lisa morgan

It's less than two weeks now until I'm going to take to a start line again for the 3rd round of the North Island Cup series in Rotorua.  I'm excited because there is a return this year to the course that was used in 2007 - a course I really enjoy where the climbs aren't too long or steep, and the trails are uniquely Rotorua, ie - awesome!

The best thing lately is that summer has finally arrived!  It was a long wait but it's been amazing getting out in some really hot weather - hot enough to average 29 and 30 degrees on some rides recently! 

Primarily the last few weeks have been a return to base/volume riding - much needed after so many injuries, and as a result I do notice where I'm at in my training when I get out on the dirt, but it's all part of a long term plan.   As I head towards some events I'm starting to see more dirt in my training and it's just awesome.  I still find the Felt a bit of a novelty and love the feel of carbon hardtail.  Hard to believe, but I'm a total convert.

It's still a few weeks before I can publicly announce the major plans I have for later this year but rest assured they are coming along very nicely.

In the meantime, there is still HEAPS of work to be done on the bike so that's my priority and I'll check in again closer to the Rotorua race.

The start of a new calendar year is a pretty standard time to take a step back and review the last 12 months, but as the clock ticked over and took us from 2009 to 2010 all I could say was 'thank god that's over'.

2009 was a tough year for me, causing me to visit all sorts of dark places I don't enjoy going.  Due to injury I spent a total of 7 months out of training, most of it literally off the bike or riding only 20-30 minutes a day.  And just as things were starting to come right and I was feeling fit and strong I was sent kicking and screaming back to the start again.  It was like a game of snakes and ladders where there were more snakes than ladders, and the ladders all seemed to have broken rungs.  I just couldn't get a break! (until the suspected fracture that put my right arm in a cast).

At the time I tried to ignore the big picture and just focus on each day, whether that meant taking it in stride that I needed time to heal my body on that particular day, or cramming in as much as my body could take to try and make up for lost time.  Neither is an ideal situation and at times I walked a fine line, finishing off the year by tipping over and having to withdraw in the 2nd stage of Tour de Femme after improving again on my hill climb time.  Despite being completely gutted, in some ways it seemed a fitting end to the year. 

Now, with another short break behind me and a review of the best strategies to achieve my goals for this year, I've had a chance to look back at the big picture and agree with all those people that said I'd been really unlucky.  2009, for all intents and purposes, became a year that wasn't - and one I hope never to repeat!

On the bright side I had free time to watch things like the Tour de France and learn a whole lot more about the pro-peleton to be able to appreciate that type of racing (I'm completely hooked as a spectator now), and I have a whole lot of extra career-skills in my bag of tricks having had time to devote to learning.  But all in all it wasn't a good year.  It wasn't my year.  And I hope I can now do what needs to be done and leave it in the past and focus on 2010.

The first thing I've done is withdraw from a couple of the earlier races to give myself more time for quality training building up to the national champs.  Trying to cram training in has led to a feeling of a shallow base in the past - and we all know what happens when your foundations are shakey.  So I'm limiting the racing this summer (summer?  5 sunny days in 20 does not a summer make!) and we'll see what comes out of that.  I'm planning some international racing and have shifted the focus to that, but you'll have to stay tuned for more info on that later :o)

So for now - cheers to 2010.  Still rollin' - still ridin' hard.

The weekend just been was the biggest in NZ cycling - on the last Saturday of November every year 10-12,000 people descend on the sleepy town of Taupo in the middle of the North Island to ride around New Zealand's biggest lake.  Except a few hundred who elect to slog it out in the forests and dirt roads since the organisers added an off-road option to the weekend - the Huka! 

First introduced in 2008, there are a few options for entry - some do it as the first leg of a 5 leg relay where the last 4 are the traditional 4 legs of the round the lake challenge.  Some add 22kms of mountain biking to their 160km road challenge.  Unlicenced/non-competitive riders enter the Huka Challenge (same course but separate start) and elite/licenced riders are the first to embark on the 80km race at 7am in the Huka XL. 

