Riding at Slater Road

Michael and I spent the weekend house-sitting at my mate's property up on South Head. It has to be one of my favourite places and is so awesome to explore. I still get lost! They even have their own private mountain bike park with heaps of single track in steep pine forest and an orienteering map of the whole property. What more could you want?!

On Friday I was up there by myself (well, other than all the animals) so I went for a good long run through all my favourite tracks then, after a rather brief dip in the pool (it's definitely starting to get a bit too cold for that kind of thing!) I took my bike out for a bit of a spin. Saturday Michael and I took the bikes out for a long ride through some of the many trails. Awesome day for a ride.










On Sunday Michael set us an orienteering course to do and we bashed through the bush having a bit of fun and getting in some training before Nationals at Easter. No photos because we were too busy orienteering! We were going to take the double kayak out after lunch but it clouded over and we decided to be lazy instead. But we did do our bit and rake some tracks...


Me and Jess playing at being farmers

ARC Journey to the End of the World

I had been tossing up between the NZ Rogaine Champs and the ARC adventure race (both were on the same weekend) but Michael pretty much refused to do a 24 hour rogaine so the ARC it was. We had really wanted to do the 12-hr but getting a double racing kayak is pretty hard and I was pretty disorganised in getting on to it so we settled on the 8-hr with the intention of racing it as hard as we could. But as the day was approaching I was feeling less and less keen...not helped by the fact I'd been sick for 2 weeks and had a lot of other things on my mind. It felt like deja vu from last year.


Michael working on the raft
We had race briefing the night before and I have to admit, I started to feel quite excited, although pretty apprehensive, especially about the final mountain bike stage which had the potential to be the make or break section of the race and we all know how anxious I feel about mountain biking (well, you might not but basically it scares me half to death no matter how much of it I do). Then the morning of the race we had to get there early to build our raft...we were able to use 2 inner tubes, 2 lengths of wood and some rope and were supplied with wooden paddles.


The 12-hr and 24-hr teams set off on their first kayak leg
We finished our raft in time to see the 12-hr and 24-hr teams set off for their first kayaking leg and I really started to get excited, anxious and a bit jealous that we weren't out there kayaking (although also secretly relieved as the thought of a surf landing sounded pretty scary).

Our first stage was the rafting. We were starting in the second wave of 8-hr teams at 8:20am and had to paddle our rafts across the estuary to the other side and pick up a couple of checkpoints then paddle back.


Stage 1: Rafting
Let's just say that our raft was, um, not so good. I think we needed the tubes further apart as it would tip over when Michael would try and get on so he basically swum the whole way while I swam most of the way. There was a bit of a current on the way over but on the way back it had got pretty strong and I got tangled up in some boats! The checkpoints were also a bit mysterious as the checkpoints ended up being round the wrong way which caused a bit of confusion. I was pretty relieved to get out of the water 'cause I was knackered! Swimming in shoes is tough work.


The first 8-hr teams set off on the rafting section
After a fairly quick transition and a change of clothes and shoes we set off on the second stage which involved a mountain bike ride to the rifle shoot then on to the transition area at Wentworth Valley.


Stage 2: Mtb and rifle shoot
It was a pretty easy ride along the main highway then on to some gravel roads. At the rifle shoot we each had 5 shots at the "ducks". Last year I'd got 5 out of 5 but clearly I was feeling a bit cocky this year because I stuffed up the first two shots which really frustrated me. Fortunately I managed to pull it together for the final 3 shots. Then it was a fairly short ride to the transition area where we dropped the bikes, grabbed quick bite to eat and a swig of water and then changed shoes for the trek stage.

Stage 3 was a trek through the Wentworth Valley and up through the bush as well as an abseil down the Wentworth Falls (you can see a picture of the falls here). We caught up to a few teams on our way up the gravel road to the first checkpoint and raced onto the mining track we figured CP0 would be on. Found a mine (it said Danger Do Not Enter) but couldn't find the checkpoint. A few other teams turned up and also went in and had a look but we were racing off to see if there was another one by then. Success. So then we were off as fast as we could to keep ahead. CP1 was pretty simple. But then we made our mistake...although we didn't realise it until much later.


