Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Quartzopolis Challenge

This event was a new one for me this year and with high reccommendations from Phil at Cycleways (who won last year!) I thought this must be a cracker of a race to get  amongst!
We drove up Friday evening to Reefton town and enjoyed a nice bar meal.  I was after a good pasta to fill the tum and luckily they had it!  Once ordered and on the table it was about the size of a kids meal and I was  starving so it hardly touched the sides.  It was down to the fuel station and there in the warmer was a shabby looking pie ready to be indulged on.  It wasn't exactly satisfying but it helped fill me up along with some of Bev's bacon and egg pie.  Interesting dinner meal before a race!
The race start was nice and casual and I was looking forward to seeing what this course had to offer.  I took off hard as soon as we took the first turn staying close to the lead car who wasn't exactly holding up (everyone else stayed back) and as soon as the horn sounded I had a good push up the first climb already way out the front.
The course then started getting into rougher 4wd terrain snaking its way through the forestry until we came to a super fun downhill!  Very much like the Karapoti type descents, loose and fast and it made for a full on ride to keep the bike not skating all over the show!
After this it was a long climb up the same type of terrain I had just came down so holding momentum was key to try and stop wheel spin.  At about the half way mark there was a neat board walk section and then into some great pack track trails.  Ited was like riding on ridable walking tracks nice and tight but not over the top with dismounts and rough patches.  I felt like I was on this track for a while and nearing the end I was glad to see a change of scenery out of the bush and back into the open but I sure enjoy getting amongsome proper mountain bike terrain!  Finally along a gravel road for about 1 km the finish line popped up around the next bend and I came over the line winning the event with a great time, pleased with my ride!
Next event for me is Oceania's this Saturday - looking forward to some Aussie competition!!!

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