Under UCI rules a marathon mtb event must be at least 60kms, and they can range to over 100kms.  Last year the Huka was 70kms and this year it was increased to 80 (on paper - my speedo read 79.6 so allowing for the couple of minutes before I rememberd to hit the button they were pretty close to bang on).

Like last year, up until a couple of weeks out my participation in any of the Taupo events was up in the air but I've been putting in some decent miles and a couple of weeks ago asked Robyn what she thought about me doing the Huka instead of the Challenge because I'm just so in love with riding the Felt that 80kms sounded like the best idea ever!  To my delight she said yup, ok.  Worst case scenario was that it would become a long training ride where I would find out how I would last putting in effort hour after hour. 

As it turned out, for the most part the course suited me quite well but unfortunately I wasn't able to capitalise on that.  Something triggered a pretty severe asthmatic episode whilst training during the week and my lungs never really cleared up.  The first hour of the race involved the most consistent climbing (and one very cool, long descent) and I struggled my way through with legs that were oxygen starved and heavy as the Challenge riders came past like I was standing still (for the record - when you're passing people in a race it's bad form to expect them to take the rough and give you the smooth line - man up and ride the rough!).

But all was not lost and after an hour, and second long descent, things started to fall in to place and feel right again.  There was one climb that was in the race twice and I just felt like a completely different person from the first time to the second time and that gave me a lot more confidence for the rest of the day.  I think over half the course was in the Craters of the Moon forest area which included lots and lots and lots (and lots) of tight, twisty, sometimes rough, sometimes gnarly, sometimes spirit crushing, sometimes grin producing singletrack.  The concentration of quality track in what is really quite a small area is pretty impressive.  I'd ridden most of the tracks we did at least once, but over a period of years.  This time I was doing them all in one day.

After that first hour I started catching and passing people who had come past me earlier, and playing 'catch, drop and get caught again' with about 3 guys for a very long time.  We spent around 40kms hovering around each other - which is a long way when we don't even usually race that far!  A lot of that was in some of the windiest (as in corner-corner-corner, not gale force wind) singletrack many of us had ever ridden.  It was tough to maintain momentum in it and really rewarded good line choices and a bit of finesse on the bike.  I caught and passed the guys again through here and they each jumped on and took advantage of my lines, giving me a thanks for the guided tour when we finally popped out the other end after what felt like a pretty long time!

The legs were still feeling good though so I continued to guide them through the remaining singletrack in the forest and through some crazy, soft trails, dropping them occasionally only to hear them come back soon enough, as we headed back under the road to the Helicopter where the feed zone was.  I was staying with Taupo native Cam Wood and his family and his Mum was there with a bottle of coke for me at the 50k mark.  From that point there was a lot of fairly flat riding and a fair bit of gravel road as we headed out to Aratitia Dam before coming back up the other side of the river.

The guys were content to sit on my wheel and draft roadie styles - suited me - the race hadn't started well for me so it had become that long training ride after all.  I finally shook them for good where we had to dismount and run across the bridge at the dam - I ran, I guess they walked, and they didn't make it back up to me after that.

Surprisingly though, with about 20km to go MJ appeared on my back wheel - she'd started in the Challenge and come past me early on on a climb, before I got her back on a descent, before she got me again on the next climb, and then I had her in my sights for k after k until I lost her somewhere along the way.  We never worked out what had happened but together we caught a small group of riders.  They were descending alright but taking the climbs a bit easy, but the track was too narrow to get past them all and then suddenly the opened a gap!  It was weird - I was feeling strong and riding really well but couldn't get back to them - meanwhile MJ had let her own gap open.  So I finished off the last few kms on my own, still able to power out of the saddle on the climbs and just about getting taken out by a roadie bunch where the mtb course joined back on to the finishing chute.  People were lining the barriers and making heaps of noise which was really cool.