Stage 3: Trek and Abseil
From CP1 we bashed up a very indistinct trail through the thick native bush to CP2 and then bashed even further up (scaling some cliff at one point and passing some teams who started in the first 8-hr group - one of the guys we passed called me a 'bloody machine'!) to CP3 where there was the most incredible view down to the coast at Whangamata and beyond. I wish we'd had time to take a picture really. Then it was down through the bush (trying not to slide over although I did have a couple of falls) to try and find CP4. This was when Michael started to question what was going on. For some reason he'd thought the abseil was at CP4 but we were no where near water. We both started to freak out until I had a look at the checkpoint descriptions and realised we were supposed to have gone to the abseil from CP1 then start up through the bush. Bugger.

Instead, we raced on to CP5 then down to the transition and raced back up the way we'd already come at the beginning of the trek to get to the abseil. It felt like a hell of a distance going back and we were going pretty fast to try and make up time so by the time I got to the waterfall I was knackered. I was in such a hurry I wasn't really thinking about how cool it was that we were abseiling down a 25 metre waterfall. Would so have loved to have done it again!

We made it back to the transition again in record time and got back on our bikes for Stage 4 which was a ride back to base. Pretty easy and so nice to be cruising on the bikes again after a pretty intense trek stage. I was definitely starting to feel weary by then too as I don't normally race longer events like this so hard!

We got back to base pretty quick and I attempted to get some more food down before we were off again for the final stage, a 2-hour mountain bike rogaine on the local tracks. It was pretty confusing as we were given 2 maps - a topo map and a trails map that you had to try and merge together to try and work out what was going on!


Stage 5: Mtb Rogaine
Fortunately Michael was doing the navigating while I was just attempting to keep up! But that got a bit tough so we loaded most of my gear into his pack which helped quite a lot on the hills. The route he'd planned out took us up to the highest point of the map before we slowly weaved our way down (with the odd steep uphill thrown in for good measure). The single track was pretty awesome riding (fortunately the rain the night before hadn't been too bad so the trails weren't too wet which was good 'cause they appeared to be clay based) but you had to be on your toes in case you missed the track you wanted or rode right past a checkpoint! We didn't see that many teams out there which I thought was a little weird but probably good as it's a bit frightening to be riding down a trail and meeting a team coming up.


The bike park map for stage 5
We had trouble with a few of the controls mostly due to the mysteriousness of the maps (and the descriptions given for where some of the checkpoints were)!! But we actually managed to find all the checkpoints before we had to race back to the finish as quick as possible as the 2 hours was nearly up (we found out later that we were the only 8 hour team to get all the checkpoints for the mountain bike rogaine stage). Michael was pushing me from behind for parts of the ride along the road at the end to keep me moving fast and we came screaming into the finish but we were still a couple of minutes late. Worth it though for the points we made getting all the checkpoints. I pretty much wanted to lie down on the grass at this point!

Awesome race but probably a bit short as we finished in 6 hours 30 minutes (probably should have been more like 6 hours without the mistake in the trek) but I was dead by the end anyway! 12 hour race next year?


Did I mention we won?

Australian MTBO Long Distance Champs

Australian MTBO Sprint Distance Champs

Australian MTBO Middle Distance Champs

The first event of the Australian Champs was the middle distance. From what I could see from old maps it was going to be steep and the notes seemed to indicate it was going to be quite rocky. It was even quite a ride up to the start (they even supplied us with little maps so we didn't get lost!) which was a good warmup (especially good because it was pretty cold).


I mostly navigated okay but was a bit hesitant especially to start with when I saw one of the top Australians going down some very strange route (apparently she later blamed her bad time on mechanical issues...hmmmm). The terrain was extremely physical and you really didn't want to take the wrong track and go flying down a hill you weren't supposed to 'cause coming back up would be a killer.


Thanks Pete for snapping me in action as I leave the start
There was one bit where you could either go back out to the track along the single track you'd just come up or continue along it and although I figured it was probably slower to continue I thought it might be more fun so I went that way! I just kept imagining I was riding at Woodhill and thought of the rocks as the usual tree roots and it seemed to work quite well.

I made a couple of mistakes near the end when I was pretty knackered. Somehow I ended up at #13 before #12 which I think happened to a few people. Then on the way to #14 I didn't see the track I was looking for and started off down the wrong one. Luckily I worked it out fairly quickly before I'd gone too far wrong! I was pretty happy with my race overall though.

MTBO Training in Australia

After the weekend of racing over near Mt Gambia for the South Australian Champs we started making our way over to Maryborough and our base for a week of training.

