August 18, 2012

CHCH CX round 5 Steam Scene

We had a last minute change of venue for our final round. Living Springs, our planed course destination was flooded from the recent rain. So it was a fast and flat course out at steam scene. The ground drained a little too well but there was one section of mud which proved quite tricky in the latter laps. I had a good hard first lap and increased my lead from there. Until I pinch flated riding over some railway lines. Getting a little too cocky and riding them too fast. I tried my puncture repair gas foam thingy but that didn't work. Luckily (If you can say that after getting a puncture) my dad was right there and he was looking after my keys. So I grabbed them off him, run to my car and put a new tube in. By this time my race was over but I wasn't too worried because I already had the series won overall. I got another couple of laps in but not sure where I finished up in the end. It was a great series and I won an awesome trophy, a medal and a pair of TRP brakes! Can't think of a better way to spend the winter. Thanks to all the guys behind the scenes. Great effort. Hopefully next year I can find some time to give your guys a hand.

CX national series round 5 Christchurch

For this round we were racing in Hagley park in the centre of my home city. We had a bit of rain over the week so the ground was very soggy and the course went through some nice wet bogs. Also had some stream crossing so it turned into a very nice muddy feast, which was welcomed seeing we hadn't experienced the true elements of cross racing. Our newly crowned national champs, Gary Hall and Kim Hammer-Hurst made the trip down. I was hoping to hang onto Gary for at least a few laps but he just had too much gas for me and I lost his wheel before the end of the first lap. So I stayed in 2nd for the rest of the race just pushing myself as hard a I could. That's where I finished up. Conceding just over 2 minutes. I am pretty pleased with that but would have liked that time cap to be a little smaller. Looking to close that cap at the final round in Blenheim.