I finished feeling really good which surprised me, but I guess I've been underestimating myself post-injury and it's obviously time to raise the bar.  I was told I was 5th woman but the results disagree placing me in 6th.  None-the-less, I had heaps of fun (after the first hour) and was happy to come home just over the 5 hour mark.  There's a ton of room for improvement so I don't think that will be my last Huka.  It's going to be a tough decision in future - I still have unfinished business around the lake, can definitely go better on the dirt, and am keen to have a crack at the womens crit and road race one year - guess I'll be at this for some time to come!

Chatting to Robyn once I'd got back home she asked me if this was the longest mtb race I've done (excluding the Moonride 6hr earlier this year).  Thinking back and excluding the other solo's and teams races I did in my pre-competitive days I was pretty sure it must have been and suddenly realised my first Karapoti took 5:02, and this took 5:03.  Just with an extra 30kms and a significant amount of extra climbing!  I'm a way off my peak just now, but it's always cool to remember how far you've come - and even better to think how much further you've got to go!

All up - a huge thumbs up for the race, and it was cool to bump in to seldom-seen friends during the weekend and whilst heading down the road for gelato after the race

And I nearly forgot - the Makara Peak Rally is back on my calendar so I hope to see lots of you out there on Sunday - it'll be my first time on heaps of those tracks since last year's rally!!!

My first impression of the Tokoroa XC course for the Mid North Island Cup race yesterday was 'awesome - it doesn't start by going up an epic climb!'. It actually starts with an almost flat 1.5km section. If you think it sounds easy though, race it first...

Gav and I arrived in Tokoroa on Saturday morning and met up with Mikey Northcott for a guided tour of the course. Mikey has had a lot of input in to the course and he and Michelle have been pretty involved in a lot of the work that has gone in to it. Showing my 'racing age', I never raced on the old tracks in Tokoroa, so this was my first look at the terrain. The main reason for going to this particular race was to scope it out as it is the same course that will be used in the nationals round in February (with one or two very cool mods to come).

A persistant drizzle was falling all morning and the tracks were slightly greasy but the course was still just 100% rideable - a couple of dabs from the boys trying to push the bigger gears up the technical climbs - no such issues with my trusty Maxxis Crossmarks and granny ring.

The stand out features of the course for me are many:

• It's short - 6.5km including the grass loop for start/timing/feed etc. And short time-wise too - the winning time was 6 laps in just under 2 hours. 5 laps for open women on race day - I love multi-lap! Short courses are that much easier to get to know really well.
• It's 100% rideable but that's not to say it doesn't have some tricky, challenging sections, both climbing and descending - in fact one of my favourite sections is a technical single track climb that calls for fine bike handling skills and control under pressure. A bit of drizzle and it's less rideable - rain would be interesting!
• There is an abundance of singletrack but good opportunities for passing.
• Another favourite section is full of descents with sweeping corners punctuated with short power climbs.
• The final descent 'log drops' in to the grass loop will be a spectator fave - a quick chute in to a couple of flying drops before a pine-needle covered bumpy straight line in to another chute followed by a couple of sweet berms.

Thanks to the short course, we got a few laps in on Saturday and by half way around the first lap I was gushing all over it and loving it. We took a little walk up a bank and Mikey showed us his plans for a very cool section to be built before February and it is going to be fantastic - I can't wait to see it! It's awesome to have someone like Mikey have so much input in to a track - his skill on the bike, style of riding and experience racing overseas where you get thrown in to some pretty gnarly stuff have given him a very cool vision, and there is a great team of people helping make it a reality. Some of the guys were out on Saturday and they were really keen for feedback on the course - including suggestions for improvement. I think they have a track they can be very proud of as it is and I'm looking forward to seeing how it will look in February.

After an evening of feeling very out-numbered in a house of boys as Michelle was away we all headed to the race on Sunday morning. We'd all woken early in the morning to some heavy rain falling (my fault for not bringing my muds to a race - first time in nearly 3 years I've left them at home!) but Mikey assured us it would be pretty unaffected.

