2009 North Island XC Cup Series - Round 1

The New Year began with a road trip to Rotorua to compete in the first round of the 2009 North Island XC Cup Series. I had decided a couple of weeks ago to tag along to this race in order to redeem myself somewhat after last year's effort at the North Island XC Cup round in Rotorua, and with the impending move back down south to Dunedin for Scotty and I, it was going to be my last time in Rotorua in the foreseeable future.

Rewind just over 11 months ago to Round 2 of the 2008 North Island XC Cup in Rotorua. We had spent the week beforehand in Rotorua pre-riding the course and generally sifting about. On one of my training sessions, I was doing 3 minute intervals up the start climb. Quite consistently on all my intervals, I found that I couldn't breathe after a minute in. It was quite an odd/scary sensation to be gasping for air yet coming up short every time. Given I don't have any asthma problems, or have any breathing problems on climbs in Wellington (my usual training ground), it was a bit of a worry. However, when race day came along, I had quite a different issue - my lower back. I'm generally not one to change gears very often yet Rotorua singletrack pretty much requires it with the undulating nature. After pushing too big a gear around the first lap, I had a super-sore lower back on the second and third, to the point where I was sitting up as straight as I could with one hand on my back and the other on the handlebars on as many non-technical sections that I could just to try and stretch my back out. Any time I tried to pedal a bit harder, my back went owieeee so I spent the second and third laps in a pretty bad mood and riding at a relatively low intensity to save my back from further ouchiness. I finished the race through sheer stubbornness (I did NOT want to DNF!) but was in quite a lot of pain for the next couple of days.

Back to the present. Well, I didn't want to suffer like I had last year, and luckily the course looked like it was going to be kinder on my back. The course didn't seem as technical as last year's, with a lot more fire-road and a bit less singletrack. Usually, fireroad climbs would suit me, but as I rediscovered on one of my pre-rides when I tried to put in a hard effort up the climb, yup.. that breathing problem was back again! Given I only ever had that problem in Rotorua, I'm guessing it's the sulphur that plays up with my breathing up there. Ah well, not much I could really do about it..

Chilling before the race start..

Race day came along and we lined up on the start line with the biggest Senior Women field I've seen at a Nationals/MTBNZ event in the past few years. 10 Senior Women, 6 Masters Women, and 4 U17 Women. Awesome - good to see the participation numbers back up! (last year's races only saw between 3-6 Senior Women at the events). After watching all the men take off on the first few waves, it was our turn. The start gun went off and the race was ON!

Race start..

I got into a fairly quick pace off the start along the long-ish 4wd road (Nice Rd, which wasn't particularly nice but was bearable!) and was in around the top third of women into the first piece of singletrack (Sweet'n'Sour). Passed a couple of women in singletrack aswell as a couple of U15 boys who had left in the start wave prior to ours. Sweet'n'Sour was the most similar singletrack to the course last year - fairly undulating with short descents and climbs, so I was making a very conscious effort to use my gears (which were running MINT thanks to the new drivetrain Scotty put on my bike a few days before the race - thanks!). Out of Sweet'n'Sour and into Bunny Jugs, a short technical descent, then along the 4wd to Direct Road where the track climbed up on loose shingly/gravelly surface to Hot Cross Buns (techy descent). I found this climb the hardest because, although my back and legs were fine, my lungs were not, and having to pedal uphill at a pace slower than I know I'm capable of fitness-wise and still gasping for breath was not particularly fun! But at least the climb wasn't too long, and after a few short pinches, it was into the main descent part of the course. Down Hot Cross Buns (where I was passed by the U15 boys I'd passed earlier), Dragon's Tail (where I was passed a Masters woman), then Mad If You Don't. The lap finished with a fast section of singletrack (Ball and Chain) where I put my bike in the biggest gear possible and pedalled through the start/finish area (thanks to all the spectators who cheered!) to head up for my second lap.

Out of Hot X Buns

The second lap was a little bit slower than the first, but still felt OK. I was happy that my back wasn't sore and that I was still in the top half of the women's field. I passed the two U15 boys on the main climb and was surprised they didn't catch me on the descent. Towards the end of the descent, Hiskey (winner of the Masters 1 Men grade) came past and said I had a couple of minutes on the next person behind. I thought "sweet!" but then proceeded to make a few silly errors as I began to panic a bit trying to keep my lead. Urgh! Focus Celia! Nothing too major though - I slid against a bank when I overshot a corner, and messed up an uphill root - got off the bike to push but my calf then cramped up and I couldn't move for a few seconds! So close to the finish though! I got back on the bike.. clipped in rather painfully, but after a few pedal strokes it came right. Phew!

Somewhere on the last lap..

Crossing the finish line .. yay!

Out of the final descent and onto Ball and Chain, I was pleasantly surprised that I still had the legs to push my biggest gear along the track and across the finish line. Because of my breathing troubles, I was happy that we only had two laps to do but my legs felt like they could've done a third. I came 5th in Senior Women, and 7th overall out of the 20 women. I was pretty happy with that and definitely felt like it was a better race than last year's. It was good feeling like I was racing against people and not trailing at the back of the field. Also, I was stoked my back was fine and my legs weren't too tired. A bit annoyed at the breathing thing but since it's specific to Rotorua (and it's trademark sulphury scent), I'm probably not going to dig too much into finding a solution for it. Of interest however, were the stats on my heart rate monitor. During the race, I averaged 190 with a maximum of 198 - the highest average and maximum I've ever seen in a race situation. In comparison, last year's average in Rotorua was 171 with a max of 191, and this season I've been racing with average between 179-187, and a max between 193-196. Without a background in physiology, I'm not too sure how the higher HRs relate to the breathing/sulphur thing, but I think it shows that I really pushed myself out there, and I feel like it's a good start to the 2009 race season :)

So, no racing for me this weekend (I have a wedding to attend instead of the second round of the series which is being held in Auckland), but the third race in the series is being held on home tracks up on Mt Vic, Wellington. I'm hoping to get quite a few rides in up there in the past couple of weeks in preparation. Then it's off to the South Island for the South Island XC Cup races - Dunedin on the 1st Feb, Timaru on the 8th Feb, and Coronet Peak on the 15th Feb. The Coronet Peak race is the one I'm most excited about because the first ever Nationals XC race I did was at Coronet Peak at the beginning of 2007. Going back to race on a similar course will be good to see how far I've come during the past couple of years of riding and racing and I'm really looking forward to it.