Skip to main content

Red Zone 6

In what’s becoming a bit of a habit, I didn’t spend the day before this race relaxing or prepping my gear. I was getting up at 5am to go spend 12 hours in the middle of the waimak doing safety for the Coast to Coast. While I enjoy being able to still use my skills in a location I’ve spent many hours the last few years, I probably should have picked one or the other as I am wrecked today!

My waimak island for the day

I really wasn’t looking forward to this event, I only entered it as it fitted in nicely with my training plan and goals for the season. Nothing about 6 hours riding on footpaths around the Red Zone was very appealing. Add on the forecasted rain and I knew it was going to be a long day. In retrospect this mindset wasn’t a great way to start off the day when I was already feeling flat from the day before. My warm up lap of the course really didn’t do much to improve my mood when I realised we would be orienteering around the course as well!

For the third weekend in a row I got a good start. So good in fact that I realised as a solo competitor I really shouldn’t be going for the hole shot and intentionally let a few riders go by so I could sit on a wheel and wouldn’t need to make the decisions myself on what way to go. As it was we still had a few detours and loops around due to going the wrong way. The first few laps were certainly interesting as everyone settled into race pace with some massive crashes as people learnt where the corners were with manhole covers.

Fortunately (for me atleast) the course started to turn muddy and I was almost starting to enjoy myself. Specialized Fast Trak’s have really surprised me these last few races at how versatile they are. They were incredible in the muddy conditions and certainly don’t roll slowly like most tyres that are so capable.

3 hours into the race and my non-varied nutrition was starting to take a toll (that pre-race prep is actually important!) It’s going to sound terrible but a few pringles and hot chips later and there was finally a smile on my face. The next few hours were a bit of a blur. While there were other solo riders in view, both in front and behind me, I just wasn’t quite capable of catching up.

4.5 hours in I figured I’d only need to do another couple of laps…. I wasn’t the only solo rider to have had this thought and be disappointed when we had time to do three… If I thought last weekend hurt, this last lap really hurt. 1st place was insight and while I knew I couldn’t catch him now, 3rd place was catching me rather quickly so I couldn’t back off the pace. Just to add to the fun my legs decided to fully cramp up for the entire last lap.

Too wrecked to wash my face!


While Tekapo was battling for several hours, I didn’t feel the pressure then like I did at this moment. After almost 6 hours racing being only 20 seconds down on first, and 22 seconds up on third was far too close for comfort. In the end I finished very muddy, my bike in a wreck, but satisfied to have finished 2nd despite a far from ideal build up for a strong race. It’s certainly far more preferable to not leave things quite this close at my next race! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Motivation from setback

 The last time I wrote on here I was just about to go into a hand operation to sort out my dexterity issue after breaking it earlier in the year. At the time I stated I felt like I was capable of more but unfortunately may not get a chance to prove it for awhile. I never expected what the next 12 months would bring, and to be honest, despite the further injuries and setbacks, I'm not sure I would change a thing.  So what have the last 12 months involved?  A few months recovery and physio from hand surgery That classic thing called covid and its impacts And a little slip on ice resulting in fractures to my T6/7 and a seizure... It's definitely not all bad though. I'm now working as the Christchurch station manager for St John Ambulance. I've joined the committee of Arawa Canoe Club as the race coordinator. I've organised 28 kayak events with all proceeds going towards supporting juniors (and another 7 events planned between now and Christmas). I've also received ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Topsport Prologue Series #1

 With my K2 partner heading to South Africa to see family and do some racing (lucky bastard), I finally lined up at a major race as a solo competitor. With hand surgery in a couple of weeks potentially wiping out the next few months of races, I wasn't sure whether I'd even bother to enter this race but the racing bug bit hard!  While it was a warm morning, the wind was blowing hard! It was enough to make me slightly concerned about parts of the course, so I felt pretty bad for the novices, they were certainly in for a wake up call on what the Waimak can be like on race day! In the wind storm that was the 2011 Coast to Coast, I had managed to get to Woodstock dry, before swimming many many times in this final 15km due to the wind. There's really only two strategies for wind, paddle at the speed of it (or faster) so it doesn't impact you, or be at the heavier end of the scale so it doesn't affect you as badly. Unfortunately most of the time both of these strategies ar...
1 comment
Read more

Coast to Coast 2016

This year has already presented itself with plenty of high's and low's. I went in to the event feeling as prepared as I had ever been and thankful to actually make it to the start line (for once). I had a good win in the legs from Around Brunner, however I also had my first swim in the Waimak in 5 years... fun times. Overall I was looking forward to getting out there and enjoying the day. My plan for the day was to start steady to ensure I got to the run feeling fresh and ready to run hard. I had no intention of coming off the bike in the front bunch. So when I found myself dragged up the road to the first bunch after a very steady run (9:00 vs the leaders 7:30), I was surprised and happy to be in a good position. It was now just a matter of sitting on the back, doing very little work, and letting the race be decided later. It was the best ride I've had in years, super relaxed atmosphere and a nice consistent pace to keep the legs feeling good. I actually mus...
2 comments
Read more