I got a little bit caught out by having a mass start and being due on the start line straight after briefing since we do grade starts at home and frankly I'm out of practice! So I started at the back and for the most part stayed there - d'oh. There's plenty of passing on the course but it's not so easy off the line when you don't have a start in your arsenal yet - I'm still a little bit conscious of lack of race fitness and didn't want to blow up in the first lap! It was also pretty humid and I know what that can do to my asthma, so I kept it under control for the first few minutes. Unfortunately I then arrived at the first singletrack climb to see a hoard of riders off their bikes up ahead and being in the singletrack by then there was less room for passing, so I toddled along behind pedalling away while the masses walked up. After that the field spread out well and there were no more traffic jams so I settled down in to my job for the day.

My goals for this race were to bring some standing climbing in and give it everything to test race fitness. The first lap was a bit messy and I felt a bit sluggish but the next 3 laps went really well. Ocassionally I cursed my lack of training but at the same time I was recognising some real positives at this stage and because I loved the course I was having an awesome time. A couple of greasy sections on the technical climbs meant there were 2 or 3 runs every lap so by the time the 5th lap rolled around my legs were screaming at that but for the most part I felt like my fitness and focus were right up there for the duration. There is still a lot of work to be done but I continue to feel progress each week at this stage and although I sometimes look at the calendar and think 'that season is pretty close!' I can't add another month in there to get prepared so the best I can do is keep on with the work and make sure I do all the right things to get the best out of my training. Knowing what I do about the nationals courses certainly helps keep that motivation right up there.

So, another week and another race under the belt, and huge props to the Tokoroa guys for their work - an excellent course and a very smoothly run event. 5 days from now I'll be up north again, this time in Taupo, for a very different race - the Huka XL. From a 32.5km blat to an 80km hurtfest - yikes! What was that I said about lasting the distance? This one will be a challenge, but one I'm looking forward to. After that I'll be settling in to a block without racing (schedule to be updated) as I prepare for my 4th go at the Tour de Femme in Nelson.

And oh yeah: Happy Birthday Coach

Every minute in the hurt box during training is like putting a dollar in the bank.  If time on the bike is the principal, you can think of all the good stuff off the bike as the interest - things like following a good recovery plan, not deviating too much from your nutrition goals, having the right attitude, getting enough sleep, maintaining your bike!

Just like a real bank, earning interest isn't all that difficult - you've got to be a bit more committed to making it happen, but for the most part it's the stuff that happens while you've got your feet up in front of the telly.

Earning the principal tho, that's the hard part.  But thinking of it in terms of currency can make it a bit easier.  When you're hurting, as long as you follow up with the interest, you're increasing your balance.  The more you do this, the more you'll have available to withdraw when you come to making a big purchase, and if you've done everything right you'll discover there is always a rewards scheme attached ;o)

Despite the fact that it should be very difficult to think in full sentences when you're making your deposits, this stuff has been sitting in my head a bit recently as I've found myself securely locked inside the hurt box.  Even left to my own devices for the first 4 1/2 weeks of being back on the bikes I was able to find my way in, and now that my jet-setter coach has returned from her latest trip I've redirected my mail there. 

Training with a coach like Robyn, training what I like to call 'the Wong way', is a bit like having a share broker.  I've got all this time to go out and earn training dollars but she points me in the direction where I'll get the best returns - and if necessary, can help me bail out if the market starts to look a bit dodgy.  Lucky for me she's a former Olympian in my chosen discipline and a  trained accountant - convenient, no?

So, enough with the metaphore!  What have I actually been doing in terms of pedalling?

Sunday a week ago I headed over the hill to participate in the Martinborough Charity Fun Ride.  115kms for charity - yeah, charity, that's why.  Last time I completed this was 2 years ago and I remember chatting away in the bunches and having what was largely a fairly pleasant training ride.  I did start last year, but was suffering the wrong kind of hurt after a big day before and had to pull out - turned out I had a trapped vagus nerve - makes breathing a bit rough.  So this year with only 4 weeks on the bike behind me I knew I was in for a hard training ride.  With no climbing legs I struggled for a while to stay with a big bunch through the heavy undulations but ended up in no mans land eventually, which is when I opened up the lid of that box and climbed right in.  45minutes later my first ITT ended as a bunch swallowed me up on the biggest (only real) climb on the course.  I stayed with them for a good while but eventually it fell apart and I crawled back in to my box for another 40-odd minute ITT.  By the end of that I was in a world of hurt and in no doubt of my lack of race fitness.  I'd held a good effort to this point but was having some trouble with my right glute and hammy - the muscles just aren't trained for TT efforts yet so I was pretty pleased when another good sized bunch eventually caught me and dragged me home.  All money in the bank tho.  And plenty of good stuff came out like my leg speed and bunch confidence all still there.

