Pukeora and Monsters

I dragged myself out of bed in the middle of the night (aka 5.00am) to head out to the 4 hour race at Pukeora.  We were too early for the coffee cart at Otaki, so ended up with a spectacularly average brew from Wild Bean instead.  Being up at that hour does have its rewards, though, as we got to watch a magnificent sunrise climbing through the Hawkes Bay fog. 

According to plan, we arrived in time for me to head out on a warm-up/practice lap.  (Shane had not been feeling well for the past few days and had decided not to race).   Last year I struggled with the course, plenty of walking. This year I was pleased to see that the tracks were drier, and that there were some fun sections.  I fluffed a few corners in that lap – re-rode the downhill ones with better lines, leaving the uphill ones to sort out later. I got more and more anxious as the lap went on (a visit from my friend the ‘scared’ monster) but tried to ignore it. I got back just in time to join on to the end of the start, and we were off! 

It felt like I’d left my legs somewhere on the warm-up lap... I had no power and was grovelling up the hills behind the kind of riders normally pull away from.  Oh, well... time to do the best I could with what I had.  The ‘scared’ monster was a little pissed off at being ignored, so decided to stick around for the next lap and a half...  this lovely little beastie convinces you that Something Bad is going to happen Very Soon.  You’re never sure what it is, just that it will be Bad.  OK, ignoring it wasn’t working, so I tried talking to it directly (yep, I’m nuts, never denied it!) “I’m going on this ride, you wanna come along as well, that’s fine, but we’re still going no matter what you say!”  Soon I was back in my happy place, still feeling slow but enjoying some of the lovely whoops and swoops that make up the Pukeora Loop.  I started my 3^rd lap, pausing to grab a bottle from Shane, who was pretty disappointed at the (lack of) pace I was showing.  (I realised later that my seat had slipped down quite a way – my own stupid fault for not checking and tightening the clamp after we’d been mucking around with the dropper post.  D’oh!)

It was it this point that I was joined by two of the ‘scared’ monster’s mates: the ‘I suck’ monster and the ‘I quit’ monster.   I’ve met these slimy little horrors before... and no way were they getting the better of me today!!  The ‘I quit’ monster could go to hell – I was going to get more laps in than last year and make sure I got out on the final lap!  Take that!  The ‘I suck’ monster took a bit more dealing with.  It would tell me how painfully slowly I was riding, I countered back with the fact that I was now riding the corners I’d fluffed in practice... and that my seat wasn’t at the correct height, so even if my legs were having a good day I was never going to fly.  (maybe I should have been carrying a set of allen keys?)Anyway, I was having fun and enjoying being out on my bike, something that upsets the 'I suck' monster a lot!

 Speaking of flying, Megan caught me fairly early – was good to see that her Cape Epic/World Champs legs were still on form as she disappeared in to the distance!

From there it was all about just keeping going, pushing myself to keep riding the tricky bits, putting all of my energy in to the climbs (although I think I saw a snail go past me at one point!) and making sure I got that final lap in.  Yep – had plenty of time to get back out before the course closed.  Final swoops and whoops, smiles for the marshalls – even the ones removing the course markings – then through the finish chute and done. 

As far as riding performance goes, it was a pretty bleak day out.  More important for me, though, was the fact that I’d managed to get the best of 3 nasty little monsters that have beaten me in the past – take that, you nasty little beasts!!