Sunday, June 26, 2011

Blue Dog Night Racing Winter Series

The 2011 Night Racing series consisted of 8 races in total with the first race a practise night. Out of the first 6 races (after the practise night) the best 3 placings were taken including the final round.
Over the series I had some good races and some not so good races. I rode in the junior category but still looked at the overall picture and had a couple of outright wins. One night I fronted to race with a cold but still had enough juice in the tank to take the win but other nights saw various woes from mechanical breakdowns to just not feeling quite right and falling back a bit not to mention a crash tucked in there also!
Out of the series my placings were:
4th May (Practice) 1st Overall
11 May-2nd Overall, 2nd Junior
18 May-5th Overall, 1st Junior
25th May-1st Overall
1st June-2nd Overall, 1st Junior
8th June-DNF
15th June-3rd Overall, 1st Junior
22nd June (Final) 1st Overall
With these results I took out the Junior Category and become the 2011 Junior World Night Racing Champion!
These events made up for a fantastic bit of Winter training and Blue Dog Events saw numbers around the 200 mark! Not bad for a hardy bunch of Canterbury riders!
Big Thanks must go to Rod and Jane from Blue Dog Events for putting on the series and to my sponsor Matt Bailey and the boys from Cycleways for sorting out my racing machine so it was running in top form. Congratulations must go to Mark Dunlop for taking out the overall win as well as Phil Patterson for cleaning up the Vet category!

Waipara Classic 90km Road Race 21st May


The 2011 Waipara 90km Classic Handi-cap Road Race was my first race on my Brand New 2011 Trek Madone 5.2 Road Bike from Cycleways. The bike set up with an super slick Ultegra groupset and a very sleek and kiwi Black and White paint job! With a set of Dura-ace Wheels borrowed courtesy of Brad Williams I was very keen to get out and see how the new machine went!
The course went up toward Greta Valley and after a bit of a loop came back along the Weka Pass. With mint conditions for racing with the sun out and little wind the mind and body was in good form!
As it was a handi-cap event and was only my second road event this season (my first event this season on my old 2003 Giant TCR Road Bike) I chose to ride in the Break group. The course suited me well as it undulated in several sections and I did a lot of work up the front of the bunch. One thing I found was that the harder I rode the Trek the better it felt!
Towards the end of the race we had the last couple of short hills up the Weka Pass which was a very quick pace as a couple of riders tried to break away-the legs were starting to feel a bit on the tired side but I managed to hold on and keep the pressure on over the last 10km.
The course then turned left and it started to get a bit congested as we had caught up the next couple of Bunches (due to the handi-capping) and before I knew it we had crossed the finish line but no real chance of a sprint!
This didn't matter however as the handi-capping was not right but it was an excellent day for racing and I was very pleased with my new machine and how I rode!
Big thanks to Brad for lending me his wheels and to My Sponsor Matt Bailey (Cycleways) for sorting me out a fantastic new Machine!

Mt Isobel Challenge 26th May

The Mt Isobel Challenge is a Duathlon event in Hanmer Springs that consists of an 8km hill run up the Mt Isobel track to the summit with a 1000 metre ascent. This then gets followed up with a 22km undulating mountain bike back to the finish line at the domain.
This was an event I did last year during the winter season where I finished second in the Junior category and as it was a great event and I had good fun I was keen to have another crack at it. So with a bit more of a running base compared to last year and almost the identical conditions (icy cold wind early morning at the transition up Jacks Pass Road but sunny once we got going) it was going to be a good hit out!
The pace at the start was hot and I was sitting somewhere in the front half of the pack. We followed up the gravel road for a kilometre or so till we came onto the single track. A gnarly run/grunt eventually made its way to the top and along the ridgeline to reach the peak. From there it was a sign of relief as I knew it was all downhill until I got onto the bike. The downhill was fast and furious. I had my mate Sam Bell and Boss Brad Williams (a bit of humble competition) to try and keep up with which turned into quite a mission with a lack of downhill adventure running and road running shoes on sketchy and steep terrain. Nevertheless I got down in one piece and after a slow transition I was off - time to wind up the big wheels!
This bike section I was looking forward to as I knew I could make up some good placings with this and prior to the race the idea was to save the legs for a good smack fest once on two wheels. However after the intensity in the run the legs felt dead and so after grinding up every hill and still managing to pull in quite a few riders (including Sam and Brad!) I eventually made it back to the finish 2nd in my class and 6th overall. Well done to young Craig Oliver who smashed the course and took out first overall in the event!
A great day out and an awesome event during the Winter time, highly recommended!