On the Monday most of the team went for a trek up in The Grampians but because I was supposed to be looking after my foot I joined Di (or "camp mother") to cycling the rail trail going from Skipton to Ballarat. Okay, most normal people would ride it going the other way for obvious reasons once you get on it (umm, going the way we did it was mostly uphill the whole way) but why opt for the easy option?! Okay, it didn't fit with our travel plans to do it the other direction and, well, Di didn't tell me it was going to be mostly uphill. Rob and her sold it to me as a chance to spin my legs and relax. Umm, not unless you count relaxing as riding about 65km and most of that uphill (it's not a steep gradient but the ground is pretty sandy so there is quite a bit of resistance)!

Anyway, it was pretty awesome but very tiring. Di took heaps of photos but I haven't got them off her yet. I'll post some when I get them because the scenery was beautiful.


About 10km before the end of the trail (we kept riding into Ballarat to meet our driver afterwards) a magpie came out of nowhere and nearly knocked me off my bike which was quite hilerious especially after we saw it flap off rather drunkenly. Afterwards we discovered you could see where it had wedged its beak in my helmet.

Tuesday was our first official day of training and I was exhausted! Thankfully the map was relatively flat (note the word relatively). We spent most of the day out riding the forest doing various different exercises focusing on smooth transitions through track junctions (i.e. not stopping to check the map every time).


The bush was quite dry and tracks were covered in twigs and leaves. Oh, and rocks. The terrain is definitely more rocky than anywhere I've biked in New Zealand and rocks are hard as I would find out the following weekend!


Wednesday's map was a lot steeper which generally suits me. In the morning we rode out round training loops in pairs and I was with Marquita who is, like, incredible (she has several World Champs under her belt). It was really cool to ride with her and I was feeling a lot more confident in my riding by the end.




After lunch we headed out on some long legs by ourselves and although we were on the same map (although on the other side of it) the terrain felt really different. It was even steeper than the morning's training too but the forest was awesome.


Thursday was the final day of training before heading over to Daylesford for the weekend. We were back over on terrain similar to Tuesday and started off with a relocation exercise. We were in groups and rode out into the forest not looking at our maps. When the leader of the group stopped we then had to work out where we were. Argh!! I'd never (hopefully) lose that much contact with the map so it was really tough but good fun.


On the second exercise (long legs and route choice) I was riding along minding my own business (well, reading my map on what looked like a relatively smooth piece of single track) when all of a sudden I looked up and saw my front wheel hit a rather large log. It wasn't a bad crash but rocks sure do cause a bit of blood loss. Thankfully I was not the guy who got a stick in his front wheel which threw him off and fractured his sternum and ribs. Not good.


We then had a go at a sprint course which was a bit of a laugh especially at one point where there were a few of us riding round in circles getting ourselves horribly confused! Never let someone else put you off your original plan!

In the afternoon a few of us drove out to Kooyoora State Park to explore one of the most technical (foot) orienteering maps I've ever seen. Have a look at the map here. It's crazy.






We traveled most of the morning on Friday and arrived in Daylesford (well, we were staying in Hepburn Springs but it's just down the road) around lunchtime. After lunch Rob decided we'd go on a nice relaxing half an hour ride along the river. Um yeah. It turned into quite a long, epic ride with one of the guys even managing to fall down a 12 metre cliff (and come out with only a couple of broken tendons in his fingers...I couldn't believe he was even alive!).




Track closed? No problem, just ride it anyway. Apparently it said no riding either but never mind!


Looking over the cliff where Steve fell down

SA MTBO Middle Distance Champs

Oh my god, worst race of my life!! It was a freezing cold morning and after hearing wild stories of how tough the terrain was on this map last time I was not exactly feeling prepared. It started out okay, although I felt really slow and there were a few weird sections where it felt like tracks were either missing or just plain different from the map especially on the way to #2. Then I bumped into Marquita whilst looking for #3 and we came to the conclusion it wasn't in the right place when I spotted it through the bush. Frustrating.


Then it got bad. I was having a lot of trouble breathing and the sand was just ridiculous. I was struggling up the hills and felt really dizzy at one point and somehow managed to completely loose contact with the map. Not good!

Because I am stubborn, I got all the way out to #9 which is on the very far corner of the map, about as far from the finish as you could get, before deciding I couldn't continue. Of course, I still had to ride back which was a mission. Yeah, I could have finished but I really couldn't face the sand and fairly epic hills that looked like dominating the last section of the course and my breathing was starting to really hurt so it was my first ever DNF. I thought I'd feel bad about it or something but I kind of felt relieved that I'd been able to stop.