During the week I made a few more deposits and finished the week off with the final PNP race at Makara yesterday.  In the first race, which feels like a million years ago, I only went out to show off my new bike.  In the 4th race I was there to hold a steady effort.  This time I was there to hurt as much as I could.  I'm still missing a good 3 or so gears in my fitness arsenal but there has been definite progress.  A 25-odd minute climb in the middle meant the course wasn't in my favour and I had to watch MJ power away after we hit the bottom together (Sam was already somewhere off in the distance), but this time instead of letting Rach pace me I was pacing her, and with more technical components I was able to pull away.  I made it a bigger day than necessary by spending an hour on the course before the start - and thanks to that extra effort I not only climbed in to the hurt box but by the time I was finished I felt like I'd fallen right through! 

Next weekend I'll be in Tokoroa to check out  the course which will be used for the national race in February, and after that is the big one - the Huka XL - 80km off road in Taupo, most of it singletrack.  No withdrawals yet - all investments and savings for now!

For those of you have been wondering about Felt bikes and want to see some in the 'flesh', if you're in Wellington they'll be in at Penny Farthing Cycles in the not too distant future.  Craig Anderson is a good man to talk to there.  You can also check out some of the great 2XU kit while you're there!

There's not much that makes you feel better as an athlete than seeing clear progress.  One of the positives of long periods of downtime is that you have a lot of room for improvement, and when that is the case you tend to make the quickest gains.  For some of us that's one of the very things that gets us hooked on things - the continual strive to break through ceilings and barriers and see where we can take ourselves.

I've been back on the bike for just a few weeks and mixing it up nicely between good saddle time on the road and heaps of fun on the dirt.  One of the first things I did was follow some good weather north to Rotorua so I could get some good hours in on both bikes without fear of drowning or being blown to the south island!  Shane and Jude were already up there and Charlotte and Tim travelled up at the same time I did.  Charlotte reduced me to a pile of whinge out on the roads and the next day I spent a brilliant few hours, despite the rain, in the forest riding heaps of my favourite trails in really slippery and muddy conditions!  The bonus was that a few hours in the sun meant my tan lines have started to come in nicely.

Over the last couple of weeks I've been continuing the solid roadie hours and have started riding with the Capitelle's on Monday evenings again - one of my favourite ways to kick off the riding week.

Yesterday was round 4 of the PNP series.  I did the pre-ride a week ago and enjoyed the course but was very much in two minds about racing.  It was this race last year where I over did the intensity for the first time in quick succession and I ended up suffering for weeks with a trapped vagus nerve, no way did I want to put myself back there!  I spent a good few hours on the road on Saturday with the expectation that I wouldn't be racing, but oddly enough when I woke up on Sunday with the sun streaming in I couldn't help myself and it ended up being a whole lot of fun.

Couple of pics from the pre-ride care of Davo Bushlove Aldred

After waiting for a bunch of the boys to pick themselves up out of the stream, showing the others how to stay upright ;o)

Couldn't have given the big cheesey grin and thumbsup to the camera if I'd ridden this one - beautiful scenery.

Contrary to what I'd expected with all the volume I've been doing, my legs didn't feel very fried, but I was able to find myself a great person to sit in behind to pace me for much of the race (thanks Rach).  On a couple of the climbs I went ahead of her but she always got me back, and had a bit of advantage getting over the closed fences being both taller and well experienced in doing so.  By the end of the last climb I was leading and still feeling good so I gave it some gas and ripped away to enjoy the awesome, technical singletrack descent.

