Kona Colville Connection

It was quite a drive back up to Rotorua from the Karapoti last weekend and with tired legs it felt even longer. I had a couple of days to recover before heading further north up to the Coromandel Peninsula. The Coromandel lies out to the east of Auckland on a beautiful unspoilt green peninsula. Colville was the start and finish of the race and is the last village before the gravel road starts, and it becomes pretty remote. Colville has a shop and school and a handful of houses, and that’s it! I have never been up to this part of New Zealand before and I was treated to some amazing weather on the drive in to Colville. It was so nice that I had to stop and swim in the sea as it just looked so welcoming. It was pretty warm and we had the whole beach to ourselves!

The guys from Bike Barn said that everyone from the shop and organisation camps out, so we borrowed a tent and pitched it in the field next to the finish. It was a great atmosphere, and we sat around at the Bike Barn tent eating fish and chips, chatting away into the night. They also sold a few bits to people arriving realising they had forgotten their pump, tube or something pretty vital for the ride the next day.

The morning soon arrived and the peace and tranquillity was over as 1500 mountain bikers packed into the village ready for the race. There were 3 distance options, the 24km, 44km, or 72km, so there were all sorts of people and families which made for a fantastic laid back atmosphere. My team mate Barry Wicks flew in from the US to take part in the race and insisted I join him at the front of the grid! It was pretty cool for the first couple of flat kms on the road as there was a lead out vehicle with a camera, and a helicopter flying right above our heads filming the race!! As soon as the first climb began I migrated to the side of the track and let the keen whippets pass me! I was not out for a fast start as I had 72km to complete and it’s been a while since I rode that far, so I wanted to make sure I paced myself and didn’t end up crawling home in the granny ring!

The first half of the track was undulating gravel road which was fun as I was making up loads of places on the descents as people were not happy with their bikes sliding in the gravel. The gravel road then stopped and we started riding up through a field and were then faced with a line of what looked like mountains….I had no idea how we were going to get up, all I knew was we had to get over them somehow and there looked like there was no easy option!! The track just went straight up for about 1 hour!! Some of it was just about rideable and some was just too steep. It was also covered by really dense forest for most of the climb, so the ground rarely dries out leaving the damp clay surface really slippery to ride or walk on! It was a tough push and I was very thankful of my Torq gel halfway up as that really kicked in and helped me gain loads of places as I tried to climb as much of it as I could. Once you finally popped out at the top, the view was just amazing. I stopped for a quick picture and then carried on. I heard that the descent was pretty damn good, and yes it was. It went straight down the other side on pretty much the same gradient as we had gone up! Thankfully though it was on grass and not wet slippery clay! However it still made for a tough descent on your hands and brakes. As with all good descents it was over too quickly, however I was actually quite grateful as my hands were killing hanging on to my little lightweight xc bike with 80mm of travel!! It was hairy at times. However I managed to pass a few more people and once I hit the halfway point I passed the Kona guys at the water station and they told me that Barry was leading which was good and I was in 3rd about 1 minute back. It was back on gravel road now for the 35km home. I felt pretty good and really pushed hard, catching and passing the 2 girls ahead of me within about 8km. I then had 27km to go trying to stay ahead. I joined a group of guys trying to work as a group, but they soon all fell by the wayside and I was left on my own. I still felt strong and with 10km to go there was a small incline that I went to put the power down and cramp got the better of my hamstrings!! This was my first experience of cramp and it was really not nice. I managed to stay on my bike and just gently pedal until it went, and then just took it steady for the last 10km trying not to let the cramp get me again! I managed to stay ahead of the other girls and finished in a time of 4.09hr feeling thoroughly knackered. I then found out that I had won the open women’s race and received a cool big wooden trophy that unfortunately has to be returned next year so I couldn’t take it home! I was really pleased to have been able to ride so strongly on the second part of the race, and it was great for Kona for both me and Barry to win their big event in NZ.

Well that’s it for me and my xc racing. I’m heading down to the South Island this week for the Oceania Championships in Nelson next weekend. Downhill…whopeeee !!