lisa morgan

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