SA MTBO Long Distance Champs

After a training ride with our team in the morning which did a little to calm my nerves, it was time for the longest mountain bike orienteering course I'd ever done (rogaines not included here), and in another country no less! I think the distance (which is based on the shortest possible route I think but I'm not sure, unlike foot orienteering where it's based on the straight line) was 29 kilometres which seemed a long way for the first race!

Having no idea what to expect terrain-wise (everyone tried to give me helpful descriptions but there is nothing like actually being out there to understand) I was pretty anxious. I'm can navigate on the bike so that wasn't the problem. And I'm fit so that also didn't bother me. But it's my technical skills that are sorely lacking as well as confidence so signing on to this trip and getting to the start line was a big deal for me especially after my fall a couple of weeks before.


The course, for me anyway, was really easy navigation-wise (not that I didn't make a couple of really stupid mistakes especially coming out of #10 where I went in completely the wrong direction!). Also, being allowed to ride across the yellow (open terrain) was a bit weird to get your head around. Riding wise it wasn't too bad either and I was really happy with how I'd done. A good start to the trip.

Mountain Biking at Rob and Marquita's

I am currently nursing a stress fracture on my foot so couldn't make it to the final OY at White Lightning. Instead I went mountain biking at Rob and Marquita's. It wasn't the best of rides as my bike threw me down a bank...


Still in one piece thankfully...although suffering mild concussion or head trauma!

MTBO Rogaine - Rotorua

Oh my god! This was a tight finish! Anyway, Sunday was a 2 hour rogaine through the mountain bike tracks in Rotorua. Controls were worth different amounts of points depending on distance and physicality. I had planned out a great last half and an okay beginning but I couldn't get the two to meet so thought I'd just wing it...which, in hindsight of course, was not the best plan because I kept going back on myself and I could have got quite a few more points if I'd planned and thought ahead better.

Anyway, it was fine but incredibly cold. I had on 2 long sleeve layers, full length gloves and my buff under my helmet and even after 2 hours with some epic climbs I still hadn't warmed up enough to remove anything. In fact, my toes were still feeling a tad numb!


I was still feeling pretty sore after yesterday's fall but determined to have a good ride which I did. I really enjoyed myself and kind of wished it had been a 3 hour race instead of only 2. My riding was a lot more confident and I even came down this steep, winding downhill track riding over half of it which was incredibly brave for me. The only thing was that going up to get this 100 point control took a bit longer than I'd hoped and I was really pushing time at the end.

I thought I'd try and get 1 more (I had been hoping to get 2 more but I knew that wasn't going to happen) but the single track had a lot more corners on it than I expected and it went on and on and on (as I nervously kept glancing at my watch). Coming out from the control I bumped into Brent who was trying to find the control but was confused (the navigator in one of the top adventure racing teams in the world got confused...love it!). I pointed him off in the right direction but then I couldn't find my way out to the road! There was next to no time on the clock, I had mud all through my cleats and pedals so I couldn't clip in on one of my feet and there was still a bit of distance to go to get to the finish...nail bitting stuff! But I did it...with 6 seconds to spare!

MTBO - Rotorua

Rotorua is supposed to be mountain biking mecca but the only other time I've ridden there was for the National mountain bike orienteering (MTBO) champs last year and I was so buried in my map I barely took any notice of what the trails were like. This time, since the races were fairly casual, I wanted to have some fun.

The first control was just plain mean. We started down the bottom in the carpark and basically had to head up...and up...and up! Well, at least you were all warm by then! To #2 I was caught by Kylie and then bumped into someone else and we rode round and round in circles, quite hopelessly confused, trying to find the control in the maze of tiny single tracks. They were all one-directional but since we were lost and didn't know which track we were on we were probably riding them the wrong way! We all decided heading to the road and coming in from the other side would be the best bet but it was impossible to even get to the road! In the end we all stumbled across it by chance!


Coming out of #3 (up the top of the hill) I took the wrong road despite carefully checking my map and being convinced I was correct. Luckily I realised pretty early on (as it was all downhill). To get over to the other road I had to head back up the road again or take the single track. I surprised myself by choosing the single track which was awesome fun.

