamed pretty below average and way too pedaly and boring and basic. Riding the track wasnt quite as bad as i thought it would be. The Aussie soil over here is so different to the soil back home. I found it quite a bit more slippery then our soil, and found myself drifting around a few of the corners. First run down i remembered most of the track from the two walks i had done the previous day, and knew what rock obstacles i was going to hit on the first run down, and what ones to have more looks at and do runs into. I rolled down the first rock obstacle, which was just a rock face. Cruised around the chicken line of the next two rock drops and dropped the 4th which was also the last rock obstacle. The next run down i did the same thing pretty much, but stopped and looked at lines and the 2nd rock obstacle and rolled down the 3rd rock obstacle. Pretty much the rest of my runs went something like that, while trying different lines through everything else and trying to go faster. Towards the end of the shuttles i went up with Cam, Amy and Bryn and did a track walk with them, discussing different lines and comparing lines. After the track walk i decided to up and do at least one more run to some of the lines that we talked about that were slightly different to the ones i was doing. Ended up doing two last runs. For the last run of the day i stopped at the 3rd rock obstacle and decided i was going to drop off it instead of rolling off it, and that i wasnt going to leave untill i got it. Ended up pushing up about 3-5 time before i hit it properly, then pushed up another 3 times to make sure i was all good on it. I then pushed up another two times a bit further back. Back to where the 2nd rock obstacle was so i could practice that a little bit more and also see what speed i came into the 3rd rock obstacle with and to also hit it a few more times. After that i just cruised down as that pushing up in the heat takes it out of you pretty quick. Hung around around at the bottom for a bit, having a drink and some food before heading back up to watch the 4x racing.The atmosphere at the 4x was non existent untill one of the two kiwis came down. Dan McCombie got 6th and Dan Franks got 2nd.

Saturday was practice day, with our practice in the afternoon and seeding after that. Practice was pretty good, hit the rock obstacle to flat (3rd rock obstacle) first run down, so pretty glad i hadnt hesitated and managed to hit it straight up after yesterday. Practice was pretty much the same as Friday, just trying different lines still and trying to work out what ones were faster. Had a bit of a break before seeding so sat on the last lots of shuttles. just before we all went up for our seeding runs, we got together as a group to remember a fellow rider, Dave Balderstone who passed away on the Monday before. Found out that Tom and Nick were going to be riding in Daves tops to give him one last run down the hill this weekend. This weekend we were all riding in memory of Dave. Was feeling alright going into seeding, wasnt too worried as i was doing everything i wanted to do, and wasnt crashing or struggling too much. Seeded first about a second in front of Sophie and 5 seconds off the fastest female elite which left in 2nd place over all for the females seeding runs.

Sunday was race day. First practice run down i decided i might give the hip jump at the at the end a go. Ran into it and decided not to do it that run, but that i was definately going to give it a go next run down. So next run down i hit it. I didnt fully make it, and was a bit surprised i actually managed to turn a bit off the lip and not ride straight off the track and through the tape upon landing. I pushed back up quite a bit to try once again. Got the hip all good this time, and went for the finial jump, but got on the pedals too late and braked too much after the hip so ended up casing the last jump a bit. But i knew what i did wrong and knew that i would make it, so once again i went back up to the same spot to try again. (this time Mildy pushed my bike up for me while i walked next too him and had a chat with him.) Had a bit of a break at the top, and went for it once again. This time i made both pretty easy, and knew i would be able to do them both no sweat on race run, but figured i should do at least one full run and do them without stopping so i could see if i would be in the right gear coming into them and if not, if i would have enough to change to the correct gear. The answer was yes i was in the right gear, or i was one gear too low and had more than enough time to change if i came in in the wrong gear. In memory of Dave we all wore black duct tape around our arms for race run. Sophie and I were first out of the gate. My run went pretty good, hit all my lines i wanted and remember where to change gears and how many to change and stuff. I did a one or two lines a bit slower than i would have liked, but i stayed on so wasnt too worried. I hit everything i had been hitting with no problems or hesitation. Came across the finish line with a time of 2mins 34.73secs which landed me with a 6-7 sec lead over Sophie making me 1st in the under 19 womens catergory. My time also held up against all the women elite riders, so i was the fastest women of the day, which i was pretty stoaked about.

National Champs - Dunedin 24-27/02/11

Thursday was the hill climb and dual slalom events. I flew down friday morning, so was not there for either events obviously. Like Christchurch we got a 7am flight, so once again required getting up at 5am. Robert was going to Dunedin to race and we were looking after him. Our rental vechicle was a Hilux, which was perfect, managed to fit the 3 bikes plus the bags easily into it (bikes were my TR450, my Double, and Roberts Giant). It was now off to the track to register and do some practice runs.

Once at the track we put the bikes together and registraed while we waited for Scott to turn up as he had my mud tyres, and you needed your muds for that track as it had be raining during the week, and it was pretty slippery. It was especially slippery in the bottom half of the track where it was hard enough to stay up right and on line without muds. The track consisted of the rock gardens for the top half, then into the tripple treat jumps and finialy into the slippery off camber stuff for the last third. Did a few runs down the track and i was struggling just like pretty much everybody else. The first main rock garden was a pain to do. You either had to go off the rock drop or go around it, which you couldnt really do as it was soo awkward and you couldnt uneven your pedals or they would drag along the rocks. I tried coming into the drop from different lines and angles but couldnt do it and also couldnt get going around it. This was my main problem for the whole week. The rest of the track wasnt too bad, just really really slippery and everyone i saw down the bottom third was sturggling just as much me.

Saturday was a full days downhill practice. Muds were still on the bike, but by the end of the day you were beginning to wonder whether to chuck drys on or not. The weather was holding up for the race weekend, and looked like it would continue to hold up. Practice pretty much went the same as Friday did. Dad showed me a different line into the drop in the first main rock garden that made getting into it a bit easier and predictable. I tried rolling off the drop without stopping on the top once but missed the narrow as bit which was the only place you could roll of it (it was just wider then your tyre) and landed on the rocks. After that i was a too hesitent to try it again so kept stopping, but my stopping time lessened and lessened through out the day.

Sunday was race day. Turned up to the track and decided to chuck a dry on the back and see how it went. First run down and it went good. better then i thought, so decided to also chuck a dry on the front. Once the dry was on, i went up for another run, and that was also a pretty good run. I wanted to do another run on full drys but they wouldnt let us as it was 'pro practice' even though one of the shuttles was partly loaded with non pro people. I thought that was kinda stupid especially since there werent even any pros waiting for the shuttles, or heading over. Seeding run came and went, it was a pretty average run. I stopped for ages on top of the rock drop, a lot longer than normal which i wasnt too happy about, also the rock garden section bit after the rock garden was quite slow. I took it easy down there as i saw the rider (Phoebe) in front of me, was pretty glad i took it easy as Phoebe ended up crashing towards the end of the rock garden. Rest of the run went pretty good, didnt really pedal as i was saving my energy for my race run.

Race run went pretty good. Was probably the best full run i had all weekend. Pedaled as much and as hard as i could where ever i could. Hardly stalled at all on top of the rock drop, got pretty much all of my lines as good as i had when i got them good in practice runs. Got the tripple jump set good, and started pedaling kinda forgetting about the jump afterwards. Ended up hitting the jump for the first time in race run and made it all good. The rest of the track went as planned. Both feet stayed on for pretty much the whole run, which was a first for the weekend, especially for the bottom third. Ended up winning which i was stoaked about. I finialy got a break and managed a good run and got 1st instead of 2nd.