Numbers were down and I came home in second which gave me an opportunity to say thanks to all of my fantastic sponsors, and more importantly I felt much better than expected and am simply loving riding a hardtail on all terrain types and in all conditions.

There's still a whole lot of work to do, but I'm feeling really positive about where I can get to from here.

It's time.  My ankle is about 98%, my wrist is about 95%, my health is back to good, my mind has gotten over the crazy stuff that has been going on for the last 9 or 10 months and I feel ready to peel myself off the couch and get back on the bikes.  I started on the weekend with a bruise-inducing lap of the new Mt Vic course.  I wasn't going to do the race the next day, but it was a good opportunity to head out with some others and see what is close to the track that will be used for national champs next year.  It was wet, muddy and awesome!  The collection of bruises on my knees and elbows are solely a result of something being up with my pedals so I couldn't unclip, and not wanting to land on my wrist again I went down on my knees and elbows instead - true to form, while going uphill instead of down.  What's 'up' with that?

Next it was time to get back on the road.   While the last few months have involved little riding I've managed to pull together a great new set of equipment and sponsors, including an SRM (for those of you who don't know, that's a pretty fancy power meter).  Never mind the fact that I'm sure my roadie is now heavier than the mtb.  I'm looking forward to getting back on a formal programme stepping up from heart rate based training and in to the realm of training with power for the first time.  Thus far it appears that I'd struggle to power the lightbulb in my bedroom, but I know Robyn will have me putting out enough wattage soon enough to justify a download of Snap's "I've got the power".  Before we can start on that though, my job is to get some miles under my belt and remind my body what it's like to put the hours in.  So far it's made me very sleepy and I'm waiting for the appetite to kick back in.

On a more reflective note, it's not been all that easy to contemplate and get moving on another 'come back', especially so soon after the last one.  The first time around it was pretty easy - I spent the whole time off the bike just desperate to get back on it.  But this time, being hit by one thing after another felt like blow after relentless blow and doing nothing was getting a bit habit forming.  I feel like I've been tested in every way.  When you train every day you develop an identity centred around that training and around the goals you're training for.  To suddenly not have that for so long I started going through a bit of an identity crisis and the goals, the passion and the drive felt like they were fading.  We all need to question ourselves from time to time, test the waters and ensure we are still travelling on the right path.  I've certainly done that over the last few weeks and everything has started to return and I'm psyched to once again see a future with hours on the bikes and the excitement, thrill, exhileration, pain and, sometimes, heartache of racing.

Watch this space...

Apparently the universe has a message for me, but I'm convinced that if I ignore it long enough it'll leave me to get on with things my way...  after 10 weeks of rehab my ankle was good enough to ride any terrain, any bike, any duration.  So I was just about to ramp up the pre-training training (that's the stuff I do to ensure I have some sort of conditioning prior to starting a formal programme) when I got attacked by killer-viruses kindly donated by colleagues who come to work when obviously sick and contagious - they shall remain both nameless and unforgiven.  One virus lead to another which lead to bronchitis and a pretty severe case of wo-is-me because I can't get out and do some exercise for the better part of 4 weeks.  Ok, new plan - push the training back one more week to ensure a full recovery and then we will be all systems go.

During that week I had the privilege of once again supporting Jude Young to a second victory in the 12 hour solo of the Taupo Day/Night Thriller - a pretty narrow victory after finally taking the lead from Charlotte Ireland, who had recently returned home after a second stab at the Canadian Trans-Rockies stage mtb race, in the final hours.  Charlotte won the Moonride 12 hour solo so we were hoping for some exciting competition and we weren't disappointed.  It was an intersting day for me being Jude's dedicated support person for our 3rd event together, and having written Charlotte's programme for the last 12 months!  Thankfully we're all still friends

So with a week to go before Robyn had to start whipping up more superb programmes for me I was bouncing around town between house-sitting assignments and home, and trying to squeeze in some runs and rides.  With round 2 of the PNP series on the Sunday I decided to pre-ride the course.  As a direct result of that decision I'm now typing one-handed with my right arm in plaster (yes, I'm right-handed).