Everything went okay after that, although slow and cautious, until partyway to #7 when I was biking quite fast along a gravel track and there was a huge mud puddle covering most of the track. I thought I'd go round it in case it was quite deep but instead my wheel spun out and I came flying off, landing really hard and in some blackberry. It wasn't very nice! I had to slowly pick myself up and try not to wince too much and then pull my bike out of the mud and readjust some stuff on my handlebars. I think I might have hit my head as I went down 'cause I couldn't think straight and ended up needing a bit of a hand from one of the other racers who came past. The rest of the race was a slow grind to the end!

I thought I did terribly. For a start, I could see at least 20 minutes I could have easily knocked off without even trying (for a start, crashing off my bike and attempting to fix the handlebars took a good 10 minutes). A bit more speed, more concentration and less stupid mistakes and I could have taken off even more time. But I ended up finishing midfield which totally surprised me and I bet Owen, my big rival, by 1 second...and that's all it takes to beat someone!

Mtb Rogaine 2 - Marquita's Garden

So after thrashing myself on a 90 minute foot rogaine, it was always going to be tough to get on the bike and do another 90 minutes on those grueling hills. A good plan was always going to be essential and I was fairly happy with mine. I knew there was no way I could get the controls further out so I stuck with a route on tracks I was relatively familiar with (I've ridden here a few times this year) and was definitely not going to try and be ambitious...I was knackered before I even started!


Attempting to plan my route.
Even with the route I chose, trying to avoid too many heinous hills, I found myself having to push the bike up way more hills than I would normally (although there are always hills here that you just can't ride up...not in a million years). Having ridden up here a few times I did have some idea on a good route choices and I ended up with a pretty good plan (well, for me anyway). I only changed it a tiny bit to go grab a 50 pointer when I realised I had a little bit more time than I thought.


I could have probably got another 30 points but I was pretty happy with how I did especially considering how exhausted I was by the time this race started! It would be interesting to see how I would do if I was fresh. I reckon I could get quite a few more (heading down to the far end of the forest). My technique and general riding skills are definitely improving though...bring on Aussie!

Mtb Rogaine 1 - Riverhead

Saturday was the first of 2 mountain bike rogaines in the North West Rogaine Series. Although rogaines are often confused with orienteering, they are actually quite different (well, from my perspective anyway). Yes, the majority of people who compete in rogaines are orienteers of some sort because the skill-set is similar. But unlike an orienteering event where you must make your way around a set course in the fastest possible time, for a rogaine you are given a time limit (in this series it's 90 minutes but they can get up to 24 hours) and a map with all the controls on it and you have to try and get as many as you can in that amount of time. The controls are worth different amounts of points as well. All those from 30-39 are worth 30 points, 40-49 are 40 points and 50-59 are 50 points. The winner is the person with the most amount of points. If there is a tie then it is taken on the fastest time. There are also points deducted for every minute (or part minute) you are late (20 points in this series).

Anyway, this first event was a mountain bike rogaine held out at Riverhead which is notorious for being a mud bath because of its clay base. Apparently it's been brilliant and dry all summer and even last week it was supposed to be perfect riding conditions but, of course, in the days leading up to the event the rain came. And to make matters worse it was raining before the race too! Yep, it was gonna be muddy.


I'd never done a rogaine on my mountain bike before and I'd also never ridden at Riverhead (I'd done a 3-hour foot rogaine last year when the weather had been so mad I was up to my chest in watery mud at one point) so I was pretty apprehensive. Rob wasn't very encouraging either when he came up and told me I was gonna hate it (I love his methods of encouragement)!

Yeah, I wasn't too happy with my route choice in the end but I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. I should have left more time for the controls in the bush nearer the event centre but I'd missed most of them out thinking that because they were single-track I would struggle in the mud. Turns out the couple I did manage to get to were beautiful. Damn it! There was a really frustrating part where I'd pushed the bike up this narrow single track through the gorse (should have gone round) and the clay had completely coated the bottom of my shoes so I had to attempt to scrape it out so I could clip back in once I started riding again.

It was quite a mission cleaning up the bike afterwards...took me a good hour of scrubbing 'cause mud was everywhere and by the time I'd got home it had started to dry off and clay does not want to be moved once it's dried. The shoes took another half an hour. Afterwards I realised I'd forgotten about my camelbak and mapboard which were also splattered in mud. Guess that's a task for tonight!


And here's a closer look. No wonder clipping in and out got pretty hard by the end!