The trusty old scaphoid... the nurse and Dr had an interesting discussion trying to work out what they were looking at because apparently the month I spent taping my wrist up last year was because of a break or fracture.  I have to say, this time it was much more painful and I didn't have a hope of using the arm or hand normally.

So as much as I'd hoped my next update here would be all about riding the Felt (it's fine, thanks for asking) and wearing my awesome new 2XU kit (which will look great just as soon as I can do some exercise so that it fits right again!) and playing around with the SRM that is getting fitted to the roadie (snap -I got the power!) unfortunately this is what you have to read about instead!

Getting back to that comment about 2XU: Yep, the awesome crew there have come to the party and hooked me up with some finery for training and racing, and their great compression gear as well.  And just as soon as I have a chance to really test it all out I'll be posting pics and reviews to go some way to thanking them for their support and belief in my goals.

I'm really excited about this!!!

The last few months have been a real period of transition for me.  Between injury, a return to form, the disappointment of not making the Worlds squad and more injury, I've had quite a shake up with my sponsors.  I'm no longer riding for Bicycle.  We parted ways some months ago after 5 good years together and reaching a natural end.  Following that I started accessorising with BBB kit and Lazer Helmets and the gear has been superb.

But the biggest change so far is the bike!  Yes, I'm giving up the Blur.  Obviously not for another fully - that wouldn't make much sense.  I'm going HARDTAIL!!!

There was a time I never thought I'd be able to race on a hardtail and I've been riding fully's for about 5 years now.  But after a few good rides on the 'cross bike I started wondering, and couldn't help but think about the obvious weight advantates of a quality hardtail.  And suddenly I was presented with an opportunity I had to seriously consider.  When you spend a lot of time and effort in trying to create opportunities you don't ignore them when they're presented out of the blue.

So thanks to this opportunity there is a sweet little hardtail about to wing it's way to my doorstep and I'm looking forward to documenting the build as we prepare it to be trail worthy.  Can't wait!!!

Felt 6 Ltd

With the Tour nearly over and no longer able to take up 3 to 4 hours of every day it's time to think about getting back out and doing some exercise.  The ankle is basically at a point of 'no better, no worse' and I'm able to run and ride on it, so it's time to start keeping good on my end of the bargain - I get to take a pretty long break from training proper, but I have to get myself in a respectable state of fitness for when I go back on a programme.  Besides, getting fat and lazy can only appeal for a very limited period of time.

We've had a stellar weekend in Wellington - crisp, clear days.  So I managed to get out and help with some track work at Makara, go for a nice cruisy ride around the bays, and take Ken's 'cross bike up in to the trails.  Charlotte, Tim, Shane, Jude and Ken were there too - Ken on his 'cross bike, Shane on his 1x7 and Tim on his 9'er - motley crew eh.

I had a blast!  I didn't really know what to expect from a 'cross bike, only that I thought it would feel all sketchy from the rare occasional I've ended up on gravel on the roadie (like before Christmas last year).  But the control is amazing!  It's so fast, heaps of traction and I feel like I can trust it on most things so far.  We were at Wainui Trail Park and my first real test was when we headed in to 491 track.  The top corner took a couple of false starts and I was so close to dumping the front wheel off the side of the track but stayed on course to get around the next corner and down the bridge.  Charlotte took a short vid as Ken and I came down the bridge together (I haven't put video on before so hopefully it works...).

It gets harder and harder to scare yourself stupid as your skill level increases, and this was a great way of doing it.  Man did I appreciate suspension and disc brakes though - I've never ridden fully rigid, and haven't had rim brakes for about 6 years.  These bikes accelerate super quick and I could probably be heard through the whole valley as Ken and I came down one of the firebreaks to finish our ride - the others stayed out for a couple more hours but I didn't have to, so I didn't.

Over the next few weeks the PNP Balfour Pennington road handicap series is on - I'm planning on heading to two or three of them, and the next two 'cross races are in August and September.  And let's not forget the PNP MTB series.  Like I said in my last post, the calendar fills up quickly!